An idle thought about Nualia and her baby

[Douglas Muir 406]

Backstory as written: Nualia lost her baby because of the influence of the Runewell. It turned out to have been horribly deformed because of the influence of the temple of Lamashtu.

That's okay, but it deprives Nualia of agency. She's just the victim of various evil influences. Realistic enough -- it's the magical world equivalent of getting pregnant on top of a secret toxic waste site -- but it doesn't add to the story.

Alternate line: it's canon that foolish women sometimes pray to the Mother of Monsters for an easy birth -- prayers which are always answered, but with horrible side effects. So, let's say that Nualia's mother died in childbirth, and that Nualia knew this. Say further that Nualia, a shy and bookish girl, read all the books on religion in the temple library, and so was familiar with the "Lamashtu grants safe and easy childbirth BUT FOR A HORRIBLE PRICE SO IT'S A BAD IDEA, DON'T DO THIS" thing.

Now: young Nualia is pregnant and alone, so very alone. Her lover has spurned her, her father has locked her away and is being a complete jackass, she can't go out in public. So she's reading that passage, over and over.. Yes, the book says it always turns out badly, but the book also says that worshippers of Desna are kindly and forgiving, and we know just how true that is, don't we. And then the Runewell opens. And Nualia, filled with sudden rage, sends an incoherent prayer, full of fear and pain and anger, anger, anger, to the Mother of Monsters. And of course it is answered...

Possible spinoffs:

-- the child, though born early and deformed, is alive. Her father had it taken away, and that's where Nualia's mind snapped. Current whereabouts of the child (it would be around five years old) are unknown. DMs can pick up this plot thread, or not. "Not" is fine, really. But note that this plays off themes that are developed later in the path -- horrible family secrets (Skinsaw Murders), congenital deformity (Hook Mountain).

-- from Nualia's insane POV, the Mother totally kept her end of the bargain. It's her father and the hypocritical burghers of Sanpoint who betrayed her.

-- the Lamashtu cult aspect isn't played up in the module, but IMO it could add a lot of flavor. Have a PC make a Perception check to notice a funny little bit of grafitti, a three-eyed jackal thing scrawled on a wall somewhere. Then have a conversation with the priest who gets very upset; the cult of Lamashtu is horrible and evil, but it's very persistent because of the whole safe childbirth thing, let's hope this is someone's sick idea of a joke. Leave it at that and let the PCs start drawing connections.

Thoughts?

Doug M.

[Icyshadow]

Crazy idea I got from this: Have one of the PCs be the Tiefling child of Nualia or something.

If he/she/it would be too young, make it an NPC instead.

[Aeshuura]

I like it... I think that Mr. Jacobs left it vague enough for thoughts like this! :) It gives more responsibility to Nualia for what happened. Sure, she is still a victim, but it is because of her actions that things turned out the way they did...

Now, if she is brought back to sanity, it could break her... What would the PCs do then? :)

[Douglas Muir 406]

Icyshadow wrote:

Crazy idea I got from this: Have one of the PCs be the Tiefling child of Nualia or something.

If he/she/it would be too young, make it an NPC instead.

Doesn't really work with the AAW -- you'd have to make the Late Unpleasantness 15-20 years back instead of 5.

I'd consider slowing the adventure path down a bit. If you let a year or two pass between adventures, then the kid could become an element. Have them discover him/her as a 6 or 7 year old tiefling on the streets of Magnimar in episode 2. By the time the PCs are back from episode 3, the child is 8 or 9 and showing signs of a precocious talent for sorcery...

Or you could just leave the kid as a loose end. That's fine too.

Doug M.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Quote:

Now, if she is brought back to sanity, it could break her...

She's murdered her father, her lover, and a bunch of innocent bystanders. And she's now a demon-cultist with a demon arm who has been mustering an army to commit mass murder.

I don't think Nualia is redeemable, really. Though it might be fun to have PCs think otherwise and try!

Doug M.

[TwoWolves]

I assumed (although never quite openly stated) that her offspring were her yeth hounds.

Now that I think of it, in the "big fight" with her, I did have her pet them lovingly and refer to them as her children.

[Fraust]

I actually like the idea of Nualia being a victim who's "responcibility" in the whole thing comes down to: bad things happened to her and she cracked. Life isn't fair, and good people break.

Not to say I don't like the idea presented here, I do.

Interesting idea about the yeth hounds...might have to think on that a little while...

[Douglas Muir 406]

The yeth hounds: depends on your game. I suspect the squick factor might be high for many players.

I might consider introducing her early... maybe see if you can get a romance going between her and a PC. Not necessarily sexual! Woman Of Mystery, more like. Get the PC thinking she's a good cleric who is pursuing her own mysterious agenda. Have her drop obscure hints and warnings. Eventually the PCs meet someone in Sandpoint who can identify her as Nualia, the shy bookish daughter of the beloved late Father Tobyn. What's the obvious conclusion? She must have survived the fire, gone off to get training as a badass, then returned to fight whatever evil power killed her father and all those innocent people.

Yeah, I have a weakness for the big reveal.

Doug M.