WotBS Second War council before Echoed Madness

[Lylandra]

So finally, my group almost reached chapter 3 in adventure #7 and they, as I had already guessed a few weeks ago, turned the thing upside down again. Which ist not that bad, because this time I was prepared! Or was I?

Turns out that after kind-of befriending Rhuarc my party doesn't want to go to the temple first (okay!) because they want to "present" the torch to the public by bringing it back to Seaquen and demonstrate that it is inert, at least in terms of teleporting powers (umm... problem! Maybe!).

Why? Well, because one of my PCs is a Taranesti with strong emotional ties to Ycengled and its people, my group right now has three main objectives:

1) Keep the Shahalesti (and possibly Ragesians) from continuing their search for Phorros Irrendra/Rhuarc since the city is a) sacred and unspoiled and b) contains very valuable knowledge about Syana's and Trilla's "magic"

2) Restore the torch. Eventually. Because they think they might need it intact in order to repair the planar rift which causes the Burning Sky.

3) Restore the Taranesti sovereingty in Ycengled, which means getting all the Shahalesti troops out and make "Northern Shahalesti" an official Taranesti region again.

What my players plan on doing is to invoke a meeting in Seaquen where they can show the malfunctioning torch (probably letting different mages "identify" it) and look for supporters of "New Ycengled". They would invoke their "we helped you now you help us" cards from Sindaire, Dassen and Seaquen and persuade Magdus' Ragesian splinter group by offering them Coaltongue's corpse (for a proper burial) and hints that "Inquisitors" were behind the assassination of their emperor by letting Rhuarc testify. Also, they would invite Shalosha who they like and who they would also support as Shahalesti's next queen and offer her a leading role in the united Resistance Forces in return.

However, this all means a new mental nightmare for me (especially after having finally finished out how Shalosha and Katrina would have reacted to seeing each other in "the other fellowship") as tons of unanswered questions arise:

- Depending on how they present the malfunctioning torch, who would still try to pursue it?
I guess Shaaladel (+ Aurana) and Leska would be still on track, but Shalosha (who was promised to stand in the line of possible torch-bearers) would trust the party and maybe even help them in the upcoming trial of echoed souls. However, this would reduce the number of possible adversaries and possible chaos in "the other fellowship" as Shalosha might enter the temple alongside the party.

- How would the continent's powers react to the Taranesti Restoration?
I guess that Dassen, Seaquen and Sindaire know how valuable freedom can be, so they would support their claim as long as it wouldn't mean certin war with Shahalesti (which is unlikely since Shahalesti has two Ragesian armies deep in their own territory and the only real power left is their - intact - fleet). Magdus really doesn't mind, but he will be thankful for his liege's corpse and he knows that the party can have quite an impact. Shalosha might be sympathetic to their plan, but Shaaladel will most certainly object and I guess he has too much pride to get that he'd be isolated and might need the other countrys' support.

- How would Magdus react to the fact that Seaquen might offer Coaltongue's assassin Rhuarc (if they get him to testify) immunity as he's the chief witness?
My player's argument is that it could be a bigger factor that Magdus can finally get a chance to wipe out those who plotted against CT, but I don't know yet if he is level-headed enought to not demand Rhuarc's execution (or plot his murder instead).

Besides all this problems, I am really not sure about how to run the Trial of Echoed Souls afterwards. Because:

- They might ask Rhuarc to accompany them as he was the one who destroyed Trilla's soul shard (he did object the first time, but showing his disturbing memories could be charming)
- They might ask Shalosha to accompany them, which will possibly include her bodyguard Rihalles as well. However, these two might not really get along well with Rhuarc who had tried to kill Shaaladel before.
- Katrina (who has already secretly left the Lyceum and headed off to the Ragesians) is loyal to them and will betray the Ragesians

This leaves me with the following adversaries from the "original" cast:
- Nahrem "the scourge" & his bone golem buddy (he's got that nickname because I made him an infamous Taranesti hunter during the genocide) who are loyal to Shaaladel and Aurana
- Karedan "Red Knight of Ragesia" who might be sent by Magdus to keep an eye on the party but will switch sides to his "fellow immortal" Leska after being persuaded by Etienna
- Etienna & Ursus

Now, I have quickly made up some plans which might work, but I'm not entirely happy with them and also not really sure which would be the most logical and elegant way to solve the problem:

1) Create a rift between Shaaladel and Shalosha. Order Shalosha back to Calanis. Send Telshanth (the arrogant wizard admiral from adventure #3) to the war council, cause a ruckus, then let him play Shalosha's original role in the "other fellowship". Let Shalosha go rogue and follow him, play the charming "maybe we'll end up queen and king" card, enter the temple with him and then switch sides. However, this would really, really damage the bond between father and daughter. Severely. Rihalles would be a wild card then.

2) Simply add more NPC. Let the party recruit whomever they want and increase the number of enemy forces on both sides. I'd most certainly add some Shahalesti spellcaster(s) and a Solei Palancis dreadnought kind of character. Maybe add a Ragesian or a Two Winds agent (Pilus doen't think that the torch is really that inert and smells betrayal) as well. The down side to this is that the new NPC are relatively blank cards and I've tried to establish all of the "other fellowship" (excluding Karedan) as cameo characters up to this point. Rihalles can still be a wild card, but I have established him as Shalosha's bodyguard and unless she is directly interfering with her father's orders, he doesn't have a reason to turn on her.

Now I'd be happy if you could add your opinions on my unusual situation. What about the Taranesti Restoration? Are the plans reasonable? (and which one sounds better?) Or do you have a third/fourth plan that would be even more suitable?

 

[RangerWickett]

- Depending on how they present the malfunctioning torch, who would still try to pursue it?

Shaaladel would be suspicious, and have Aurana do some divinations, which would probably clue them in that the Torch could be restored. Since there's no formal alliance yet (not until adventure 9, probably), he'd have spies on the lookout. However, stealing the Torch from Seaquen is hard, as long as the city still has the teleportation beacon from adventure 3, because now any thieves have to manage to hoof it a few miles to get out of the beacon's radius. But Shaaladel would have people ready to teleport after the party if they leave the security of Seaquen, though they'd have some lead time. (Party leaves, a few minutes later spies find out, 10 minutes later a sending reaches Aurana, 10 minutes later she and her underlings have cast their own sendings alerting the ready-response agents, an hour later they finish their scrying spells, three rounds of buff spells later they scrysassinate the party. Buff spells include - protection from energy, resist energy, and vampiric touch they cast on a sacrificial beast to get them enough temporary hit points to survive the burning sky.)

Meanwhile, word reaches Leska that the Torch is out in public. She has a dozen inquisitors scry on the PCs, does some other divinations, realizes that ambushes might just get her inquisitors killed. So she orders Kreven (in adventure 8) to accelerate his tests, which prompts the attack on Seaquen with the blizzard elementals. She might also send some devils to infiltrate Seaquen and just slaughter innocents in the town, leaving behind at each massacre a tablet that reads "More shall die until Ragesia has the Torch." In any event, Seaquen realizes they need to move against Kreven and the Koren Obelisk. This is exceptionally difficult without a functional Torch.

- How would the continent's powers react to the Taranesti Restoration?

Honestly, unless you've diverged a bit from the adventures as written, there aren't really enough Taranesti to restore anything. Not enough managed to escape the genocide perpetrated by the Shahalesti to create a full nation.

- How would Magdus react to the fact that Seaquen might offer Coaltongue's assassin Rhuarc (if they get him to testify) immunity as he's the chief witness?

I see him as more focused on punishing the actual plotters (i.e., Leska) rather than needing to punish the actual assassins.

- They might ask Rhuarc to accompany them as he was the one who destroyed Trilla's soul shard (he did object the first time, but showing his disturbing memories could be charming)
- They might ask Shalosha to accompany them, which will possibly include her bodyguard Rihalles as well. However, these two might not really get along well with Rhuarc who had tried to kill Shaaladel before.
- Katrina (who has already secretly left the Lyceum and headed off to the Ragesians) is loyal to them and will betray the Ragesians

Oh, the instant Rhuarc's in the room with anyone Shaaladel cares about, he decides to kill them. So he basically feigns indifference, lets people talk or whatever, and waits for Shalosha to have only her bodyguard around (he can have his shadow spy on her if necessary). Unless the party really keeps him on lockdown, he'd hide in plain sight, slip away, pepper Shalosha with some poison and shatterspell arrows, then hide and skirmish - harrying them with tragedies - until Shalosha is dead. If he dies after that, eh, no big. Unless the party somehow gave him a wild new love of life, he was expecting to die anyway, and murdering Shaaladel's daughter would be more satisfying than even getting the bastard himself. I'd say basically the only way this doesn't happen is if the party keeps Rhuarc manacled constantly, or if Shalosha announces a desire to murder her own father.

Or maybe Rhuarc plays the long con and waits until they're in the temple, then tries to kill errybody. I imagine it's damned hard to spot a shadowdancer in a constantly shifting hallucination of memories.

Now I'd be happy if you could add your opinions on my unusual situation. What about the Taranesti Restoration? Are the plans reasonable? (and which one sounds better?) Or do you have a third/fourth plan that would be even more suitable?

I feel that having Shalosha in the temple is one of the key ways to turn her against her father, since she gets to witness Shaaladel enact a genocide. I'm not sure how best to get her there, though. Aside from her, hm, do you have any NPCs from Seaquen, Dassen, or elsewhere whom you don't intend to bring back -- maybe one of the lords of Dassen decides to join with Ragesia and shows up with a retinue, or the mage Kiernan figures Seaquen cannot win and so betrays the Lyceum. Maybe some priest the PCs met at the temple in Seaquen is actually a spy. Perhaps Koren the Wayfarer shows up and just has a contingent teleport spell to get her outside the temple when she's sufficiently injured, so the party knows who she is in adventure 8.

 

[Lylandra]

ah, thanks for the quick reply

Shaaladel would be suspicious, and have Aurana do some divinations, which would probably clue them in that the Torch could be restored. Since there's no formal alliance yet (not until adventure 9, probably), he'd have spies on the lookout. However, stealing the Torch from Seaquen is hard, as long as the city still has the teleportation beacon from adventure 3, because now any thieves have to manage to hoof it a few miles to get out of the beacon's radius. But Shaaladel would have people ready to teleport after the party if they leave the security of Seaquen, though they'd have some lead time. (Party leaves, a few minutes later spies find out, 10 minutes later a sending reaches Aurana, 10 minutes later she and her underlings have cast their own sendings alerting the ready-response agents, an hour later they finish their scrying spells, three rounds of buff spells later they scrysassinate the party. Buff spells include - protection from energy, resist energy, and vampiric touch they cast on a sacrificial beast to get them enough temporary hit points to survive the burning sky.)

Meanwhile, word reaches Leska that the Torch is out in public. She has a dozen inquisitors scry on the PCs, does some other divinations, realizes that ambushes might just get her inquisitors killed. So she orders Kreven (in adventure 8) to accelerate his tests, which prompts the attack on Seaquen with the blizzard elementals. She might also send some devils to infiltrate Seaquen and just slaughter innocents in the town, leaving behind at each massacre a tablet that reads "More shall die until Ragesia has the Torch." In any event, Seaquen realizes they need to move against Kreven and the Koren Obelisk. This is exceptionally difficult without a functional Torch.

Mhm, that's kind of what I was thinking about. I'd do the whole council scene from adventure 8 to show them that they really need the torch and that their enemies would want to get it anyway. This plays well into their cards, as drawing the enemies out of Ycengled/Phorros would be their first aim. They'll have to live with the casualties in Seaquen though as this way *they* are the ones responsible for drawing the Ragesian attention to the city.

Honestly, unless you've diverged a bit from the adventures as written, there aren't really enough Taranesti to restore anything. Not enough managed to escape the genocide perpetrated by the Shahalesti to create a full nation.

I didn't deviate that much. I kept the 36 Taranesti in Ycengled and added a small group of survivors (~10) in Gate Pass. My players know as well that they wouldn't make a full nation anytime soon. However, as both of my players are playing young elves, they tend to think on the long term and getting Ycengled back would be a symbolic act for those who survived and it would ensure that they'd have their peace and freedom. They hope that they can (after cleansing the Temple from the "ancient evil" they have been warned of) some day bring back life to Ycengled by using a seedling of the First Tree. And they thought that this political situation would be just the right time to get Ycengled from the Shahalesti (not that anyone wants to live there anyway...). How they'd want to repopulate the Taranesti race is a whole different story.

Oh, the instant Rhuarc's in the room with anyone Shaaladel cares about, he decides to kill them. So he basically feigns indifference, lets people talk or whatever, and waits for Shalosha to have only her bodyguard around (he can have his shadow spy on her if necessary). Unless the party really keeps him on lockdown, he'd hide in plain sight, slip away, pepper Shalosha with some poison and shatterspell arrows, then hide and skirmish - harrying them with tragedies - until Shalosha is dead. If he dies after that, eh, no big. Unless the party somehow gave him a wild new love of life, he was expecting to die anyway, and murdering Shaaladel's daughter would be more satisfying than even getting the bastard himself. I'd say basically the only way this doesn't happen is if the party keeps Rhuarc manacled constantly, or if Shalosha announces a desire to murder her own father.

Or maybe Rhuarc plays the long con and waits until they're in the temple, then tries to kill errybody. I imagine it's damned hard to spot a shadowdancer in a constantly shifting hallucination of memories.

This is a rather delicate situation for me. They told Rhuarc that Shalosha is not really on her father's side and that she has agreed to aid them. Not that she'd want him dead, but... she kind of understands the necessity for a change of rulership if there shall ever be peace. One of my PCs really loves Shalosha (which was/is quite a tragic story as she doesn't love him back and he's constantly torn between Torrent and Shalosha), so trying to kill her - and his chances to succeed are quite high - would add a lot of drama (for good or bad). Rhuarc has also had a little bit of bonding with my Taranesti PC who is trying to show "his people" - including Rhuarc - that there is still hope and that those who have wronged them were and will be punished. I could easily see my Cuin and Rhuarc go on a happy hunt for Shaaladel together. However, Cuin is sure that Shahalesti needs a queen Shalosha soon or they'll never change their ways.

I feel that having Shalosha in the temple is one of the key ways to turn her against her father, since she gets to witness Shaaladel enact a genocide. I'm not sure how best to get her there, though. Aside from her, hm, do you have any NPCs from Seaquen, Dassen, or elsewhere whom you don't intend to bring back -- maybe one of the lords of Dassen decides to join with Ragesia and shows up with a retinue, or the mage Kiernan figures Seaquen cannot win and so betrays the Lyceum. Maybe some priest the PCs met at the temple in Seaquen is actually a spy. Perhaps Koren the Wayfarer shows up and just has a contingent teleport spell to get her outside the temple when she's sufficiently injured, so the party knows who she is in adventure 8.

Koren would be a good idea, but I fear that she'll end up dead as my PCs can be quite deadly once they have taken a quarry - especially if they really bring Rhuarc with them. The Namin siblings from Dassen could be allys of Shaaladel or Aurana. I guess I will be toying a bit with how to best get Shalosha to the temple after the war council (to which she will be invited... so she and my PCs would really be pissed if Shaaladel would send Telshanth instead) and start from there.