Technik4 said:
It just seems, to my 2nd party senses, that a merchant willing to:
A) Hire an Assasin of 6th level
B) Either pay ther Assasin sufficiently to cover the cost of using an extremely expensive (and correspondingly rare I hope) poison or acquire the poison at his own expense
C) Order the assasin to 'finish the job' after the assasin reports back that he failed to kill the mark, but did seriously wound him
Yet unwilling to:
A) Investigate the death of his son, instead making wild claims about his companions murdering him (which are later found innocent)
B) Take any responsibility for letting his son go off with people he thinks are despicable enough to murder an ally
C) Consider that perhaps in this extremely lethal jungle his son may have died to one of the many (?) dangers, including Moss Trolls (which would just happen to corroborate the adventurer's story).
is a pretty harsh NPC. I mean, as I said, I wasn't at the table, but I hope the dwarf was severely rude and tactless to warrant such an NPC reaction (NPC reaction is equivalent to DM reaction).
In the end, I hope at least, they learned a lesson about preparedness.
Technik
If I estimated the cost of the Assassination it would be in the 7000sp range... a very considerable sum of money, but we are talking about a man to whom wealth is meaningless. Power, prestige, and being right IS important, even if it's only superficial.
This merchant is heavily involved Zoa's city politics and the filthy Dwarven/Gome refugee's who have recently become a power in the city have hurt his buinsess partners... not to mention he is a racist bastard. Nino (the son) brought his new friends to his father's house for dinner knowing full well his father's hatred of Dwarves just to twist his knob (typical spoiled rich kid crap). The Dwarven PC was subtly insulted all evening and eventually blew his cork, throwing a decanter of wine into an expensive oil painting and declaring that his host's ancestors were obviously pig farmers little better than the swine they raised, then stormed out. Yeah, they hated each other all right. That encounter ended with the father foreswearing his son and "disowning" him for collaborating wih such "filth". That of course lasted until upon the PC's return to the city he learned that his only son was killed. In his opinion, naturally, by the Dwarf.
This was also his opportunity to raise the anger level of the human population in the city to a fever pitch and perhaps incite a riot that would smash the "Smalls" (a derisive term used by the humans to describe the Dwarven/Gnome district). He used his political influence and coin to have the PC's arrested and held in a bastille under charges of murder for trial (to prevent them from escaping in their ship). He then influcenced the governing council (comprised of Merchant Princes) to have the trial take place in the city council hall rather than the typcial venue of the Courts of Justice (headed by the Priests of Mosia, god of Justice).
Here the Dwarven friends of the PC's (long story) intervened by hiring an expensive defence Barrister who brought the trial to the attention of the Courts of Justice and shamed the council into agreeing to hold the trial there. It became a city event, with easily over two thousand citizens filling the temple square outside the Hall of Mosia and criers relating the events occuring within. A couple of uninvolved PC's were stuck in the crowd outside (one player commenting that he was selling "I survived the Jungle" T-Shirts... that was funny
). Anyhow, with the Courts of Justice presiding and the Power of Mosia involved the PC's Barrister provided an impassioned defense, and the prosecuting Barrister was soundly defeated. This of course freed the three PC's who were being charged (the survivors from the original party that entered the Jungle) which included Grendel our Dwarven hero.
The Merchant, now publicly as well as privatly humiliated by this Dwarf would have vengence at any price, and buy his way out of the repercussions... leading to the events stated in this thread. The PC's wisely decided that leaving rather than attempting to politically battle this Merchant (Papas Calendrino) on his home turf was the appropriate thing to do... and for now they are right.
Sorry for the long story, but that brings things into perspective I hope.
