Dragon's Demand [Spoilers[ - Sesserak the Kobold


Adventures

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Sesserak is the throwaway ranger kobold the PCs encounter at the end of the first dungeon, the collapsed witch tower. Though given a fair amount of information, it seems like there's a blatant opportunity here for the PCs to accept her surrender and parlay- gathering information about the kobold hideout (but not spoiling too much of the plot because she's arbitrarily tight-lipped about Aeteperax.)

One of my players seems keenly interested in negotiating and trying to work with the kobolds.

My question is, what is Sesserak's overall outlook on cooperation, both with her tribe and with Big A? Is she a fervent supporter of him like the Chief, still loyal to their old demon lord, or a mix/neither? If my players try to get her to broker a peace/understanding between the kobolds and the humans, how hard will she work on that? Will she refuse to return outright, believing it's an insta-death? Would she at least play along? Or would she genuniely be open to figuring something out peacefully?

I don't see them avoiding fighting the kobolds entirely, I already expect some of those loyal to Big A and the Chief to be irredeemably so. Should I change that? If my players really want to try and seek to negotiate, and go the extra mile, is there any scenario where the Chief steps down peacefully with Sesserak's help/influence?

The best way I can think of is them helping the Chief realize he's getting played, but I'm not sure how to introduce that so soon. My players know there's a dragon in the game (spoilers, right?) so it's not like revealing that much to them will ruin the story.

General thoughts? Experiences? Opinions?


Too late for your game, but here goes.

I just searched the PDF and there are only 2 mentions of her personality. First quote:

Quote:
They're terribly nervous about the repercussions of the overly dramatic collapse. They intended only to kill Hunclay, not to collapse the entire tower. Now they've decided to hole up here until Sesserak devises a plan for explaining this to their chieftain.

So we know she's scared of the chieftain enough to make up lies or cover stories. Second quote:

Quote:
If reduced below 10 hit points, Sesserak asks to parley. If the PCs agree, she reveals that the tunnel in area A15 leads to the quarry and the lair of her tribe. This betrayal shows she has no plans to return, now that she's failed twice.

So we know she's so scared of death that she will sell out her entire tribe to get away and live. She's sort of the opposite of those adventures where every monster is listed as "fights to the death" and the players are like, "Will ANY monster surrender?" The answer in this module is that yes, absolutely, Sesserak wants out.

So as for your questions about Ataperax, and whether she's loyal, the answer has to be almost certainly not. She'd let everyone she knows die if she got away. But ALSO, you made mention that her lack of info about Ataperax was arbitrary. Why does it have to be arbitrary? It could easily be that she's too low-level in the tribe to have any info. This is chieftain level classified info. She can't reveal what she doesn't know. Her job was just "take out Hunclay." So she did. Badly.

Will she broker peace? Well, if it means she lives, we already know she's inclined to say yes. However, we also know that she's got a CHA of 8 with no social skills. She's clearly a grunt. Could she escort the PCs through some hostile territory? Maybe. She might use the PCs to deflect from questions about why Hunclay's death was botched. You know, "But chief, look at this new development! Big pink-skins are here with important news!" She absolutely shouldn't negotiate on her own, and if left to do that, she's going to flee. She knows she sucks at it; she spends the entire time she's alive in this module being in trouble.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder Adventures / Dragon's Demand [Spoilers[ - Sesserak the Kobold All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Pathfinder Adventures