Warg Gone Wild - Thoughts?

[Chaotix]

Hey all-

The recaps I'm posting in the Games and Stories forum hasn't caught up to this point yet, but one of my players (character name: Boldulf) has the Warg heroic path. I'm telling a tale of corruption, so to go along with that theme, Boldulf's player decided a while back that he was going to start to lose himself to the beast within him. He took alternate rules class levels of Wolf with the Werewolf template on top, and as such is not just a Warg, but a Werewolf as well in terms of game mechanics.

The way I've been running it, when the player made this decision, a second entity formed within him that he's tapping into. So, when he's Boldulf the human, he's fully in charge of his body. When he taps into the power of the werewolf but remains in control, he's the majority owner of the body. When he fails to control the werewolf (on a full moon or taking damage), he's the minority owner of the body - but he's still there.

The player recently let me know he's ready to "bottom out" on this, meaning he's ready to be corrupted such that his character would want to start seeking ways to redeem or cure himself. So, I started letting this second entity (the players have affectionately named "The Other") have opportunities of full control, which has them all pretty freaked out. The players can tell when The Other is in full control of the body because Boldulf's animal companion, a wolf (of course), will cower in fear since he doesn't recognize him in that state, instead just seeing him as an alpha predator.

Also, only The Other can propagate the lycanthropic curse, so they're leaving all kinds of trouble in their wake without knowing it (because Boldulf has bitten them before in a hybrid state without any repercussions). They're not sure - they think that is what is happening, but can't turn back to verify it or fix it right now. That's fun for later. 

I've just recently allowed Boldulf's character to confront The Other when he enters a meditative state, where The Other appears as a Werewolf Lord (CR 14) and kills Boldulf (Character Level 8) anytime he appears, sometimes after conversation, sometimes right out because he doesn't want to talk.

My question to you all is, given what I've set up so far, what are your thoughts on how I should ultimately allow Boldulf to be redeemed and rid himself of "The Other"? I have some ideas of my own, but want to crowdsource it to make sure I'm taking full advantage of the opportunity to make this memorable.

Thank you!

[Pheros]

Very interesting Chaotix.  I like the way you're going with this.

The way I see it, the best options that come to my mind (in no particular order):

-Let him quest for a convenant item that can travel with him into the meditation, and give him a chance to kill The Other in combat;
-Find a power nexus and a ritual that could be used to draw The Other out if there is a channeler in the group;
-Sneak into a Black Mirror and find a way to sacrifice only The Other to the Mirror, possibly with negative repercussions for the Mirror;
-Strike a deal with a third entity and allow it to enter him to help him fight the other (a ronin astirax would be a perfect option for this, one that could hop into him when The Other makes him almost entirely beast-like, though their is no guarantee that it will leave once The Other is defeated...)

Sounds like a fun game.

[Chaotix]

Great feedback, Pheros, and thank you for the compliment on the game, it means a lot!

Honestly, I'm the type of GM that prefers to run things as sandbox-y as possible, so I tend to at least consider (if not prepare) ahead of time multiple resolutions to a problem I present to the players.

The only idea I've had so far that has stuck with me is they're pretty close to the Barren Forest over near the Kaladrun Mountains right now. I was thinking of having a very old druid who's gone insane be at the center of that forest. As his insanity has gotten worse over time, so has the forest around him such that nothing lives there anymore (hence Barren). If the players ignore him and the forest, eh, so be it. If they go in and they instigate a fight, they fight an insane druid. If they go in and befriend him though and he learns of the situation, he could be willing to draw The Other into himself. Of course, The Other would immediately attack the players and not stop until either they're dead or he is, at which point the druid would revert back to his own form as all lycanthropes do when they die. This way, I get to let the players make a friend for whom they may feel some sympathy, and then kill him (Welcome to Midnight).

However, *that* thought is not mutually exclusive of your second thought. Have the druid perform the ritual at the nexus to draw him into his body. Could be a fun way to go!

The Black Mirror thought is an interesting one as the players have expressed passing interest in becoming Mirror Breakers, so I'll keep that in mind next time they find a Mirror. I'm not entirely sure how they'd draw out The Other and sacrifice him without killing Boldulf though. If you, or anyone, has any inspiration on that, jump on in.

The ronin astirax sounds like fun too. The players *hate/fear* astiraxes, so I'm not sure they'd go this way, but if they sought out guidance from someone shadow-aligned, this may be a suggestion (s)he provides.

Really good stuff! You've got me thinking! I'm open to any other ideas anyone may have. Like I said, I try to prepare multiple solutions to a problem to avoid railroading my players, so dive into the topic if you've got even a piece of an idea.