D&D General Help me figure out this NPC's evil plot in my campaign

[GSHamster]

I think the inheritance angle is the best. Maybe the father was a scrape-grace younger son with no prospects, which is why Keltos opposed the marriage. But then the father's older brothers died, and he inherited, and the granddaughter inherited in turn.
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Actually, now that I think about it, this kind of reminds me of the plot to Mary Balogh's Wescott Series (Someone To Love):

The father is the son of an Earl, and marries a woman from the merchant class. He abandons her, and she has a daughter. The father marries another woman at the Earl's behest, but crucially he does so before his first wife dies. That technically makes the second marriage bigamous, and all issue from that marriage illegitimate. The daughter is the legitimate heir to all the non-entailed wealth. She grows up in an orphanage, and doesn't find out about her heritage until she is twenty.

You could tweak this, and have Keltos realize he can control the wealth of the Earldom if he has the granddaughter. And he could be opposed by the family of the second wife, who realize she and the children of the second marriage would be disinherited if the first marriage came to light.

Another enemy/rival might be the man who stands to inherit the Earldom if the other children are disinherited, especially if he gets to be named guardian of the granddaughter.

(Balogh's story is a bit different in that everyone involved is basically good, even though they are all affected by the legal ramifications of the bigamous marriage.)

 

[Eltab]

How old is the granddaughter? A little kid will react badly to all strangers, but a 20-something can weigh (or try to) the various stories and look to her own advantage.

As said above, go with the inheritance not the sacrifice route. Unless ... "I'll come along quietly only if we bring along my friend from the orphanage who was 'disappeared' last week. " Guess what a fine mess she's pushing the PCs into? After all, one maiden is just as sacrificeable as another.

If you have Storm King's Thunder, you can use a Blodstone to make sure the PCs can find the right orphan - and to pull them through all sorts of unforeseen perils while they search.

 

[Jackdaw McGraw]

The inheritance angle doesn't make sense without a way for Keltos to prove that the orphan is his granddaughter. If family members are pressing their claim they're not going to accept some random urchin delivered by a bunch a mercenaries - especially after years of Keltos having no knowledge of his daughter's whereabouts (or if she was alive or dead). It would look like a desperate gambit to any magistrate or guild official. I guess it depends on how record keeping works in this realm and well Keltos' daughter covered her tracks.

A crazy alternate idea:

Keltos is his wife's servant. She's a magical being who has reproduced herself through parthenogenesis for centuries. When old age nears she births a daughter and, through raising her, becomes her at around 17. It's been a slow simmer horror movie for a daughter growing up in the Keltos household every 60 years or so.

The being's death during childbirth was a fluke. So, as the daughter grew, Keltos basically kept her prisoner, making her wear her deceased mother's clothing and jewelry, and eating her favorite foods, in hopes that the spiritual aspect of the parthenogenesis would still take. The scoundrel the girl ran away with was actually a peasant boy that rescued her.

Over the years Keltos employed different mercenaries to find the couple. The first few came back empty handed but the next didn't come back at all, except for one who was mauled. The merc said they found the couple at a small cottage with a small child, a girl. When they tried to apprehend them the woman transformed into a terrifying creature and ripped most of the mercs limb from limb. The husband seemed as terrified by the transformation as the mercs and fled with the child.

Cut to present day. Keltos suspects that his "daughter" has become lost and savage without the help of her "mother" guide her through parthenogenesis . It's his responsibility to save his "granddaugher" from the same fate. He would have retrieved the girl from the orphanage himself but he fears the beast daughter is still out there and wants her child back. He's hoping the party can slay her in the process of bringing him his granddaughter, so they're pretty much bait.

Something like that, just brainstorming.

Another, simpler, idea is that Keltos is desperate to have his wife back. He truly loved her. When his daughter was young he visited a witch who said the cost for his wife's resurrection was the life of his descendant. He almost went through with it but balked at the last moment. It destroyed his relationship with his daughter and she ran away soon after. His guilt prevented him from searching for her. It was only years later, when the scoundrel contacted him and asked for coin in exchange for his granddaughter's whereabouts that he sought the witch out again. Keltos is a deeply messed up man: he thinks he may be able to follow through with it this time as long as he doesn't have to lay eyes on his granddaughter.

 

[Wasteland Knight]

How old is the granddaughter? A little kid will react badly to all strangers, but a 20-something can weigh (or try to) the various stories and look to her own advantage.

As said above, go with the inheritance not the sacrifice route. Unless ... "I'll come along quietly only if we bring along my friend from the orphanage who was 'disappeared' last week. " Guess what a fine mess she's pushing the PCs into? After all, one maiden is just as sacrificeable as another.

If you have Storm King's Thunder, you can use a Blodstone to make sure the PCs can find the right orphan - and to pull them through all sorts of unforeseen perils while they search.

She’s 9 or 10, as were all the other children taken from the orphanage.

The original, as-published, reason for the kidnapping is well set in the campaign, but I could always change the reason around.

 

[aco175]

The orphan's father can come back later in a few levels when the PCs forget about things and move on. Maybe he was imprisoned (by the grandfather?) in some sort of Count of Monte Cristo thing and now wants to connect with his daughter. Whether he is evil or not will depend on the PCs in a few levels. It would be even better if you keep bringing the family up every level or so where they become friendly to them.

 

[Wasteland Knight]

If you have Storm King's Thunder, you can use a Blodstone to make sure the PCs can find the right orphan - and to pull them through all sorts of unforeseen perils while they search.

What is Storm King’s Thunder? Supplement? I clearly don’t have it, but I might want it

 

[Eltab]

What is Storm King’s Thunder? Supplement? I clearly don’t have it, but I might want it

Storm King's Thunder is a 5e Adventure Path.

 

[akr71]

I don't really have anything to add except that I'm likely stealing this.

 

[Wasteland Knight]

I don't really have anything to add except that I'm likely stealing this.

And you can figure out the plot before you drop it into your campaign

 

[Wasteland Knight]

So I’ve decided I’m going with the “soft” plot involving some aspect of an inheritance.

I really thought about the whole “demon worshipper cultist” angle with the young lass being acquired for a sacrifice. But this campaign plan is already full of that sort of thing.

I think the party will (hopefully) deliver the granddaughter, they’ll be paid what they’re owed and then that will be it.

For a while...