My Thoughts on Emerald Spires

[LegitName]

So my group started playing through the Emerald Spires Superdungeon. I was playing a cleric, along with a monk, rogue, alchemist, and sorcerer. We were exploring the Fort Inevitable, having a jolly time.

As our rogue ran off to drink beer solo, I (being the responsible member of the group), got a permit for adventuring. This brings me to my first thought:

The Hellknights seem to hate all people not under the rule - so why do they make people who want to rid the land of evil (generally) pay to do it? It's like if Gorum said one day "every time you want to worship me in war you have to spread gold pieces across the battlefield until you can't see the grass."

After this, I raced after him (The other three were at the other bar). We deemed that he had already left the bar heading for The Juliver Arms. I decided that I would make myself useful before he left and gather any information (he rolled a pretty bad diplomacy...)

My first thought was to ask "that guy in the corner" (stereotype guy in a cloak who sits in a dark corner of a tavern and knows stuff). I asked Embra who knew information, and she freaked out at me. That made me think,

For a town where people are too scared to disobey the Hellknights,
she seems offly paranoid.

So... is it me, the GM, or the writers?

Pay attention for more thoughts as we progress (quite slowly due to busy schedules).

[Imbicatus]

Well, Fort Inevitable has almost no page count in the book. There is a very basic listing of locations and a few npcs. Anything you are doing here is your Gm, not the adventure. Almost all of the book is on the spire itself.

[justaworm]

Which, by the way, is awesome of GM to give life to the town ...

[Mangenorn]

LegitName wrote:

As our rogue ran off to drink beer solo, I (being the responsible member of the group), got a permit for adventuring. This brings me to my first thought:

The Hellknights seem to hate all people not under the rule - so why do they make people who want to rid the land of evil (generally) pay to do it?

The reason is simple: money. They're the local government, so they'll tax things.

[Ataraxias]

Because murderhobos.

What's to differentiate you from the numerous bandits in the area if you kill and loot them?

[_Ozy_]

Quote:

so why do they make people who want to rid the land of evil (generally) pay to do it?

Huh? Why do the Hellknights tax you to fight evil? Is that what you're asking?

[Quemius]

They charge, because they CAN. They are in control of the Fort and the Spire access.

So, either pay the piper, or go find somewhere else to adventure. Or....try to wrest control from the Hellknights.

[Stack]

I suppose a few keeps our people who aren't serious.

Besides, that hellknight plate ain't cheap!

[LegitName]

Quemius wrote:

Or....try to wrest control from the Hellknights.

I wonder how many rounds it would take for us to die. Maybe 2 if we were lucky...

[Sissyl]

Not now. When you have been through half the dungeon.

[Ellioti]

To be fair, FI is like the only place in the River Kingdoms that offers a safe place to live or stay. Yes, one might feal oppressed and that isn't for everyone but it's not the worst either. And that police force upkeep is expensive! Nobody has to live there. Except for an adventuring party investigating the spire, but their players knew all this upfront and built their characters accordingly.

[LegitName]

That reminds me. They made us sign a contract to give them 30% of the money we find from the dungeon. Later, I pointed out to my group that not all money we would earn this campaign would be claimed inside the dungeon. For example, we already have an offer of several thousand gp to rescue some lost apprentices from the dungeon (the rogue was greedy and asked the mage girl for a reward). So if we get paid above land, after fighting our way through the dungeon, then technically we didn't get the money in the dungeon and thus we do not have to give 30% to the hellknights.

Food for thought.

[Ellioti]

LegitName wrote:

That reminds me. They made us sign a contract to give them 30% of the money we find from the dungeon. Later, I pointed out to my group that not all money we would earn this campaign would be claimed inside the dungeon. For example, we already have an offer of several thousand gp to rescue some lost apprentices from the dungeon (the rogue was greedy and asked the mage girl for a reward). So if we get paid above land, after fighting our way through the dungeon, then technically we didn't get the money in the dungeon and thus we do not have to give 30% to the hellknights.

Food for thought.

I run the spire as a GM. And I enforce the party to pay their taxes, because that adds a lot flavor to the situation. But as a GM it is also my duty to keep them at the recommended wealth per level. If a group were to cheat their way around the taxes, the amount of loot will drop accordingly. That's how it is supposed to work. WpL is fixed, how they get there is the players' choice.