Tonight's game - help.

[RangerWickett]

I want to come up with an interesting scenario for tonight's game, but I'm coming up dry.

I've detailed elsewhere the basic gist of my mini-campaign: the PCs are trying to ingratiate themselves with the leader of a hostile nation (Kequalak) in order to be able to assassinate his intended successor. Kequalak has many factions in it, and if the line of succession were disrupted, it would weaken the nation, which would be a boon for the PCs' home nation.

The ruler's successor, Ahm-La-i-m, is preparing to fight a powerful dragon which is a thorn in Kequalak's side, and he wants mighty warriors to aid him, but only people he can trust. The PCs want to kill him, but to do it in such a way that their home nation isn't implicated. It has to look like Ahm-La-i-m just got in over his head and that the dragon offed him.

So that's the situation. The party is 12th level, the setting is vaguely "1001 Arabian Nights"-esque. They've recently slain a lesser dragon, which won them the right to meet with Ahm-La-i-m and the current ruler. I don't want to hop right to fighting the final dragon, though. I want some chance for the PCs to interact with the man they're going to assassinate, and the various factions in Kequalak that they could pin any blame on if things go awry.

So far all I have in mind is that I want them to arrive in Kequalak's capital and take a parade to the palace, just to show off how wealthy and powerful the villains are. But I've got a bit of writer's block coming up with stuff for them to do.



When we do actually go to face the dragon in the next and likely final session, it will be atop an airship. The dragon's lair is a rift to the elemental chaos atop a high mountain, and the PCs, along with Ahm-La-i-m and some of his bodyguards, will fly up to the rift, compel the dragon with a ritual in order to lure it out of the storm, and then withdraw to lower ground, where there will be crowds of nobles watching, and companies of soldiers to fire bolts and ballistae at the dragon.

I figure I can have the PCs spend some time getting familiarized with the airship's capabilities, and flying out to the 'staging ground,' where they can plot and scheme how they want to sabotage Ahm-La-i-m's plan. But I could use some more ideas.

 

[Stoat]

Sounds like a good time for a party.

Ahm-La-i-m throws a feast to celebrate the defeat of the lesser dragon and the impending defeat of the greater dragon. The PC's areguests of honor, but representatives of every other faction are also present.

Scheming, political backbiting, alliance building and general politicking abound in the courtyards of Ahm La-i-m's palace, while 10,000 decadent delights take place in the chambers inside.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Have you thought about the PC's having to prove thier worth before being permitted to accompany Ahm-La-i-m on such a dangerous mission?

Here are a few ideas to spice things up?

1) Someone finds out the PC's true intent and blackmails them.

2) Ahm-La-i-m somehow gets tipped off and makes a secret alliance with the dragon to eliminate the threat.

3) Suprisingly the PC's discover that Ahm-La-i-m really has no political ambitions and intends on leaving the kingdom after dealing with the dragon. The real successor has been keeping a low profile- perhaps someone the PC's already know.

 

[Piratecat]

Sounds like a good time for a party.

A party.. where someone else tries to assassinate him as well! And then the PCs can turn on the would-be assassins, ingratiating themselves into the ruler's good graces.

 

[RangerWickett]

Cool. Good idea. So what should some of the factions be? How to make them distinct?

As I've envisioned Kequalak, it's sort of akin to the European Union, or the Arab League -- an alliance of nations with some unity of goals, but a lot of inter-regional grudges. They're mostly held together by the leadership of the Caliph, a position which can pass by bloodline as easily as by worth.

Whoever holds the title of Caliph can control any of the nature spirits or elemental beings in the land that he rules, and a lot of the political dealings involve trading favors in order to get the Caliph to command the spirits of one region or another to do the people of that land a service. Very high magic sort of stuff, like creating islands, or growing fertile crops in the desert, or raining fire down on invading armies.

Ahm-La-i-m wants to kill the dragon both to show that he is worthy to rule, and because the beast has dominion over a region that the Caliph wants to add to Kequalak. If they can control the rift to the Elemental Chaos, they'll have even greater power at their command. I imagine, though, that some factions might not want the Caliph to have such power, and others might want to aid the Caliph in order to curry favor.

 

[RangerWickett]

A party.. where someone else tries to assassinate him as well! And then the PCs can turn on the would-be assassins, ingratiating themselves into the ruler's good graces.

I thought of that, but I'm struggling to come up with a credible threat that

a) won't actually kill the Caliph or Ahm-La-i-m (because if the assassins can pull it off, hey, why should the PCs interfere?), but also

b) is dangerous enough that the Caliph and his guards can't handle it themselves.


One of the PCs is an actual assassin assassin, and is totally for hire. I already gave her a side mission in the party's last dragonslaying endeavor, where she had to make sure to silence a particular ally of that dragon. I tossed it in to give the player something to do, since she seemed to want more personal involvement. I should probably follow up with that.

The person she took out was a wayfarer, a sort of teleporting courier. I figure the wayfarer was delivering communiques between the now-dead dragon and someone who has it in for the Caliph, and he wanted to make sure the wayfarer didn't try to bargain his information for safety.

Heck, maybe the wayfarer was actually working for Ahm-La-i-m, who wants to accelerate his succession? (The now-dead dragon had kidnapped a sha'ir who was loyal to the Caliph.) Hmm.

 

[RangerWickett]

Have you thought about the PC's having to prove thier worth before being permitted to accompany Ahm-La-i-m on such a dangerous mission?

They've already done that by slaying two previous dragons. Or at least, they proved their might. Maybe I could have some sort of loyalty test -- medieval witch trial style? Telepathy? The Gom jabbar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ?

1) Someone finds out the PC's true intent and blackmails them.

It's a bit hokey, but maybe the vizier who administers the loyalty test learns what they're up to, but keeps it a secret. What would he want, though? I don't want to expand the scope of the game too much, so it should preferably be something they can get from the dragon.

2) Ahm-La-i-m somehow gets tipped off and makes a secret alliance with the dragon to eliminate the threat.

Or to make it a bit more interactive, I can have a skill challenge sort of thing to make sure the PCs keep their cool and don't drop any clues to tip Ahm-La-i-m off. A partial success just makes him wary. A failure means he isn't sure, but worries they're betray him, so he tries to make a plan with the dragon.

3) Suprisingly the PC's discover that Ahm-La-i-m really has no political ambitions and intends on leaving the kingdom after dealing with the dragon. The real successor has been keeping a low profile- perhaps someone the PC's already know.

Actually, I was thinking that perhaps the Caliph really wants the sha'ir whom the PCs rescued to take over after him, but he's had to put Ahm-La-i-m forward because the man is more respected by most of the region's leaders. Hm, but then we're getting into the realm of triple-crossing (PCs lie to Caliph, Ahm lies to Caliph, Caliph lies to Ahm, . . . might be too much).

I suppose I could change Ahm's motivation, and have him want the sha'ir to take over. Hmm.

 

[Rechan]

If this guy is a Villain, I'd show his villainry off. Show the state of teh common people of Kequalak during the parade; utter poverty in the shadow of million gp homes, executions or sentences to the gladitorial arena for petty things like vandalism or insulting a nobleman, etc. Show why this guy needs to be killed.

Or, if he's not that bad of a guy, play up that he isn't that bad of a guy, maybe the PCs will be at least a little squimish over whacking him.

You could have the PCs interact with him - perhaps during some sort of sporting event. Polo, or whatever the sport of kings is there.

Cool. Good idea. So what should some of the factions be? How to make them distinct?

1) Anarchist faction. This group is the most sympathetic to the people. They are a rebellious lot, on the verge of calling for a revolution. They receive a seat at the table in hopes of pacifying them; this group has several folk heroes the citizenry love. Think communists + Bono.

2) Faction of magic. Some sort of noble House known for their bindings/dealings with fiends, or their influence with the Supernatural (but not Primal spirits/elementals). They are creepy, dark and powerful. They were the ones who first bound the spirits to the Caliph's power, and maintain the power.

3) Spirit faction. This is a group who are closest to the spirits/elements (going so far as you might have some Half-elementals/genasi/whatnot as speakers). They represent the Spirits the caliph has the power to bend over a barrel. They are constantly looking to ease up the Caliph's power over them, or gain more power for less work. But they get a say because without it, the Spirits would revolt.

4) Merchantile faction. These are the guildmasters and major traders of the area. They are willing to throw money and gifts at anything to get their way.

5) Religious faction. Hardcore sect of the state religion. Or a hardcore sect of a popular benign religion. Like, assertive ascetics who want to get rid of all the decadence. Many of the nobles pay Lip Service to the religion, while the citizenry follow it, so they have power. They are constantly trying to get more.

6) Warlord faction. Anyone who has ever went to military school or trained in arms holds some loyalty to this group; they trained the military, the nobles who pretend to fight, etc. In their region, they are also rather tyrannical (to the point the Caliph allows). If these guys wanted to stage a coup, every person at arms would have to think hard who to side with. They get a seat at the table because the Caliph wants their loyalty.

Whoever holds the title of Caliph can control any of the nature spirits or elemental beings in the land that he rules, and a lot of the political dealings involve trading favors in order to get the Caliph to command the spirits of one region or another to do the people of that land a service. Very high magic sort of stuff, like creating islands, or growing fertile crops in the desert, or raining fire down on invading armies.

This just inspired me for an entire region of a campaign I may be running. SWEET.

 

[Mark]

Can they tamper with the ritual to make it do something slightly different, like compel the guy to the dragon while they retreat (feigning belief that all is going to plan)?

 

[LightPhoenix]

If this guy is a Villain, I'd show his villainry off. Show the state of teh common people of Kequalak during the parade; utter poverty in the shadow of million gp homes, executions or sentences to the gladitorial arena for petty things like vandalism or insulting a nobleman, etc. Show why this guy needs to be killed.

Not only that, but make it seem like the PCs have a choice - kill off the villain or kill off the dragon. I'm assuming that Ahm (abbreviating) has the ability to kill the dragon. If not, I'd make it so the fight could go either way. That way the PCs need to be involved in the battle.

I'd have the dragon appear and attack the outlying area prior to the showdown... or have the PCs arrive right after an attack. Maybe the PCs are asked to go out to the most recent site of the attack to see if they can glean some intelligence. You can have the peasants (or whomever) complain how Ahm didn't protect them when the dragon attacked. That reinforces that Ahm needs to go... but the dragon is a serious threat too. Ahm's ritual actually works, and is the only way they have a chance of killing the dragon.

It'd be difficult to let the dragon kill Ahm obviously, if the PCs are supposed to be helping. It might spice up the battle a bit to let PCs make Bluff checks to aid the dragon, for instance. I'd play up the people watching as well, and maybe have the dragon attack the people below too. The PCs are thrust into the position of killing the dragon before it kills a lot of people... and getting Ahm killed discretely.

Alternatively, you could have the PCs try and contact the dragon ahead of time. I don't know what dragons are like in your campaign, but if they're intelligent they may be willing to bargain. You could have the PCs make their way into the rift somehow, or predict when the next attack will be (conveniently before the ritual).