Celebrations in the streets of the city, generated using Google Imagen3

Over the next few days, Sliberberg returns to normal, or what passes for normal for the city. The remnants of Murtagh’s army dissipate back into the population of  New Mountainheart or back out into the wider Feengrenze from whence they came. The townsfolk hail the players as heroes of the city and the kingdom. However, the players’ story is not over yet. In the wake of the final battle with Murtagh, a significant plot twist occurs in the form of the contract they uncovered among his things. There is also the fate of the factions that helped and hindered the players along the way. Whether or not you are running this campaign as a standalone or as an arc of a much larger campaign, this chapter will seek to help you craft a compelling and moving capstone to the story.

Fredrick and the crown of  New Mountainheart

At the end of the last chapter, the players discover that Murtagh sold his fealty to Fionnuala the Fair to gain the rulership of  New Mountainheart. Per the terms laid out in the contract, the benefits and debts incurred by the contract are transferred to whoever kills Murtagh. As a result of their actions, the players have inherited the rulership of  New Mountainheart and are now sworn vassals to Fionnuala The Fair. It will be an open question for the players if ruling a war-torn country as chaotic and convoluted as  New Mountainheart appeals to them, especially if they want to keep adventuring. If the players had completed The King’s Gambit or any other Fredrick-related sidequests, there is also the question of King Fredrick von Mountainheart, who may or may not want his kingdom back. There are four general scenarios for the situation with the crown.

Fredrick was not rescued.

If the players fail the King’s Gambit sidequest, they will find themselves the rulers of the greatly expanded New Mountainheart. It will be up to them to organize a government and start rebuilding. However, they will face significant hurdles in this regard. Murtagh burned through the bit of the Kingdom’s Treasury he had access to, and only Fredrick had access to the vault underneath the castle, leaving the kingdom in dire financial trouble. Furthermore, the players will have to deal with the vast amounts of territory that Murtagh added to the kingdom and the various other forms of political fallout. See the following section on info for  the political challenges.

 Fredrick’s soul remains unhealed.

If the players had completed the King’s Gambit and had yet to reach any milestones in the Long Road to Recovery sidequest when they defeated Murtagh, Fredrick abdicates the throne, thinking the players would be better rulers. He submits himself willingly to the care of the Sanctuary of the Resplendent Hand for his depression and eventually disappears from the city, never to be seen again. 

Fredrick’s soul has been healed at least a little.

Depending on how far the players have gotten on the Long Road to Recovery, Fredrick may be unwilling to take up his throne again. If the player has managed to heal his soul enough that he is merely depressed, he is very reluctant to be king again. He will take a lot of convincing, potentially agreeing if the player characters choose to be the kingdom’s rulers with him. If the players get to the point where Fredrick is regaining his self-confidence, he begrudgingly takes up the mantle of the king but insists that the players stay close to him; they are his only true friends after all, and he showers them with titles, lands, and other gifts to keep them from leaving him.

The players have completed the Letter from the Past Sidequest.

After completing the Letter from the Past Sidequest, whether or not Aoibheann and Fredrick decide to give their relationship another chance, Fredrick is a changed man. Gone is the all-consuming depression that haunted him for centuries, and in its place is a new energy and spring in his step. When Murtagh is defeated, he does everything short of demanding his kingdom back, offering whatever the players want. If the players are unwilling to part with the kingdom, he will even go as far as making a new deal with Fionnuala The Fair to both get his kingdom back and potentially free the players from whatever she had planned for them.

The Contract with Fionnuala The Fair

If you are running the campaign as an arc of a much longer campaign, it is essential to set up the menace of the contract the players have stumbled into. Several suggestions make it clear that they are in deep trouble.

• The players hear stories about the fey soverignof Loch Slanach. While she is revered as the fairy godmother among the mortal folk, among the fey folk, it is an entirely different story. The fey fear her as a manipulator and destroyer of kings. They tell stories of how she tricks kings, other influential mortal folk, and even powerful fey by granting them wishes that ultimately destroy them, seemingly for fun.
• Play up her role in Murtagh’s descent into tyranny. The players will find letters in Murtagh’s possessions showing he was working under her orders.
• Several days after the players defeat Murtagh, they receive a letter via courier from the Loch Slanach embassy in Alteburg; the letter is from Fionnuala The Fair and informs the players that they are indeed now her vassal and she is delighted to have such capable minions as the players. She tells the players that she always intended for Murtagh to fail; she planned to ensnare Fredrick either by forcing him to defeat Murtagh or by offering him a contract to return his precious Aoibheann to him.

The expanded kingdom and political fallout

Regardless of who ends up on the throne of  New Mountainheart, the players and their allies will have to deal with the questions of what to do with the dozens of petty kingdoms and chiefdoms that Murtagh’s army conquered and the remnants of the army he built.

Under Fionnuala’s orders, Murtagh conquered over a dozen smaller isolated states in the wilds and seas surrounding  New Mountainheart, almost quintupling the kingdom’s size. In most cases, when Murtagh’s men rolled into these small kingdoms of mortals and fey, they killed off the entire chain of succession for the throne, leaving no clear successor. It will be up to the players and their allies to determine how to deal with the vast swaths of lawless territory. If the players and their allies decide to keep the territory,the monarch, be it Fredrick or one of the players, they will divide the territory into dukedoms and divide it among the players and other prominent members of the resistance. Fredrick would be especially keen to hold onto the territory if the players complete the long road to recovery quest, seeing it as a means to prove his worth as a king. Alternatively, if the players decide to restore the kingdoms to independence, finding worthy rulers for these small nations could prove an endless source of new quests and adventures.

Much more troubling is the dissolution of the vast army Murtagh had created. This mix of mercenaries, drafted conscripts, and militia levies had terrorized the countryside for months, often against their will. With the army dissolved, new problems started cropping out of the woodwork. Those mercenaries who did not wander off searching for more work will turn to banditry. Even more troubling is the reprisals the citizenry will make against the militia levies and the drafted soldiers. Many of them had at least a hand in the brutal tactics of the Murtagh regime, and the citizenry will look for any opportunity to take out anger for old wrongs, turning the Sliberberg into something akin to a tinderbox that the players and their allies will have to defuse.

Factions

Depending on the campaign events and which factions the players allied with or against, the stories of the nine factions and their members may be radically altered, and the players will likely be drawn in to help resolve the loose plot threads. While most of the information presented here is designed to integrate the faction stories into ongoing arcs, you may also mine this info for inspiration to end a standalone campaign based on the Liberation of Sliberberg.

Coiníní Marbh Syndicate

If the players allied with the Syndicate, Don O’Malley wasted no time using his connection to the new top dogs of the city to spread the Syndicate’s influence. He will attempt to lean on the players to grant him ‘favors’ that will allow him to expand his criminal empire. Regardless of whether the players grant him the favors, the Syndicate secures almost complete control of Underberg, except for the goblin market, which the SBHU and Market Master Nib maintain control of by the barest of margins. There is also a spike in smuggling, prostitution, illegal gambling, and protection rackets. The players may have to delve into Underberg to deal with the Syndicate.

Coláiste Draoidheil

After the final battle, there is a period of mourning for the faculty and student body members who died in both the resistance and the Murtagh’s wars of conquest. If the college has a favorable opinion of the players (+10), Archchancellor Gwilym Cwmwllyd grants the players the status of honorary members of the school’s alumni.

Drolls

Regardless of what happens, the drolls do not change much; they still seek to cause chaos and recruit others to their cause. However, something strange occurs if the players reunite Fredrick and Aoibheann, and the pair become the king and queen of  New Mountainheart. The Grand Absurdists request that she become the court jester and start sto use her proper name, Lydia von Falkencrest, again. Why she is doing this is an open question. However, the players may note that there is a hint of fear in her eyes directed towards the two fey soverignthat rule the kingdom; maybe she recognizes that she and the Drolls were only permitted to do what they want because Fredrick and Aoibheann spent all their time focused inward at their internal struggles instead at the kingdom and now with the two of them together and ruling she needs to be on her best behavior. Without her leading them, the drolls fade into the background, with new pieces of graffiti occasionally appearing and the odd, strange crime popping up.

New Mountainheart Merchants Guild

The guild would become emboldened if the players allied themselves with the NMG. The guild starts to negotiate more aggressively with the nobility and begins to make demands of the players, claiming quid pro quo for help they gave the players to overthrow the regime. If the players allied with the criminal factions, the guild starts to rile up the nobility and the middle class against the players, seeing them as little better than outlaws. They will continue to be a thorn in the players’ side until they make amends with the group.

The Old Watch (aka the City Watch)

Regardless of what the players do, the city watch will be in turmoil for a month as they rebuild the force and undo the damage Commander Cairbre Mac Ronáin did during his tenure as watch commander. If the players successfully rescue Commander Ironshoal before or during the events of Command Execution, she wastes no time tracking down the watchmen and women who worked under her and putting them back out on the streets. If Commander Ironshoal is executed, there is a period of turmoil as the Watch tries to piece together its broken chain of command to choose a new Watch Commander. During this time, criminals have almost the entire run of the city, potentially requiring the players to step in and restore order.

The Rats

If the player allies with the Rats against the Usurper, the Rat King reveals her identity as Riona Byrne to her men. She seizes the opportunity of a new regime to turn her rag-tag gang of pirates and smugglers into a mercenary navy. She immediately offers her services to both the players and the  New Mountainheart Merchants Guild, asking for clemency for her men’s past crimes from players and a stipend to run the force from both the Crown and the NMG. If the players or Fredrick accept the offer, they receive some disapproval from the watch and a few other factions. However, the newly renamed Sliberberg Free Navy and its self-styled Commodore Riona stay true to their word. Her men stopped raiding ships coming into the city and smuggling in favor of serving as convoy escorts and privateering. If the players do not ally with the rats or kill the Rat King, the Rats disintegrate into dozens of small gangs and pirate crews again and are joined by the remnants of Kraggath’s navy. However, the problem the rats pose becomes worse with dozens of military-grade ships now available to them.

The Sanctuary of the Resplendent Hand

Between the displacement of thousands of city residents, the massive number of people injured by the regime, and interference by Count Cathán’s men, the Sanctuary had a rough time during the Murtagh Regime. So when news of Murtagh’s death reached Abbot Thalmar Voss’s ears, he and his staff took it as a sign of divine providence. Thalmar leads his congregation in a thanksgiving mass the following day. If the players were allied with the faction, the Sanctuary or the Sanctuary had a positive view of the players. Thalmar sings the players’ praises for weeks to come. If the Sanctuary’s opinion of the players is negative, it becomes the players’ most prominent critic, using the pulpit to air their grievances with the players’ new regime.

Sliberberg Bounty Hunters Union

While the bulk of the SBHU celebrates the downfall of the usurper, the end of his heavy-handed rule, and the flood of new contracts created by the dissolution of the Royal Army, Cassidy Rose, aka Caitríona mac Uathach, is conflicted. With her father dead, she has to choose between her duty to her family and her desire to be free. If the players are allied with the SBHU, sometime between the death of her father and before the end of the story, Cassidy asks the players to meet in private to tell them about her secret identity( if the players do not already know) and to ask for the player’s opinion on what to do now that her father is dead, she should she continue to be Cassidy Rose or serve her duty to the kingdom as Caitríona mac Uathach. While this might seem like a binary choice, the players can suggest that there is no reason she cannot be both.

Silver Moon Coven

In the wake of the Usurper’s death, the members of the Silver Moon Coven treat the players with reverence and even a little awe. Shortly after the final battle, Tansy invites the players to a celebratory dinner at the coven’s headquarters at the Silvermoon Glade with her and several of the coven’s other Matrons. If they take Tansy up on her offer, she teleports the players to the Silvermoon Glade, where a massive feast of all the player characters’ favorite foods is waiting on a terrace bathed in moonlight. A grandmotherly and jolly elf and a Firbolg draped in greenery sit at the table, seemingly waiting for them. They introduce themselves as Agatha Ironraisin and Brigid Dewglimmer. They invite the players to partake in the feast. The players find that the food is prepared just as they remember it from their homes. Throughout the feast, Agatha and Bridget make small talk with the players, showing an intimate knowledge of their backstories. The way they treat the players is almost familial; Agatha acts like the player’s ideal grandmother, and Brgid takes an almost maternal interest in the player’s wellbeing. If you use the adventure as part of a larger campaign, the witches discuss the unfortunate events that led to them becoming vassals of Fionnuala The Fair. They warn the players to be vigilant. Fionnuala might be called The Fair and one of the most prolific fairy godmothers among the fey folk, but she is a scheming villainess who entraps villainous folk to watch their downfall unfurl and uses her godchildren to expand her power well beyond the Feyrealm and the Feengrenze. But they remind them to have hope. Fionnuala is not invincible, and if the players are cunning and stay true to themselves, they will prevail.

Other characters and other loose ends

Aoibheann

Another character who will play a part in resolving the story is Aoibheann, The Silver Lady of Sliberberg. One of several things can happen depending on what quests they complete or if they even meet her. If they complete The Letter from the Past sidequest and convince her and Fredrick to give their relationship a second chance shortly after the final battle with Murtagh, Tansy will inform Fredrick and Aoibheann in the presence of the players that there is a way to give Aoibheann a proper body for her. If they create her a new body from the kingdom’s soil, Aoibheann can place her presence into it and turn it into a real body. Fredrick will promptly do just that and create a lifelike sculpture of Aoibheann made from clay from the Silverflow River. When Aoibheann inhabits the body, it transmutes from clay to earth-colored flesh and rich brown hair. Aoibheann opens her eyes and inspects her new body, stating it feels weird to be both embodied here and able to faintly feel everything in the kingdom. However, the feeling of body alienation does not last long and she embraces Fredrick  and  the pair breaks down into tears of joy. After the chaos and the celebrations after the final battle subside, the players will encounter Fredrick and Aoibheann in a suitably scenic part of the city or the castle cuddling close and exchaning kisses. They thank the players for bringing them back together.

If the player had convinced Fredrick that it is time for him to move on with his life, the next time the players visit one of her favorite haunts, she appears and, in a bittersweet moment, thanks the players for all they did for the city and for being such good friends to Fredrick, he deserves to be happy and find someone new to love. She grants them each a supernatural charm and a kiss before vanishing into a white mist. If the players did not complete The Letter from the Past sidequest, she appears to the players in an otherwise vacant part of the city, congratulates them for their deed, and grants them a supernatural charm as a reward.

Duchess Muirín Uisceanna

If the players complete the sidequest Bury the Hatchet at Sea, Duchess Muirín ceases her plans to make the Duchy of the Sea and Isles independent. Muirín and Aeliana become regular fixtures at court, with Aeliana becoming the belle of the Sliberberg social scene at her mother’s insistence and an admirer of one of the players. If the players do not complete the quest, Duchess Muirín will give the players or Fredrick one more year to prove themselves worthy of being followed, and if they fail, she will secede from the kingdom; it is up to you and the players to determine what happens next.

Elina Foul

If the players recruited Elina Foul, she used her fame as a member of the resistance to open a new potion and magical cosmetics store in Market Grove Bazaar. Between her upbeat and charming personality and her potent spellcraft, she became an overnight sensation, especially with the citizens of Alteburg.

Panthor Silverhoof

If the players recruited Panthor SIlverhoof to the resistance, he promises to immortalize the players on the stage. He becomes a constant presence in the players’ social circle.

Aidan MacCogadh

If the players recruited Aidan MacCogadh, they would have to keep or renege on their promise that he could keep the WonderForge. On the one hand, keeping Aidan as an ally and the wonderforge operational could prove helpful if the players need a custom-made magical item. On the other hand, Count Cathan demolished at least three blocks of tenements and small housing to create space for the wonder forge, displacing already vulnerable people. The moral quandary is not lost on Aidan, who struggling to come to terms with it. It will be up to the players to break his internal deadlock.

Lorcan Ó Ceallaigh

With his father and older brother dead, Lorcan will inherit the title of Duke of Craggy Hills; however, he tepid at the thought of taking up his late father’s title, especially after all the damage Murtagh did while serving as king. He will confide in the players about his troubles and ask them what he should do: should he stay merely a knight of the realm or take up his familial duty and become Duke of Craggy Hills? Whatever the players advise him to do, he will be thankful and do his best to fulfill the chosen role.

 Former Regime property

The players will have to decide the fates of several locations within the city that the commanders of the Murtagh Regime owned. These include the Terror, Ulrich’s mansion, and the Black Widow’s Web black sites. As well as the ethical and financial dilemmas of owning these facilities, some factions may want some of the locations for themselves; for example, the Terror may be claimed by the Sliberberg Free Navy and the  New Mountainheart Merchants Guild, who each have their own somewhat legitimate reasons for owning a massive elemental war galleon. It is up to the players whether they want to keep the assets left over from the Murtagh Regime, give them to one of the factions, or destroy them.

Fredrick and Aoibheann are enjoying their happily ever after. Generated with OpenAI DALL-E