Black Hart

To Kill A King

DM's Notes: Chapter 6 - The Shriven Oak

Aranon has spent some times in Axewood village previously in my campaign, along with Fimuth the rake and other companions. Perhaps most memorable, however, was an event which Aranon was not party to, being dead frozen in the Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl. Peter was playing another cleric, Jon Floss, and as the result of a debauched night and drunken brawl, Fimuth ended up killing him. It was the days of teenage gaming, so there were no consequences as there might be now, but still I think of it as one of Fimuth's earliest tendencies towards evil.

Emarill is gone - I gave Peter so many chances and clues to keep hold of her that I decided the only way he could win her back would be prolonged effort. His attempt to sneak into Axewood Palace was moderately interesting, but doomed to failure.

Bermen's promotion to Major was played through, but edited for the story.

The card game involving Olidmarra was interesting and originally a fundamental part of the story. This whole story I had named 'One-Eyed Jacks and Suicide Kings' and thought it up about 5 years previous. It revolved around the King and his guilt at failing to rescue Baron Arganass and his men at the Battle of Galden Field. Then, however, Baron Arganass was wounded by losing an eye (i.e. the one-eyed Jack), however this had to change as single eyes were becoming too common (i.e. Akhan). The story was going to be that the depressed King committed suicide, but his chamberlain decided that the nation could not learn this, so he set up the Baron as murderer. The players' task was originally to be to uncover this deception and absolve the Baron. However, during idea-swapping sessions by e-mail with Jason Verbitsky we came across the interesting concept of Fimuth becoming a turncoat and helping the SB to assassinate the King. And so the plotline changed...

Aranon has indeed met Olidamarra (obviously his avatar) before, and he is very much a favoured son of the Laughing Rogue. As a player, Peter has had little advantage from this, but it makes things all the more interesting. The 'Watch' was another idea of mine, a trinket which would help pass on information - in this case to make him aware of Whisper and his activities with the Brotherhood of the Knot. Unfortunately Peter dropped out of the group and this info is lost to the party. As I write they will soon encounter him in Gradsul, and they could well be doing with anything that will ehlp them with that encounter.

Antagonism started here between Eloi and Aranon that continued throughout. A lot of this is down to real-life bitching between Stuart and Peter - they are friends, but have a certain bitchy manner between them. Sometimes it gets really petty and boring, although Stuart does occasionally have a point.

Karramic, Aranon's father, has never appeared IMC before in anything but name - he fathered Aranon to a Ketish dancing girl, but abandoned her for his career as Furyondyan ambassador ot Ket. Aranon's half-brother, the Chevalier Kh'Marra, has appeared before, although Aranon didn't know their relationship for much of that time, and kept it secret from the proud Cavalier when he did find out. Kh'Marra was the High Constable of Fax, the one whom Kro Arribal earlier spoke of unseating and hanging in his underwear outside the court.

The Brotherhood of the Knot - ahhh, fond memories. When my players finished A4, one of the Slave Lords, Lamonsten the Illusionist, escaped, diving into the waters and I decided he made it back alive. Now, one illusionist is no threat to a strong party, so I decided he begged the SB to let him take revenge on the fools who destroyed their lucrative business. And hence the Brotherood of the Knot.

The Fax Foreign Legion are again from my old campaign. The idea was that anyone who joined and served could be citizens of Fax thereafter, gaining protection from any other state that may lay claim to them for any reason (extradition or desertion, for example), kinda like the French Foreign Legion on which they are based. This was reasoned to be how a small town like Fax could afford the army it needed to protect itself.

The Olven bard's song was 'Wannabe' by the Spice Girls, which was popular at the time we were playing this part.

The excursion to Fax, which starts here, was meant to be a minor distraction and a chance for the players to bond into a team. I soon found out that in a PBeM such a 'minor distraction' can last a long time and unfold into an epic. Still, it helped in some ways and added a bit of character background, especially in introducing Aranon and his former stomping ground of Fax to the other PC's.