Much to my and the party's dismay, my brother will be leaving town in a few short weeks, and we will only have time for one more session with him. As such, I want to give his character some closure on his backstory and hopefully provide a clean exit with the potential to return from time to time when he visits. I need help with the particulars.
My brother's character is Morik, a human Fighter who used to be a Mercenary with the Steelhead Company. He gave me a very bare bones backstory, this being his first time playing D&D. Something happened that made him jaded, so he left the Company to become an adventurer. I get to decide what event lead him to this decision. My current idea is that he was a Sergeant under the mentorship of Captain Damiano, and his younger brother enlisted as a Halberdier. In his brother's first battle, his unit of raw recruits was sacrificed as cannon fodder, taking heavy losses so that the more experienced and valuable Heavy Cavalry, at the command of Lieutenant Stannis Brocker, could sweep in with a counter-charge. Enraged and disgusted, he leaves the Company.
In the latest session, the party has just liberated a coastal town from undead pirates and claimed a merchant sailing ship as their own. As they recover from the ordeal, everyone in the party experienced prophetic dreams foreshadowing their individual story arcs that I'm super excited to finally start exploring now that they're finishing up the introductory adventures. Everyone except Morik, who will be facing his past right away. The party cast Sending to inform their employer of their success, and a contingent of soldiers has arrived to relay new orders, lead by none other than Stannis Brocker himself.
At this point I haven't told Morik who Stannis Brocker is, simply that he knows the man as the one who drove him to leave the Company. I can change this story if someone gives me a better idea, but if not then this is what I'm running. My question is, what should I plan to happen? I've written up stat blocks for Stannis and his retinue of Heavy Cav that stacks up as a Hard encounter for the whole party. Brocker is CR 5, but if Morik (level 6 with a bonus Feat) were to challenge him to a duel, I'm reasonably sure it would be a fair fight since a lot of his abilities are tied to being mounted and flanking with allies. I also added an Arcanist to the group who could potentially be added to the crew of their new ship, as he's loaded up with several useful spells for sailing and fighting at sea.
I know better than to plan exclusively for any one outcome, but I'm worried there are a bunch of ways this could go that I haven't accounted for and I would prefer to be ready. How else do you think this might go? What end should Stannis be pushing for? Should he be antagonistic, hoping to goad Morik into a duel? Should he be aloof and dismissive, expecting Morik to simply follow orders without compaint?
I'm thinking that if all goes well, Morik will become an NPC that Captains the ship while the party continues their adventures, providing him with an easy excuse to not join them but still be close at hand for when me brudder comes to visit. Or perhaps he kills Brocker in a duel and claims his rank within the Company, leaving the party entirely and having access to resources that might allow him to drop in when needed?
Thoughts?
My brother's character is Morik, a human Fighter who used to be a Mercenary with the Steelhead Company. He gave me a very bare bones backstory, this being his first time playing D&D. Something happened that made him jaded, so he left the Company to become an adventurer. I get to decide what event lead him to this decision. My current idea is that he was a Sergeant under the mentorship of Captain Damiano, and his younger brother enlisted as a Halberdier. In his brother's first battle, his unit of raw recruits was sacrificed as cannon fodder, taking heavy losses so that the more experienced and valuable Heavy Cavalry, at the command of Lieutenant Stannis Brocker, could sweep in with a counter-charge. Enraged and disgusted, he leaves the Company.
In the latest session, the party has just liberated a coastal town from undead pirates and claimed a merchant sailing ship as their own. As they recover from the ordeal, everyone in the party experienced prophetic dreams foreshadowing their individual story arcs that I'm super excited to finally start exploring now that they're finishing up the introductory adventures. Everyone except Morik, who will be facing his past right away. The party cast Sending to inform their employer of their success, and a contingent of soldiers has arrived to relay new orders, lead by none other than Stannis Brocker himself.
At this point I haven't told Morik who Stannis Brocker is, simply that he knows the man as the one who drove him to leave the Company. I can change this story if someone gives me a better idea, but if not then this is what I'm running. My question is, what should I plan to happen? I've written up stat blocks for Stannis and his retinue of Heavy Cav that stacks up as a Hard encounter for the whole party. Brocker is CR 5, but if Morik (level 6 with a bonus Feat) were to challenge him to a duel, I'm reasonably sure it would be a fair fight since a lot of his abilities are tied to being mounted and flanking with allies. I also added an Arcanist to the group who could potentially be added to the crew of their new ship, as he's loaded up with several useful spells for sailing and fighting at sea.
I know better than to plan exclusively for any one outcome, but I'm worried there are a bunch of ways this could go that I haven't accounted for and I would prefer to be ready. How else do you think this might go? What end should Stannis be pushing for? Should he be antagonistic, hoping to goad Morik into a duel? Should he be aloof and dismissive, expecting Morik to simply follow orders without compaint?
I'm thinking that if all goes well, Morik will become an NPC that Captains the ship while the party continues their adventures, providing him with an easy excuse to not join them but still be close at hand for when me brudder comes to visit. Or perhaps he kills Brocker in a duel and claims his rank within the Company, leaving the party entirely and having access to resources that might allow him to drop in when needed?
Thoughts?
