I am running a quasi-historical fantasy campaign set in the 13th century. Historical Europeans have shown up in an alternate North America on a quest for the Holy Grail. Of my seven characters, six are Europeans and one is a local.
So, while six of the characters are part of a clear quest that makes sense to them culturally, one is not. The local became part of the adventuring party because she was asked by the chief of her village to serve as their guide; the characters had agreed to help rescue the chief's daughter from a city in the South and, in exchange, they were promised an ancient artifact of the village.
Well, the rescue has now been mostly achieved and so I am looking for in-game justifications for the guide to stay with the group and not just return home. Normally I'm pretty good at this but for some reason I'm suffering from GM's block. I'm reluctant to do the two obvious things: (a) destroy her home and (b) have the powerful respected NPC-prophet of her people ask her to continue in the mission. The solutions seem rather cliched.
So, what would you do to turn a guide who doesn't really understand these alien people she's been helping into a permanent member of the party?
I know that I've just provided the most skeletal information about my campaign but I find that I can never anticipate what kind of information people need to answer questions like this. So, I'm happy to provide more details in response to any questions.
So, while six of the characters are part of a clear quest that makes sense to them culturally, one is not. The local became part of the adventuring party because she was asked by the chief of her village to serve as their guide; the characters had agreed to help rescue the chief's daughter from a city in the South and, in exchange, they were promised an ancient artifact of the village.
Well, the rescue has now been mostly achieved and so I am looking for in-game justifications for the guide to stay with the group and not just return home. Normally I'm pretty good at this but for some reason I'm suffering from GM's block. I'm reluctant to do the two obvious things: (a) destroy her home and (b) have the powerful respected NPC-prophet of her people ask her to continue in the mission. The solutions seem rather cliched.
So, what would you do to turn a guide who doesn't really understand these alien people she's been helping into a permanent member of the party?
I know that I've just provided the most skeletal information about my campaign but I find that I can never anticipate what kind of information people need to answer questions like this. So, I'm happy to provide more details in response to any questions.