A Wedding - who should attend?

[eyelessgame]

We are at the midpoint of Kingmaker, and one of the things about the developing campaign was that we need to produce an heir (for the stat bonus; the players claim they don't care about the campaign ramifications, but I think they are lying.). So there has to be a wedding, and I have a question at the end of this for anyone reading.

We have a three-character campaign - half-elf brother and sister (rogue and sorcerer; she's the Sarenrae-worshipping contessa, he's the nation's spymaster and convert to Erastil who has been wearing the Helm ever since they took it off the Stag Lord) and their best friend, a gnome druid who serves as the Marshal.

Contessa Serafina has no interest in the time and distractiom required for childbirth, so it's been expected that her brother would be the one to produce the heir (by way of a Consort, of course; Jhod insisted things needed to be done properly; besides, a consort gives another bonus) :-). So Royce has been romancing Melianse, and now that Vordekai has been vamquished and the new lands in yhe Nomen Heights have been absorbed (the mechanics worked very nicely to simulate the difficulty; plans had to go on hold and resources diverted to accomodate a bumch of uncleared land in order to get Consumption down, kudos), it's time for a wedding.

I have decided that Melianse is the daughter of Evindra, as they are both water fey, and this gives a different potential angle to her eventual rescue since she will now be a PC's mother-in-law. Her absence at the wedding will be a mystery, and cause for some concern.

What I plan to have in the works, even though the alignments don't really work out, is that is Issia is making an alliance with the Church of Asmodeus, and their representatives will offer assistance to Narland should they encounter any difficulties, perhaps with Irovetti... I working toward providing the realization that if their kingdom fails, it will probably cause the Swordlords to fall to Issia and to the church of Asmodeus; in the final module they should get the idea that a combination of an actively diabolic civilization to the north and a huge hole into the First World where their kingdom used to be probably has even wider implications for the whole region. Winning against Nyrissa will free them to assist the swordlords, and turn them into a fulcrum for the future of a whole part of the world.

So my question, and the reason for posting all of this: The royal wedding will bring announcements and guests, of course. Irovetti will send someome, though probably not come himself. I am soliciting ideas for other wedding guests, both from Rostland and from the other River Kingdoms - anyone have suggestions?

[pennywit]

Check out the Aristocrat NPCs thread for ideas.

Beyond that, I expect that all of the major houses of Brevoy wills end SOMEBODY to witness the ceremony. Meanwhile, I think that that Mivon (as rival members of the Aldori swordpact) will send a delegation -- that will possibly quarrel with the Aldoris from Restov.

Additionally, you're likely to see at least one fey gatecrasher. These-days, my go-to menacing fey is a custom job named Sagroc the Ugly. He's an advanced Bogeyman with the Agile mythic template. I haven't completely decided on this bugger's agenda, but he loves nothing more than fear, and spreading fear. And (now that I think about it) what's better for spreading fear than gate-crashing a noble wedding?

[Lee Hanna]

Well, certainly the Drelevs need to be invited, as the closest neighbors. Lady D will be /dreadfully/ insulted not to be invited.

The kingdoms/houses represented at the Rushlight Games are contenders for invitations as neighbors, as are the 7 major houses named for Brevoy. The ruler of Restov, too.

[tonyz]

Having a fey knight show up to steal the bride away, challenge the groom for her, act as a proper guest expecting high-quality entertainment, spend the entire time talking to the rosebushes at the castle gate, or to ask for companions on a quest would be perfectly in order. (Actually, no reason he couldn't do all five of them, and three other things, at the same time -- try reading Sir Gawain and the Green Knight for ideas.)

[pennywit]

Oh, dear God. Please keep up this thread. I have a situation (involving king-regent Noleski Surtova!) that MIGHT turn into a wedding soon in my KM game. You're giving me ideas. Lots and lots of ideas ...

[Philip Knowsley]

pennywit wrote:

Additionally, you're likely to see at least one fey gatecrasher. These-days, my go-to menacing fey is a custom job named Sagroc the Ugly. He's an advanced Bogeyman with the Agile mythic template. I haven't completely decided on this bugger's agenda, but he loves nothing more than fear, and spreading fear. And (now that I think about it) what's better for spreading fear than gate-crashing a noble wedding?

My 'go to' for this type of interaction is a Spring-Heel Jack.

Not the one presented in prd or pfsrd, but one in Alluria's - 'Clans of the
Fey Realm'.
He's a medium sized (instead of small), CN (instead of CE) Fey fancy boy.
I play him a lot like Flashheart from Blackadder
He's fun.

[Kobold Catgirl]

A homeless gnome wearing a strange fur-and-feathers outfit arrives claiming to be the son of the King of the Owlbears. He either attempts to steal the bride, attempts to steal the groom, demands restitution for his "subjects" that have been slain previously, somehow drinks all the wine mere hours before guests are due to start arriving, or all of the above, plus he can turn into a giant if angered. He is potentially a spy for evil, evil fey.

Actually, in seriousness now, I kind of like the idea of a fey of some sort—maybe taking the guise of an old woman—arriving and drinking all the wine/eating all the food shortly before the celebrations are due to start. Kinda reminds me of old folklore.

It could go one of two ways: Either this is a neutral spirit, and if the group is kind and allows her to quench her thirst, she blesses them with new food and/or some sort of wedding present, or this is an a$+*##@ spirit, and they need to stop her from eating everything or find a way to get her to leave.

[pennywit]

It could be a good fey there to test whether the group is kind to strangers and follows the rules of hospitality. Fey are very big on that kind of thing.

[Ridge]

A group of four children, ages 10-13, try to slip in to get in close to the heroes/nobility. While friends, they each have their own agenda for doing so.

Admark Spence is here because his sister begged and pleaded wanting to see a wedding as it would be 'so romantic'. The thirteen year old is pretty sure two orphans like them aren't going to get treated well if they get found out, so he's sneaking about in the shadows looking for an out of the way place to watch from that won't get them noticed. Of course, this suspicious behavior might get him in trouble if he's caught by the wrong person. Should anyone make a move that he sees as a threat to his sister, he'll rush between them and her with a protective fierceness that belies his years.

Alucia Spence is Admark's younger sister. The eleven year old lives in poverty, but has kept a surprisingly hopeful heart that all will get better for her brother and she... one day. She has a very idealized notion of weddings among nobles, seeing them as done for true love as well as duty, and if there isn't love between the groom and bride ...well, maybe true love will happen to them as the years go by? Her brother has her waiting in a shadowy spot while he looks for a location to see with, but should a ribbon or other decoration fall to the ground, she may try to pick it up just so she'll have something to remember this wonderful day by. Of course, she might get labeled a thief by those quick to judge.

Narz is only 10 years old, but as he's a half orc, that means he's actually on par with the others. Where the Spences are staying out of sight, Narz has (after 'borrowing' some decent clothes from a line) cleaned himself up, and is pretending he belongs there as he sells small bags of rice and other 'fertility grains for the bride' to anyone who buys his story. Narz is a bit of an opportunist, has a decent bluff score for a lad his age, and is pretty sure that anyone coming to a wedding like this can afford to spend some coin. This is his big chance to make (to him anyway) a small fortune. That said, should any of the other three get in trouble, he'll abandon his profiteering and try to think of a way to cause a distraction to help them escape.

Xalvia Foxgrove isn't there for the wedding, she's there to see if she can find someone that's willing to teach her the arcane arts. The twelve year old girl wants, more than anything, to become a wizard instead of a seamstress like her mother (and her mother before etc). If she should see anyone casting what appears to be an arcane spell (as much as a 12 year old girl can tell) she is likely to present herself before or after the ceremony and explain why she would make an ideal apprentice.

[Queen Moragan]

Insert Realm of the Fellnight Queen.

Have a spriggan army attack the wedding and kidnap the bride who will need to be rescued from a little bird cage.

[tonyz]

The delegation from Brevoy and the delegation from Mivon both include some very good Aldori swordsmen -- who, being of differing schools and differing political philosophies, not to mention some personal disagreements from prior years, are going to think nothing of settling them by a duel in the garden. Alcohol may be involved... and the price of a diplomatic incident may be very high.

Someone conjures a shadow demon and sends it into the wedding party to start possessing and killing people, just after the sun sets. Being clever and experienced, it doesn't do anything obvious, just what looks like a series of random fights and murders...

The Old Beldame (or possibly her older sister), angry at not having received an invitation, shows up anyway and curses the bride and groom in all sorts of interesting and implausible ways. Can the PCs figure out how to pacify her and get her to remove her curse before the new couple wind up giving birth to Deep Ones?

[eyelessgame]

Thanks to all who responded on this thread.

The fey gatecrasher I used was Rigg Gargadilly - plus some pixies attempting to cause problems for the drunken swordlords who showed up and took a month to leave ("squatters" just happened to be the kingdom event.)

I didn't get quite as much enthusiastic roleplaying from the PCs as I'd hoped, probably because I didn't prep enough events and personal conflicts, but they're introduced to everyone and they have a sense of the larger region, and how they fit within it.

I have a longer post to make on Kingmaker and its themes, and how our campaign is going (as it resumes after the marching and holiday seasons), that I'll do separately.