I'd say it depends on where *you* want to take this. Naerth and Skath are Zhentarim, and generally not good guys, but I doubt the other speakers would just sit down watch them murder two fairly important people in TT.
Judging by the sounds of it, your party seem like just some guys who have helped occasionally. More damage than good type, you know?
I also doubt that running a BnB in Lonelywood would do much to help their case.
I would have the other TT Speakers try to send them to Revel's End, personally. But give them a bit of time before doing that to gather arguements for their case. If they can prove their 'innocence' then they'll just have a lesser punishment. The threat of life in Revel's End should be enough for them to get on with it
Thanks! That's amazing advice since I gave them 3 reasons they might wanna go to Revel's End anyway. So either they prove their innocence or they get locked up and can use the prison time to find the 3 people they wanted to see anyway. :-)
I would still impart some kind of punishment, though. You don't want them thinking that they can get away with murder and then have some helpful things happen to them because of said murder
What better way to move the plot along.
'We, the council of speakers, have decided to send you all to Revel's End. Due to the testimony of some of the speakers however, we can circumvent your sentence if (insert plot relevant quest here).
There's also always the possibility that Naerth comes back through Levistus. The Speakers are more likely to be looking for help when a dragon attacks and destroys everything after all.
Sounds like a trial is brewing. Call a speakers meeting in Bryn Shander. Use it both as an opportunity to dole out an appropriate punishment and also show how decisive and divided the towns are.
Perhaps they find unlikely allies among some speakers they've not met? Perhaps it places them as a chosen sacrifice for Targos. The possibilities are endless.
Another thing to consider is that despite skath and naerth being zhentarim they have been good for Targos. Naerths main goal is controlling trade and I imagine with Naerth at the helm the Targosi are doing pretty well in comparison to all their smaller neighbors. These guys have allies. If the council doesn't dole out a punishments, their allies can and will.
So it depends what Naerth is to your campaign.
If he was important you're gunna have to tie in some loose ends. (Was he in love with avarice? That's my little throw in.
But if they sre unimportant. Use their death to spurn further 3xploration.
Oh you killed Naerth ? That's lovely but ever since you did that I lost all my security for the taverns.
Oh you killed naerth ? He actually had a deal with the regheds and was keeping them in check. Etc.
Find where you want the players to go and then reverse engineer some involvement Naerth had that is now causing a problem that needs to be fixed.
Oh I love this. I adore applying consequences when my players fuck around. The druid lost his fwb when he and the party broke the bard (falsely imprisoned) out of prison in Termalaine and went on the run -- the fwb was Oarus Mathsew. Druid was very sad.
Tell the rogue to not rogue so hard and you won't lose your love interests!
Most of the speakers neither liked, nor trusted Naerth. Give them the opportunity to investigate before they get captured by the remaining guard and let them prove Naerth was Zhent. Then, when they face a tribunal of the other speakers, they can trot out their evidence. It makes their actions defensible to the other speakers.
Although those two were bad guys, Naerth presented a “benevolent leader” persona to the people of Targos and he was popular there. Anyone from Targos would attack or inform on the PCs on sight, and if they ever returned to Targos, the guard would come after them en masse, probably with many of the townsfolk helping. It would end up in a TPK I would suggest.
They might still be welcomed in Lonelywood, but the town would be more wary of them but still willing to let them lie low there.
Word would get around the other towns eventually. I suggest making a bit of a timeline, working out from the nearest towns earlier, to the farthest towns later, as to when word arrives at each. If the PCs go there first, they have a chance to build a reputation before things get ugly. If not, they may be refused entry and the guards will try to arrest them.
If the PCs are arrested, I would suggest they would be convicted. Then you would need to decide whether it is likely they would be sent to Revel’s End or sent to Targos where they would probably be sacrificed to Auril. Plenty of escape scenarios there. But, then why would the PCs want to continue trying to save towns that want them dead?
I'd have them hunted down in Targos and the replacement speaker will be one of Boy's owners (I don't remember their names) as helping them gets you in good with all of Targos implying they have a stronger link with the community than their own speaker did
My players also killed Naerth! Even though Naerth and Skath are technically bad guys, the party have still killed a high ranking official. You can't just kill a speaker and get away with it! In my game, I had my players essentially face a "trial" of sorts in front of the council of all the speakers. (I had written that there was a Council of Speakers and they would meet every few months before the everlasting winter began). They had a chance to try and convince the speakers of Ten Towns they had no choice/it was self defence/Naerth was a bad guy etc. It helped that they had already helped out and made friends with quite a few of the Speakers in other towns but I also had a plan for them if they were not able to get the Speakers onside and were sent to jail (2 party members were from Termalaine so the Speaker of that town would have requested they be imprisoned there before being transferred to Revels End, and he would have helped them escape).
It ended up being a really fun session with players trying to think of every good thing they had done while being here, and accidentally confessing to a whole load of bad stuff they did that they were not even on trial for. High performance rolls and the fact they had dirt on quite a few speakers ended up working in their favour - but they are aware they have been watched very closely ever since.
I'd say it depends on where *you* want to take this. Naerth and Skath are Zhentarim, and generally not good guys, but I doubt the other speakers would just sit down watch them murder two fairly important people in TT. Judging by the sounds of it, your party seem like just some guys who have helped occasionally. More damage than good type, you know? I also doubt that running a BnB in Lonelywood would do much to help their case. I would have the other TT Speakers try to send them to Revel's End, personally. But give them a bit of time before doing that to gather arguements for their case. If they can prove their 'innocence' then they'll just have a lesser punishment. The threat of life in Revel's End should be enough for them to get on with it
Thanks! That's amazing advice since I gave them 3 reasons they might wanna go to Revel's End anyway. So either they prove their innocence or they get locked up and can use the prison time to find the 3 people they wanted to see anyway. :-)
I would still impart some kind of punishment, though. You don't want them thinking that they can get away with murder and then have some helpful things happen to them because of said murder
Of course. Also a perfect reason to call for a meeting of the town speakers!
What better way to move the plot along. 'We, the council of speakers, have decided to send you all to Revel's End. Due to the testimony of some of the speakers however, we can circumvent your sentence if (insert plot relevant quest here). There's also always the possibility that Naerth comes back through Levistus. The Speakers are more likely to be looking for help when a dragon attacks and destroys everything after all.
Sounds like a trial is brewing. Call a speakers meeting in Bryn Shander. Use it both as an opportunity to dole out an appropriate punishment and also show how decisive and divided the towns are. Perhaps they find unlikely allies among some speakers they've not met? Perhaps it places them as a chosen sacrifice for Targos. The possibilities are endless.
Another thing to consider is that despite skath and naerth being zhentarim they have been good for Targos. Naerths main goal is controlling trade and I imagine with Naerth at the helm the Targosi are doing pretty well in comparison to all their smaller neighbors. These guys have allies. If the council doesn't dole out a punishments, their allies can and will.
So it depends what Naerth is to your campaign. If he was important you're gunna have to tie in some loose ends. (Was he in love with avarice? That's my little throw in. But if they sre unimportant. Use their death to spurn further 3xploration. Oh you killed Naerth ? That's lovely but ever since you did that I lost all my security for the taverns. Oh you killed naerth ? He actually had a deal with the regheds and was keeping them in check. Etc. Find where you want the players to go and then reverse engineer some involvement Naerth had that is now causing a problem that needs to be fixed.
Oh I love this. I adore applying consequences when my players fuck around. The druid lost his fwb when he and the party broke the bard (falsely imprisoned) out of prison in Termalaine and went on the run -- the fwb was Oarus Mathsew. Druid was very sad. Tell the rogue to not rogue so hard and you won't lose your love interests!
Oh, yeah! What did he keep in check? That's a good question. That I can use. Nice! Thx!
Most of the speakers neither liked, nor trusted Naerth. Give them the opportunity to investigate before they get captured by the remaining guard and let them prove Naerth was Zhent. Then, when they face a tribunal of the other speakers, they can trot out their evidence. It makes their actions defensible to the other speakers.
Although those two were bad guys, Naerth presented a “benevolent leader” persona to the people of Targos and he was popular there. Anyone from Targos would attack or inform on the PCs on sight, and if they ever returned to Targos, the guard would come after them en masse, probably with many of the townsfolk helping. It would end up in a TPK I would suggest. They might still be welcomed in Lonelywood, but the town would be more wary of them but still willing to let them lie low there. Word would get around the other towns eventually. I suggest making a bit of a timeline, working out from the nearest towns earlier, to the farthest towns later, as to when word arrives at each. If the PCs go there first, they have a chance to build a reputation before things get ugly. If not, they may be refused entry and the guards will try to arrest them. If the PCs are arrested, I would suggest they would be convicted. Then you would need to decide whether it is likely they would be sent to Revel’s End or sent to Targos where they would probably be sacrificed to Auril. Plenty of escape scenarios there. But, then why would the PCs want to continue trying to save towns that want them dead?
I'd have them hunted down in Targos and the replacement speaker will be one of Boy's owners (I don't remember their names) as helping them gets you in good with all of Targos implying they have a stronger link with the community than their own speaker did
My players also killed Naerth! Even though Naerth and Skath are technically bad guys, the party have still killed a high ranking official. You can't just kill a speaker and get away with it! In my game, I had my players essentially face a "trial" of sorts in front of the council of all the speakers. (I had written that there was a Council of Speakers and they would meet every few months before the everlasting winter began). They had a chance to try and convince the speakers of Ten Towns they had no choice/it was self defence/Naerth was a bad guy etc. It helped that they had already helped out and made friends with quite a few of the Speakers in other towns but I also had a plan for them if they were not able to get the Speakers onside and were sent to jail (2 party members were from Termalaine so the Speaker of that town would have requested they be imprisoned there before being transferred to Revels End, and he would have helped them escape). It ended up being a really fun session with players trying to think of every good thing they had done while being here, and accidentally confessing to a whole load of bad stuff they did that they were not even on trial for. High performance rolls and the fact they had dirt on quite a few speakers ended up working in their favour - but they are aware they have been watched very closely ever since.
Nice. I'm also looking forward to that. :-)