He's not corrupt. He is very lawful and obediant. He follows orders.
He probably hates what he is doing. Not that he'll say anything about that.
I have read thoroughly through chapter four. And have not really found any good reason or source of Terseon Skellerang's coruption.
At what point does he go from hiring the adventurer's to go kill goblins and a vampire, to supporting the use of half-orc mercanaries and a corrupt government.
I ask because my party is finishing up Chapter 2 and have charmed Xoden. They have discovered that Drakthar's Way is a mercanary smuggling route for "The Duke" (Blue Duke) And I can only assume that they will report this to Terseon.
How much does Terseon know at this point?
How much does he reveal?
How should he act when the PC's report this?How did others handle this...I don't want to give away too much
Tyro,
there is a great thread on Skellerang in the archives somewhere... Here it is
Doing a search on skellerang on the message boards should turn up some other good threads as well.
As for your questions: I think Skellerang suspects a few thing at this time, but doesn't *know* all that much. Seeing how a few of the guards under his command are doing grunt work for the last laugh, I think he'll have some trouble trusting the PCs.
So hearing that someone is smugling mercenaries into the city will most definately worry him. I think he won't tell the PCs much, because he doesn't trust them (yet). He'll probably ask the PCs to look into this Blue Duke, and keep him posted on the results. He might also instruct the town guard to keep informed of any incidents in or arround cauldron involving the PCs.
He might start investigating the Blue Duke on his own as well. This could lead to a confrontation between the Blue Duke and Skellerang, resulting in the Blue Duke charming Skellerang. The beginning of the end, so to say.
IMC, the party convinced Terseon that he was prejudiced against half-orcs and that maybe he should rethink his position on them. Two of them are half-orcs.
So he started hiring more half-orcs in his city guard after the rescue of the kidnap victims and the return of the wands. While most of the party was off preparing for the Demonskar Ball, the half-orc fighter (who refused to even go to any silly dance) spent his time training with the new recruits.
The new taxes meant that the tax collectors needed security details, so more half-orcs. Somewhere along the line, Vhalantru suggested the Blue Duke as a fitting commander for the new troops, and now Skellerang has a challenger within (the Duke, backed by Vhalantru) and a challenger without (Alek Tercival).
His back is against the wall, and he's holding onto his position by his fingernails.
My take is that the Blue Duke only uses a charm to get Skellerang to march on Redgorge, so it's a short-term thing. I've also given Skellerang a couple of levels of Legendary Leader (from Heroes of Battle), so his Will save is kind of amazing, so it's a fluke that the Duke could charm him, but he only needs one.
Here's my stat block for Skellerang:
Terseon Skellerang: Male Human Ftr7/Ari1/LLd2; CR 10;
Medium Humanoid (Human);
HD 3d8+7d10; hp 51;
Init +0; Spd 20 ft/x4;
AC 21 (+8 armor, +3 shield), touch 10, flat-footed 21;
Base Atk/Grapple +8/+10;
Full Atk +14/+9 One-handed (1d8+5;17-20/x2, +3 Longsword), +9/+4
Two-handed (1d8+1;20/x3, +1 Composite Longbow);
SA&SQ Fearless (Ex), Hero's Luck (Ex), Natural Commander (Ex), Legendary
Reputation (Ex), Greater Command (Sp), Quick Rally (Ex);
AL N; SV Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +12;
Str 14(+2), Dex 10(+0), Con 10(+0), Int 14(+2), Wis 12(+1), Cha 17(+3);
Skills: Climb¹ -1, Handle Animal +4, Intimidate¹ +7, Jump¹ -7, Ride¹ +3, Swim¹ -4.
Feats: Combat Expertise (PH 92), Combat Reflexes (PH 92), Improved Critical (PH 95) (Longsword), Iron Will (PH 97), Leadership (PH 97), Mounted Combat (PH 98), Ride-By Attack (PH 99), Quick Draw (PH 98), Weapon Focus (PH 102) (Longsword).
• Fearless (Ex): You are immune to fear effects.
• Hero's Luck (Ex): You gain a +1 luck bonus on all saving throws.
• Natural Commander (Ex): Your commander ranting is 2 (unless otherwise
higher).
• Legendary Reputation (Ex): You add +2 to any Diplomacy check you
make to influence the attitude of any NPC who is not already unfriendly or hostile.
• Greater Command (Sp): Once per day, you can focus your powers
of persuasion to use greater command (as the spell) (DC 19).
• Quick Rally (Ex): Once per round, you can perform a rally check
as a free action.
Possessions: +3 longsword, +1 composite longbow, 40 arrows, +1 ring of protection, +1 cloak of resistance, +2 breastplate, +1 heavy steel shield, 3 potions cmw, 2 potions heroism, 40gp.
I'm planning on portraying Skellerang as a very sympathetic character because one of the characters in the campaign is his nephew. I've worked out a rough timeline for how I expect things to go. It goes something like this:
Chapter 1: Captain Skellerang is deeply troubled by the dissappearances of many citizens, but the fairly small Town Guard is unable to find any solid leads.. While the party explores Jzadirune, the Stormblades convince Ghelve to confess. Skellerang has Ghelve arrested and grants the Stormblades an exclusive charter to continue exploring Jzadirune and the Malachite Hold. He also privately scolds the party for trying to hide Ghelve's complicity.
Chapter 2: Lord Vhalantru convinces Captain Skellerang to give the PCs another chance by investigating the goblin problem. Skellerang agrees because he sees this as a relatively low-priority action, and the Town Guard focuses on building a case against Ghelve. When the party discovers a plan to smuggle mercenaries into the city involving the Blue Duke (an infamous war criminal in my campaign), he grows quite concerned. With help from Vhalantru, he convinces the Lord Mayor to increase funding to the Town Guard so they can investigate what is going on more effectively. No taxes are raised yet, but funding is diverted from a homeless shelter that the PCs have been pushing for. Ghelve is also tried in this chapter, with the result depending on how well the PCs represent him at the trial.
Chapter 3: When Sacrem is killed and the wands dissappear, Skellerang is convinced (like any good cop should be) that there is more going on than meets the eye. Rather than risk public panic, the Lord Mayor decides not to announce the loss of the wands, however taxes are raised significantly to cover the founding of the Magic Threats Agency. A number of gifted young spellcasters are recruited from Bluecrater Academy in the hopes that they will reduce the need of the city to rely on third parties to solve their serious problems. Aware of Skellerang's suspicions, Vhalantru has the Last Laugh begin planting evidence implicating a certain group of rich merchants and lesser nobles based out of Redgorge (the Chisel) in recent events.
Chapter 4: An umber hulk rampages through the city and again the City Guard is unable to stop it, however in the aftermath the MTA discovers evidence suggesting that Maavu of the Chisel summoned the creature. Skellerang comes to the conclusion that this was actually a coup attempt based on the proximity of the rampage to Town Hall. In a secret meeting with the Lord Mayor and Vhalantru, Skellerang presents this evidence, however because The Chisel contains a number of skilled spellcasters and Redgorge is heavily fortified, they come to the conclusion that Cauldron lacks the ability to retaliate. Taxes are once again raised sharply, and at Vhalantru's reccomendation, Zarn Kyass (introduced as a "former officer of the Blue Duke" that Vhalantru can personally vouch for) and a small mercenary army of Half-Orc soldiers are hired. No charges are filed, but plans are drafted for an attack on Redgorge. Shortly thereafter, Sir Alek Tercival, a known associate of The Chisel, sends a challenge to Captain Skellerang. Because he believes that the Chisel is trying to overthrow the government, this challenge is ignored.
Chapter 5: Maavu leads a public protest against the increased taxes, and when Sgt. Skyler Krewis along with a squad of half-orcs interrupts his speech to bring him in for questioning, the protest turns into a riot. To make matters worse, Maavu brings up the challenge publically. When this is followed by an attack on the main Half-Orc barracks by fire elementals, Skellerang and the Lord Mayor quickly conclude that this is a second Chisel-backed coup attempt. Maavu and the Chisel are declared Traitors, and the newly formed Half-Orc army musters to march on Redgorge in response. Only after a bit of skilled diplomacy and the death of Alek Tercival are the PCs able to convince Skellerang that the Chisel has been framed.
Chapter 6: While the PCs investigate Occipitus, events in Cauldron quickly come to a head. Skellerang devotes the entire resources of the Town Guard and the MTA to investigating the true cause of the problems. The Lord Mayor is a bit more insightful and less patient, and confronts Vhalantru privately with his suspicions. Vhalantru responds by eating the Lord Mayor. Vhalantru then uses the dissappearance of the Lord Mayor as justification to declare martial law with Skellerang's support. The Half-Orcs are still needed because the Town Guard and the MTA have nowhere near the numbers required to effectively control the city. Skellerang and Vhalantru form a temporary ruling council until a new Lord Mayor can be chosen.
Chapter 7: Distracted by his furious ongoing investigations, Skellerang's Town Guard is able to provide little assistence to the PCs after assassins strike at them. Once the PCs clear out the Cathedral of Wee Jas, the MTA discovers evidence linking Vhalantru to Ike Iverson, who obviously masterminded the assasination attempt. Everything suddenly begins to fall into place, and while the PCs are busy investigating Spellweaver Ruins, Skellerang summons his most loyal officers to plan the arrest of Vhalantru. Before he can carry out this plan, an MTA officer leaks word of his plans to Vhalantru, and a squad of Elite Half-Orcs invades Skellerang's home. Skellerang fights valiantly and even manages to kill two, but he is subdued, captured, and summarily executed. Vhalantru announces that Skellerang killed the Lord Mayor with the help of the Chisel, and declares himself the new Lord Mayor. When the PCs return, they find Skellerang hanging from a noose from the main gate of the city with a sign around his neck warning that "Thus Fall All Traitors." However, they are contacted by Skyler Krewis, who by now realizes what is going on. Thus the PCs form the core of a rebel organization along with the Church of St. Cuthbert, the Chisel, the Striders, loyal members of the Town Guard, and possibly even the Stormblades.
Just how I plan to do it, of course. I'm only halfway through Chapter 2, so there's a lot that could change between now and then.
Eric "Critic of the Dawn"
I'm planning on portraying Skellerang as a very sympathetic character because one of the characters in the campaign is his nephew.
In the game that I run, after the “riot scene”, dwarves & gnomes are [somehow rightly] accused to finance the Chisel activities. To escape persecution, the little folk leave “en masse” Cauldron to take refuge in Redgorge. During their Exodus, the half-orc mercenaries retaliate. Since the PCs are also heading at this point to Redgorge, they have a chance to save the civilians from a certain dead.
CEO
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He might start investigating the Blue Duke on his own as well. This could lead to a confrontation between the Blue Duke and Skellerang, resulting in the Blue Duke charming Skellerang. The beginning of the end, so to say.
This is exactly what I thought. Once the Blue Duke charmed Skellerang, he coerced Skellerang into making him the Deputy Captain of the Guard and got him to hire a bunch of his half-orc thugs as town guard. Of course, there is always a chance that Skellerang could throw off the charm effect, so when the Blue Duke saw a chance to be rid of Skellerang at the Battle of Red Gorge, he too the opening. Of course, he was foiled by those pesky kids and their dog...er, by the player characters. :)
With the charm broken, Skellerang has abdicated his position as Captain of the Town Guard to one of the PCs, but has stayed on as the Deputy Captain. Of course, this makes Valanhtru even more worried and once the party gets back from Occipitus, bang...
-Lisa
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I think what I'm going to do is have Terseon killed and replaced by the Blue Duke by Vhalantru. Making the Blue Duke a more prominant NPC and further reinforcing the government corruption.
Question is how to do it...
My first thought is to have a showdown somewhere in the city between Terseon and a group of Regular town guards vs. a squad of half-orc guards.
I'm just not sure when to do it. Sometime before the Redgorge invasion.ANy ideas?
Since it says in Chapter 2 that Jenya serves as a reference for the PCs after mass one day, I'd say you could use Skellerang's death to foreshadow some religious tension. Have him done in by the assassins that Ike hires, only have their escape covered by half-orcs. Perhaps have TS jumped when he's inspecting a patrol. Even better would be to have TS jumped just after he has had stern words with the Kordite priests, as they're the sort to support rable-rousers like Maavu and the PCs. Skylar stays with the body while the half-orcs "chase" after the assassins. Or maybe Skylar is in charge of the investigation, and naturally tells the PCs to be on the lookout.