Recently, my group recovered the two zombified bodies of Aneran and Porcia Victocora, Rexus' parents. They want to bring this up to the Nobles so to destroy faith among the nobles toward Thrune's rule. I'm curious if anyone else has had similar happen in their games, and how they chose to have the Noble Houses react to this news. And for that matter, what Barzillai Thrune himself said in this matter.
One of the "benefits" of Animate Dead is that it renders the body useless for the purpose of Speak With Dead (as well as Raise Dead/Reincarnate spells). Without a Resurrection or True Resurrection spell, Porcia and Aneran are essentially gone and cannot be talked to. Seeing the highest spell available in Kintargo for non-government folk is 4th level, Commune is even out of reach here.
So, how do the PCs "prove" their case? All they have is a couple of slain zombies that were in a horrible fire. While some of the nobles could potentially identify the zombies... they've also been dead for two months at this point.
So I'd like some thoughts on this. :)
I think you use this as an opportunity to play up Thrune as a ruthless, intelligent villain that will be difficult to topple. Let the players discover all the things you mentioned, show them that it will be near impossible to to prove Thrune did this. Use sympathetic NPCs to let your players know that this is a failure, and that that is alright.
Key to this is the fail forward; use the time after it becomes obvious that they can not prove it was Thrune to move into the next plot point. You will need to distract the players to get them to change gears after the failure, otherwise they might keep trying to dig a deeper hole.
However, if you want this to be a win for the players.
Use traditional investigation methods; Get someone trusted to identify the bodies (would the church of Abadar be able to). Convince the nobles that agents of thrune were using these as a defences through evidence and arguments. Theme this that Thrune relies so heavily on magic and contracts that sometimes to obvious escapes his notice.
I am a tad tempted to have Thrune use the attack on the Fantasmagorium as a way to start smearing the name of the Ravens early on by claiming their investigations found a group of terrorists calling themselves "Ravens" had been behind the attack on the Victocora estate and had taken the bodies of the slain with them for nefarious deeds. The question becomes: how long does it take for Thrune to learn about the attack on the Archive, given that Nox was put down.
(Seeing at least one of the Redactors doesn't have his legs tied and isn't gagged, I'm willing to bet it's going to be much sooner rather than later. Even so...)
I am a tad tempted to have Thrune use the attack on the Fantasmagorium as a way to start smearing the name of the Ravens early on by claiming their investigations found a group of terrorists calling themselves "Ravens" had been behind the attack on the Victocora estate and had taken the bodies of the slain with them for nefarious deeds. The question becomes: how long does it take for Thrune to learn about the attack on the Archive, given that Nox was put down.
(Seeing at least one of the Redactors doesn't have his legs tied and isn't gagged, I'm willing to bet it's going to be much sooner rather than later. Even so...)
Keep in mind the scene at the end of book 2. If the Silver Ravens are declared terrorists, it gets a bit awkward when he gives them rewards.
Keep in mind the scene at the end of book 2. If the Silver Ravens are declared terrorists, it gets a bit awkward when he gives them rewards.I am a tad tempted to have Thrune use the attack on the Fantasmagorium as a way to start smearing the name of the Ravens early on by claiming their investigations found a group of terrorists calling themselves "Ravens" had been behind the attack on the Victocora estate and had taken the bodies of the slain with them for nefarious deeds. The question becomes: how long does it take for Thrune to learn about the attack on the Archive, given that Nox was put down.
(Seeing at least one of the Redactors doesn't have his legs tied and isn't gagged, I'm willing to bet it's going to be much sooner rather than later. Even so...)
He never calls them the Silver Ravens though. He calls them "concerned citizens" and the like.
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He never calls them the Silver Ravens though. He calls them "concerned citizens" and the like.Keep in mind the scene at the end of book 2. If the Silver Ravens are declared terrorists, it gets a bit awkward when he gives them rewards.I am a tad tempted to have Thrune use the attack on the Fantasmagorium as a way to start smearing the name of the Ravens early on by claiming their investigations found a group of terrorists calling themselves "Ravens" had been behind the attack on the Victocora estate and had taken the bodies of the slain with them for nefarious deeds. The question becomes: how long does it take for Thrune to learn about the attack on the Archive, given that Nox was put down.
(Seeing at least one of the Redactors doesn't have his legs tied and isn't gagged, I'm willing to bet it's going to be much sooner rather than later. Even so...)
Has anyone played this as a deliberate attempt on Barzillai's part to alienate the SRs' supporters from their leadership? After all, if they take the items, they're not using their enemy's resources to strengthen themselves, no, they're taking bribes and are influenced, and ought to be replaced by people really committed to the cause (whom, of course, Barzillai has planted in the organization beforehand and present themselves as ultra-radical).
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
He never calls them the Silver Ravens though. He calls them "concerned citizens" and the like.Keep in mind the scene at the end of book 2. If the Silver Ravens are declared terrorists, it gets a bit awkward when he gives them rewards.I am a tad tempted to have Thrune use the attack on the Fantasmagorium as a way to start smearing the name of the Ravens early on by claiming their investigations found a group of terrorists calling themselves "Ravens" had been behind the attack on the Victocora estate and had taken the bodies of the slain with them for nefarious deeds. The question becomes: how long does it take for Thrune to learn about the attack on the Archive, given that Nox was put down.
(Seeing at least one of the Redactors doesn't have his legs tied and isn't gagged, I'm willing to bet it's going to be much sooner rather than later. Even so...)
Has anyone played this as a deliberate attempt on Barzillai's part to alienate the SRs' supporters from their leadership? After all, if they take the items, they're not using their enemy's resources to strengthen themselves, no, they're taking bribes and are influenced, and ought to be replaced by people really committed to the cause (whom, of course, Barzillai has planted in the organization beforehand and present themselves as ultra-radical).
Nope, but I'm stealing this.