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Charles Phipps
Master of Realmslore
1425 Posts |
 Posted - 16 Jan 2007 : 09:57:29
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The Courtship of Princess Alusair campaign
The plotline for this game is the result of an Ed Greenwood question as to how one would go about courting Princess Allusair ni Obarskyr. It is also the culmination of a very long campaign that has been enjoyed by the players for some time. The game is hardly going to end for the completion of this plotline but it is one of the more defining moments of our campaign. I'm very pleased with the final result and give special thanks to Ed and the Hooded One for sharing the information that allowed me to come up with the plot.
A word of background on our player characters before we begin. I rather owe a lot to Spellfire for this group as I had little idea how to run a game when I first started it. I was inspired by the Knights of Myth Drannor that I read about and decided to go with the idea of "official" adventuring companies and as my Realms knowledge grew, gradually made them into a more formal part of the realms. So the game began in Cormyr/The Dalelands and never really has left despite the occasional trip all across the Realms.
The Company of Tyrantfall is a permanently chartered adventuring company in the Purple Dragon's kingdom that recieved that as part of their reward for my modified Time of Troubles modules. They're mildly famous across the entirety of the Realms with especially well disposed populous in the Moonshaes (Halls of the High King), Baldur's Gate (thwarting a Cult of the Dragon plot to take over the city), and Waterdeep (a realms adapted Hour of the Knife).
It's a fairly regular adventuring company. One half-elf bard conman Rose whom routinely operates as the party's brains, Musim the Ranger and Imzel the Witch from Rashemen, Zasheria the unconventional oversexed Monk of Ilmater, and Ichi the Samurai. Like all good adventuring parties, members came and went but these remained the core of the group that survived with only the occasional loss.
The player character's history in Cormyr is a long and varied one. The player characters first met Princess Alusair in the Stonelands during a running of Keep on the Borderlands and we had one of the great romantic meetings of all time.
Dungeon Master: As you troll the cursed caverns of the Cult of the Orcus that has taken up residence, you come across the remains of several noble adventurers whom have apparently been shot with dozens of poisoned tipped crossbow bolts and from the looks of it were killed in their sleep. The light is not illuminated well in the chamber but a woman in golden Dragonscale armor lies manacled to the wall. She is fabulously beautiful with an exotic golden sheen to her face and eyes that matches well hair of similiar spun gold.1 Her voice speaks in a clear and musical tone....
Alusair: AH SO YOU'VE COME BACK YOU FILTHY P*** DRINKING SONS OF CIRCUS W****! As soon as I get out of here I'll flay you alive and sell your flesh to Sembians to wipe their a** with.2
Ichi: I like her already.
The Orcus Cultists had taken advantage of the chaos caused by the evil forces they were invoking to attack Princess Alusair when she wouldn't be found by war wizards for a short time. Thankfully, my slightly higher level version of the adventure ended with the players preventing an avatar of Orcus to be permanently summoned into the Prime Material Plane by the noble Princess' blood tie to the land. Suffice to say I played her to her bombastic best and her attitude can perhaps be explained that three good fighting companions/lovers were callously murdered just hours before.
That was when Ichi's player asked me about a possibility of inducing a romance with the Princess. Ichi's character story is hardly original. An Oriental Adventures fan has a character with a mysterious past journey from his homeland with a desire to improve his swordsmanship by matching against foreign blademasters. Ichi's player is an amusing fellow since I honestly believe that this generic background was so he could throw out constant tales of his past that make Drizzt's 15 book bio look positively tame. I'll spare you the journey to Wa over in Kara-Tur since it's so utterly non-canon from the Realms that sharing means nothing (involving Xvim taking over the island and Shar being the goddess of ninjas amongst other things)3.
While I was initially hesitant about Ichi being Alusair's type given he was decidedly far removed from the average Realmsian, I went with my impression that she's more impressed by valor than by Cormyrian pedigree (boy was I right). Their affair was short before Vangey arrived with his war wizards and the players finally were enobled by King Azoun for their many services to the Royal Crown. They were bequeathed in a delightful bit of irony the Keep on the Borderlands and "As much of the Stonelands they can reclaim."4.
Of course, Ichi had fallen in love...and acquired the rather obvious nickname from Lady Allusair of Itchy. It also lead to some rather amusing conversations thanks to play disapproval.
Rose: Ichi, there's something you should know about Allusair.
Ichi: I suspect this will prove to be insulting.
Rose: Let me just say it nicely. Cure Disease spells should be handy. You don't know where she's been.5
and
Ichi: I am not jealous. I have had many lovers and merely like the fact that she has intrigued me more than others.
Rose: Was that before or after she threw up as her first act upon waking in the morning?
Ichi: Many women enjoy their liquor.
Rose: Yes and many DWARF WOMEN can survive the amount she imbibs after a victory.
The big change in their relationship occurred in an adventure loosely inspired by the manga Berserk and the Medieval plottings of Griffith. Gwydion, a Pit Fiend, murders a hero of the Tuigan Horde and Purple Knight General.6 Normally, Gwydion would have been easily picked out by Vangey but Manshoon defeats the wizard before replacing him (only the Archwizard being capable of impersonating Vangey even to his own war wizards). Tanalasta, already inclined to Chauntae's faith, is poisoned by Gwydion with a wasting disease even as the monster manages to bespell Alusair.
Alusair: I shall marry him, retire, and be his Queen. Who could ask for more from a marriage?7
Ichi: May I ask what you see in him?
Alusair: He is a great warrior. Handsome. Brave. Courageous. A man whom will lead the country well when my father passes away.
Ichi: Your sister is not dead yet.
Alusair: She is not fit to rule. It is time I passed down my wild ways though.
Ichi: You will have him and no other?
Alusair: Yes.
Ichi: Meant I so little then?
Dungeon Master: Even in dreamy wedding bliss, a shadow passes across her face. Her mood is ruined and pottery quickly sails at yon head.
In the end; the attempted murder of Azoun with Fzoul8, rescue of Vangey, and saving of the Dowager Queen from Zhentish assassins is completed with Ichi going into rather suicidal single combat with the revealed Gwydion. Unlike Drizzt, one high level fighter versus a Fiendish general isn't a good idea and the players with Allusair nevertheless joined in to finish off the weakened demonic thing after he was on his last legs.
Alusair: Thanks. I'm going to have to wash for days in a cold stream to get the smell of perfume out of my hair. I still smell like flowers and face paint.
Ichi: I am glad you are alright.
Alusair: Itchy, this isn't going to get all romantic and sentimental is it? Cause I don't do that.
Ichi: No. I shall not make it so. However, my feelings go beyond more than physical release....and have for a very long time.
Alusair: I cannot involve you in Cormyr's affairs Ichi. I am my sister's cat's paw. I draw the attention of the Realm from her so she may grow up happy and content without a surrounding web of corruption seeking her.9
Ichi: Take my wakisas....my shortsword. If you cannot take any token of mine then simply take it.10
Our next game will open up with the Dragon's disaster. It's been thirteen years since the Time of Troubles and the characters have all gotten considerably older at this point. It'll be interesting to see where, if anywhere, this romance can be taken. It's entirely possible (I haven't decided yet) that Alusair's feelings for Ichi are no more than any other of her noble warriors that have consistently demonstrated endless courage while also falling in love with her. I imagine its a fairly common phenomenon for her.
We'll see how events proceed on their own.
Footnotes
1. From the Beyond the High Road cover.
2. Rome had premiered the night before and it's doubly noteworthy I rarely swear in my game.
3. I admit, it was hilarious to use Chinese legalism Books of Vile Darkness infecting the Japanese courts and preparing the way for Xvim to manifest in the Emperor. Given Xvim was destroyed, I'll probably have to bring Bane back in some other way or reveal it was a trick of the Baneson.
4. A nice way of Azoun making them part of the peerage without any real responsibilty to it. Everyone at the table recognized it as a joke gift even then.
5. Rose's rather scathing tongue to the Obarskyrs was never explained but he never had a nice word for them. Thankfully, he kept his comments in the privacy of the adventuring party.
6. I had originally intended the Fiend to be Lord Orgauth of Zhentil Keep but in the end just decided that he was a Zhent allied fiend in the employ of Manshoon.
7. That dialogue alone was a shout out that something was up.
8. I play Fzoul as a lot more honorable and gun ho than many might. He's the priest that really wants to get into it. It's also non canon but Azoun I actually had changed to a 14th level fighter/6th level aristocrat which I felt fit him better. Fzoul had pretty much torn apart all of Azoun's bodyguards and slain his wizards before engaging in single combat.
9. I liked the idea that part of her wild behavior, the R-rated version of Eowyn, was always to look after her sister's interests in addition to her own need for adventure.
10. As close to a ring I suppose he could give.
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My Blog: http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/
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Charles Phipps
Master of Realmslore
1425 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jan 2007 : 11:22:16
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As a note also, Alusair in my campaigns doesn't drink that much. Ironically, Rose's portrayal of her as a younger version of her father with breasts is a bit of an unfair stereotype that somehow creeped into the campaign proper. I've always tried to portray Alusair as a potentially better ruler than her father for the fact that she's much less willing to compromise with the crap the nobility keeps trying to throw their way (oddly, Ed seems to say this is exactly why Azoun was a better ruler than her)
Tonight's game started the campaign even as Ichi spent a surprising amount of the night complaining about the fact that he really has nothing to offer Princess Alusair. Why exactly would she make him her King-consort or husband? She already can get the rice for free so why conquer the fields? (Him giving one of the typical "Samurai-ified" versions of a typical proverb that is the player's joke on Asian wisdom)
Alusair has no incentive since she has her other lovers and doesn't want to go through the trouble of explaining why she's marrying one of them. None of the other players really had an answer as to why she would want to come together for a more permanent relationship other than he might not be able to be with her again....and that might as well backfire very easily. |
My Blog: http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/
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Edited by - Charles Phipps on 17 Jan 2007 11:24:20 |
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The courtship of Princess Allusair
