My players are currently investigating the Kopru Ruins and are asking some very tough questions about Triel Eldurast's background. So far, they've only been talking amongst one another rather than asking me (or any NPCs) questions directly, but its only a matter of time before some NPC gets the third degree here. Here are some of the questions they've been asking:
1. Why did Triel kill all those guards? If she's a worshipper of Bane (my game takes place in FR), she's probably Lawful Evil. "Just going nuts" isn't a common occurence for the cold, calculating murderousness of Lawful Evil.
Right now my thinking is to create a tenuous link between her and Vhalantru, Thifirane Rhiavadi, Embril Aloustinai and other "secret lords" of Cauldron. This can provide both foreshadowing and a logical reason behind "executing traitorous dissadents".
2. Why do Cora Lathenmire and Triel Eldurast look so much alike? The resemblance is uncanny! There's also a little resemblance to the Lord Mayor...
My response to this will probably be that Cora Lathenmire's mother was the older sister, or perhaps cousin, of Triel, thus explaining the familial resemblance. As for the Lord Mayor, perhaps the similarities there are just a regional trait. Any ideas?
3. Why did she steal the wands in the first place?
Though the stated answer of ransoming them back to Cauldron to fund her army is an acceptable one, it doesn't have the flair of the truly villainous. Money is rarely a good enough motive for criminal masterminds such as a Cleric of Bane. What I'm thinking about doing is making them part of a tyrannical plot to hold Cauldron hostage while sowing fear, strife and discontent, all things that her glorious God would desire.
Thoughts? Ideas? Interesting stories to tell about your own alterations? Please let me know.
