5E (OOC) Scourge of Daggerford (Full)

gargoyleking

gargoyleking

Explorer
I was thinking one of the primce's elves. That, or he's still feeling the effects of the Elk's blessing, and combined with his interaction with the dryad (He still needs to go pick up Hanar and we did promise to bring Findledan back for a visit. Was there a reward promised on that front? Or just a request?)
 
gargoyleking

gargoyleking

Explorer
BTW, we kind of glossed over most of the potential for loot and the like. Tommi found Gutter, but could there be more we haven't found yet? Detect magic and Identify ftw. Of course, we'll need a pearl, but Dandin can find one in Daggeford if not here.
 
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tglassy

Adventurer
Truth. We leveled up, and Titus is in charge of the town, but I don’t know that he’d consider that a reward. Unless it gives him a chance to research his new interest in magic.
 
FitzTheRuke

FitzTheRuke

Adventurer
There might be a few things left behind in the Red Wizard's Room in the Jester's Pride, but the Red Wizard got away with most of his own stuff. I'll take a look and think about it...
 
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tglassy

Adventurer
If we do continue, and I get to keep playing Titus (which I would very much like to), I’d like to get his Patron involved from this point. Lvl 1 and 2 I’ve always seen as free, a taste. But if he wants to go higher, he’d need to start giving something back. Usually service of some kind that can either be done during the quest or during downtime. It would be better if the DM handled that, if you know or have an idea who his patron is. Although, I can handle it myself.

Thoughts?
 
FitzTheRuke

FitzTheRuke

Adventurer
My plan is definitely to keep going, it was more a matter of going where? I think I'll stick to the original plan and continue on with the Daggerford Environs game. We'll just keep going from where we are, but I think we'll skip some time really soon. I'll get to that in a bit. As far as your Patron goes, I had a few ideas back when we first talked about it, but I can't remember it at all. I'll look into our discussion and see if anything rings a bell. I like the idea of making the patron a living part of the game, but I've never done it before. Usually too busy running games where players come and go to bother much with background and power source actually featuring into the story. I like the idea, though...
 
gargoyleking

gargoyleking

Explorer
That reminds me, I think I have an idea whete Mord is concerned I want to run by you when it's about time to level him up next.
 
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tglassy

Adventurer
It doesn’t have to be anything complicated. It can be as simple as being given a task by his patron to perform before he can take another level in Warlock. These tasks can be as benign or foul as you want, but I feel like lower levels would warrant something easier to swallow, while the more powerful they get, the more difficult, or heinous, the request.

Since his patron is the Undying, it doesn’t have to be evil, per se. But if it were a fiend patron, then at lower levels it could be “kill a minion of a rival of mine” but in order to go from lvl 19 to lvl 20, it would be something like “sacrifice a baby.”
 
FitzTheRuke

FitzTheRuke

Adventurer
Ah. Here we go:

Fitz said:
I'm thinking it's not so much a Patron, but TWO. Warring over control of Titus. Something like this:

A relative of Titus' (probably Father) sold his soul (upon death) to a Red Wizard of Thay in exchange for success at business. The Red Wizard did some sort of ritual on you that will make you become a Lich in the service of the Red Wizards if you die. The expectation was that you would be trained in life as a wizard so you would be a powerful Lich. You're mother was, of course, furious. She went to her brother, a wizard of some ability, to find a way to save you. His solution was (to start) to keep you away from arcane magic (so you would be a weaker Lich in case it happened) and to prolong your life with rituals of his own.

Titus barely remembers any of this, as he was a child, but he's always feared death, as he feels the lure of corruption. His recent near-death experiences have kicked in his uncle's defensive spells, which will give him some of the powers he will have to avoid dying. Other abilities come from the rituals that the Red Wizard performed, working toward making him a better servant of Thay.

Essentually, he's pre-programmed for power and could go either way, good or evil.

I'll work on the Red Wizard himself, and on his Uncle, but right now he has no guidance as the powers they have placed in him years ago are waking up, and fighting over him. Meanwhile, all his training is just as a noble swordsman. He never even meant to learn rituals originally, he just always had a knack for them. (I think he would have been a very powerful wizard, had he been properly trained.)
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To which you responded:

tglassy said:
I love most of that.

A few things I’m not too keen on. First is his soul being sold for business success. That’s not really a “I’m going to run away to my brother” kind of offense. That’s more of a “I’m going to call the city guard on you, you sicko psychopath!”

But if it was something like his father, or whoever, failed in their bargain with the Thayan, and the Thayan came for his child as payment, that would make sense. Kind of like a rumplestilskin thing.

The other thing is the rituals his uncle did, and how the Thayan planned to use him. I’m thinking of going a little simpler. Perhaps, like you said, had Titus been trained, he’d have been a great wizard. Maybe what the Thayan did was weave almost a Familiar type ritual onto him, bonding the two of them. The more magic Titus wields, the stronger the bond. The bond would allow the Thayan to see through his senses, to control or twist his thoughts, and for Titus to obey his every whim. That would put a Noble of Watergate under the control of a Red Wizard.

What his Uncle did was to try to sever that bond, but he could only do it partially. The Thayan cannot manipulate his thoughts directly anymore. Also, he cannot automatically see through his senses unless allowed, or maybe only when Titus is in certain conditions.

To weaken the link further, his uncle tried to keep him from learning magic. Maybe he put a mental block on Titus, making him have a hard time learning spells, except rituals, which he could refer to a book to do while he did so, precluding the need to memorize them. I remember at the beginning that I had written that he had trouble with spells, and only could ever do rituals because he didn’t do well with normal spells, so this keeps with that.

Now, perhaps one of the only times the Thayan can contact him is when he is on death’s door. By choosing to talk to him, by choosing to learn from him, Titus accidentally crushes that mental block keeping him from learning spells, and opens himself up to the Thayan. The Red Wizard still cant directly control him, Titus has his own agency and can be his own person, but the Thayan wants him for some reason that only the DM knows. And he wants Titus powerful, again for some strange reason. Only now, he has to convince Titus to serve him, instead of demanding it. With Titus being afraid of death, offering the power to stave it off would be mighty tempting.

As for becoming a Lich after death, maybe that’s part of it, but I almost see it as “You’ll serve me in life or death, I care not which” sort of deal, rather than the end goal.
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Of course, both of us forgot nearly all of this because it was FOURTEEN MONTHS ago.

At any rate, I'll use this as a guideline... more ideas are coming to me after reading this.
 
FitzTheRuke

FitzTheRuke

Adventurer
I've done some research and I know who Titus' patron is. I didn't make him up - he's (or should I say, IT?) from Forgotten Realms Lore. Now, keep in mind, I've never read any FR novels, and I've only been running games in FR since Fifth Edition. So I'm no expert. But as you've seen in other games of mine, I know how to do research, I'm a quick study, and I tend to make up stuff that 'works' (and sometimes is 'right' even when I think I'm making it up). So if I get my Realmslore 'wrong', just consider it the "Fitziverse" version.

I wish I could say, especially considering that it might not come up often enough for me to remember ideas I've had right now (I mean, look at the above post, tglassy and I talked about it over a year ago - I don't remember any of that) but I think I might try to work it in to everything I've got going on here, as often as possible, to help me to remember.

Titus and Enseth's stories definitely overlap, too.

Which reminds me... @Fradak , did we ever discuss Enseth having been built by someone other than Gwaereth? I'm kind of half-remembering something, but I don't remember the details. Can you tell me more (privately if you like) or point me to where we talked about it before?

PBP games may take forever, so you forget stuff by the time it comes up, but at least it's all recorded so you can go back if you find the time and re-read it!
 
Kobold Stew

Kobold Stew

Adventurer
Leveled to Rogue 4; took +2 Wisdom API.

Along the way Tommi has picked up Boots of Striding and Springing. He's happy to wear them, but if someone else would like them, speak up.
 
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tglassy

Adventurer
I don’t mind it being slightly different from FR lore. I’ve only read the Drizzt books and one or two Elminster, so if it doesn’t have to do with them, I don’t know about it. And I don’t think Drizzt has had much to do with That, except Szass Tam a little.

But that’s cool. I’m interested to see where Titus goes and which direction he chooses. At this point, my next level is either Eldritch Knight or my Pact Boon. Which I’m now leaning towards Pact of the Blade, because of the Smite spells and Invocations the Blade Pact gets.
 
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