| Aaron Carpenter |
Spoilers ahoy!
One of my players took the Spy rogue archetype, so I figured I'd make it count for something more than a Bluff bonus. None of the other players know he took it, so hopefully it'll be a dramatic reveal when I do a flashback as they sail the Man's Promise into Rickety's Squibs. I'm planning to set this the night they were poisoned and press-ganged by Master Scourge/Caulky Tarroon at the Formidably Maid tavern in Port Peril. The PC would stumble upon a clandestine meeting between two schemers (I'm thinking Haddon Pike and Corlan from Tempest Rising). Haddon draws a dagger, but Corlan stops him - perhaps this PC can be of some use. The spies make an offer the PC can't refuse - they send him into the tavern to see what he can find out about Barnabas Harrigan, promising rich reward for useful intelligence (their motives being to make sure he is keeping his promises to Cheliax). Little does the PC know, they also suggest that Master Scourge press-gang him.
Of course, the spies don't know that the PC will only spend a few days aboard the Wormwood, and interact little with Captain Harrigan. With Pike as his dismayed handler, the PC will send his first coded message from Rickety's Squibs (via a sailor who will be paid upon delivery). These reports will continue, with occasional orders from Pike, throughout Raiders of the Fever Sea.
Later, in Tempest Rising, Pike will of course be liquidated, and the PC will gradually learn along with the others that he was part of Zarskia Galembar's network. He will also feel personal threat over his head as the other members of the network are bumped off. It won't be until later that they will learn Galembar works indirectly for Cheliax. Typical espionage-story veiled allegiances and lying superiors.
Meanwhile, the surviving member of Zarskia's spy ring, Elliece Farhaven (she does live, right?) will act as the PC's new contact, giving what information she can about Zarskia's loyalties and gathered intel, having had a change of heart after Zarskia's attempt on her life. And so when the time comes, the PC will be eventually be able to put Harrigan's betrayal of the Shackles in context.
Does this seem like a good outline for a Shackle spy's character arc? Any other good alternatives?