Who is Aldern Foxglove? (possible spoilers)

[Tamago]

My PCs have taken a liking to Aldern Foxglove, so I want to play up the bit with the boar hunt into an hour or so of game time. But I find that I don't know that much about his character. Specifically, his reputation, his status (and cash; one of the PCs is a rogue after all), and perhaps some story seeds he could tell during the ride there and back.

Spoiler:

I know that he features prominently in Volume 2, so I don't want to contradict anything that will become apparent then. He will, of course, attempt to find out as much as possible from the PCs, but it'd be nice to have *some* information to offer in trade as well.

Thanks for your help!

[Erik Mona]

Oh, boy does he ever appear in the second volume...

Those Pathfinder guys are absolutely cruel.

--Erik

[Karui Kage]

Where, oh where did the original post go? All I see is Erik's reply.:S

[Selk]

I thought Erik had just gone a little nuts. Cryptic, rhetorical spoilers for the win.

[Sect]

If you don't want to know about module 2, don't read. Seriously.

Spoiler:

Apparantly, Foxy is supossed to become some sort of greed monster, and obsess about whoever it is he latched onto and send creepy letters. Some sort of "surprise villain", since the DM is to create the image that Foxy is pretty much harmless, if a tad bit creepy. (This is all told in the first module)

[James Jacobs]

Tamago wrote:

My PCs have taken a liking to Aldern Foxglove, so I want to play up the bit with the boar hunt into an hour or so of game time. But I find that I don't know that much about his character. Specifically, his reputation, his status (and cash; one of the PCs is a rogue after all), and perhaps some story seeds he could tell during the ride there and back.

As revealed in Pathfinder 2, Aldern is a bit down on his luck. He's not got much money, but he's also fairly good at hiding the fact that he's kind of broke. He certainly has more money to throw around than 1st level PCs. His reputation around town is somewhat minor; folk know he's a merchant who lives in Magnimar and who owns a manor house southwest of Sandpoint, a place known as Foxglove Manor.

As for status and cash; he's a really minor noble, and probably carries a couple hundred gold on him. Which would be a lot, if it weren't most of his life savings.

As for story seeds, try to play him as more of a questioning type. He should be more curious about the PCs than they are of him. If you need a story for him to tell, he could brag about his prowess in previous boar hunts, or of how he grew up in the city of Korvosa and has only recently returned to Magnimar.

A lot of what's been going on recently in his life is pretty grim and creepy and depressing, so he doesn't really want to dwell upon or talk about that.

In any case, he should move off stage and stay off stage after the boar hunt. If your PCs get too attached to him, have him promise to return but that he's currently got some big business to deal with in Magnimar. In any case, he needs some alone time during the majority of "Burnt Offerings" so that he can be ready for what's in store for him in "Skinsaw Murders." There's a LOT more information about him and his history in there (Pathfinder #2), so if you can wait about a month for that one to reach you, you'll be able to use some of the information there as well.

[Vic Wertz]

Tamago wrote:

My PCs have taken a liking to Aldern Foxglove, so I want to play up the bit with the boar hunt into an hour or so of game time. But I find that I don't know that much about his character.

Don't worry too much about keeping his character consistent between this meeting with the PCs and the next. There are are good reasons why his character may be... inconsistent. :-)

It would be nice, though, to ensure that Aldern takes a liking to at least one of the PCs in return.

[The-Last-Rogue]

So wait . . .

Spoiler:

My players shouldn't have killed him and blamed it on a boar hunting accident gone bad? Is that what your saying?

j/k

[Tamago]

Thanks, that helps a bunch. I think I can ad lib enough conversation to keep the players interested now. My only real concern is that the Rogue might try to fleece him penniless -- that'd be interesting. But I think the Party can keep him from doing more than snatching a few GP.

It'll be very interesting to see how the PCs react to him down the road ;)

[Vic Wertz]

Tamago wrote:

My only real concern is that the Rogue might try to fleece him penniless -- that'd be interesting.

No worries—you can totally work with that, too. Any sort of connection between the PCs and Foxglove—good or bad—will lead to loads of... um... interesting... er... interaction in Pathfinder 2.