It would not be a campaign stopper to kill the Stormblades but can and will have adverse effects against the PC's. Remember that the Stormblades are the children of VERY proximate noble of vast power within Caldron. They would not take it kindly if their children are murdered.... yes murder charges would be brought and witnesses would be bought and convictions WILL be had. In fact it would not be uncommon for the party to have a hard time before the altercation with city guard and officials trying to win points with these families. The party should feel frustrated but have a healthy fear of steeping too far over the line.....toes that stray too far have a way of being smashed by large hammers. But this is just my humble opinion. To answer your question the Stormblades become much less of a nuisance after the party returns from the Abyss. One of there members was killed under Cauldron in an ambush from the Temple of Wee Jas. As a result Annah become much less cocky and Cora decides to retire. The party has a chance to make them allies at this point, which can help a lot during the eruption a few chapters latter.
James
You might also want to subtly point out to your PCs that since the Stormblades come from such wealthy families, killing one or more of them wouldn't necessarily get them out of the PCs hair. The family in question would just pay for a raise dead or resurrection. My party is also hating the Stormblades. They paid for their first item from Skie's using silvers and coppers, and Cora and Annah happened to be in there at the time and were making comments about the "little boys having to break open their piggy banks."
Tons o' fun!
--Fang
My players have named themselves the Ebon Shield. After Life's Bizarre, their cleric of Farlanghan took up residence in Ghelve's Locks for a couple of months (while the gnome was serving his sentence from his involvement in the kidnapping plot). But, being a cleric of the God of the Open Road, she was gone for days at a time. It was during one of those absences the Stormblades entered to seal the entrance to the Underdark.
Later, during the events of Zenith Trajectory, they returned to the Malachite Fortress so the diviner could study the statue of Zenith. Taking a look into the next room they saw the collapsed cavern, and two drow impaled on spears on spears, and a stone plinth with a shiny engraved brass plaque:
Where guardians wander
and Ebon Shield fail
a Storm of Blades
shall prevail
Here's my question abou the Stormblades and the "nobility", in general, of Cauldron. Are the noble families on Cauldron noble based on money/power or on lineage/power? Basically, are these powerful merchant families or power Earls, Dukes, and the like?
Everything I've read, so far, makes me think their "nobility" comes from the power of wealth and being dominate Merchant Houses.
Opinions?
KF72
I get the same impression. At the very least it is certainly plausible that one can "buy" their way into the nobility, Vhalantru being the prime example of this.
I believe there was another thread speculating on the amount of such a purchase if one wanted to search.
Sean Mahoney
For what it's worth, I varied it. The Taskerhills were money and power, the Vanderboren's are new nobles due to acquiring great wealth in real esteat, the Knowlerns are noble in name - not much money or real power; that's it.
If you choose to use the Sasserine angle presented in the Savage Tide Player's Guide (which I did), the PC's should know that the Vanderborens, Knowlerns, and especially the Taskerhills, are old-money, landed gentry with presences on the Dawn Council in Sasserine. Irritating them is one thing, killing them off is another altogether.
While the Sasserine nobility probably wouldn't shed a tear for a Cauldronite cousin or nephew to get slapped around publicly, murdering a niece or cousin would bring consequences.
My version of Cauldron won't be linked to my version of Sasserine. I had to place them in very different places in my homebrew, due to the fact I placed Cauldron inland and north. The lands around Cauldron are quite cold, while Sasserine lies on a forested island in the Far South. The distance between them is in the thousands of miles.
The Taskerhills and the Vanderborens are the only two noble families in both cities. The Cauldronite Taskerhills migrated north centuries ago, while the Vanderborens of Sasserine went the other way. (The Taskerhills are likely to be a powerful Merchant House, IMC, all across the Far South, not just in Sasserine.)
For Cauldron, I've decided that the "nobility" are in fact powerful merchant families. The most powerful families are: Aloustinai, Aslaxin, Knowlern, Lathenmire, Navalant, Nebern, Rhiavadi, Taskerhill, Vanderboren, and Vhalantru.
Nebern is a House I came up with for one of my PCs. He is playing a bard and needed a patron. The Nebern Family are wealthy ranchers, and the bard uncovered a vampire in the family.
Cheers!
KF72
The Tercivals were one of the powerful and rich families in Cauldron, too. They fell in disgrace because of machinations of Aslaxin and Vhalantru, who took their seat in the town council afterwards. Alek tries to redeem his family's name.
I remembered that only after I went back and re-read The Demonskar Legacy. However, the Tercivals are basically a fallen family, IMC, so they don't have a lot of influence.
As my PCs bypassed both that module and the previous one, the Stormblades are on the path. They are nearing the end of the Test of the Smoking Eye, just as the PCs are returning to Cauldron from a series of side adventures.
The PCs have learned that the Stormblades have gone missing, and the party's wizard want to find out what happened to them. Thus, I should be able to coax the PCs into heading towards the Demonskar or plane shifting to Occipitus just in time to confront the Stormblades at The Skull.
I'm thinking the PCs will quickly discover where the Stormblades are, on the plane, through some detective work. Todd was infected by the wererat in the kuo-toan complex, and plans to claim the Sign of the Smoking Eye for himself. Kaurophon will be there too, as will Zaur Sza and Motruk.
The NPCs are in the middle of an old Mexican standoff, and the PCs will determine how things go. Hopefully, the PCs will have either Halalia or Tiluklatl with them, just in case things go bad.
It should be a fun encounter, as long as the PCs wish to find the Stormblades or, at least, Alek.
Cheers!
KF72
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Since Alek and Jenya have known each other for a long long time (I have made them childhood friends), it makes a good foundation to place an antipathy between Jenya/Alek and Orbius Vhalantru. On the other hand is Vhalantru the mentor of my PCs in things regarding the town council...leading to conflicting loyalties, hopefully.