a residential problem

[Gilladian]

In the not too distant future, my PCs will be returning to their home town, and when they do the sorceress is going to discover that her daddy has arranged a marriage for her. Which, of course, she will not be thrilled with.

The father's plan is that the daughter marry into the nobility, with his money (he's a wealthy merchant) as the bait. And, of course, his beautiful daughter as the prize.

What I need are ideas for what he might do to/with her to force her to marry, and plot twists that could be thrown in to make things more amusing.

There are some strict boundaries I have to adhere to here:
1) the party are about 9th level at this point, and consist of a sorceress, a fighter, a druid and a rogue

2) any open display of magic by ANYONE will rapidly bring powerful anti-magic forces down on them to throw them into prison

3) the PCs really don't want to kill the father; he's not evil (well, probably not... he is a slave trader).

Some things that could be fun:
1) the sorceress has a younger brother who may be around somewhere. He's 15, a real young punk.

2) the sorceress' mother is not around, and in fact although the party doesn't know it yet, is missing. There could easily be a stepmother or reasonable facsimile recently introduced into the picture.

3) the father has connections to a branch of the local smuggler's guild which the PCs also have connections with, but the local theives' guild hates the party rogue.

Any good ideas?

 

[Crothian]

The father hosts a big foram dinner party. At the party his daughter and her future husband are seated next to each other. During the dinner many minor conversations can happen. After dinner but before dessert the father gets everyone's attention and announcing the engagement of his daughter and her future husband. Have both fathers already agreed to this and have the wedding date and everythign already planned out in advance.

 

[Dirigible]

Have you considered how the husband-to-be might feel?

2) any open display of magic by ANYONE will rapidly bring powerful anti-magic forces down on them to throw them into prison

If the society is this magophobic, Mr Princy-Pants may not be thrilled with the arrangement.

Use her mother to guilt-trip the sorceress; say that she's run off to a convent and won't stop scourging herself and wearing a hair shirt til her wicked, sinful daughter gets good and married.

 

[GreyShadow]

Do you aleady have someone picked out for her to marry, or is dear daddy trolling for suitable suiters?

 

[jmucchiello]

I fail to see what the title of this thread has to do with the topic. (Might want to change it to something that will attract more readers.)

That aside, what's to stop the party from just moving on? How does the merchant father really expect to marry off his daughter if she hasn't been in town for months and she hangs out with an adventuring band?

I'm also curious about the father being a slave trader. Was this part of the character's background or did you just embellish it a bit?

Who creates the anti-magic if magic is forbidden? Ignoring that, what kinds of spells would the party unleash anyway?

Switching hats, if he's a slave trader he might have ways of dealing with sorcerers. Imagine him giving his lovely daughter a beautiful necklace that tampers with her spellcasting ability and cannot be removed once put on. Complete suppression will get you one angered player. Perhaps all spells become 2 levels higher for spell slot purposes.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

What if the Sorceress agrees?

 

[Crothian]

She gets to collect lots of gifts, and the game takes a sudden turn...

 

[CaptainCalico]

Is the sorceress fond of her father? How about the rest of the family? If so he could pretend that this wedding is the only way to save his life/standing in the community. Perhaps play up the brother's future prospects.

 

[Gilladian]

Thanks for some excellent advice. I named the thread what I did because I was originally thinking that I'd ask about ways to help make her "escape" from her father harder, but then realized there was no reason she would necessarily need to escape.

If she wants to do nothing but run away, she will probably have little difficulty. Her problem is that she ENJOYS being the spoiled daughter of a rich man. She doesn't want to give that up, necessarily.

I like the idea that the groom might also not want the marriage. I have no husband picked out in detail, just that he is the son of a patrician family. Possibly a younger son, or one with some "problem" that makes him a less than acceptable husband to other patrician brides.

My party seems to like to deal with things through magic, despite the dangers posed by it. The local religion (this is a theocratic nation) is very anti-magic and uses their clerics to suppress it. (Actually, since they're lawful evil, they actually have an order of cleric-mages who are the only permitted wizards who destroy all non-lawful magic, but this really doesn't come into the current plotline).

Please do keep the ideas coming.

 

[Turanil]

he's not evil (well, probably not... he is a slave trader)

IMO a slave trader is necessarily evil.

Anyway, why not a curse? I mean: in some future adventure BEFORE the going back home and arranged marriage, the PCs could read a cursed scroll or get cursed by some powerful foe. The curse would be something that obliges her to marry, but not make her happy about it. For example: the husband is a whimp (and no more than 3rd level aristocrat), but now thanks to the curse, anytime he speaks, it has the effect of a domination spell upon the sorceress. Save allowed, but each time he speaks, it is as if he did cast the spell again. Of course this is no spell cast, but the result of the curse.