Corran
2022-01-01, 04:21 PM
I'm playing a drow arcane trickster. The campaign takes place in the surface. The basic idea behind the character was to hint at how dangerous a place the (campaign's) Underdark is. How? By taking an Underdark's failure and making him excel in the surface world. Not through raw force, but through cunning, and smarts, and charm, along with a tiny bit of skill.
First session, pc's are brought together for a quest. The amiacable goliath berserker immdiately tries to make friends, and of course the drow obliges, because give me a good reason why to turn down the friendship of someone who can cut you in half should he wishes to. But this conversation is quickly cut short by a halfelf's proclamation: "I am not working with a drow!". And I love that moment. Because it allows me to show how much of a smooth talker my character can be and to introduce him as such. And of course the halfelf reluctantly agress to join the quest, a party is formed out of necessity and the campaign begins.
A few sessions in, and after several "I have my eyes on you drow" from the halfelf, there comes a moment where my drow can actually make a small difference. Quest is to kill the head of a gang of thieves and to retrieve an object from him, with the side quest being to rescue some hostages (or was it the other way around?). And my character knows how to get the party in without raising the alarm (because of course the drow worked with this gang in the past, and of course he knows there is a secret entrance, and of course he knows the fool who is guarding it from the inside and the fool is fool enough to open the door for a drow he thinks he knows; I love permissive DMs). But here is the dilemma (at least in the halfelf's head). If the drow is lying then they are being led to a trap (and if he is not lying, then he is betraying people he pressumably worked with in the past, so another good reason not to trust him). Rest of the party is happy to dismiss the halfelf's worries, with the barbarian (the drow's best pal in the world!) even calling her paranoid. Now, to be clear, there is not rl trickery going on here. This is all just rolepaying. And I am loving it, because it feels like I get to have my cake and eat it too. Because the drow has gained all the trust he needs (to continue being a member of the party), while I am still getting enough distrust from the halfelf to allow me some different roleplaying opportunities every now and then.
More sessions in, and the halfelf's stance has softened. Enough to suggest that maybe, one day, there might be even friendship between the two. It seems that while she has not changed her mind about drows as a whole, she might be willing to entertain the thought that this one drow is different from the rest. Which of course is true, but not in the way she imagines. This ain't no Drizzt Do Urdern. While very far from the worst of his kind (the ones that surface dwellers probably imagine of when they think of drow), he is not someone who purposely chose to leave Underdark's madness behind because he couldn't stomach it. Rather, he was someone who was kind of spitted out, someone whose choices were to "risk" going to he surface or face some very unfavourable odds. A runaway. And while the drow can be very talkative, he tends to be less so whenever the halfelf enquires about his former life (more likely attempts at peeking at a non-existing backstory) or about life in the Underdark in general.
Halfelf: "Is Underdark trully a horrible place?"
Drow: "Yes."
Halfelf: "Why did you leave?"
Drow: *raises shoulders "...It's... a horrible place..."
Halfelf: "Would you ever go back there?"
Drow: "No."
Why go back to the jungle and try to steal the lion's spider's meal, when you can safely stay in kindergarden class and take candies from babies? The sun and the rain are small prices to pay for this golden opportunity.
Truth is, it was difficult for me to find the words that would be convincing enough to showcase how horrible a place the campaign's Underdark must be. This is dnd afterall, and not call of Cthulu. But I wanted scary. And vagueness is often far scarier than the best of examples, because imagination fills in the gaps in the most perfect way. So when pressed, I went with vaguness. And with the harsh tone that an impatient and grumpy parent might respond to an overly curious and persisting child who keeps asking questions about situations and concepts of which it has actually very little understanding but is convinced it knows much about. "You think you know greed and ambition but you dont have a clue. You think you know evil, but you dont know the half of it. Dont ask me about that place."
A few sessions back, we are in the middle of a dungeoncrawl. Party is taking a short rest, with the halfelf providing some healing to whomever needs it. The drow is usually shooting a bow from a safe distance, so it's not often that he is wounded. But the few times I need healing from the halfelf, this will happen after someone insists that she provides me with it, or she will very reluctantly do it herself while mumbling something under her breath. Bottom line, we've roleplayed this exact scene a few times already, and every time I would just basically say the same thing, rephrasing it so it wont sound repetitive and thus make it sound more convincing, at least enough for the halfelf to heal me. ''Oh come on now, dont make me beg for some healing". Halfelf stays unmoved, waiting to hear the rest, as is the custom. But I am a bit tired that day, and I mostly want to be done with this and carry on with some hack and slash. I know I must say something, but nothing comes to mind. At least nothing that would sound good and a little original. So I follow my previous phrase with a spontaneous reaction. In the most sly and sinister voice I can manage, and without thinking it a bit, the drow completes his previous sentence by saying: "You know you can trust me".
Barbaran player is about to say something, but I quickly add out of character, that to his character the drow didn't sound any differently than usual. Halfelf player keeps in character, having hers demand from mine to repeat what he had just said. Drow repeats it, but this time in his usual polite demeanor. Halfelf player breaks character and asks the DM to step in (DM is at the time dicsussing with two other players some idea of theirs). Halfelf player informs the DM of what just happened, and asks him to confirm it. The DM has no idea what I am playing at. Heck, I have no idea what I playing at either. But he knows a funny situation when he sees one, so with a serious look, he nods a few times and confirms it. The halfelf thinks that my character is playing a bad joke on her, and seeing how no one else reacted she quickly convinces herself that everyone is in on it, but out of character she is extremelly curious to find what is going on (which is very bad since no one knows at that point).
I leave some sessions to go by, and last session, at a random moment, a similar situation occurs. Halfelf goes full inquisitive mode (curiosity got the better of her a bit there, but it's understandable, and it made for a funny scene). She starts casting one spell after another (someone did their homework). Detect evil, dispel evil (somehow), remove curse. Apparently she thinks my character is possessed, but nothing seems to indicate so. Zone of truth follows. It becomes apparent to her that no one has any idea what she is talking about. Asks the DM: ''Is my character going crazy?". DM initially says no, only to change his answer to: "You tell me".
After the session we 3 had a converstion about this. Three things became clear:
1) The halfelf player does not want to create an answer to this situation. Instead, she really wants for that answer to exist and for her to find out what it is. She basically told us much when the DM suggested that she could replace the (non-existant; shhhh....) plot with something she would come up with as to why this is happening. So, someone has to come up with something, but that someone cannot be her.
2) Whatever is going on cannot have anything to do with my character. DM's first idea was that someone is using some kind of magic to create problems for my character. So rival from the past, a new enemy, whatever. I said no. Mind you, I understand it's not cool with throwing the ball at the DM and have him figure out a solution alone to a situation I created, but what he proposed, I am not feeling it for this character. Too unimportant to have created any long lasting grudes while in the Underdark, and smart enough not to piss off powerful enough people during his time in the surface. I am all for proposing ideas (and I did), but rivals and such are out because they mess too much with character concept.
3) The DM is having a hard time coming up with something that would make sense, since he does not have much to work with here.
TL;DR
Halfelf PC has trust issues with drow PC, but the uneasy coexistence starts becoming easier as time goes by. One day, halfelf hears drow's voice changed, wicked. But no one notices and even the drow does not know what she is on about. Out of character, no one knows what is going on, as this was an impovisational guff that the DM was happy to allow for the fun of the moment, kind of let it be and we'll figure it out later. Halfelf wants to find out why, but the DM is out of ideas at the moment. So throw me some ideas.
Facts: Drow is not possessed or anything of that kind. It wasn't a prank. It wasn't about seeing through some lie or performance either. And ideally, it shouldn't just be that the halfelf is suddenly going crazy (at least all on her own).
Restrictions: The drow pc should not be an important part to why this is happening. If someone is causing it, then it has to do with the halfelf, or whatever else. It shouldn't have anything to do with the campaign's McGuffin either (DM does not want us to mess with that).
Potential hooks: Nothing really, but if it's any help to you, here are a few things about the halfelf and about the campaign. Halfelf is a cleric of twilight, of some homebrew halfelven god. Think Pelor but exclusivelly for halfeves. Halfelves are very few in numbers and most of them are the nobles of human kingdoms (lines of succession and such after the -elven- empire broke into several pieces due to events of the past, several centuries back; demon invasion and later on civil war; or something along these lines). Campaign so far was some relatively unrelated quests (one quest led to another and to another), that somehow had us accidentally uncover information about the supposed location of a very powerful artifact of the past (which according to one history book -anyone else sensing the twist?, this was the key to winning the war against demons all these centuries back), so we now have this info on our hands and haven't yet decided what to do with it. Although I am thinking that one way or another, a sort of treasure hunt will be on the cards.
First session, pc's are brought together for a quest. The amiacable goliath berserker immdiately tries to make friends, and of course the drow obliges, because give me a good reason why to turn down the friendship of someone who can cut you in half should he wishes to. But this conversation is quickly cut short by a halfelf's proclamation: "I am not working with a drow!". And I love that moment. Because it allows me to show how much of a smooth talker my character can be and to introduce him as such. And of course the halfelf reluctantly agress to join the quest, a party is formed out of necessity and the campaign begins.
A few sessions in, and after several "I have my eyes on you drow" from the halfelf, there comes a moment where my drow can actually make a small difference. Quest is to kill the head of a gang of thieves and to retrieve an object from him, with the side quest being to rescue some hostages (or was it the other way around?). And my character knows how to get the party in without raising the alarm (because of course the drow worked with this gang in the past, and of course he knows there is a secret entrance, and of course he knows the fool who is guarding it from the inside and the fool is fool enough to open the door for a drow he thinks he knows; I love permissive DMs). But here is the dilemma (at least in the halfelf's head). If the drow is lying then they are being led to a trap (and if he is not lying, then he is betraying people he pressumably worked with in the past, so another good reason not to trust him). Rest of the party is happy to dismiss the halfelf's worries, with the barbarian (the drow's best pal in the world!) even calling her paranoid. Now, to be clear, there is not rl trickery going on here. This is all just rolepaying. And I am loving it, because it feels like I get to have my cake and eat it too. Because the drow has gained all the trust he needs (to continue being a member of the party), while I am still getting enough distrust from the halfelf to allow me some different roleplaying opportunities every now and then.
More sessions in, and the halfelf's stance has softened. Enough to suggest that maybe, one day, there might be even friendship between the two. It seems that while she has not changed her mind about drows as a whole, she might be willing to entertain the thought that this one drow is different from the rest. Which of course is true, but not in the way she imagines. This ain't no Drizzt Do Urdern. While very far from the worst of his kind (the ones that surface dwellers probably imagine of when they think of drow), he is not someone who purposely chose to leave Underdark's madness behind because he couldn't stomach it. Rather, he was someone who was kind of spitted out, someone whose choices were to "risk" going to he surface or face some very unfavourable odds. A runaway. And while the drow can be very talkative, he tends to be less so whenever the halfelf enquires about his former life (more likely attempts at peeking at a non-existing backstory) or about life in the Underdark in general.
Halfelf: "Is Underdark trully a horrible place?"
Drow: "Yes."
Halfelf: "Why did you leave?"
Drow: *raises shoulders "...It's... a horrible place..."
Halfelf: "Would you ever go back there?"
Drow: "No."
Why go back to the jungle and try to steal the lion's spider's meal, when you can safely stay in kindergarden class and take candies from babies? The sun and the rain are small prices to pay for this golden opportunity.
Truth is, it was difficult for me to find the words that would be convincing enough to showcase how horrible a place the campaign's Underdark must be. This is dnd afterall, and not call of Cthulu. But I wanted scary. And vagueness is often far scarier than the best of examples, because imagination fills in the gaps in the most perfect way. So when pressed, I went with vaguness. And with the harsh tone that an impatient and grumpy parent might respond to an overly curious and persisting child who keeps asking questions about situations and concepts of which it has actually very little understanding but is convinced it knows much about. "You think you know greed and ambition but you dont have a clue. You think you know evil, but you dont know the half of it. Dont ask me about that place."
A few sessions back, we are in the middle of a dungeoncrawl. Party is taking a short rest, with the halfelf providing some healing to whomever needs it. The drow is usually shooting a bow from a safe distance, so it's not often that he is wounded. But the few times I need healing from the halfelf, this will happen after someone insists that she provides me with it, or she will very reluctantly do it herself while mumbling something under her breath. Bottom line, we've roleplayed this exact scene a few times already, and every time I would just basically say the same thing, rephrasing it so it wont sound repetitive and thus make it sound more convincing, at least enough for the halfelf to heal me. ''Oh come on now, dont make me beg for some healing". Halfelf stays unmoved, waiting to hear the rest, as is the custom. But I am a bit tired that day, and I mostly want to be done with this and carry on with some hack and slash. I know I must say something, but nothing comes to mind. At least nothing that would sound good and a little original. So I follow my previous phrase with a spontaneous reaction. In the most sly and sinister voice I can manage, and without thinking it a bit, the drow completes his previous sentence by saying: "You know you can trust me".
Barbaran player is about to say something, but I quickly add out of character, that to his character the drow didn't sound any differently than usual. Halfelf player keeps in character, having hers demand from mine to repeat what he had just said. Drow repeats it, but this time in his usual polite demeanor. Halfelf player breaks character and asks the DM to step in (DM is at the time dicsussing with two other players some idea of theirs). Halfelf player informs the DM of what just happened, and asks him to confirm it. The DM has no idea what I am playing at. Heck, I have no idea what I playing at either. But he knows a funny situation when he sees one, so with a serious look, he nods a few times and confirms it. The halfelf thinks that my character is playing a bad joke on her, and seeing how no one else reacted she quickly convinces herself that everyone is in on it, but out of character she is extremelly curious to find what is going on (which is very bad since no one knows at that point).
I leave some sessions to go by, and last session, at a random moment, a similar situation occurs. Halfelf goes full inquisitive mode (curiosity got the better of her a bit there, but it's understandable, and it made for a funny scene). She starts casting one spell after another (someone did their homework). Detect evil, dispel evil (somehow), remove curse. Apparently she thinks my character is possessed, but nothing seems to indicate so. Zone of truth follows. It becomes apparent to her that no one has any idea what she is talking about. Asks the DM: ''Is my character going crazy?". DM initially says no, only to change his answer to: "You tell me".
After the session we 3 had a converstion about this. Three things became clear:
1) The halfelf player does not want to create an answer to this situation. Instead, she really wants for that answer to exist and for her to find out what it is. She basically told us much when the DM suggested that she could replace the (non-existant; shhhh....) plot with something she would come up with as to why this is happening. So, someone has to come up with something, but that someone cannot be her.
2) Whatever is going on cannot have anything to do with my character. DM's first idea was that someone is using some kind of magic to create problems for my character. So rival from the past, a new enemy, whatever. I said no. Mind you, I understand it's not cool with throwing the ball at the DM and have him figure out a solution alone to a situation I created, but what he proposed, I am not feeling it for this character. Too unimportant to have created any long lasting grudes while in the Underdark, and smart enough not to piss off powerful enough people during his time in the surface. I am all for proposing ideas (and I did), but rivals and such are out because they mess too much with character concept.
3) The DM is having a hard time coming up with something that would make sense, since he does not have much to work with here.
TL;DR
Halfelf PC has trust issues with drow PC, but the uneasy coexistence starts becoming easier as time goes by. One day, halfelf hears drow's voice changed, wicked. But no one notices and even the drow does not know what she is on about. Out of character, no one knows what is going on, as this was an impovisational guff that the DM was happy to allow for the fun of the moment, kind of let it be and we'll figure it out later. Halfelf wants to find out why, but the DM is out of ideas at the moment. So throw me some ideas.
Facts: Drow is not possessed or anything of that kind. It wasn't a prank. It wasn't about seeing through some lie or performance either. And ideally, it shouldn't just be that the halfelf is suddenly going crazy (at least all on her own).
Restrictions: The drow pc should not be an important part to why this is happening. If someone is causing it, then it has to do with the halfelf, or whatever else. It shouldn't have anything to do with the campaign's McGuffin either (DM does not want us to mess with that).
Potential hooks: Nothing really, but if it's any help to you, here are a few things about the halfelf and about the campaign. Halfelf is a cleric of twilight, of some homebrew halfelven god. Think Pelor but exclusivelly for halfeves. Halfelves are very few in numbers and most of them are the nobles of human kingdoms (lines of succession and such after the -elven- empire broke into several pieces due to events of the past, several centuries back; demon invasion and later on civil war; or something along these lines). Campaign so far was some relatively unrelated quests (one quest led to another and to another), that somehow had us accidentally uncover information about the supposed location of a very powerful artifact of the past (which according to one history book -anyone else sensing the twist?, this was the key to winning the war against demons all these centuries back), so we now have this info on our hands and haven't yet decided what to do with it. Although I am thinking that one way or another, a sort of treasure hunt will be on the cards.