Kingsmoot (Adventure Path help requested)

[Tybalt]

Background

The War with New Edom
[spoiler]
New Edom and Goblinland are considered by the Celts to be the ancient region of Belerion, once a fertile and beautiful though wild part of their own realm. Small villages and remnants of Celtic culture still exist there. The New Edomites are a mongrel folk, made up of refugees, ex slaves and mysterious arrivals from beyond the vast mountains of the farthest east, known to consort with strange demi-human races and to practice magics that owe nothing to the devotion to the Tuatha de Dannan or any other known gods.

However this is all one to the average Celt. It is one thing to repel invasion or to fight for a cause that is directly involving one's own lands, another altogether to fight simply for a king's ambitions, particularly when it is the Great King and not one's own king. Thus there was a reluctance to follow the High King Cleothas to war with New Edom. At first it seemed easy enough, half the country falling to the onslaught. Now it is a grim war that has lasted more than a year, with no end in sight, and not a proper long war either with constant border raids and skirmishes but a war of sieges and long waiting.

Worse still to all but the Devans and Harlwas is the strange and disturbing magics and weird allies the King acquired. Goblins? Undead? It is no wonder that with the death of the king in battle before the gates of Touchstone that a kingsmoot is being called for at Mag Mhor, to contest the rights of High Kingship.[/spoiler]  

At Mag Mhor in the Confederation of the Celts a kingsmoot has been called following the death of the High King, Cleothas, in battle. The High King's chief role is to mediate between the various kingdoms and principalities, command in general war and host and protect the lawgivers, bards, spellcasters and other learned folk at the capital. At the council of the Kingsmoot a series of contests and debates will take place which will enable the representatives of the lands of the Celts to choose who the next High King will be.

The following are necessary qualifications.
1. The King must be capable as a war leader--proven in battle and physically capable of it.
2. The King must know the history of his people--not to the degree of a bard but must be able to know at least a few histories on a broad scale.
3. He must know the laws of his people, at least to the point of being able to ask the right questions of the lawgivers.
4. He must be accepted by the gods--in body mind and spirit.
5. He must be physically whole and in no fashion deformed.
6. He must be a pure Celt, of proven descent.

While I'm searching for ideas I'm more hoping for others here to help flesh out what could be interesting for an adventure path involving my players, who will mostly be foreigners from the Republic of New Edom seeking to make sure a king friendly to their country is elected. I'm thinking so far of a Celtic lord whose life they've saved helping them out by acting as their personal hosts, but beyond that I'm a little stumped.

What I'd specifically like are:
1. Ideas for contests high level pcs could help with.
2. Ideas for intrigues in the Celtic capital.
3. Ideas for side adventures, quests or whatever that would suit a Celtic type setting and possibly lend themselves to helping create a new king.
4. Ideas that would enable this to be an adventure path and not a single adventure--I'd like them to in some fashion be involved with the culture, acquire allies, etc.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

1. Celtic legend sometimes has magic items that only a true king can use. Perhaps a quest for something like that.

Maybe their favored candidate has to handle a legal case, but the other side is doing something fishy. So they have to investigate and provide info to their candidate.

2. A romantic liason?

3. Celtic mythology is so rife with faeries, I'd say a fey quest is in order, maybe even a trip to Otherworld. Or perhaps the blessings of a fey might mean a great deal in the case.

4. If they show interest in mercantalism, perhaps they can find unusual goods not available in New Edom and set up trade (or blackmarket trade, even).

[Poseptune]

The following are necessary qualifications.
1. The King must be capable as a war leader--proven in battle and physically capable of it.
2. The King must know the history of his people--not to the degree of a bard but must be able to know at least a few histories on a broad scale.
3. He must know the laws of his people, at least to the point of being able to ask the right questions of the lawgivers.
4. He must be accepted by the gods--in body mind and spirit.
5. He must be physically whole and in no fashion deformed.
6. He must be a pure Celt, of proven descent.

Below I will reference these qualifications as Q# as in Q1 if it what I list below helps with qualification 1.

What I'd specifically like are:
1. Ideas for contests high level pcs could help with.
2. Ideas for intrigues in the Celtic capital.
3. Ideas for side adventures, quests or whatever that would suit a Celtic type setting and possibly lend themselves to helping create a new king.
4. Ideas that would enable this to be an adventure path and not a single adventure--I'd like them to in some fashion be involved with the culture, acquire allies, etc.

1.)The Contests of Crowning

Rise of a Leader: The person vying to be king must gather a handful of followers to help them in contests. They have a week to gather (number of PCs, with the possibility of NPC as well) loyal followers, otherwise they are disqualified from further contests and thus cannot be king. (Partially Q1)

War games: The prospective Kings are lead to an area and must defeat the opposing perspective king's forces. Each scenario is different. (Clerics are on hand in case of serious injury). Only Two or Three successful prospective kings move on to the next series of contests. (Q1)

Path of the Ancestors: Given what they know of history they must travel a path that is important to their people (A significant war march, or possibly the migration of their people from another land). This path is dangerous and they must gather certain items from different points proving that they traveled the path (or a lawgiver must accompany them as a watcher and cannot offer aid). The future king must lead his followers through this path, and any battles that may ensue (Combat encounters). The path takes the future king through lands of other nations and they must obtain the right to cross these regions (Diplomatic encounters). Leave cryptic clues or riddles that must be solved to find the next location. This would be the bulk of the adventure and satisfy Q1 and Q2.

Court of Law: The people running the contests give problems to some of the common people. The future king must use what he knows of the laws to solve the commoners problems/disputes. He has a day to answer/solve/rule on all of the disputes or problems that where presented to him. Each prospective king gets different problems or disputes. They are allowed to ask lawgivers any questions that would help solve the problem except "how would you solve this problem". The prospective kings can also send their followers to investigate a solution. (Q3 and it could be just one major problem)

If I can think of more I'll post them.

2.) A group is working against the benefactor of the party. They use spies and mercenaries to try to make sure that he doesn't become king. At one point they can claim that the party's contender is not of pure Celtic birth and somehow the party must prove it. This group is also sponsoring a perspective king, who is truly not of Celtic Birth but is in fact an outsider (Demon, devil, other), but they've hidden it well or bribed/coerced those running the contests. Leave more and more clues for the party to find as the adventure goes on. Small insignificant things at first and the later in the adventure blaringly obvious clues.

3.) Besides clues from number 2, a prospective King has gotten lost or otherwise in trouble and the party's king must decide to go search for him (which will give him good marks) or leave the competition out to dry.

You can also have ancestral weapons or items that the party can find clues about while researching the path of ancestors. They can decide to go search for these items and getting these items that were thought to be lost for all time would earn bonus points for their contender.

4.) After getting crowned king the group that opposed him starts to cause problems for the kingdom (destroying farms or other structures). They are bent on taking out the kingdom now that they cannot do it from within. They call upon outside forces and start sieging different cities. It is up to the PC's to break the sieges and bring the group down. There could be a couple of different adventures in there.

 The contests can be a variety of adventures as well, depending on how much you flesh them out.

[LordVreeg]

1. The King must be capable as a war leader--proven in battle and physically capable of it.
2. The King must know the history of his people--not to the degree of a bard but must be able to know at least a few histories on a broad scale.
3. He must know the laws of his people, at least to the point of being able to ask the right questions of the lawgivers.
4. He must be accepted by the gods--in body mind and spirit.
5. He must be physically whole and in no fashion deformed.
6. He must be a pure Celt, of proven descent.

accepted by the Gods!!!  well, that sounds like an easily contested point...I imagine that any canidate must ahve an excellent relationship with the church...or create a relationship.  I would imagine there would be a certain ways that a church would want canidates to prove their worthiness to the Gods...and might have to send the PC's to find suitable acceptable items...

And proven descent, pure descent...boy, with your goody group, this might not fly, but after the canidates have been winnowed down, I'd have a canidate come to the PC's with threats that a fiend is trying to blackmail a canidate with slander...and send the PC's into the cesspools of corruption and double dealing of the underworld of a city trying to trackdown where the rumors are coming from.

[Tybalt]

Legal Ideas: Phoenix and Poseidon, you've both offered me a good idea here. It gives the pcs a chance to find out what Celtic laws are like, establish contacts with Brehons (lawgivers) and solve a set of problems that might endear them to commoners or create the opposite effect. Any thoughts on what these could be?

Here's something that Vreeg might sink his teeth into--some kind of inter-guild dispute maybe?

Poseidon: I notice that you in particular have suggested that the contests might take months to decide, which is a good point; this is in a society that doesn't take journeys or leadership lightly. I like the journey idea in particular. Also I like your progression of adventures ideas, which are very helpful towards building an adventure path out of this. The possible demonic/evil candidate is very good.

Phoenix: Your ideas about legendary items and the Fae are ones that I think with some creativity I could work into the other tasks. Perhaps even the higher Fae ie the Tuatha de Dannan themselves in various guises (in an Arthurian kind of way) are involved, throwing tests and temptations the pcs' way, perhaps even taking sides. The ones I wanted to focus on if at all would be: The Morrigan, The Dagda, plus some of the land goddesses and hill kings.

Vreeg: I think your idea ties in well with the 'false king candidate' idea of Poseidon's. What I need to figure out further is what Mag Mhor is exactly like--I've been thinking of it as a sort of cross between Camelot and Tara.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

As far as land goddesses and hill kings go, it reminds me that cairns and barrows are really important. Perhaps you might consider something along the lines of the barrow adventure in LotR, but instead of ghosts, use a goddess that tests the PCs before blessing them.

Definitely temptations are in the spirit of Arthurian legend and Celtic myth. Maybe the enchantress offers a PC whatever he might most want (even if it appears to be a way to save New Edom); but he has to know there will be a high price. If your PCs have personal wants beyond their mission, all the better. If they are human enough to be tempted by wealth, power, or sex, that's great for the story. If not, perhaps you can tempt them with something else (a lost loved one, whatever).

[LordVreeg]

are all the great houses of the Celts vying for this?  Will there be inter-house struggles as well?  I can't see Duke Dorian interested.  Grania might be very vocal, based on her people's treatment as 'arrow fodder'.   And will the war be a litmus test for the political side of this struggle?

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Is it possible for the PCs to provoke a civil war within the Celtic nation? That would actually seem to be their clearest path to victory for their own home.

[Tybalt]

I'm thinking that all the great houses would vie, yes. I need to work out their positions as well. The Fer Dhomlann may need to have an election within their own nation since their leader is still a boy--unless he gets over his fear of heights and such. (I'm wondering if I should present him as a potential boy king who the pcs could in theory help out of a bad state)

Vreeg makes a good point about Grania and Dorian. The Harlaws will very likely want to either pursue the war or have a treaty that favours them keeping territory already grabbed--Grania may want this as well. (incidentally the pcs have encountered her twice in large scale battle before the gates of Fineberg during the siege--in one encounter Kallyn wounded her and then was forced back herself by a charge of Grania's bodyguards)

I like Phoenix's idea of a Celtic style enchantress complete with tests and such--I think my pcs might very well go for that, even if the enchantress is hostile. I'll have to think of some. Possibly the quests suggested by Poseidon might be helpful.

While the civil war idea might be a good one--and I can see some of my players liking it--I'm going to also give them the option of backing a particular faction. Even if they do that it may still result in civil war anyway. While they will still have Kalikazan, his undead and the goblinoids to deal with it will not be so big a deal.

One thing I did think of was using the Harlaws as a red herring for the demon candidate subplot--they are obvious culprits but I would make it someone more unlikely instead.

[LordVreeg]

what are the other behind the scenes power-brokers up to during this?
Are the Dark Elves Bribing anyone or backing someone?
Is our friend the Lich backing some war mongers to keep his allies around...I know I would.  
There are probably elements in the Yasgs that would love to keep this war going, as well.  

[Tybalt]

The Dark Elves are only distinguishable from Light Elves by their behavior, for the most part, remember, so to Celtic candidates it would be unsettling, enticing and fascinating to be in contact with one. They are known to live in the remote and strange region to the north of New Edom and are also found in odd hidden places. The Celts treat all elves as though they are the Tuatha de Dannan themselves--and while they would certainly resist if a fight broke out or some unpleasant enchantment began they tend to be respectful. A cunning Drow could easily get a plot ball rolling. On the other hand the advice of an experienced adventurer, bard or druid might foil that. The Drow aim is simple: they want war, red war, to demonstrate to their more retiring kin that they need to unleash the weapons of the Tuatha de Dannan in order to put humanity in its place.

The Lich is at the moment secretly preparing a vast undead army and is a little distracted. However I've been thinking it is time to unleash a few of his vampiric followers. These are more like high ranking feudal retainers than mere servants, given more latitude to act. (the pcs recently met another of this kind, a Greater Mummy, but they never found out that he WAS such a retainer, though they strongly suspect) I was thinking perhaps of a classic seduction of one of the candidates or even an abduction. After all a vampire can't be a candidate for kingship.

The Yasg Empire is not a single solid entity at the moment, with their own succession very much in mind. However disputed Siluria would be on the minds of any Yasgs with any political sense, and of course Prince Duragon's party is interested in the war with New Edom as are the Yuan-Ti of the Shadow's Nest. I was thinking it might be interesting though for the pcs to discover that the same faction that is assisting them is assisting someone else that they might not have chosen themselves...