|
In my Kingmaker game, my PCs have spared almost literally every non-monstrous foe they have encountered, and, with the aid of some uber-Diplomacy checks and quality RP, they have even managed to not have it bite them in the butt more than a couple times. What this means is that I have had to put a great deal of thought into various characters' back stories, because a couple of my players are just short of obsessed with uncovering this information. Thus, I've spent a (possibly more than) fair amount of time reading and re-reading the sections on the bandit lieutenants, and combing the forums for ideas. One PC in particular keeps asking about various details of Dovan's, ahh, unique fashion choices. She has already figured out that he is not actually from Nisroch. Dovan is doing his damndest to give away as little as possible and to slither his way into Her Majesty's good graces, but this gal has a way of finding out the truth.
So I was reading over the fourth installment of the Carrion Crown AP, when a certain image jumped out at me. Here is a side-by-side comparison of Dovan's tattoo and this image. `Nice tat, bro. I get that it's not identical, but it's strikingly similar, IMO.
Another, slightly more amusing take on it is that he had no idea whatsoever what the symbol was, and got it because he thought it looked cool and dangerous. He seems awfully proud of the thing, what with the bared midriff and all.
Another detail of Dovan's costume that struck me was the crescent moon, sometimes with a little dot inside it. While reading "Prince of Wolves," I learned of an alternate method of Harrowing, in which the cards are arranged in a crescent pattern, with one card face-down in the center. Given that this method was used specifically in Caliphas, and by a Sczarni, which one could easily imagine Dovan having an association with, I thought it could be relevant. That's the reason for the crescent moons in my game, anyway.
What are other people's thoughts? ("You have put way too much thought into this," is a totally valid response...)
Other Dovan-y questions I have:
Why does he hate blonds? Best I could come up with is that whoever ran the Widow's Boudoir was blond. (Could also be he's just crazy.)
Why did he lie about where he came from? Are there people following him? I could see agents being sent after Akiros, but I'm not sure how realistic it is to expect people to follow a retired gigolo hundreds of miles. Granted, it was an abrupt retirement, but seriously, who cares? My only thought on this one is that maybe he was "on the menu" for that Carmilla Caliphvaso lady who is rumored to have somewhat deviant tastes, and who is powerful enough to make life inconvenient for someone foolish enough to not die at her whimsy.
On that note, the whole "combining sexual fantasies and murder" thing leaves me a bit confused. Are we talking about assassin-prostitutes here? If it's the more likely case that the prostitutes are the ones getting killed, why would anyone work there? Is there a sex slavery thing going on? Sorry for an uncomfortable topic, but I am having a difficult time wrapping my mind around what specific business model we are looking at here for the Widow's Boudoir.
Any ideas, however fanciful, would be appreciated. Thanks!
Cool thinking!
Lying about his past seems understandable in a community with other men - having been a gigolo/call boy/male prostitute would not enhance his station/standing within the Stag Lord's riffraff-kind of followers (I understood the situation as it is portrayed in a lot of movies about prisons/jails).
Caliphas is decadent to the extreme, a lot of aristocrats of various... sorts to keep spoilers low, might have been frequenting the whorehouse and he might have learned some secrets, which were better kept a secret (him knowing too much, could have been the reason, he was put on the menu in the first place). Having escaped, there might still be agents about, trying to hunt him down.
Where does it say he hates blondes?
Ruyan.
|
|
Cool thinking!
Lying about his past seems understandable in a community with other men - having been a gigolo/call boy/male prostitute would not enhance his station/standing within the Stag Lord's riffraff-kind of followers (I understood the situation as it is portrayed in a lot of movies about prisons/jails).
Caliphas is decadent to the extreme, a lot of aristocrats of various... sorts to keep spoilers low, might have been frequenting the whorehouse and he might have learned some secrets, which were better kept a secret (him knowing too much, could have been the reason, he was put on the menu in the first place). Having escaped, there might still be agents about, trying to hunt him down.
Where does it say he hates blondes?
Ruyan.
First paragraph on p. 47 says, "Dovan and Auchs flee with the rest,
although Dovan could well return later on to plaguethe PCs, particularly if one of them caught his eye as a
possible victim to torture (Dovan prefers blondes for this
grisly pursuit)."
TBH, I have not done all that much with the torture element; I have used him to annoy and infuriate and make people uncomfortable, as well as offering a dry and sarcastic commentary on the PCs' actions. He has expressed a keen interest in both inflicting and receiving pain, and the party is generally so squicked out, they avoid roughing him up for fear that he'll enjoy it too much. :P
I was thinking the same thing you were. One of the notable NPCs in the adventure in Caliphas is, in fact, blond, and I couldn't help but wonder how many times Dovan was "invited" to entertain at her gala events.
Dovan's been playing at making nice with the PCs, recently, though. He noticed how naively generous and trusting they are towards anyone who even minorly helps or entertains them, and has been playing himself up as a charming scoundrel. This is of course a calculated lie, perfected over years of whispering words of love to strangers and making it sound sincere... Nevertheless, the Baroness has knowingly heeded his council in the past, though for minor matters. For Dovan, this is reason enough to wait it out.
((I completely missed that people had responded to this thread - thanks! Will post more updates once I return from Gen Con. ^_^))
Thanks for the hint, on the blonds, Courtney!.
My group is far to suspicious plus they have two xenophibic, conservative fanatics who kill first, ask later.
I am really wondering how they will react to A defecting - I used that element on a normal bandit earlier and had to manipulate the paladin heavily to keep him and the cleric from killing him.
I am interested how it goes for your groups and their little mascot!
Ruyan.