I have several Drow PCs who have taken the urban bounty hunter background and who are asking about being a part of of a faction that supports their interest as bounty hunters. I know for a fact that given the opportunity to join Bregan D'aerthe, they will. I was planning on running Jarlaxle as the main villain as his complex nature is to compelling to pass up. However it is clear that there would be some complications in story if this were to occur, but this is somewhat the case no matter what villain I choose. I find it hard to believe that Jarlaxle would stay out of the PCs business in the first place, not to mention when they are some of his own faction members.
That is my particular situation, but I've seen some other questions on this similar to mine so I thought we should get a thread going to help provide some insight. Both new ideas and experience from playing the adventure already would be great. A few questions that come to mind are...
How did/do you plan on using Bregan D'aerthe in the adventure?
What villain did you choose and how did the Bregan D'aerthe members interact with that story?
How did non Bregan D'aerthe PCs react to their party memebers?
What was the PCs interaction like with the faction as a whole (Fel’rekt Lafeen, Krebbyg Masq’il’yr, Soluun Xibrindas and Jarlaxle)?
I set some of my players up with that faction and I am also using Jarlaxle as the villain. I'm using this as a way for the Drow to keep an eye on his enemies and maybe also distract them with missions when they start to get in his way. Since Jarlaxle is also faking being the Captain of the Sea Maiden's Faire as well as pretending to be a random noble for one of the Harper missions that some of my other party members need to handle, the Drow keeps popping up a lot in the adventure so it all works out in the end. Plus the big reveal that some of them have been working for the big bad all along s really going to be a fun pay off for me.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
I like the idea of using the faction missions more of a distraction than an means to increase renown, both in the Bregan D'aerthe faction and possible impersonating others, plays right into Jarlaxle's personality perfectly!
I also am attempting this same setup. I have one Drow Rogue in the party...and we know that Jarlaxle encourages his agents to work with "locals", so I will be giving quests for Bregan D'aerthhe for the party to complete. Possibly to distract them from the goal, possibly to mislead them. But what I am trying to figure out is how much my PC should be "helping"...Will he give Jarlaxle info? Will he help misdirect the party? Will that even be a help to further the adventure...? Or, should I just act as if Jarlaxle has been a guiding hand all along and when they finally enter the vault, he gives his agent (my PC) a chance to turn over the gold and elevate himself with Bregan D'aerthe? Hell, having Jarlaxle on the Council of Lords is probably not even a bad thing...!
But I also could use some help in how to interweave this and still make it compelling for ALL of my players...
Without actually having played through and trying anything I am thinking of using the faction missions as a way to distract the party members at first, but over time as the party proves themselves as a tool to help obtain the hidden hoard. I'm even considering using Jarlaxle to impersonate my other party member's faction representatives and use them to further his own cause to create a full web of deceit and plotting throughout the adventure to help build up Jarlaxle as an even better villain.
I started with "Winter's Splendor" and, for helping them fight off the assault against their children, the Cassalanter's loaned them the money (at great terms) to fix up Trollskull Manor.
So, guess who the villains are? (yes, the Cassalanters!)
Since each villain is working against the others...
Bregan D'aerthe is passing out fake maps, trying to get the other groups to kill themselves off. *DDAL08-02 Beneath the City of the Dead
And they are "helping" Xanathar in his fight against the Zhentarim. They are also seeking the stone of Golorr (although nobody knows where it is or what it looks like yet...)
Jaraxle is sending an agent undercover AND attempting to strong arm a team of archaeologists *CCC-SALT1-1 Rumors of Riches---with some slight changes in motivations* who might have a clue to where the stone is *DDAL00-01 A Window to the Past --- with insertion of the stone*
(at the end of "Window" they will know WHAT they are looking for. After the next one, the Black Viper will tell them of finding it and how it was taken from her. )
At the end of "WIndow" the events they set in motion in "Beneath" should prevent Began D'aerthe from being a major player from that point on.
Events within one of the PC's factions will require infiltrating The Guild and will take them out as a major player in this.
After the Gralhund Bloodbath, the Zhentarim will be out.
THIS should leave the players wondering WHO are they fighting? (Note: They only know about Xanathar and the Zhents...)
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I have several Drow PCs who have taken the urban bounty hunter background and who are asking about being a part of of a faction that supports their interest as bounty hunters. I know for a fact that given the opportunity to join Bregan D'aerthe, they will. I was planning on running Jarlaxle as the main villain as his complex nature is to compelling to pass up. However it is clear that there would be some complications in story if this were to occur, but this is somewhat the case no matter what villain I choose. I find it hard to believe that Jarlaxle would stay out of the PCs business in the first place, not to mention when they are some of his own faction members.
That is my particular situation, but I've seen some other questions on this similar to mine so I thought we should get a thread going to help provide some insight. Both new ideas and experience from playing the adventure already would be great. A few questions that come to mind are...
I set some of my players up with that faction and I am also using Jarlaxle as the villain. I'm using this as a way for the Drow to keep an eye on his enemies and maybe also distract them with missions when they start to get in his way. Since Jarlaxle is also faking being the Captain of the Sea Maiden's Faire as well as pretending to be a random noble for one of the Harper missions that some of my other party members need to handle, the Drow keeps popping up a lot in the adventure so it all works out in the end. Plus the big reveal that some of them have been working for the big bad all along s really going to be a fun pay off for me.
I like the idea of using the faction missions more of a distraction than an means to increase renown, both in the Bregan D'aerthe faction and possible impersonating others, plays right into Jarlaxle's personality perfectly!
I also am attempting this same setup. I have one Drow Rogue in the party...and we know that Jarlaxle encourages his agents to work with "locals", so I will be giving quests for Bregan D'aerthhe for the party to complete. Possibly to distract them from the goal, possibly to mislead them. But what I am trying to figure out is how much my PC should be "helping"...Will he give Jarlaxle info? Will he help misdirect the party? Will that even be a help to further the adventure...? Or, should I just act as if Jarlaxle has been a guiding hand all along and when they finally enter the vault, he gives his agent (my PC) a chance to turn over the gold and elevate himself with Bregan D'aerthe? Hell, having Jarlaxle on the Council of Lords is probably not even a bad thing...!
But I also could use some help in how to interweave this and still make it compelling for ALL of my players...
Without actually having played through and trying anything I am thinking of using the faction missions as a way to distract the party members at first, but over time as the party proves themselves as a tool to help obtain the hidden hoard. I'm even considering using Jarlaxle to impersonate my other party member's faction representatives and use them to further his own cause to create a full web of deceit and plotting throughout the adventure to help build up Jarlaxle as an even better villain.
I started with "Winter's Splendor" and, for helping them fight off the assault against their children, the Cassalanter's loaned them the money (at great terms) to fix up Trollskull Manor.
So, guess who the villains are? (yes, the Cassalanters!)
Since each villain is working against the others...
Bregan D'aerthe is passing out fake maps, trying to get the other groups to kill themselves off. *DDAL08-02 Beneath the City of the Dead
And they are "helping" Xanathar in his fight against the Zhentarim. They are also seeking the stone of Golorr (although nobody knows where it is or what it looks like yet...)
Jaraxle is sending an agent undercover AND attempting to strong arm a team of archaeologists *CCC-SALT1-1 Rumors of Riches---with some slight changes in motivations* who might have a clue to where the stone is *DDAL00-01 A Window to the Past --- with insertion of the stone*
(at the end of "Window" they will know WHAT they are looking for. After the next one, the Black Viper will tell them of finding it and how it was taken from her. )
At the end of "WIndow" the events they set in motion in "Beneath" should prevent Began D'aerthe from being a major player from that point on.
Events within one of the PC's factions will require infiltrating The Guild and will take them out as a major player in this.
After the Gralhund Bloodbath, the Zhentarim will be out.
THIS should leave the players wondering WHO are they fighting? (Note: They only know about Xanathar and the Zhents...)