Save or Die: Outcasts - NPC Spoilers (Patreon)

If you are a player in Outcasts, read no further!

Hello dear patrons!

In this post, we're gonna talk about some of the NPCs we've met in Outcasts, where they come from, what I intend for them, and how they reflect on our characters, story, or nature.

Before we go any further, first we have to talk about the ephemeral world of "DM's intent". This is very much a "If a tree falls in a forest with nobody around to hear it, does it make a sound?" concept. I may have a note that says "This character is motivated by revenge for their family", but if that character hasn't acted on that motivation, discussed it, or have that motivation show up in any way, are they really motivated by it? What I'm saying is that until something actually happens in game, my previous intent doesn't matter at all. I may introduce a character with the desire of them being a super serious quest lead that will take the campaign in one direction, but if the session gets super silly right around that time, I might throw the whole character idea and quest lead in the bin, and change the character on the fly to be something more fun.

In short, notes and DM intent are insubstantial and subject to change up until they make an appearance in game. I'm going to talk about characters and reveal some behind the scenes things, but these details may change a little, a lot, or not at all by the time we get to the game. That's because D&D is very much a game of improve and we need to have a lot of flexibility with our planning.

Lastly before we start, do your best to keep these secrets to yourself. Certainly don't share them with the players. Do use the comments section in this post to talk about your thoughts / headcannon / lore ideas.

On to the NPC notes!

Magistrate Zerrah
Human female, black robed wizard, acting as the Empire's eyes and ears in the region.

Zerrah is a lot of things, and has a lot of room to grow into different roles, but that's not what excites me about her. She is partially inspired by Colonel von Luger from The Great Escape. If you haven't seen that movie, its an old one but a great one, about British and American POWs in Germany during WW2 and their attempts to escape. Colonel von Luger is the Kommandant in charge of the prison, and a senior Luftwaffe officer. We spend most of the movie seeing him as the bad guy who is keeping our heroes prisoner. He's the enemy. As the movie nears its end, we see SS officers arriving at the camp and the idea of who the enemy is begins to shift. We see von Luger as not the evil Nazi prison guard, but a soldier who is doing his duty and whose higher ups are the real enemy. By the end of the film, we see him as a prisoner himself, trapped in a system he abhors, just trying to survive.

Zerrah is similar. She's a black robed wizard (evil), working for the Empire of Voraci (evil), and overseeing the captured kingdom (prison guardish). What I am hoping to do with Zerrah is create an evil enemy that overtime gets revealed to be a principled, reasonable, and measured person performing an official function in an evil empire. This isn't the ol' switcheroo where the person you thought was evil turned out to be a good person all along, but a multifaceted character who underscores:

• A person can be more than one thing
• Black robes do not mean a black heart
• Not all enemies are evil people
• There is such a thing as an enemy that you can trust

The problem is that D&D has a way of taking nuanced ideas and turning them into jokes or dead NPCs. I have a feeling my dreams for Zerrah may never be realized.

Swamp Wizard Autumn
Half Elf female, red robed wizard, deeply interested in the nature of magic

How does one become a powerful wizard? If you work for nobles or the state, you're going to have access to money, tools, and security - but you're also going to have responsibilities that prevent you from advancing too deeply into magic. To be a great mage, you must be free to bury yourself in your research for months at a time, and that means you need independence.

But independence comes with problems. Wizards have a target on their back. They've got money, spellbooks, and they must be loaded with magic items, right? By the gods, they're wizards! They have to have lots of potions, wands, and staffs, scrolls, rings, magic shoes, and stuff. This is why we often see powerful spell casters in awkward, out of the way places. Deep in forests, swamps, or frozen tundra. It's why they keep a low profile. A wizard is glass cannon - powerful but fragile. Even a low level warrior can take down a mid level wizard if they can ambush them right.

So what's the deal with Autumn? She lives in a swamp, for the protection it provides, but is careless about her personal security. She hasn't asked the PCs to keep her information secret, she seems to know the other locals in society, and she's multiclassed as a cleric?!  She also might not be the most well adjusted person, telling Grau that he needs to bottle up any negative feelings and not let them come out.

Like Zerrah, Autumn has a lot of room to grow. I have a history for her that I'm not going to share because 1) if we keep it, it's way too spoilery 2) it's juicy but I might throw it away and then you'll be sad. What I can tell you is that Autumn is a half elf, half elves are sterile, and Autumn doesn't want to be held back by that. She wants a family, but her very nature prevents her from having children. Grau and Garp are very odd creatures that defy the norm for their type, and that makes her very interested. She wants to get to know them, she wants to understand how and why they are different. Maybe they can help her probe the nature of magic and reveal a path that lets her overcome her biology. Maybe they can lead her to some other power. Maybe they end up as curiosities, friends, and assistants.

Autumn's relationship with the party has a lot of potential and could go in a lot of directions. Right now it is very friendly. She asks very little of the party (just some very well paying, and simple jobs) and provides quite a lot. It is only a matter of time before the party begins to take her for granted, and either betray her or attempt to exploit her.

That will be an interesting day.

Captain Damos
Half Elf male, fighter, assigned to Key Gate as captain of the guard for the Voraci Empire

This character is a rather blank slate right now. He's an important character, but what his role in the bigger picture is hasn't been decided. Outcasts is going to be a sandbox game, even though right now we've had a pretty straight forward DM driven story, and Damos will unfold in a way that help further our campaign.

Some characters are like that.

Forest / Brutus & The Fireflies
Half Elf male, fighter, member of the terrorist organization The Fireflies, and faux guard in Swampside

First off, there's a lot of half elves in this region, and that is sort of by accident. Forest is a half elf who was raised by elves (supposedly pretty rare) and is using his half human heritage to seek vengeance on the empire who slaughtered his people and destroyed their homeland. We saw a bit of that devastation in Tombs of Scoria.

He picked the name Brutus as his undercover name because he wanted to fit in with the Empire, and Brutus -> Brutal / Brutality. That name choice is Forest's idea of what a good soldier for the Empire might be. It is his reflection on them, and the more he wears that disguise the more he becomes that disguise.

The Fireflies have no illusions of overthrowing the empire. They're not going to win some war. They don't have any plans for the future. They've already lost, they're just floating their CC to the corner of the map [Starcraft reference here if you're missing it] and causing problems. Eventually they will all be caught and killed (maybe tortured first), and they know that.

So are they good guys, or bad guys? Well... they're the victims of terrible genocide and atrocities. But they've leaned into it and are now going to start doing terrible things themselves. They are an example of people who are justifiably upset, but have chosen the path of evil to deal with their grievances, which makes them pretty evil in my book. This isn't some accident where through many small actions they find themselves being people they never wanted to be, this a very conscious choice to embrace the dark ways. So far their actions have been pretty innocent-bystander-free, but that won't last forever.

On the other hand, if the PCs end up as enemies of the Empire (which is not the storyline we're going for, but PCs given free reign do make a lot of enemies), they might make good allies or assistants.

If Zerrah is "an enemy you can trust", the Fireflies are "a friend you cannot trust".

Lastly, I am very aware that Fireflies is the name given to a rebel group from The Last of Us (saw the show, never played the game). This is unfortunate, and not at all intentional. I was going for "swarming insects that set fire to society", and Fireflies covers both their origins (beautiful elven society in the woods) and their future (setting fire to the world). I don't know how The Fireflies are portrayed in the game version of The Last of Us, but in the show they're more a rebel group who wants to take over (for the good of the people /eyeroll) rather than an outright group of murderous terrorists.

Unnamed Orc Scout
Orc male, fighter, followed the party from Valebrook.

Dude was tasked by Magistrate Zerrah to see where the party was taking this glass. Obviously it was for a wizard, the only question is who. He had strict orders not to hamper the party in any way, just to follow them and report back.

This character is a perfect representation of "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself". The only threat the orc posed, are the threats the players could conjure in their minds. There wasn't a clear danger, but there was something uncomfortable about him - so they killed him.

This whole interaction is such a good example of how people work. Here is something I don't fully understand. It might be dangerous to me, it might not. I will eliminate this threat before it has a chance to manifest fully. This happens on a societal level, a local level, and a personal level. Yes, even you dear reader suffer from this same style of fear of the unknown. It's a wonderful survival trait that helped our ancestors survive the jungles of primordial Africa before settling down into civilizations, but causes so many problems in the world today.

Were the PC's actions here good? Evil? Justifiable? Right? Wrong? Our players did what they thought they had to do in order to survive, and it will have far reaching consequences. One does not have to be an 18INT wizard to know the orc you sent to follow the supply train of wizard glass who vanished was killed by the people you sent him to follow.

Leafy the dog
Golden colored, medium sized, male dog

Autumn has a dog. She's also interested in creatures that are not what they seem to be. Is this dog just a dog? Is it some other fantastical creature? I'd like to leave you in a state of wondering and suspence, trying to sort out the nature of the creature and how its name might foreshadow or hint at its purposes. And while things do change, and while the DM does lie blatantly to you, I'll tell you truth this one time and let you know that Leafy is just a dog, because dogs are great, and if you live alone in a swamp tower, you might want a dog for company, alarms, and protection. There's nothing special about this dog at all. DM's promise.  ;)