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  1. #1
    Tim Nutting
    Guest

    Return of the King

    Drawing of the comment in the back of Player's Secrets of Tuarhievel, does
    anyone else see the possibility of the anti-human elements trying to bring
    about "the return of the King" and get the Elf in to the realm?

    The Manslayer is the grandfather of the current prince, presently assumed to be
    held hostage by the Gorgon as detailed in the book (PSoT). IMC, Savane is the
    NPC regent, and the PCs have gained the allegiance of both Daegandel
    Tuarlechiem (Second Lord of House Tuarlechiem, my own NPC) and Tara, the Black
    Princess. Both have the aim of getting the PCs to go into the Crown to steal
    back the prince.

    I am intending the following to happen:

    PCs are on a chase now to retrieve an artifact that agents of both the White
    Witch and the Gorgon are after. If they succeed, then they will head into the
    Crown and have a ball of a time sneaking into the Gorgon's inner sanctum, and
    back out.

    In the mean time, I already have agents of Rhaundince Tuarlechiem (the First
    Lord of House Tuarlechiem and a very active anti-human agitator, rumored leader
    of Tuarhievel's Ghallie Sidhe) attempting to coerce the Manslayer into a
    marriage of convenience and his ascendancy to the Thorn Throne.

    Rhuobhe is the oldest living member of House Llyrandor (the prince's house) and
    knows a human of all things claims the land "temporarily". When the PCs
    return, they find Tuarhievel is now ruled by the Manslayer (need ideas
    justifying the Throne's acceptance) and that Savane is either dead or has been
    spirited away.

    Comments and suggestions actively wanted!

    Game on
    Tim Nutting

  2. #2
    Daniel McSorley
    Guest

    Return of the King

    From: Tim Nutting
    >Drawing of the comment in the back of Player's Secrets of Tuarhievel, does
    >anyone else see the possibility of the anti-human elements trying to bring
    >about "the return of the King" and get the Elf in to the realm?
    >
    This I like :)

    >Rhuobhe is the oldest living member of House Llyrandor (the prince's house)
    and
    >knows a human of all things claims the land "temporarily". When the PCs
    >return, they find Tuarhievel is now ruled by the Manslayer (need ideas
    >justifying the Throne's acceptance) and that Savane is either dead or has
    been
    >spirited away.
    >
    >Comments and suggestions actively wanted!
    >
    The Elf needs a way to sit on that throne and not die. That is a tough
    one, because being neutral rather than chaotic, he is not a leader that
    would be accepted by the elves, or by the land. I'd say he is far too
    likely to abridge elven freedom in his quest to kill men, for the throne to
    accept him.
    As a matter of fact, I'd say he probably had his chance at the throne a
    long time ago, and decided not to try it, _knowing_ he would fail. The
    throne went through his lineage, obviously, he's the great-grandfather of
    Fhileraene, but he was never king of Tuarhievel.
    The problem with Rhuobhe, in the Throne's eyes, is that he doesn't stand
    _for_ anything anymore, he only stands _against_ humans. He's lost some of
    his "elvenness". So I don't think it would accept him now.
    The only real option for him is to avoid sitting in it. This can't look
    suspicious, so it might be best for him to destroy it, and blame it on some
    humans or a rival elven house. At this point, individual provinces would
    probably revert to the control of their most powerful house, and Rhoubhe
    would have to gain their backing one at a time, at which point the regency
    would revert to him. He'd have to do this before the throne regrew.

    Daniel McSorley- mcsorley.1@osu.edu

  3. #3
    Kenneth Gauck
    Guest

    Return of the King

    When I briefly had a player Regent in Sielwode I took a line from the "Ruins
    of Empire" which said, "Adara Cuamhyrcha [an emissary from Rhuobhe] seeks
    the Emerald Queen as an ally and, perhaps, as a wife for her master," and
    ruled that just before Isaelie died and the current player became regent
    that the marriage had taken place. Rhuobhe now had a claim to Sielwode and
    certainly had the regency to start causing trouble if the new player could
    not keep the loyalty of the provinces and the army. However, since these
    actions signified a shift in the Sielwode toward a hard line on humans,
    Corwin Rhysdiordan was not a useful tool for the moment as too close a
    relationship with him would have angered the hard liners.

    As it happened the player's wife forced him to make some choices and he had
    to give up gaming for a while and only got to play a bit with us. One of
    the notable things he did do was cleverly send Corwin "away" from court as a
    sign of disfavor. Crowin was instructed to go to the front against the
    Gorgon's realms where the goblins had been skirmishing with the elves. The
    regent instructed Corwin to gain the loyalty of the army and prevent
    Rhuobhe's people (both foriegn and domestic) from influeincing the army.
    The commander shuffled commands to put hardligners out of the way. Then
    news came that the Gorgon was concentrating some 20 units against the
    Sielwode in Markazor and Mur-Kilad. The army of Markazor was reinforced by
    elite human units from the Gorgon's army, and the dwarves of Mur-Kilad were
    fleshed out with some human cavalry and irregulars.

    The player then disappeared from my gaming sessions. The dwarven regent who
    had also just assumed power in Baruk-Azhik was not succure enough in his own
    opinion to risk all out war over the Sielwode, so the dwarves did nothing.
    Left to myself to play both sides as DM (I could not just set this up and
    forget about it!) I called upon some out of state friends to game this via
    e-mail. He took the roll of the Gorgon and formulated his plan, I took the
    role of Corwin and formulated my plan.

    The army of Markazor would attempt to take and hold Annydwr, and possibly
    move towards the Crystal Palace depending on resistance, using goblin levies
    to hold Annydwr. The army of Mur-Kilad would drive direcly on the Crystal
    Palace. I knew this guy and knew he did not intend to take and hold the
    Elven capital, but keep the elves tied up with something they could not
    ignore, while the Gorgon annexed Annydwr.

    My plan was to divide the Elven forces into three bodies. An all archer
    force was stationed in Llewhoellen, a mixed cavalry/archer force was
    supposed to retreat out of Annydwr into Llewhoellen where the elves would
    make a stand. Then the whole body would join the mixed cavalry/archer force
    falling back from Tuar Llyrien and stand against the dwarves. I gamed out
    the first battle with 2 Elven Knights and 6 Archers against 4 Goblin
    Cavalry, 4 Goblin Infantry, 2 of the Gorgon's Elite Infantry, 2 of the
    Gorgon's Archers, and 2 Goblin Archers. The first eleven volly was
    decisive, two Markazor units were destroyed, one routed, two fell back and
    two more took hits. The Goblins now had the choice to press the attack
    (sending the two hit units, 1 elite infantry and 1 goblin archer against the
    elven archers while bringing up the rest of the troops to take one more
    withering assault from elven bows) or to fall back. The Gorgon's army fell
    back, and the elves engaged in pursuit. I calculated pursuit this way. One
    of the Goblin cav was destroyed and one routed, that left two Goblin Cavalry
    to defend the retreating army. I scored that was worth 4 units on defence,
    and ruled that four Markazor units were guaranteed an escape. The remaining
    forces had to face the Elves one more time in battle. The army of Markazor
    was once again seriously harmed, but the elves did not pursue, but turned
    back toward the Crystal Palace while the goblins continued to fall back.
    Annydwr was retaken by local elven militia.

    The Dwarves of Mur-Kilad were not so decisivly beaten, but the elves clearly
    won the battle, and with the army of Markazor destroyed, the dwarves
    retreated all the way to Mur-Kilad.

    Later, the last player to join the campaign took an elven scion, and I ruled
    he was the nephew of Corwin Rhysdiordan. Since the campaign had now become
    one with one regent and his noble court, based in Baruk-Azhik, I needed to
    move the player from the Sielwode. The previous elf to join the campaign I
    simply ruled as a member of Hildegart Enderede's court at Land's Victory.
    He was her warden. This new player played a solo adventure in which I
    continued the plot line of Rhohbe's influence in Sielwode, in which a
    hardliner was found murdered and the player's PC was accused. Corwin
    arranged for his nephew to escape "justice" and the PC fled to Baruk-Azhik.

    Kenneth Gauck
    c558382@earthlink.net

  4. #4
    Michael Cullingham
    Guest

    Return of the King

    >>Drawing of the comment in the back of Player's Secrets of Tuarhievel,
    does
    >>anyone else see the possibility of the anti-human elements trying to
    bring
    >>about "the return of the King" and get the Elf in to the realm?

    [...]

    >> they find Tuarhievel is now ruled by the Manslayer (need ideas
    >> justifying the Throne's acceptance) and that Savane is either
    >> dead or has been
    >> spirited away.
    >>
    > The Elf needs a way to sit on that throne and not die. That is a
    tough
    >one, because being neutral rather than chaotic, he is not a leader that
    >would be accepted by the elves, or by the land. I'd say he is far too
    >likely to abridge elven freedom in his quest to kill men, for the
    throne to
    >accept him.

    [...]

    Man, it's like you guys are reading my mind. I've been setting up
    Rhuobhe to take over Tuarhievel for more than a year (real time) now, so
    I've had time to think some of this over.

    IMC, Rhuobhe was relatively quiet for a long period of time, although
    rumours surfaced of his appearing throughout the Aelvinnwode. During
    this time, he was searching for the tomes of lore that were originally
    used to build the Thorn Throne (and in my campaign, other thorn
    artifacts). Eventually he did find it and is developing a "poison" that
    will allow him to control the throne.

    He intended to use this control to have the throne kill Savane, but some
    of his agents in Tuarhievel acted without his authority and attempted an
    assassination attempt on the queen. She lived, but was ushered out of
    the country by the few left loyal to Fhilerane.

    Rhuobhe's next move in my campaign is to volunteer to lead Tuarhievel
    "should the throne accept him". Of course, the Elf's supporters have no
    problem with this, and those against him in Tuarhievel believe in the
    throne's "choice".

    I also made the original capture (of Fhilerane by the Gorgon) Rhuobhe's
    idea, since it benefits both of the awnshegh.

    But my silly players have ignored all of this... heh heh.

    Mike


    __________________________________________________ ____
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  5. #5
    Senior Member
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    Return of the King

    I would say that if Rhuobhe could win over at least a majority of the
    houses as vassals, then the Thorn Throne and the land would accept him. I did
    not plan on involving him IMC, instead letting him focus on Boeruine and the
    Sielwode.
    Good plan, though. Here's hoping Savane got away to her sister-in-law in
    Dhoesone! That ought to be a heck of an adventure! Maybe Tara has a bolt-
    hole in the Giantdowns? Or (eek) the Shadow World?

    Lee.

  6. #6
    DKEvermore@aol.co
    Guest

    Return of the King

    In a message dated 10-24-1998 12:58:24 AM Central Standard Time,
    zero@wiredweb.com writes:

    > Rhuobhe is the oldest living member of House Llyrandor (the prince's house)
    > and
    > knows a human of all things claims the land "temporarily". When the PCs
    > return, they find Tuarhievel is now ruled by the Manslayer (need ideas
    > justifying the Throne's acceptance) and that Savane is either dead or has
    > been
    > spirited away.
    >
    > Comments and suggestions actively wanted!
    >
    Interesting plot!

    Here's an idea: The Thorn Throne accepting Rhoubhe because it could not kill
    him. For some reason, it could not pierce Rhoubhe's marblized body. 'Course
    this might inspire PC's to call him Ol' Iron Pantys or some other such
    undignified title. Then you just clobber 'em.

    - -DKE

  7. #7
    Pieter A de Jong
    Guest

    Return of the King

    Daniel McSorley wrote:
    >

    > >
    > The Elf needs a way to sit on that throne and not die. That is a tough
    > one, because being neutral rather than chaotic, he is not a leader that
    > would be accepted by the elves, or by the land. I'd say he is far too
    > likely to abridge elven freedom in his quest to kill men, for the throne to
    > accept him.
    > As a matter of fact, I'd say he probably had his chance at the throne a
    > long time ago, and decided not to try it, _knowing_ he would fail. The
    > throne went through his lineage, obviously, he's the great-grandfather of
    > Fhileraene, but he was never king of Tuarhievel.
    > The problem with Rhuobhe, in the Throne's eyes, is that he doesn't stand
    > _for_ anything anymore, he only stands _against_ humans. He's lost some of
    > his "elvenness". So I don't think it would accept him now.
    > The only real option for him is to avoid sitting in it. This can't look
    > suspicious, so it might be best for him to destroy it, and blame it on some
    > humans or a rival elven house. At this point, individual provinces would
    > probably revert to the control of their most powerful house, and Rhoubhe
    > would have to gain their backing one at a time, at which point the regency
    > would revert to him. He'd have to do this before the throne regrew.
    >
    Well, he might also be able to fake it with sufficient magic. For
    example
    personal protections on the order of stoneskin spells/a personal
    anti-plant
    shell. Or just use an illusion to fake him sitting on the throne.


    - --

    Pieter A de Jong
    Graduate Mechanical Engineering Student
    University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

  8. #8
    Daniel McSorley
    Guest

    Return of the King

    From: Pieter A de Jong
    >Well, he might also be able to fake it with sufficient magic. For
    >example
    >personal protections on the order of stoneskin spells/a personal
    >anti-plant
    >shell. Or just use an illusion to fake him sitting on the throne.
    >
    I thought of stoneskin, the illusion is a novel idea though. I think
    the problem here is that I have always pictured the throne as not only
    choosing the regent, but investing him, as well. So if it still existed,
    and he wasn't chosen by it (ie he sat in it, the thorns came out, but
    stoneskin protected him), he wouldn't be invested properly. That's why I
    think he'd have to destroy it.

    Daniel McSorley- mcsorley.1@osu.edu

  9. #9
    gingerprince
    Guest

    Return of the King

    I've been enjoying this thread and just though I'd add a couple of thoughts.
    Firstly The Gorgon has captured Fhilaerane, secondly the Magian (I think)
    came up with a nifty spell that he used on The Manticore. Corrupt Bloodline
    I think, and then he made half a dozen scrolls of it and allowed them to
    circulate Cerilia.

    Are you thinking what I'm thinking? BWAHAHAHAHA! Its quite likely the
    Gorgon would have got hold of one of these with his network of spies, plus
    his rumoured links with The Magian. He could corrupt Fhilaerane and then
    send him back to Tuarhievel, Savane had promised to give the Bloodline back
    if he returned.

    Maybe the Throne won't accept Fhilaerane with his Azrai bloodline. If he
    dies then it's obviously the human harlot's corruptive influence (on him or
    the Throne? The plot thickens....) Now Rhoube shows up, and Savane is
    ready to give birth, and the Gorgon is enjoying the confusion, the Gheallie
    Sidhe is doing a 2 for 1 special on humans, and oh yes there's some PCs
    running around as well.

    Nick

    (rubbing hands in glee, muttering, "oh a new coat for me, white? How nice!
    The sleeves seem a bit funny though)

  10. #10
    Senior Member
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    Return of the King

    In a message dated 98-10-26 19:08:15 EST, you write:

    >

    Now this is evil. I really, really like it, and I will quite probably use
    it in the next two game-years. I take back my earlier plans about leaving
    Rhuobhe out of Tuarhievel.

    Lee.

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