Investigate Reiver's Right

1. History of the Outpost

Perched upon the bluffs along Profit's Flow, Reiver's Right is a historic logging settlement named for an ancient Macridi Blade warlord associated with the river bluffs. During normal operation, the camp supports roughly fifty workers harvesting and staging timber from the surrounding Palakar. Its chutes and landing move cut timber farther along Profit's Flow, while supplies, records, personnel, and valuable cargo travel between the camp and Old Macridi by road and river.

Reiver's Right also carries a darker history. Seven years ago (YR 4719), the settlement was struck by a severe forest blight that spread through the surrounding woods and transformed some badly affected creatures and residents. The outbreak eventually became serious enough that the people of Old Macridi and the local fey fought it together, and the camp was closed.

Healers, herbalists, woodsfolk, and fey allies eventually developed effective treatments, broke the outbreak, and eliminated all known active traces of the blight. Reiver's Right was afterward declared unsafe and placed under quarantine while the surrounding forest recovered. The settlement remained closed for several years as authorities watched for any sign that the blight had survived or returned.

Approximately three years ago (YR 4723), authorities concluded that the old danger had passed and permitted Reiver's Right to reopen. Since then, it has operated as a legitimate logging camp without any known recurrence of the historical outbreak.

2. Reports of the New Blight

During the past several weeks, a small but increasing number of otherwise healthy-looking logs arriving at Old Macridi have contained thick, oily black sap with a foul odor that gums heavy gang-saws, damages blades, and ruins usable timber.

Karland has not yet determined when the corruption entered the wood, what is causing it, or whether the affected timber shares a common source. Ordinary rot, insects, poor storage, and other familiar explanations do not readily account for what has been observed, but the evidence remains incomplete.

Reiver's Right therefore cannot simply be assumed to be responsible for the affected timber. Its sudden silence is concerning for a different reason: an established logging camp has stopped communicating at the same time that an unexplained problem is beginning to appear in the Palakar timber supply.

3. The Missing Workforce

No messages, timber tallies, workers, couriers, or shipments have emerged from Reiver's Right for four straight days. The camp's workforce—including Foreman Hendrick and approximately fifty ordinary loggers, craftsmen, teamsters, guards, and laborers—has failed to make contact with Old Macridi.

Reiver's Right has operated normally since its reopening, making a complete loss of communication highly unusual. No evacuation notice, request for assistance, or explanation has reached Karland's Sawmill.

Local officials and the Blackjackets have not yet committed forces to what they presently regard as an isolated interruption at a remote logging camp. Rather than wait for another shipment or messenger to fail to arrive, Danum Karland is contracting the party directly to investigate.

4. The Old Quarantine

The historical blight remains the most obvious reason to treat the disappearance cautiously. Reiver's Right remained closed after the outbreak even after all known active traces had been eliminated, allowing several years to determine whether the surrounding forest would recover without further incidents.

By the time the camp was reopened three years ago, the surrounding forest appeared healthy. Vegetation had returned, wildlife had reclaimed the abandoned ground, and no active blight had been identified during the intervening years. The reopened settlement subsequently operated without unusual incident.

Whether the present silence has anything to do with that old outbreak is unknown. Investigators should nevertheless treat unusual sap, diseased vegetation, blackened roots, sick animals, or altered living creatures as potentially significant evidence and avoid unnecessary exposure.

5. Travel and Investigation

Reiver's Right can be approached by the North Road or by river, depending on available transportation. Both routes pass through increasingly remote stretches of the Palakar where assistance may be difficult to obtain.

Investigators should enter the camp cautiously. The immediate priority is to determine whether any members of the workforce remain alive and whether the settlement was abandoned, attacked, or incapacitated by some other event.

Foreman Hendrick's camp ledger and other operational records may prove especially useful. Timber tallies, work assignments, supply records, and recent correspondence could establish what the workers were doing immediately before communications stopped.

6. Contract Objectives

• Locate the Workforce: Determine what happened to Foreman Hendrick and the approximately fifty workers stationed at Reiver's Right.
• Investigate the Camp: Search the bunkhouses, work areas, storehouses, logging facilities, and surrounding grounds for evidence explaining the sudden loss of communication.
• Recover Relevant Records: Secure Foreman Hendrick's ledger and any recent work orders, correspondence, supply records, or other documents that may explain the camp's final days.
• Look for Signs of Blight: Determine whether Reiver's Right shows symptoms resembling the black-sapped timber appearing elsewhere in the Palakar.
• Recover Evidence or Samples: If it can be done safely, return with samples, records, testimony, or other physical evidence that may help identify the cause of the disturbance.
• Return to Karland's Sawmill: Report directly to Danum Karland in Old Macridi with the party's findings and any recovered evidence.