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As an idea for the RotRL campaign I'm running, I'm thinking of involving some Hellknights and I'm looking for advice.
Now as they emerge from the building with a battered and bloody Ameiko, they are greeted by a few guards with a crowd at their backs. The bard managed the Diplomacy check this time around, and the PCs were led to Mayor Deverin and Father Zantus.
That's where the session ended.
The PCs plan is to show the mayor Tsuto's journal. My plan is to have Titus Scarnetti barge in after their meeting and demand the PCs be arrested until everything is cleared up. The Sheriff has already left for Magnimar, and the PCs were recently approached by Scarnetti, who was attempting to hire them as enforcers in Hemlock's absence. He hinted at that time that he had resources coming from Magnimar. I'm thinking now that those resources are Hellknights.
I was planning on having a few knights arrive in town at Scarnetti's request and kind of make things a bit difficult for the PCs in their zeal to get to the bottom of the recent troubles. Maybe have Mayor Deverin approach the PCs quietly to investigate on their own.
Thoughts? Opinions?
You're a mean GM, aren't you?
Anyway, the response when being arrested is generally "On what charge?!" I would avoid this altogether by having them detained instead.
As an idea for the RotRL campaign I'm running, I'm thinking of involving some Hellknights and I'm looking for advice.
** spoiler omitted **
That's where the session ended.
The PCs plan is to show the mayor Tsuto's journal. My plan is to have Titus Scarnetti barge in after their meeting and demand the PCs be arrested until everything is cleared up. The Sheriff has already left for Magnimar, and the PCs were recently approached by Scarnetti, who was attempting to hire them as enforcers in Hemlock's absence. He hinted at that time that he had resources coming from Magnimar. I'm thinking now that those resources are Hellknights.
I was planning on having a few knights arrive in town at Scarnetti's request and kind of make things a bit difficult for the PCs in their zeal to get to the bottom of the recent troubles. Maybe have Mayor Deverin approach the PCs quietly to investigate on their own.
Thoughts? Opinions?
Why does Scarnetti want them arrested?
If it is simply because he is an officious busybody who thinks they are criminals who turned him down then that is fine.
I found I didnt really use the Scarnetti tie in enough and he should be an annoying man of power, prepared to break the law to get his way.
I would think Scarnetti would be loathed to have Hellknights in Sandpoint for any reason. If they start arresting the Sczarni or investigating the burning down of mills he could find himself on the wrong end of a pointy stick. Once they are in town there is no telling where they could end up.
Some various thoughts on the Hellknights. If memory serves, there are only about 10 Hellknights in Magnimar. Also, they don't have the freedom to go around enforcing their vision of the law in the lands around Magnimar that they have in the lands around Korvosa.
Scarnetti is a legally sketchy dude. I am inclined to think he really wouldn't want them around, in all honesty. As someone asked, why would he want the party arrested...or detained. There has to be someone in charge of the town guard while the Sheriff is away. Has this person's identity been established? What is the nature of the PC's relationship with this person? Or the Mayor?
The PCs, assuming you had the Sheriff ask them to maintain a presence, have a semi-official status in the town at the moment. Assuming there are a dozen dead goblins to show, Scarnetti really doesn't have a lot of legal ground to demand much of anything. When he demands the party be detained, all they have to do is wave a dead goblin in his face and the Mayor would likely politely tell him to go screw.
Now, I can see Scarnetti doing something to mess with the party. He just can't control the Hellknights, and I don't think he'd like this uncontrolled element running around.
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Thanks for the thoughts everyone!
I should have been clearer. I meant that Scarnetti wants the PCs detained. I certainly won't let the charges stick for more than a second. Especially with what the PCs shared with the mayor.
There is someone in charge of the guard, and the party has an iffy relationship with him currently, due to his humiliation by the party's fighter in a contest during the Swallowtail Festival. So right now I'm considering of Scarnetti using a little of his influence to get some of the town guard on his side.
As to motivation:
And the party put on a puppet show with some dead goblins, the mayor, being the intelligent person with a backbone that she is, politely thanks Scarnetti for his input but sadly, no, the party won't be detained, and then the party is followed around all over town by town guard. Just in case.
And in the meantime, Scarnetti spreads rumors about the party having foot fungus or something. Or how the bard stole his best material from some performer in Magnimar. Boo, hiss.
Based on the information available, Scarnetti doesn't have a lot to use to justify doing anything official.
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If you *do* have Hellknights show up (because maybe Scarnetti's "invitation" is enough to make enforcing their doctrine in the area "ok"), it's ok to have them as antagonists against the PCs, but I think the resolution of that conflict should be the Hellknights realizing that Scarnetti is using them to stir up trouble.
Something similar (but not nearly as interesting) happened in my game; I used the event to foreshadow the Hellknight's interest in Fort Rannkick, later in the AP.
The PCs plan is to show the mayor Tsuto's journal. My plan is to have Titus Scarnetti barge in after their meeting and demand the PCs be arrested until everything is cleared up. The Sheriff has already left for Magnimar, and the PCs were recently approached by Scarnetti, who was attempting to hire them as enforcers in Hemlock's absence. He hinted at that time that he had resources coming from Magnimar. I'm thinking now that those resources are Hellknights.
That is a pretty good idea.
The PCs plan is to show the mayor Tsuto's journal. My plan is to have Titus Scarnetti barge in after their meeting and demand the PCs be arrested until everything is cleared up. The Sheriff has already left for Magnimar, and the PCs were recently approached by Scarnetti, who was attempting to hire them as enforcers in Hemlock's absence. He hinted at that time that he had resources coming from Magnimar. I'm thinking now that those resources are Hellknights.That is a pretty good idea.
We know that the Hellknights are fairly active and popular in Magnimar (Pathfinder #2 p. 58).
The Scarnettis are the most "Chelaxian" of the noble families of Sandpoint.
The reaction of the mostly Varisian people of Sandpoint would increase the urgency for the Player Characters to "solve the problem."
Paradoxically, it makes it easier for the PCs to leave town to deal with the Goblins
Well, popular with the judiciary, anyway. :-)
While it's true that the Scarnettis are very "Chelaxian", they're also legally questionable. Of course, being the arrogant jerk he is, Titus might not think about the whole letting the genie out of the bottle aspect to ringing up the Hellknights and wasting their time. "You've wasted our time calling us up here. While we're here, let's take a look at your businesses." "Wait! What?!"You know, I never understood why the Order of the Nail has a centaur in a position of power.
Well, popular with the judiciary, anyway. :-)
While it's true that the Scarnettis are very "Chelaxian", they're also legally questionable. Of course, being the arrogant jerk he is, Titus might not think about the whole letting the genie out of the bottle aspect to ringing up the Hellknights and wasting their time. "You've wasted our time calling us up here. While we're here, let's take a look at your businesses." "Wait! What?!"
There is a long tradition of Varisian Chels "hoisting themselves on their own petard" going back to Queen Domina's importation of the Hellknights in the first place. :)
Actually, if you wanted a Side-Trek, the Hellknight presence would open the opportunity for the players to defeat this secondary "villain" (since he cannot be simply attacked with swords) that would allow some scope for investiagation and role-playing. ;P
You know, I never understood why the Order of the Nail has a centaur in a position of power.
The Order of the Nail is about the supremacy of Civilization, not humanity per say.
You know, I never understood why the Order of the Nail has a centaur in a position of power.The Order of the Nail is about the supremacy of Civilization, not humanity per say.
But they're still Chelish, with a Chelish person's prejudice. And centaurs are not known for their lawful ways.
And doesn't that most recent article about Hellknights change her to a human? I know it changed character classes and cut character levels. The Order of the Nail's head lost at least 3 levels.
Darkeyes777, hey I love the idea, I totally adapted it for my game this past weekend. Here's my adapted version:
Pikrak (CG human Barbarian 1, Sorcerer5) a Shoanti tribesman of the Shadde-Quah clan was recently imprisoned in Magnimar for attempting to gather enough tribesman to his cause as to rebel from weakened Chellish rule. His small band was captured attacking a group of Black Arrows in the east. He had ventured into Magnimar to urge integrated Shoanti to rejoin him within the wilds. Many in his band were killed, but Pikrak was captured and set to be executed by the Order of the Nail as a threat to the lawful authority of the region. The local Scarzani approached members of his band and they paid heavily for his release. They were able to sneak him out on a ship, but not before the Hellknights were on his trail. The ship he escaped on landed in Sandpoint, where he was supposed to meet up with local Scarzani who would help give him provisions.
Well when he got to Sandpoint Jubyral planned to sell him back to the Hellknights for a hefty sum, but unfortunately the trap failed. Pikrak went to Garridan, owner of the White Deer and is currently hidding in the basement.
Of course Madam Niska Mishvanti is the obvious spiritual leader of the Shoanti in the area, which means that most assumptions are that she would be the one harboring a fugitive. Niska naturally might see dealing with the Scarzani as beneath the Shoanti and refuse to help him. Either ways he just has to wait for an opportunity to dash off into the woods, but with Black Arrows on their way, its a risky escape that might need the Player Characters to either help or hinder his efforts.
That's just my adaptation of it.