SoT Book 6 Chapter 1 - The Heroes Return

We're moving into the final book of Strength of Thousands! Exciting stuff. That means we probably have about 8 months of play yet, give or take (we play fairly slowly haha) - bittersweet! But I'm really looking forward to this book, it looked really freaking cool on a first readthrough, and I'm excited to see what this group does next!

I'm not sure how much of this book I'll want to change - my guess is most of the changes will be small tweaks to make it easier to skip combats that don't matter and were just inserted for XP - but I know that there is a bit that I want to tweak about the first part of Chapter 1, and a decent amount that I want to flesh out.

Let's jump in!

Homecoming

As the PCs return to the Magaambya, they should feel the change even before the naming ceremony. Little kids on the street clutch little toys of them silently as their mothers hurry them along so as not to be rude. Their former classmates (and even teachers!) speak to them in awed voices, hanging onto their every words (maybe pick 1-2 who were friendly enough with the PCs to still treat them like people). They find themselves basically unable to pay for anything themselves, as everyone clambers to gift something to these New Legends.

Shortly after they arrive, before the ceremony, Esi will organize a get together with her cohort and the PCs. The main purpose of this is to highlight the degree to which even their old friends treat them differently now, but it also serves to confirm for the PCs that all their old friends are present before they have to rescue them! I imagine it will be a fairly short scene, with the PCs mostly directing what conversations they want to have. The details will vary in your game, but here's where everyone is at for mine:

• Anchor Root is coming into her own as Bonekeeper - she's still a bit jumpy in places, but very good about taking a deep breath whenever she would get stressed out and re-centering. If the PCs helped her with the anxiety, she largely attributes this success to them! Supportively sycophantic.
• Chizire is uncharacteristically quiet. He seems to mostly be trying to keep the booze flowing so that he can hear more and more stories! Quiet but eager.
• Esi Djana joined the city council in my campaign - the book says she is bein the Bestest Tempest Sun Mage, so honestly I think I'm just gonna say she somehow finds time for both? In my game, she's one of the people who will treat the PCs with relative normalcy. Impressed but grounded.
• Haibram & Okoro both want to hear everything! Haibrim is quick to challenge the PCs to dares to prove their heroism, and Okoro connects every story to his own exploits (in his head, specifically to make clear how much cooler the PCs are than him, but it doesn't always come across). Excited and active.
• Ignaci & Mariama started a fashion business together post-grad. I think the two of them oscillate between playfully jibing at the PCs and hanging onto every word. Playful yet reverent.
• Noxolo quietly started dating one of my PCs, so is probably trying to ride the line between supportive without being weird. Has been doing some theoretical work as a sort of post-grad thing, focused on planar research. Awkward but supportive.
• Strands-Of-Glowing-Dawn Tzeniwe is there with her two grown-ass kids as written (teens in my timeline). They're both awkwardly whispering about the PCs and how cool they are, and she's mostly trying to keep an eye on them. Distracted but impressed.

I recommend having the soon-to-be-Shadowed students give a PC a gift that the PCs might be able to use to bring them back later - in my party, Ignaci gives the Rogue a scarf, Noxolo gives the Witch a bracelet, Chizire gives each PC a flask full of a drink tailored to them, Okoro gives the Fighter a decorative armband, Mariama makes everyone friendship bracelets, Anchor Root gives the Oracle a bone necklace, and Haibrim gives the Ranger a stylish hat.

And of course, allow the PCs time to pursue anything that the want to - I'm probably gonna give them about two weeks of downtime as guests arrive from all over the Expanse. Feel free to have other important NPCs from their past show up during this period to pay their respects!

The Naming

I'm running this as written, with the exception of not requiring Spell Slots for the demonstration as the Wellspring that connects several lay lines in the center of campus can be used to anchor the spells ahead of time. Other than that, again make sure that important NPCs from the PC's pasts show up! For my party, this includes:

• Their families (the Ranger's Ekujae father and Matanji mother, the Witch's Allijae family and her half-sister the Oracle's Human father, the Rogue's Anadi family, and the Fighter's Dwarven family, which include Kolnoku from Book 3).
• Esi and Tzeniwe, though conspicuously NOT Ignaci, Noxolo, Chizire, Okoro, Mariama, Anchor Root, or Haibrim.
• The other teachers - Ahassanu, Auntie Lesedi (she's the Witch's/Oracle's aunt!), Mafika, Nhiyra, Zuma, Janatimo, High Sun Mage Oyamba, and of course Teacher Ot - conspicuously NOT Koride.
• Their former students - Jumimo, I'boko, Onyiji, Fardrik, and Seloze. Ssaarazul, child of Ssaraku the Terwa Lord and now student at the Magaambya, is sitting with them
• A former Conrasu PC who left post-grad (the player had to stop due to scheduling), along with some of their kin
• Various people from Book 2, including Amaechi the potter
• Several former and current members of the Thieves Guild (which the Witch organized into something more respectable, a. la. Discworld) - Mashkudu now works for the city defense, and Loakan is now a cook in the communal food hall!
• Father Heveril from Jula, along with Grinning Lex to pay their respects to the Nantambu Thieves Guild.
• The Terwa Lords - specifically Ssaraku and Urukani.
• M'bele from the Andrusis Traveling Merchant guild, and Sihar, leader of the Bright Lions (though in disguise, and only here for the ceremony itself before Dajermube returns her home).
• Wekesa, Voice of Mzali, sent largely as a courtesy (officially, Nantambu and Mzali are on good terms, though unofficially the Magaambya is getting the cold shoulder).
• Representatives from Osibu, including Damari-Diji, Umanja-jinga, and Froglegs who had found her way there after leaving Nantambu.

Dinnertime Diplomacy

Okay, technically it's a luncheon. Sue me.

The Influence Challenge in Chapter 1 feels... lame. Idk. I think it's trying to do with dice rolls what I find more suited to narration and roleplay, which is bring back several of the important NPCs from their past. The main problem with this section in my opinion is that, as often happens with Influence Challenges, the results do not necessarily follow from PC choices. In many cases, they seem to come out of nowhere! Was internships for Magaambya students something the players were supposed to want? Or a sister school in Jula? I could see them wanting a research station for the Doorway to the Red Star or wanting Osibu to share secrets, but it still feels lame to just have the AP decide that.

There are two ways we can go about this.

The first is to keep things completely narrative. Keep the Luncheon, and have it be the PCs chance to catch up with all the important people from their adventures. I think that's fine, honestly! Just give the PCs that 120 XP elsewhere.

The second option is to present a more nuanced, messy web of relationships and desires, with various NPCs wanting a piece of the new heroes. It would be up to the PCs to navigate all that and determine what price they might want for various services, and what goals they might be able to pursue!

I'm going with secret option 3: a mix! I'm going to keep it largely narrative, because I'm low on prep time and am not really playtesting influence/negotiation stuff right now, but I'm also going to write up a series of questions that other NPCs will have for the PCs, and important world events that the PCs might be able to influence!

If you have more prep time than me, I recommend writing up a Party Planning doc for your own version, with whatever important NPCs the PCs would want to talk to again. I'm going to do a paired down version here, because of prep time, but could be fun to write out more:

• Location: The central courtyard! There's the main Dining Table, a series of Benches set up around the edges, and the Circle itself in the middle where folks can feel the nexus of Ley Lines.
• Guest List: See above. Everyone who is politically important from the main guest list for The Naming.
• Main Event Sequence: Before the event, Jatembe will recommend the PCs seek out alliances - both finding ways the school can help people, and value others can provide. There are 3 courses (appetizers, dinner, desert), and the PCs can stick around later if they really want. You could add something more explosive if you want, but let this be a victory lap and save that for the Unshadowed Academy...
• Topics of Conversation: listed with potential things people might say.
• Akiton. Questions about its people, monsters, environment, or technology.
• The King Of Biting Ants. Questions about the fight/airship. | "Do you think he's defeated... for good?" | Questions about his plan.
• Teleportation Magic! Debates on the underlying Magical Theory. | Are your cells moved or recreated? What does that say about consciousness? | What's the difference between teleporting across planes vs. to different planets within the Universe? (And why do they require different spells?) | Why does the Doorway make it easier?
• Jula. The PCs overhear High Sun Mage Oyamba trying to convince Father Heveril to allow Magaambya mages to help with rebuilding. "The people of Jula would benefit greatly from our magical knowledge!"
• Mzali. What happened to Worknesh? Is Themba in charge now? | There were signs of military preparation... what happened? | Is it planning to expand anywhere else? (Spoilers: Yes, Vidrian)
• Osibu. Is it real? (The presence of delegates suggests yes...) | Why does it not share its magic with the world? | How has it kept itself safe and mostly secret?
• Teaching Magic! Should the Magaambya be as focused on Nantambu, or have a wider reach? | Are there other places it could expand the knowledge of magic? | How can it do so responsibly?

I recommend you tailor the above to your game, and write things out in a bit more detail.

That's all for now! I'm not sure yet what else in this book needs touching up - the Unshadowed Academy? The Endless Table? The hordes of bugs? The epic finale? We'll see! It's been a minute since I read through those. But whatever it is, I'll see y'all there!