How did you deal with the Night Swan (Spoilers)


War for the Crown


So I really haven't used the Night Swan in my game, outside of her stealing some 500 GP worth of stuff from the party.

I didn't think it made sense for her to just know what the party was doing and so have some kind of ambush set for them.

They were going to try and track her down after she robbed them but I had the inquisitor show up and that was the first time he questioned their "Loyality", even though all they had done is help people, so they weren't quite able to track her horse back to the main town.

I'm thinking of having them start looking around Loaithadar and rolling to gather information about info and find there have been more robberies committed in that town than anywhere else. Maybe setting a trap or something for her to steal and then catching her.

I've already done away with the auto hate for them being best friends with Oketra so she will just be neutral to them and maybe they can talk to her and explain that they just want to help, even though she sees helping people as stupid.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I would also love you hear how you used this NPC in your game!


I've done a few things to try and make the Night Swan a bit more compelling in my game. Now granted, in my case I have a big advantage because one of my players is a vigilante and also comes from Cassomir (where she used to be based). That said, here are a few of my notes:

- In my game, Lady Lucretzia Marthane is living in Songbird Hall as Titus Lotheed-Casava's girlfriend. She's effectively using him as cover to act with impunity, and then tricking him into being her alibi. It also means she's around to see the PCs whenever Titus makes an effort to go and cause trouble for them, which gives them a chance to interact with her a bit more.

- Just a couple weeks after their arrival, I had the Night Swan steal some goods from the Estate in Stachys and leave her threatening note. In my case the vigilante PC spotted her and she specifically extended an invitation for him to meet her in Lotheedar. In this specific case, she believed him to also be an undercover agent working against the nobility but didn't suspect the rest of the PCs to also be agents. Alternatively, after the PCs accumulate a decent amount of Loyalty Points (I was going to go with 30 or so) or perform a clearly anti-Lotheed action (like helping the Beggarwood or slaying Lotheed's ooze, for instance), I was going to have her either sneak up on the PCs while they were unprepared or send them an invitation to meet so that she could meet them and ask them just what it was they thought they were doing. If they make a decent impression, she is guarded at first but is willing to speak with them again to continue probing their motivations and perhaps convince them to adopt her philosophy (the PCs meanwhile can use the influence system to try and convince her to work alongside them instead. If they annoy her too much, she tells them not to get in her way and if they do she becomes a hostile encounter in the areas around Lotheedar.

- In the event that the PCs don't do anything to prompt her interventions, she may occasionally attack them or their allies while travelling through the Lotheedar area, possibly leading to Baron Okerra asking for the PCs help in finding her and putting an end to her banditry once and for all. This gives the PCs a direct encounter between the two in which they can choose a side or use influence to try and convince them to call a ceasefire (which would be incredibly difficult). Whichever party the PCs don't ally with becomes a recurring enemy for the rest of the adventure.

- As an extended plot element of her new affiliation, I also tossed in a love triangle plot. Syras Cockleburr secretly loves Titus and Carodd Hellebore doesn't actually care much for Titus but is Syras's closest childhood friend and tries to look out for him (even if it means following him into the wrong crowd). Syras is naturally very jealous of Lucretzia and so at some point during the later part of part 2, he plots to murder Lucretzia and blame it on the PCs in a misguided attempt to get closer to Titus by helping him slay the villains. Carodd figures this out and decides to warn the PCs ahead of time, giving them an opportunity to do something about it. From there I left it pretty open ended based on what their relationship with the Night Swan will be at that point.

- As a sort of aside I did also add one red herring in the form of Alista Cragus also having a long blonde braid and having her skulk around Songbird Hall at one point during the jubilee. Turns out she's Baron Telus' long lost sister who was sent to Cassomir when his condition started worsening, but then the servants that brought her were robbed and killed and she ended up living as a street urchin (everyone else believed she was dead as well). She came to Lotheedar in the hopes of finding out where she came from. This was my solution to Baron Telus' curse (true love can include sibling love), but also was there to lead some suspicion away from Marthane.

- One last thing I did was make a point for interactions between the Night Swan and Sir Gul Gusairne to be relatively close to each other, as a way of leading Gul to suspect that one of the PCs might be the Night Swan, or at least working directly with the Night Swan. This can be a way for him to keep pressure on PCs who aren't careful with covering their tracks. This also means that if the PCs aren't discreet, it will cause the Night Swan to want to know why she's getting pegged for things the PCs have done, or if the PCs are too discreet, a way for the Night Swan to direct suspicion towards them, forcing them to take action with or against the Night Swan.

Acquisitives

Not a GM, but a player, so I can let you know how things have played out for us so far regarding the Night Swan. It's not clear how much of this is from the AP and how much of this has been our GM's invention.

We were able to foil the Night Swan's attack at the Gala when our assassin took the bolt for Count Lotheed. After tea with Madame Crabbe, The NS snuck into the Betony Estate to send us a message - namely, by stealing the stuffed head of Iron Lash, which we had mounted over the mantle as a trophy. In the process, the Night Swan encountered one of our hirelings, who she subdued (nonlethally but violently) and left traumatized. Two of our other party members were in Lotheedar, so the assassin and my PC went to the meet with her the next morning. My CG warpriest of Chaldira had heard of her whole 'rob from the rich and give to the poor' schtick, but wasn't too happy about all the murders. The LE Red Mantis in training was there to end a threat and get revenge for our hireling.

Our plan was for me to be the bait standing out in the open clearing, while the assassin tried hiding in wait. However, NS rolled a really good Perc, so the assassin's cover was blown. NS asked what our intentions were for Betony, and we told the semi-truth that we were here to better the lives of its people (My warpriest is all about community support and improvement, while the assassin only cares about the town paying enough taxes to fund the Loyalist cause). We asked what her intentions were, and she stated she intended to kill all of the nobility, starting with those in Meratt. My warpriest reiterated that he was mandated by his goddess to build community ties and improve the lot of common folk, and he had no intention of turning Betony into a tyranny. He proposed a pact of non-agression: we don't move against the Night Swan, and she doesn't move against us. She was at least willing to forgo further violence until she could meet the rest of the party in person (a LG cleric of Abadar and a CN wizard). She did apologize for attacking our hireling, and even returned the trophy the next morning.

Current party opinions:

My warpriest again likes the Robin Hood angle, but isn't ready to go full Galt on a bunch of minor nobles, some of which he has good relations with (like Crabbe and Okerra).

The Red Mantis still wants to end her as a threat, but is willing to stay their blade for now.

The Abadarian is probably not going to get along too well with the murder or thievery, but is also witholding violence until the next meet.

The wizard pretty much doesn't care either way as long as they can continue their studies.


I introduced other characters the NS might be. They never figured it out. They are going back after book three so we will see.


Mr.$mith wrote:
Any thoughts or suggestions? I would also love you hear how you used this NPC in your game!

I'm three years late for my suggestions to be useful to the OP, no doubt, but here's how I'm using the Night Swan.

1) My party has an Investigator (we're playing a 2E adaptation and she's formidable) and the party immediately suspected Lucretzia Marthane after the events of the Tanager Jubilee. For this reason:

1a) I made the Night Swan's disguise a bit more formidable than canon. Her Cape provides a 2nd-level Disguise Self that prevents her from being tracked by scent or looking too obviously like Marthane in a masquerade costume, especially because I fully expected at least one of the party to catch her in the act of leaving the note (which I augmented a little) in "The Night Swan Calls." And indeed, that did happen.

1b) I have dangled Baron Okerra's daughter Selli in front of them as a potential red herring. She has something like Lucretzia's love of Galtish romantic banditry, but much more innocently so, and secretly admires the Night Swan enough to emulate her known practice of fletching her crossbow bolts with black swan feathers. Selli is intrepid, prone to roaming, and martially skilled enough to be a possible candidate... although it will surely become clear enough in the course of events that it can't be her.

2) For all her "heightening the contradictions" ideology, The Night Swan has the perspicacity to know that she needs allies and operatives of her own. She has no reason to trust the party in the early going, but I'm seizing upon Rena Winterall and her bandits in the Lionsmane Forest for this role, who are sown as a potential seed of another political rebellion against the Lotheeds.

Potentially, Rena Winterall could actually be the Night Swan in disguise. But I prefer her to be an independent actor who cautiously sees the Night Swan as a potential ally... especially, against the "bandits" from Telus Barony who roam ever further in the search of riches and flesh to feed to their horrid, cursed lord. The Lionsmane Bandits are raiding lone nobles in their domain, but do not molest the poor, and Rena will directly profess her admiration for the Night Swan.

This provides a potential point of interface: if the party can convince Rena and her bandits of their good intentions, Rena will be able to set up a meeting and perhaps, some degree of rapprochement.

3) The Night Swan will, in the meantime, continue to assail nobles and merchants entering the county. A couple of Rena's bandits have kinfolk in Stachys who feed them information, and so she will turn up in disguise as a Lady-other-than-Marthane (but still from Cassomir) for any case that seems helpful to the Night Swan's mystique. (I have the Murder case particularly in mind.)

4) Baron Okerra started the adventure as Helpful to the party thanks to some extraordinary checks during Crownfall and the Tanager Jubilee. So his attitude won't immediately worsen on any attempt to befriend the Night Swan, he'll at least provide them some benefit of the doubt and start from the assumption that they're working an angle. But two or more such incidents without consultation will worsen his attitude.

5) Lord Titus Lotheed-Cassava suspects one of the Scions of being the Night Swan and is trying to build a case to that effect for his august cousin in an attempt to win favor. He is recruiting spies of his own and is fixated on this notion beyond the point of rationality: it's simply the most convenient option for his family and the Scions are newcomers whose reputation could turn on a dime. (This angle is helped by the fact that one of our party is from Amanandar, is the specific target of his suspicion, and is actually using Shinobi -- any of whom could be readily mistaken for the Night Swan -- in Operations.)

That's where I'm at. It's early days now, we are just coming to the end of Week Two.


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CeeJay wrote:


1) My party has an Investigator (we're playing a 2E adaptation and she's formidable) and the party immediately suspected Lucretzia Marthane after the events of the Tanager Jubilee...

I'm having this problem now too, they're torn between Lucretzia and Gul Gusairne as their main suspects but pretty confident that it's her. And I pretty much used some of your solutions. This is of course made all the more complicated given that in my campaign Lucretzia is one of my party's long lost cousin.

I also made Selli into a Night Swan suspect for the reasons you listed but I aged her up a little because I feel like it's too obvious that a 15 year old girl is not the Night Swan.

I have also made Night Swan sightings become more widespread in the region with other characters taking on the mantle for their own purposes. I've had Gurta Thresh in the Beggarwood pretend to be her, using the idea of the Night Swan to further her antiauthoritarian philosophy and act as a symbol of hope for others in the Beggarwood. And Atratus is already included in the book as a sort of red herring too, and is located near where the Night Swan is based, so there's a chance they'll look into her too.

I plan on having Okerra be extremely paranoid of the Night Swan, blaming pretty much everything that's gone wrong in the county on her. Since he's already helpful after Crownfall, I'm having him recruit the PCs to go investigate what he thinks are Night Swan sightings. Since my PCs have mostly been focused on Stachys and don't seem too interested in exploring unprompted, so this should help them make the most out of the adventure.

Once the party have helped out a bit the Night Swan is probably going to approach either the most radical party member or her cousin to try and figure out what their deal is. After that it's really up to the party how they handle her.


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Making use of the Four Hoods is a really good idea, I like that. (Yeah, I aged up Selli, too. I figured she'd "canonically" be nineteen by the time of WftC.)


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I had her dance between enemy and ally, never fully committing to either.

Personality-wise, I played up the inconsistency and chaotic neutrality of the Night Swan/Lucretzia. The players decided early on she couldn't possibly be an ACTUAL revolutionary, since she seemed to keep (or at least not locally distribute) a lot of the wealth she stole from "parasitic nobles." Her reputation (to the PCs) quickly became that of a grand-standing glory hound, albeit one with some wicked good combat skills.

I had the Night Swan show up several times to taunt the PCs, after her initial message. She ambushed them on the road when they went to Baron Okerra's (where, coincidentally, Lucretzia was visiting). She had to escape using her cape of the mountebank, which made the players very paranoid they were dealing with a high-level caster.

Also, my PCs were associated with the Pathfinder Society, and used to using contacts in Cassomir to buy/sell items too expensive for Meratt. On one of those occasions, I had their contact drop the fact that the Night Swan's adventures were quite the publishing hit in the big city.

The culmination was at their festival. They decided to invite everyone from all around. Including Count Bartleby--who sent Titus Lotheed-Cassava in his stead. Now the players HATED Titus. They'd spent a lot of time since he whipped the swashbuckler PC in a duel plotting to do terrible things to him.

The first night of the festival, everyone shows up (including Lucretzia). Except Titus, for some reason. They were happy about that, though curious as to why he would defy his more powerful relative.

At midnight, an enormous swan-shaped fire started right in front of the manor. At the same time, Dame Crabbe's jewels were stolen. The PCs used both their druid friend's search of the surroundings and the domovoi to deduce it was Lady Lucretzia after all. They decided to hold off accusing her, however, when Gul Guisarne appeared out of nowhere.

In the morning, Titus showed up, with his lackeys carrying his trunk. He raged about a trap on the road breaking his carriage, forcing him to walk. This trap resembled the one the Night Swan had used to waylay the PCs in Okerra's barony.

Shortly after that, Gul Guisarne found the Night Swan's mask and cloak--in Titus's luggage. Titus demanded trial by combat, with the local lord, who was the swashbuckler PC he'd defeated earlier.

The PCs pretty much knew he wasn't the Night Swan, but they were itching for payback, so they agreed to the combat. Turns out a couple extra levels were enough to kill him, which the swashbuckler nearly did. I made sure the other PC noted how amused Lucretzia was at this.

Later that night, the Night Swan appeared to bid them farewell.

When they got into some trouble during the final infiltration/battle of the Birdsong Palace, I had her show up in another room, fighting Gul Guisarne. She kept the seneschal busy for long enough for the PCs to survive, then retrieved her cloak and mask from Gul's lockbox. With a flourish, she vanished into the night.

They still get the tawdry novels of her derringdo. And she may show up again, if they really get into trouble.


Mine never figure it out, though know it is a woman. I have them two other blonde women to be suspicious of. They ruled one out. The Swan is now more or less guarding the county in their absence.

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