My ideas for a new companion (feedback appreciated)

[Fëanor]

Orion of Port Wrath

(Portrait by Jason Seow)

 

Race: Death godlike. Class: Barbarian. Deity: Rymrgand. Culture: Living Lands. Background: Drifter.

 

I’d write him as a sort of cynical, slightly(or considerably) insane kind of guy. The story and dialog below don't have those elements yet, but the goal would be to make a preposterous character, but one that still cares a lot about what’s going on.

The player would find him in Anslög’s Compass, near his ship’s wreckage, as the party is engaged by half a dozen xaurips warriors and a xaurip priest. The priest would be casting some spell in the “cutscene” and Orion would one-shot him with his pistol (even though his main is an estoc called Entropy [or some other reference to Rymrgand).

 

[i wanted to avoid creating my own names and stuff for the Living Lands, but one I started to write it became impossible without being too silly.]

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His birth was considered by many the result of a curse by their rivals in Eastgard, for in the Living Lands the godlike are assumed to be destined to fulfill their respective god’s purpose.  Fire godlikes live to serve Magran, avians live by Hylea’s code, moon ones often become Giftbearers. Death godlikes are more controversial. Are they touched by Rymrgand? Or Berath?

 

“Rymrgand is also the god of bad luck, mind you. With my life, I am quite certain of the answer to that question.”

 

Orion’s father Edwin wanted none of it, however. The centuries-old feud between the people of Port Wrath and Eastgard would not end due to some madman’s curse, he’d tell his followers. No one can say if he deep down the man was distressed, but the men of the Living Lands are a superstitious folk, and killing one’s own child, as is often done to death godlike children, would surely hurt their morale.

 

Less than a year after Orion was born, their rivals in Eastgard had a fire godlike child, Henrik, with their own story to explain the event. “This is Magran’s call to cleanse our rivals”, they’d say. Orion’s father in turn believed his own son would be the harbinger of their destruction.

Most men in Port Wrath grow up to learn how to sail and work for one of the local captains. Not one captain or crew was willing to risk the bad luck of having a death godlike aboard, however, so Orion never knew what it was like to sail the chilling sea near his home. He didn’t mind it, and lived most of his life in the wild, becoming a master at falconry, despite the fact he never had any falcons, only crows.

 

The relations between both towns had calm years and bad years, but it never came to blows untilthey reached adulthood. Henrik had become a proper man and his father believed it was time for him to fulfill his destiny. Priests of Magran were invited to hold a holy ceremony in his birthday and tell him his destiny. The priests didn’t give the answer Henrik’s father was looking for, but they did say, as they always do, that he had difficult trials ahead of him.

That was enough for Wybert, Henrik’s father, to hire Aumaua pirates and try to end the feud once and for all.

 

The men of the Living Lands don’t wage war without following their ancient traditions, so Wybert gave the men of Port Wrath the chance to raise their troops and meet them in the battlefield. Edwin called his son to fulfill his destiny and honor the Beast of Winter in battle.

“Henrik’s forces were more numerous, better equipped, had more supplies and counted on priests and aumaua pirates to help them”, he tells the Watcher.

 

Q: “How did you survive it?”

“They were strong and they were many, but they were stupid. The Living Lands have a harsh winter…” [he goes on unless the player also comes from there, in which case he can comment on the foreigners not knowing the land and dying for messing with “us”]

“They knew we weren’t many, but they also knew a frontal assault would be too bloody. They decided to wait for an opportunity to give it a quick end, and I did the same, but in a different way. The aumaua and the priests came from foreign lands, and ours is a harsh weather. Both sides had to camp under heavy snowfall for a day, and the night was even worse.”

 

“I told my men victory was certain and the Beast of Winter would give us strength to destroy our enemy, for our cause was righteous and we were defending our town and families.”

“The last part was true enoguh, but I didn’t know **** about the first. Still, on the first night, I told them to light one campfire for every single one of us. In the night there was no way to see anything but the fires. I didn’t know how many they had, but I was sure they didn’t waste their wood with one per soldier, yet they still had more fires staring at us.”

 

“On the second night, I told them to light one for every two soldiers. On the third, one for every four, on the fourth night it was one for eight men, and by the fifth it was one for a dozen. They cursed me for the cold. After all, we are used to it, but there’s only so much we can sustain.”

 

Q: “Why did you do this?”

“From their perspective, it looked like my men were packing their things and going home. The aumaua and the priests grew tired of waiting and told Henrik he had to get it over with. Seemed like the perfect opportunity to attack us, perhaps even take me alive so they could burn me.”

“We set up several traps and had our men waiting on every side. They attacked with half of their strength with little regard for any potential resistance. We flanked and slaughtered them.”

 

“The aumaua were the first to flee. The living landers were too proud to do so without putting up a fight. I felt like Rymrgand’s cold was flowing through me, as if my destiny wasn’t just some tale my father told people so they wouldn’t try to kill me.”

 

“We came back victorious and I was deemed a hero. My father cried, saying I was finally accepted by our people. The truth is, I never really cared about anyone other than him, but I truly enjoyed the fight, and I thanked him for it. Something about the fear in those men’s eyes fueled me and made me feel better than I had ever been.”

 

Q: What about Henrik?

 

“I have plenty to say about him, but no, I didn’t capture or kill him in the battle. He fled, like the coward that he is.”

 

“He and his father spread many lies about the battle, of course, and word reached lands across the sea. Their story was that we didn’t fight according to our traditions and led a surprise attack while they were hunting near Eastgard. That I had animancers working for me and that my father hired foreign mercenaries to fight his battles for him.”

 

“Eventually trade suffered in Port Wrath. Such tales scared merchants and steered them towards Eastgard instead. First the aumaua, then the vailians, and so forth. The people blamed the curse again, and I had someone try to assassinate me for the first time. That was fun.”

 

“Now they are wealthier than ever, and word came to us that they were looking for more mercenaries and planning another attack, this time with no room for mistakes. I couldn’t let it happen. I decided all I needed was to follow Henrik and destroy him before he came back with an army behind him. So I went to my father for a ship.”

 

“The ship was beautiful. Dark hull, ram in the shape of an auroch to honour Rymrgand.  It would be my first time on the sea, and also the first away from the Living Lands.”

 

Q: Is that how you ended up here? Is he hiring in Dyrwood?

 

“Not exactly, and yes. Turns out that was the second time people tried to kill me. The crew had been bribed by Henrik and turned on me as we got closer to Dyrwood. I killed them all, but I never learned the first thing about boats, so the ship lost its way and this is where I ended up.”

 

Q: What are you going to do now?

 

“I will bring death to him or die in the attempt. Will you help me, Watcher?”

----------------

Then the PC begins Orion’s quest. The first step would be to find out more about Henrik’s whereabouts. This would lead them to Ondra’s Gift, and after asking around in the Salty Mast, they would discover that a fire godlike is hiring as many mercenaries as possible and was headed for the countryside to hire men from surrounding villages.

 

The info takes the party to Gilded Vale, where they’re taken by surprise and attacked by some of Henrik’s men (I’m thinking the second floor of the Black Hound) once they look for more information.

 

They’re told by the attackers that they’re too late and he had men waiting for Orion to show up in Ondra’s gift and then spread the false rumour on purpose. Apparently a very large bounty was placed on his head and everyone knows about it.

The party finds out that Henrik will be sticking around for a while to see if anyone collects, and Orion sees the opportunity to take advantage of Henrik’s alleged stupidity again.

The player would have a few options:

• A: If the PC has Caed Nua+the prison upgrade, you could send word to him and tell him that Orion’s a prisoner and invite Henrik to come pick him up and pay you. This leads to a huge brawl in the prison cells, one where the party has the upper hand, but where Henrik himself is absent.

• Once on top, the party finds a much larger party waiting for them and they’re attacked. (Ideally this would be the toughest fight out of all options)

• B: Orion’s suggestion #1: sneak by the ship in the night and place a ****load of spiders inside their cargo with supplies for the crew. This would lose reputation with Defiance Bay because many of the spiders would escape and attack people in Ondra’s Gift and some casualties would be reported, along with the player’s involvement.

This would kill some of them and lure them out, which leads to an open fight in Ondra’s Gift docks. They would have reduced numbers, but several spiders would attack the party as well.

• C: Orion’s suggestion #2: take Orion in chains inside the ship (probably an abandoned house in Ondra’s Gift instead, considering how hard they said it’d be to add new areas) and pretend he’s being held captive by the party.

This will seem to work at first, but once inside Henrik and his men will be pointing their guns at the party and ask you to hurt Orion to prove you’re not lying. If the Watcher does it, Henrik will believe you and the fight will only start later. This allows the party to take them by surprise and with the ability to place each character in the appropriate position for the battle.

If the player refuses, the fight begins right way and everyone takes some free opening attacks while completely surrounded.

• D: Try to poison their water, something Orion says that sounds wise in theory, but too obvious. The idea is that players who think he’s too crazy will go for the easiest option.

This won’t work because Henrik is not that stupid and placed his water supply next to the supplies of other ships and crews, so some of his men will attack you reinforced by other regular sailors in the area that were tipped off about a death godlike doing sneaky **** there. This will lose reputation with Defiance Bay, but the enemies are fought in two “waves” instead of all at once like option E.

• E: Guns blazing.

Orion says it’s stupid and he doesn’t want to die without killing Henrik.

     The player can call him out saying it’s cowardice, which makes Orion mock the Watcher over something else, but in the end he agrees, saying he would be alone if it wasn’t for him.

 

This would work with the player trying to break into the ship. The defenders would denounce the party as thieves and the nearby sailors would reinforce them, more than in the poison scenario because everyone joins the fight. This also loses reputation with Defiance Bay.

-----

Anyway, that’s it for now. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Edited August 19, 2015 by lordfairfax

[View619]

Obsidian should just commission Jason Seow and be done with it. He does amazing work.

Edited August 19, 2015 by View619

[Mahumia]

Interesting idea, although I would probably not consider him companion material (too strong), but a nice quest giver  

[Killyox]

Tbh seems too bland from my pov

[bonarbill]

If he ends up in the game then I hope he's romancable.  

[Fëanor]

Obsidian should just commission Jason Seow and be done with it. He does amazing work.

Indeed.

 

Interesting idea, although I would probably not consider him companion material (too strong), but a nice quest giver

What do you mean too strong?

 

Tbh seems too bland from my pov

Fair enough. I wanted to add more dialog showing more of his personality, but I wanted to know if the rough profile/outline was interesting enough. The idea is that he'd look like a scary brute at first (mostly due to being godlike and not saying much), but then he'd show his sarcastic side over time and become friendlier.

 

If he ends up in the game then I hope he's romancable.  

 

lol

[Mahumia]

What do you mean too strong?

Interesting idea, although I would probably not consider him companion material (too strong), but a nice quest giver 

 

 

 

 

I mean: singlehandedly (sp?) killing a whole crew of a boat (and apparently coming out unscratched). I mean: you'd have to nerf his powers to make him an npc, or send him into a group of enemies whilst the rest is sitting around a campfire, exchanging stories... 

[evilcat]

The image is nice.

 

I am all for Barbarian companion and even meeting him early to avoid caster party.

But this character i dont like.

- Death Godlike is a bit extreme, and having circus runaways is good only in limited quantities. I need some normal characters.

- I have not noticed much effects of his Godlike. He could be human and it would look just fine in this story.

- He does not speak or feel like Barbarian, more like badass fighter.

- Cynical Insane is already Durance. I prefer Barbarian who speas like barbarian.

- Why to miss opportunity of having Barbarian from Twin Elms who can serve as our guide, and bring us his home to finish some unfinished bussiness.

- Personal vendetta is just another day in dearwood. It is nice when companions are a bit deeper and selfless. Also i do not see personal dilema in that character. We need to go deeper. Quest of finding meaning of life. Redemption. Saving souls of family member gone bad. Bringing hope to hopeless land. Changing paradigm of the tribe.

 

Just no. And for me it cant be saved.

[Fëanor]

 

What do you mean too strong?

Interesting idea, although I would probably not consider him companion material (too strong), but a nice quest giver 

 

 

 

I mean: singlehandedly (sp?) killing a whole crew of a boat (and apparently coming out unscratched). I mean: you'd have to nerf his powers to make him an npc, or send him into a group of enemies whilst the rest is sitting around a campfire, exchanging stories... 

 

I see, makes sense.

 

The image is nice.

 

I am all for Barbarian companion and even meeting him early to avoid caster party.

But this character i dont like.

- Death Godlike is a bit extreme, and having circus runaways is good only in limited quantities. I need some normal characters.

- I have not noticed much effects of his Godlike. He could be human and it would look just fine in this story.

- He does not speak or feel like Barbarian, more like badass fighter.

- Cynical Insane is already Durance. I prefer Barbarian who speas like barbarian.

- Why to miss opportunity of having Barbarian from Twin Elms who can serve as our guide, and bring us his home to finish some unfinished bussiness.

- Personal vendetta is just another day in dearwood. It is nice when companions are a bit deeper and selfless. Also i do not see personal dilema in that character. We need to go deeper. Quest of finding meaning of life. Redemption. Saving souls of family member gone bad. Bringing hope to hopeless land. Changing paradigm of the tribe.

 

Just no. And for me it cant be saved.

Some fair points. Appreciate the honest feedback.