Spoiler questions for Mister Vergee's Curse of the Crimson Throne


Curse of the Crimson Throne


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Moonbeam and Tels asked some questions in my campaign journal. Since they are spoiler-heavy for my campaign, I'd rather answer them here, so my players are not tempted to read the spoilers while reading the journal.

Moonbeam's questions:
Moonbeam wrote:
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I noticed that there's a lot of interaction with Queen Ileosa, and that so far she seems presented in a very positive light. Is this all just a big scheme on her part, or is she truly a nicer person in your version of the campaign? Or do you want to leave me in the dark until you reveal it later? :)
Because one of the options I considered when preparing the campaign was to actually make Ileosa a victim: that she wasn't a bad person at the core, but just got possessed by the spirit of Kazavon, who was the true responsible for the atrocities that happened. And then in the last adventure, the heroes would've had a chance to save/redeem Ileosa.
Another option I considered was that they would defeat the real Ileosa, but what about her clones... Like the one in the pyramid in the last adventure? What if *they* could be redeemed?
In the end, I remained closer to the campaign as written, mostly because I guessed that my players didn't share the soft spot I have for this villain, and they would probably find it more rewarding to just kill her and anything even remotely resembling her.
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As you probably noticed, I integrated the moment Ileosa discovered the fangs into the campaign at the time that the artists in the city lost their inspiration, so she hasn't been under influence for that long. Of course the evil influence is already present and strong at the moment, but it will grow a lot bigger over time. Ileosa has grand ambitions, but the citizens of Korvosa reacted badly to her coming to power, so the first thing on her agenda is to get a firmer hold on the throne. She is smart enough to realize that she needs other parties in the city to achieve that, including the PCs. Once she has a firmer footing, she will launch her evil plans. Being a beautiful, clever and charming bard, she has no trouble appearing as a charismatic person. Still, the way she took care of Amprei or the way she avoided Toff Ornelos' demand for a stronger council, already shows that she is more than just a nice little queen. I'm making sure to portray her as a woman who knows what she wants and who takes control (which is already different from the nice queen the PCs met when they returned her brooch).

So far I have no intentions to have Ileosa be redeemable at the end of the campaign.

Tels' questions:
Tels wrote:
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I really liked your portrayal of the Queen, I went with a similar one myself. My players are in Scarwall (and the campaign is on hiatus) and even now, they aren't sure whether the Queen is the enemy, or the victim. However, regardless, they know she has to be stopped.
I really liked the whole Council aspect and that the nobles weren't just immediately willing to dish out money. Nobles are nobles after all. The exception being Glorio. Are you trying to play him off as a kind of 'philanthropic noble' so the party doesn't get an 'obviously evil' vibe?
I wonder how you will play off Doctor Davaulus? Will he still be her personal physician, or perhaps someone else? I tried to play him off as the 'family physician' from Cheliax, but one who is strongly opposed to Korvosa being independent from Cheliax and would like to see it fall. He was there before the plague started, and was the instigator from inside.
Also, I notice you had Toff cancel the Breaching Festival. I remember you're planning on skipping Scarwall completely, but about what time frame do you expect this part of the campaign to start? Because if you give it sufficient time, it's possible the students of the Acadamae will be able to 'double up' on protections from the previous year, if you wish to make it a little harder.
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As I explained in my answer to Moonbeam, Ileosa is using her charms to get a grip on the throne. I guess the PCs will gradually realize she's evil, starting with Trinia Sabor's trial. I'm also setting up Glorio Arkona as the big manipulator behind the riots. Although he's playing it very cool and convincingly at the council, he is the one opposing the queen behind the scenes. Glorio's ultimate goal is to become king. Selena and Feldon, the agitators, are in his employ (actually the Cerulean Society, but that comes down to the same thing). Ambassador Amprei was just a decoy that the manipulators were told to use when they got caught. Arkona is too smart a man to let on that his plans are failing at the moment, so he plays along at the council. But when the queen's evil becomes clear, he will try to convince the PCs to join him. Anyway, both Ileosa and Glorio Arkona are champions at the game of politics.

Doctor Davaulus will be called Doctor Dave Saulus in my campaign (as Davaulus is too much of a give-away to his evil character, it sounds too much like 'devilish'). I won't tie him too tightly to Ileosa, to give her deniability once his evil is exposed. He'll just be an evil alchemist that Ileosa hired through her Red Mantis contacts. There will be more on his modus operandi as well. I'm planning to use Misgivings from Rise of the Runelords as the place where he concocted the disease for the second adventure. It will be situated on south shore of Korvosa Bay and it will be an old Porphyria villa (another decoy - the Porphyria's were banished from Korvosa, but are still present in Cheliax). The PCs will discover and explore the building after the doctor has abandoned it, to find clues that the plague doctors are actually plague bringers.

The Breaching Festival officially takes place on the 29th of Desnus. Since I chose to start my campaign in Desnus, the festival was on the agenda, so I had to make a choice. It seemed only logical to cancel it. The Acadamae has closed its doors and none of its students are allowed out, so why would they suddenly open their doors for a holiday?

As you said, I'll be skipping Skeletons of Scarwall. Although it is a fantastic adventure, my players are no fans of big dungeon crawls and this one is just too big. I also wanted to bring the PCs back to the city sooner and have them have more adventures there. One of the scenario's will be Academy of Secrets. Once the PCs find out that Ileosa has made a deal with a devil, they will need to infiltrate the Acadamae to find the devil's copy of the contract. They will call on the Cerulean Society to share their experience in the Breaching Festival, so in that respect it is actually very good that they have heard of the festival before, but they will not be competing in the actual festival itself, they'll be breaching the academy all on their own.

Sovereign Court

Sounds good... all parties are well represented on your part!

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