Introducing the Gray Maidens in EoA?

[Laric]

I'm planning to introduce the Gray Maidens at the conclusion of Edge of Anarchy and have them guarding Trinia against Blackjack.

What do people think? As anyone done this? Any reasons not to do this?

Thanks in advance!

[Blue_Hill]

Laric wrote:

I'm planning to introduce the Gray Maidens at the conclusion of Edge of Anarchy and have them guarding Trinia against Blackjack.

What do people think? As anyone done this? Any reasons not to do this?

Thanks in advance!

That really depends how your group feels about Trinia and Blackjack. If you they feel for them and think Queen is making a mistake, Maidens will look really villanous that time as they try to capture "Hero of the People". I introduced Maidens with doctor Davaulus as their bodyguards and "muscle". As I played Davaulus very nice person, my player's thought that Maidens were nice addition to thin military force Korvosa had in my game (reason for character's to help).

So all in all, it really depends how you want to show Maidens to your players, "villanous" or as necessary part of Korvosa's military.

[Lakesidefantasy]

I introduced them in the execution scene, but my players suspected the Queen very early on. It went very well.

[Tels]

It's not a bad idea to start talk about the Grey Maidens even at the beginning of EoA. The Grey Maidens are created through the abduction and recruitment of female warriors. The sudden emergence of the Grey Maidens with no-mention of how they formed before hand was really abrupt on my party (I didn't have Seven Days till after EoA ended due to shipping problems).

I would advise dropping little rumors of female adventurers coming up missing and dead bodies of females turning up in random streets. Also, drop a hint of frustration from Cressida that the Queen's newly formed bodyguards, the Grey Maidens, has recruited most of the females from the Korvosan guard, leaving them abruptly short-handed across the city.

You could have the 'official' debut of the Grey Maidens with them being involved in the hunt for Trinia, and then later, her execution.

[Olondir]

Introducing them at the end of EoA is fine! Keep them small and honor-guardish. They are elite Queensguard and it is an honor to join their ranks! Or at least that is the little amount of info on them at the time...

Female guards and adventures in the city wishing they could apply or have the PCs put in a good word with the Queen/Sabina.

As the game goes on you start seeing recruitment posters "THE QUEEN WANTS YOU" and then comes the conscription and desperation...

You're fine!

[Knick]

I officially introduced the Grey Maidens in Seven Days just as the AP suggests. I did, however, let the PCs know Ileosa was assembling a Queensguard of sorts through some quick and dirty NPC interactions. I began dropping these stories right around Eel's End in my timeline. Figured I would give Ileosa a few days on the throne dealing with the Korvosan bureaucracy before she started up her personal army.

The examples I remember off the top of my head:

-->The barmaid they spent some time with while eliminating Lamm's operation proudly telling them it was her last night and that she was joining the Grey Maidens.

-->I had a weaponsmith let them know that he was backed up with work from the Queen and that any orders would be a little while. I would have gone for an armorer and given the party a sneak peek at the uniform, but both times I ran this I didn't have anyone looking for plate mail (Inquisitor / Ranger / Rogue / Sorcerer followed by Gunslinger / Monk / Priest / Rogue).

-->My second party had two characters from bridgefront, including the priest who took care of the destitute who could never afford a Cleric of Abadar. This was a golden opportunity for women to start enlisting as a way out of poverty.

-->Just as Olondir suggests, I had Kroft lament that so many of her women guards were taking the opportunity to join Ileosa's new elite bodyguard, but she didn't really blame them for taking the "better" job (hindsight is 20/20).

-->Proud parents seeing their daughter off along with concerned parents who don't want their child in the military.

Anyway, I absolutely went with the positive approach early. Ileosa could start out with conscription and press gangs, but why? Who wouldn't leave the drudgery of the guard to be an elite, well-equipped soldier with more prestige? At this time, there hasn't been a chance to notice that nobody comes back from training whether they make it or not, and families can't know that they will never speak to their daughters again. Obviously, this eventually becomes apparent and new tactics are utilized to fill the Queen's ranks. Then you have mothers crying because their daughter was conscripted and stories of women drawn and quartered for resisting "enrollment." Clearly, they must have been traitors.

All of this made fighting the Grey Maidens much more interesting, as the characters knew they were fighting innocent , brainwashed citizens of the city. I suppose it didn't stop them from killing any in the path of the greater good, but if there was an opportunity to avoid it they took it (hard to do with fight-to-the-death zealots). They also worked hard to get the majority of the Grey Maidens pardoned in the aftermath.

Tels' approach is certainly valid, but I feel that it puts Ileosa into BBEG a little too early. Twice now I've had parties not suspect a thing before the Trina execution, and even then they weren't completely against her until they learn about Devaulus. I did try to pawn that off as Devaulus making business for himself, but it was weak and the party knew it. By that point though, the group is heading into Escape and need to be anti-Ileosa in order to motivate the trouble they go through to save Neolandus.

Hope that inspires!

[Laric]

Thanks everyone!

I think I'll go ahead and introduce them at the execution.

In my campaign, Amprei, the Chelish Ambassador, was directly responsible for having negotiated the contract between the Hellknights and the Crown. As a result, the departure of the hellknights from the city happened as a direct result of the PCs actions at Eel's End.

Soon after this happened, I started dropping hints about the formation of the Gray Maidens. For example, as the PCs were heading out to catch Trinia, I had one trusted NPC comment to them that they should be careful about which members of the Guard they return Trinia to because there were rumors that not all of the guards were loyal to Cressida.

This prompted one of the PCs to later investigate these rumors and through a fair bit of work he was able to find out that since the Queen had lost the Hellknights, Sabina had been seen approaching several female members of the Korvosan Guard and Sable Marines to form an elite Queensguard.

Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes.

[Puna'chong]

I did a bit like what Tels did and had my party encounter missing and/or abducted young women during the rioting and even plugged some hints as part of my usual Knowledge (Local) information shotguns that I give them. Their first encounter with them was right at the beginning of 7DttG, and the whole martial coup thing has been going over really well. Describing their increasing presence as the players are going through the city has been really getting them established, and whereas before they would be deployed as small groups with Korvosan Guards also keeping up their presence, now the Guard has almost no presence and it's almost entirely Gray Maidens and Physicians.

This has made the players really start to see the crackdown, and throwing in information about gatherings being put down violently and even having the inquisitor get into brief tussles with them (as per the queen's edict condemning any interference)has made them an oppressive presence. It also helps make the plague a lot more worrisome when you watch the Maidens and Physicians pull people kicking and screaming, covered in lesions, out of their house and then proceed to board up the place.

They're just starting to fight the Gray Maidens at the end of 7DttG, and the combination of setting them up early and making them increasingly visible has gone a long, long way towards making the Maidens a force that the players are trying to actively avoid.