Jadrenka: What can she / can't she say? (possible spoilers)


Reign of Winter


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I'm planning out book 3 at the moment and I'm trying to get my head round what Jadrenka can actually say/do. I'm sure it's probably there, but it's making me really confused. For example:

Can she say she's the guardian?
Can she say she can't help then?
What can she say about herself (and what would she want to say)?

I'm trying to plot out how the conversations could fall, but at the moment she's just going to be giving a lot of knowing looks before disappearing in a puff of smoke!


I had Jadrenka able to discuss freely Vsevolod himself (since he's another invader), but not able directly discuss any of the other defenses or inhabitants. (So she could talk about stuff Vsevolod could do, but couldn't discuss where he actually was because that would be helping the party navigate the dungeon.)

She could drop hints about Artrosia itself through riddles, though.

I'm not any good at improvising that sort of thing, so I usually phrased it as "you think she means ____, but you're not 100% positive."

The party learned a lot more when they (a) met Marislova and managed to talk her down from fighting (and convinced her to help - Marislova was pissed that Artrosia had been invaded and Jaddie hadn't told her (I also made Jadrenka LN instead of LE)), and (b) spoke with the Night Hag, who had no such restrictions.

(The party had already killed Caigreal, and even gone into the Crone and killed the Bebilith, without ever meeting Jadrenka, before they returned to the Maiden and barricaded themselves into a room to camp. So Jadrenka simply teleported into the room with them, thanked the party for not killing her apprentice and thanked them for killing some of the demons and giants, and sat down at their campfire to join them for dinner.

(After a show of force, the party had intimidated Gurragurra into standing down, and she told them about the "boss lady." So the party figured out very quickly who Jadrenka was.

I think I had Jadrenka more or less tell them that she couldn't help them with Artrosia, though she did drop some hints through hand-waved riddles. It's been several months since I ran it, so my memory is fuzzy.

(I also had a semi-goofy epilogue after Vsevolod's defeat, with the party's oracle going around with Jadrenka as she started raising the various guardians the party had killed. Not surprisingly, the hag coven didn't get raised.)

If you're good at riddles, come up with some! Riddles are a great way for her to indirectly aid the party.


I have just read the 3rd book and I read somewhere she can tell them that she is not allowed to help them. I do not think she can tell them she is the warden, but you could consider let her tell them in the end when they receive her key.
I plan on playing three different Jadrenkas:
The maiden: like a giggly girl who is flirting with the handsome male PCs
The mother: commenting on that the group has forgotten to wipe their feet and close the doors behind them and has left mess all about
The crone: complaining about her back, the cold drafts and noisy youths (the PCs).


I will roleplay her in the different dungeons much like Luna Eladrin suggested.

I think she can tell the characters whatever she wants, but choose to not, because she is compelled - both by her oath to Baba Yaga and by her changeling nature - to test them. She might drop hints, she might trick or guide them in a specific direction, but she won't tell them she's the warden, unless they have fully gained her trust or attracted her wrath.

I play a slightly different plot, that was suggested in another thread: Jadrenka has been taken prisoner by Caigreal so she can't interfere with the invasion. By doing that, she hopes the invasion succeeds, so Jadrenke has failed her task. After that, Caigreal plands on retaking Artrosa and earn Baba Yaga' favour becomming the new warden.
This adds another layer to the dungeon conflicts and explains why Jadrenka is so elusive: She can only use her powers when the captors aren't looking. Plus she's having problems trusting strangers when she's just been betrayed and captured by he rown mother.

I plan on having her caged behind cold iron bars in either the temple or the Eon Pit whatever is more dramatic appropiate when the players move through the dungeon.


You have just given me an idea. What if Jadrenka is captured while the PCs are in the dungeon? Then you can even add a timer to the adventure and the PCs can prevent the capture.
What did you do with Jadrenka's key? Has Caigreal taken it away or doesn't she know what it is?


I haven't played the dungeon yet, but my plan is for her to still give them random keys.
Caigreal has captured her, but Jadrenka is still the warden. She can still project her image around the Artrosa, activate it's defences and interact with visitors. The hags can't limit her power yet, only restrict her physical movements. They're considering if they should make a ritual or simply hand her to Vsevolod, so he can sacrifice her.

They'll make up their mind when I do during play ;)

This explains why Jadrenka is acting so elusive and random. She's helping/testing the players when the hags aren't watching over her.


But I mean the key to Baba Yaga's hut she is carrying. If I remember correctly, she is carrying the cold nugget.


She'll keep that. She doesn't know what it is for, only that she should give it to Baba Yaga's riders. When the players have earned her trust, she'll give it to her.
The hags aren't powerfull enough to take anything from Jadrenka, and they don't know about the keys.

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