Way of the Wicked: possible diplomatic resolution?

[Conradine]

The diplomatic option is not even mentioned in the last book of Way of the Wicked.
In your opinion, if the PC's selected all the "soft" options in the events that happened during their 3 years of reign, there is any chance that Bellinda could be persuaded to not wage war?

Choosing the soft options means:

- not raising taxes
- allow the cult of Mitra to exist without persecution or sabotage
- avoid purging the Darians
- sparing the young squires of Alerion
- do NOT legalize slavery
- avoid any kind of brutal repression against the Resistence
- finding a non violent solution to the Children's Crusade

and so on.

[Castilonium]

Doubtful. She's a sheltered 18 year old girl who was naturally born with 20 levels of sorcerer, and she's being aided and advised by her mother who's a great wyrm silver dragon, the most powerful celestial agents of Mitra, and more. They're going to be far more persuasive to her. The villains caused her homeland to be plagued by the Tears of Achlys, invaded by murderous bugbears and frost giants, destroyed the holiest and most peaceful place in the world, and killed her father. At best, she'll hesitate for 2 seconds upon seeing that the villains haven't done further overt evil since taking over the kingdom, but that won't negate all the other stuff the villains have done. Her advisors will quickly remind her of that.

That said, ask your players if they actually want the campaign to end in diplomacy instead of war. It's important for the ending to be satisfying for everyone.

[archon_huskie]

would think you would have to do more than just take all the soft choices. Taking the soft choices usually lowers your might score. which makes it easier for the Princess to win the final battle.

My group took the attitude of making life in Talingarde better for the people.

We put Richard on the throne and made it clear that it was an Asmodean army, with a Mitran-turned Asmodean General, who saved the day.
King Richard extended olive branches to the Princess to return as his Queen. When she did not appear, our Sorceress started impersonating her and acting like a spoiled child. (Seriously she spent the first year and a half of our reign wandering the country trying to lower the public's opinion of her.

"It's MY Kingdom! Not Yours. Give it back!"

Then we staged a scene to make it look like she committed suicide in an act of terrorism and uncontrolled wyld magic.

We didn't know that She had an artifact that made her invisible to non-true believers. The DM decided that the public smear campaign coupled with other factors prevented her from gathering allies and had a much smaller force.

[Conradine]

The problem is, even raising the Might to very high level, no normal army can defeat a Solar or a great wyrm, so it's kinda useless.


At best, she'll hesitate for 2 seconds upon seeing that the villains haven't done further overt evil since taking over the kingdom, but that won't negate all the other stuff the villains have done. Her advisors will quickly remind her of that.

The point is, it's really a Good action to start another war that will cost the lives of thousands if the country is at peace and the mitran church is not persecuted?

[Pauly]

The diplomatic option is not even mentioned in the last book of Way of the Wicked.
In your opinion, if the PC's selected all the "soft" options in the events that happened during their 3 years of reign, there is any chance that Bellinda could be persuaded to not wage war?

Choosing the soft options means:

- not raising taxes
- allow the cult of Mitra to exist without persecution or sabotage
- avoid purging the Darians
- sparing the young squires of Alerion
- do NOT legalize slavery
- avoid any kind of brutal repression against the Resistence
- finding a non violent solution to the Children's Crusade

and so on.

She would view this as a few small inadequate steps. {Scrubbed}

[Eurus]

If your players want a diplomatic solution, I think it should definitely be possible. You're the DM, so you're free to tweak Belinda's personality. I think it would be more satisfying to require some setup/groundwork for this to work, though.

Make it clear that she's being influenced by her mother and her advisors, and give the PCs a chance to try and deal with them. Doing so without alienating Belinda completely will be especially tough! But pulling that off might make it possible for a very charismatic and clever PC to make her doubt herself.

Avoiding war entirely might be anticlimactic, which would be bad. Perhaps Belinda still attacks no matter what, but if the party persists in trying to diplomacy her, during the final battle she might be finally convinced to surrender. You can set things up however you think will result in the most satisfying finale for your players, really.

[GrayDeath]

The diplomatic option is not even mentioned in the last book of Way of the Wicked.
In your opinion, if the PC's selected all the "soft" options in the events that happened during their 3 years of reign, there is any chance that Bellinda could be persuaded to not wage war?

Choosing the soft options means:

- not raising taxes
- allow the cult of Mitra to exist without persecution or sabotage
- avoid purging the Darians
- sparing the young squires of Alerion
- do NOT legalize slavery
- avoid any kind of brutal repression against the Resistence
- finding a non violent solution to the Children's Crusade

and so on.

On its own?

No. As others have mentioned, the Princess is both too young and too "pure" in her views for that (thinkS tarfire from the Teen Titans just without being abducted and experimented on^^).

Now, if your players actually try to rule the land as well as they can and make life better for the people (which is QUITE the effort) there should be a reward for this.
Maybe even the Princess` Spies realize that something must be amiss, as "Evil would not act like this". ^^