Hi guys. I'm in need of some advice. I just finished running the Kingmaker campaign, in its entirety, along with From Shore to Sea as an expansion to Candlemere Tower and Realm of the Fellnight Queen to foreshadow Narissa in between, for my kid brother and his friends. Their PCs all survived to the very end, making them all extremely powerful. They want me to continue the campaign now, and they want to try to unite the River Kingdoms under their rule. Problem is, I don't know where to start with this.
Little back story:
My brother and his friends are all 13 and 14 years old. They've been playing D&D and now Pathfinder for about five years now.
It's a six man party, and they're all extremely powerful-
Odyn D'Arnell, LG 19th lvl male fighter, King of Obidal, their kingdom, and wielder of a fully awakened Briar.
Magister Robert Blackhorne, NG 18th lvl male Wizard, wielder of a Staff of the Magi. The player kept asking me to give him the chance of finding a Staff of the Magi, so I put one in the black dragon's hoard in Sound of a Thousand Screams. They subsequently killed the dragon and looted everything in her hoard.
Spymaster and Councilor Jacob Molari, CG 19th lvl male Rogue.
High Priestess Khalisah bin Saleh Al-Kouri, NG 18th lvl female cleric of Sarenrae.
Marshal Alexander Marchos, LG 19th lvl male Ranger.
Grand Diplomat Galina Petulengro, NG 19th lvl female Bard.
The issue I have here is they're not interested in conquest. Every player has played their PC as pretty much saintly. Some examples:
the ranger adopted the owlbear cub from Stolen Land as an animal companion and named him Dweezle. He also helped the party get on friendly terms with the Nomen centaur tribe by rescuing the leader's daughter and received Skybolt as a reward. He's pretty much the party's liason with the centaurs, who are now officially under the party's rule.
the cleric managed to redeem the Stag Lord and after they began building their kingdom converted him to the worship of Sarenrae and made him General of their armies.
the rogue helped Kressle find redemption after they defeated her in battle. Ultimately she married the rogue, became CG and helps run their spy network.
the bard helped the party get on friendly terms with pretty much every fae in the Stolen Lands, and became determined to cure the defaced nymphs in Sound of a Thousand Screams. After Narissa was defeated, the party went back for them- they refused to kill any of the nymphs and only subdued them- and transported them all along with their trees to the Stolen Lands, and with the help of Tiressia and Falchos restored them.
the fighter appointed Oleg and Svetlana as councilors for their advice in ruling the new kingdom, and appointed Jhod high priest at the Temple of the Elk, which they founded a city around. He eventually helped Jhod redeem Akios Ismort who reclaimed his paladinhood. He also befriended the Stootscale tribe of Kobolds and uses them as spies and informants, who report directly to Jacob and Kressle.
As you can see, they're not big on just attacking every neighboring kingdom and taking over by force. They see the River Kingdoms as a mostly lawless place and want to bring order to it.
At least that's the excuse. The players frankly are just kids and they want to continue expanding with the goal of making the River Kingdoms one giant country under their control. :P They've already annexed Pitax in its entirety and have control of most of the Stolen Lands.
What I want to do is let them start annexing the River Kingdoms and then have the epic campaign, if it gets that far, culminate with Choral the Conqueror coming back and have them fight the red dragon and take his hoard. I just don't know where to start, and I know not every kingdom in the River Kingdoms is exactly 'evil'.
So, follow forumites, what do you think I should do to start this up?
Considering their levels and spiritual make-up, there is only one worthy foe IMO: Razmiran
Let them pledge their support to Tymon for the next season and try to unite the River Kingdoms behind them by leading by example. I think that even Daggermark might be interested in removing Razmirs chokehold on trade by taking Xer. To take Xer you´d need a good-sized fleet with lots of catapults and alchemist fire, sooner or later Razmir will turn up personally...
Personally I want my char (if he survives that long) to lead a raid on First-Step in winter, kill or preferably capture (poor sods) as many sorcerers as possible and run as hell towards Lambreth.
Considering Sarenraes preferences plague-stricken Iobaria should by worth a caravan, if not wholesale, benevolent annexation.
Should be easier to run that in Iobaria than in the River Kingdoms, now that i think of it.
Anyway, there´s also the Paladin in Liberthane and Galt. The poor people ! And Taldor, were Sarenrae is banned ! Outrage !