Hooks with a twist

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Rock of the Fraternity
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Hooks with a twist

Post by Rock of the Fraternity »

The Hook.

The party is in a large city, maybe in Borca or Dementlieu, when they are approached by a collective of well-meaning and concerned citizens. The committee asks them to free the eldest daughter of old lord Delacoeur. Apparently after the old boy popped his clogs after a long sickbed, his son took over instead of respecting his sister's claim to the house, and he is one crazy lad. He's driven most of his remaining family and servants out of the house and even the domain itself, and has locked his poor sister up inside. Now, he's maintaining the manor with a skeleton crew of the toughest and meanest of the family servants, and people are afraid he's doing something unspeakable to his sister because she's the rightful heiress.

The Twist:
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The truth is that the current lord Delacoeur discovered his sister has been Turned into a vampire. She's the reason their father died, as she'd been feeding off of him, and the old lord actually tried to attack his remaining relatives after he burst from his coffin. The old lord was put down, but the sister was too clever, and holed up in the manor house's cellars. The young lord did not "drive" his family and servants out, he begged them to run for it while he stayed behind to brick up every possible escape route from the cellars and wait until his sister is weak enough to be taken down. Those few servants still in place are the ones who refused to run, and are trying to take care of their distraught master.
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Lord_Pruitt
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Re: Hooks with a twist

Post by Lord_Pruitt »

Nice twist! I'll have to remember this idea <insert evil chuckle here>.
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Rock of the Fraternity
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Re: Hooks with a twist

Post by Rock of the Fraternity »

The Hook:

There is an orphanage on the outskirts of Mortigny, "Granddad's Home". In a twist, the orphanage's general manager, Grandpa Ors, isn't trying to push his wards off on whoever's willing to pay. In fact, very few children are fostered out; the old Grandpa is adamant that prospective parents need to subject to an exhaustive investigation of their character and means before he allows them to take one of "his" kids home.
The old man also puts in a lot of effort to teach every child the skills they need, gets them apprenticed to master craftsmen, and even provides them with a little money when they decide it's time to become independent.
'Orphantown' is a small, rural community that has been growing around Granddad's Home, composed of the homes and businesses of orphans who have grown up, moved out, and become fully-functional adults... within walking distance of the place where they grew up.
While Granddad's Home receives some donations from the Reniers and other affluent citizens, it mostly runs on the fruits of its alumni's labour, with each adult pitching in to ensure Granddad's Home can keep taking care of children in need.

The Church of Ezra is well in favour of Granddad's Home, and has wanted to support its good work for several years now, both through donations and by adding an Anchorite to the staff. So far, Grandpa Ors has refused point-blank; it seems he is not convinced that hitching his wagon to the Church would be good for "his" kids!
The adventurers are tasked to accompany an Anchorite to Granddad's Home and talk sense into the old boy. After all, he could use the money and he's not getting any younger.

The Twist:
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Orsol is an Outlander, originally from Faerûn. He has had other names, and had other homes before he wound up in Richemulot as the general manager of an orphanage. All were lost, because time and again, he was attacked and forced to flee.
While he is genuinely taking good care of the children who wind up in his care, he is not wholly altruistic. The children and Orphantown are his shield and his cloak, set in place to prevent enemies from recognizing him for what he is and to defend him if they do. Orsol can not bear the thought of some nosy Cleric coming so close and prying into his affairs, not now he's settled in so comfortably and has so many eager young minds to educate, so many grateful people practically worshipping the ground he walks on.

Orsol is a well-disguised Lich, and if he feels that the Church of Ezra is pushing him into a corner, he is sure to lash out.
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Re: Hooks with a twist

Post by Mistmaster »

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Doubletwist Orsol is a Lawful Good Lich and he is genuinly the best thing happened to those kids
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