Works for me,
Doghead, if maybe with the following tweaks/additions?
- Clearly, Slice, Brier and Trickle were hired mercs on Earl Eogan's punitive expedition against Earl Tahnurson's holdings.
- I rather like the "Khirynnax rescuing us" version (it helps bond the party together, I think), so can my characters have that memory of it from that night? Since we're dealing with the Fae here, others can have completely different memories of it if they want.
- Could we insert a frozen-time/simultaneous individual enticing/soul-geming dream-vision during that first night with the Witching Troll? Where he promises Slice power and Needles his kin? Then it would be perfect on my side of things.
- Small tweak: no big thing but unless there's a physical reason for it, I'd just cut out the "one week" back and forth and set the start of the game the next morning, still in that clearing. Just so the characters specifically don't have time to reflect and find their (selfish) center again. Especially important if the bribing sessions above didn't occur (Else Slice and Brier WILL try to squelsh on the deal
).
Bonds below.
Leif, I'm not sure how Artur can at the same time oppose the Troll and not be working against four others that are doing their best to help that same Troll? It seems plain from Doghead's intro that the main trust of our adventures will be the other PCs actively working for the Witching Troll, helping him do what he wants done...
As others have intimated, I'm also not entirely sure why your PC necesseraly
needs to be antagonistic towards the group's chosen patron? Certainly the Troll's tactics seem to be shady from what we've come up with for him so far, but who says he is evil? His aims might ultimately be neutral, or even potentially good-ish -- either outright or in an enemy-of-my-enemy kind of way?
Anyways, I do still think some tweaks needs to be made to Artur's motivations if PvP is not your desired outcome (which it doesn't seem to be). See Doghead's suggestions, or, if you stick with the soul-gem idea, maybe have Artur
remain under its influence for the forseeable future -- perhaps only fully coming out of it if/when he actually manages to get his hands on the thing?
Slice's Bonds:
I owe
Khirynnax my life, whether I admit it or not.
I won't let
Trickle die, he is part of my pack now.
I worry about
Needles' ability to survive in the dungeon though.
Needles has foolish hopes, but I will make him hard like me.
Needles Bonds:
Slice still hasn’t caught on to my shenanigans yet.
I owe
Trickle a favor for pulling me out of that jam that time.
Next time I sneak off, I am therefore going to bring
Trickle along.
Nothing quite kills the mood like
Khirynnax’s presence though.
I'm also thinking of adding this to Brier's background:
Needles is
young, but he grows
fast. When Trickle and Slice fished him out of the outcast slums two years ago (and started using/training him for a particularly juicy climbing&infiltration gig), he looked like he was a scrawny ten (that's
WHY they choose him; well that and his freaky-good climbing abilities). Now, almost two years later, he's got the lean and lanky physique of a fifteen/sixteen year old.
And who knows if or when the process will ever stop or slow down? Not him, that's for sure. For all he knows, in less than 10 years he could be dead of old age!
Does that work for you, [MENTION=40413]GlassEye[/MENTION]? The parts about Needles' "adoption", I mean.
EDIT= Do we get a rogue's gallery thread, Doghead?