[4e][Nentir Vale] Fleshing out the Mages of Saruun

[Stantz]

By my math, I have about a month before my players, The Von Fluffington Expedition, freakin' finally clears out the Keep on the Shadowlands and moves on to The Thunderspire Mountain. The only problem is that after the fairly amusing cast of Winterhaven, the Seven Pillared Hall feels a little empty. To flesh the place out a little bit, I'm tinkering with ideas for giving the Mages of Saruun more personality than "aloof and dangerous".

The Mages of Sarrun are a council of powerful spellcasters that rule the Hall. Membership is by invitation based primarily on personal power and reputation, and the position lasts until death, voluntarily stepping down, or some rather complicated clauses involving "no longer being significantly attached to this plane of existence" are invoked. There are technically 8 Mages of Saruun, however, at any given time, you can expect at most 3 of them to be around the Seven Pillared Hall.

Skarrik the Patient, Juselin the Stargazer, and Karavakos the Clever are the "technically" part. Skarrik, who generations ago ascended from this plane to become one with the weave of magic, is the reason that all the complicated clauses were added to the Mages' charter. Juselin has been away from her post for some centuries, so lost in contemplation in the Astral Sea that her thoughts are beyond any mortal reckoning, but has made it brutally clear that she has not stepped down from the council. After what happened the last time, the remaining Mages are terrified to ask again. Karavakos, one of the most powerful spellcasters to ever grace the Hall, is currently completely screwed. The details of his situation I'm avoiding for spoiler reasons.

The only recurring mage named in the modules, Orontor the Hidden ("Oaty" to his friends) is primarily an illusionist and a bit of a coward. Almost alone among the mages, he actually cares about the day-to-day running of the Hall, where he was born and raised. However, he prefers to go about his business incognito, working through Brug or the Warders when things need to be done and using illusions to mask his appearance when acting in an official function.

Paldemar the Keymaster is the man with grand visions, smug demeanor, and limitless drive. He dreams one day of an empire centered on the Thunderspire, reaching both above and below ground. Even more impressively, he maintains a very high level of genre savvy that allows him to make his plans work with the day-to-day chaos of the Thunderspire.

Hevestia the... Tump Te Tump (Dammit. I need a suggestion here. Preferably something tied subtly to the Demon Queen's Enclave) revels in Drow stereotypes. She is a merciless bitch, but knows her way around Underdark politics, making her invaluable to keeping the Hall alive. She spends as much time away from the hall, on diplomatic missions to the Drow and Duergar, as she does at the city. When she is in town, Hevestia greatly enjoys the Mages' ability to dispense summary justice, perhaps disturbingly so. She's a cliche, but as the only named Drow NPC for the next 7 levels or so, I figured I'd run with it.

Cynid the Taletraveller is the resident expert on all things Feywild and a source of some of the more exotic materials that keep the hall running. He also is the master of the PCs, so I'm purposely keeping details on his personality vague. When the PCs reach the Thunderspire, Cynid has left for the Feywild some months ago, "To repay a favor." He currently suffers an undeveloped and highly unpleasant fate that the PCs will eventually have to rescue him from.

Sariia the Vital has a natural 18 INT, a 3 WIS, and is very excitable. An elementalist by trade, she considers upgrading and maintaining the infrastructure needed for an underground city to be her job. She tends to disappear for months at a time, questing for something that she believes will solve a problem, returning only when she has something to show. The materials she brought back from her quest to find a new supply of fresh water lead to the lighting system currently employed by the hall, and her quest for better ventilation ended up destroying a Bloodspear-led attack on the hall. She currently off somewhere, looking for a solution to the Hall's sewage problems. Everyone is terrified of her return.

Also worthy of note is Valthrun the Prescient, who was once one of the Mages, but, after suffering some vaguely alluded to defeat many years ago, is a half-addled hedge mage of a podunk town in the middle of nowhere. He's very prone to theatrics in a way that only a low-level-quest-giving NPC can.

Opinions? I think that's a pretty decent list of characters that can be painted quickly in broad strokes, but leaves room for character development if they become plot-relevant. My biggest fear is that I did something that will require heavy rewriting of something in the H-P-E Orcus series down the line. The Demon Queen's Enclave is especially the one that's worrying me.

[Xenophile]

My first thought is, "I've forgotten how fun it is to let my inner Pratchett fan run wild."

As for development... Well, I haven't read the module, but who/what are the Mages' immediate underlings? Working out the interactions between them and their masters sounds like a good source of character development.

[Hellzon]

Originally Posted by Stantz

Hevestia the... Tump Te Tump (Dammit. I need a suggestion here. Preferably something tied subtly to the Demon Queen's Enclave) revels in Drow stereotypes. She is a merciless bitch, but knows her way around Underdark politics, making her invaluable to keeping the Hall alive. She spends as much time away from the hall, on diplomatic missions to the Drow and Duergar, as she does at the city. When she is in town, Hevestia greatly enjoys the Mages' ability to dispense summary justice, perhaps disturbingly so. She's a cliche, but as the only named Drow NPC for the next 7 levels or so, I figured I'd run with it.

Whence Gendar?

[Gyrfalcon]

Originally Posted by Stantz

Hevestia the... Tump Te Tump (Dammit. I need a suggestion here. Preferably something tied subtly to the Demon Queen's Enclave) revels in Drow stereotypes. She is a merciless bitch, but knows her way around Underdark politics, making her invaluable to keeping the Hall alive. She spends as much time away from the hall, on diplomatic missions to the Drow and Duergar, as she does at the city. When she is in town, Hevestia greatly enjoys the Mages' ability to dispense summary justice, perhaps disturbingly so. She's a cliche, but as the only named Drow NPC for the next 7 levels or so, I figured I'd run with it.

I say the epithet should be something ironic or sarcastic. "Hevestia the Merciful", perhaps. (And hey, if she's the only Drow in the campaign setting inclined to kill you quickly rather than string you up by your thumbs for a week or so, it might even be accurate.)

I'd also suggest her first encounter with the party consist of her showing up to exact 'summary judgment' on a group of powerful enemies trying to hassle the party while they're visiting the Hall. Creepy and useful all in one neat package!

[Stantz]

Originally Posted by Hellzon

Whence Gendar?

He got bumped in favor of an NPC established earlier in the campaign: Keldo, a halfling outcast that has a business trading in Underdark goods on the surface. I guess Gendar's still around somewhere, but he's not really part of any planned plot.

~Stantz
(Mostly, I couldn't take his name seriously.)

[Xenophile]

Originally Posted by Gyrfalcon

I'd also suggest her first encounter with the party consist of her showing up to exact 'summary judgment' on a group of powerful enemies trying to hassle the party while they're visiting the Hall. Creepy and useful all in one neat package!

I'm seconding this. One second they're surrounded by surprisingly dangerous thugs, and the next half of their attackers have spiders clawing their way out of their abdomens and the other half is melting.

[larqven]

Having the local hot drow kicking ass on the party's behalf is a great idea! Have her written up so that smart players realize that she's the 'welcome wagon' woman! She should be hard as nails and scare the crap out of the party so as they don't even think of screwing with the mages and laugh at 'the merciful' aspect of her.

Old underdark hands will look at the party blankly when they descibe the "merciful" Hevestia. "Uh, look, see here kids--shut up about Hevestia--you really, really don't want her to find out that you've been talking about her behind her back. It just wouldn't be healthy--no--not at all!" Whispering even lower--"You guys are new down here--your ignorance is showing! Hevestia really is merciful! Honestly, she is--you go and have your first drow adventure before you're good and ready--well, you'll see just how badly you've misjudged her! Things are different down here!

My first thought is, "I've forgotten how fun it is to let my inner Pratchett fan run wild."

I'll have to remember this--it made me smile--and will be a cool thing to mention to my DM who is a Pratchett fan! Thanks Xenophile!

[EvilSchemer]

It's too bad you ditched Gendar. He has become one of the favorite NPCs in my campaign.

He's the equivalent to Garak from Deep Space Nine.

In my campaign, after the PC's massacred the Deurgar in the trading post, they were standing there amidst several dead bodies when Gendar came in the front door to do some business. He saw the carnage and the PCs were worried about the consequences.. would Gendar sound some kind of alarm? Would he rat them out to the Ordinator Arcanis?

Instead, Gendar offered to "make their little problem go away" for "a small fee". They paid him and he said "Don't worry about a thing. It will all be taken care of."

They continued on their quest and went to the Horned Hold.

They came back, and they saw Gendar hauling several barrels on a cart down into the dungeon. The trading post was spotless. No blood, no sign of a struggle, etc. In fact, it appeared that the Deurgar just up and left and closed up shop.

The PCs then moved into the "abandoned" trading post and made it their base of operations.

Gendar made a more recent appearance when the PCs spent the night in their base on their way to Hammerfast (they're getting ready to start P2 Demon Queen's Enclave, but they don't really know that yet). They decided to check in on Gendar. He was packing his things and moving on. They were concerned.. "Why? What's happening?"

"I cannot say, but a storm is approaching from the Down-below. A terrible thing has happened to my people. Orontor has left the hall to see what he can do. But he will fail and soon even this place will no longer be safe. So I am moving on."