Help Wanted: The Broken Tower Epilogue

[pookie]

Having run The Broken Tower, I am planning to run a session dealing with its aftermath when the characters return to the tribe with the cattle. The characters are an Orlanthi Noble, an Ernalda Earth Priestess, an Eurmali Entertainer, a Humakti Warrior, and an Old Tarshite Herder. They returned with both cattle raiders captured, a good two thirds of the cattle surviving, and the Ernalda Priestess having sacrificed to the Stone Woman.

I have specific NPCs interested in what some of the characters learned.

• So the chieftain’s wife will ask general questions and will primarily be interested in dealing with arranging ransom and repayment from the offending tribe. She will general questions and take advice, but will be primarily interested in what the Orlanthi Noble has to say.
• The Lankor Mhy priest will want to know more about the Broken Tower and want to get up there soon. He will ask everyone questions
• The Maran Gor priestess will demand to know more about the Stone Woman and want to go there immediately. She will have lots of questions for the Ernalda Earth Priestess. 

Which leaves the other three characters. I want to involve them, but am not sure how. Anyone have any suggestions?
 

[Sumath]

The Humakti could be asked about decisions the party made regarding confrontations/encounters and about the outcomes of any melee. Also for an assessment of the fighting prowess/future threat of the Stone Woman to the clan. As a custodian of the truth he may also be asked for an opinion upon Danakos' motivations, and what threat he poses (if he is still alive/at large).

The Herder might be quizzed upon the health of the cattle returned and asked about how the clan's herders were murdered (and by whom). They might also be asked how many cattle would constitute a suitable ransom/restitution from the Grey Dogs.

The Eurmali could be asked to conjecture upon Danakos' state of mind, and also that of the Stone Woman. As an entertainer, the Eurmali may know (Lore roll) the story of Danakos' kinstrife and/or the mythology of the Stone Woman. They could also be asked to compose a song/poem to commemorate the party's/clan's achievements in recovering their cattle, avenging their kin and overcoming a goddess.

For all of them, their Rune affinities (especially Powers) could be used as inspiration for what they might be asked about, since this is an indication of how other people will perceive them and upon what subjects their opinion might be valued.

[pookie]

Those are really useful suggestions. Thank you.

[styopa]

5 hours ago, pookie said:

Which leaves the other three characters. I want to involve them, but am not sure how. Anyone have any suggestions?
 

While I sympathize with your intent, IMHO you're going to run out of gas quickly trying to find a motivation for every character in every adventure.  Sumath gave some great suggestions but sometimes you're just going along to keep your buddy from doing something stupid.

[pookie]

Oh I am not planning to dangle motivation after motivation or dangle hook after hook for each character in every single scenario I plan to run. I have one player who is at heart a Dungeons & Dragons player and so would be happy with lots of fights, and he will get that. I have another who likes to mess things up and this the Eurmali. The session I am planning as the epilogue will be heavier on roleplaying and so I want to pull them a bit further into the setting and engage their characters in the clan. Just for a single session. After that, I have adventure after adventure planned which they will be happy to play.

 

[g33k]

Also the Stone Woman looks to have some serious Death orientation, so the Humakti may have an interest in that...

[pookie]

7 minutes ago, g33k said:

Also the Stone Woman looks to have some serious Death orientation, so the Humakti may have an interest in that...

 True. One of the side effects of the Ernalda Earth Priestess having been initiated into the Stone Woman's cult is an increase in her Death Rune. I shall have to give further thought to the Humakti's role.

[jajagappa]

8 hours ago, pookie said:

Which leaves the other three characters.

Based on your descriptions, I'm assuming the pregens you've already noted are Yanioth (earth priestess), Sorala (sage), and either Harmast (noble trader) or Vasana (Orlanthi)?  And that the remaining 3 are likely: Vasana (or Harmast), Vostor the 7 Mothers, and probably Vishi Dunn (since Nathem was a later addition)?

If Vishi Dunn was there, I'd probably be asking about whether he perceived hostile spirits, or saw any disturbances in the Spirit World there suggesting danger. (i.e. is Idrima's power coming solely from the Earth, or is she drawing upon other powers in the Spirit World that might either 1) make her more formidable/dangerous; or 2) disrupt the "balance of power" in that part of the Spirit World.

The health of the herd was already noted. These may be cattle that are planned for some other ritual.  If it's before Sacred Time 1625, then Leika plans to send them to Boldhome to aid Kallyr's LBQ. If after that, then Leika plans to send them to some other Orlanthi/Ernalda holy site (e.g. Whitewall, Greenstone, 3-Emerald) to gain some favorable blessings to counter the dire omens resulting from the failed LBQ.

Presuming that @Sumath meant Vostor when noting "Humakti", and I'd agree that the Clan Champion is going to ask questions of all melee participants to gauge how physically formidable Idrima is.

With Vasana or Harmast, there are questions about the Greydogs to consider. Was Danakos killed? If so, was he buried? What of the other Greydogs? Think about whether Greydog search parties (or Divination spells) have uncovered what happened, or if ghosts have been left behind. What's going to happen when the Greydogs arrive demanding weregild?

Generally, did they see signs of other threats. Perhaps Tusk Riders have been seen in the area - did they see any of them? And do they think it possible that Tusk Riders might join up with Idrima?

[pookie]

@jajagappa, I am not using the pre-generated characters from The Broken Tower. I wanted the players to learn the character sheet (one can never find his way around a character sheet) and create a character they could invest in. Thus I had then create their own. I will be using the pre-generated characters, but as NPCs. Sorala will be part of the Clan as I need a Lhankor Mhy sage, but the others will probably appear as NPCs when the player characters go to parley with the Grey Dog clan. I will definitely include Vostor in that group as several of the player characters have a hatred of Lunars and at least one has a hatred of Lunar Tarshites.

[g33k]

15 hours ago, pookie said:

 True. One of the side effects of the Ernalda Earth Priestess having been initiated into the Stone Woman's cult is an increase in her Death Rune. I shall have to give further thought to the Humakti's role.

Hmmm.

An Ernalda priestess going Death-rune???  Again, that looks like something of interest to the Humakti...  increasing some player/player interactions!

[pookie]

19 minutes ago, g33k said:

Hmmm.

An Ernalda priestess going Death-rune???  Again, that looks like something of interest to the Humakti...  increasing some player/player interactions!

As yet, she may not actually get the Death Rune. She has the Life Rune at 90%, which will be weakened rather than lost...

[g33k]

Just now, pookie said:

As yet, she may not actually get the Death Rune. She has the Life Rune at 90%, which will be weakened rather than lost...

Yes, but still...  It may be something the Humakti can notice, and be interested in.

And if she pursues the Idrima link (further shifting Death/Life) it may increase that interest...  Does she eventually initiate into B.Gor or M.Gor?  Etc...

[jajagappa]

15 hours ago, pookie said:

@jajagappa, I am not using the pre-generated characters from The Broken Tower

ah, missed that bit! That noted, I think most of the points are still applicable to any group engaged with that scenario.

 

[styopa]

9 hours ago, g33k said:

Yes, but still...  It may be something the Humakti can notice, and be interested in.

"Well hello there priestess...I notice you've got a little Death Rune in you...would you like another...?"

[g33k]

1 hour ago, styopa said:

"Well hello there priestess...I notice you've got a little Death Rune in you...would you like another...?"

"I don't think so.  It's a ...  very little Death Rune, after all.  I'm sure if you go make a donation to Uleria, someone can help you."

 

[pookie]

Here is what I have so far...

Dorasa is the Orlanthi Noble, Jarang the Eurmli entertainer, Harmast the Humkakti, Arim the Herder, Marava the Earth Priestess.

Members of the tribal ring will ask the following questions.

Zarah, clan-chieftain’s wife (Inner Ring) [Will aim these questions at Dorasa.]:

Tell me what happened. What do we need to do to prevent this from happening again? What should we do next?

Zarah, clan-chieftain’s wife (Inner Ring) [Will aim these questions at Jarang.]:

What do you know of Danakos son of Egrost’ kinstrife? Was that enough to drive him to act? Will you celebrate your cousin’s success by composing a song?

Hedmakt Longbeard, Veteran Orlanthi Warrior, (Housecarl/Bodyguard) [Will primarily aim his questions at Harmast.]

There have been reports of Tusk Riders to the North, have you seen any? The Stone Woman, is she a threat to the clan? Did you see any other threats in the Badlands?  What did you make of Danakos’ motive? Is Danakos still a threat?  What advantage is he to us?

Londaral Tooth-Wind, Head Herdsman (Craftsman Ring): [Will primarily ask Arim.]

How many cattle did we lose? What is the condition of the cattle we brought back? How many cattle are we going to get as recompense? How can we take revenge?

Sorala Lace-Beard, Initiate of Lhankor Mhy (Priests’ Ring): [Will primarily ask Mareva.]

What did you see at the Broken Tower? What did you learn of the Stone Woman? Did you see anything else that might be interesting in the Badlands?

Erinala Stamps Hard, Assistant Priestess of Maran Gor [Will primarily demand information from Mareva.]

Tell me about the Stone Woman? Did the Stone Woman talk to you? Did you see anything else that might be interesting in the Badlands?

[Hzark10]

On 8/5/2019 at 4:41 PM, styopa said:

Sumath gave some great suggestions

Agreed. Not every scenario actively incorporates every character to the same extent. Was the Earth Priestess the only one who gave power to the Stone Woman? I assume there was battle, so questions about the battle strategies and effectiveness of the Sprul-Pa would also be asked of the Humaki. Was Chaos believed to be involved? undead? @g33 has good points as well regarding possible death runes, but the Stone Woman has only Earth and Disorder runes listed.  Death would seem logical since she accepts blood and as one of many daughters of Maran Gor who does have the Death Rune, followup will very likely involve her since she did sacrifice a point of power.  The sister/niece relationship of Maran/Stone Woman will be followed up.

[Ochoa]

This may not be useful to you, but I had my players race to return the Greydog bodies to their clan for proper  cremation -burial. It let me get them travelling and allowed me to introduce some tribe/clan politics. They actually made a Humakti friend who's going to help out in the big battle that ends their pilgrimage.

Edited August 28, 2019 by Ochoa