Hi all,
One of my players has decided he wants his Elven Etharch character to walk the path of spite. We’re about a month in, and he has just killed the SOB who murdered his sister, even after discovering the murderer did it because she was ‘corrupted by spite’ and he was ‘freeing her’. Now he wants his character to discover what she felt and why she took that decision. All cool.
Reading through the PoS booklet there seems no mention of opening Spite in play. I went through a number of options in my head, and have been thinking more about it.
The first is to simply hand-wave it and say, ‘sure’. Get rid of Grief, open Spite at the exponent derived from the booklet. Prepare for a bastard time.
Secondly, I thought about letting the whole thing sink in a bit for the player, by having his character seek out someone who must guide him to the doorway and let him jump after that. Make a belief about seeking out The Path of Spite etc, and on route throw obstacles at him that put the question of Spite vs Grief on his lap.
Sounds like absolutely fantastic play. I’d go the route of seeking out an understanding of spite first, not an instant switch. Besides being a great source of Artha, watching that slow metamorphosis of a character can be a real thrill, and then getting to savour that final make-or-break moment when you offer him a choice; Do you do this act that will tip you over the edge, or not?
Perhaps an artifact, Anitphon Unioned with the song? The Star of Spite? Or perhaps find the elf who sang the song over his sister, have him sing it again. Then kill him for leading to the death of his sister, out of spite
Wow, they are great ideas and sources of thought. Consider them stolen. I’ll wait to see which direction he wants to go, if at all, and take it from there. Please feel free to throw in more ideas though!
John
Not an idea, but the one and only time a game has ever had a Dark Elf was one of the best endings ever. One of the PCs was an Elf and his sister was a Dark Elf. They had a DoW where she tried to convince him to turn to Spite while he was trying to convince her to come back to her family. The DoW ended in a tie, so he decided to embrace his sister and run his sword through both of their hearts. It was a fantastic moment.
And thinking back, I swear we had a plan on how to turn to Spite in play. I just assumed it was out of the book, but apparently not.
To gain Spite, your elf needs to hear the Lullaby to Sorrow (Path of Spite, page 11). Once the elf has heard it, he may choose to change his Grief to Spite.
Make a Belief about needing to find his deceased sister’s spirit, to have one last conversation with her. Go through hell to track down your sister and find out if it was true - was she really corrupted by Spite? The awful truth can be revealed, perhaps you Duel to try to redeem her.
A perfect setup for a heartbreaking transformation.
But of course! Because how else could you have an adventure arc where you brave countless dangers and nearly die 3 times, only to find out that, yes, your dead sister really was a bitch and, yes, she really hated your guts and, no, she isn’t interested in redemption.
