Taking Down the Lumber Consortium

[Silas K]

I'm running a homebrew campaign set mostly in Andoran. My players have had a few run-ins with the Lumber Consortium, and they now say that they want to disband the organization and liberate Falcon's Hollow. I'm happy to give them an opportunity to do so, but I'm a little stuck as to how this would work.

In my mind (and as I've established in my game) if anyone in the Consortium gets caught doing something illegal or immoral, the Consortium blames that person (and maybe a few others around them), while saying that the organization as a whole opposes such actions. So even if the PCs remove Thuldrin Kreed from power (get him arrested, fired from his post as a gavel, killed, whatever) and expose the brutal tactics he's used to dominate Falcon's Hollow, this wouldn't stop the Lumber Consortium from propping up a new gavel to be slightly-less-overtly terrible. They're still the only ones with the rights to harvest the wood. I've come up with a few ideas for how they could stop the Lumber Consortium as a whole, but wanted to get some more input.

Option 1: Provoke the Lumber Consortium into a heinous action, on the order of laying siege to the town. (Perhaps the PCs lead a workers' uprising, and the Consortium moves in force to quash this rebellion.) The PCs would still need proof that the actions had widespread approval throughout the organization, and maybe even proof that the Consortium was involved at all.

Option 2: Convince Kreed that the Lumber Consortium is about to replace him. He could then, theoretically, provide an abundance of evidence that his brutal tactics were condoned, approved, and even encouraged.

Option 3: Have the PCs head to Almas, and use the rules from Ultimate Intrigue to build support against the Lumber Consortium.

I don't particularly love Option 3, and I'm guessing my players wouldn't choose that if presented with multiple choices. Can anyone else think of other ways to take down the Lumber Consortium, once and for all?

[The Sideromancer]

Well, you could always wipe out the organization directly. Getting friendly with your local marauders may be helpful for this.

[Dosgamer]

To be perfectly honest, sit back and listen while the players decide how they want to tackle the situation. This is something that is best left to player agency imho.

But bear in mind that the Consortium is a business first and foremost. They are motivated by profits, but also extremely protective of them, and they have controlling interests in many of the legal ways of protecting their investments. All of that is to say that your players should hit them where it hurts, in the coin purse. Good luck!

P.S. In my version of Golarion there is a definite undercurrent of "you mess with the Lumber Consortium and you could wind up dead or worse" due to their ties to the Aspis Consortium. *nudge nudge wink wink*

[AsheItachi]

Ive played the town rebellion angle one time it was neat having some Axe men take on town guards lead by Kreed wit his right hand man Pay day. Then the wild cards in town as well. Red eye, the necromancer and rogue and fighter at the sitting duck.

When it comes to options your players can do. Have them search to find a legitimate claim to the forrestry rights. Or take their qualms to the "president" with evidence stolen from kreeds place.

Start finding key members of the consordium and replacing them with stand ins from the resistance using magic or something.

[David knott 242]

The PCs could put enough pressure on the Lumber Consortium that eventually the consortium decides that the most economical course of action is to put one of the PCs in charge of local logging operations. I have generally assumed that such organizations care more about results than methods.

[thistledown]

Get the Kalistocrats over in Macridi interested in expanding and taking over the operation? They seem to do a better job at lumbering. And have the money to displace the lumber consortium.