Hey guys, I (GM) and my are currently playing the Skinsaw Murders.
In the last session they went into the Sawmill and killed all Cultists and captured Ironbriar in a very long battle.
So why I'm creating this post (you saw it in the title already i guess):
Orik Vancaskerkin survived. In Thistletop the players talked with Orik (he was alone and knew he would not be able to overcome 4 people without help, so he tried to talk himself out of danger) and the players agreed on letting Orik flee.
Sending Orik to the Black Arrows is an idea I found in the forums here, but unfortunately the PCs didn't capture Orik, no, they just let him go, so why would there be a trial for Orik?
Coming to Aldern, in the Skinsaw Murders they fought Aldern in the Misgivings. Aldern succesfully killed his target of obsession and then dived into the pool into safety. So he lives aswell.
So now I need some ideas how to implement these 2 guys in the upcoming story. Since I'm a GM-Noob, I kind of forgot about Orik the whole time and for Aldern... I just didn't rly know. So it would be nice to get some ideas. How would you reintroduce them?
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You could have the Skinsaw Man working for Lucrecia - he was working for her sister, after all, and the Kreegs would love to have him around.
As for Orik, you could have him show up out of nowhere to fight the giants during the attack on Sandpoint. It'd be a nice little reward for them letting him go.
Thank you VERY much for your reply!!
I don't know about your idea with Aldern though. In which way would Lucrecia benefit from Alderns help, considering he is a ghoul? Isn't the plan of Lucrecia to mark the people of the little town (forgot the english name) with the rune und then kill them all at once. Having a scary ghoul at her side wouln't really help her much, would it?
I like the Orik thingy though, thanks for that!
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I would have Aldern continue killing until the PCs stop him. They may even Orik's corpse mutilated and strung up on the outskirts of Sandpoint. He would make a perfect sacrifice, greedy mercenary that he is..
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Orik is awesome. Let him show up from time to time after some crazy adventures he experienced in between their meetings. The Lavender Lil love potion debacle? Nothing against what happend to him when he fell in love with an Urgathoa priestess and had to fight an army of undead to flee to Turtleback Ferry. Working for Nualia, not realizing she was to crazy for her own good? Pfft... The caravan that hired him on their way through Sanos Forest was a secret cabal of Kuthonites, which he just found out when it was to late. Orik is a nice comic relief character in all the tragedy and minformed bad choices he makes. And, if you're the romantic type of GM, maybe in the end of the AP he might find his true love in Shalelu or Ameiko after suffering through many, many weird adventures.
Aldern is more problematic, especially if his target is already dead. he might return to Foxglove Manor, waiting for Xanesha to give him new orders. Since she's probably dead, I guess the Red Mantis assassins still want more of Vorel's Phage and might start to get in contact with him without intermediary. Whatever happens next is up to you
I´d also guess that Aldern continues to be a mass murderer. He is a crazed undead monster, after all. Yes, he probably won´t be able to engineer something like flooding a whole village, but he could rack up an impressive death toll in all of Varisia, and serve as a lead if you need the players to explore a certain direction.
With Orik, using him as an unlikely ally is not a bad idea at all, and providing some comic relief from time to time might be nice also. He is a minor character, however, and should not gain any real importance.
So now I need some ideas how to implement these 2 guys in the upcoming story. Since I'm a GM-Noob, I kind of forgot about Orik the whole time and for Aldern... I just didn't rly know. So it would be nice to get some ideas. How would you reintroduce them?
I'm going to have Orik show back up in Turtleback Ferry as a sort of down on his luck mercenary who has taken to drinking. I'm going to have him be a 'Paradise' survivor, giving the PC's a little more access to the backstory. I'm also going to have him help out the PC's in the re-taking of Fort Rannick and, if he survives, eventually join up with the 'new' Black Arrows, having finally found a place for himself.
Aldern on the other hand can be as easy or as complicated as you want to make it. On the narrow side it could lead to a pretty fun side quest, hunting him down through the sewers of Magnimar, following clues and eventually facing off against him with nowhere to run this time... or you could just have him in the Angel Clock tower or have him having fled back to his townhouse.
Honestly though, it would seem to suit the character more to continue using the Misgivings as a safehouse and deciding to either build a (small) ghoul army of farmers and vagrants in order to raze Sandpoint to the ground or you could have him develop a new obsession (Lust) with someone the PC's are familiar with, like Shayliss. Lot of options there, depending on how much work you want to put in.
If Aldern actually won against this target of obsession...
Perhaps the existence of the obsession was the last thing keeping Aldern's original personality clinging?
And with it gone, he's now sliding over completely into the Skinsaw Man?
Perhaps next time he shows up he actually has, say, a mythic rank or tier and now actually leading a Norgorborite cell, as he beings transitioning into a "living" avatar of Father Skinsaw?
I had his decapitated body infested by the mold in the manor, and has become a Mold That Walks, a variant on the Worm That Walks. The PCs haven't encountered him yet, but will. :D (He's around CR 17, what with adding the Worm That Walks template to his existing Advanced Ghoul/Ghast template, along with spellcasting levels.)
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Thank you VERY much for your reply!!
I don't know about your idea with Aldern though. In which way would Lucrecia benefit from Alderns help, considering he is a ghoul? Isn't the plan of Lucrecia to mark the people of the little town (forgot the english name) with the rune und then kill them all at once. Having a scary ghoul at her side wouln't really help her much, would it?
I like the Orik thingy though, thanks for that!
I meant by the time the PCs meet Lucrecia. Not at Paradise, no, but at Fort Rannick, when she's hanging out with the Kreeg family. Maybe he helped them with the slaughter of the Black Arrows.
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Alright, thanks guys!
I decided to let Aldern dod his thing again. After he was severly wounded in the Manor he took several days (maybe even a few weeks) to recover and then he returns in his Manor. Since his target of obsession is dead, as well as Iesha, he basically has nothing in his life anymore exept the mission of Xanesha. He still remembers the list given to him and after a few days of "chilling" in the Manor he goes on the hunt of these people.
I won't plan this out in more detail however, since the session is in one hour and they won't leave Magnimar in the next two or three sessions.
With Orik, I am going the route you guys suggested as well. The thread about Orik himself was very helpful as well! The PCs will met Orik from time to time, they hear about his bad luck while adventuring. In Turtleback Ferry, he will actually help the Pcs retaking Fort Rannick (I plan to make the siege way harder than written, so extra help will be much needed), in book 4 he will help defending Sandpoint if the PCs ask him to and stuff.
Thank you very much.
My two cents. My players beat Orik, but didn't kill him. He was released. I made him come back in Magnimar - he wanted to atone all his misdeeds, an became an initiate in Sarenrae's church. I used him as a quest giver for Dawn of the Scarlet Sun module in Magnimar, and later he helped the party to kill Xanesha (the party didn't have any support kind of character, so a warrior priest was spot on).
This made Orik more fleshed out and remembered NPC for my players :)