WotBS Connecting Rhuarc Knightsbane to Player's Backstory

[Alterangel]

Just started running this campaign a couple months ago. In one of my players' backstories, he lost his parents in a caravan attack by Ragesians, who were resistance members in Gate Pass, and was found and trained in the art of shadowdancing by Rhuarc Knightsbane. I told him Rhuarc was a strict and unaffectionate man who was training him to be the ultimate assassin (ultimately wanting him to help him take down Coaltongue but the player doesn’t know this).

They got into a heated argument one time when the player's character expressed the desire to find his parents. Rhuarc thought it was clouding his mind and ruining his focus. Rhuarc made him choose between his parents or his training, he chose his parents and returned to Gate Pass.

I need some help determining how to pay this off in the campaign. Any ideas where his parents are? I've though it would be interesting if Rhuarc killed his parents for some reason (maybe they were actually Ragesian spies), or if Rhuarc knew all along they were dead, or if he knew all along where they were being held by Ragesia.

I need help with ideas on how to expound on this through the campaign?

 

[emeraldbeacon]

It might help to know a bit about the character's origins, like their race/species. It could point you towards ideas. A few thoughts...

1. DESCENDED FROM KNIGHTS: Rhuarc's quest to destroy the old Order of the Aquiline Cross might provide some tie-ins, particularly if the PC is of a long-lived race like elves or dwarves. Maybe the parents were sympathizers or collaborators with the old order, that Rhuarc saw fit to remove from the world's equation... but finding a child amongst the caravan was not something he expected. Having a momentary pang of guilt, he decided to take in the child and train him as a Shadowdancer.
2. FELLOW SURVIVOR: The child might be a survivor from one of many peoples displaced from their homes... maybe their parents were from Innenotdar, having fled to Gate Pass 40 years ago. Maybe they were some of the few survivors of the Phorros Irrendra massacre, or the resulting expulsion of the Temple of Echoed Souls in Ycengled Phurrst. In any of those cases, the child's ties to the Taranesti would present him an odd point of bonding with them. In either case, the parents may have actually been taken by the Shahalesti, in Ragesian Guise... a tactic that they use elsewhere in the story.
3. BEFORE THE SCOURGE: The parents could have once been Ragesian Scientists, whom have worked for years for Coaltongue and Leska in their tireless pursuit of power. Growing wary of their Emperor and Grand Inquisitor's persistent pushes for more control, they could have fled to Gate Pass in the hopes of living a peaceful life. Located by the Ragesians, they may have been forcibly returned to their prior positions. In this sense, they might be unwilling workers within the Scourge Prison, trading their scholarly efforts for a bedroom (instead of a prison cell).

 

[Fuzzybear]

1 vote for #3 from me. I like there being a motive for the disappearance, especially if the PC grew up more between the time of caravan attack and going to Rhuarc. It also gives a better reason for the caravan to have been attacked which is nice.

 

[emeraldbeacon]

1 vote for #3 from me. I like there being a motive for the disappearance, especially if the PC grew up more between the time of caravan attack and going to Rhuarc. It also gives a better reason for the caravan to have been attacked which is nice.

That one also gives you a nice angle on the "good people doing bad things" trope... how much did the parents know about the results of their work? Are they willing to betray their benefactors again, at great personal risk? Do they even know their child is not dead?

Alternately, if they DO know, might they be able to pull a Galen Erso, and give the heroes some hints or aid in disabling the Corn Koren Obelisk?

 

[Salicus]

I have to say that getting more information is crucial here since as emerald already pointed out, it can help a lot determining where the caravan was coming from.
Other than that it is important to note that Rhuarcs whole drive was always going after the Aquiline Cross so he probably told the PC and the PC as every child would behave now hates the Aquiline Cross as well which is pretty important to tell the Player.

In regards of tieing it in it is important to know when the attack happened. If it happened only like 20 years back the Taranesti genocide already happened a long time ago so it would probably not be a refugee caravan running around. Also at that time the Aquiline Cross was actually rebuilding already so he might have been targeting people trying to do that when he first heard of it. Parents might have been from Sindaire and are now undead in Korstull as well. But could still have their normal mind like the Bloblord guy(forgot his name =D ).

 

[Alterangel]

Great suggestions! I love it. The PC is a human. I also really like #3.

 

[Alterangel]

BEFORE THE SCOURGE: The parents could have once been Ragesian Scientists, whom have worked for years for Coaltongue and Leska in their tireless pursuit of power. Growing wary of their Emperor and Grand Inquisitor's persistent pushes for more control, they could have fled to Gate Pass in the hopes of living a peaceful life. Located by the Ragesians, they may have been forcibly returned to their prior positions. In this sense, they might be unwilling workers within the Scourge Prison, trading their scholarly efforts for a bedroom (instead of a prison cell).

What about the idea that Rhuarc might actually know this, and knows who they are, but didn't want to tell the PC because eventually he wanted the PCs help, revealing that in their confrontation later?

 

[Alterangel]

I have to say that getting more information is crucial here since as emerald already pointed out, it can help a lot determining where the caravan was coming from.
Other than that it is important to note that Rhuarcs whole drive was always going after the Aquiline Cross so he probably told the PC and the PC as every child would behave now hates the Aquiline Cross as well which is pretty important to tell the Player.

In regards of tieing it in it is important to know when the attack happened. If it happened only like 20 years back the Taranesti genocide already happened a long time ago so it would probably not be a refugee caravan running around. Also at that time the Aquiline Cross was actually rebuilding already so he might have been targeting people trying to do that when he first heard of it. Parents might have been from Sindaire and are now undead in Korstull as well. But could still have their normal mind like the Bloblord guy(forgot his name =D ).

I haven't really established where the caravan was coming from/going to. But we talked about the idea that it happened near GatePass, with the PC as a young boy finding his way to gatepass and growing up with Rantle and Kristina as fellow orphans.

The PC is 33 years old and human. So the attack happened around 28 years ago. He lived in GatePass a while with Rantle and Kristina, before running into Rhuarc (or a planned run in on Rhuarc's part), and then being taken under the shadowdancer's wing.

 

[emeraldbeacon]

The PC is 33 years old and human. So the attack happened around 28 years ago. He lived in GatePass a while with Rantle and Kristina, before running into Rhuarc (or a planned run in on Rhuarc's part), and then being taken under the shadowdancer's wing.

Working specifically off of the canon timeline... at 28 years BC (Before Campaign), the old Order of the Aquiline Cross was basically dead and gone, or at best, deep in hiding. The new Order of the Aquiline Cross didn't begin forming until about 10 years BC. Rhuarc has some curious motivations, having been molded into an assassin, without much of a personal rudder of his own (save destroying the order of knights that killed his father)...

Here's a revised concept: Rhuarc, in the span between his revenge upon his mother (and the demon that possessed her) and the assignment to kill Coaltongue, busied himself with small "wet works" tasks that paid well, and helped the myriad displaced Taranesti people of the world. He might have been tasked with scouting out a "civilian" caravan travelling from Ragos towards Gatepass, and making sure they weren't a threat. What he didn't expect was for Ragesian troops to attack that caravan, killing some, and escorting others away. Finding a scared young boy in the aftermath, he shepherded him to Gate Pass and left him in the care of those who would watch over him, hoping that this child wouldn't suffer his own fate. He continued to look in on the boy, like a sort of Dark Ben Kenobi, until eventually the kid convinced Rhuarc to train him in his own unique fighting style. Rhuarc complied, but always feared the boy would want to return to the hated Ragesia to seek his true family... and when the questions began, Rhuarc cut the kid off and vanished.

 

[Alterangel]

Working specifically off of the canon timeline... at 28 years BC (Before Campaign), the old Order of the Aquiline Cross was basically dead and gone, or at best, deep in hiding. The new Order of the Aquiline Cross didn't begin forming until about 10 years BC. Rhuarc has some curious motivations, having been molded into an assassin, without much of a personal rudder of his own (save destroying the order of knights that killed his father)...

Here's a revised concept: Rhuarc, in the span between his revenge upon his mother (and the demon that possessed her) and the assignment to kill Coaltongue, busied himself with small "wet works" tasks that paid well, and helped the myriad displaced Taranesti people of the world. He might have been tasked with scouting out a "civilian" caravan travelling from Ragos towards Gatepass, and making sure they weren't a threat. What he didn't expect was for Ragesian troops to attack that caravan, killing some, and escorting others away. Finding a scared young boy in the aftermath, he shepherded him to Gate Pass and left him in the care of those who would watch over him, hoping that this child wouldn't suffer his own fate. He continued to look in on the boy, like a sort of Dark Ben Kenobi, until eventually the kid convinced Rhuarc to train him in his own unique fighting style. Rhuarc complied, but always feared the boy would want to return to the hated Ragesia to seek his true family... and when the questions began, Rhuarc cut the kid off and vanished.

I absolutely love this. Thank you so much. In addition, I've told the player he traveled with Rhuarc across the region with, training under him in and participating in his wet work missions.

I also told him the process for binding his shadow. Rhuarc performed a demonic ritual and created a magic circle. He had the PC step inside, stabbed him, and them summoned a demon with his blood.

As the PC was dying he saw Rhuarc battling the demon. He suddenly gasped as life came back to him. He stood and saw Rhuarc standing outside the circle, and motioned to the ground. There, the PCs shadow took life and was bound to him.

Thoughts?