Arkona Issues in Escape... [Spoilers]

[drwgnomadic]

I'm looking for some feedback on my Escape from Old Korvosa campaign. The party has just finished the game of blood pig (we gave up after 2 roudns because we were all bored of it). I had some issues with the plot line between the Emperor and the Arkonas that I was hoping to resolve and potentially avoid a railroading the party into a painful dungeon crawl.

Arkona spoiler:

1. If Bahor is a criminal mastermind, he wouldn't let the party get anywhere close to his deepest secret. So he wouldn't send them down into the labyrinth.

2. If Vimandia was going to use this opportunity to take Bahor down, why would she box herself in so much (especially where she could get pinned down and outnumbered in the dungeon).

3. Pilts and Salvator essentially seemed like a random battle/hurdle to jump through before they get into their real quest. While he's insane, he's also a high charisma bard with a huge following, he should at least have some depth.

Here's my proposed resolution:

Arkona spoiler:

1. When the players go to see Salvator, they can't convince him to talk about Vencarlo or Neolandus unless his release is guaranteed (preferrably if the Emperor is dead).
2. The Emperor will only give him up if the party takes out the Arkonas (the only force of law in Old Korvosa). This gives some choices on how to deal with the Emporer:
a) Kill him immediately
b) Be stealthy and come back later to rescue Salvator
c) Attempt to confront the Arkonas

3. Bahor can spy on the Emperor easily and knows about the deal, so he tries to get the PCs to kill the Emperor in exchange for Vencarlo (the PCs still don't know Neolandus is involved). The PCs can then either
a) Go back to kill the Emporer and recover Salvator
b) Attack Bahor directly (and be significantly outmatched since they're still only 7th level)
c) Sneak in (since they at least know Vencarlo is there somewhere)

If they agree to the deal with the Emperor, they'll have to rescue Vencarlo and Neolandus from the labyrinth (and learning all their secrets)

If they agree to the deal with the Arkonas, they'll get Vencarlo but not Neolandus. Vimandia could seize this opportunity to disguise herself as Amin Jalento. She could then tell them that Bahor has Neolandus and they should take him out (hoping she can surprise them after they're weakened, kill them all and secure herself as the head of the House Arkona.

Bahor could try to convince the party the Vimandia has been possessed by a demon (which is why she's torturing Neolandus). He can offer the PCs Neolandus in exchange for killing Vimandia and freeing her soul from the curse.

I would love to hear anyone's thoughts

[Laric]

Interesting ideas.

Having not run EfOK yet, I don't have much to add. Maybe Knick, Tels or Nobodyshome or someone else who has run this before would be able to comment on how well your ideas would work.

In case you hadn't seen it, I did want to point out this excellent thread about EfOK:

Foreshadowing Events in EFOK

The entire thread is good, but the post I linked is Knick's advice on how to play Bahor.

[Knick]

Why thank you Laric!

I also have some advice on running the labyrinth (where Vimanda is far from boxed in) here.

Although looking at the date on this post I fear I may be too late. Also, my Bahor angle works best if he is introduced before the party deals with the emperor, but it can be modified to fit.

Hope any of that helps!

[Tels]

Ugh, sorry, I can't really comment much on the way I ran the whole Arkona thing other than that Bahor is not just a criminal mastermind, he's also a politician (and hence, a brilliant liar).

In my game:

Bahor portrayed himself as a noble Noble who was using his wealth and resources to help as many people as he could during the plague and quarantine. He's feeling betrayed by the Queen and the city as one of the oldest noble families in Korvosa has been sealed up in a city district with dwindling supplies and roving bands of gangs and mobs while some lunatic riles up the impoverished and angry population.

While the people know that Lord Arkona is doing his best to distribute supplies, medical care and keep the peace where he can, he's only one man and his men haven't had any time to rest. Constantly the are patrolling and fending off the mobs and gangs trying to force themselves into his half of the island.

He's terrified, however, that the people he serves will look upon him, a member of Korvosa's nobility, with the same anger that they look upon Castle Korvosa with. If they do so, they may very well turn and his life will be in danger.

To protect himself, he's turned to ancient family allies, the Rakshasha, for their help. There are Rakshasha below the compound with their own little temple that functions as a safe haven for their people. The Rakshasha under his employ are cast offs or embarrassments to the Rakshasha back in their native homeland in Vudra. In return for accepting the cast offs of distant Vudra, Lord Arkona benefits from very lucrative trading treaties.

But he is afraid of his allies as well. As cast off and banished Rakshasha, they are more than a little angry at serving at the call of such an inferior species as human (at least this is what they told him). He's afraid they too might rebel against him, but he doesn't have much choice in these horrible times.

He turned over Vencarlo and Neolandus for safe keeping to them (because his compound wasn't safe from the mobs and gangs), but hasn't seen or heard from them since they sought his aid.

Lots of Bluff checks were rolled. Fortunately, my party sucks at Sense Motive. The players new he was BSing, but the characters didn't.

Anyway, as for the actual temple itself, I had some bad luck there. There is a combination of turns and activations on the lever that allows for the party to avoid the Sphynx and Vimanda. I didn't realize it until they were already on their way out (I thought for sure they'd run into them escaping). After recovering Vencarlo, they took some real time to search the entrance and discovered the illusionary wall, and went and killed the Beatific One and freed Neolandus.

On their way out, the Sphynx and 'Vencarlo' appeared, but the jig was up and so Vimanda changed form. Rather than fight with a weakened Neolandus and Vencarlo at risk, they used some scrolls of Dimension Door (several had UMD at this point) and got out of there.

So they ended up skipping nearly the entire Arkona mansion and dungeon.

PCs, what are you going to do?

For you, I suggest much betrayal and more betrayal.

Proceed to your proposal until Step 3.

At this point, the Emperor won't let the party speak with Salvatore until the Arkonas are dead. Glorio claims Vencarlo escaped the Red Mantis and has gone into deep hiding, but knows his location. He won't reveal the location until the Emperor is dead.

If they side with the Emperor, they have to kill the Arkonas, recover Vencarlo and Neolandus, and rescue Salvatore (on behalf of Laori).

If they side with Glorio, they return to the Emperor, and kill him, only to discover from Salvatore that Glorio had him in his compound all along.

The return to Glorio, probably ticked off, and Glorio intercepts and explains things. He says that Vencarlo was with him but something happened. A a problem with Vencarlo has arisen. His sister has been driven mad by the recent events of the city, and may even be possessed by old animal spirits that have haunted the family for generations. She's taken Vencarlo down into an ancient Arkona dungeon, and keeps him locked inside.

The PCs now must complete the Vivified Labyrinth.

By claiming Vimanda has been possessed by animal spirits that have haunted the family for generations, he hopes to pass her off as some one who has been changed by the possession, instead of a Rakshasha. If the PCs don't identify her, he's safe, if they do, he'll be ready for any retaliation by the party.