My group finally finished Brinewall Castle, and I wanted to share the visions. I liked the visions in the book, but I wanted more character-specific ties. I'm posting them here in case they are useful as a jumping-off point for other GMs.
I wrote them in the first person and gave them as player handouts. Looking back, I wish that I had done it a little differently, and had talked them through it as well as giving a handout. The handout had a nice effect, though, as the entire room became as silent as the vaults must have been.
The Magus's vision:
Vision 1: I shake my head, as if leaving behind a daydream, and stare out again from the parapets of Trollheim, watching for invasion. My father is, once again, at Blackraven Hall and it is up to me to defend the city from invasion. Thuridr strides up to me, and I know that he is about to chide me for nodding off, but he knows as well as I do: I will sleep when my father returns. Until then, our people are my responsibility. “I had the strangest dream,” I tell him. “I was adventuring with the most unstable, incompetent buffoons, and you were…” My voice trails off as I turn to look at him. He is still next to me, gazing out over the river, but his body has wasted away, weeks of starvation in seconds. “I know,” he says, ruefully. “It was supposed to be me.” He looks at me with hollow eyes. “The gods had a plan, but prophecy isn’t what it used to be. Now, it is up to you and those unstable, incompetent buffoons. If you do not stop the Jade Regent, Minkai will fall and, in a generation, the rest of the East. What will the Blackravens do when an army of immortal oni marches over the Crown of the World? They will die. You, and those others, prophecy says now that only you can stop it, if you can avoid getting yourself killed, first. It should have been me, but you are stuck with my destiny. Work with them. Save the world. Make the gods owe you a favor. If you’re living my life, you owe me that much, at least.” I recognize the day, then, but it is too late and the raiders have already landed, already started shooting the arrow that will kill him. I wake up in Brinewall, screaming and swinging my cutlass at the air.
This player obliged me by swinging his arms and making noise as others were looking up from their visions.
The Ninja's vision:
Vision 2: I have just stepped through a sliding curtain into a large parlor, decorated with ornate paintings of dragons in frames of jade, and I have daydreamed the strangest adventures in a foreign land, full of rain. There is an old man kneeling on a mat in the center of the room, with a beautiful tea set laid out in front of him. The man looks familiar, but I’m sure that I have never met him. He motions for me to remove my shoes and join him on the floor, then pours tea for both of us in silence. Only when we have both finished our first cup does he start to speak. “I was never the kind of man who expressed my emotions,” he says. “I never told my wife that she was the reason the sun shone, or my son how good a man I thought he was becoming. But I can tell you this, granddaughter: I never imagined that an Amatatsu would become ninja, but you have an even greater destiny. An Amatatsu will sit on the Jade Throne again. Together, you and your sister will save Minkai and return our name to greatness. There is a price to be paid, however. The dark work that must be done to protect the throne from greater evil would, I fear, be too much for Ameiko. That must fall to you, though it means that you can never sit on the very throne you protect. You must make our return to power possible. You must do things that no Empress can be seen doing. You are ninja, and I know you know what I mean. Still, it makes my cold heart swell with pride to have two such strong granddaughters. I wish that I had lived to know you.” The rest of the tea is taken in silence, and the vision fades, leaving me with the taste of rose petals on my tongue.
The Inquisitor's vision:
Vision 3: There is the sound of war drums and pipes, far off in the distance, and I realize that I have been standing all this time on the parapets of Lastwall, looking out over the Worldwound. I swore an oath to hold the demons at bay, to stop their advance onto Golarion with my sword or my life. The horns are blowing louder, now, and I know with perfect certainty that this is the final charge. Either the demons will be driven back, or the defenders of Lastwall will fall and the Inner Sea will be overrun. As I reach for my sword, I realize that all of Iomede’s warriors are looking to me for guidance. Then, everything stops, and a tall woman in full plate strides towards me. It takes a moment before I realize that she is not walking out of the sun, but rather glowing like it. Her voice echoes through me: “Abbaddon the Pensive, this is not your battle. Destiny has another task for you, in a distant land, far from your sword-brothers. You must follow the trail of Aganhei and find my lost tribe. You may not share the unswerving nobility of my paladins, but where you must go your flexibility will serve you better. Give them a leader, again, and finish my crusade. This, you will do. First, however, you must travel to Shizuru’s house and fulfill your destiny there. Only then will you be ready to lead my people in the East out of the shadows.” The horns sound again, and I awake in the castle.
The Sorcerer's vision:
Vision 4: I have always been running through the woods in the form of a fox, ducking under fallen trees and over clear, shallow streams, playing tag with another fox who I only catch sight of for a moment at a time. Then, all of a sudden, we break into a clearing and I can see her fully: she is tall and beautiful, with silver-white fur and nine flowly, bushy tails. In the center of the clearing is a tea set, and as she nears it her form flows like water into that of a tall, beautiful woman. Her tails sweep out behind her, brushing the ground as she kneels and motions for me to join her. By the time I kneel, she has poured me a cup of tea, and there is a bowl of rice in front of each of us. The silver-fox woman smiles gently and motions for me to eat, and the rice is sweet and sticky and wonderful. The tea is barley, the recipe that my mother has always used. Finally, the woman speaks. “Miyu, my daughter. It is delightful to see you so well, so full of joy, but sad that you are so far from home. Come home, now. Your people need you. You have a serious task ahead, and your friends will need to be reminded that even the most serious tasks can be done with a light heart. You must be the light heart, musume, that makes even the most deadly path a joy to walk. Where you are going, it will be dark, and your destiny will take you to places where our people never go. You are an unconventional savior, my child, and that makes you perfect for the people without a country.” When the tea and the rice are gone, she turns again into a fox, and beckons me to run with her in the forest, nipping at my shoulder. I give chase, playing until I am tired. As night falls, I curl up with her, she is the size of a wolf, now, and fall asleep. When I do, I wake up here, rested and happy. (Treat as a full night’s sleep for the purposes of refreshing your spells and healing remaining damage.)
The Witch's vision:
Vision 5: I am walking down a hallway made of mirrors, and in each one my reflection is myself at some future time. They are contradictory, though: in one, I look no older than I am now, and I have been eviscerated by a great white dragon, while the image across the passageway shows me as an old woman, in a cottage in an ancient pine forest, surrounded by friendly spirits. Some of them feel like warnings about events that make no sense: a pale king courts me gently, but brutalizes me when I am his queen. Or, he lies dead at my feet, and I hold a poison apple in my hands. One of my images sees me, and motions for me to follow her. No other doorway seems to present itself, so I step through the mirror, and it seems as though I have entered a land populated by creatures from the Harrow cards. The Bear and The Unicorn step out of the woods nearby; The Cricket rides The Bear’s shoulders, and the Courtesan sits atop The Unicorn, her legs crossed delicately. The four of them lead me to The Keep, and immediately on walking through the great, welcoming doors, I feel safe and protected. A centaur has joined us, The Wanderer. All five of them leave me in the courtyard, however, and I see that three owls have always been there: a small snowy owl sits on a perch, a great giant owl rests on the ground and an enormous owlbear glares at me.
The small owl speaks first, her voice a spring breeze: “L. the Wise, the Keeper of Confidences. There is a path before you, and all of your futures begin on that path. There is no destiny for you that does not lead down that road, my love.” The giant owl speaks next, her voice a summer storm: “L. the Devious, the Foreign Trader. You must know that all prophecies are lies, yet your destiny lies in Minkai. There are answers for you there, to questions you do not yet know enough to ask.” The owlbear speaks last, her voice a great hurricane, so loud that I have to close my eyes: “L. the Treacherous, Betrayer of Confidences. The clouded hand seeks to hide its treachery from the gods themselves. What could someone like you gain from learning those secrets?”
When I open my eyes, I am standing again in the vaults of Castle Brinewall.
(This player is thinking hard about going Harrower, and has a family Harrow deck. Her familiar is an owl, and eventually she's going to stumble into a Serpentine Owl figurine of wondrous power. She's also going to figure out pretty soon that the Bear, Unicorn, Cricket, Courtesan and Wanderer are the cards that keep coming up for the other party members.)
The Barbarian's vision:
Vision 6: I wake from a deep, peaceful sleep to find a beautiful elven woman with butterfly wings standing over me. When she speaks, it is with a Shoanti accent. “Oh, my dear, sweet boy. You’ve been asleep for so long and I’ve been trying to reach you. I have a task for you, and I’m afraid that it will take you farther from hearth and home than you ever dreamed possible. In Minkai, my people cry out for a Protector, but the Jade Regent will not let them breathe. There is no one else. You have been destined for this great deed since long before you were born, and your reluctance only makes its necessity more tragic. You must set down your childhood dreams, now. Fulfill your destiny: protect my people, my gentle giant, through five storms and the forest of ghosts. When you are done, you have my word: you will find a place where you belong more truly than any you have ever known.” I am about to argue when I realize that there is no woman there at all, just a butterfly on my finger. The beautiful insect flies away as soon as I notice it and I am standing again in the Castle, and home seems to be getting farther and farther away.
Sadly, this character is probably leaving the group, since his player isn't enjoying playing him. He'll reject his destiny and go back to Sandpoint. I like this, since rejecting destiny is always an option, in a post-Aroden world. It also means that there is someone to send a rescue party if there is a TPK.
It seems like the player will take over (and rebuild) Kelda, though. This works, since Kelda was in the room with them when they opened the box, so she's an Amatatsu scion, as well. When that happens, I'll have to write a vision for her, too. Hopefully, I'll talk to that player a little more before that happens, to get a sense for what she wants to do with Kelda.
So, that's my party and their visions. Did anyone else build party-specific visions? I'd love to see what other people did.
Doram ob'Han: Thank you very much for your wonderfull thoughts on the visions of Brinewall. I've adapted them for my group and was delighted to be inspired by you.
Very nice. I think those do a lot more to motivate the characters (and in some cases the players) than the generic visions. You've got a good voice for evoking subtle horror, BTW.
Doram ob'Han: We finally finished the first part of the AP. Your inspiration to enhance/alter the visions went "wow" on my players. Thanx again for your great idea. Now, every PC shares the same general goal and has some special agenda to follow (if it pleases him/her). The special part of the visions gave every PC a hint about the magic items found in the vault.
