Player Secrets

[Tarondor]

It should go without saying that my players shouldn't be reading this!

It should also go without saying that the following contains spoilers.

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In my PBP Kingmaker game, I asked each player to fill out a questionnaire about their character's background. Among the questions were two I'd like to get your ideas on. I asked each player to identify a "Dark Secret" about his character and to identify a "Troubling Mystery" about the character.

What I'd like to do is tell you a bit about each character and reveal their answers to these two questions and my current thinking on how that'll impact the campaign. Any insights or suggestions are welcome.

We're just beginning Book Two ("Rivers Run Red") and the PC's have defeated Howl-of-the-North-Wind and are (as of today) fighting the Loney Warrior. I think that the Lonely Barrow would make an excellent place for a clue to one of these mysteries.

I'd like to space out the revelations about these mysteries to no more than two per Book.

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Alister Medvyed - Human bard and half-brother to Aristu.
Dark Secret - Mother had ties to an ancient warlord of the Nomen Heights and a mysterious necklace.
Troubling Mystery - Who was his mother and what happened to her?

GM Comments:

So this needs to be worked into the story of Vordekai somehow. I haven't worked that part out yet.

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Aristu Medvyed - Human sorcerer and half-brother to Alister (they had different mothers).
Dark Secret - Mother Yulia was a sorceress (witch?) who made an unknown pact with an unknown fey lord.
Troubling Mystery - Where is his mother’s tower and what happened to her?

GM Comments:

Since I plan to use Realm of the Fellnight Queen, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have Yulia be one of Rhoswen's birds. She may become an advisor to the kingdom after rescue.

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Faisul Orlovsky -Half-orc oracle/paladin. Faisul is the ruler of the PC kingdom and has the heritage that hides the truth of his half-orc heritage. Few know he is a half-orc.
Dark Secret - Faisul is a half-orc descended from the bloody warlord Axslag, who made pacts with troubling powers.
Troubling Mystery - Who is Sahareal (an angelic being who visited the youthful Faisul) and who or what is sending Faisul visions?

GM Comments:

- This one I've fleshed out a bit. In my campaign, only Nyrissa's defeat at the hands of Briar's wielder can free Count Ranalc from imprisonment, so he has been sending Faisul (who is an oracle after all) guidance in the form of visions. I'm less certain about the orc warrior ancestor. I'd like to somehow link this person to Armag or even make them the same person.

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Mandiel Trelhorn Human archer ranger.
Dark Secret - Mandiel killed Brevoy nobleman and cousin of the Prince-Regent, Nico Surtova.
Troubling Mystery - What is the strange bronze key he carries?

GM Comments:

Around the time of the Brevoy civil war, House Surtova might send assassins to seek revenge (having learned the truth through divinations. I'm thinking that the key might open something cool at Candlemere or perhaps tie in with the dragon Silverstep.

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Piotr Denisov Human wizard
Dark Secret - Piotr is an alcoholic who ruined his family’s business.
Troubling Mystery - His father had a second family in the River Kingdoms, with names like Janos, Andreas and Pantos. Who are they?

GM Comments:

We haven't seen any drunken behavior out of Piotr, so I probably need to ask the player about this. As for the second family, I'm thinking that his could be an important noble family in Pitax, but I'm not sure what to do with that.

[pennywit]

Tarondor wrote:

It should go without saying that my players shouldn't be reading this!

Some really interesting stuff here.

Quote:

Alister Medvyed - Human bard and half-brother to Aristu.
Dark Secret - Mother had ties to an ancient warlord of the Nomen Heights and a mysterious necklace.
Troubling Mystery - Who was his mother and what happened to her?

My first thought is that this necklace could tie in with the Nomen Centaurs. Perhaps it was a treasure that she stole from them a generation ago. It might even be a symbol that was given from one of the centaurs to his mother. Either way, they ought to be interested in it.

Quote:

Aristu Medvyed - Human sorcerer and half-brother to Alister (they had different mothers).

Dark Secret - Mother Yulia was a sorceress (witch?) who made an unknown pact with an unknown fey lord.
Troubling Mystery - Where is his mother’s tower and what happened to her?

This screams "Dancing Lady" to me. Yulia might be a prisoner of the Dancing Lady ... or maybe Yulia is herself the Dancing Lady?

Quote:

Mandiel Trelhorn Human archer ranger.

Dark Secret - Mandiel killed Brevoy nobleman and cousin of the Prince-Regent, Nico Surtova.
Troubling Mystery - What is the strange bronze key he carries?

How about tying this in with the Pitax plotline? Perhaps two sets of assassins/thieves come after Mandiel. The Surtova folks are after him for revenge, and the Pitax folks are after the key. The key could open a chest that contains some kind of material regarding Pitax.

[Tarondor]

pennywit wrote:

Quote:

Aristu Medvyed - Human sorcerer and half-brother to Alister (they had different mothers).

Dark Secret - Mother Yulia was a sorceress (witch?) who made an unknown pact with an unknown fey lord.
Troubling Mystery - Where is his mother’s tower and what happened to her?

This screams "Dancing Lady" to me. Yulia might be a prisoner of the Dancing Lady ... or maybe Yulia is herself the Dancing Lady?

Yeah, don't think that didn't occur to me. But how wrong is it if your mom is using "Seductive Dance" to defeat your team? I'm pretty sure I don't want to go there!

Thanks for your ideas!

[pennywit]

Tarondor wrote:

pennywit wrote:

Quote:

Aristu Medvyed - Human sorcerer and half-brother to Alister (they had different mothers).

Dark Secret - Mother Yulia was a sorceress (witch?) who made an unknown pact with an unknown fey lord.
Troubling Mystery - Where is his mother’s tower and what happened to her?

This screams "Dancing Lady" to me. Yulia might be a prisoner of the Dancing Lady ... or maybe Yulia is herself the Dancing Lady?

Yeah, don't think that didn't occur to me. But how wrong is it if your mom is using "Seductive Dance" to defeat your team? I'm pretty sure I don't want to go there!

Thanks for your ideas!

Perhaps Aristu has some kind of mysterious immunity to it? Incidentally, if you want to spice this up a little bit, check out my Spring Feast thread.

[tonyz]

Quote:

But how wrong is it if your mom is using "Seductive Dance" to defeat your team? I'm pretty sure I don't want to go there!

Point, but it would up the sense of "wrongness" in that encounter a lot. Though I do like the idea that her child is somehow immune (it might be a hidden card in reserve for the GM to save the party if that encounter goes bad -- since it certainly has the potential to end in a TPK.)

[pennywit]

tonyz wrote:

Quote:

But how wrong is it if your mom is using "Seductive Dance" to defeat your team? I'm pretty sure I don't want to go there!

Point, but it would up the sense of "wrongness" in that encounter a lot. Though I do like the idea that her child is somehow immune (it might be a hidden card in reserve for the GM to save the party if that encounter goes bad -- since it certainly has the potential to end in a TPK.)

Ooo ... What if he's not immune? He doesn't recognize her, she does her dance, closes in on the party while still dancing .. and then her eyes widen as she sees her son for the first time since his birth. She whispers, "A mother knows ... "

Bonus points if this happens at the end of a session.

[Lee Hanna]

Like something involving the fey couldn't be "wrong"?

One of my PCs has a fey-like missing mother as well, my urge has been to swap her with Evindra, but I don't think I can pull the trigger on that. I may instead have her remains be among those in Armag's tomb.

[Tarondor]

I'm bumping my own thread because I'd love to hear some more ideas!

[Sindakka]

pennywit wrote:

tonyz wrote:

Quote:

But how wrong is it if your mom is using "Seductive Dance" to defeat your team? I'm pretty sure I don't want to go there!

Point, but it would up the sense of "wrongness" in that encounter a lot. Though I do like the idea that her child is somehow immune (it might be a hidden card in reserve for the GM to save the party if that encounter goes bad -- since it certainly has the potential to end in a TPK.)

Ooo ... What if he's not immune? He doesn't recognize her, she does her dance...

Oedipus springs to mind...

[Tarondor]

tonyz wrote:

Quote:

But how wrong is it if your mom is using "Seductive Dance" to defeat your team? I'm pretty sure I don't want to go there!

Point, but it would up the sense of "wrongness" in that encounter a lot. Though I do like the idea that her child is somehow immune (it might be a hidden card in reserve for the GM to save the party if that encounter goes bad -- since it certainly has the potential to end in a TPK.)

Arise, dead thread! Arise!

Okay, so I took the advice and made the Dancing Lady the missing mother of one of the party. She abducted the team's wizard (using suggestion) and when the team pursued, they found the two in flagrante delicto. So, wrongness accomplished.

However, the party's warpriest powered through and overcame the Dancing Lady on his own, managing to grapple and capture her. Now the team has her tied up for interrogation and I'm not sure which way I want to go with this. She never actually hurt anybody (well, she tore up the warpriest a bit) but she's still an evil bloodsucking fey.

One possibility is to have her bide her time and escape, wreaking revenge later.

Another is to offer to help them. She is mother to one of them after all.

A third option is to have her give cryptic advice that advances their knowledge of the plot, then simply disappear with the rising of the moon (hey, who knew she had that power?)

As I conceive this version of the Dancing Lady, she is the emissary of Rhoswen from the Fellnight Realm, who is the daughter of Nyrissa. Her job is to keep any one power (the PC kingdom, Hargulka, Baron Drelev, etc.) from controlling the Narlmarches. She was a fey-blooded human who became a devotee of the Fellnight Queen and was changed into a fey. Directly defying Rhoswen, even if she wanted to, would be very dangerous.

The Dancing Lady's motivations are:

A) Obedience to Rhoswen
B) A half-remembered love of her son (the PC)
C) A lust for blood
D) Just plain ol' lust. She's taken a shine to the party wizard.

So... any ideas anyone would like to share?

Thanks!

[tonyz]

Well, if the PCs have her captured, they can talk with her. I like the "cryptic advice."

I see her as someone who's very willing to bargain for her life, as long as the party has the upper hand (and being fey, she'll be honest but not fully forthcoming), but quick to escape as soon as possible. She'd make a great recurring villain -- maybe she can teach the wizard fey secrets of some sort (like spells, or knowledge ranks, or maybe even a Dex-related blessing) -- but every night she spend with him he also gets a negative level...

[RelicBlackOUT]

Tarondor wrote:

In my PBP Kingmaker game, I asked each player to fill out a questionnaire about their character's background. Among the questions were two I'd like to get your ideas on. I asked each player to identify a "Dark Secret" about his character and to identify a "Troubling Mystery" about the character.

I love this, is there anyway you would want to share that questionaire?

[Tarondor]

Sent!