Jewels of the Carnifex: Uncommon Dungeons Playtest Report

I ran Jewels of the Carnifex (a DCCRPG from Goodman Games) for a couple of friends last month, before all the chaos.  The module was completed in two sessions.  Each player used two characters, playing my Uncommon Dungeons traditional style ruleset.  This post will include a variation on the play report I sent the dudes, then thoughts on the module and on my constantly evolving rules.

Play Report 

The motley crew of cleric, barbarian, monk, and wizard were fresh off the boat in Redgate, newly rebuilt outpost of the Middle Empire, in search of gold and glory in the newly thawed out lands of the Heartstone Valley.  They were soon hired by a mysterious patron, Zanzibar the Magnificat, who desired to find lost books of the elder empires from before the the Great Glacier swallowed the north.  He knew of a hidden temple of an ancient god hidden beneath the old town, a place of ancient lurking magic, where he hoped the tome known in the ancient writings as the Grimoire Nex might be found.  To facilitate entry, the magician ensorcelled the surface guardians into unnatural slumber so that his hirelings might descend the crumbling spiral stair.
The stairwell itself was the first obstacle.  Only judicious and decisive use of a levitation spell kept the masonry from collapsing.  Within, shadowy manifestations of pure evil reached out to sap their, strength, but the explorers did not tarry long.  The cleric raised his holy symbol high, holding back the darkness.  Further, 3 doors were discovered and explored.  Demon toads, ghosts and a crazed hermit were dealt with in divers manner, but eventually the inner temple was discovered, as were the mutated, ageless guardians, who seemed to regard themselves as servants of Light and Law, but were quite obviously corrupted by Chaos.

In the aftermath of the battle with the misguided and mutated guardians of the under temple all was quiet and still but for the drip drop of water, the squelch of fungal growth underfoot. The cloying warmth and hothouse stench of the place remained.
Azazail the Scion of Light disintegrated (or ascended to heaven) under the blows of Dirk the Witcher. The bodies of the “Pious” melted away as time has caught up with them. All that remained was the huge black bladed claymore called “Executioner’s Wand”.  The barbarian hefted in appreciatively.

Over the vestal vault still loomed the massive rat-like idol of roots and bright green moss.
Natural looking flowstone stairs lead down into grotto below.  Some careful thievery and brutal smashing later, the jewels were destroyed, the demonic presence beneath the Red Keep consigned to another millennia of captivity.  After much thorough search, many treasures were found, including the grimdark Grimoire Nex, apparently a codex of demonology.

The under temple of the Old Chaos gods caused a great debate amongst the delvers who rid it of its corrupted defenders, posing more questions than it answered. If a scion of Law can be corrupted without knowing it, retaining their power, then how do they know if they truly do the work of the Lords of Light?
With heavy hearts and great misgivings, the five returned to the Blind Knight Inn, laden with treasures magic and mundane. The elfish cleric agonized over the conflicts of righteousness and doctrine, the wizard worried they were setting dark powers loose upon the land.
The party did not trust their patron, Zanzibar the Magnificat and perhaps he did not trust them, for he was in their private chamber when they awoke from slumber. Dirk the Demonhunter cast his steely gaze upon the inscrutable wizard. He was neither a creature of Chaos, nor a servant of Law. What were his motives? He would not say, only that the recession of the ice fields from the Heartstone Valley uncovered many lost and best forgotten secrets. It would be best if "the wise" would acquire such things. He paid for his book, the Grimoire Nex, still triple locked within its cumdach. On his way out he told of a tower he hoped to procure as his new base of operations as well as a "drifting island in the sky" where he hoped to find yet more scholarly works for his library.
In the weeks that followed, some of the party spent their gold irresponsibly while others spent their time researching and tithing.
The thief earned a mighty hangover.
Both wizard cleric and witcher crossed paths with the Paladins of the Crimson Cross, the religious order and knightly host who serve as the hand and fist of Duke Wolverhampton the Wanderer. The Middle Empire reclaimed these lands a generation ago, but in recent years the Duke and his paladins have sought to tighten their grip on the marches beyond the keep and the riverlands, with uneven success.

Next stop, the Drifting Dungeon of Highfell.

Module Rumination

I always enjoy the art, the maps and short & sweet nature of Dungeon Crawl Classics rpg modules.  They tend to be memorable and finished in a session or two.  I have wanted to run Jewels of the Carnifex for a few years mostly because I love the green Mullen cover.
It went well.  The handout map was useful.  The players were intrigued.  They spent some time back tracking and discussing before they finally discovered the Grimoire.  Only the backstory was fairly confusing both to myself and the players.  Of course that wasn't helped by my attempts to shoehorn the thing into my new campaign world.
Overall, I'd highly recommend this adventure, but it's really worth outlining (maybe a set of bullet points) what the final villain says and does.  Any time you are trying to run a battle and drop backstory it gets a little confusing for my DM brain.

Rules Ruminations

We played my evolving personal ruleset, Uncommon Dungeons.  I've been using this for a couple of years now and I am more and more comfortable with it.  It move quickly, each character type stands out and players are limited by resources (HP, ability scores, rations, torches, time etc) to a degree that we are finding fun and engaging as I have built in ways to "push" each of these limits.  Basically, the game has been calibrated to my taste and I'm having a great time.  Getting closer to making a semi-settled printing.

Good Times in Town

There are still a couple things to fiddle with:  Spending money between sessions! Carousing and the like. This is where a lot of great roleplaying can happen as well, and when I am most enthusiastic about collaborative world building. An optional roll to gain some more experience points, and a Haven Doom Die roll. This time it was Peace and Contentment, but other times the setting may change due to shortages, disasters, or discoveries.
I'm still fiddling with the numbers. I want to encourage Carousing but I don't want it to to be absolutely necessary to keep up xp. Angelo made a good point that one could easily save up and do it all at once. I've no problem with that. 1xp per 3gp ratio is a little silly in terms of math, but maybe that's ok. 1/2? The others 1/4?

Combat

The one piece that still hasn't stuck for me is combat phases. I have written and am trying to use B/X style combat phases.  The problem is that I keep forgetting to use it, so used to just saying "What do you do?"  When we have used it, I find it very satisfying.

1. Initiative: Throw Battle Die (d6)
2. Movement & Archery: Each side moves or shoots with readied arrow & spear
3. Melee: Each side resolves Hand to hand attacks in initiative order
4. Spells & Volleys: Each side resolves Spells (if no movement) & 2nd Archery (if no melee)

I like that there are opportunities to move and run separate from fighting. It also allows for high rate of fire for arrows axes, slings and spears. I think spells taking effect at the end of all that is an important limiter,  especially since my dangerous sorcery rules allow wizards and clerics to push far past their allotted spell points.  Magic is powerful, but it is not instant.

Rules of Magic

One big development is that I recently converted most the spell lists (haven't gotten to high Order cleric spells yet) to Uncommon rules, which helps settle things.  The conversion mostly consisted of setting damage dice and Saving Throw ability as well as one or two sentence descriptions. Duration is probably the most significant change.  Since I am using the "Hazard Dice" to track durations, all spells in Uncommon Dungeons are Rounds, Turns, Days, Weeks/Months, or Permanent.  These correspond to the Battle, Doom, Wilderness and Haven dice.  The spell ends when "Expiration" is rolled on the appropriate dice table.

Duration 

Rounds may expire during Combat  

Turns may expire during Exploration 

Wilderness Turns consist one day 

Haven Turns indicates weeks & months

Monsters

There is no need to convert monsters from DCC or any old D&D style rules. I mostly use Swords & Wizardry or AD&D stats if something isn't in a given module.

Heartstone Campaign considerations

For some of my players, it seems that the biggest question is about alignment and cosmology. I'll try to write up a bit about the Eternal Struggle between Law and Chaos.  I am mostly inspired by Warhammer and Moorcock's eternal champion books. My thought is that there is a state Church of Orthodox Law, but within that faith are numerous cults of various saints such as Ygg the Righteous, Cuthbert the Stalwart, Sigmar the Hammer of Empire and the Queen of Swords. On the other side are the Ruinous Powers, Chaos Gods who seek to pervert and destroy civilizations, represented by Khorne Slaughter God, Nurgle the Pestilent, Orcus Lord of the Dead, Slaanesh the Decadent, Set the Dark Serpent etc. Law and Chaos are in a state of eternal cosmic war. Caught in between are most living creatures and various supernatural entities that are worshipped: such as the Green Man, the Cold Prince, Crom on His Mountain, Ttoth Keeper of Secrets, Mother Mitra of Peace and Contentment, but these are not recognized religions, though many folk of the north pay them homage. As in all war, it is those with the least interest in the outcome who suffer the most. Great are the atrocities of the hordes of Chaos, and disturbing are the purges of the Witch Hunters of the Queen of Swords.
All in all, there's been some great gaming going on through these troubled times.  I'll try to write more about my burgeoning Highfell campaign as well as the TypeV D&D game I'm running for my students and friends kids.

Winter's Daughter Play Report and Review

"Delve into the fairy-haunted forest of Dolmenwood"

"The tomb of an ancient hero, lost in the tangled depths of the woods. A ring of standing stones, guarded by the sinister Drune cult. A fairy princess who watches with ageless patience from beyond the veil of the mortal. A forgotten treasure that holds the key to her heart."

"A romantic fairytale dungeon adventure for characters of 1st to 3rd level"

Spoilers, of course.

A few weeks back my group played the Winter's Daughter adventure module by Gavin Norman. It's the best thing I've played in awhile for that dark fairy forest vibe. The back story is evocative (and nicely broken into bite sized chunks that I was able to toss out as characters were introducing themselves), the dungeon is a simple tomb but contains a story that reveals itself. 

 However, the first encounter has nothing to do with the story and was almost my favorite part. I don't want to spoil it but the heroes are presented with a scenario that seems genre typical at first glance, but turns out to be anything but. My players were non-plussed and I felt like it was a brilliant introduction to the Drune and the forest setting at large. The first session ended with the heroes drifting like snowflakes out of a hole in the sky...

In the second session, the heroes found themselves in a frozen world, at the edge of a frozen lake, surrounded by dense forest, staring at a white marble tower in the middle of the lake.  At the front door were the doormen, a goblin on the shoulders of a hungry troll.  The goblin Griddlegrim said that they were not on the guest list but that they could join the party if they ate a magic mushroom.  The heroes obliged and were variously affected by the stuff: shrunk to 6 inches, purple skin, etc.

In the tower they met the Winter Princess waiting for her groom to arrive.  They made deal with her, returned to the tomb, and figured out safe passage into the the crypt.  Thus, the ancient lovers were reunited and the heroes emerged victorious, laden with fairy jewels.  A good time was had by all.

A highly recommend the module.  It is high on investigation, idiosyncratic detail and mystery, low on hack and slash (though there was a brutal battle on the lake with the troll, ending only when the troll fell through the ice).   This makes for an engaging adventure and also one that plays a bit more quickly.  With only a handful of actual fights, the action moves faster.  This could easily be a 6 hr one-shot (we did it in two 3ish hour sessions).  

A final note on the layout: Very easy to use at the table.  Info is in bullet points.  Descriptive words for each location at the top.  Bullet points for NPC/monster "reactions" (sometimes "Wants" or "Knows") make it very easy for the DM to give the roleplay a sense of direction.  I want all modules to be like this, which is why I've been running Hole in the Oak!  

  

Session #46: In the Valley of Beasts

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Sessions 44 & 45: The Chaos Crypts of St Clewd & the Mysteries of Harrowmoor Keep

The Heroes of Barrowmaze got out of those crypts quick.  They returned to the prayer room to find the summoned wall of iron gone and the great para-dimensional worm nowhere to be seen.  But something had stirred the denizens of Clewd's crypt; not the seemingly living and conscientious Wardens of Clewd, but a shambling horde of zombified monks, seemingly starved for flesh.  The warriors thought of their responsibilities above ground and retreated from the fray, hustling back into the tunnel whence they came and to the surface.  None followed.
The rescued children were brought back to the town of Prigwort with much fanfare, despite their best efforts.  The youngest child, Bilbry, was warmly welcomed by his relieved family.  Many toasts were given and songs were sung in the Wrinkled Medlar Inn.


The following day was blustery with rain, but the troupe left early with a horse and cart borrowed by the Heggid brothers (Mathias & Martin) from their old man.  Young Violet Harrowmoor rode in the cart with her dark companion, the boy Jacque, a surly boy who never smiled.  They arrived at he gatehouse in late afternoon, amidst a steady down poor.
The gatekeeper was named Steerpike, a surly type, but quick to raise the portcullis once he recognized the young heiress, who was brought refreshment and warm by the fire in the great hall.  Greetings from the relieved mother, Lady Harrowmoor, were strange and stilted, but that may have been the normal manner.  It was hard to tell.  The Lady was surrounded by cats, who followed her everywhere.  They cats seemed happy to see the little girl Violet.
Lady Harrowmoor rewarded the group with a large jeweled pendant, a lavish heirloom, and bade them stay the night as honored guests.  She wished to speak to them in her study on the morrow.
Upon request, Dangerous Dan was introduced to the castle apothecary, Dr. Prunesqualor, who informed the ailing warrior that the blight from which he suffered could only be cured with a tincture created with the juice of a inverted redcap, found growing in the ceilings of caves in the Valley of Wise beasts north of the Groaning Loch.  The doctor pointed across the tree tops from his tower window. "But beware.  The Court of the Naglord is not far beyond the Valley, and his beasts are vengeful of any slight."
Each of the rescuers of Violet were presented with their own room for the night, complete with fireplace and writing desk.  Dan looked out from his opened window across the courtyard.  The clouds had broken up and an early rising full moon shed its first silvery rays over the walls.  Turning, the warrior beheld a movement in the painting above his bed.  There was a large painting of a naked woman chained in a red room.  In her illustrative state she was yet gesturing, beseeching aid.  
After some deliberation, Dan discovered he could pass through and into the plane of the artwork, and he did so, making the acquaintance of the singular woman called False Chantrelle.  She begged to be set free, saying the she had been double crossed in the galleries beyond and only wanted to leave this strange treasure house behind.
Dan freed the woman, peeked into the patterned blue light of the room beyond, spying a blue skinned woman, and promptly turned and jumped back through the painting after Chantrelle, whom he then convinced to stay the night.
Lady Harrowmoor was bemused by her newly arrived houseguest, asserting that her uncle had loved the painting but that she had hardly paid it any mind.  The Lady was more interested in discussing the possible family tree of young Jacque, demonstrating his uncanny likeness to the last Lord of Ayarai, Jourdain, who disappeared along with his castle fifty years before.  She was certain that young master Jacque was actually the heir to his manse, a nearby place now known as the Hall of Sleep.
The group gathered supplies for a journey to the Valley of Wise Beasts.

Whew! Dolmenwood is very inspiring but a hassle to run.  There's a weird amount of detail and difficult to reference.  The hexes are tough to quickly grok.  I'm looking forward to getting the group back into a dungeon, but I think they are going to poke around in the forest first.

Barrowmaze #39-40: Assault on the Pit of Chaos, Eye Tyrant Unleashed

TL;DR  The Bearers of the Font of Law closed the Pit of Chaos, then returned for the treasure of the Yellow King.

As the light of the Font of Law faded day by day, Clonin and his fellows determined to conquer their fear and head straight for the Pit of Chaos, the location of which they had discovered after the Yellow King had sent them to a far corner of the Barrowmaze.

Girding themselves for battle, the heroes of light entered through the mound of the forgotten throne and headed north, determined to avoid distraction.  However, in the pool room near the resting place of poor Sir Guy, the treasure seekers were tempted by the tilted tiles on the floor, topped by a gemstone.  They were soon surrounded by the groaning spirits of evil priests.  They coalesced and tried to choke the life out of Aliontus, Erik and the others but brave battling and magics swords broke the spirits.

The grand hall approaching the Pit of Chaos was littered with the corpses of strange and terrible creatures.  Things of tentacle and fur lay slumped against the walls.  A terrible green light from the massive double doors illuminated the abominations of nature.

A lone hero snuck in to take a peak.  He saw a massive chamber, vaulted ceiling held aloft by pillars made of the torment of captured souls.  Against the far wall a gigantic statue of Nergal, fat, complacent, naked loomed over the depression in the center of the room.  A pit from which seeped green luminescent wisps and crawled with strange creatures.  It was a crowded place.  A horde of shuffling, clattering undead milled about.  Looming over all floated an unreal creature of myth and nightmare, an eyeball some 6ft diameter, with a mouth and more eyestalks.  The thing cackled and muttered as it roamed, surely slavering at the thought of tomb robbers for a meal.

After urgent discussion, whispered planning and the casting of spells of blessings and protection, the heroes charged in.  Half broke left, half right.  The eyeball monsters spoke, its insane ravings that of a dimension and time lost maniacal intelligence, speaking of lands of undreamt of and centuries shackled to the defense of this chaotic pit.  It's eyes glowed with menace.  All magic in its field of vision ceased to function.

Clonin charged in, terrified and vulnerable despite the protections of his god.  Weaving between pillars he found his path to the Pit blocked by half living zombies.  The Font of Law was dim in his hand as it passed before the eyesight of the all seeing guardian.  How to fight such terrors in such numbers?  Perhaps he did not need to.

Clonin threw the Font.

The glowing ball arced up over the heads of the undead army, below the terrible visage of Ibyx-Idyll, and dropped into the pit!   A flash of green light washed over everything and turned white.  A deafening explosion rocked the place.  When their vision cleared, the heroes found the monsters fled, an Eye of Terror now lurking these darksome halls, but the Pit was dark, the statue of Nergal toppled and fallen in, the terrible silence of these tombs returned.  Gathering what treasure they could find, the group returned to Helix to carouse!

Addendum: Some weeks later the Company returned, defeated the Yellow King and stole his treasure but not his boat.  They are rich with coin.  The Barrowmaze is quieter, yet evil still lurks within.  Meanwhile, the aggressive logging and assertion of power by Duke Ironwood seems to have angered the denizens of the mysterious Dolmenwood.  Reports of loggers and woodsmen attacked by goatment and worse have increased in number.  Spurred by rumour of a Church let go to ruin piques the interest of ambitious clerics.  Perhaps a claim can be staked within the wood, or the mystery of the pink comet revealed...

The Castle of Dreams

(This will be an occasional series wherein I will take a bit of classic fantasy literature and extract some bit of gaming goodness from it. The descriptions that follow the poem are meant to be evocative and vague. I leave the stats to you.)

It lies beyond the farthest sea,

This castle whereonto I flee
When life and time hang wearily.
Yet though so far, 'tis strangely nigh:
Within the breathing of a sigh
One gains the walls secure and high
Of the castle of dreams.

Divinely beautiful and great,
Of pearl each dome and tower, and gate,
It stands, a hold of kingly state.
There gyving Time and Space are not,
And cares of Life are all forgot.
No breath of restless change is brought
To the Castle of Dreams.

I walk each wondrous court and hall,
Their varied treasures mine at call,
For there I am the lord of all.
If gold and gems of land and sea,
And broad estates were offered me,
I would not take them for the key
Of the Castle of Dreams.

Castle of Dreams
Suggested Monsters for level 15 D&D4e: Dream Hag, Fading Dream Fearmonger, Countess Tesyn ir'Lantar, Water Archon Waveshaper, Dire Shark, Sea Kraken, Peryton(Runic Gargoyle), Emerald Claw, Object Mimic, Thieves Curse trap, winter nymph, Oblivion Moss, Mossling, Banderhobb, Catoblepus, Prismatic Dragon, Secret of Vecna, etc


It lies beyond the farthest sea...The adventure begins with the heroes sailing the Seas of Fate. They may be literally sailing upon the ocean, gliding upon the Astral Sea, or even experiencing a collective dream. In any case they find themselves approaching the Isle of Dreams.

Yet though so far, 'tis strangely nigh...
Question #1: Will they moor at the dock or circle around and land on the leeward side? A lone figure can be seen standing upon the old greenstone quay.

At the Emerald Dock the heroes encounter an Insane Noblewoman, Zuleikha Carvalho, whose entire crew and retainers have been shorn from her by the enticements of the Castle. She docked her ship her two weeks ago and her retinue disapeared into the Castle. She waits at the dock and demands to be taken back to civilization immediately. If denied, her histrionics are deadly. She yet commands a pair of Storm Archons. Reasoning with Zuleikha is possible, but must be undertaken delicately.

Landing on the leeward side requires special skill to navigate the rocky shoals and avoid a fight with a Kraken. There are sharks in the water. The ship must be anchored and a rowboat sent ashore.


And broad estates were offered me...
To approach the Castle of Dreams one must pass through the Enchanted Forest, avoiding lions, tigers, bears, catoblepus, banderhobbs, and boars. Strange and delightful flowers such as the black lotus, the vampire rose and the oblivion moss may be a danger or boon. Any amount of exploring in the woods outside the castle initiates an encounter with the Dream Hag in her Scampering Hut, who holds the veritable key to the Castle (Her name, Queen Rosaria), but who exacts a terrible price.

To lay the night with Rosaria is to break her curse and to take it upon oneself. Rosaria becomes a beautiful Eladrin woman. Her lover becomes a hobgoblin. She begs her new lover to leave the Castle before it consumes him. A man who has lain with the queen can expect no quarter from the Feasting Army.

The Scampering Hut is a sort of creature itself, sentient and constantly picking itself up on stilt-like legs and finding a new location to settle. He hut contains many interesting items such as a crystal ball, ioun stones, and a deck of many things.

One gains the walls secure and high...
The Living Gate demands the Name of the Rose. If the Queen Rosaria is named, the gate is opened. Within the gatehouse resides a crystal knight, the Voice of the Gate. This Knight is in a daze, only vaguely aware of his surroundings, mumbling about living a dream within a dream. The guards' quarters contain a chest that is actually a Mimic. The walls are 100 feet high and made of purple marble. The battlement crenelations host the nests of 50 Perytons.

I walk each wondrous court and hall
Courtyard of Splendor is a miasma of flittering pollen, butterflies and fairy dust. Stately crystal statues walk the paths of vibrant floral arrangements, but do not respond to words nor deeds. The hedges contain vampiric roses, oblivian moss and black lotuses. It is not necessary to walk amongst them to enter the towers or the hall. There are two towers as well as the Hall. Both connect to the upper levels by slender stone causeways. To the east is the Tower of Hubris and to the west is the Tower of Humility.

The Tower of Hubris holds a Prismatic Dragon flitting about in the gossamer foliage of her silver tree. To climb the tree to the High Bridge, one must impress the dragon (Ceiliaflora). This may be done in battle, epochal entertainment, through demonstrations great magical knowledge or acts of recklessness so foolhardy as to be respectable.

There gyving Time and Space are not...
The Tower of Humility is a shrine to the mysteries of the world, a structure that seems ever more vast at each turn. It is an Eternal Library, where every book that could ever be written lurks on infinite shelves that turn in upon themselves... tended by the Thought-Eaters, parasitic Enigmas of the Lord of Secrets. Those who enter the Library lose themselves, and only through immense powers of concentration is it possible for one to navigate the 4 dimensions of space properly to exit the tower, while fending off the tender ministrations of the Cerebral Spectres). The exit location is determined randomly:
 
1-front door

2-high bridge
3-a window looking out over the west wall
4-roof of the tower where the Perytons nest
5-door into the Scuttling Hut of Rosaria
6-directly into the Dungeons of the High Hall
7-home
8-an alternate dimension such as the City of Brass, the Land of the Dead, or Fairyland

The High Hall itself has three levels, Dungeon, Festhall and Throne Room.

The Dungeon is below, and may be accessed by the staircase. It is full of wailing women who weep in the darkness for their lost menfolk, who, unbeknown to them, glut themselves in the hall above. The wailing women are Banshees who may be reasoned with.

And cares of Life are all forgot...
The Festhall is full of grand warriors at table, drinking endless flagons of ale from jeweled goblets, devouring whole roasted pigs on golden plates, and singing merry songs. They do not notice that their women are long gone. If they are reunited, they will not be available to the King in His Castle, should he grow weary of his visitors. These are Eladrin Winter Blades.

The Throne Room is where the King in His Castle resides, looking out from a high window over the Sea of Dreams. The room seems to be made entirely of mirrors. He appears to be a most ancient and lordly aspect of whomever addresses him. He sits upon a crystal throne attended by his Chamberlain, a Banderhobb. The King is a Ghaele of Winter. The King demands fealty of all who tread upon his land, and if he gets it he sends them to feast with his warriors. Dissension is met with wrath and the Chamberlain summons the feasting army. However, the King is under the sway of the Chamberlain and may be released with proper intervention. When released from the Banderhobb's enchantment, the King becomes a handsome Eladrin of ageless visage. He smiles and touches his brow in humble thanks.

For there I am the lord of all...
The defeat of the Chamberlain, who flees to the Tower of Humility if pressed, breaks the horrific enchantment over the Castle of Dreams, and turns it to a place of life and laughter once again. Rosaria returns and proclaims one of the heroes to be the new king, but he must stay on the island forevermore.  If the honor is refused, then the sitting king offers generous boons.