Artrosa, what to do now?

[Mister Bushido]

So i'm GMing Maiden, Mother, Crone right now and the witch in my party snuck into the room with Caigreal and put a sleep hex on her. I allowed a couple quick knowledge checks, all they got was she wasn't human and they saw the unholy object she had on her. So they killed her in her sleep....

They haven't even ran into Jadrenka yet!

I am not quite sure how to proceed! Can Jadrenka be straight with them without fear of losing her role as warden now? Seeing as all she needed from them was to kill Caigreal and Vesvelod. they're one down one to go BY ACCIDENT!

any help or tips would be much appreciated.

[Serum]

Quote:

Seeing as all she needed from them was to kill Caigreal and Vesvelod, they're one down one to go BY ACCIDENT!

This is not true. Jadrenka is charged with protecting Artrosa from invaders. Vveselod is one such, but so are the PCs until they prove otherwise. In my opinion, the PCs murdering Caigreal in cold blood does not reduce the likelyhood of the PCs being invaders, even if Jadrenka hates her.

As such, I see no problem in continuing with your original plan in how Jadrenka plans on interacting with the PCs, as she still needs more information to determine their trustworthiness.

Jadrenka no longer has to fear the specific repercussion of Caigreal turning her into a hag, but her mission statement is still to protect Artrosa from invaders, and therefore cannot help them until she is sure they are not. Who knows what Baba Yaga would cook up as punishment? Maybe she'll get turned into a hag in some other way.

[Ectar]

Heck, out and murdering a sentient being like that could make Jadrenka even more suspicious and/or fearful.

[Mister Bushido]

Ectar wrote:

Heck, out and murdering a sentient being like that could make Jadrenka even more suspicious and/or fearful.

Well the PCs started out thinking along the lines of "We're trying to save Baba Yaga so a lot of people in the hut and her fancy cave should be helping us." So when 90% are hostile they've taken to a hit first ask questions later or never approach.

[Serum]

Mister Bushido wrote:

Ectar wrote:

Heck, out and murdering a sentient being like that could make Jadrenka even more suspicious and/or fearful.

Well the PCs started out thinking along the lines of "We're trying to save Baba Yaga so a lot of people in the hut and her fancy cave should be helping us." So when 90% are hostile they've taken to a hit first ask questions later or never approach.

The problem is, the PCs have no proof that they are servants of Baba Yaga, and will be needing to deal with this for the next couple of books. In Artrosa especially, the inhabitants are already dealing with invaders, and so, the inhabitants are the ones who are in the right with regards to attacking first and asking questions later.

Now they have to deal with the consequences of their actions, and it's my opinion that Jadrenka should be suspicious of the creatures who have murdered one of her wards in cold blood, assuming she witnessed them doing so. Otherwise, she still knows that they are the most likely to have killed Caigreal (and given their actions here, I can assume they killed the witch tree, Gurragurra, and Poryphanos as well). She may have some indication that they aren't allied with Vveselod's faction if they fought the frost giant, but since they are fighting and killing Artrosa's inhabitants as well, she's not going to be favorably inclined until she can figure out what's going on. The PCs can of course lie, or attempt to explain the situation to her.

This is exactly the problem the book sets up, and is the primary tension that prevents Jadrenka from helping the PCs at the outset. The PCs' act of murdering someone she despises doesn't change that at all.

[Zhangar]

If anything, the PCs killing Caigreal on sight indicates Jadrenka should be worrying about them doing the same to her, and preparing accordingly.

It's purely coincidental that the PCs made the right call when they offed Caigreal like that.