As a result I let them make characters as they wanted and unleashed them upon the world of Eberron to do whatever they wanted.
Long story short, they're now 4th level and have just last session placed an Evil Hobgoblin Mercenary Captain upon the throne in Thronehold. I kinda ran with all of it, they seem to be having a blast, but I'm curious what is going to happen next...
Some basic things: the Throne Warden detachment is sworn to defend "he who wears the crown of the five nations." So, although very pissed and unhappy, they are kinda forced to defend this new Hobgoblin king.
The Wardens are also a powerful fighting force, cut above the norm for soldiers, and quite capable of defending the castle.
I want the players' actions to have impact on the world, so I'd rather not deal with this by stating "assassins kill him, back to status quo"
But, what do you think would happen now? What would the nations of Khorvaire do when they hear of the news in a few days? What will their response be? What would the newly crowned king do? He might get the townfolk in Thronehold to follow him (the players already dealt with the main thieves' guild and he has the Wardens to back him up) but beyond that, he's not going to have much influence.
He also doesn't have a lot of followers left; many died when they invaded the castle and conquered the crown.
Looking for fun suggestions on how to continue from here. Thanks for any responses, always much appreciated!
If all it took to get the Throne Wardens on one's side was to put the crown in Thronehold on one's head, the Last War wouldn't have lasted 100 years. Something's gotta be up here. I know you don't just want a "assassins come and return to status quo", but not one of the Five Nations is going to ratify that claim. So...they should expect some assassins, even if the PCs foil them. Darguun is probably the only nation that will. I doubt you'd see any support from anywhere, as even the Talenta halflings and Valenar don't like hobgoblins.
The Throne Wardens' duty to protect 'he who wears the crown' refers to the crown more in a figurative, politcal sense, rather than any yahoo who puts a specific piece of metal on his head. That would mean back in the days of Galifar, any street thief who grabbed it from the king during a parade or something would considered king for those purposes. That's not how things work. The king would have to be crowned in a specific ceremony, and the rulers of the Five Nations (read as: 4 1/2) ;) would have to surrender the sovereignty of their crowns to said ruler. We know Kaius and Aurala won't. And I don't see the good Cardinal from Thrane being a big fan of that either.
You can't just sail to that island on a boat, sit on the big chair, put on the hat and call that legit.
Supreme Executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not some farcical aquatic ceremony!
...ok got a little carried away.
But seriously, I would prepare some big time repurcussions, as no one in Khorvaire is gonna accept this. I know you want your players to have an impact on the world, but they're only level 4 right now. Level 4 isn't exactly the point at which they are really prepared to deal with the world-altering stuff. Who knows? This plan blowing up could sehway into an entirely new direction. Perhaps after being chased out of Thronehold, the players are on the run from the law (I'm certain more than one nation would want to seek reprisal for what happened). They could get involved with the criminal underworld, perhaps the Boromir Clan in Sharn, or maybe even the Daask. Necessity makes for strange bedfellows, after all.
Heh, it wasn't as easy as "walk into the castle, put on the crown", obviously. The Wardens kicked ass, the wards on the crown nearly killed the new king and the players only barely defeated the guardians and held back the wardens while the new king was revived. It was a combination of luck, daring, and plot that made this guy king.
Plus, that vow only works on the Wardens, not on the rest of the world.
Big time repercussions will definatly happen. I'm fine with their being a major dispute, perhaps armies marching on Thronehold, assassins aiming for the king and his advisors, and ultimately maybe plunging the world back into war (I remember reading that it was already balancing on the edge as the players began with their stories)
Maybe I'll even give them a chance to make amends at a higher level, once they realise what they did. (I never said this was a good idea or that I wanted a happy ending, they certainly deserve see what happens when you put an illegitemate, evil king on the throne with no support)
Definately see Darguun as being the main supporter here... maybe the players should go there to get support and new followers, and they'll hear the stories on what's happening up in Thronehold along the way.
After that all the trouble of the world will be coming down on him and I see his chances slim of even using one inch of his perceived power. Yes perceived, he controls 50, tops 100, wardens now. Boo hoo, he can probably lord over Thronehold for a week or so before either getting starved or die at the hand of one to ten assassins. His main problem is the limited sphere of influence he has, he either needs a good and strong ally quick or disappear while he still can.
The countries spiraling into war is a really nice touch. Thronehold is like Berlin in 1946 and the slightest provocation could fuel a rage of war.
Perhaps starting the next session with them in jail... that'll at least teach them to work with people they can trust. Then, they can escape from the castle through the Warden Initiation (which is a massive deathtrap that leads from the castle to just outside the walls to train new Wardens) with the help of one guy they know within the Wardens that doesn't follow the rules too closely.
In the meanwhile, small armies might start gathering near the castle. Afterall; why would the kings of the other nations not try to invade the castle to slay the king and grab the crown in the progress, instead of sending an assassin and still not have the crown after? Eventually, this might get out of hand.
The party will have to flee from Thronehold and head to somewhere else...
Thanks for the ideas, this sounds like a good starting point
Whatever angle you go with, just remeber one thing. There hasn't been a overthrow of any goverment in history that ended peacefully with the new lead installed. They either have to either rule with an iron fist or dont unpack their bags. Ironically I think you found yourself a gold mine because you can go any direction you want. Good Luck.
Whatever angle you go with, just remeber one thing. There hasn't been a overthrow of any goverment in history that ended peacefully with the new lead installed. They either have to either rule with an iron fist or dont unpack their bags.
Nitpicking, but this is not exactly true. There have been many peaceful changes of government, or those that involved violence before the change, but not once it was won. It all depends on the circumstances of the change and the support the new ruler has. Not all revolutions were as violent as the French revolution ;)
Now, if it was me, I'd figure out a way to set the doomsday clock at five minutes to midnight, have all the nations on the brink of declaring war again.....and then drop a prophecy that says that not only were the PCs going to put the hobgoblin king on the throne, but that when the war starts again, Eberron will be destroyed. I'd also make it into a Lords of Dust plot, but that's 'cause I think that they're responsible for everything.
Thanks Ogiwan.
The Crown of Galifar is in fact an old Dhakanni artifact that Humans stole from them when they conquered Khorvaire after the degradation of their Empire. Retrieving the Crown and giving it back to the Dhakanni clans (that opposes Darguun's ruler) would be the first step into taking over Darguun and rallying the goblins scattered across the Five Nations, giving the Dhakanni ruler a huge threat against the Five Nations.
I'd go with the Daughter's of Sora Kell being benefactors to the Dhakanni clans and it new ruler. Old alliances with Orcs and other monstrous races can be reintalled, and the monsters that dislikes the goblins back in the Empire's days could either have a short memory or be wiling to compromise because they want to be on the Hags side. However, the Hags motive isn't one where the Dhakanni Empire is on the edge of restitution.
After the Hobgoblin took the Crown of Galifar, the next step will be to get it back to the Dhakanni ruler. The Wardens can't come since they need to protect the rest of the Thronehold treasure. In this way, war is not on the edge of Thronehold, since the Crown is nowhere to be found. I'd say the Dhakanni ruler is in Droaam, just for the sake of bringing the PCs there to meet the Hags.
Prophecy: The Crown needs to be at a certain place at a certain time in order to do something. Sora Tereza (the prophet one) can be the one presenting the prophecy to the pcs without her sisters knowing. Maybe she gives them the time but not the place, thus putting the pcs in quests to figure out the place, and discovering other parts of the Prophecy that says what it will do.
Rekko
Personally, I think that would be a far more interesting set of plot hooks than it being a PC screw up.
Then the PCs have to continue to support this new King of Galifar, because he is what is good for the region. Have his motives be to unite the five nations and the goblinoids and other monstrous races in peace.
I'd find some way to work in a pledge of support from Kalastar and other anti current establishment Reidran forces in exchange for a promise of aid in their struggle, for extra win.
I mean, at level 4, they're a long time away from epic, and at this point in the campaign, they're a long way away from the dream of unity, and peace.
Nothing wrong with making the PCs more important than is normal for level 4.
Could his crowning be kept a secret from the general populace while the PCs run around trying to gain allies for the new king?
or his location hidden, at least?
Supporters of a King in exile sounds like one hell of a campaign premise.
The premise is good, but it's too late for that now
Although it sounds like fun, unfortunatly this Hobgoblin is firmly established as an evil bastard who tortures captives for the heck of it, so I don't think "Good alignment" nor "Good king" at this time will really work anymore.
The premise is good, but it's too late for that now
Bummer.
Well, maybe I'll steal the idea for a future campaign at some point. :D
As for support: Droaam, Darguun, maybe the Shadow Marches, maybe the Eldeen Reaches. Can a country and its leaders get something out of supporting this guy? Can they get something for attacking him? That's the questions that the big-wigs need to answer.
I'm going to consider what countries have something to gain here...
At any rate, the session was run a few days ago. The players were imprisoned by the new king (they were pissed at him. There might be a very satisfying vengeance somewhere in the future) but then left the jail with the help of one of the Wardens who was giving a writing from the prophecy by an ally the party doesn't know yet (well... they kinda know this person, but they haven't made the link yet)
They tied up a few loose ends in Thronehold with some of the NPC's, gathered their stuff and then ran for the docks, buying passage ASAP to Flamekeep. Their new goal at this time, is hunting down the Goblin messengers that are bringing world to Darguun.
The prophecy was a really nice touch. They enjoyed reading it and thinking about it (I wrote it down on a note, with a handwriting for their allies' scribbles and the prophecy in a different handwriting) and hid a bunch of clues in the note; they took it home, I'm hoping they'll analyse it some more.
They did also misread a part, which might be a real fun discovery later (one player read the note to the others, and in both readings mentioned "chained" instead of "marked", which in Dutch are only a letter apart) so there's some fun to be had with that note.
All in all, it went well and I'd like to thank everyone for thinking along with me, it's really got this campaign in motion again after I was afraid the story would stall.
....and feel free to tell us the details you didn't reveal, so we can collectively cackle with glee at your machinations.
The story so far, is that the players started out by running amok and clueless (first time players) and after two sessions of mucking about with random happenings (I remember slaughtering a sheep for food, and traumatising a poor little shepherd) they moved to Thronehold (they wanted information on the Mourning and hoped they could find it in the castle-library)
There, they fought with a bunch of bandits in the employ of the Silverfingers, the thieves' guild that held most of the power. They lived that one through and tried to get to the castle, but the Throne Wardens didn't let them in.
So they went to sleep in the stable of an Inn (cheapskates)... the following "morning" they woke up in a stone room with no windows, in a very creepy Inn-like building located on the Shadowfell. In the basement they found a poor, delusional woman. They also found a strange book with a screaming face on it.
After unsuccesfully questioning the poor woman (she was deathly terrified of the book) they heard sounds outside, as swarms of undead surrounded the building, all of them whispering "the book... give us the book". Obviously, they considered this a challenge, barricaded the building and then fought a Ghoul and a swarm of zombies and skeletons trying to steal the book from the Druid, eventually having to pull back into their sleeping room... there, everything slowly went dark and then they woke up again, but this time back in the old Inn´s stables, still battered and bruised, and holding the book.
Afterwards, they received a message from a trembling Innkeeper that their presence was requested by a man named Corrin, the leader of the Silverfingers, in their relaxation-house called "Sweet Dreams". They went over, and heard that they had a debt with the Silverfingers, for 60gp (mooring costs for the party) and 6 dead bandits. To pay it off, they could either give a lot of money (which they didn't have) or help Corrin deal with a new group of bandits in the city (the Panach Draal, a group of Goblins and Hobgoblins led by Kal, who is now King of Thronehold)
Instead of fighting and defeating the Hobgoblins, they lost the fight and decided to turncoat and join the Hobgoblins instead. So, they ran a bunch of errants for the Hobgoblins (including stealing stuff from the Silverfingers' warehouse, taming a Rage Drake and searching for a traitor within the Panach Draal) before making an assault on the Silverfingers' hide-out, killing a lot of thieves and capturing Corrin himself, effectively destroying the Silverfinger's in one big swoop.
That was, I think, the first 3 levels or so.
Next, Kal received a strange painting of him and his brother hanging from the gallows, signed by a painter called "Kasuie". The party searched the city for him, and eventually found him in the auction house. The Eladrin Druid instantly fell in love with the guy (I love her ideas and roleplaying, she's great!) but since they had to capture him, she decided to seduce him.
They had a romantic date, moved to a romantic, open place in the woods, and then the two big Dragonborn beat the snot out of him. His feelings for the cute Eladrin where obviously quite gone after that.
They took Kasuie back to the Goblin hideout for questioning, before eventually finding out they got the wrong guy (woops). The painting, while marked in his name, was not in his style... they explored a small Feywild village and asked some other Eladrin only to find out that Kasuie had a brother, whom he didn´t see eye to eye with, that had a very grim style of painting.
He lived in the shadowfell.
So, they set out to explore the Shadowfell. Unfortunatly, the only portal to it was inside the old Inn, so they set out to get moved there. They remembered, just a bit to late, that they left the Inn full of undead...
When they arrived, it was empty. Downstairs, they found the insane woman again, who had transformed into a Wight and also tried to steal the book, along with another Wight and a new swarm of zombies... they managed to deal with the dark want the Wight had and the Zombies ran off.
From there, they went to Elume's (Kasuie's brother) home, and in true adventurer style kicked in the door, beat him unconsious and dragged him back as well.
He, too, was questioned, and they eventually found out that the whole painting was a joke (woops, again) requested by the traitor to remove attention from him. They now had two innocent Eladrin sitting there, waiting to be tortured and murdered by a Hobgoblin.
They continued their search for the traitor. That night, they were "attacked" by two Halflings who were discussing which Dragonborn was the biggest because they had to kill that one. Everyone woke up and the Halflings ran off, luring the party away towards something called the "Gauntlet", a special training for Throne Wardens that each Warden runs to be accepted, and that leads from inside the castle prison to a hidden place at the base of the hills.
After capturing the assassin, they abandoned the rest of the track, and took him home. From the assassin they finally got the clues they needed to find the traitor, and he was then dealt with along with the people helping him (Silverfinger members that wanted the guild rebuilt)
After that, they heard that Kal's brother finally broke the ritual that warded the castle floors from breaching, and the band quickly punched through (the Goblin hideout was below the castle and they were digging tunnels under it) and assaulted the castle with a few of the Hobgoblins, with the remaining Goblins acting as a diversion at the front gate.
They made it into the throne room, where the crown was cursed and Kal was struck KO while a series of magical arms and armor came alive and attacked the players. The Druid and the advisor broke the spell while the Hobgoblins held the door closed to keep the Wardens out and the other players kept the animated battlegear busy.
They kept them busy long enough, the spell broke, and Kal woke up just in time to save everyone from getting killed by the Wardens that busted through the door. Since they were bound to serve "the wearer of the crown" they had to accept him as ruler.
There ended the session and this is where I asked for your advice.
Then the previous session they escaped the castle, having most of their gear back (only the magical book was stolen... the Hobgoblin advisor has been after it since he found out about it, and finally took it) by running the Gauntlet from the inside. They were given about 20 minutes to complete the encounters, so resting was hard, and they had to run the last encounters (a set of animated statues, followed by a room full of poison darts and jumping across a pit) in one go, the Rogues opening the doors and disabling the traps with the others holding back the statues, but they made it out in time.
They met up with Kasuie and Elume, who the Druid gave means to escape just before everybody left to storm the castle. She tried very hard to save them, and they eventually considered them "even", and left each other in peace.
They ran to the docks, bartered for a captain to move them to Flamekeep asap and left on the ship, hunting for a group of Goblins that are bringing word to Darguun.
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What I'm planning right now is some fun in Flamekeep... I was reading up on Thrane and I'm going to get some nice religious hooks I think. The Goblins they want aren't there (they moved to Shadukar instead where they have allies and Wolves to ride to Darguun) but they'll meet up with them at some point I guess.. depending on their actions.
I definately want to give them a show of how different Flamekeep (and Thrane in general) is from Thronehold, so I think whatever they're going to do consists of a trip to the Silver Flame Citadel and meeting some of the religious (both the friendly and insane kind)
For the far future, once they deal with the messengers the prophecy they had said that "Under the signs of the four that remained, the invisible word was greater then the crown and the sword".
I'm not 100% sure how it comes out, but the original reference to the "sign of the four that remained" was to the four kingdoms (Cyre being the one that didn't make it) and the invisible word references the magical book which can only be read by its rightful owner.
The book is a powerful and evil artefact, so it's probably going to corrupt its current owner (the Hobgoblin) and make him into something demonic. Getting it back will be a nice challenge but the Druid is determined to get it.
I think the Book will actually remain a plot point for a long while; I have some nice ideas with it (it belonged to an ancient Warlock that had three pacts, one with each of the great powers and is supposedly gone; he might be making his return through the power of his book)
Wow. This is a lot of text. Sorry for that, I guess we've been playing longer and have a bigger story then I thought.