Keep on the Borderlands - The Path of Evil - Session 7

Day 3 – Burg Liechenstein

“We’ll you’re back. We didn’t expect that. And who is this that you’ve got with you?” asks the Knight of Irori.

Lucien responds, “Knight Lorenz, I am sorely vexed by your lack of confidence in us. And what are our men, the True Spear Company to think that you allowed us to take them to what you thought was their doom?”

DM’s Note: Lucien has undertaken this action to attempt to manipulate, to somewhat shame Lorenz to make him predisposed to be more accommodating to make up for it later. This is quite an innovative use of the rules. To simulate the success or not of this we’ll take a straight DC+0 test to be successful and if successful a future bonus of +5 will be given to a future Diplomacy test. Lorenz’s attitude is indifferent so the DC is 15 + 0 = 15 and Lucien has a Diplomacy modifier of 12 so he’ll need to roll a 3 or better. He rolls a 13 and gains a future one off favorable modifier which he can use at his discretion.

“Err well, I only meant….” Lorenz never gets to finish the sentence before Lucien dismisses his response with a wave. He turns to Talmark and asks, “Talmark, why don’t you introduce our new friend, newly rescued from certain death.”

 

Talmark steps forward and in a deep voice announces “Knight Lorenz we present Brother Sildar whom we rescued from the goblins. He had been travelling to the Burg to join the Knights Irori but he was waylaid and captured.”

Sildar shuffles forward and makes the sign of the open palm salute to which Knight Lorenz proffers a return salute. 

 He thanks the party and calls forth two of the brothers to take the weakened Sildar away for rest and recuperation.

Before he leaves, Sildar and Lorenz confer. Knight Lorenz addresses the party “Sildar has informed me of his pact with you to return him safely for 50gp. I take it you’ve got a bounty of dead goblins and no doubt other monsters that you’re going to collect from the Captain. I’ll inform the Captain and when you go to see him you can collect your fee then.”

“In the meantime, you’ll need to pay the entrance fee.” Knight Lorenz puts his hand out, “One each for you Talmark, Lucien and Kord, five for the True Spear Mercenary Company and one for Sildar. That’s 9gp thanks.”

Outraged that they’ve got to pay another fee and that they’ve got to pay for Sildar, Lucien begins to argue with the Knight.

“There is no debate”, answers Lorenz, “the rules are the law and if you want to enter you’ll need to pay the fee.”

Begrudgingly Lucien pays the fee and the party enter the Burg.

DM’s note: I realise that at this point the party might have wanted to barter or negotiate between themselves and the True Spear Mercenary Company as to who was liable to pay for their fee. To just keep the story kicking along I moved on without checking with the players. If they players wish to recover the fee from the Company, they still have the opportunity as they currently owe the Company 10gp (5gp for one day’s fees and 5gp for one day’s upkeep). For the sake of pre-empting this potential desire of the players, if they do wish to recover the entrance fee the Company will argue that the entrance fee is part of their costs and so their patron is liable for that cost as well as their living costs (of 1gp each per man per day). If the party recovers the fee from them there isn’t much they can do about it (they could try to take it to a tribunal but they probably won’t) but they probably will let everyone know that they’ve been jiped and they’ll leave the employ of the party.

It’s late and the party and the men at arms retire to the Cold Hart Tavern to recuperate.

That night many tall tales are told of goblins, wolves and bugbears slaughtered at the skilled hands of the party. A lonely elf is listening to the party from a dark corner in the tavern.

He approaches the party and introduces himself as Malandir………

He tells them of his background.

 

Malandir is the unwanted offspring of the rape of a female elf by a Drow mercenary. His mother died soon after his birth, enslaved as a play-thing of her Drow captors. The young elf was robust and agile, with an air of intelligence beyond his years ... perhaps that what saved his life. The Drow noble into whose household he was born, saw that he could be valuable and he was used from a young age to spy upon the goblinoids who lived on the fringes of the stronghold that was to be his home for the first 100 years of his life. In that time, he learned to climb, to sit quietly, to observe........ and to acquire things of value with subtlety. Perhaps his most significant failing, unsurprising given his childhood, was a lack of empathy for others and the unerring inability to get on with others. Unwanted, aloof, irascible and apt to speak his mind with no thoughts for others, as he grew older he was drawn further into the shadows. His overlord began to use him as a scout and messenger, and after one long patrol in the woods tracking a band of goblins to their lair, he returned to find a large band of knights encamped about the still burning ruins of the only place he had called home. Every Drow he had ever known was dead, their heads displayed in a row on pikes, the chanting of the fervent clerics a loathsome noise to him. With nothing but his arms and armour, his wits and the few skills he had learned roaming the wilderness, Malandir set out to make a new life for himself....in Cheliax. He had heard of a place called Burg Liechenstein and there he would find an inn and keep his ears open for a group in need of keen eyes and ears, and his other myriad skills.

Malandir is 6'3'', 125lbs, athletically built. He has blue grey eyes and pale, almost white blond hair. His skin is pale as a result of spending most of his life underground.

Personal Morale: Malandir is self-assured, confident, but is no hero. Having nobody, he owes nothing to anyone ... and will not sacrifice himself. He sees any party he joins as a means to an end, a source of money and opportunity. If they are outnumbered by four to one, or a fight that he thinks they cannot win, he will seek an opportune moment to save himself.

Key hates or likes: Malandir hates LG clerics and paladins. They destroyed his home and he will seek revenge against all such NPCs, but he is not going to throw his life away. He also despises music, especially annoying little Halfling bards......

Interacting with non-party members: Malandir speaks as little as possible to ordinary folk, having little time for them and a great distain for non-Drow or half Drow like himself.

Combat strategy: Fight from distance using his longbow, preferably from cover on a flank, always with an exit route. If cornered, use his longsword to fight his way out.

Interacting with doors: Search the door approach and frame for traps, listen and test locks carefully. Easy does it .....

Party formation: Either scouting well to the Front, especially in low light conditions where his dark vision allows him to not use a light source. Otherwise, when combat imminent, on the flank or to the rear with a good line of sight.

General Demeanor: Quiet, reserved, watchful. He drinks but little, preferring not to dull his senses. He is too smart to try stealing things in large towns, but on the road any innocents or traders he meets might be fair game for a little sporting theft. He will present himself to any party as a scout for hire and remain focused on the mission in order to win their favour and trust. He has a taste for goblin biltong which he makes, and likes to fashion his own arrows.

DM’s Note: And onto a bit of admin. The following table provides an overview of NPC’s that the party have meet and NPC’s that they may not have as yet met but have heard of as some stage. The Attitude column is the NPC’s current attitude towards the party and it also represents which NPC’s the party have meet so far (ie no attitude then they haven’t been met as yet). The Known Personality trait is just that but not all personality traits are necessarily known by the party at this point in time. I have a random personality trait table that I’ve been using to develop the NPC personalities. It’s quite handy actually because it adds a lot of randomness to the roles of the NPCs (there are 20 different personalities on the table). Generally there are two personality traits for most of key NPC’s but some, such as the men at arms, only have one.

DEW