I don't know if this is the right place to post this (and my apologies if I have put anyone out), but I find myself in an interesting situation. You see, my games tend to be "heroes saving the world" kind of campaigns, and, well, I wanted a change. So I had been planning on running a garden variety kingdom building campaign when I saw the Kingmaker AP. Being the extremely busy professional that I am, I thought to myself, "self, this is awesome...kingdom building campaign that requires little extra effort...just add dice!" So, I announced the new game and my players were extremely happy.
That was several months ago. We are now at the beginning of Book 4. And...Well, this campaign doesn't even resemble kingmaker anymore. You see, I like to give my players a lot of leeway to make their own story and they have taken liberties....oh, have they taken liberties. We have gone so far afield that we are now in a "heroes saving the world" game. I'm wondering how I'm going to get the game back on track. And, quite frankly, I'm wondering whether I want to get it back on track because the game has been so amazing and so different from anything I've run before that I don't know if I want it to end.
So, the story is primarily about a paladin of Iodomae who has taken on more than he can lance. As the title says, he is juggling many things, many things that at many times can be, and are, incompatible. The story has evolved around this paladin, who is the duke of the kingmaker kingdom. He named it Soliel.
Let me see if I can fill you in on the background of the players a little bit, so you can get an idea of the cast of characters:
Kelas, a male elf from Kyonin who is very old (he looks like a young man). In my game, elves don't age or die from old age. They disappear when their time is up and go to the elven home land. He is a ranger and plays the role of the kingdom's warden.
Marcus, a human male, rogue. He is the son of a tailor from New Stetven with a seedy past. Marcus's father was a rogue/assassin on the DL who was favored by the nobles of New Stetven and was later double-crossed by House Sartova and murdered. Marcus fled to the southern lands and met up with the group to become its spymaster.
Kira and Kyras. Fraternal half-elven twins. Bastard children of Lord Medvyed. After their elven mother died when they were four years old, the elves didn't want them in their community, prejudiced against them and their tainted blood. One day, they were "dropped off" at Lord Medvyed's estate and, much to the chagrin of Lady Medvyed (who had mothered two younger children for Lord Medvyed), they were raised by Lord Medvyed, who never acknowledged them as his "children". Instead, Lord Medvyed publicly referred to them as his cousins, though he always had a fondness for them. Kira is a druid with an affinity for the seasons. Spring is her favorite and she maintains the Spring Domain initially. She is lighthearted and carefree, much like a child. Kyras is a wizard. He was sent away from Lord Medvyed's estate when he was ten years old and apprenticed to a kindly old wizard who taught him the ways of wizardry. Kyras always had an affinity for power and grew to hate his father and stepmother for refusing to acknowledge he and his sister. Brother and sister have an empathic link. Kyras is the kingdom's magister and Kira is its Duchess.
Baerevan DuSoliel, son of Hulrun, Prophet of Iomedae of Mendev in Kenebres. Baerevan is a devoted paladin of Iomedae who fled his homeland shortly after he took vows upon learning that the Prophet Hulrun was not all that he seemed. Convinced that his father was evil he confronted Hulrun in the midst of committing torture on a poor druidess, just as he was about to add sodomy to his crimes. Hulrun threatened Baerevan and knowing that he could do nothing to stop his father, he fled, vowing to return to enact justice on his depraved father. He took up residence in Restov, which has a small temple to Iomedae.
Kira was convinced by her order in the Gronzi Forest to answer the call out of Restov for settlers in the Stolen Lands in order to establish another circle there. Just as she was about to leave, she felt a gut-wrenching pain and had a vision of Kyras in pain. Fearing for his life, she set out to find it and amazingly learned that she instintively knew where to go. She found him, body beaten and twisted into something hideous and unconscious just outside of an old ruined tower. His robes were torn and the skin underneath was burned and blasted. Several of his ribs were broken. His hair had turned from golden blonde to stark white, his skin was gray, he was gaunt and his pupils had constantly moving motes in them. His voice was barely above a whisper and he coughed when he tried to speak (I know, it sounds very similar to Raistlin). With a few melodic words, Kira did her best to heal his physical injuries, but the strange transformations to his hair, eyes, skin and voice did not change.
I will not tell the tale of what he had suffered at this point in the story. But I may be convinced to reveal it should you be interested. After nursing Kyras to health, Kira took Kyras to the Gronzi Forest. On the way, they met Baerevan, who had been out traveling the country of Brevoy. The story of their meeting is also quite facsinating, but it too is a story for another time.
The paladin was, however, immediately stricken with Kira's beauty and guileless charm. Together they traveled first to the Gronzi Forest and then to Restov, where they met Marcus and agreed to form a company to explore the Stolen Lands. With Baerevan reluctantly leadnig this group of adventurers, they eventually established a small Barony that has grown into a Duchy. Duke Baerevan and Duchess Kira DuSoliel rule the Duchy of Soliel from Baerevale City.
That's the cast of PCs. There are also some NPCs who have joined the group. Kesten has stayed on as the General and Akiros has stayed on is its Marshall. Oleg is the duchy's treasurer and Svetlana is its caregiver.
But that's how things essentially started. Things now are .... complicated.
For this post, I will leave you an email I received from Duke Baerevan DuSoliel's player that I received this week:
I'm bored here at work. Next to nothing to do at the moment, so I thought I'd shoot off some of my thoughts on where Baerevan is with quite a few things...
Elf Queen: He's anxious about the audience with her. He knows he messed up royally (pun intended) by giving Asmodeus the power to appear in Arborea and he's sure that's reached her attention. If it hasn't, he's pretty sure Kelas will let her know about it. Baerevan is preparing himself for that, whether it's brought up or not. He'll be honest. Say it was an unforgivable mistake and even a crime and he'll be spending the rest of his life trying to rectify it. His hope, of course, is that he'll win the Queen's trust enough to eventually form a full alliance with Kyonin. But that, I'm sure, will take some time and further diplomacy.
Pitax: He's got that city-state in his crosshairs. The Avatar of Gyronna? Abigail? The assassinations? The attack on Tazzelford. I mean, come on! A full invasion may be out of the question at the moment, but at some point, it may just come have to come to that. He's done with constantly being on the defensive and responding to aggression. He's beginning to feel it's time to go on the offensive when it comes to Pitax. Openly declare war with the city state and
demand their complete surrender to the authority of Soliel, or face a harsh retribution.
Kira: It's tricky. And it's painful. His first concern is that she's finally free and (given the circumstances) happy. She's been used as a plaything by so many cruel, callous and indifferent epic level, all powerful entities (both mortal and divine) that he wants to help her enact justice and even vengeance on those who have wronged her. And that may include some of that ass-hat Grand Druid who (quite wrongfully) accused me of caring nothing for the Green and called Kira arrogant, while at the same time arrogantly counseling that my Contract with Asmodeus was cool by him. Rather arrogant of himself, one might say. If all of Kira's memories remain, then he needs to get everything she knows about Asmodeus and even his father, if she was privy to any of that. He needs to know what Asmodeus wants, what his father is after by allying himself with the Prince of Hell and, if any exist, discern a weakness or flaw or shortcoming in his plans. Though I'm (as a player) beginning to think he doesn't have any real "plans" short of simply enjoying the sport of trying to corrupt a favored soul of Iomedae. But back to Kira. After all they've both been through, it's safe to say the relationship needs to... evolve. Obviously the half-fiend children need both a father and a mother. They need that kind of stability. The Duchy, too, needs both the Duke and the Duchess for its stability, but as for the actual marriage, that's hard to say whether it can or should survive all this. Their relationship should become, for lack of a better word, more business-like. There's work to be done. Romance and affection contributed to much of their woes. It proved to be too potent a distraction and bait for enemies. If they remain married, simply to keep things stable, then perhaps she and the children move to the castle of Tazzelford. It's still part of the Duchy. It's in the middle of the woods, which brings Kira closer to the natural world that she so loves and she can still serve as co-ruler from that post. Baerevan could visit her from time to time for counsel, guidance and other help with managing the Duchy. Plus he would want to visit the children (as much as possible) to raise them as paladins, or at least as LG followers of Iomedae as well as respecters of the Green. If Shawn is still following the Kingmaker class path, then this arrangement can fit nicely into that. Baerevan needs to make his frequent sojourns into the forest for his exclusive and mysterious meetings with this mystic of the Green. (Very Merlin/Arthur) But the relationship should most likely become, well, chaste. They still love each other, they just know that can't be lovers anymore. But all this should be sussed out in RP. Again, this is just where Baerevan's thoughts are at the moment. Thought thoughts and feelings can always change. If Kira's agreeable to this arrangement, then Baerevan will begin the process of turning himself over completely, body and soul, to Iomedae.
Kyras: He wants to double his efforts to rid Kyras of Geb and (more immediately) get him a new leg. (Even though Kyras seems quite content floating around everywhere now.) Baerevan knows he's been neglecting Kyras's plight and that needs to change. If anything, Geb needs to be extracted and dealt with before we even think about marching on Mendev to take out my father. I can't have a wizard prone to failing spells and possibly falling prey to Geb's influence in the middle of a battle royale with a ton of demon and demon-worshippers. So, there's that practical aspect to this as well. But he made Kyras a promise and he means to make good on it.
Kelas: Perhaps Baerevan's greatest failure. He doesn't know how he'll do it, but he needs to fix what's been broken in Kelas. Yes, much of this is fueled by guilt, but rightfully so. It was Baerevan's doing that brought all this about, so it's his duty to correct it. But he first needs to know the nature of Kelas's plight. It seems he's a bit soulless. He can't hear trees anymore? That's quite disconcerting. Or is that he can't bring himself to "hear trees" anymore because it's all too painful? Baerevan's determined to find out the whole truth about what's going on with Kelas and then fix it. It's really killing Baerevan to see Kelas this way and he knows no good will come from ignoring it.
Akiros: We have to bring him back. Simply put, we need him!
The Brothels: They are to be immediately shut down. Soliel will not subsidize, nor will it profit from carnality. They shall be re-opened at Taverns. The women can stay on as barmaids, but there is to be no prostitution. If it comes to light that they are still operating as brothels, they will all be arrested and the establishments shut down. These brothels were opened by edict from a Devil. If anyone wants to debate the Duke on that point, they're more than welcome to,
but it won't be pleasant for them... ;-)
The Duchy: A test of patience. He so wants it to be a kingdom NOW! He wants those 1,000 men. He wants to march of Mendev today and rid the world of his father, but he knows he needs to just keep going slow. Gradually build out. Going too fast will be suicide. So much going on and so much to juggle. What was the name of that small Barony that attacked Tazzelford? That seems to be ripe for absorption into Soliel. There was unfinished business there, right? Some other unsavories still in power we need to deal with? Forgive my horrible memory. I know it's a big (probably first) priority after we finish up with the Elven Queen.
The Kobolds and the Silver Mine: First off, cleanse the place out of the bubonic plague. Secondly, get citizens of Soliel to take over the mining operations. Sad to say, but we still need the silver. I also want to explore those caves. We need to find if even a single Kobold egg survived. They all need to be rescued and brought back to
Soliel to be raised by either Kelas or Natpick. Something good has to come out of this massacre.
The Lizard Men: I also want to try and rebuild what's left of their community. Whether we let them loose to seek out or build a new tribe on their own or we seek out other tribes to come to Soliel and help the survivors reclaim what they've lost. Again, something good needs to come out of Devil Kira's fun-with-hellfire-and-blighting.
I don't even know if anyone finds this interesting or has any interest in learning about what lead us to where we are. But if you do, let me know and I'll post more. Until then, Peace.