My group is currently on the verge of facing off with Ieana/Yarzoth back on the Shiv and as I like to plan ahead I am reading through Racing to Ruin. Now most of the introductory part is playing out well in my head, though I'm already looking forward to how my players will make everything much more complicated. I know how paranoid they can be and joining one of the rival factions might be a big decision for them all by itself.
Anyway, my question is about something else: Reading through the first encounter with Nkechi I noticed the two giant crabs that lurk close to his home and will likely be encountered by the PCs. Now the book says, that should they kill the crabs, Nkechi will be quite mad. But as I said, I know my players. "You make your way to the foot of the cliff and notice two giant crabs in the water, snapping their pincers menacingly" will cause shouts of "charge! shoot! *arcanebla*!" in a heartbeat.
To those who already played through that part, how did you manage that situation and its repercussions? What did your players do?
I know it is just a minor detail but still it kind of bothers me to more or less automatically get off on the wrong foot with Nkechi.
As I was a player there, we did not do the part you are talking about, I havent read through that book much, so I know we got around it or did something a different way, so there must be another avenue there.
I must have missed the part about Nkechi favoring the crabs. My players just killed them and moved on. We are currently 2/3rds way through the city of seven spears and Nkechi is still with them residing in their faction camp because "Gozreh wills it."
In my game, the NPC they hired to boat them to the shoreline told them of Nkechi's pets, and so they found them, scraping scraps from the skeleton of a beached elasmosaur. The party witch sent his talking lyrebird familiar (reskinned raven) to Nkechi's cliff-side retreat to ask what they should do. The response? "Feed them, stupid!" So they threw some rations to the crabs and walked past them while they were distracted.
In my game, the NPC they hired to boat them to the shoreline told them of Nkechi's pets, and so they found them, scraping scraps from the skeleton of a beached elasmosaur. The party witch sent his talking lyrebird familiar (reskinned raven) to Nkechi's cliff-side retreat to ask what they should do. The response? "Feed them, stupid!" So they threw some rations to the crabs and walked past them while they were distracted.
boat them to the shoreline? So you didnt have them get shipwrecked?
In my game, the NPC they hired to boat them to the shoreline told them of Nkechi's pets, and so they found them, scraping scraps from the skeleton of a beached elasmosaur. The party witch sent his talking lyrebird familiar (reskinned raven) to Nkechi's cliff-side retreat to ask what they should do. The response? "Feed them, stupid!" So they threw some rations to the crabs and walked past them while they were distracted.boat them to the shoreline? So you didnt have them get shipwrecked?
Nkechi is on the mainland of Sargava, not Smuggler's Shiv. He's introduced in the first part of Racing to Ruin.
Nkechi is on the mainland of Sargava, not Smuggler's Shiv. He's introduced in the first part of Racing to Ruin.In my game, the NPC they hired to boat them to the shoreline told them of Nkechi's pets, and so they found them, scraping scraps from the skeleton of a beached elasmosaur. The party witch sent his talking lyrebird familiar (reskinned raven) to Nkechi's cliff-side retreat to ask what they should do. The response? "Feed them, stupid!" So they threw some rations to the crabs and walked past them while they were distracted.boat them to the shoreline? So you didnt have them get shipwrecked?
oooooo ye i dunno why i thought that was somewhere on the shiv.... guess it just seemed like it, we by passed that whole thing anyway.
In my game, the NPC they hired to boat them to the shoreline told them of Nkechi's pets
That sounds perfect to me, I'm sure I can get my players to have their characters boated to the shoreline by some NPC.
Thanks!
To those who already played through that part, how did you manage that situation and its repercussions? What did your players do?I know it is just a minor detail but still it kind of bothers me to more or less automatically get off on the wrong foot with Nkechi.
That section bothered me as well, especially since, knowing my players, the PCs in our game would have taken down the two crabs without hesitation. So, I took the cheap way out--I skipped the encounter. ;-)
Instead, I added an encounter with a young manticore who had recently moved into a sea cave south of Nkechi's lair. When my PCs defeated the manticore, they earned a small amount of gratitude from Nkechi (since the beast was upsetting the natural balance of the region) and from several local fishing villages (who lost a few tribesmen to the monster).
Instead, I added an encounter with a young manticore who had recently moved into a sea cave south of Nkechi's lair. When my PCs defeated the manticore, they earned a small amount of gratitude from Nkechi (since the beast was upsetting the natural balance of the region) and from several local fishing villages (who lost a few tribesmen to the monster).
Also interesting. But that way the PCs would get a "free bonus" in dealing with Nkechi by just doing what they always do, which is kill everything in their way. I'd much rather have them think about their actions and their consequences.