My party is wrapping up the encounter at the Twisted Branch lair and has agreed to return with a peace treaty. Did anyone's party actually do this side quest? Any interesting stories to share? Any advice on who/which governing body/etc the party would talk to in Greyhawk? (My City of Greyhawk knowledge is woefully limited.) Anyone come up with a neat way to tie this part of the story more firmly into the meta-plot? Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated.
I've done some searches here on the boards and was surprised to not find any threads on this specific topic. If they exist and I missed them, I'd also appreciate some links. Thanks, everyone~
I think there was some discussion earlier.
In my campaign, the paladin PC was tied in with the Greyhawk militia and already had communication with the head of that outfit about the worms. He was able to discuss with the head of the militia the situation and persuade him to a truce.
Given how savage lizard folk are, I'm not sure a formal treaty (as between sovereign states) would be necessary--the party could probably carry a message back to the garrison at Diamond Lake that the Twisted Branch had had a change of leadership and was willing to smoke the peace pipe, and the garrison captain could take it from there with a meeting at some neutral site not far from Blackwall Keep.
The original reason for throwing this plot hook in was to motivate PCs to go to Greyhawk, but there are many other possible hooks for that--most notably to do research on the worms and to participate in the Games. Or even just a shopping trip to buy better stuff with the proceeds of the first three adventures.
Nerof Gasgal is Lord Mayor of Greyhawk. Tigran Gellner is Captain-General of the Watch and thus head of the Militia. These two NPCs would be the ones the PCs would see if you want to use this plot hook.
Best source of info on Greyhawk is "Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins". It's a TSR publication, available at Paizo for download for $4. I found it invaluable in bringing Greyhawk to life for my campaign.
My group also ran with the treaty idea. We added the following points to flesh it out:
--When Hiska negotiated for PC help to defeat Shukak, he offered Shukak's amulet of natural armor (as an item that belonged to the tribe, not a "gift" from the dragon) as retribution for those slaughtered at BWK. (Does it make me evil to giggle at the look on my players' faces when they have to give treasure to someone else?)
--The treaty basically involved a committment from the lizard folk to cease hostile activity towards BWK and surrounding areas and for the peace offering to head off any formal retribution. Additionally, the PC's set up parlay signals for the lizardmen to use with BWK to pass information. The signals allowed for lizardmen and soldiers to do the yelling-over-the-wall thing, or to leave an item (message, etc.) to be collected by the other. The general consensus being that the soldiers would be none too happy to have to closely deal with lizardmen anytime in the near future.
--The treaty and peace offering were originally taken to Commander Trask in DL as he officially oversees the BWK garrison. Trask took care of the rest of the chain of command.
--PC's were employed by the Greyhawk Council to return the response to the Twisted Branch Tribe.
I used this as an opportunity to roll the PC's into a modified Ruins in the Mistmarsh encounter. Undead in an abandoned dwarven citadel just called for a Kyuss redux.
|
Our group is on aGoW now, & we just recently started wrapping this side plot up. Apparently negotiations had stalled, as there was great pressure from powerful (and bigoted) nobles in the city that didn't want to see Greyhawk allying with such savages. As luck would have it, though, a certain group of arena heroes recently became landed nobility themselves, and with the help of their newfound "celebrity status," and what I have lovingly begun referring to as the "Diamond Lake Diplomacy Check" (which basically involves applying the appropriate amount of bribes to the appropriate parties involved in the situation, until there is no longer a situation. Implied threats may be added to taste.), certain prominent noblewomen have been seen wearing lizardfolk jewelry, and there may actually be a hope of forging a true alliance.