| Damir |
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Players who recognize the Jarl Damir, the priest Crispen, or the spy Anders should avoid this thread. Seriously, it is going to have many spoilers which you don't want to have spoiled.
This will also contain some spoilers for the books up to the Varnhold Vanishing, for those who are not in my group but still want to avoid such spoilers.
I recently became the GM of a group running through Kingmaker, right as we transitioned between Rivers Run Red and the Varnhold Vanishing. In order to fit with the college schedule (including players graduating), I've heavily modified the adventure.
As the quick finale for the school year, the party has just become shadow rulers of the Varnhold (more on that later) and is now focusing their attentions east to the centaurs who have been engaged in warfare with their now-ally. I'm working out ideas of what they'll be meeting. They're currently level 8 and mythic tier 1.
Captain Adoni Ro’Vaugn: A clever and well intentioned half-elf swordlord in training (Chaotic Good Rogue/Sorcerer [Draconic Bloodline] with skill in charging into trouble and almost dying) from a minor noble family in Restov (who was fleeing a rather murderous uncle).
(NPC: My former character)
Jarl Damir Surtova:An overly ambitious minor human nobleman and tax collector unofficially exiled into the south by his distant second cousin, the king. Originally a cowardly bureaucrat, he has slowly grown to be a fairly responsible knightly figure due to the weight of the crown (which was fashioned from the horns of the Stag Lord’s helm, so many call him “the Stag Lord” now). (A NN --> LN --> LE --> LN Bard with a level of Cavalier aiming towards the Battle Herald prestige class, Mythic Path: Marshal)
(NPC: The cohort to my former character)
Darius of Port Ice: Damir’s bastard son (human), born into the criminal underworld and trained as an assassin - but redeemed by followers of Sarenrae (Lawful Good Monk with a level of Inquisitor for the Conversion Inquisition - primarily an armored tank and a shield for the cowardly Damir) who inadvertently sent him on a mission straight into the realm of the father figure he never had. Darius acts as the Grand Diplomat of Ithorn.
Brother Crispen: An elven friend of a friend of Adoni’s and an extremely zealous battle cleric of Sarenrae (who has a minor, but fervent, following in Brevoy). His somewhat sheltered upbringing in monasteries may be the cause of his zeal to convert all the Stolen Lands to his faith. (Lawful Good Cleric. Domains: Healing and FIRE. Mythic Path: Hierophant) Crispen became the High Priest of Ithorn, mostly since he was the only religiously motivated player character.
(Cohort)
Ignus: A human friend of Crispen’s and an aspiring blacksmith. Has a tendency to fail any kind of save, leading to many close scrapes with death thus far. (Lawful Good? Fighter) Ignus holds no council position.
Nemo Uesagi: A custom-shapeshifter-animal-race minstrel (Neutral Good Bard [Sound Striker] / Dragon Disciple. Mythic Path: Archmage) from the mysterious Gronzi Forest.
Nemo’s village needed a safe haven from the coming storm in Brevoy, and allying with the rest of the party (the character entered at the end of the first book) was the best way to achieve this. While he is sometimes arrogant of his arcane power and bloodline, Nemo often tries to do the right thing.
Nemo is the Councilor for Ithorn. He also tends to be the guy to turn to when anything magical comes up, and with Damir out of the picture he’s often the (masked, due to his inhuman appearance) face of the party.
(leaving soon)
Thorvald Thorvaldson and Bofan Thorvaldson: Dwarven warriors (Thorvald is a True Neutral Fighter, Bofan is a Neutral Good Ranger with a wolf companion. I think they're Champion and Guardian respectively) who sought to find the secrets of their ancestors in the Stolen Lands (due to family legend). Both are sturdy in physique and loyalty. Thorvald has recently opened a thriving series of inns in the capital city. Thorvald serves as General while Bofan is the Marshal.
Anders: A former good-guy-crime-boss (Chaotic Good Ninja. Mythic Path: Trickster) in Restov who married into the Ro’Vaugns and “retired” to spying roles in Ithorn in order to give his family a safer place to live. Anders stepped into realm politics after the death of Adoni, and after an initial testing period (as the more lawfully bent party was very wary of the no-rules Anders) has mostly fit in with the council.
Anders is the current Spymaster of Ithorn.
(Cohort)
Hickory 47: A custom-android-esque-race living construct who fled his creator and lived with Anders’ former good-guy-gang. (reflavored gunslinger) Hickory just got introduced, but I don't think he's going to be taking a government position.
(NPC due to player absence)
Draug: A fearsome and not always perfectly sane Gnome (Chaotic Neutral - generally on the evil side - Barbarian) (who originally masqueraded as a Druidic guide) with an obsession with tea-bagging everything and rarely wearing appropriate clothing.
Draug is the Royal Enforcer of Ithorn, because nothing is more terrifying than Draug.
Through a gauntlet of misadventures, the merry band killed bears, allied with kobolds, and slew the Stag Lord in an only somewhat botched infiltration of his fort. Oleg was a staunch ally throughout, and is the Treasurer and general guy-who-runs-things-behind-the-scenes in the government. The party suspiciously accepted Akiros as a Warden and the enigmatic bard Nemo as a Councilor (after he brought them the gold they needed to begin their settlement). Thorvald’s relative Bofan also entered the story around this time.
Book 2 turned out to be mainly about interpersonal struggles in the new government, with the actual villains often taking more minor roles (story-wise, not gameplay-wise). In the religious tensions between the fervent Brother Crispen (Sarenrae) and the pragmatic Jarl Damir (Abadar), Crispen asked his superiors for helpers. They sent Darius, who had a... rocky initial relationship with his father.
[ One notable exception to the distant-villains was an ancient tower, imprisoning a similarly ancient demon-influenced lord of part of the Stolen Lands (the exact borders were not specified)... who we may have inadvertently released (but we killed him too! and we urinated in the ashes of his beloved, who we also killed! We’re the good guys!). ]
But in the Talonquake, the now character-grown characters all gathered to fight a truly terrible foe… and found that an essence of its power sought them after it died (Mythic Owlbear fight becomes the mythic ascension for the party).
And that’s where I became GM, inheriting a band of heroes (with fairly heroic actions - while Damir/Nemo/Thorvald sometimes chose ruthlessly pragmatic options, and sometimes the party was trigger happy, the party tended to try to deal honestly and fairly with everyone they met) testing out their new powers, beginning to feel confident in their ever so slowly growing realm.
The party was then met with an eyepatched egotistical man calling himself "Duke" Maeger Varn, visiting their realm to berate them about the bandits they had (according to him) been neglecting to take care of in between the two states. Their ruler, Damir, had been reclusive due to assassination threats (that's how we're explaining him not adventuring with the rest) - so they went to deal with the visiting dignitary themselves.
The party fairly quickly realized that Maeger was trying to meddle with their affairs in an attempt to eventually take over their land. They got rid of him as gently and firmly as they could.
A visit by a certain Lady Jamandi Aldori confirmed that Maeger's desire was to be proclaimed the leader of the settlements Restov had made in the south, and that he was winning the political battle due to rather unspecified power. Also, some emissaries went missing in his realms, and she wanted the party to find out about it.
They also found out that Lady Aldori's steward was a spy - in fact, he was the treacherous uncle of Adoni (and step-uncle of Anders) - but that's been more or less a sidenote so far.
(They then had their first mythic-vs.-mythic fights. They had heard about a great Roc and its lovely eggs in the mountains. Despite how the dwarven part of the party - usually used as the meatshield and muscle - was busy [players were busy, so the dwarves were off training their troops], and despite hearing suggestions that the Roc was a personification of the storm itself, the squishy side of the party bravely marched in...
...and were soon cowering in a rained out tower. "Tempest", the ancient Roc, had a bit more power than they were expecting. You could say that it was a... shocking experience. They managed to run away with an egg by some clever usage of magic and teamwork later on.)
Maeger Varn's sister, Katrin Varn, was left in the party's realm as a diplomat (and to spread Varnhold propaganda). In a surprising twist, the paladin-esque cleric Crispen wooed her (coached both in and out of game by the bard) and the two fell in love.
She mentioned that she had lost a friend in an ancient ruins, under unspecified circumstances. Crispen bravely gathered the party to investigate.
They found the ancient ruins and fought their way through a creepy labyrinth to find the now-insane Ariadne (Katrin's friend) and an ancient cyclops who declared himself "The Keeper of Fate". After his first few words (which were exactly as melodramatic as you would expect from a Keeper of Fate), they brutally murdered him.
They realized that while many of the magical equipment of the Keeper of Fate died with him, one important artifact - the one the whole facility was built around - was missing. An "Oculus of Fate" which absorbed mythic power and powered the great surveillance of the Keeper (who was set their by the ancients to keep great [mythic] power - and the dangers that grew with it - from ever recurring on the planet).
When they left, they headed towards the now burning city (in reality, it was just a combat between the Roc Tempest and the Varnholders - a bit of a bait covered railroad on my part) of Varnhold and found Maeger Varn waiting for them... with the oculus in his eye.
After realizing that Maeger was actually killing people to absorb their mythic power, corrupted as he was by the promise of power, there was a grand fight between the two parties.
The good guys won, partially due to the power of love (as they got Katrin to switch sides), and they've been setting up a puppet government in the Varnhold now, under Restov's blessing (as Restov just wants someone in charge).
I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with them. Vordekai and the ancient-protector-Nomen are out of the story (the battles with the Varnhold took the position of big-bad, and I want to focus on Brevoy for the later portions), so the centaurs are just the thorn in the Varnhold's side.
I don't want to make the centaurs purely savages, but I don't want them to just be "noble savage" misunderstood good guys instead.
I have some idea for centaur politics (revolving around a matriarch and three consorts - each of which have their own motives which the party can anger or aid), but I'm not sure how the centaurs should meaningfully affect player adventures in the area, especially without making fights get a bit cookie cutter.
I do have ideas for different types of centaurs-with-class-levels (some Zen Archer monks for the classic steppe archer, some barbarians for the spearmen, etc.), but I'm not sure what goals the players can have in the area (aside from just killing centaurs when they randomly encounter them).
I want the civil war.
I'm thinking that their achievements may give them the honor of having a fête in their honor in Restov (which will, of course, go horribly wrong in the end) as an opportunity for them to meet with the movers and shakers in Brevoy (as they get to choose who they want to ally with when the war comes, and then can have adventures gaining the trust of allies to build up a coalition).
But I'm unsure how to do this without boring even the more social-situation focused players. Ideas? What other ways can I introduce the major noble families and other allies (to avoid just dumping it all at once)?