When a PC breaks a deal with a fairy queen..

[R00kie]

One of my PC's made a deal with Aurora (its pretty early in the books - before the end of Summer Knights - so its still Aurora) and then broke the deal. Not in a minor way - the PC went out of their way to break the deal in a really big way, breaking every single clause of it. In fact one of the clauses involved protecting someone and they ended up throwing the person they had sworn to protect out of a third story window.

The question is how do I handle this? I've let it slide for a couple of sessions (working on the assumption that pretty much anything I did in response to it is going to remove the character as a usable character) but near the end of last session the players opened a portal to the summer court and stepped through. I think the period I had to decide how to deal with it has come to an end and I need to deal with the broken vow pretty early next session.

So, what happens when a PC breaks a deal with the Fae?

[Ophidimancer]

Apply an appropriate Aspect, like Oathbreaker, have it hinder any social interactions with the Fae, and Compel him to automatically lose any defense against Aurora.

[luminos]

I'd say this is the type of situation where debts to Aurora passed on to Titania with Aurora dead (or maybe someone else? maybe your group has a better idea) and thus, Titania has both the ability and the motive to make life difficult for the PC.  Not only could you put an aspect on them that could be compelled, but you now have an excuse for Titania, or another extremely powerful Sidhe to directly harm that character.  That can only end poorly for the character, and they will be forced to get out of the situation somehow, either by convincing the Sidhe to let them pay off the debt someway, or to find a backer ever more powerful ::shudder::

[MWKilduff]

Sounds like he wants to have this conflict happen.  Since it was so deliberate then I would not be gentle with abusing this character to the ninth degree.

[babel2uk]

Sounds like he wants to have this conflict happen.  Since it was so deliberate then I would not be gentle with abusing this character to the ninth degree.

I agree, the Faerie Queens don't maintain power by letting things slide. If it had just been an accidental or minor breaking of the oath, then fair enough I'd let it slide. Since they went out of their way to thoroughly break every part of it I'd be inclined to have the Faerie Queen make an example of the character.

It may be worth having a word with the player and finding out why their character broke the oath. It may be that they don't enjoy the character and actually just want them killed off. If that's the case, no problem, sit down with them and come up with the worst fate possible for that character, then unfold it during the next session or two.

If they are enjoying the character I'd have to say do the same thing anyway, just give the player warning so they can create a new character. Messing with the faerie queens in this way really can't be allowed to slide, otherwise they hold no fear - and if there's one thing the faerie queens should inspire it's fear - both the player and the character should know better.

[babel2uk]

Oh, and if they've thrown someone out of a third story window, then the mortal authorities should probably be getting involved and causing trouble for the group as a whole (known associates) - depending on who it was, what they were, whether they survived etc. To be fair such spectacular contempt for an oath to the faerie may well tar the rest of the group for a while with regards to dealing with the faerie courts, whether that takes the form of higher prices for bargains, refusal of aid, active pursuit etc. You can probably look towards whatever supernatural affiliations the other characters (and the oathbreaker) have to exact pusnishment as their relations with the courts are tainted too.

If it helps that's a whole load of drama you'd be throwing the group's way, which is what the game is about.

[Lanir]

Well... Believe it or not, there are options here. I think if I'm reading the original poster correctly the lack of choice of what to do is what's really disturbing about the situation. So here's an idea or two.

Faerie Queens are ancient, jaw-droppingly intelligent, make Machiavelli look like someone's cute kid brother who thinks he's figured out the world at the age of 5, and oh yeah, they're SCARY because the only thing protecting you from all the worst they have to offer is protocol and your guy apparently giggled and threw that out the window.

You have a couple of different options for this. All of them should probably feel like they have a real "... Without a Paddle" sort of Aspect to them. To start with, they have him cold. It sounds like Aurora will be well and truly hacked off at him. But she doesn't have to swat him down out of hand. In fact, that might be entirely too quick for her sense of justice. What she really wants to do to him might take years to fully play out. Remember, if it's worth the wait... she's got the time. So, in light of that, she can...

1. Subcontract out the hit. What if all the best and brightest of the Summer Court (and those that want to think they are) are offered a chance to rectify the situation for her?
2. Use the PC as her whipping boy. The worst, nastiest jobs with the least possibility to get out of them in one piece... Yeah, he just volunteered and she can hit him with malignant magic at any time if he tries to stray or say no.
3. A curse. This is the sort of situation where faeries traditionally level some real doozies on mortals. He already owes her from taking an oath and breaking it. She doesn't need a path in, he handed her one. Be creative.
4. The character screwed up so badly that she isn't willing to move against him yet. The full shattering awfulness she wants to inflict upon him simply isn't ready yet. He'll likely be in for a most unpleasant time if he attempts to walk through that portal but they'll let him squirm and maybe even talk himself into thinking he's weaseled out of it. But he hasn't. The beauty of this plan is you get to put off vengeance for later. Then at some dramatically appropriate time, well that's when the faerie queen foresaw his time of greatest trouble and acts to end his life in a moment of extreme despair. But on the way out he might have a choice. He might be able to act in a way that lets him get in a full dramatic death scene and make a difference in the world before he dies. An example of this from Changes might be

(click to show/hide)

Mab getting torqued at the Red Court for not respecting her turf or her Accords but doing absolutely nothing for a good long while until she sees her chance and sends the Winter Knight and her most powerful sorceress to even the score at the end. If she'd sent aid earlier things would have resolved themselves much more favorably for the Red Court in the end.

This list is mostly ranked from simplest and most direct to more involved and subtle. Generally what's going to save the character (at least in the short term) is the queen underestimating him or putting off immediate vengeance for something much worse later on. Giving time always allows the possibility that the character will trip over a way out of the predicament. If he'd managed to screw Summer any other way I'd say Winter might be a possible ally but realistically they have no more use for oathbreakers than Summer does.

[Steed]

Think of this as the perfect way to introduce the Gruffs to the players. 

[toturi]

Does the character already have an Aspect that is about breaking his oaths? Like "My word means nothing", "My oath has no value", "Promise, what promise?", "Swear on my dead mother's grave? Of course... I don't know my mother anyway..."

[JosephKell]

Wait... a PC broke such a deal so explicitly (not like through failure, but through intent) and they lived long enough for Aurora to get bumped off?

When was this deal broken?

Edit:  I realize, understand, and respect your opinion that such a pact breaking (with such a powerful entity) basically is "your PC is done" and that such GM responses (a.k.a. "box texting") leaves a horrible taste in one's mouth.

But this is blatant.

[CBIrish]

@ R00kie -
Out of a sense of morbid curiosity - could you post the specific of this character's pact.  Everyone who's posted has given some excellent general advice, but we could probably give some more helpful suggestions if we could get a handle on exactly how badly he is boned.  I know you mentioned throwing the person he was supposed to be protecting out of a third story window (I'm kind of surprised he didn't try to take them to the roof - why not go for the gusto at that point), but I'm curious about the rest of it.  There's also the question of what he got out of the bargain with Summer and how that might play in to what happens to him.  Also, with the game still being fairly new to the community, an example of what people are using for fae pacts would be very helpful.

[MWKilduff]

CBIrish has some good points.  Why don't you bulletpoint the parts of the oath and make a consequence for each part that the player broke.  Make each consequence as harsh as the manner than it was broken.  So, for the example of the person that the player is suppose to protect and ended up murdering take someone the character loves and place them under the queens' power. 

[Todjaeger]

A point that others haven't raised yet, is what can you tell us about the character?  For example, is the character a spellcaster of some sort?  If so, then breaking an Oath can/would reduce the ability of a caster to gather power (Conviction), because by breaking the Oath, they essentially denied part of who/what they are. 

How that can be worked mechanically would be something like an Aspect change to Oathbreaker to the Summer/Seelie Court.  With the Aspect being Tagged ever time the character attempted to cast an important spell, the character might suddenly find themselves unable to gather sufficient power for the spell.  Having this happen during a divination ritual wouldn't matter too much, but when attempted to cast a Circle to contain or keep out something nasty from the Nevernever, or just raising a Shield evocation as a Block when being shot at...

I would definately talk with the player though, to find out why they seemed to go out of their way to break the Oath.  The first to reasons that come to mind why a player would do something like this are that they 1.  Don't like their character and want to kill them off, or 2.  The player wants to disrupt the game.

[Tsunami]

... he's screwed.









Sorry for that very unhelpful comment, but it just had to be said

IMO, if he's stupid enough to enter summers realm after what he did, let him suffer the consequences.
I picture it something like this:
They step through into summers domain the entrance is maybe a sunlit cavern under a waterfall, a lush rainforest, birds singing, insects humming. a trail leading away from the pool at the foot of the waterfall.
They walk for a few minutes and come upon a clearing, where a young woman sits singing to a bed of flowers which begin to bloom under her voice.
She looks up with emerald green eyes and says "Ah, XY so nice of you to stop by. I've been waiting for you. We need to talk"
She points at the other side of the flowerbed "Please, sit down." XY, as if guided by an invisible hand sits down where indicated, and with a look upon the rest of the group and a brushing away gesture She says "run along now, my pet and I have personal matters to attend to"

No violence offered, but also no question about who's making the rules. Summer kills with kindness so to speak.
Unless the players get rowdy and resist, then they should be made aware that even the Ladies of the Sidhe Courts are not to be trifled with.

Now bombard the Player with compels he doesn't get any fate for... like sponsor debt. At least that's how i'd handle broken bargains. Not an unlimited number of cource, but enough to get him into deep shit.
Anyways, have him dealt with by the creditor in whatever way you decided to handle it in your round.
And unless he has something else to bargain with or some really good trick up his sleeve, or maybe his buddies bargain for his freedom, he's pretty much done for. I'd say violence wouldn't get them anywhere, and the social conflict... well without the aforementioned trick (Harry eating poison and bargaining with his own life) or something the Fae want (Firstborn anyone ?), that one would pretty much be lost as well.

What would summer do to him eventually if he can't break fee... maybe something like Slate's crucifixion, but more summery... like maybe have him slowly incorporated into a tree, turning him into a arboreal creature serving summer. That is really only limited by your creativity *g*

[Steed]

To be honest, it does sound like he's pretty boned.  Breaking an oath accidentally, unintentionally, or through the machinations of some external force (another character, perhaps a bad guy that knew he/she/they were going down) is one thing, and could have been worked out, especially with Summer.  However, deliberately (and violently) breaking the oath with the intention of breaking the oath isn't really something that leaves a lot of wiggle room.

Whatever it is you do, the character needs to suffer for his actions.  Whether it's auto-compels with Aurora that don't give Fate points, faerie hitters showing up to make his internals into externals, whatever, it needs to hurt.  Someone already mentioned the fact that a magic-type is going to have serious power issues as a result of this.  It's entirely possible the character could become one of Aurora's statues or paintings for an indefinite amount of time.  Or perhaps Summer has a variation of Lloyd Slate's punishment that Aurora can put the character through.  At this point, the character probably doesn't have time to find a bigger power to protect them.  He deliberately stepped through a portal into Summer's turf, Aurora can and definitely should reach out and touch him somehow.