D&D 5E Tyranny of Dragons: Integrating the Bonds

[pukunui]

Hi folks,

When I was doing my initial prep for Tyranny of Dragons, I decided I'd have each of my players choose one of the campaign-specific bonds as extra incentive to follow the adventure all the way through. Two of my players even chose the optional background features. However, now that we're into Episode 3, I'm beginning to realize that some of those bonds are better than others.

For instance, one of my players chose the one about Talis being a childhood friend who's supposedly been kidnapped by the dragon cultists. For some reason, the character's investigations have led them to Greenest. Unfortunately, there's no indication that Talis was ever in Greenest. There are no clues to her whereabouts. No trail to follow. She just suddenly shows up out of the blue - as a full-fledged cult leader - near the end of the adventure.

What can I do to make this bond have a longer-lasting effect? If the player were to ask some cultists about her, I suppose I could have them say that the name rings a bell or just out-and-out tell her that Talis has joined the cult. But that would ruin the surprise (of her being a cultist rather than a prisoner in need of saving), wouldn't it?

FWIW, the players missed the clue in Episode 2 about how some prisoners have joined the cult - that might have served as a veiled reference to Talis if they'd picked up on it.



The second PC has the "grandfather was a famous dragonslayer, and some dragon cultists beat me up because of it" bond. The PC is a goliath, so he'll be pretty recognizable. I suppose I could have him periodically meet some of the cultists who attacked him and have them recognize him.


The third PC has both the Dragon Scholar feature and the apocalyptic dreams background. These are OK as-is. The dragon knowledge will always be useful, and I suppose the dreams will continue until Tiamat has been defeated. I'm not sure what else I could do, if anything, to play this up more.


The last PC has both the Cult Infiltrator feature and the father's deathbed confession bond, which is fine. Those two work well together and should see him through the entirety of the adventure.


So yeah, it's mainly just the Talis one that I could do with some help enhancing. If you've got any suggestions on playing that bond up some more during the earlier stages of the adventure - or anything else related - feel free to comment! Thanks!

 

[delericho]

For instance, one of my players chose the one about Talis being a childhood friend who's supposedly been kidnapped by the dragon cultists. For some reason, the character's investigations have led them to Greenest. Unfortunately, there's no indication that Talis was ever in Greenest. There are no clues to her whereabouts. No trail to follow. She just suddenly shows up out of the blue - as a full-fledged cult leader - near the end of the adventure.

Have the PCs rescue and interact with some of the prisoners. If and when they ask about Talis, have the ex-prisoners either say the name's familiar but they can't think where, or have them respond with fear and/or revulsion, or have them just say "I don't want to talk about it."

But, also, have some of the ex-prisoners show signs of Stockholm Syndrome, and talk about how, actually, the cultists have a point, or there are some good things about their ideology, or something like that.

Oh, and have one dead cultist have a badly drawn romantic depiction of Talis on his person. Turns out (s)he's in love with the boss...

 

[pukunui]

Have the PCs rescue and interact with some of the prisoners. If and when they ask about Talis, have the ex-prisoners either say the name's familiar but they can't think where, or have them respond with fear and/or revulsion, or have them just say "I don't want to talk about it."

But, also, have some of the ex-prisoners show signs of Stockholm Syndrome, and talk about how, actually, the cultists have a point, or there are some good things about their ideology, or something like that.

Oh, and have one dead cultist have a badly drawn romantic depiction of Talis on his person. Turns out (s)he's in love with the boss...

Those are some good ideas. Thing is: we're already up to Episode 3, and the book never says what happens to the prisoners in the camp in Episode 2 if they don't get rescued (my group only rescued the monk).

I presume they've been shipped off to the Well of Dragons to be used as sacrifices once the summoning ritual gets going, but I suppose I could put one or two in the cave for the PCs to rescue and talk to.

On a semi-related note: I've been trying to think of an FR-take on "Stockholm Syndrome" for a while now. Any ideas?

 

[delericho]

Yeah, I'd recommend having a few hanging around later on. Perhaps have them being forced to help move the treasure up the road?

Also: Pazrael's Touch?

(Pazrael being another name for Pazuzu, demon lord of corruption.)

 

[Talmek]

With specific interest to the background where Talis the White needs a tie-in...if you're in Episode 3 and the characters have not made it to Mondath's chamber then you could have correspondence between the two (Talis and Mondath) that is discovered upon the party searching Mondath's quarters once defeated. Depending on how much you wanted information that you wanted to give away to the party you could find a half-finished letter to Talis in Mondath's handwriting giving specific details away.

Hope this helps...

 

[pukunui]

I thought about having a connection between Frulam and Talis, but that would give the game up, wouldn't it? I want some sort of "Talis was here" marker but I'm not sure I want it known that she's joined the cult just yet.

 

[jayoungr]

The guys at the "Is It My Turn Yet?" liveplay (on YouTube, here) did something interesting with the Talis bond. They had her living in Greenest, and after the battle, the PCs checked out her house and found that it seemed to have been ransacked. Nobody in town had seen her during the battle, but in all the confusion, that wasn't too surprising. Soon afterward, they met her in a tavern; she said she had been hiding in the woods during the raid on the town. Then she sent a private message to the PC who knew her to meet her at her house later. In that case, it led to sex (non-explicit, don't worry)--and just when the PC was most vulnerable (i.e., naked and asleep), "Talis" revealed herself to be a doppelganger and attacked him. He had no armor or weapons, and he came very close to dying. The sequence starts at episode 22, if you want to check it out in more detail.

 

[pukunui]

That's kinda cool. I suppose I could try something like that, but it would depend on the player concerned asking about Talis in Greenest. She asked somebody but I can't remember who. Possibly a captured cultist. But nobody in town. And now we're in Episode 3, so they'll only be going back to Greenest one more time. Hmm ...

 

[jayoungr]

Maybe you could come up with a reason for them to think she's in Elturel or Baldur's Gate? It would be a good filler encounter for when the group is in Baldur's Gate waiting for the caravan to leave.

--BTW, if you need more filler for the Baldur's Gate section, I highly recommend Mike Shea's suggestion of an encounter on the way back to Greenest with a cultist wagon that's lost a wheel or something, and finding a letter (detailed in this blog entry). I didn't read about it until my party was in Elturel, but I substituted a barge that had run onto a sandbank in the river instead.

 

[pukunui]

Maybe you could come up with a reason for them to think she's in Elturel or Baldur's Gate? It would be a good filler encounter for when the group is in Baldur's Gate waiting for the caravan to leave.

That might work.

--BTW, if you need more filler for the Baldur's Gate section, I highly recommend Mike Shea's suggestion of an encounter on the way back to Greenest with a cultist wagon that's lost a wheel or something, and finding a letter (detailed in this blog entry). I didn't read about it until my party was in Elturel, but I substituted a barge that had run onto a sandbank in the river instead.

I think I read that a while back but I'll have to have another look at it.


EDIT: Come to think of it - since I'm going to put some of the prisoners from the camp in the dragon hatchery cave somewhere, perhaps if the player asks them about Talis, the ones from Greenest can be like, "Talis? Oh yeah, she used to live in Greenest!" And then when they get back to down, they can point out her house. If the neighbors are asked, they'll say they haven't seen her for a while. Inside, it'll mostly be empty but maybe there can be some sort of clue pointing to her having gone to Baldur's Gate or something.

EDIT 2: Speaking of Baldur's Gate, I also just ordered myself a copy of Murder in Baldur's Gate to help with fleshing that bit of the adventure out. I'm hoping maybe I'll be able to use some bits and pieces of the adventure, as well as the campaign guide.