Faerie Encounters

[Ambrus]

Thread of yore, rise from thy grave...

I was a big fan of this thread years ago and, upon searching for it, discovered that you'd continued to update it periodically. Since I've just started a Pathfinder campaign which features a fair bit of fey involvement I figured I'd try to pick your brain in hopes of better incorporating the mythic feel colourfully describe herein.

Raven Crowking, might you be familiar with Paizo's Kingmaker adventure path? If not I could give you a spoiler rich summary if you've any interest in helping me and other DMs running it...

 

[Raven Crowking]

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[Raven Crowking]

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[Ambrus]

Give me the skinny.

Sorry for the delay in posting; real-life issues intruded.

WARNING: KINGMAKER SPOILERS AHEAD!

In brief, Kingmaker is a six module sandbox-style adventure path that revolves around the PCs' explorations of an untamed wilderness and their efforts to found a new kingdom therein. Although there are many many possible story threads to play-through, the main protagonist of the campaign is an evil nymph from the "First World" (i.e. Faerieland). Her backstory includes a liaison with one of that realm's primordial faerie lords; a relationship which granted her immense magical powers. Insane with power, she upset the other faerie-lords by proclaiming herself to be their equal. As punishment they banished her paramour to the plane of shadow, stripped the nymph of her ability to love (transforming it into a magical blade) which they then hid in the mortal world where she could not find it. Since then she's hatched a plan to retrieve the blade (which has been prophesied to be the instrument of her destruction) by enacting a ritual which will rip free the part of the mortal world in which the sword is hidden and draw it into the First World. This will allow her to regain her love while providing her with her own realm to rule over; which she hopes will propel her into the ranks of the godlike lords of faerie. At the climax of the campaign, the PCs are intended to find the blade and confront the nymph in her palace in the First World lest their fledgling kingdom be torn away from the mortal realm.

Before all of that however, the PCs are simple adventurers heading into the wilderness which, along with a variety of typical challenges is noteworthy for its "rumours of sinister fey". The adventure path indeed features a smattering of fey interactions; some related to the main story, others not. Most fey are in keeping with their writeups in the Bestiary which, although interesting, is largely devoid of the sort of depth and mystery that this excellent thread seeks to highlight. Here's a summary of the A.P.'s faerie encounters:


• One early encounter is with a grig and faerie dragon team who chooses to discreetly follow the PCs around, taking turns secretly pranking the party as a sort of competition (the exact pranks aren't described). If the PCs prove to be entertaining and good sports they can eventually try to win over the fey with gifts and diplomacy. If successfully befriended, the pair will reveal themselves and share what they know of the surrounding area with the PCs.

• An encounter with a slain unicorn; its horn having been taken by the evil nymph BBEG in preparation for an epic bit of magic she's planning.

• A meeting with a mated dryad and satyr who need the PCs' help to deal with a sort of evil treant which is threatening the forest and the dryad herself. They ask (and then attempt to magically compel if refused) the party into hunting down and defeating the treant.

• The party come upon a group of loggers and a nixie sorcerer who are currently at an impasse. Angry at the loggers for having cut down five trees near her pond, the nixie has charmed two of their number and is having them defend her grove against the remaining loggers. She refuses to let the loggers continue or leave until the cut trees are somehow replaced. The solution to this dilemma is to have the dryad from the previous encounter provide them with a handful of tree feather token to regrow the sylph's grove.

• The PCs stumble across the shack of an old fey-blooded crone witch. She can be won over with diplomacy and is willing to share what she knows of the area if befriended.

• An ancient elven fort in the wilderness has become the home of a mischievous quickling, a murderous grimstalker and their "queen"; a blood-drinking baobhan sith known as the Dancing Lady. The three work together to secure victims to sate their vile appetites.

• A neighbouring village has been emptied of its human residents by a an ancient cyclops lich who was recently awakened in its underground tomb by the townsfolk's trespasses. Using foul magics, he enchanted the townsfolk to pick up and follow him back to his lair where he has trapped the lot of them in soul gems to use as a source of information so as to learn about the modern era. Since the townsfolk's disappearance the town has been overrun by a clan of fey spriggans intent on looting whatever they can find.

• A run-in with a band of nasty pixie pranksters intent on impressing the nymph BBEG with their cruel antics.

• The discovery of a nereid trapped in a water clock by a half-mad cleric obsessed with her beauty who succeeded in stealing her shawl. The nereid was originally the guardian of an enchanted sword prophesied to slay the BBEG nymph.

I'm curious to pick your brain for your thoughts concerning the fey as presented and how you might tweak the campaign to give it more of a traditional faerie tale feeling. Your ideas would be well appreciated.

 

[Raven Crowking]

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[Raven Crowking]

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[Ambrus]

Woo hoo, a response! I had long since given up on this thread. I'm certainly glad to read your suggestions. Thanks!

While you probably long ago ran these encounters in some manner of your own choosing, here’s my take. Perhaps if you run the adventures again, these ideas might be of some use.

These encounters are scattered over six modules so no, we certainly haven't played through all of it yet. The group role-plays a lot, so we progress at a rather leisurely pace. As is the party has only encountered the pranking grig and faerie dragon. The grig started with a pyrotechnic smoke cloud which spilled out of their campfire when one PC tried to douse it in the morning. The faerie dragon tried to best his friend by using his open spell-like ability to unbuckle the PCs' horses' saddle belt; causing a few to roll off their mounts' back onto the ground. Unimpressed with these antics, the group correctly guessed that the fair folk were likely responsible and so left them a gift of food before leaving the forest in hopes of appeasing them.

The next time the group ran into the pair on their return trip to the forest, the fey used their magic to first make the PC on night watch fall asleep followed by an entanglement spell to cover all of the slumbering PCs with roots, grasses and vines. They had to pull themselves out of the overgrowth upon waking in the morning. Again the PCs left a gift of food behind but are growing resentful of these "good neighbors".

As written, the party is meant to appease and finally befriend the fey by offering them significant gifts or by succeeding on a DC 23 diplomacy check. As is, the party would be hard-pressed to succeed on such a check and I suspect they won't be inclined to keep trying if thing persist along these lines. Can you recommend a good way to build upon what's already occurred?

I like most of your suggestions a great deal except that, although your proposed scenario for the grig and faerie dragon sounds appropriately fable-like, it would seem rather lethal and malevolent for such lighthearted fey. I imagine the party would interpret it as an attack of sorts and respond in kind.

Depending upon the party’s actions, some members see only the rotting carcass of a white horse, while others see the unicorn for what it is.

What sort of actions would affect who could see it? Are we talking about virginal female PCs only?

BTW, I particularly like your take on the nixie/logger confrontation. I can just imagine the PCs encountering some of the woodsmen's bloody remains in the forest, followed by their coming upon a pair of manic, paranoid, sleep deprived woodsman trying to outmaneuver each other as they endeavor to kill each other. I have to remember to foreshadow this by having the PCs encounter the happy-go-lucky team of loggers before they set out for their fateful encounter.

 

[Raven Crowking]

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[Ambrus]

Thanks for the suggested outcome for the faerie dragon/grig encounter. I've read similar suggestions over on the Paizo boards. Having the pair help the PCs out during a tough encounter seems to be a preferred means to redeem the fey following their wanton pranking. Your suggestion that the PCs' enemies are targeted for being poor sports is an interesting take on the reasoning for it however.

While prepping for our next session I found yet another fey encounter which I'd originally missed in my initial summary. My group will likely be dealing with this encounter next session.

• A war in miniature is playing itself out in a lonely corner of the highlands. A tribe of mites who lair in a hollow hill beneath an old sycamore tree have run afoul of a tribe of kobolds who claim territory some four leagues further south. Hostilities have broken out with raids, counter-raids, ambushes, hostage-taking and wanton violence occurring throughout the disputed area. Although the PCs are free to involve themselves however they wish and possibly oppose both groups, it's hinted that it may be to their advantage to ally themselves with the kobolds against the mites.

 

[Raven Crowking]

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