[DitV] King's Perch

[Tobias]

The King's Perch,

A DitV Town.

King's Perch is so-named because it sits on the start of a mountain cliff. The view over the plains is stunning, a small river cascades down in a waterfall and hit's the cliff, about a hundred meters below. It's about a day's ride from the town to where the waterfall hits bottom.

King's Perch has always been an out-of-the-way place. No through routes really pass it - only to occasional traveler who is without sufficient supplies will make the detour.

King's Perch is familiar with the Mountain Folk, and is actually on good terms with them. A few Mountain folk traders (most often Running Crow) occasionally ride into the city to trade hides and herbal medicines for more modern conveniences.

A small band of soldiers (actually deserters, not bandits, but they present themselves as soldiers. One, Bruce, is wounded and needs recovery time. He gets this at the Mayor's house). has recently ridden into the city, just before the Dogs ride in. The soldiers are just canvassing the territory, they say. Roderick, their Captain, however, has noticed that the river could be a prime one for finding silver.

The Mayor, Brother Hamilton
His Wife, Sister Sybrina
Their Son, Virgil
Their Daughter, Temperance

The Steward, Cyrus
His Wife, Phidelia
Their Daughter, Clementine
Their younger Daughter, Obedience

The Family with twin brothers
Father, Brother Pleasant
Mother, Sister Cleophas,
Son, August
Son, Obediah

The Captain, Roderick Smythe
His men, Bruce, Samuel, and Peter

(note of irony: there is no actual silver)

The steward's wife, Phidelia, thinks he (and by extension, she) could be more important if the town was bigger, more booming - so the silver thing would be good for her. While Cyrus is a strong but temperate, appreciated man, she's always been a bit less strict in the Faith - just doing enough and being quiet about it. She generally lets Cyrus do the talking, so she has to nod. Her elder daughter has picked up on this, and is even less enthused about the Faith. Perhaps Cyrus knows, but he has spoken out on it - but is his second daughter's name a coincidence? Phidelia thinks hitching Clementine to the captain of the soldiers would be a good opportunity for them to develop a lasting connection to the town, perhaps bringing in some industry.

Pride, Sin manifests as the Mayor becoming Ill, and False Doctrine (foregoing proper courting is ok if it's ok for the larger community, the smarts of her man and her are better than the laws for the community from the regional Steward). The Mayor's taken ill she sees as a sign of the better suitability of her husband, the Steward.

The Steward might even, if the Mayor dies, go for the Mayor's wife as second wife - she needs a husband, doesn't she? Cyrus really is a good guy, though.

There are twin boys in town (August and Obediah) who have actually started on the first step of courting Clementine  - but she's interested in neither of them. She's more interested in heading East with the Captain and his riches - not because she loves him, but she has fanciful dreams of 'being a rogue soldier lass'. Both Prideful and Naïve. The boys aren't kickin' and screamin' to do something to anyone yet, but they could be (anything from challenging a soldier to prove their toughness, to manhandling the girl to acknowledge them). August has taken to Sinning in Worldliness, though - he  went to beat up a soldier - was laughed at, asked to join the soldiers'company (hey, a chance to get one of these do-good kids really drunk) - and got roaring drunk, gambled, smoked, and fell asleep among them. August does no such thing, but isn't he just a bit too passive to really be in love?

Injustice - Cyrus, his wife and daughter not listening to him
Injustice - August and Obediah don't get to court
Injustice - Clementine is flirting with a inappropriate man (no love)
Injustice - Phidelia to the ill Mayor and his family

Sin - worldliness, pride

Demonic attack - temptation of Clementine and August to things they should no be doing and their rebellion against their parents, sickness of the Mayor

Demons want to break down the laws of courting and make trouble between the soldiers and the Dogs, and install Phidelia and Clementine as the brains behind a lawless place.

Cyrus wants the Dogs to heal the Mayor's sickness and set August straight. Depending on the behavior of the soldier, he may want them gone

Phidelia wants the Dogs to 'convert' Roderick, so that Clementine's courtship will be proper, and appoint Cyrus as Mayor as well as Steward.

Clementine is actually interested in traveling on with the Dog's - she's not thought of it before, but that's even cooler than eloping with some (smelly-anyway) Captain type. Plus it'd show her dad once and for all about her being a good kid!

Obedience will waffle between also wanting to be a dog, or just her family being a bit more happy together.

The mayor and their family just want the mayor to get better.

Brother Pleasant wants August back in the fold (stern talking to), and Obediah to grow a spine.

August wants the Dogs to forgive him because he was driven to it by Clementine's interest for the soldier, and he wants proper courting' rights.

Obediah wants the same for his brother (so he says...). In fact, he'd prefer his own courting, but he's too shy.

Smythe wants the Dogs gone, and if they're good at healing, perhaps they can heal his man?
(If the dogs make a play of 'it would be easier to heal you if you were one of our faith', he'll gobble that up right away).

The demons want either a knock-down, kill'em'all fight over Clementine, between Dogs or Soldiers, or for the Dogs to move on to the next city quickly, so they can blow up this town. To get this, they'll really up the sickness-attack on the mayor (reasoning that they won't stay to play medic to a corpse).

What if the Dogs never came? The mayor would die of his illness, and the Steward would take over his job. The soldiers would try to set up a silver operation, and the situation would blow up when the mountain folk came down to trade - in a shoot-out, the Steward dies, so does Roderick, the mountain man, and Obediah kills August. The river proves dry, and the inhabitants scatter to other towns, leaving a ghost town. Phidelia and Clementine split up, each bringing their own brand of misery to the new town.

I've kept my options slightly open in the backstory, as you may be able to tell, as I'm running my first DitV game tomorrow for a goup of players I've never met before (well, I met one) who haven't played it before either. This way I can try to go to places they find interesting a bit better.

Comments? Too open? And since it's tomorrow, fast=good. :)

[Tobias]

Oh, and just to note: I'm aware 1 day's notice for people to respond to is probably too little. Mea Culpa.

I'd still be interested in comments, but tomorrow (my time) I'll probably have some actual play for you as well. :)

[lumpley]

Looks just fine to me. Looks like a Dogs town!

I don't buy Smythe wanting the Dogs gone. He'd be better off trying to enlist them to his cause or capitalize on them somehow.

-Vincent

[Tobias]

Hmmm..... feels natural that he should want them gone - but perhaps he wants them gone to also spread the message that there'd be silver here - sort of faking 'sharing the wealth', etc..

edit: but he's DEFINATELY the sort to 'capitalize somehow'. :)

[Tobias]

Actual play was good.

Local time is 01:43. Sleep first.