An elf in Sevenarches, oh my!

[Tinalles]

So I'm GM'ing a River Kingdoms campaign for a single player. In the next session, the PC is likely to infiltrate Sevenarches -- and she's an elf. She doesn't know the real arches are out in the forest someplace, so she's probably going to head straight for the seven FAKE arches in the city plaza. I've got a map of the plaza ready and everything.

The problem I'm facing is that I'm not sure what should happen once she gets there. I know how the Oakstewards would react -- but how about the NPCs named in the campaign setting, Mayor Esmet Silkenlock and Captain Dethenesthen Carcusian? The Guide to the River Kingdoms suggests that there's some political tension between the townfolk and the Oakstewards.

Would they toe the party line on the "no elves" policy, capture her and turn her over to the Oakstewards? Banish her on their own initiative? Try to kill her outright? Serve as allies against the Oakstewards because they're tired of inexplicable mandates from on high?

The PC ultimately needs to get to the real arches, as she's the only one who can permanently fix the problem with the gorgas beasts and the plague. She knows that she's got to deal with the beasts, so she's on the right track. I'm just not entirely sure how to arrange the encounter in Sevenarches city so as to 1) reveal that the arches in the plaza are fake, and 2) point her in generally the right direction for getting to the real ones.

Also, I wasn't sure whether to put this in Campaign Setting discussion or Advice. It's here because the question about the NPC reactions is setting-specific, but if the mods think it would go better someplace else, please move the thread.

[Dosgamer]

Is she infiltrating or is she ambling along? Surely she knows elves are not at all welcome in Sevenarches and is taking measures to hide her heritage?

If she's not hiding her elven nature, then she is surely going to get caught and made an example of. The intrigue angle seems a better way to play it to me. Not everyone in Sevenarches is going to be anti-elf so as things heat up and the Oakstewards close in on the suspected invader she can gain assistance from some of the sympathetic locals to find the right gates.

That's how I would likely play it out at least, but she needs to make an attempt to conceal her heritage. Good luck!

[Tinalles]

So far she hasn't told me exactly how she plans to approach the kingdom -- she's in Gralton at the moment. But she recently obtained (by dint of much effort) a detailed history of Sevenarches, so she's well aware of their anti-elf history.

I'm assuming she'll make at least some kind of effort at subterfuge. I have four different border encounters prepped:

- A giant eagle with the fey creature template patrolling the skies
- A nymph/will-o'-wisp encounter in the swamp outside the city
- Guards with pixies inspecting the travelers on the road to the city
- River drakes guarding a river-bottom tunnel into the basement of an elven ruin in the city

That covers getting into the city, I think, by sky, overland, by road, or via underwater sneak approach. The nymph/fey eagle might even be convinced to let her by peacefully. They're allied with but not beholden to the Oakstewards, and the PC will have the opportunity to help the nymph fight off the will-o'-wisp if she goes that route. Alternatively she could help the will-o'-wisp terrorize and kill the nymph, which would work just as well since the wisp won't care where she goes afterwards.

My thoughts for the fake arches so far are that she should have both a social and a combat option if she's discovered in the area. Maybe the mayor would be willing to help her out, but Captain Carcusian would turn her over to the Oakstewards. Hmmm.

[Thomas LeBlanc]

Don't forget she has to pass through the areas outside of the city first. The area would be controlled by the Oakstewards and they would closely check out all foreigners. Especially since they know the elves have an ancient claim and have been trying to sneak in for years. And then there is the effect the on elves stemming from the forest/gate...

I would strongly suggest reading the write-up in Guide to the River Kingdoms.

I ran into this problem with my party. I was running a Kingmaker styled campaign accross the Sellen river in Cordelon. I gave many warnings to the elf, all of which were ignored. The rest of the party was contnet to stay out, but he tried to set up a revolt against the Oakstewards so he could claim the lands. He entered the forest and I told him to write up a new character...

[Tinalles]

Believe me, I've read that write-up in Guide to the River Kingdoms so many times I can practically recite it from memory.

The PC really does have to go to Sevenarches, as the primary goal of the campaign is there. I don't think my player reads the forums, but just in case:

Spoiler:

I've added some back story to the area. The gates are malfunctioning because they were tampered with immediately after Earthfall. A small group of elves who failed to reach the Kyonin in time to flee Golarion with the other elves tried to re-route the arches to Sovyrian so they could rejoin their families. They failed spectacularly, in such a way as to twist the passageways between Golarion and the First World through the Plane of Shadow, causing the shadow beasts and the plague as a side-effect.

The swarms of shadow beasts that emerged slaughtered the entire group of elves, with two exceptions. One was the leader of the band: Kalsia Edasseren, a high-level mystic theurge (druid/wizard). As the key player in the attempt to re-route the arches, Kalsia had protective wards set up which the shadow beasts and disease could not breach. Unfortunately the feedback from the failed re-routing put her into a kind of stasis. She's since come to be known (to those few who have any knowledge of her at all) as the Sleeping Queen.

The other survivor was Kalsia's daughter Serithiel. With her last bits of consciousness, Kalsia conferred immunity to the plague on her daughter and awakened a treant guardian for her. After escaping the shadow beasts in the area, Serithiel wandered north and became the PC's distant ancestor (after finding a small group of elven druids camped out on the crown of the world). The treant became the first Oaksteward, charged with keeping the shadow beasts in check.

The PC has inherited immunity to the obnubilate plague. That and her blood relation to Kalsia makes her literally the only person who can set to rights this sorry state of affairs, waking the Sleeping Queen by shutting down the seven broken gates, all of which have small but dangerous demi-planes attached like cysts to the passageways they're supposed to be.

There's more -- a eugenicist cleric of Count Ranalc who figures in as an antagonist -- but I'll spare you.

Some of this has come out in dreams the PC has been having, and other hints have come through in divination spells. But the PC knows nothing about the plague or the gates just yet. All she really knows is that she has to wake the Sleeping Queen to deal with the shadow beasts.

So the PC is definitely infiltrating Sevenarches.

[Dosgamer]

Sounds like a neat hook for the elven Brightness for your elf PC. Good luck with the storyline.

Sevenarches is part of the River Kingdoms that fascinates me. I, too, am running a homebrew campaign based in the RK. One of my villains is from Sevenarches and I have an elf PC in my group. At some point the PCs are going to have to cross its borders and I'm undecided how that will play out. At the time that happens the PCs are expected to be 11th or 12th level so they will be very capable of defending themselves.

[Tinalles]

My PC will be seventh level when she infiltrates the kingdom.

Having thought on it, I think the Oakstewards will have a spy on the fake arches with instructions to report any suspicious persons to them, but not to apprehend them. He'll be a vendor of meat pasties, I think. The PC could still potentially get in trouble with the local guards, but I'm thinking the area is not going to be an automatic combat-type encounter.

After all, she'll have had at least one fight just getting TO the city. Probably more.