A visit home

[Gilladian]

IMC the PCs will be passing through the baronial home of one PC. She is the youngest sister of the current Baron. The party is just passing through, and will be staying nearby for a week or so while they attend the funeral of their cleric...

Anyway, while the PC is visiting, she is going to learn that her older brother, the Baron, has recently met a young woman, whom he rescued from a group of half-orc bandits who, she claims, kidnapped her while she was traveling with a small band of her people (she claims to be of the "Shalani", a gypsy-like folk IMCW). The rest of the group, she says, were slain, and she was taken captive.

Now the older brother/Baron is prepared to marry this young woman.

Now, it is quite possible that everything this woman says is true, but it is also possible that she's a liar and up to no good.

Background: 5 years ago, an evil army invaded this area, nearly destroyed 3 counties on the north edge of the kingdom. This particular barony was one of the hardest hit. The evil army was mostly orcs and half-orcs, goblins and kobolds. They were led by a trio of dragons, all of whom were slain (previous adventuring parties!). Nobody around here has the least idea, but the evil army was ACTUALLY an assault by an evil lich, who used the invasion as a springboard to get himself into position to be the next ruler of the kingdom (he has possessed the body of the remaining heir to the throne).

Now, I'm not sure who this young woman is. Could she be someone on the lich's team? Could she be an enemy of his (good or evil)? Throw me out some ideas to work with! Who would you have her be? I am not looking for a MAJOR campaign focus YET... if the PCs disrupt the wedding by revealing her nefarious purposes, fine and good, or they might get an inkling that she's someone who could be an ally later. That would be fine too. Or they just get really creeped out and run away. My party is good at that!

Final info: this is a 5e game, and the PCs are currently going-on-fourth-level, so they should be 4th when they meet up with this situation. Not that it matters all that much... I'm thinking this is going to be MOSTLY social/roleplay.

 

[Gilladian]

update: I've decided that Belsante is an evil sorceress, allied with the lich. Her goal in coming to the Barony of Thetford is to get into a scholarly research library/castle that is nearby, within the barony's bounds, but not governed by the Baron. She is certain that information on how to create the "Cauldron of Everlife" lies within the library (think Candlekeep or somewhere similar; isolated and restrictive and capable of guarding their own knowledge). She strongly desires entry into the library, and hopes that by becoming Baroness, she will be able to get in, unsuspected of any illicit goals.

My new question is "what is the cauldron of Everlife, and why does she want it"? I am certain that she's interested in extending her own life, possibly becoming a lich herself. She's only marginally loyal to the lich who sent her here, and he should know that. So what is HIS need for the Cauldron? And how can the PCs get suspicious of her? What will they be able to learn about her that would trigger their dislike? (as if that's hard, with PCs; I have more trouble making them LIKE my NPCs!)

And how will they reveal her actions to the Baron? Will he believe them? Will they get themselves thrown out? Will Gia defy her brother if she thinks he's about to marry an evil woman? Hmmm.... I guess the best thing will be to create personalities for the major NPCs in the Barony.

The Baron - Alan of Thetford, a youngish man for his rank, his father was killed 5 years ago during the war.
The Baron's Brothers - two of the 5 knights who serve their brother, they live nearby; one lives in Auldfort, where the Library is located, and the other in another village a few miles away. Both are good and loyal to their brother. Or not? Perhaps there's a love triangle brewing.
The Baron's widowed mother (the dowager Baroness) - A lady who loves her rank, her sons, and her daughters, in that order.
The Baron's elder sister - ? no ideas for her; she's actually a year or so older than he is, the eldest of the siblings
The Baron's baby sister - Gia, the PC - youngest of the siblings, she left home this spring (about 2 months ago) to seek her fortune for the betterment of her fairly impoverished family.

There should be a reeve, a priest, maybe a wizard in service to the baron. Any other positions that would be required in the Baron's household? Time to find my copy of Magical Medieval Society, I think!

Any ideas for simple character-driven plots and problems that could help the party or hinder their investigation?

 

[Celebrim]

I can't give you much advice, except to say that I love the way you are thinking and keep up with the brain storming.

Presumably a cauldron of everlife lets you brew a potion of youth, thereby giving you the ability to stay young indefinitely.

As for the Lich, perhaps the Lich wants a mortal body back in order to once again enjoy the pleasures of the flesh. Or perhaps he intends to make it his phylactery, gambling that the item will not be one anyone will ever want to destroy. Or perhaps he wants it for some twisted but nominally altruistic reason - he intends to make them by the hundreds so that people will be immortal.... to bad the brewing recipe he knows involves the blood of a virgin. But what a child now and then to extend you own life? You can always make more. Or perhaps he's just an art collector and the whole reason for everything is to fill his hoard with the greatest objects of beauty in the world and then stare at them for all eternity.

Lichs for me are always difficult as villains because I can't really imagine them wanting anything. They are dead. They seem to have no reason or passion left to them. I always imagine them as slowly falling into stasis and lacking in initiative, highly reactionary beings, with fading reason and sense of self. What did this lich want in life? Just to rule? Why? Almost no one just wants to rule. Usually they want to rule to accomplish something. What did this liche want to do? What his reason?

MMS should do fine for your basic position in Baronial court - Steward, Bailiff, Cook, Butler, Head Groom, etc.

I tend to try to bury the characters in side plots and red herrings, with the number and sophistication chosen to match my player's skill and interests. If they aren't very good at murder mysteries and don't have a lot of sense of narrative, you won't need much disguise to hide your main plots. But sophisticated players will figure out everything right away if you don't distract them with minor largely harmless villains.

1) As a sorceress, she's potentially suborned members of the household already. I don't know if 5e actually provides for a useful charm that doesn't leave its victim hostile, but if it does, then they could be 'charmed'. Some minor character will act as her alibi as needed.

2) Some member of the household could be a petty thief or guilty of other minor crimes that have gone unnoticed - the Head Groom is a violent drunk that abuses local prostitutes and beats the footboys, the Butler is taking bribes for receiving inferior goods or is skimming silver from the petty cash, the elder sister prays to forbidden gods, or the housekeeper beats the maids unduly. Whatever suits the level of disgusting you are willing to deal with and is a character you otherwise can't figure out what to do with. This is useful because its always good to have someone who has a need to lie, and who will generally detect as 'bad guy' if the players try divination win buttons. Meanwhile, your sorcerer probably has the wherewithal to provide herself magical obfuscation and will appear cherubic against such investigation. It's also good to give the real villain a 'fall guy' that the sorcerer can blame a crime on if she has to bump off someone. Potentially this could be a double whammy, as it could be that the otherwise not nice person also suspects the new fiancé and the fiancé knows it. The discovery of crimes of the person could be part of a plot to discredit potential foils.

3) Eventually, someone has to die. It's hardly a fantasy role playing game if some innocent's blood doesn't get vilely shed. One of the pages seems like the obvious choice as potentially a cousin of the PC and so plenty of emotional impact, but depending on how touchy the players are about violence against children that could be over doing it. Otherwise, pick a another sympathetic character - one of the Grooms is dead, all signs points to the Head Groom getting drunk and beating him to death, ect. It should be pretty easy to think up plot.

4) Meanwhile, wolf riders have been seen in remote parts of the Barony, and near this 'Candlekeep' of yours. There actually scouting the area looking for weaknesses should 'plan A' fail. Worse come to worse, the sorceress can try to buy time by putting it in the ear of the Baron to send the PC's out on some deed of errantry with the knights to suppress this threat.

5) One of the Knights is estranged from the court. Nobody wants to talk about it, because the Baron has forbid it. However, he and the Baron had words regarding this strange woman and the Baron's desire to marry beneath his station. The Baron got outraged and forbid him to visit his court and fined him for his impolitic and offensive speech - in fact, the Baron very nearly had the man challenged. Almost everyone agrees he deserved it. The knight is an impolitic racist and a snob, who hates the gypsy people for reasons real and imagined, but he is also truly a loyal knight. He's hired a man to check out her story, and has discovered some evidence that indicates her story is false, but at this point no one is listening and he's lost any influence.

6) A strange priest has arrived and wishes to build a small shrine to a deity not worshiped in these parts in centuries. The local priests are very skeptical. However, the deity nominally has dominion over something that appeals to the common folk - rain, fertility, prosperity, hunting, etc. - and appears to have attracted quite a following. Secretly, some minor NPC is backing the priest's bid. The priest may or may not be connected to the Lich, but in any event the worship of the deity may come with unexpected consequences. Depending on how interested you are in adding more minor villains, you could have this guy turn out to be a good guy, wrongly maligned by jealous local priests eager to protect their monopoly.

7) Following up on the goblins, finds that the invading goblins are led by a pair of hags. They'll also find connections to the long ago invasion. Particularly astute members of the party should note that two hags is an unusual number. The third member of the coven is of course the fiancé.

 

[Gilladian]

Oohs! I really like ideas 2,4, 5,&7th. I think I'll use a mix of them and a love triangle with the youngest brother. He is charmed by the sorceress and devoted to her. The other brother is the boor.

The lich actually already has a new body; he took the two heirs to the throne prisoner during the war and now the older one is him. The younger prince was transformed into a parrot, and my previous party rescued him but could not break the enchantment. That aspect of things isn't going to impinge on this scenario, I don't think. The lich's ultimate goal is pure destruction. He's a priest of the God of war and death, not a wizard lich.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

And how can the PCs get suspicious of her? What will they be able to learn about her that would trigger their dislike? (as if that's hard, with PCs; I have more trouble making them LIKE my NPCs!)

As you noted, this won't be a difficult task. In my experience PCs are incredibly wary of everyone--doubly for strangers who appear out of nowhere and are ascending to a position of power. If I was playing in this campaign I would instinctively suspect her of being a sorceress who was enthralling the baron for some nefarious purpose.

This goes against your update of making the Shalani the lich's goon but maybe you could take their suspicions a run with them. The Shalani is telling the truth and she and the Baron really have fallen in love. But someone else would use the PCs' and other NPCs' presumptions about her to turn her into a scapegoat for their plans. The next-in-line for the barony commits crimes, then corroborates the PCs' suspicions that she's a sorceress who enthralled the Baron. The next-in-line hopes to manipulate the PCs into removing both the Baron and his Shalani fiancee, so they can become Baron.

I can't give you much advice...

That's an understatement!

 

[Gilladian]

Hmmm.... I think in this case, she's going to be the villain. But I will keep the idea of a scapegoat open for the next good situation that comes up. Thanks for the idea!