Captured Denarian (Secrets of Boston players stay out!)

[Wordmaker]

My group met their first Denarian at our last session.

The plot I'm currently running involves the arrival of 3 Fallen Denarians arriving in Boston in search of an artifact of great power. The first one, a warrior, arrived at the end of the session. We were wrapping up and I wanted to give a nice dramatic cliffhanger, but most of the players wanted to see the fight through. I was rushing since the group all needed to make it to the last train/bus home, and didn't play the Denarian to his best. He was beaten and captured.

Granted, the Knight of the Cross battling him had the help of a werepuma, two people shooting the Denarian with pistols and a wizard using a water evocation to prevent his escape, but it was still very anticlimactic and I should have remembered the range of abilities and options for such a character besides a straight fight.

Taking into account the fact that my group and I are big fans of the "GM's Curtain," that nothing is true until revealed to the players, I'm considering a few options for how to proceed, since I had hoped to strike some fear regarding Denarians into the group.

1: When the group takes the Denarian back to the church they use as one of their bases of operation, he will escape, kill their priest friend and burn the church. This is my least favourite option since it's a real dick-move.

2: The Denarian allowed himself to be captured, either to get information about the group and their involvement with the artifact they're hunting or to steal Amoraccius from the Knight (he keeps it in a sports bag, so the Denarian wouldn't have to touch it).

3: The Denarian simply fights his way free en route to the church and flees.

Any or all of these options could include assistance from the other Denarians to even the odds.

I'm not sure which option to take, though I certainly want to boost this Denarian's skills. He's intended as a difficult challenge for the Knight, since I'm trying to work in a sub-plot about the Knight's uncertainty of his worthiness for his mission. Of course, I don't want to utterly squash him, either.

[Wyrdrune]

i would go with something like (2).

[Wordmaker]

I'm leaning that way myself. More to the "finding information" angle than having Amoraccius stolen. It's no fun for a player to lose a major part of their character through no fault of their own, and as yet the character has never used the sword against its intended purpose.

Of course, there's always the option of just letting the players try to convince the Denarian to surrender his coin, which is unlikely (this Denarian, Amariel, dominates his hosts, so whether the host lives or dies means nothing to him if his coin is going to be taken by the church anyway). So the Knight will eventually be forced to kill the host to get the coin.

[babel2uk]

I'd go with a twist on #2. You say this is one of three that have come to the city. He's obviously been sent in to attract the attention of the local Knight of the Cross so that the other two can see who's working with him, what his base of operations is, and where he keeps the sword.

Why shouldn't the sword be stolen as a bargaining chip to get the PCs to do the work of locating the artifact, and then work in an exchange? It's a temporary loss of a major character artifact rather than a permanent one, thrusts the character's doubt of his own worth direct to the fore-front (after all, if he was worthy of the sword, would god have let it be taken from him so easily?).

There's no reason for him to burn the church and kill the priest, maybe he takes the priest hostage and they release him later to deliver the offer of the sword for the artifact. (It's even more fun if they have no idea what the artifact is - like Harry didn't know what the Word of Kemmler was in Dead Beat). If you're feeling particularly evil you could one of the two unrevealed Denarians being still in their coin and have it slipped to the priest while he's a hostage, which gives you a nasty little twist at the end of the scenario. You could even try to set it up so that the final confrontation in the scenario gives the PCs a clear choice of saving the sword or saving the priest from being possessed. With the reward for making the hard choice to sacrifice the sword to save the priest being that while the sword is destroyed it doesn't pass from the PCs hands and can be reforged to their own design. Obviously if they choose the sword over the priest their doubts about their worth are ongoing and they've lost a friend and ally to the darkness. Either way the character doesn't actually lose the sword - but the players don't know that, and it's nicely dramatic.

[Wordmaker]

That's some good advice!

I do have something cruel planned for the last of the three Denarians. His name is Rasciel, and he maintains a cult of followers to prepare new hosts for him as needed.

His newest host, who won't be revealed just yet, is a 9 year-old boy, tormented into accepting the coin. One of Rasciel's Aspects is "But I'm Just a Little Boy.."

[blues.soldier]

Butcher has proven that the Denarians can work at cross-purposes with one another. I'd make the one they captured a lower-level thug trying to get himself up the ranks of his Nicklehead buddies, trying to scalp a prize before the REAL Denarians show up.

Basically, I'd have the more-powerful Denarian show up and kill the one they have captured, take his coin to give to a "more worthy" host, and then proceed to hand the PCs their a$$es.

I would, however, leave the PCs alive intentionally, and let them KNOW they were left alive intentionally, and hint towards some future plot they will be important for.

You don't even have to know what that plot IS. It's Schoedinger's Plot.

[TheMouse]

Hm. Random thought:

The Denarian suspects that the item of power is in the church. If he just strolls in, he leaves his power at the door (well, the threshold). However, if the priest brings him into the church, it's basically the same as being invited. Invitation = no problems with a threshold.

For more fun, combine this with one or more of the ideas above. After figuring out that the item isn't there, the Denarian corrupts the priest, steals the sword, or whatever.

And in the future, if you're in a rush, cut things off. Say something like, "Guys, I didn't have time to prep this dude, and I don't have time to run the fight. I'm calling the end of the session now. We can pick it up next time." If you don't have time, you don't have time.

[toturi]

Taking into account the fact that my group and I are big fans of the "GM's Curtain," that nothing is true until revealed to the players, I'm considering a few options for how to proceed, since I had hoped to strike some fear regarding Denarians into the group.

Your group would be missing out on most of the fun in making declarations. Part of making declarations is that once the player successfully makes the declaration, it is true, even if the GM was not the one that revealed it to the players; the player made it true.

[Wyrdrune]

I'm leaning that way myself. More to the "finding information" angle than having Amoraccius stolen. It's no fun for a player to lose a major part of their character through no fault of their own, and as yet the character has never used the sword against its intended purpose.

oh, i would say, let him sweat for a little while. my players know that i would not handle their chars unjustly, when i take something like that from them, but it's like the thrill of a good movie: you know that the good guys will win in the end, but it's the way till there that's important.

let the fallen have the sword for one or two sessions and then let him lose it back to the player char when he has to make his great escape from the story or something like that. or i like the ideas from babel, wordmaker, mouse and toturi... maybe a good mix of them...

[Wordmaker]

Well, by "GM's Curtain" I don't mean that I'm the only one who can declare something as fact. Basically, until something has been shown as fact at our table, either by my revelation or a player's Declaration, it can change.

Here's a question: When a Denarian is brought across a threshold, is it just that host that can cross from then on, or is the Denarian free to use any future hosts to cross as well?

My plot is that the item the Denarians are after is the heart of an Outsider, currently stored behind ancient wards beneath Fort Warren in Boston. Rasciel helped build them, but did so with the help of an ancestor of our wizard PC, so he needs the blood of that PC (or, ideally, the blood of one of his many non-wizard siblings since that's safer) to unlock it.

I really want to be cruel and have Amoraccius stolen briefly, and either exchanged for one of the siblings, and have the Denarians "deliver" the sword by killing one of the Knight's family members and leaving the sword impaled in their body. Could create a nice shock-value scene until the group realises that the body could have been stabbed after death, and therefore not robbed of its power.