I'm running a homebrew campaign. Here's a little background detail: The countries of Denegal and Abagaard have invaded the country of Reece, and currently occupy the northern half of the country. The country of Accalon, which is directly south of Reece, has pledged troops to help turn back the invaders. Accalon has an alliance with two other southern countries, (Reece, Abagaard, and Denegal are considered northern countries, as the continent has a large mountain range running accross it) Galos and Bailen, and has asked that they also send troops north to help repel the invasion.
Denegal has recently emerged from a decades-long civil war. And while the country is united, there are still remnants of opposing factions - one of which (whom I'll refer to as the Loyalists) claims that the current ruler, King Baeledar, is not the legitimate heir. They believe they have the legitimate heir in their fold, and have made a deal with the leader of a large mercenary army to fight on their behalf, since they lack the forces to oppose the king.
Galos is reluctant to commit troops to a foreign war unless it will be a short conflict with victory a forgone conclusion. This is where the PCs come in. They've been sent on a mission by Galos (most of the PCs are Galish citizens) to head north to Denegal and meet with the Loyalists and assess the strength of their mercenary army. If the army is strong enough, Galos will send forces while the mercenary army begins action, which will theoretically force Denegal to withdraw from Reece in order to face the threat within its own borders - satisfying Galos' need for a quick and easy conflict.
Here's the plot/logic hole: For some reason when I was plotting this out in my head, I didn't stop to consider how Denegal would react to a foreign mercenary army marching into it - I simply had that as a given. So now I feel the need to figure out why King Baeledar has simply ignored the mercenary army up to this point. Since it's already there, I have to come up with a reason.
Could be the mercs had promised to help him with his war and where therefore stationed within his demesne awaiting orders or some such. It is at this point where the Loyalist faction emerges and shares their plan with the mercs, who being scummy or just opportunistic, accept.
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He probably isn't happy about having a mercenary army in his country but having just emerged from civil war his main troop may be occupied maintaing the rule of law, and he just can't commit to a full scale battle. Or perhaps in an attempt to show he is benevolent he is not attacking but maintaining a propaganda campaign against the rebels proclaiming them to be militaristic, and violent and rejecting their behaviour as warlike.
...So now I feel the need to figure out why King Baeledar has simply ignored the mercenary army up to this point. Since it's already there, I have to come up with a...
He didn't ignore them. He knew they were coming. He thinks they're loyal to him, since he's paid them. He hired them to wipe out the loyalists, but the loyalists and the mercs got together and came up with a plan they like better:
Overthrow the crown, the merc leader becomes the general, the merc company becomes the new leadership core of the royal army. The loyalists put their heir on the throne, and take over the political leadership roles.
and...ninja'd by Meepo
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What kind of mercenaries are these? Are they they kind that once bought, stays bought, or are they the kind who would take money over honor (usually not the best way for repeat customers). Is the mercenary army one unified whole, or several separate companies that were hired separately to form a force of irregulars? If they are separate groups, the there may be some groups that can be bought but ones that stay loyal and send warning to the king.
Thanks for the responses!
@Galnorag - This is a possibility. Baeledar in fact was only able to seize the throne because he had outside assistance. (There's more background information, but I didn't want to bore everyone with every last detail of my campaign.)
@aboniks - Something like that could be feasible, since the leader of the mercenary army is neutral (alignment-wise) and has her own plans & ambitions, but I don't know if that level of duplicity is fitting for the character, which leads me to:
What kind of mercenaries are these? Are they they kind that once bought, stays bought, or are they the kind who would take money over honor (usually not the best way for repeat customers). Is the mercenary army one unified whole, or several separate companies that were hired separately to form a force of irregulars? If they are separate groups, the there may be some groups that can be bought but ones that stay loyal and send warning to the king.
The mercenary army grew out of what was originally a mercenary company called the Covenant of the Titans. The current leader, Ravenna Asheharra, is responsible for this expansion - the company/army is actually from another continent where they were most commonly employed to fight against the major power of that continent, a hobgoblin empire - an empire whose backbone consists of slaves taken from conquered lands. What Ravenna did is simply absorb willing and able freed slaves from their victories into the company in order to grow it into an army.
Because of this, the majority of the army is extremely loyal to her, while some of the original members of the company don't care for the direction she took it in. However she's informed these malcontents that she intends to relinquish leadership and membership of the Covenant once the Loyalists secure the crown. She's doing this because in exchange for her army they've offered her a Duchy once the true king takes the throne. (In actuality, she was the one who approached them with the deal, which is why the idea of both the current king and the Loyalists bidding for the mercenary army's services doesn't fit with what I've already established in the background.)
Again, there's more going on, but I don't want to bore you all with every last detail of my campaign.
@aboniks - Something like that could be feasible, since the leader of the mercenary army is neutral (alignment-wise) and has her own plans & ambitions, but I don't know if that level of duplicity is fitting for the character, which leads me to:
...Because of this, the majority of the army is extremely loyal to her, while some of the original members of the company don't care for the direction she took it in. However she's informed these malcontents that she intends to relinquish leadership and membership of the Covenant once the Loyalists secure the crown. She's doing this because in exchange for her army they've offered her a Duchy once the true king takes the throne. (In actuality, she was the one who approached them...
There's a hook then. They're in touch with the King, and plan to remove Ravenna before she can invade. Leaving her in place long enough the get the mercenary force up to the border of the kingdom is strategically sound; They have a plan to discredit her in the eyes of the mercenary army, which will allow them to take control. So the king is basically paying them to show up, string the loyalists along, and then abandon them once they're out in the open and the king can round them all up at once rather than having to play whack-a-mole with them and then make individual treason charges stick.
Maybe the original members have a plan to convince the merc army that she's been bought off/mind controlled/replaced with a double by the hobgoblin empire, and her goal in taking them all off the continent is actually to allow the hobgoblins to expand without the mercs being there to stop them.
There's a hook then. They're in touch with the King, and plan to remove Ravenna before she can invade. Leaving her in place long enough the get the mercenary force up to the border of the kingdom is strategically sound; They have a plan to discredit her in the eyes of the mercenary army, which will allow them to take control. So the king is basically paying them to show up, string the loyalists along, and then abandon them once they're out in the open and the king can round them all up at once rather than having to play whack-a-mole with them and then make individual treason charges stick.
Maybe the original members have a plan to convince the merc army that she's been bought off/mind controlled/replaced with a double by the hobgoblin empire, and her goal in taking them all off the continent is actually to allow the hobgoblins to expand without the mercs being there to stop them.
Hmmm. I've thought about it and while it doesn't make sense (given what I've already planned background-wise) for the dissatisfied officers of the mercenary army to deal with the king, I don't think it's unreasonable for there to be spies/moles within the Loyalist faction that are seeking to sunder them from within. The part about treason is also a good reason. I think I can make this work.
The remaining question is why the Loyalists wouldn't be suspicious that the king hasn't made any move against them. I think that's just the remaining piece I have to figure out.
The king of Denegal is barely in control of some parts of the country and has limited intelligence capability the part of Denegal where the mercenaries are based. With the consolidation of power and invasion of Reece he has just had more pressing problems to deal with than investigating rumors of a mercenary army the hinterland. With the Kingdom's most competent and trustworthy agents busy keeping an eye on the king's brother-in-law, aunt & stepson (all of who think they would make a better monarch), the kingdom's next most competent and trustworthy agents watching the various factions in the capital which might start a coup, the kingdom's next most competent & trustworthy agents sent with the army in Reece, the kingdom's next most competent agents keeping and eye on Abagaard to be sure that the Abargardians don't take advantage of the majority of the Denegali army being in Reece - why the agents left to investigate rumors of a mercenary army being raised in the hinterland would not normally be considered competent or trustworthy.
Interesting. This could work because the mercenary army marched through the bordering country of Toria to get into Denegal. Toria, while disapproving of Denegal's invasion of Reece has been steadfast in their stance that they're not going to get involved, so the Denegal-Toria border is very lightly defended, and even less so currently because most of Denegal's forces are involved in the invasion of Reece. Furthermore, the part of the country I've determined the mercenary army to be in actually is in the northernmost region.
You guys are giving me good ideas to think about, thanks!
There's a hook then. They're in touch with the King, and plan to remove Ravenna before she can invade. Leaving her in place long enough the get the mercenary force up to the border of the kingdom is strategically sound; They have a plan to discredit her in the eyes of the mercenary army, which will allow them to take control. So the king is basically paying them to show up, string the loyalists along, and then abandon them once they're out in the open and the king can round them all up at once rather than having to play whack-a-mole with them and then make individual treason charges stick.
Maybe the original members have a plan to convince the merc army that she's been bought off/mind controlled/replaced with a double by the hobgoblin empire, and her goal in taking them all off the continent is actually to allow the hobgoblins to expand without the mercs being there to stop them.
Hmmm. I've thought about it and while it doesn't make sense (given what I've already planned background-wise) for the dissatisfied officers of the mercenary army to deal with the king, I don't think it's unreasonable for there to be spies/moles within the Loyalist faction that are seeking to sunder them from within. The part about treason is also a good reason. I think I can make this work.
The remaining question is why the Loyalists wouldn't be suspicious that the king hasn't made any move against them. I think that's just the remaining piece I have to figure out.
It depends on how well informed the loyalists are, and where/who they get their intel about current events from.
They could be getting information that moves are being made against them without it actually being true.
Or, if they have their own spies/moles/supporters among the Kings people, then those folks could be influencing events to provide cover and misdirect the kings efforts to round up the core loyalists.
Or both?
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Maybe one of the Loyalist local lords hired the mercenaries to "help suppress banditry in the mountains". There do in fact exist some bandits in the mountains so this is not entirely implausible.
The king doesn't trust it, but because the lord hasn't risen in open rebellion, the king hasn't called the lord's bluff. The king doesn't want a double conflict so he's hoping the lord will stay put until the current war is over.
A mercenary army between assignments has nothing to do but spend money. They might be considered a boon to the economy.
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The king may have used shapeshifters/assassins and so on to infiltrate the mercenary army. The orders for the infiltrators is to wait for the rebellious lords to all gather in one place and kill the rebel lords while placing the blame on the mercenaries.
Or the rebels, mercenaries, and king's advisors could all have infiltrators from the hobgoblin empire working a long game to expand to a new continent and eliminate the threat of the opposing mercenary army.
EDT: Otherwise the only explanation I can offer you is that the king of Denegal is utterly incompetent and chose to honor some long forgotten treaty to enter the war on the side of Abagaard instead of settling his own country's political instability.
Ben and Galen, if you're reading this thread I'm trusting you not to look in the spoiler.
Anyway, I've decided to incorporate several of the suggestions you've all provided: The king knows the mercenaries are there but, due to them being so far north doesn't realize exactly how big the army is. More importantly, he knows the Loyalists' plans involve claiming they have the true heir to the throne within their ranks and intends to have this claimant assassinated in order to neutralize the Loyalist threat. From his perspective, it's a lot better solution than to pull his armies out of Reece and fight the mercenaries.