Director of Brand Strategy
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After the initial goblin attack, my PCs decided to put on their investigator hats, and took it upon themselves to uncover which "longshanks" aided in the raid. I led them through a lot of hoops, but they found nothing conclusive. At the same time, the LG "Marxist" dwarf had set up a meeting with one of the employees at the Glassworks to make sure they were being well-treated by Lonjiku and that their living conditions within the factory were satisfactory. I went along with this as well, hoping to add a bit more umph when they would later find the workers dead, and also used the opportunity to have them see Tsuto in passing in a hallway, to get his backstory from the worker who was giving the tour. The result was less than ideal. The rogue snuck away "to the bathroom" and went into the basement where he discovered Tsuto and the smuggler's tunnel. Now they want to take him down the tunnel with them since they don't trust him saying that the other end is bricked up, nor that he was down there checking to make sure the goblins didn't enter that way.
I figured I have several options, but there may be a better way to handle it. So far I have three options:
1) Tsuto goes with them and tries to escape when they encounter either the goblins in waiting in the tunnel or the sinspawn in the catacombs, proceeding to kill his father and the workers later.
2) Tsuto fights them now, seeing his plan fall apart because of the PCs curiosity.
3) He goes turncoat on his father, explaining that he suspects his father was using the tunnel to get goblins in and that he noticed him paying off some of the city guard. Hope fully that takes the blame off him long enough that he can get back to Thistletop, and then Lonjiku would be out of the picture by being sent to Magnimar for trial.
How do I make this work?
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Director of Brand Strategy
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how can a marxist be lawful? Marx said that there would be no government and therefor no rule of law [/kidding threadjack]
I know the question was in jest, but I'll answer anyway. His father was injured in the mines of Janderhoff and not really taken care of by his employer and lived the rest of his life in destitution. The PC is very focused on unionizing workers and ensuring safe and well-paid working conditions for any skilled laborers.
I figured I have several options, but there may be a better way to handle it. So far I have three options:
1) Tsuto goes with them and tries to escape when they encounter either the goblins in waiting in the tunnel or the sinspawn in the catacombs, proceeding to kill his father and the workers later.
2) Tsuto fights them now, seeing his plan fall apart because of the PCs curiosity.
3) He goes turncoat on his father, explaining that he suspects his father was using the tunnel to get goblins in and that he noticed him paying off some of the city guard. Hope fully that takes the blame off him long enough that he can get back to Thistletop, and then Lonjiku would be out of the picture by being sent to Magnimar for trial.
How do I make this work?
Dude, you blew it ;^)
Did you leave off with the party and Tsuto standing in the Glassworks basement? I wouldn't have let them see Tsuto on the first floor of the glassworks without a plan.
How did he explain the fact that the basement entrance to the smuggler's tunnel had been recently opened? Tsuto is the one who opened it (according to James Jacobs) so that he could smuggle some of the goblins into town for the attack. James also said that Tsuto would have hidden the tunnel opening until just before his attack on the workers and his father. (But all that does you no good at this point).
Anyhoo, I don't like option 2. I don't think Tsuto isn't desperate enough to start a fight yet, especially if he's outnumbered. He's not that much higher level than the party. If the party starts a fight, I think he runs to the catacombs to try and get away.
Option 1 isn't bad. Since we know that Tsuto has already visited Erylium in the catacombs at least once (he gave her a bottle of wine), we can assume that the sinspawn would attack the party but leave Tsuto alone. If he can bluff the party long enough for him and the sinspawn to get suprise, I think he's got a good chance of getting away unless your party has more than 4 PCs or folks have already leveled.
Alternately, he could go all the way down the tunnel to the secret door and loudly "discover" it. If he can manage to be noisy enough to alert the goblins ahead of time, he might be able to get behind some of the party while the goblins attack from the front after the secret door is opened.
With Option 1, the PCs will probably get a hold of Tsuto's journal and the clues no matter what happens. Even if he gets away, you can assume that he didn't have it with him when he ran.
The problem with Option 1 is that he won't be able to exact his revenge on Lonjiku unless he wins the fight and gets away. You're stuck with a living Lonjiku, and Ameiko doesn't inherit the Glassworks. But that stuff isn't really central to the plot.
Option 3 might be tricky to pull off. It could end up being a situation where Tsuto fools the town and his sister but not the PCs. If Lonjiku gets punished, Tsuto has his revenge. Eventually, he will need to slip out of town and get back to Thistletop. If Tsuto gets away with Option 3, the PCs are unlikely to get a hold of his journal, so they will have to follow Tsuto himself to find Thistletop. Unless you provide some other clues.
3) He goes turncoat on his father, explaining that he suspects his father was using the tunnel to get goblins in and that he noticed him paying off some of the city guard. Hope fully that takes the blame off him long enough that he can get back to Thistletop, and then Lonjiku would be out of the picture by being sent to Magnimar for trial.
How do I make this work?
I like this option. I think that right now Tsuto has three goals:
1. He wants revenge on his father. He can do this by turning him in, and don't forget that in addition to bluffing Tsuto can also reveal his father's actual crimes (ie disposing of bodies for the Sczarni). This means that his Bluff skill (+5) doesn't even need to come into play. Tsuto can say (truthfully) that his father is bringing in murdered corpses through some unseen method, and get the PCs to help out.
2. He wants revenge on the town. His best bet for this is Nualia's plan of the combined goblin tribes sweeping through the streets, particularly if lots of angry residents and goblins die. I don't think that he wants anyone else to know about the runewell yet, so I'd only have him reveal the catacombs as a last resort.
3. He wants to support his sweetie, preferably in a way that doesn't result in her no longer looking like such a hottie. I'm not sure that this comes into play in this situation, but it's in his mind.
I think that at this point he should give the PCs the facts that he has about his father and ask for their help in gathering enough evidence to convict him. Since this is a real crime that has been taking place, the PCs might even be able to find such evidence. You could even have Tsuto offer them a reward for their assistance. I'd make it look like this was something that the PCs were supposed to do later in the path but because they were clever they're doing later bits of the adventure early.
The problem I see with option 3 is that Tsuto wants to take personal revenge on Lonjiku. So getting him shipped off to Magnimar would not be as much fun as the scene in the glassworks.
Tsuto also has reason to believe that Lonjiku can use his standing to avoid prosecution. After all, Lonjiku got away with chucking his unfaithful wife off a cliff. Seriously, how hard would it be to figure that mystery out, if anyone actually tried?
I think Tsuto might present some of his evidence to the PCs and enlist their help. But he would try to avoid having anyone publicly accuse Lonjiku right away. He wants to preserve his chance to deal with Lonjiku himself.
The attitude of the party is probably going to determine which option plays out. The more suspicious they are, they less wiggle room Tsuto has.
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Director of Brand Strategy
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The problem I see with option 3 is that Tsuto wants to take personal revenge on Lonjiku. So getting him shipped off to Magnimar would not be as much fun as the scene in the glassworks.
Tsuto also has reason to believe that Lonjiku can use his standing to avoid prosecution. After all, Lonjiku got away with chucking his unfaithful wife off a cliff. Seriously, how hard would it be to figure that mystery out, if anyone actually tried?
I think Tsuto might present some of his evidence to the PCs and enlist their help. But he would try to avoid having anyone publicly accuse Lonjiku right away. He wants to preserve his chance to deal with Lonjiku himself.
The attitude of the party is probably going to determine which option plays out. The more suspicious they are, they less wiggle room Tsuto has.
They are very suspicious. Even with all his ranks in bluff and diplomacy, I don't think he's gonna get out of this one.
They are very suspicious. Even with all his ranks in bluff and diplomacy, I don't think he's gonna get out of this one.
Then his best bet is to bolt down the tunnel screaming:
"Help Mister Sinspawn, these mean adventurers are oppressing my Wrath!"