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Hello all,
After a false start, my Kingmaker campaign has gotten off the ground. After Aveneas Valyrion, novice swordlord managed to slay the Stag Lord in a glorious duel, my PCs began Rivers Run Red. Aveneas is looking to become the king, and after his first sword was lost in combat with Beaky (lodged in the flesh of the fleeing Owlbear), he is looking for a sword worthy of a king. I have already introduced the legend of the Lonely Warrior back in Olegs, and plan on having the noble's steward, who was left there, have uncovered a lead as to the location of the barrow. My problem is how to justify his blade as being an Aldori Dueling Sword. I'd like to use some of the ideas found HERE. So my current thoughts are that The Lonely Warrior was a skilled warrior among his people, who tried to defend his tribe against the agressions of other tribes and dark fey. When he was defeated by (someone, not sure who would be best, yet), he sought out the tutelage of an Aldori master. But he was impatient, and left to defend his people before his training was complete. He rowed with his brother, who saw what he had done as abandoning the clan. Nonetheless, he defended against the fey and others for several years longer. The Lonely Warrior was eventually slain by Talonquake. Sometime after his death, the Lonely Warrior's brother, now leader of their community, sought his tomb and took the blade in hopes it would grant him the strength to defend against the dark fey threatening his people. The brother took the blade from his brother's resting place, angering spirit of the Lonely Warrior.
The Lonely Warrior rose from his cairn and raced after him. As he arrived at his old village, now under attack by the fey, he found his brother ensnared by The Dancing Lady. He could have broken her spell and saved his village, but instead he advanced on his brother, snapped his neck, and reclaimed his blade. As his brother's neck snapped, so to did the blade, broken by the sheer rage emitted by the struggle and the willful disregard for the fey threat. Since then, the Lonely Warrior has remained in his cairn, slaying all who enter. Occasionally, heroes hear of this powerful blade and seek to claim it for their own, but few survive the Lonely Warrior's Barrow.
Anyone? Thoughts? Comments? Concerns?
A few thoughts on this... First, I had to read it a few times to really understand what was going on. I don't know how your group is going to find out about it all but it all seems a little much. (But I like fairly basic things.)
Do you think the players will care about the backstory enough to research it or are you going to have an NPC tell them, even if the PCs don't ask?
I'm really boring so I'd have something like:
Guy from Mivon wanted to go prove himself against the swordlords in Brevoy and was hoping to regain some honour for his family. (Mivonese swordlords are looked down upon by those in Brevoy). On his way to Brevoy he was waylaid by some fey creature(s), they managed to kill him, and they broke the sword because it's cold iron.
Yeah, I'm sorry about the wall of text. I really need to get better about that. My players do tend to do research (and have NPC employees specifically to help), and I planned on having the spirit of The Lonely Warrior possess his blade, which could relate some of it. While I like your option, and it certainly explains the way an Aldori blade made it to the Stolen Lands, I was hoping to stay within the vague outline given in the book, and hoped to incorporate some things from the link. Plus, the fey don't seem like the sort to build cairns for those they slay :D
Right! He was a barbarian warlord! I had forgotten...
It wasn't the wall of text that was my issue. I think it was more that I was trying to figure out when it all happened so was thinking of that more than following along. Your write-up makes it sound like it was relatively recent because, in my mind, the current inhabitants of the Forgotten Keep haven't been there for very long. (The social dynamic of the group makes me think they wouldn't be together for more than a couple of years.)
I kept the Lonely Warrior as a barbarian to hint towards the tribes to the west. And because there's a couple of barbarian things in the area so it seems suitable. But having a spirit encourage them to protect the land, possibly to rebuild the area slightly influenced by the spirit could be good.
Oh! and since he was a swordlord perhaps the spirit could be a little antagonistic when the group starts to drift away from Brevoy. (Or could influence the PC so that there's issues with Mivon if you go that route.)
Ah, I see. What might work is if the current inhabitants of the Forgotten Keep hadn't been the ones to destroy the village in the first place. I got the impression that the Dancing Lady was an ancient being, and the others were very recent additions, so she could have assisted, with them only venturing in recently. I do like the idea of the spirit making trouble in their dealings with Mivon. Do you think that the Warrior having been a barbarian trained by the swordlords would be plausible?
Barbarian being trained by them seems off to me, but what if the barbarian tribe was an enemy of Mivon? Perhaps the barbarian in the cairn had killed the original owner of the Aldori sword and claimed the sword as his own? Maybe the original settlement was an attempt by Mivon to move into the area but after awhile the barbarians raided and sacked the city? Or maybe the whole area belonged to Mivon once upon a time but the barbarians came in and chased them out.
The barbarian keeping (and using) the sword for years after chasing the Mivonese away makes sense to me.
How long people have been in the tower is completely up to you. I didn't put much thought into either the tower or the cairn as my players never asked about either of them.
I like it! I think I'll go with that. I like the idea of the Lonely Warrior having driven off the Mivonese. What makes this all perfect is that the player of the swordlord started the game hyper-aggressive to the Mivonese, but has begun mellowing as the game progresses. Thanks for the help.