Short Version:
I’m planning on having my PCs attend the wedding of Aldern & Iesha in Magnimar as honoured guests after chapter 1. What sort of things events should I put in to help them experience the event rather than just having it read to them? Anything that helps with foreshadowing also appreciated.
Longer Version with spoilers:
I am planning on running two adventures between chapters 1 & 2: The Feast of Ravenmoor, and then the Ruins of Raven’s Watch (building on the Beginner Box & comics). Between them, these give time for the tragic events preceding chapter 2 to unfold.
In Burnt Offerings, the PCs will save Iesha as well as her fiancé Aldern from the goblin commando, and when they go hunting, it will be with both of the happy couple (this will give me a chance to use the Envy or Wrath motivations in Chapter 2 depending on how they act rather than the default awkward option). As a result, they will be invited to their wedding in Magnimar.
The wedding service will take place at the Cynosure Tower (the temple of Desna in Magnimar) before the wedding party travels up the road to the Vanderale Villa for the wedding breakfast and reception. These locations are fixed because I have written the wedding-invitation handouts and sent them to my PCs (we are playing remotely, so I make handouts and post them out)
Ideas I have so far are mostly the bones of the event and bits of fluff — I need help with getting the PCs to feel involved. Thoughts so far:
- Large Varisian families mixing with the elite of Magnimar to create an eclectic and multicultural wedding (nobles unused to a Desnan service, Varisians unused to the customs of a Chellish wedding breakfast, both families dressed very differently, but greatly enjoying each other’s style of dancing)
- Likewise, maybe a lovely attempt by the two groups to fit together — all of the Varisian guests wear a sprig of foxglove to honour the groom, and the Chellish guests might wear approximations of traditional Varisian scarves)
- Lord Vanderale is hosting the party at the behest of a renowned socialite, fixer, noblewoman, and all-around fixer in Magnimarian high society: known by many names, she will eventually come to be known by the PCs as Xanesha. Is she blackmailing Vanderale? Is she his mistress? Who knows?
- Aldern’s sisters — Zeeva and Sendeli — are in attendance. Could be a chance for them to say they hate the Misgivings and want to get away from Magnimar as fast as they can
- Amaya Kaijitsu might be in attendance, perhaps staying over before going to Sandpoint for Lonjiku’s funeral (and to take over the glassworks).
- Otherwise “anybody who’s anybody” in Magnimar will be at the most unusual wedding of “the season”
- Justice Ironbriar is present at the wedding and might be introduced to the PC’s: “We will watch your career with great interest”
- Chances to use social combat or Diplomacy (for gathering information) to learn things. e.g. somebody might mention that Lord Vanderale is being very generous to host this because Aldern is up to his eyeballs in debt, or perhaps it is tragic that Aldern’s parents couldn’t be here to see him getting married, so tragic what happened to that family.
- A renowned Varisian seer (maybe Madame Mvashti) performs a harrow reading for the couple, and maybe the PCs. I want to use the reading to foreshadow unhappiness (but she, being a good performer, would claim that cards showing betrayal, fiend, liar, sickness, and the rakshasa were somehow good omens). She might be persuaded to reveal the truth after a few drinks in the reception, and might even give the PCs a reading which could help them in Chapter 2.
- Dancing contest (winner gets a prize. The dance mimics the one caused by the haunted piano in chapter 2)
- Traditional Varisian bear wrestling (maybe a dancing bear gets fighty)
- Somebody gets wine on their fancy dress (maybe Iesha gets it on her favourite scarf…) and a prestidigitation would suddenly be VERY useful
- Iesha’s great uncle (her godfather) is a really powerful Sczarni boss, giving an opportunity to get a favour for having saved his goddaughter. This could be useful when they come to Magnimar on the trail of the Skinsaw cult
- Drunken jilted young Sczarni man denounces the groom and tries to stop the wedding, leading to Iesha perhaps asking the PCs to deal with this pest.
- A dreaded Varisian witch (perhaps a fairy godmother?) is angry at not being invited but shows up anyway. Maybe she casts Animate Dead on the roast dinner?
- Traditional formal Varisian wedding combat
- Somebody spikes the punch leading to an unintentional drunken brawl
- An official approaches the PCs to ask if such heroes as they are might be able to help with a small tax-collection problem in a distant village before her martinet of a boss (a justice named Ironbriar) finds out about it — setting up the Feast of Ravenmoor
- The band leader (or other important musician) for the evening party gets hopelessly drunk during the dinner.
- Somebody tries a traditional Varisian fire dance while drunk and nearly burns down the Alabaster district
- A wedding joust
- Stag (or hen) party mayhem
- Visiting the happy couple at their townhouse beforehand
- Xanesha might do something to try and assess the PCs’ greed.
- A giant magpie assaults the ringbearer and steals the rings before flying off to its roost on the Irespan
- Somebody replaced the temple’s altar with a mimic
- Somebody replaced the wedding cake with a mimic
- Somebody replaced the priest with a doppelganger
- After the wedding, the bride and groom ride happily off into the sunset to Foxglove Manor to spend the rest of their lives together.
For specific things my PCs might be good at, the party has:
- A druid potionmaker (could help with inadvertent food poisoning)
- An alchemist (cocktail-making contest)
- A half-orc barbarian/butcher/chef (baking contest?)
- A halfling cavalier (wedding joust)
- A summoner (could be asked to summon a celestial to bless the wedding)
Any ideas on other things I should have in the wedding? Bits of rumours or information?
It's an interesting idea, but there's a few issues that you need to consider beyond just making it a thing. Firstly, Aldern isn't meant to be a "stand out so much the party remembers him in every fight" type character. The events of Burnt Offerings should occur over the course of a week and a half to two weeks, at most. Aldern is really going to appear for the first half a week or so (maybe longer depending on how you play him out). Secondly, there's a reason why Iesha isn't mentioned in Burnt Offerings, which is so that you can play him out to be the creepy bastard he is if his "object of affection" is a female PC. He's meant to be this clingy sort of character that makes themselves known in those first few days before leaving. And that brings me to the third point. Once he leaves Sandpoint, that's when he puts his parts of The Skinsaw Murders into action. This is where he fully loses his mind, this is where kills Iesha, this where he starts to turn into the Skinsaw Man. So when the events of The Skinsaw Murders kick off, the timeline is hardly going to be a month at most if you stretch out the downtime. So my last point comes back to why Iesha isn't mentioned in Burnt Offerings is because she's not meant to be known. Her death is meant to come off as a connection piece to showcase Aldern's delve into insanity. Is there a lot of information about her? Sure there is. You know who else has a lot of information about them? Nualia. There is a massive amount of information about her history, but damn near all of it won't see the light of day unless the PC's manage to get it out of her. But it's there to help give you idea for the motivations and potential other ideas. And the same goes for Iesha. All that is there to help give you an idea of why Iesha would come back as a revenant, and maybe tell the PCs if they're able to communicate with her.
Not exactly what you want to hear, I'm sure of that. This certainly is an interesting idea, I will give you that, but it feels more of a shoehorn attempt at forcing something to happen only to ham-fist a completely screwed up narrative to justify events that will no doubt make absolutely no sense for occurring. Aldern not talking about Iesha for the PCs to learn about her and her fate at a later date? Helps make a lot of connections. Aldern killing Iesha right after they get married (assuming that the PCs go to the wedding after knowing the guy for only 2 or 3 days)? Now you gotta explain irrationality in a rational sense while avoiding the phrase "Well that's just how it is".