A recurring antagonist is one of those exquisite little events that can occasionally occur, during the course of play. It’s hard to bring it about naturally; those damn PC’s are always dead set on killing their foes. Occasionally, the “Bad Guy” escapes. Sometimes, the overall situation is such as to foster the NPC’s survival (“The King’s vizier is in it up to his eyeballs, but, we can’t touch him, yet!”) At times, guile serves to insure the survival of the enemy.
Ged was the right hand man of a half-celestial sorcerer. The sorcerer had forsaken his angelic heritage, going over to the dark side and setting up shop in a dungeon. He employed Ged and some “red shirts” to take care of the riff-raff. The PC’s dispatched the lesser obstacles, then ran into Ged from across the other side of a small chasm. A bridge was present, which the party wasn’t about to cross, without thoroughly checking it out. I decided that Ged was gregarious, bored, almost lackadaisical and hungry.
“You fellas sure you want to fight?” he casually offered.
“We can just let bygones be bygones. Do you have any food? I’m awfully hungry. It’s real hard to find food, down here.”
“I sure hate living in a dungeon. It’s as cold as my ex-wife’s heart. You guys got an extra tin of Iron Rations you could spare?
The above really doesn’t do Ged justice. My players were rolling on the floor, and immediately took a liking to the chap. After running through his pet monsters and traps, they finally got their hands on Ged, who, after a short melee exchange, surrendered. The Players tied Ged up, who immediately, in a friendly and careless way, spilled every bean, concerning his boss.
“I’m sure sorry about all this. I’m just a body guard, trying to make a living. I didn’t know what he was up to, until it was to late. (Resigned Sigh.) He threatened to kill me if I tried to leave; I guess I just got scared. Do you fellas have any Iron Rations you could spare? I understand if’n you guys decide to kill me, but, if you would consider just letting me go, I won’t cause you any more trouble.”
Role-playing NPC’s is one of my strengths as a DM. I did my job with Ged so well, that, in a 3.5 game, they didn’t even ask for a Sense Motive, or any of that crap. They just Role-Played, and decided to set Ged free, kind-hearted souls that they were.
Ged, was as Neutral-Evil as Nerull himself and knew exactly what his master was up to. Ged was a “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,” kind of guy.
A few sessions later, the PC’s were asked by the local clergy to investigate some supernatural badness, at a local mine. The mining company had called in a consultant of their own. The consultant had several aides and guards working for him and Ged was his right-hand man. Ged’s new boss was in it up to his eyeballs, and once again, the duergar had to extricate himself from the situation.
“The guy needed some body-guards to come up here with him. I’m just a hired mercenary. I didn’t know he was killing folk. You guys looking to hire an extra sword or something? I’m out of a job, now, and could use a break.”
They had some doubts, but, perhaps because they already saw him as just a victim of circumstance, they decided that he could be telling the truth and let him go, again.
Recurring Villains are so much better, when the player’s really hate their foe. If I could have brought Ged into play again and made his culpability obvious, then, if he managed to escape, I think the PC’s would have been screaming for his blood! Now, that would have been fun. I’ll have to try and set something like this up again, one day.
