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After using one of the extra fan created games for the Swallowtail Festival, I realised I wanted to do more with Jubrayl, otherwise the cheating at the Dragon Racing mini-game would be for nothing.
The players noticed there was some foul play and the men abruptly walked off, leaving their gold and items at the table, as they didn't want to be caught by Belor Hemlock.
Now, one of the characters was actually taken in/adopted by the Sheriff and he reports things back to him now and again. This is likely to be reported too.
Anyway, judging from the description of Jubrayl, this is just begging for a side quest. He's Neutral Evil, tries to buy out everything and is part of a gang of thugs. He also owns the Fatmans Feedbag pub.
Belor is aware of his activity but has no proof of his actions, so cannot act against him to bring him in and send him away to Magnimar.
So, what if I somehow set up a side quest where by a piece of paper is found by a PC (or the Sheriff and brought to the attention of the PC's), detailing Jubrayl's next hit/business scam? Then, when the PC's go after him, they can get the jump on him and either try to bring him in alive or kill him.
Being evil, he'll likely resist and fight to the death, but how many people should I have working with him (it is practically a thieves guild afterall) and should I have them all down as Bandits with the Rogue Class template?
I don't know what the CR of the fight would be, or how I would work out the exp, gold and all of that shizz, but suggestions would be great!
As a reward for the PC's, I'm tempted to say they can start running the Fatman's Feedbag, renaming it to whatever they please, adding in upkeep costs per month, along with a steady income for the party, but I don't know how to go about this, or how much money I should give per month, as I still want the PC's the appreciate what they find in the main quests.
I just feel this will make them care about Sandpoint more (not that they don't, but they're only just getting into the story, role and characters).
Thanks for the feedback!
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Well, I used Jubryal Vishki in a side-quest, but it didn't go so well for him...
In my game, Aldern had become infatuated with the female paladin in the party (whose backstory included her being a Hellknight briefly), and Aldern's note to her said that he gave her the gift of removing an unrepentant lawbreaker from society. The rest of Skinsaw Murders then played out pretty much like the book.
Except the part of a faceless stalker killing a PC off-camera (with the consent of the player, of course), and replacing him in the party for three sessions. But that's another story.
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Besides Haladir's excellent transition point between books 1 and 2, you have a variety of options.
For one example, there could be a rivalry between Vhiski and Jargie Quinn of The Hagfish. Quinn is trying to honestly build up his business, especially the gambling side - as that is proving so lucrative - but Vhiski is fed-up and wants to stop losing gambling customers at the Fatman's Feedbag.
Someone intercepts a written agreement for payment from Vhiski to Titus Scarnetti for 'services rendered' (when, really, it's just Vhiski paying Scarnetti for permission to make the hit) regarding 'J.Q.' The agreement shows a date for tomorrow in the wee hours of the morning after closing time.
The note could be in Thieves' Cant (Google it if you don't know what that is; or you could get a copy of the Second Darkness Player's Guide and/or SD Book 1 for a little info), so the courier (and his boss) thought it obscure enough to carry around in the daytime. Somehow, the courier loses the note - perhaps by mouthing off to the PCs and getting into a little fistfight, where it falls out of his pocket or notebook - and the PCs can investigate. Maybe they figure it out and lay an ambush (FYI, a Comprehend Languages spell should clear it right up). Maybe they're not sure what it means, but they tail Vhiski to wherever he's going (good luck to them doing that; if you don't rebuild him, he's a 7th level rogue) and get the drop on him when he starts breaking into The Hagfish (or Quinn's nearby home).
I disagree about your assessment regarding his alignment. His NE alignment doesn't necessarily mean he has to fight to the death. NE is actually a lot about self-preservation and self-promotion. If he's doing poorly in the fight, he would be more likely to flee.
Okay, well I've been working on something big for this, having Jubrayl as the leader of the Sczarni Syndicate.
I'm still working on the quest itself, but I've got a rough idea pinned down. I'm just working on the finer details. :)
I don't want to de-rail the plot too much, but this is just a side quest, so it'll be fine I'm sure. Anyway, here are the details I have so far:
CELL FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Make a side quest for bringing down Jubrayl Vhiski, the leader of the sczarni gang and his 22 men to lower crime within
Sandpoint and eradicate the varisian thieves, highwaymen, con artists, grave robbers, smuggler's and murderers.
Plot device: Ezakien Tobyn's (previous religious leader) stolen remains from the cemetery.
Plot device 2: The people who left after fixing the dragon race
Plot device 3: During the trip to hunt down the boar, a group of bandits attack. Take one alive to find out more info on
Jubrayl, or alternatively if they die, search their body for a piece of paper, noting down the Scarnee's next meeting
time and place (deep within the Small wooded area on the west side of ravenroost peaks - 10pm).
Plot device 4: Speak with the Locksmith owner (Volioker Briskalberd) for known locations of the Scarnee in Sandpoint.
Plot devic 5: Find a piece of paper detailing the Scarnee partners in Sandpoint. They are "Alive "Pillbug" Podiker" at
the Pillbug's Pantry who sells poisons to them,
Jubrayl will have two Scarnee generals by his side. They will be his most trusted men. One is an evil Barbarian who
bullies people into working for them, torturing them if they resist. The other, is a Rogue who's good at forging
documents and assassinating targets quietly and effectively. Have a leader for each of the crime sectors they commit,
with a handful of men, making 8 encounters in total.
In order:
Encounter 1: Bandits
Stats can be found here: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/mastery/nPCGallery/brigands.html
In any order:
Encounter 2: Varisian Thieves: It's all gone pete tong for Tommy Two and Peter Long (Possibly have these guys in The Old Light).
Encounter 3: The Gentlemen Highwaymen (Gunslinger Duo)
Encounter 4: The Art Form of Con-Artistry
Encounter 5: The Boning and De-boning of Sandpoint's Boneyard (Two Mentally Challenged Necrophiliac's and their Wealth Loving Leader)
Encounter 6: The Smuggler's Run
Encounter 7: The murder of Polly Jackson (Make this a comedic, but poetic story of a girl who was born all out of luck)
In Order:
Encounter 8: The Two Sczarni And Me (Jubrayl level 6 and two of his men at level 3 or 5)
Note: Have all 6 leaders after the initial bandits carry a piece of paper with one letter on it. Once all 6 groups are taken
care of, the players will have to work out that the letters on each piece of paper all form to make one word, which is
the password for getting into the secret entrance out the back of the fatman's feedbag and into Jubrayl's hidden room
which is in fact a small area under the pub where he and his guild of thugs run their illegal operations.
The password is: "Gotcha"
I've got to detail the quests in finer detail and make the stats for each Sczarni leader, but will have them accompanied by standard Bandits to make things a little easier at times.
You're welcome to stat some of these people out and help with the sub missions of this side mission, but if not, I'll have everything done by Tuesday anyway, as that's when I'm running this next. :)
How did it go?
I need to sort out all of the quests but the one I set up at the Old Light, but the PC's made it to the meeting grounds ok, with the Rogue Magus taking advantage of her high stealth (+11 at level 2), catching all of the info and only alerting two of the stupid guys out of the 24 there, who came looking for him whilst he ran away safely with the rest of the party (thanks to the Witch's Obscuring Mist).
My laptop died on me the night before my session, but thankfully I had this thread to work with, so it went ok. :)
I'll let you know how the rest goes down as I create it and play it out, but as it stands, the PC's have this fairly hefty side quest to get through, alongside the main event of discovering the Glassworks, so I think it's nice as it shows more than one thing is currently going on in the town of Sandpoint. :)
They're enjoying it though.
Nice. I'm about to introduce a new NPC to the party near the end (or maybe after the end) of volume 2 - a gnome wizard (Creation subschool specialty) who has taken a deep liking to golems and seeks to create a lifelike quality to them. So, after meeting them and attempting to get them to agree to help him test one sometime. Whether or not he succeeds in getting them to agree to help, a "bear" will attack them on the road to Turtleback Ferry for volume 3. When they defeat it, the back will hiss and open, and out will step the gnome, covered in grease and whatnot.
I'm planning to introduce a sidequest with him as kind of too chaotic a guy, who has a reputation in many of the small towns in this part of Varisia. Can they help him find a place to settle down and not piss people off so much that they want to strangle him? :)
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I need to point out something, Scarni's are walking fine on the law line for years, a smuggler or leader of entire plot wouldn't fight to the death ever. There are always illegal/legal means to get out of the jail.
If you ask me, best and realistic type of quest would be how PCs find out about some event of the Jubrayl and go on their personal mission to mess it up for him. They report this to sheriff, but he is helpless in the case. After it Jubrayl politely tells PCs to "back of".
Jubrayl shouldn't get into jail ever really. He is to far above the law and should prove highly evasive. Additional quests can be opened for later about this and after large amount of effort Jubrayl finnaly gets into jail when enough evidence is presented.
Bad guys should always be somewhere really, you can't just exterminate them all.
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I made a sort of Jubrayl-focused sidequest occur in the giant raid on Sandpoint. Basically I had the battle cut away to 8 various NPCs at different moments, and handed control of those NPCs to the players for the duration of short encounters. The point was effectively to show them that the PCs aren't the only ones in Sandpoint who are doing stuff in the heat of the battle.
At any rate though, one of the NPCs to be focused on was Jubrayl, and one possible event for him was robbing the Valdemar manor in the confusion of the attack. Bascially with the stress of Hemlock's constant suspicion, the recent goblin raid, the ghoul uprisings, and now an attack by giants, Jubrayl finally snapped. He decided to grab what he could from a wealthy, sickly old man, and then flee Sandpoint for Riddleport (joining up with other Sczarni there) before anyone caught on to him. He pretty much just wanted to be done with the town once and for all, and couldn't help but go for one last big score on his way out.
One possible event for each of the other 7 NPCs was catching Jubrayl in the act and having to fight alongside lord Valdemar against Jubrayl. One side could very well end up dead, Jubrayl could find himself defeated and captured
I think I'm planning to use Titus Scarnetti to introduce a Jubrayl side quest. Something along the lines of Jubrayl getting above himself and Titus wanting to put him back in his place. One of the PCs in my game already has ties to the Sczarni, so a request of this nature should fit somewhat naturally.
The intent of the whole thing, to be honest, is to have another "noble" show an interest in the party and the attractive female PC in question, in an attempt to misirect them from thinking of Foxglove once the murders start in part two.
I'm also planning on having Titus complain about Jubrayl, but for a different reason: one of my players is a big believer in the Law of Conservation of Detail. (A trait which has paid off in a Pathfinder Society scenario. Give him a break, he's new.) He actually climbed up on the roof of the Rusty Dragon and poked the rusty dragon with his sword. He still thinks it's going to come to life. Since he's playing his character as being really paranoid and suspicious due to being a half-elf, it's working out fine. But I'm using Titus, Jubrayl, Cyrdak Drokkus, and whoever else comes to mind to be interested in the female aasimar, in a desperate attempt to keep my players from immediately realizing who the murderer is.
I also have a side quest that will hopefully (ha!) distract them during the murders: one of my players was foolish enough to include an evil twin in his character's backstory. Mwahahahahahaha.
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I really really like what Malag has said about sczarni an also about Jubrayl. I feel that he should be especially hard to nail down on any crime. He is a slippery eel and has wheels within wheels always in play. My players already encountered him at the dragon races as a smooth talking man behind the scenes. The sheriff has already told the party his suspicions.
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One of my players, a female elven druid, seems to be getting attracted to Jubrayl; I haven't yet dropped any explicit notes about him being into bad business, just random comments about how he seems to be involved in most everything in Sandpoint and how he seems to have money for a nice lifestyle, and so on. Almost like he was a politician or noble or something. I think I'm going to let it run for a little bit before starting to drop the hints that everything isn't kosher. He did a Harrow card reading for her -- I figured he doesn't know how to do it for real, but he knows enough about his plans for Sandpoint in order to successfully bluff the upcoming events into his reading. They're probably also going to go for a date at a pony race, and of course he's going to win big, and later on either the ranger or druid will start to suspect if the other ponies were drugged.
I had a little fun with Jubrayl during Burnt Offerings, and I was planning to make him another victim of the Skinsaw Man if the party continued to stick around in Sandpoint (rather than investigate the farm). My side-quest was a simple sneaky combat/investigation bit.
There was some chaos in Sandpoint while Hemlock was out of town-- in particular, the PCs had hired some dwarven miners to deal with the smuggler's tunnels before actually entering the associated encounter areas. :) As such, the dwarves ended up getting killed down there, and the only guard of note remaining in the town was the despicable Figgins (an NPC addition that the party despised). The PCs were therefore engaged in the tunnels, and Jubrayl decided that it would be a perfect opportunity to get hold of the Pixie's Kitten.
There was something of a town riot when small fires were started by one of Jubrayl's men, drawing attention to the north side of town, and he used out-of-towners to raid the Kitten and remove the "management", planning to send Kaye Tesarani and some of her employees away on a ship owned by a sympathizer (either killing her, selling her into slavery, or something equally vile). The PCs fortunately noticed this in time, raided the boat and saved her. They then teamed up with a notorious lady from the Kitten (one that had been romantically involved with one of the PCs) to clear out the Kitten itself.
Naturally, they were unable to trace it back to Jubrayl (despite their belief that he was responsible) and it was his bartender who took the fall for the plot. It was obvious that new management would have been installed at the Pixie's Kitten (someone who would have claimed to have a bill of sale from Tesarani, who had left town in "an emergency"). Jubrayl made sure that he hadn't directly interacted with any of the out-of-towners involved in the plot.
Jubrayl played a big role in our campaign early on, in large part due to one of our character's choice of campaign traits.
She made a Kitsune Sorcerer (Fey bloodline) who's heritage was a mystery even to her given that Kitsune would be so rare in that part of the world. She had been taken in by the Scarzni at an early age as a misfit and a misanthrope, and had spent most of her youth learning to hide the fact that she wasn't human (level 1 feat - Realistic Likeness). She had been 'passed along' to Jubrayl in payment of a debt from another gang, and was considered a valuable asset given her ability to change her appearance at will and cast powerful charms and sleep spells. She had been in Sandpoint for a few weeks by the time the Swallowtail Festival took place and had already proven her worth to Jubrayl, though he used her 'mongrel' status as a means to keep control of her.
With the events of the goblin raid, she got swept up and became a 'Hero of Sandpoint', something Jubrayl at first thought to use, but then decided it was a bad idea due to her sudden visibility. Moreover, for the first time in her life she wasn't being shunned or treated like a valued pet, but as an actual hero worthy of respect. Combine that with the fact that another PC took a romantic interest in her and witnessed Jubrayl's verbal abuse and all of a sudden the Scarzni were losing a valuable asset. Even worse, Jubrayl feared that she might turn on him and reveal what she knew. His threat of exposing her questionable heritage kept her from doing just that until after Burnt Offerings, although the PC whom had expressed interest in her was jumped by some thugs of Jubrayl's and warned to keep away from her.
The group learned of her racial background when she fell victim to the Vargouille's kiss from the Catacombs of Wrath - Father Zantus was able to heal her with a scroll of Cure Disease when the symptoms manifested themselves in the night, and he and the PC's agreed to keep her secret.
Things came to a head between Burnt Offerings and The Skinsaw Murders. The PC's had decided to purchase the land of Choppers Isle and build a shared hall and dwelling there - once the Skinsaw Murders began, Jubrayl began spreading rumors that the PC's had awoken the Chopper's spirit, that they were in league with the monster. He used Ven Vinder's emotional state (Shayliss was kidnapped by Aldern in a 'Lust' plot twist not long after her sister was killed) and the suspicious nature of a few others to turn public opinion against the PC's. He hoped to discredit them and drive their interference from the town, culminating on a group of the townsfolk marching on their hall, torches in hand, demanding that the PC's leave. It was there that Jubrayl played his trump card, exposing the Kitsune as a 'monster' who had taken human form in order to hide amongst them.
Hemlock, Zantus and the Mayor interceded, but it was Ameiko who held the crowd at bay, telling a story (Bardic Fascinate) of the werefoxes from her homeland, as told to her by her mother when she was very young, and of the luck and protection they brought with them. Eventually the crowd was dispersed, but the event served as a great incentive for the PC's to figure out who was truly behind the murders.
Much later, after Ironbriar was revealed, the PC's returned to Sandpoint and had a showdown with Jubrayl, resulting in his death and the arrest of many of his gang members. All in all, he was a very useful NPC.
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I think any quick plot that results in Jubrayl's capture/downfall does a great disservice to him. He's a wily crime lord who instills loyalty in his men, and uses a network of blackmail, extortion and murder to get what he wants. He's a made man, to steal a term from the Mafia. He doesn't do anything himself, because that would lead back to him. He tells one of his lieutenants what to do, and if their operation goes bad, they're the one that takes the fall. He's Al Capone. He's untouchable. The smoking gun is in the Scarnetti manor, and the PCs have the chance to get that once the raid occurs in Book 4. If they can wait that long, they'll finally have one over on the Sczarni, and could end their involvement in Sandpoint for years to come.
In my group, I've got a Shoanti who took the Family Ties trait. He was orphaned when his tribe was massacred, and a group of Varisians took pity on the child and raised him as their own. He fell in with the Sczarni, and worked as a legbreaker for awhile before finding the faith of Abadar and becoming an inquisitor. He's now trying to reconcile his past and his present, trying to see if there's a way he can balance his faith and his ties to Jubrayl. It's not going well so far! Jubrayl wants the tough back, and is trying to find a way to get him to renounce his faith and rejoin the fold. I'm also planning on bringing Sandru into the mix and showing the positive side of the Varisians, a far more welcoming and caring side of the People, rather than the thieving, murderous sort that the Sczarni represent.
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Jubrayl didn't fair so well in my campaign. He got squished by the Kreeg ogres while running for his life.
So, I did the show Szcarni gang thing, and the party ended up capturing Jubrayl. Problem is, the party got REALLY good and letting Xanesha and Lucrecia keep getting away.
So, when the party finally cornered the Lamias at Fort Rannick, they found out that Xanesha had freed Jubrayl while he was in transport to Magnimar for sentencing. Jubrayl ended up being treated as a pawn, and when the Snake Sisters (as my party called them), retreated to the boss in Fort Rannick, the Kreeg leader saw Jubrayl as just another tasty morsal, and ate him. While he was still alive. It wasn't a good end, at least not for Jubrayl.
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I like these ideas of using him for side quests.
One of the best campaigns I ever played in, a minor NPC managed to escape justice from us players, and became a recurring pain in the a$$. His favorite way of staying alive, was as the fight went against him, he threw down his weapon, dropped to his knees, and pleaded for mercy to the most LG of the players.
So I am thinking, run one of these side quests, but when the fight goes against him, he pleads for his life, in a sort of pathetic, sniveling sort of way. Once in jail he manages to escape and come back later in Book 2, in Magnimar to offer trouble again. Then later when the giants attack sand point, he could somehow play a role in the attack...
Copper Ferret Faction? ***SPOILERS!*** Nho Peking!
Reviving this thread.
http://ollywright.me/pathfinder/Sandpoint_npc_list.pdf is a blessing of Desna! During the Festival, Drokkus's speech is supposed to be a "Jay Leno" commentary on getting the new Cathedral up, but I didn't have a speech, no time or resources really to write one or find one on the 'Net, if it exists, and I really didn't want to keep the group listening to me anyway if I could help it. SO... I found Gaia Acari there ready to "tug on the Barbarian's cape" for sport, which she did. She later came by to meet the group at the Rusty Dragon and trade back the Barbarian's Magic Coin for the slug she put in its place, and get to talk with the other two "sneaky types". The girl mentioned she tends to hang out at the Fatman's Feedbag with her "boys".
I had a PC Kylan last night that stopped in Fatman's Feedbag and used slight-of-hand to get Jubrayl's attention when he kept ignoring her. Jubrayl wants Pixie's Kitten shut down so he can set up something under his own management, so if Kylan could do something about that, that's the "fun" Jubrayl was willing to offer. Gaia Acari was sent by Jubrayl to work with the PC Kylan. They were to come up with some way to separate Belor from protecting his girlfriend Kaye, the owner of Pixie's Kitten.
Kylan prepares for the night setting up alarms and caltrops to sleep and wakes up with Gaia sitting on a stool staring at the PC. Gaia makes it clear the girl is already working with the Sheriff and Kylan harms Belor, Kaye or Gaia's "people", Gaia will kill Kylan. Jubrayl has been hurting "her people" and Gaia wants to "take him down". This works out that Gaia and Kylan have the same goals and intentions, and they will work together to take down Jubrayl.
Gaia has a "drop" of putting "random things" in various places as a code, so she can't deliver specific messages without risk, but it's a way for her to communicate with Sheriff Hemlock while she knows she is being watched for things he can spot from the ground. Gaia can take 20 on many climbs with a +11 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P5akoQ_eNI) which is how she managed to enter the room and acrobatics past the caltrops.
Haladir's suggestion early on in this thread looks like a good one. I'll keep in mind Adam Christman's suggestions, but they don't seem to quite have the right feel to them. Oh yeah, Kylan is the focus for Foxglove, so Haladir's idea keeps getting better and better as I turn it over. Having some Sczarni attack the PC group on the way back from the Boar Hunt would be very interesting. I'll have to develop that based on what I've given so far. Ideally, Kylan would reveal her true attitude towards Jubryal in front of Foxglove, where Foxglove would take it into his head to "help" as the Skinsaw Man. But I'm new at this, and the more complicated I make it the more likely it is to come apart, so suggestions would be welcome.
I do like the idea of Jubryal being the first victim of the Skinsaw man simply because it becomes a Done Deal off the table and wouldn't have opportunity for things to go sideways because of the group.
If Jubryal is removed from the table, that leaves 1) a power vacuum among the local thugs, someone will step in to fill it, and 2) Titus Scarnetti loses his Heavy for doing dirty work, and the one who steps in to fill the power vacuum among toughs will likely be the one to offer help to Titus. So... fun fun fun!
Jubrayl had an encounter with my PC the first session we played ROTRL. While Jubrayl and his man were cheating in the "Dragon Racing" game. My PC (a fighter) stood up to him. He won the fist fight, then Belor took Jubrayl to the garrison for causing trouble. I'm taking this opportunity for my player to have some rivalry and bad blood with the Sczarti and Jubrayl, can make a hell good sidequest out of this. (Or add to him in the main quest)
I guess this deserves a spoiler:
I had Jubrayl steal a magic item of the PCs. Who then had to ask around town to find out who the likely cultprits were, then find them - in the Fatman's Feedbag.
My PCs walked right into it - the barbarian was waving his fancy new sword (from Korovus) around in the Rusty Dragon. Showing off has consequences...
The encounter I kept with only a partial fight and lots of role playing - it was mostly so the PCs could get to know about the Sczarni more than wipe them out.
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I introduced Jubrayl very early and he's a constant side quest ever since. (we're now halfway trough book 4)
One thing I made sure of was that Jubrayl was smart enough to lead organized crime without getting arrested and, learning from my research of constantly watching the Godfather trilogy, gave him a strong and solid motive of 'looking after the Varisians in town, since nobody else does'.
That motive is of course not entirerly true, but it's - to him - no lie either.
Andthat is of course true for all Jubrayl has done so far. Never lying, but never telling the truth at the same time, trying to get the best out of every situation for him or the Sczarni. He's an opportunist in my campaign, sometimes helping the PC's out of situations with seemingly no cost at all.
Does my group trust him? Of course not. They hate him, trying to find a way to bring him to justice. But so far he hasn't done anything that he couldn't negotiate away or that he couldn't reasonably explain with 'It's better for the Varisian community that way'.
When they found evidence after the