SPOILER LAST WARNING
My players have joined the Sun Clan fully, in fact the barbarian female Weed has Married Krojun and is carrying his child. They did so well during a History of Ashes they have a damn good standing with the Moon Clan as well and are seen as very close friends. The Harrower is seen as a Sister and was courted to join them instead. Again Weed stands out due to great RPing of a situation that won her the Moon Clans deep respect and serves as a weak but growing link to brings a bit of healing to the relationship of the Sun and Moon clans.
They handled the Clan Eater like masters. I changed it bit to make it a lot more Metaphysical and pitted them not only against Cindermaw but once swallowed the two that did the trial had to face all the mistakes and doubts and screw ups from every last book leading to that moment..and there were ALOT annnd this could have killed them the way I did it. I am not a killer GM but I do not pull punches.
All in all they RPed and rolled a damn good AP that ends with the Tribes being as close to untied as they have been in a long time, they did things the AP required to untied everyone and then did things waaay above and beyond. They really went native in fact and saw themselves as Shoanti either fully or in other cases as much as or more than Korvosan, Varisian.
A History of Ashes also saw an end to the inter-party wars. The Chars and in some cases the players tended to be at each others throats at times. Thankfully it was almost always IC... almost. Old wounds were healed and older wounds were being treated or agreed to be worked on, forgiven if not forgotten.
All sounds great right?
The unhealed wounds and the seeds of their failure....
They started with a Cleric of Sarenrae early in the AP. At times the player was very Lawful Stupid to spite being LN I think. The charcarter and the player always or nearly always meant well but again, :awful Stupid also the player was the kind that feels the need to always "shine" to spite the fact that she is not always all that bright "at times". This caused some friction within the party "mostly" IC. Another souce of the inter-party conflict was nobody wanted to lead but nobody wanted to follow either. Poo poo anyone's plans but not put any of their own forward. "I may not have an idea but I know that one is stupid!". In time cracks became fissures. The team was held together mostly by the NPC Sorcerer Harrower to be who was such an emotional wreck the one thing the party agreed on was protecting poor Anaca and saving Korvosa but for their own reasons. Loyalty to the Sable Knights, protecting a father figure who would not leave the city, The Church and so on.
In time things got bad enough for the Cleric to walk away (ooc reasons that fit IC reasons)
Enter NPC Imperia Deshay Jeggare, Cleric of Asmodues and Diabolist. Imperia is obsessed with protecting Korvosa and dreams of growing it to outshine Cheliax as a symbol of Order on Earth. With the power of her fortune and connections she seeks to covertly fight the Queen's forces. By this time in the AP the Heroes of Korvosa have put themselves at odds with The Queen. Imperia knos they need her as much as she needs them so she steps forth with a "Bargain". Simply put she wants The Queen removed and the City saved, she is not at the time looking to become queen herself but says no better choice as of yet. What she does see is that the heroes of Krovosa is an unruly anger based mob of social cannibals that in fight as much as fight the Queen. So she steps up and "assumes" command of the party.
She brutal in her tactics and cold in her actions. Think of her as Mirror Mirror Spock with hints of a spoiled rich girl. She had just the effect I had hoped for. She showed them that if nobody would lead.... somebody would lead but sadly this was fine with them, mutters and grumps but they fell in line more or less and that was a bad thing for the social core of the group. Weed who was always the most like a leader all but threw in her lot with Imperia in order not to have to lead. Others were insulting and abrasive with "The Demon Worshiper" as a pay-back for having to follow her because they did not want to lead. Anaca just became colder, sadder and more distant....seeing the horrid end that awaits any group that shits all over every Divine caster they came across. ( SCARWALL IS COMING IN A FEW BOOKS YOU FOOLS!!)
Imperia ends up a loathed default leader to spite Never doing anything to harm the party or even hamper it. In fact many times she is what saved their butts with either her money, her dwindling connections or her powers of healing and defense. Nothing she did was enough to make her anything more than that Devil B%%~+ in their eyes. Accept for Weed or seemed to form a close bond with her. In the end Imperia stuck her neck out too far and got too much of the Queens attention. Her father saw the pain coming and made it seem as if he was the man behind the curtain of all the party's moves. The Queen had him beheaded. While in a fury Imperia did not blame them but herself for being a little too attached to the party, this made her less of a forced leader and around the same time The Cleric of Sarenrae came back along with a new player of a Varisian Rogue.
The Rogue's player joining the group was herald for a while, he knows the other players and they pretty much wanted him to join because the liked him but also because they wanted a leader. Still NONE of them wanted to lead so this left the door open for Mardozi. Mardozi and his player are not known for patience. Not saying he is a bad guy but has a short fuse. I'm sure you see where this is going with a party akin to herding cats. It turned into Lord of the Flies. Bullying in and OUT of character. I even stopped running for a bit to ell them all to chill out. It did not get much better after that and the IC hurts were worse than the ooc drama that I had to crush with an iron boot. When the smoke cleared we were down two players and Weed had effectively stolen from and betrayed Imperia. Yes the "evil" girl was the victim. Also the Cleric of Sarenrae dies in a battle under the Hospice and nobody is even thinking about bringing her back to life because it's not in the budget... also none of them can. Imperia steps up, enter dark magics and hellish deals. Imperia makes contact with the soul of Denitsa, the good cleric and tells her to remain silent and allow her to deal with the Devil that will appear soon, she tries to work the system and set up the deal. The Devil get's Denitsa alone and exchanges life for Denitsa's soul. Of course this cuts her off from Sarenrae. Heeeey sorry about that Cleric but ya know what i can get you divine power with my lord and master Asmodeus!! Oh what's that you don't want to serve evil? Silly girl you already do but hey who's to say you can't do good with the power? Yeesss yesss... good girl....
Natrually the Party blames Imperia and treat Denitsa as some sort of foul monster without a soul. ( SCARWALL YOU ASSES!! You already turned Imperia against you and for some reason Denitsa came back to your abuse, died, was left to rot and then sold her soul to get back to help but again.... you poop on your only two Divine casters!!?? )
No I did not tell them this but I have said in game sooo many times how only through the aid of the Gods would they stand a chance. I also dropped so many Harrowings that said it as plain as day. OOC, "Guys, Scarwall will eat your lunch without a Holy Something or Other.". )
Now fast forward back to A History of Ashes.
Denitsa: The Dedicated ally of Imperia. Her loathing of the party is matched only by her rage that has no outlet. She has adopted Imperia's dream of a orderly and safe Korvosa ruled over by Korvosans. Some day to spread across Varisia stomping out ignorance and chaos.
Imperia: Has lost nearly everything including her mind. She had gone before The Queen and throw herself on her mercy for her "fathers" crimes. Ileosa took most of what she had and ordered her to put her close kin to death. Imperia complied and works from the shadows to undo the Queens power base (failing at it slowly too) by supporting the rebels and making more Hellish deals than she can ever hope to repay. Bartering the Souls of her Household, land holdings and the future holding she hopes to gain for future promises. Imperia sees the Party as the cause of every woe just under the Queen
Anaca: Is now a powerful Harrower and Sorcerer. Her command over Fate as well as the "Blue Flames" and deep purple electricity is staggering to the other players. The fact that the quiet and frail girl is now a silent destructive power scares them a little. Her displays of power tend to leave things on fire and sizzling or shattered. She moves forward like a woman on her way to the Gallows. She feels they have no chance and has seen death and loss with each dream.
The Queen: Yeah things couldn't be better weee!
The Rebels: Hurting and losing praying for the return of the Heroes of Korvosa.
Then came Scarwall.
Weed is the Leader they always needed. She fights for all she loves and to cleanse herself of the crushing guilt of her past with the party and most of all Imperia. The others follow her openly and agree with most of her choices, when they do not they have faith in her and give council when needed. She suspects she is carrying Krojun's child and is madly in Love with her Husband. He has humped,argued and at times punched the hard headed disruptive girl out of her and she has curbed his more xenophobic and war-blind ways. They really make the other ten times better. Krojun is not looked to as the war leader of the Quahs in their battle to free their southern homeland. She has gotten Anaca mostly out of her Death Trance but Anaca still warns of how to spite all the growing they have done at last that the sins of their past awaits them in Scarwall and the mistakes they have made will take it's due.
In the end she was right.
The Ranger died slow and in horror. Soul trapped in Scarwall.
Zellara was ripped out of the deck and locked within the castle to spite all they tried to do. "Anaca Unleashed" becomes destruction in the shape of a woman, the last good thing in her life ripped from her.
They were beat back by the forces of Scarwall twice and both times nearly died. They did not trust either of the Brotherhood of the Bones and kept them at arms length still neither one is really built to protect a party from Scarwall.
The Umbral Dragon kicked their asses but they managed to figure out a way to free him and he left the battle and the castle before killing them. They went back out to speak with him. He give them some clues in exchange for telling them to bring his loot out of there. They planned to not do so but had no idea how to get out of the castle once they were done. It did not matter.. The Danse Macabre put foot all in their asses and a few negative levels and a dead ranger later they crawled out of Scarwall and admitted, they could never do what needed to be done. With heads low and tears in eyes they were ported back to The Shoanti by Anaca.
FAIL
They vow to one day come back to free the dead as well as lift the blight but have no idea how to defeat Ileosa without the sword so they are going about it the only way they can think of. They are gathering the entire Shoanti nation to attack Korvosa...for eh freedom? They hope this invading army will be met by the rebels and together from within and without they well topple Ileosa. Weed managed to convince Krojun to not attack back in a History of Ashes as you all know but now she worked near magic in convincing him and 97% of the Nation of Clans that Korvosa MUST be taken for the good of all of Varisia. Tales of Devils an Dark Demigod Dragons was more than enough for them and the Army is nearly ready.
Anaca spoke of how the sky will turn black and the land will be awash in the blood of all peoples. How The Korvosa they fought for is already dead and they will war over a rotten corpse of their dream infected. Then in a flash of power and wind she looked into the sky and vanished never to be seen again.
I read what James has said about Ileosa's victory and the effects of it both on this board and the books. They are too late. Kazavon has completed his work in Korvosa. Most are done from the blood lettings and loyalty to it. Like a Parasite she has killed her host and flew away bloated with the life and power in Korvosa, it's body used and ruined. Now from what a read not all of the people are dead but a huge number of them. We also have the Devil of the Academae and his contract with the Queen. Korvosa is his now yes? Open to be used as a beachfront for his Hellish pawns. Then you have all the powers of the Academae at his finger tips. Imperia as well as Denitsa are all that's left of what passed for a rebellion, the rest rose up at the start of the exploding blood people and was crushed by an ultra powerful Ileosa. Now the dark wreck of Korvosa is being tended by Imperia and Denitsa as best they can but they are nothing before the powers of true master of the Academae and the "owner?" of Korvosa.
Most of this is unknown by the Growing Army of the Shoanti, only that most in Korovsa have died and The Queen left with an army of charmed slaves and Devils. They also know that Imperia has warned if they attempt to come back to Korvosa they will be faced with all of the Hell she has in her heart. Denitsa knows Imperia has truly gone insane and takes care of the Diabolist like a nurse in an asylum.
So? How does this story end!?
What kind of forces would the Academae bring to bare or more to the point what do you think their next move would be in their own plans?
What role do you think the still living people of Korvosa would play if any?
What would the other powers of Varisa do when they see a Shoanti nation Marching south? What about the Orcs amd Giants in the North?
Wouldn't the southern powers see Korvosa as ripe for the picking themselves? Where role does Korvosa's heavily taxed and drained holdings play?
Help?
