Morghen
2013-01-13, 09:17 PM
So we've just started the campaign and it's your standard "You've been press-ganged into solving the bandit problem" starter but I've twisted it some.
They're not just bandits. They're goblins. The goblins are led by a 4th-level MU and his half-orc sister (F3).
Also, they're not really marauding at random. They were wandering around near the border with the wilderness pillaging the occasional farmhouse, wagon, and goblinoid hidey-hole, but the MU has recently been manipulated (by agents of Country 1) into finding Merchant X and killing him. The marauding is to avoid the look of a hit.
The hit has been set because Merchant X is a defector from Country 1 and now is... sort of like a Sky Marshall for Country 2. (He poses as Just Another Dude but is a badass-in-disguise and helps keep the peace on the road.)
Country 1 is looking to destabilize the South of Country 2 so Country 2 has to send troops that would be on the border with Country 1 away to the South. Invasion to follow (several levels from now).
I've got this set-up but it suddenly occurred to me that if this set-up is going to draw them into this intrigue between nations I'll need them to actually know about it. And if the hit is successful and the getaway is successful then they'll never know about all this.
The PCs are about to kill all or most of the goblins (the session will start with initiative) while the MU and his sister are holed up in town. The PCs have no idea that the MU and sister even exist at this point.
So.
Does Merchant X die and have some stuff on his body that points to who he is? If that's the case, the PCs may not figure it out. And that would be a pain.
Does Merchant X avoid the hit entirely and tell the PCs all of the above?
Does Merchant X kill one of the siblings and Discover The Truth? (By searching the body or whatevs.)
Something else?
I'd kind of like to have Merchant X die and the MU live. The PCs (two sessions in) are kind of attached to Merchant X and I get the feeling they think I'm setting him up as a connection for them. Having the MU live but the sister die would let me set up a recurring villain for a couple of levels down the road.
Typing this out has helped. I'm kind of leaning toward Merchant X killing the sister (when the siblings attack) and then dying because she was using poison (and also because he's being attacked by two at once).
But I'm totally open to suggestions.
They're not just bandits. They're goblins. The goblins are led by a 4th-level MU and his half-orc sister (F3).
Also, they're not really marauding at random. They were wandering around near the border with the wilderness pillaging the occasional farmhouse, wagon, and goblinoid hidey-hole, but the MU has recently been manipulated (by agents of Country 1) into finding Merchant X and killing him. The marauding is to avoid the look of a hit.
The hit has been set because Merchant X is a defector from Country 1 and now is... sort of like a Sky Marshall for Country 2. (He poses as Just Another Dude but is a badass-in-disguise and helps keep the peace on the road.)
Country 1 is looking to destabilize the South of Country 2 so Country 2 has to send troops that would be on the border with Country 1 away to the South. Invasion to follow (several levels from now).
I've got this set-up but it suddenly occurred to me that if this set-up is going to draw them into this intrigue between nations I'll need them to actually know about it. And if the hit is successful and the getaway is successful then they'll never know about all this.
The PCs are about to kill all or most of the goblins (the session will start with initiative) while the MU and his sister are holed up in town. The PCs have no idea that the MU and sister even exist at this point.
So.
Does Merchant X die and have some stuff on his body that points to who he is? If that's the case, the PCs may not figure it out. And that would be a pain.
Does Merchant X avoid the hit entirely and tell the PCs all of the above?
Does Merchant X kill one of the siblings and Discover The Truth? (By searching the body or whatevs.)
Something else?
I'd kind of like to have Merchant X die and the MU live. The PCs (two sessions in) are kind of attached to Merchant X and I get the feeling they think I'm setting him up as a connection for them. Having the MU live but the sister die would let me set up a recurring villain for a couple of levels down the road.
Typing this out has helped. I'm kind of leaning toward Merchant X killing the sister (when the siblings attack) and then dying because she was using poison (and also because he's being attacked by two at once).
But I'm totally open to suggestions.