D&D 5E Who is Pock Marked Po?

[Yenrak]

SPOILER ALERT!

Pock Marked Po is the Zhentarim agent in Port Nyanzaru. My question is how he got that way? How did Pock Marked Po wind up part of the Zhentarim? How does he communicate with with Zhents? What is he doing to advance their goals?

I’m looking for answers that are either from the adventures or novels or for creative answers from other players/DMs.

 

[Rumpled]

Pock-Marked Po

Po is a human male in his mid-30’s with dusky skin and black hair. An illness that nearly took Po’s life ravaged his body. His face is heavily scarred, he is nearly blind in one eye, and he walks with a painful, stooped gait. His hands are gnarled and twisted and has difficulty with fine motor...

adventurersleague.fandom.com

This answers the pock-marked question…

 

[Yenrak]

Pock-Marked Po

Po is a human male in his mid-30’s with dusky skin and black hair. An illness that nearly took Po’s life ravaged his body. His face is heavily scarred, he is nearly blind in one eye, and he walks with a painful, stooped gait. His hands are gnarled and twisted and has difficulty with fine motor...

adventurersleague.fandom.com

This answers the pock-marked question…

Thanks. Unfortunately, it doesn't really answer the question.

 

[Rumpled]

It answers how he got that way. There is another document that goes over general faction goals:

https://www.victoriaescapegames.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/DDAL_FACTION_GUIDE_v701.pdf

Perhaps there is paid content that fills in the details you are looking for, but I found these free resources earlier. Good luck.

 

[Quickleaf]

SPOILER ALERT!

Pock Marked Po is the Zhentarim agent in Port Nyanzaru. My question is how he got that way? How did Pock Marked Po wind up part of the Zhentarim? How does he communicate with with Zhents? What is he doing to advance their goals?

I’m looking for answers that are either from the adventures or novels or for creative answers from other players/DMs.

He was a NPC from the AL modules and the ToA Epic from live play. A lot of your questions were never "officially" answered, AFAIK.

When I used him, it was really a brief cameo in Nyanzaru, but my answers were:

• Po was "pock-marked" by a disease that traced back to the Sewn Sisters' early tests in preparation for their master Acererak's unleashing the "Death Curse." The disease was associated with mammalian tribes that lived near the Aldani Basin, which is where Po traced his ancestral roots to.
• Po wasn't satisfied with the efforts of Merchant Princes to reclaim lost lands of jungle tribes, viewing them as sell-outs. From his perspective, Po was "using" the Zhentarim to get ahead and leverage himself as the crime boss of Nyanzaru's Old City. Whether that was objectively true was up for grabs, as the Zhentarim had multiple agents operating with little knowledge of each other.
• Po communicates with his Zhentarim handler via a particularly devious trained flying monkey – can't recall the monkey's name, but I believe it was in one of the AL modules – which carried ciphered written messages and animal messenger spells.
• In my game, the Zhentarim wanted to become the shadowy power behind the throne of Nyanzaru. Essentially, they wanted to bring Mwaxanare (or another Omuan or Mezroan noble) under their sway, and propel her to power.
• Whereas Po wanted to elevate himself above the Merchant Princes, and was willing to attach himself to a new monarchism in order to improve his standing.

 

[aco175]

I read the thread title totally wrong and in my mind added an O.

 

[Yenrak]

He was a NPC from the AL modules and the ToA Epic from live play. A lot of your questions were never "officially" answered, AFAIK.

When I used him, it was really a brief cameo in Nyanzaru, but my answers were:

• Po was "pock-marked" by a disease that traced back to the Sewn Sisters' early tests in preparation for their master Acererak's unleashing the "Death Curse." The disease was associated with mammalian tribes that lived near the Aldani Basin, which is where Po traced his ancestral roots to.
• Po wasn't satisfied with the efforts of Merchant Princes to reclaim lost lands of jungle tribes, viewing them as sell-outs. From his perspective, Po was "using" the Zhentarim to get ahead and leverage himself as the crime boss of Nyanzaru's Old City. Whether that was objectively true was up for grabs, as the Zhentarim had multiple agents operating with little knowledge of each other.
• Po communicates with his Zhentarim handler via a particularly devious trained flying monkey – can't recall the monkey's name, but I believe it was in one of the AL modules – which carried ciphered written messages and animal messenger spells.
• In my game, the Zhentarim wanted to become the shadowy power behind the throne of Nyanzaru. Essentially, they wanted to bring Mwaxanare (or another Omuan or Mezroan noble) under their sway, and propel her to power.
• Whereas Po wanted to elevate himself above the Merchant Princes, and was willing to attach himself to a new monarchism in order to improve his standing.

Nice ideas! Thanks!