I am running the SCAP in three weeks and I was curious how others used foreshadowing of events and certain NPCs in the first couple of adventures? What NPCs did your PCs first meet in Life's Bazaar and then before Drakthar's Way? What information did they learn in this time that foreshadowed chapters down the line. Thanks.
After the attack on Rufalo, I had Private Krewlis be the first member of the guard to arrive so they knew him. Later the PCs went to the barracks to ask about the captured men. Krewlis was there again, and they talked with Skellerang.
In invesitgating the Last Laugh, they've learned about Jil. They then contacted the Alleybashers and have learned that the Last Laugh has started to move in on their territory. The Alleybashers tried to respond but had several members disappear and their leader was found as a pile of ash - a probably too subtle reference to the beholder.
Other things I did were pretty campaign specific:
I have fortune-telling gypsies. There have been two visions of the city in flame and two visions dealing with a giant eye.
One of my players decided to be a noble and he picked the Vanderborens on his own. He's had a run in with his snotty brother Todd.
Oh, they also meet with the mayor to ask about these elves he sent to the orphanage. The mayor told them the only elf he has on staff is Lord Vhlantru. So the PCs know that name and a little bit about him being new to town but they didn't speak with him.
Things have been pretty tame on the NPC front with my group. They've spent a fair amount of time in the company of Alek Tercival, since he volunteered to take two accolytes (Rufus and one other 1st-level cleric) and guard the entrance to Jzadirune in Keygan's house while the group is down there looking for the missing children, so that the skulks and dark creepers/stalker can't escape behind the party's back. Beyond the temple of St. Cuthbert, they've mostly just interacted with various merchants in town as they investigate the various relics & magical items they find: Zanathor of Zanathor's provisions is now on quite friendly terms with the group's sorceress, who showed great interest in hearing his story about the Lake Monster attack that claimed his leg; Vortimax Weer of Weer's Elixirs is about as friendly with them as a crotchety old wizarding instructor can be, thanks to the "charms" of the very chesty and sultry half-drow female bard of the group, and they've frequently been buying his expensive potions; and one of them have met Tygot Mispas, of Tygot's Old Things, because they needed to raise capital for more healing magic and supplies by selling off several curious bits of art and jewelry salvaged from Jzadirune. Tygot was especially intersted in the Gnomish music box and paid handsomely for it, with a bit of nudging from Lepook the blink dog. Of these, Tygot's introduction was the most important, since they'll need to go to him again at the beginning of the Demonskar Legacy. As for the major players, the movers & shakers, they've heard of some people but haven't met any of them. They didn't even bother with going to the Lantern Street orphanage, and instead went straight to Keyghan's shop after deciphering the Divination riddle. They're currently making their first forray into the Malachite Fortress, and I have Fario & Felian hot on their trail (having convinced Alek & co. that they were friends of the party) in case things go badly for the group, but they've never yet spotted the pair of Striders.
I have played the game from first level with my players. I did the following additions to their background:
- The paladin PC took the noble feat and i placed him into the Vanderboren family as the younger (not adopted) brother of Todd, who always harasses him and makes fun of him since the start of the campaign.
- The paladin is a paladin of Kelemvor (who i used instead of Wee Jas due to the Forgotten Realms setting). He is also confornted with Ike and Calmus all the time, though I had Calmus change slowly and turn to evil (and change to the old death faith of Myrkul as the others in the temple). He is in a doubt and is worried about this fellow clergymen, but he is also loyal to Embril (who hides her true evil alignment) who he has almost never seen so far due to her reculsiveness.
- The paladin also admires and looks up on Alek Tercival who he sees as role model. This will make him get more involved later in the Demonscar story.
- There is a fighter/psion in our team, who is the son of Mikimax the innkeeper from Redgore. He knows that his father is in friendship with Maavu and the other craftsman. This was he is personally draw into the story with the Demonscar.
- There is an aasimar sorcerer who we made to be an orphan, living in the Lantern street orphanage. This drew tham all into investigating the dissapearances in the city in Life's Bazaar.
- The other sorcerer is a jungle delver, hill billy who lived in an evil voodoo style tribe around the haunted village, has the necropolis born feat and is a creepy witchmaster kind of sorcerer. He just realised during the last session that he served Myrkul in his tribe, protecting the haunted vilage from visitors. He turned to Kelemvor (via the paladin) and even took the Arcane Devotee prestige class.
I also introduced them to Valanthru who met them at the Flood fest drinking contest,which he wins each year. (This made my PCs really suspicous about his true nature...)
I also had an easy way of confronting them with the Stormblades thru Todd and his relation with his brother.
Beased on an idea in some of the posts I introduced Kaurophon earlier, helping the temple of Tyr (St Cuthbert) revocering the wands, by telling about the hideout of Triel. He is acting as a demon who wants to purify and make Occipitus a holy realm again, removed from the Abyss.
I've used Jil as the foil for one of my PC's. He's running a Rogue/Fighter/Invisible blade type of character. She's been a foil (using sources I made up), using divinations on the character. She's trying to leave the Last Laugh, and thinks that he can help her, unfortunately, she can't leave with the leader of the guild under someone else's thumb (she doesn't know about vhalantru). Her current goal is to have the PC's NOT bring Alek Tercival back into Cauldron.
That same character has run into the lord mayor having a discussion with an "elf" right after the tax riot in the Demonskar legacy. The elf said "I'm the reason you're still in power!" And the PC's got caught, magically duped, and dumped into the sewers, with one missing an arm. They got their gear back, and now have a big beef with the lord mayor, the captain of the guard (making finding alek a VERY high priority), and that elf & his black-veiled woman. Into the Demonskar we go.
Well, I did a lot of introducing the NPCs as soon as possible, and unexpected action from the PC's have allowed me the chances to introduce a couple of more... I am sure that trend will continue. I started in their backgrounds and tried to tie them to some part or parts of the campaign as best as I could. Each one has info that will play in at some point in the campaign whether they know it or not... I have only had one player not see this when it came up and share the info with the others which makes that player feel involved and know things about the setting with out me having to prod them at that moment (which they like). That one time may have been the PC just wanting to be greedy with the info or may have been that the player forgot the info was there.
- Kalishan, Teifling Rogue - Mother died in childbirth while receiving free midwiving services at the Lantern Street Orphanage (which I have played up somewhat like the orphanage in Cider House Rules). Kalishan was then raised in the orphanage and eventually was given a job there as groundskeeper (basically I replaced Patch from the campaign with this character, even ripping off most of his background). Always wanting more the PC found himself a mentor in one Revus Twindaggers who wanted only that she watch out after a child recently placed at the orphanage, Terrem, in return for training as a rogue and even the potential to join the Last Laugh Guild if she performed her duties well. It added some excitment to her life which she craved... that is until the day that Terrem and three other children vanished. She met with Revus who told her she was failing in her one job he had given her and if she wanted in the guild she had to fix it NOW or they would both be paying the price. It was with this meeting that I started the campaign for the character. (I will go on with what happened here with the next character).
- Vaukarn, Goliath Fighter - Vaukarn was cast out of his tribe when he caught the tribe shaman stealing from the community wares to have more for himself. When Vaukarn confronted him it was framed on him and he was instead cast out. He lived with dwarves for some time before moving on to join the city watch in Sundabar (the locals call it the Cauldron as a nickname).
Vaukarn's first day on the job was a memorable one. His squad leader turned on him and the rest of the men when they would not allow her to simply slaughter some common thugs they had caught for some petty crime. Triel Eldurast escaped that day and only he and a fellow guardsman, Skylar Krewis, escaped with their lives.
Skylar was made a Sergeant and made sure Vaukarn was always in his squad. Skylar was as much his friend as his squad leader. Skylar was in charge of one route of investigation in the rash of recent disappearances, that is that the town guard believed that one of the guilds involved in the guild war, the Last Laugh and the Alleybashers, was involved in the kidnappings. Skylar had been tipped off that a potential Last Laugh member was meeting someone and he and Vaukarn went to follow them and find out who this other member was. (Vaukarn was then given all the info the guard had on the disappearances).
The meeting that Kalishan had (above) was the meeting that Vaukarn was then watching. Revus spotted them and told Kalishan to fix things and that he would be in touch. He then told her they were being followed and she should try and loose whoever it was.
A chase then ensued between Vaukarn and Kalishan through the alleys of the Cauldron. Just after the tiefling lost the guardsman with a well placed darkness the sounds of a conflict came from a nearby alley... both seperatly went to check it out (more on this later, it was basically the first scene in Life's Bazaar with some modifications).
- Borzak, Human Monk - Borzak is something of a rarity. He is one of the few followers of an old order of monks, known as the Long Death. Former followers of Myrkul (this is in the Forgotten Realms), Borzaks master is one of the few members of this order who are attempting to assimilate into the church of Kelemvor and adopt his ways. Needless to say the rest of the Long Death does not look kindly on this and there is a fued running between them. What is less understandable is the coolness in which his branch of the order is treated by the local heads of Kelemvor's church, Embril Aloustinai and Ike Iverson. It likely is just a matter of gaining their trust that the order really does follow the ways of Kelemvor though (bwahaha).
In his spare time, to earn some extra cash (starting moneys) Borzak took on a job as a bouncer at one of the local bar/inns, The Tipped Tankard. A while ago however, the owner/bartender, Gryffon Malek, disappeared and Borzak has been running the place in his absence. He has had some trouble with the help, but he does have a few good workers, like the cook, Artus Shemwick (who shows up later as a Last Laugh informant).
It was in this capacity that he signed on with a couple of other adventurers (or hopeful adventurers) who were frequenting his bar. A local wizard named Coranth and a relatively new transplanted bard named Marilon.
- Coranth, Elven Wizard - Coranth is from another noble family in Sundabar (Cauldron) and so is familiar with many of the nobles and most importantly the children of those nobles. He has never fit in with them though as he was nearly to the age of majority (in elven terms) by the time these others were even born. The other children of nobles though have always seen him as someone to pick on and were never found of him. He has a built in rivalry with the Stormblades for this reason.
When Coranth showed a few years ago that he was interested in learning the way of the wizard, his father apprenticed him to a local merchant who was making his way up in the world, one Maavu Arlintal. While Maavu is indeed a wizard and has been able to teach Coranth much, his main focus is on his mercantilism and Coranth has always been impressed for his interest in the common people of Sundabar.
Maavu only continued to teach Coranth with great reservation when Coranth chose to focus his studies on divination instead of the earth elementalism that Maavu himself favored. Curious about this Coranth did some researching and found that Maavu had a previous apprentice who had also studied divination, a halfling by the name of Skaven Umbermead (see Flood Season).
With Coranth gaining his majority and feeling the itch of adventure, he met two other interested souls at the local bar he frequented in his free time, the Tipped Tankard. With Borzak and Marilon, he decided to form an adventuring company and register with the city for one of their lucrative contracts they gave out to such bands. He used his political pull to set up a meeting with the Lord Mayors right hand man who was responsible for handing out these contracts and dealing with adventurers for the city, one Lord Vhalantru.
- Marilon, a bard from the city of Waterdeep, Marilon was bitten by wanderlust and travelled north with a caravan trying to reach the city of Silverymoon and its famed bardic colleges. Snow in the mountains and an attack that forced the caravan to turn around and come to the town of Sundabar, known to locals as the Cauldron for its unique bowl like shape, left him with no where else to travel for a while. But, he decided to make the best of things. The flood festival he saw when he entered made him think the place had potential for a stay, and besides at the Wolves' Den (replacement for the Lucky Monkey) he had already met some interesting folk that might be fodder for a song or two, High Priest Sarcem Delasharn and an adventuring Paladin, Alek Tercival.
Once he reached Sundabar and stayed a few days things grew a bit more boring. He had holed up at the Tipped Tankard and managed to make a few friends... a few friends he then talked into joining him as an adventuring company.
The monk, bard and wizard then went to meet with Lord Vhalantru and were quite annoyed when they found he was already in a meeting at the time they were supposed to meet with him and even more annoyed when out of that meeting tromped several haughty nobles, an adventuring group known as the Stormblades. When they were leaving Vhalantru's office the leader of this other group, Annah Taskerhill, noticed the elven noble among them and took the opporunity to gloat a bit and mock them. Angry words were exchanged, but it wasn't until the group met with Lord Vhalantru that they really got angry with the Stormblades. They had used their own political influence to pull the last available adventuring contract out from under the group. They were then sent away by Vhalantru who promised to send anything else he found their way, but they would need to understand he had to give the important mission to the more experience (and well connected) Stormblades.
On the way back from this meeting these three dejected, would-be adventurers heard the sounds of a scuffle coming from a nearby alleyway...
- Daphy, Dwarven Cleric - Once a great champion of faith for his god, Gorm Gulthyn, he fell from his faith and into the cup when he saw his entire party fall from betrayel within. He lost his powers that day with his faith and found a place as a rather mediocre blacksmith in a human village, more interested in his drinking than his work.
Then the stranger came. The stranger said the drink wouldn't work anymore for him as he was needed again. He was told to search out and restore the lost dwarven bastion of the Malachite Fortress. He tried to right this off as a drunken day-dream, but the stranger was right... no matter how much he drank he could not again get drunk. What was more amazing is that he could once again feel the whisper of faith within him. While he hadn't regained the experience he had lost (was restarting at first level) he was a cleric again and in the service of his god. He heard the Malachite Fortress was in the vacinity of a town called Sundabar and journied there to investigate.
Not trusting himself in the dwarven halls he had abandoned so long ago, he took up residence in the temple of human god who was on good terms with his own god, Helm. The acting High Priestess only asked one thing in return for his room and board while he was in the city. Jenya Urikas was short staffed as the high priest had left the city as had their champion. She asked that he go to the Lantern Street Orphanage and assure the staff and children that the church of Helm was looking into the disappearances now and would put a stop to them.
On his way back though, he was accosted by three thugs wearing their faces painted like grinning harlequins. (He replaced Ruphus Laro in the first encounter).
That is basically the setup I did. As you can see each is tied into the story and has a reason to want to investigate (adventure, saving their own skin, their job or getting attacked by the thugs themselves). So far it has been working out pretty well.
The PCs have come up to investigate history a couple of times. I have had good RP sessions with Jenya, Maavu and Skylar. Additionally they wanted to track down other gnomes who once lived in Jzadirune... they ended up contacting Tygot for this (they are now very fond of the blink dog).
The player playing the monk did so very erratically and ended up attacking another member of the party. We had a huge player blowup and he ended up leaving the game. I have since had the monk leave the party and will eventually 'go bad.' He will be converted by his own temple into the faith of his masters Embril and Ike. This will make for great fun later in the campaign when he comes back. Additionally he has forbid them from coming into "his bar," the Tipped Tankard. Though that may change once (if) they rescue the bartender themselves. (At which point he will hate them more for taking away his new status and he will blame the group fully for this).
Just before he left the group we had another player join...
- Tori, Elven Cleric (archer) - Sent by the eastern group of the harpers (replaces the striders in my campaign) she was assigned to work for Meerthan. Already having Fellian and Fario in contact with the group she used that influence to join the group as someone looking for her lost friend, Elethor Ashstaff. At this point the party buys this story fully, however, the players seems to keep forgetting her connections and when the party comes up and speaks to all its contacts she forgets about hers and doesn't even make reports... I think she will need more prodding outside of the game reminder her of her background.
Finally, I have another player just joining, he is currently a human paragon but will be moving into a wizard class. I have posted his new background in another recent thread about adding new characters part way through the game (in this case they all just entered the Malachite Fortress and are not likely to come up for a bit).
Well, that is what I have so far. Whenever the party does something unexpected I will try to use it as a reason to introduce them to another person who is in the campaign. For instance the rogue kept trying to contact Revus for more direction, so I had her find him strung and quartered in her own room... as she investigated Jil stepped out of the shadows and told her Revus had failed the Last Laugh and that if she would like to avoid a similar fate she had best fix what she failed to do... but since Jil had tasked Revus with the task she was not going to meet out punishment just yet... good things were in store in the Last Laugh for her if she could find and return Terrem.
Sean Mahoney
I am running the SCAP in three weeks and I was curious how others used foreshadowing of events and certain NPCs in the first couple of adventures? What NPCs did your PCs first meet in Life's Bazaar and then before Drakthar's Way? What information did they learn in this time that foreshadowed chapters down the line. Thanks.
I thought it would be neat for the PCs to attend the trial of the thugs that attacked Rufus in the first scene. The next case on the docket was Keygan Ghelve, for whom they also testified. The last case that day was a charge of murder and bribery... Triel Eldurast!
As a member of the town guard, she was the go-between for the thugs and the Last Laugh, and she is now a convicted murderer as well. So as the weeks/months go by, eventually they'll hear of her escape, and so on and so forth.
I do wish I'd thought to have Skylar Krewis as the arresting officer, though.
Oh yes, the 3-member tribunal deciding the cases consisted of Jenya, Skellerang, and, you guessed it, Vhalantru! The PCs got suspicious when he voted for leniency for Triel and voted for harsh punishment for Keygan. The party Paladin cast detect evil and really got suspicious of Vhalantru when he couldn't detect anything due to the ring of mind shielding he wears.
They group is already fearing corruption throughout all levels of the government, it's great. I can't wait for the riot in Chapter Five!