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Has anyone used this NPC in their campaign beyond the scope that she's written in the game in the first few chapters.
As written she: oversees the assaults Ruphus and threatens from the rooftop. Then she provides a clue to the PCs later to get them on the right path for a different quest.
But has anyone tried to make her a more integral part of the ongoing story? If so, what have you done?
I believe I would like to do more with her and I am fishing for ideas.
Thanks
Robert
I'm not too fond of the way in which the Last Laugh thieves are used in the Adventure Path, their presence is too much of an absence.
I believe that his can be solved in two ways: featuring them more or featuring them less, virtually cutting them from the plot altogether. Unfortunately for you, I chose the second possibility, so I won't be able to hand you any ideas.
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* BIG SPOILER ALERT *
I followed the lead in Life's Bazaar, and made her an undercover agent for the Last Laugh after the encounter with the PCs, romantically involved with one of the Pcs - at first it was just a ruse, then I had it become something different.
Things went a bit out of control now and then, but she was an excellent way to justify some behind the scene DM manouvres (tha baddies know your every move... *grin* ), and the showdown at the Brass Trumpet during Lords of Oblivion was a spectacular gaming session.
After being captured and held prisoner at the church of St Cuthbert, she escaped during the demodand invasion of Cauldron (things went for the worse), and came back just to save the day after Embril Aloustinai stole a PC life essence.
As I played the adventures straight from the magazine (tough i keep the HC as a most precious prize... my precious...), there was no need/use for her to act as a lead for Drakhtar's Way.
A truly memorable NPC, she will be remembered for a lot of time.
My GM added a thread where Jil was the prime mover in another attempt to abduct the Shackleborn child at the orphanage. After she lost her entire team to you-know-who, the Last Laugh leadership was sufficiently angry at her that they quietly let it be known they wouldn't mind seeing her dead. The PCs took them up on this, hunted her down and killed her.
Months later, they ran into her sidekick Finch in a totally unexpected place, and found (to the player's amusement) that all those months they had been worried about Finch coming after them and killing them, he had been equally worried about them!
This fit in between Lucky Monkey and Zenith; the meeting with Finch was in Occipitus. (Finch said, "I thought that getting out of town--way out of town--would make sure I didn't run into *you*!")
I thought this was a good idea, because the game had been suffering a lot from "Everything is too hard, everyone significant is higher level than we are, we can't actually accomplish anything" player demoralization. Jil was a hard fight, but taking her out definitely felt like a task within the PCs' capabilities, and a significant one. (Two of the PCs have close ties to the orphanage, and they took her murder of a kid who got in her way there very personally.)
My GM tried very hard to give the player a better idea of what was actually happening early on, to avoid "Okay, here are the big bad guys!" "Huh? Who?" at the end. It's double-edged, because the player can easily come to feel that everything is way above the PCs' capacities and it's really hopeless to try to do anything. Cutting out and killing Jil helped soften that impression.
Mary
One of my party memebers started a security buissiness, about flood season if I remember correctly, and her first employee was Jill. Fast forward to the party going to rescue Elios from the last laugh and enter Jill, dropping from the ceiling to assassinate her employers wife. It was classic! The last laugh is under utilized as published, it should be customized by the DM to use in his story how ever he feels best.
CEO
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I am using Jil in my campaign as the mentor for our half-orc rogue/barbarian. I am playing her as a bit "greyer" than she is written up in SCAP, not being the big, bad evil that needs to be taken down. My goal is to have her help the party along the way and then recruit them to help her take down the leadership of the Last Laugh, putting her in charge, with my PC being her right-hand man. At least that is how it looks on paper. :)
We'll see how it actually plays out. Always in motion the future is!
-Lisa
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I had Jill slowly work her way into a cordial friendship with the pc's and over few adventures, was romantically involved with one of their party.....lol...little did they know she was only getting close so she could spy and the like on pc's. Used info. gathered to try and foil pc's exploits through las few chapters. Party was surprised when they went to rescue the strider and witnessed her plunge dagger into his neck...haha....dontcha just love it when pc's call you cruel....muhahahah.
Romancing Jil seems to be a recurring theme in many peoples' campaigns. I am curious, how did everyone work this out with their players? As written, I'm having difficulty envisioning her getting on the good side of anybody.
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I was having jill and 2 other last laugh goons following the party from alleys and rooftops, but one of the pc's decided to roll a spot check out of nowhere and rolled a lot more than my hide rolls...so i just had her cordially approach the pc's and basically went about...lying, lol....and she told them she was just scouting for new guild members and such....everything went on from there...
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Besides...you can do what you want with npc's because as long as rest of story and plots play out the same in the end....doesn't matter how you change chance encounters and the like. I also completelyremoved the demonskar ball...seeing that most of the nobles and pc's had had previous encounters and the like...besides...can you see a barbarian with the cha. of a rock and the looks of a boot heel trying to dress up in his finest cod-piece and dance...really!! lol
Reading the posts definitely are a challenge! I still think that it is a good April Fool's prank, despite the inconvenience. It makes you want to type extra to see what might happen to your post!
Olaf the Stout
I'm using Delvesdeep's Cagewright mods which makes Jil the apprentice of Nulin, the LL Jester. This brings the LL further into game play if you want them there. They are acting with Vhalantru to disrupt the government of Cauldron, one from the inside, one from the outside. You could to emphasize the trouble the false currency causes - it's underplayed in the book, I think.
Jil, as apprentice, is tasked with keeping an eye on adventuring groups and gathering information about them to ensure they are not a threat to the Cagewright's plans. They did not see her at all in Chapter 1, so I had her follow them around town. My PC's are suspicious as heck about everyone they meet (like Skie), but they never check to see if anybody is following them! I had her finish off the one wererat who escaped from Orak's and leave its flayed corpse as a 'present' for the high Charisma male PC. Oddly, this did not deter him, so I had her compete against him in the Flood Festival shortbow contest (he had no idea who she was), then walk by him and ask "did you like my gift?" with a wink and a toss of her ponytail. She then successfully hid in the crowd, which intrigued him.
She 'ran into' him on the street and accepted dinner invitations. He stood her up twice (the cad) because of the Lucky Monkey and the Kopru Ruins, so she finally took initiative and dragged him to breakfast. They are now having a picnic breakfast on the slopes of Cauldron and she's pumping him for information regarding the party. So far, her bluffs are holding up just fine, thanks.
So you can work things in with a little creativity and responsiveness on the part of the players. I honestly did not think that the gift of a flayed and tortured were-rat would attract a bard's interest, but, hey... different strokes.
I'm using Delvesdeep's Cagewright mods which makes Jil the apprentice of Nulin, the LL Jester.
That sounds interesting, any pointers as to where I can find that?
RPGenius.com A ton of amazing stuff there. I'm beginning this week and am using a lot of the articles posted there.
That sounds interesting, any pointers as to where I can find that?
This link should do it. http://therpgenius.com/modules.php?name=File_Repository&op=getit&fi le_id=308
I recommend Delvesdeep's mods heartily. I was into chapter 3 before I found them, but was able to work them in even that late in the game.
Delves' mods take care of the issue that there are just too many bad guys and the PC's only meet them when they kill them. He trims a bunch of unncessary NPC's and makes the whole story more coherent, plus he has some advice on RPgenius on foreshadowning. It turns the adventure from a serial into a more coherent whole.
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When she oversaw the Last Laugh thugs roughing up Ruphus the Wee Jasidan nailed her with a charm person (she rolled a 1).
He has never taken advantage of it really, and quite likes her natural affinity for death and magic, and her high Intelligence. He has called upon her a few times (usually via sending).
It came to a head last week in Lords of Oblivion in the Brass Trumpet. He forbade the other players to touch her. He is head of the Cathedral in Cauldron now given the heretical activities of the former clergy leaders. She cleverly claimed sanctuary and beseeched his clemency, and gave them Fario back, and quite happily told them where Velior was (dead man...erm, half-fiends shoes and all that). When the other players found out he had kept in touch with her for two years and never said they weren't impressed, but he made it clear his personal business is his, and the knowledge she may have is now Church business.
Given Velior got pounded to -36 hp and bloody paste last night by the parties Saint Cuthbertine, Jil is now the defacto Jester for Assassination in the Last Laugh, currently she is in the Cathedral awaiting the raising of Finch, which will occur for any inormation he might have (thus finally tying up two year lose end about forgery).
The Wee Jasidan is into his politics and Machivellian chicanery, the rest of the party is not. Should come to a head discussing who gets to be Mayor at the start of the Foundation of Flame. Jil is bound to come up again as a bone of contention. What fun we shall have, assume they survive V.
One of my players had a character (Jodah) who wove the Last Laugh into his background a bit. His parents were high ranking clerics at the church of WeeJas. They were transporting gold from the church to the bank, and were ambushed by a gang of thieves. The robbery turned into a fight and his parents ended up dead. He was young and was taken care of by the butler until adulthood. Now he roams the streets at night, watching for thieves to bring to justice.
With this very Batman-esque role, I thought he needed a Catwoman, and Jil fit in perfectly. I made the Last Laugh a little more prominent in my campaign, having them show up from time to time when Jodah was stalking the streets in his downtime. Jil became a bit more flirty than written in my campaign, and they had a relationship where she would sometimes help him with what they needed (she gave some hints in Drakthar's Way, and a couple other chapters where the players seemed a bit lost).
In the chapter where she had kidnapped one of the Striders (Shensen in my campaign), Jodah was able to talk her out of killing the Strider, and she ended up confiding in Jodah about the boss (blue devil guy forgot his name) of the Last Laugh. She wanted out of the Last Laugh, but felt he would come after her. After the group killed the boss guy, Jil left the Last Laugh and in the end of the campaign, developed a romantic relationship with Jodah.