(OOC) Scourge of Daggerford (Full)

[FitzTheRuke]

Let me know when the Patron is ready. Should we role play the contact? We could PM it if you don’t want to take up space on the forum.

I'll tell you more about it as time goes on, but I have an idea - it's not fully fleshed out yet. You see, I think it would be best if it connects somehow to the actual events in the adventure, so I have a bit of research to do for details, but here's the gist:

I'm thinking it's not so much a Patron, but TWO. Warring over control of Titus. Something like this:

A relative of Titus' (probably Father) sold his soul (upon death) to a Red Wizard of Thay in exchange for success at business. The Red Wizard did some sort of ritual on you that will make you become a Lich in the service of the Red Wizards if you die. The expectation was that you would be trained in life as a wizard so you would be a powerful Lich. You're mother was, of course, furious. She went to her brother, a wizard of some ability, to find a way to save you. His solution was (to start) to keep you away from arcane magic (so you would be a weaker Lich in case it happened) and to prolong your life with rituals of his own.

Titus barely remembers any of this, as he was a child, but he's always feared death, as he feels the lure of corruption. His recent near-death experiences have kicked in his uncle's defensive spells, which will give him some of the powers he will have to avoid dying. Other abilities come from the rituals that the Red Wizard performed, working toward making him a better servant of Thay.

Essentually, he's pre-programmed for power and could go either way, good or evil.

I'll work on the Red Wizard himself, and on his Uncle, but right now he has no guidance as the powers they have placed in him years ago are waking up, and fighting over him. Meanwhile, all his training is just as a noble swordsman. He never even meant to learn rituals originally, he just always had a knack for them. (I think he would have been a very powerful wizard, had he been properly trained.)

What do you think?

 

[tglassy]

I love most of that.

A few things I’m not too keen on. First is his soul being sold for business success. That’s not really a “I’m going to run away to my brother” kind of offense. That’s more of a “I’m going to call the city guard on you, you sicko psychopath!”

But if it was something like his father, or whoever, failed in their bargain with the Thayan, and the Thayan came for his child as payment, that would make sense. Kind of like a rumplestilskin thing.

The other thing is the rituals his uncle did, and how the Thayan planned to use him. I’m thinking of going a little simpler. Perhaps, like you said, had Titus been trained, he’d have been a great wizard. Maybe what the Thayan did was weave almost a Familiar type ritual onto him, bonding the two of them. The more magic Titus wields, the stronger the bond. The bond would allow the Thayan to see through his senses, to control or twist his thoughts, and for Titus to obey his every whim. That would put a Noble of Watergate under the control of a Red Wizard.

What his Uncle did was to try to sever that bond, but he could only do it partially. The Thayan cannot manipulate his thoughts directly anymore. Also, he cannot automatically see through his senses unless allowed, or maybe only when Titus is in certain conditions.

To weaken the link further, his uncle tried to keep him from learning magic. Maybe he put a mental block on Titus, making him have a hard time learning spells, except rituals, which he could refer to a book to do while he did so, precluding the need to memorize them. I remember at the beginning that I had written that he had trouble with spells, and only could ever do rituals because he didn’t do well with normal spells, so this keeps with that.

Now, perhaps one of the only times the Thayan can contact him is when he is on death’s door. By choosing to talk to him, by choosing to learn from him, Titus accidentally crushes that mental block keeping him from learning spells, and opens himself up to the Thayan. The Red Wizard still cant directly control him, Titus has his own agency and can be his own person, but the Thayan wants him for some reason that only the DM knows. And he wants Titus powerful, again for some strange reason. Only now, he has to convince Titus to serve him, instead of demanding it. With Titus being afraid of death, offering the power to stave it off would be mighty tempting.

As for becoming a Lich after death, maybe that’s part of it, but I almost see it as “You’ll serve me in life or death, I care not which” sort of deal, rather than the end goal.

Thoughts?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Yes. That's pretty much what I was thinking. The "going to her brother" thing was to SAVE Titus. But you're right. It's because the child showed mighty magical promise, the Thayan came to collect when his father failed on his end of whatever bargain. Titus' uncle intervened, and cut Titus off from his magics - or so he thought.

The only thing that I felt differently about was that I felt that ultimately, keeping Titus alive was a way of rescuing him from the deal, as opposed to furthering the deal. As far as the Lich part goes, I suppose it's more like he'd ultimately *serve* a Lich, whether or not he'd *become* one.

At any rate, I like the idea of your uncle being just as much of a Patron as the Thayan. Both of them fighting over who ultimately has control of Titus' fate (obviously Titus himself would have his own ideas, too) makes it interesting.

At any rate, I think that *this* level's power that's unlocked in Titus should have no guidance for him as to where it came from or why. (Mostly because there are better locations for this sort of thing than here in Julkoun - I don't always want it to be psychic communication from afar. Influence, sure, but not direct communication. Not yet.)

 

[tglassy]

Sounds good. Ultimately you’re in charge of the patron stuff. I probably should have asked to be kept in the dark, actually, but that doesn’t matter now.

We can say this last close call caused him to break down the barrier himself, which gives him access to his first lvl powers. I do kind of like the Undying stuff coming from his uncle. Kind of repelling undead and the like.

I’ll get a post of him waking up after unlocking the power. I’m thinking he didn’t realize how bad his injury was, and it went septic, nearly killing him in the night, giving him fever dreams until he broke the first of his uncles barriers and it heals.

Which makes sense, since the first level Undying ability gives resistance to disease, and Armor of Agathys gives some temporary HP.

 

[gargoyleking]

This sounds interesting. And as a small side note might be something that could link to Enseth's mission. In the meantime, I'm just happy to keep this game going. There's a lot of interest in the mix so far.

 

[tglassy]

This sounds interesting. And as a small side note might be something that could link to Enseth's mission. In the meantime, I'm just happy to keep this game going. There's a lot of interest in the mix so far.

I thought of that, considering his obsession with the Thay. I love how he goes “I could explain why I think this, but it would take to long, so ‘Cause Reasons’.”

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Yes, the connection to Enseth is intentional.

I think that Goblin had a dirty blade, nasty thing. It went bad, but Titus was afraid to get a healer to look at it. Afraid of what they would say. "It's fatal. You are dead" he imagined. So he hid it. And it very nearly did him in until he broke down barriers. So this initial power is bad for him, in that it puts him one step closer to Thay, but also good in that it saved his life.

 

[Fradak]

Ultron Enseth is updated. He is going for Abjurator and I updated his race with the Juggernaut from the new UA Eberron.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Ultron Enseth is updated. He is going for Abjurator and I updated his race with the Juggernaut from the new UA Eberron.

Cool. Looks good to me.

So I was taking a look at the updated characters.

A few comments:
[MENTION=6855204]tglassy[/MENTION] - Unless you have any objections, (and this was established back at the beginning, but I don't know if anyone noticed) Titus' last name is Ashfield-Bunting. New info: (Bunting is his mother (Hortense)'s maiden name and Ashfield is his father (Rudyard)'s.) Your Uncle is Maximillian Bunting.

I miss Lionel.

I like Tommi being a Scout.

I look forward to seeing what Angis, Drui, and Dandin's level 3 look like.

Speaking of Drui... is [MENTION=6855545]Archon Basileus[/MENTION] still around?

 

[gargoyleking]

I look forward to seeing what Angis, Drui, and Dandin's level 3 look like.
[MENTION=6855545]Archon Basileus[/MENTION] still around?

Dandin has been updated I believe. Did it not take?