Tadeusz Stracony - Knave, retainer, servant, murderer

[Pandip]

I got nostalgic while sifting through old screenshots today and thought I'd finally share some of Tadeusz's now that the era of "mysterious Count from another place" is over. I realized I had a ton of neat screenies to share, but also, I'm a serial narcissist and sort of just wanted a place to document and show character's story.

I'm fairly confident none of these are spoilery, but feel free to let me know if something needs to be removed.  Also, apologies ahead of time! The gamma was super high while I was playing Tadeusz for reasons.


We often comment about how the journey is more important than the destination in EFU; oftentimes, your characters will have harsh, unsatisfying endings. I wanted to break that cycle with Tadeusz, so I went in explicitly with the goal of retiring the PC or dying trying. Ironically, I did neither!

Tadeusz was a juvenile doppelganger who woke up in the city with severe dysphoria. He did not like the person he saw in his reflection - that was not, could not be him - and he constantly struggled with his appearance and presentation. Ultimately, he wanted to craft the perfect body and assume a new identity within Peerage. He was creepy, awkward, unwieldy. He didn't know how to talk to people. Most of his mannerisms - all of his emotes, sayings, phrasings - were picked up from people who he interacted with. I had a .txt file filled with each person he stole emotes from, but I seem to have lost it in a file transfer.
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For all his idiosyncrasies, the Knaves provided an outlet and, at times, a family. They were extremely welcoming of Tadeusz's strangeness - at times, even outright encouraging.
[hide=Anders the Heir inducts new Knaves]



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Stranger, to his credit, figured me out almost immediately. And it led to a lot of interesting conversations in the group, particularly with Vohm and Rosalia. This was hugely encouraging and made me immediately enamored with the execution of the PC - more than I expected to be.
[hide=Early Vohm and Rose]




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Sometimes a big part of EFU is getting lucky. I was extremely luck to have been given an enormous gift in the form of a Silver Hat leather uniform in the first day of the PC. By chance, it was just sitting in a chest. I intended it to just be a cool outfit to wear, but everyone immediately recognized the uniform. OOCly, I had no idea who these people were. I hadn't played EFU in months. It was a thrilling experiment, perfect for story beats I wanted to hit for Tadeusz - he had to occupy the identity of someone he had never met and convince everyone he was someone he was not. I loved it. I think people genuinely believed the ruse, even though I didn't have a hat until someone gave me one from a faction chest. I got tells reminiscing about the "old days" with the Silver Hats and I just had to send <3s and :)s.

He ended up interviewing most of the houses' current retainers as he tried to figure out the best place to plant himself. During these interactions and interviews, Tadeusz became obsessed with certain prominent individuals - Ser Nicholas Velstra, Lady Oriana Sunpurse, and Kristoff Orza - that made an impact on him early on, and sought to kill and become them. You can see a record of the letters he sent to each in his journal. He stayed far, far away from House Nephezar - and later, he would find out just how justified he was to avoid a house of sorcerers practiced in the art of lying.

One of the PCs that contributed to Tadeusz's development - and ultimately influenced his decision to join Sunpurse - was Eris Hale, who was always fascinating to talk to. Handling Eris Hale as a potential asset for the Knaves became a huge source of contention, particularly between Vohm and Tadeusz, munto the point where it became an ongoing joke in the headquarters about the pair being in a love triangle with the priestess. Neither Vohm nor Tadeusz found this very amusing.
[hide=Eris Hale]



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[hide=More Eris...]



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Vohm's relationship with the Thayans - particularly Imran - became a focal point for a few of the Knaves' first heists. As we were getting our bearings, the Thayans were frequent collaborators. This is when Tadeusz created his Knave persona - an amalgamation of Matteo and Marco. We were paid a significant sum of gold to sneak them into House Nephezar and we utilized the opportunity to acquire a prestigious blood vial for Grandfather's collection. It could not have gone better, as the consequences for the act were put squarely on House Velstra's shoulders.
[hide=Heist!]





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Imran eventually died - he a geas was placed on him by House Nephezar, forcing him to hunt down the Knaves. Vohm wanted to keep him alive and find a solution to the geas. Tadeusz was not so optimistic. His soul, however, lived on in a sword, ever in service to his master. It was sad that we never found a death knight worthy of wielding it!
[hide=Imran]

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Tadeusz was always eager to please.
[hide=Finnegan the Rake]
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Squad shot.
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The Knaves' first real murder. Bishop Finn Darker was talking about us in dark corners and made the mistake of talking to a Knave about the identity of the Knaves. We used him to set an example. This was also the first time I felt Tadeusz had actually earned the opportunity to take a piece of a dead PC's body - the first of many. You can't tell from the screenshot, but there was a neat moment where each Knave said something in turn. Murder really brings the family together.
[hide=Finn Darker]


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It was often made clear to the Knaves that they were expendable - by their superiors, by outside forces, by their peers...
Sidenote: Finding out Madrick Marjolo was a silver-masked Knave was a huge reveal to us. Vlaid stalked us, taunted us, and was a constant, eerie force in the headquarters.
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Rosalia and Tadeusz, for all their disagreements and conflicts, were often thick as thieves. Interactions with her were frequent, and they were always fun and dynamic. There was a certain tragedy in the realization that Tadeusz might have to kill her himself. There was anguish when he realized that he wouldn't get the opportunity - both furious at the fact that someone had the audacity to do it and dejected at losing one of the people who helped shaped his personality. EFU is at its best when another PC brings out something from yours that you didn't know was there.
[hide=Rosalia Sunspyre]



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Every PC needs a good nemesis. A real, biting, back-and-forth conflict with another character can really set a story hurtling into a whole new direction. One of my biggest regrets on Tadeusz was not having the chance to let his relationship with Liam Einhardt simmer. I thought Liam was going to be an great polar opposite to Tadeusz in the Peerage Ward and that their clash would play out in a suitably dramatic fashion. It was dramatic, for certain, but more abrupt than I would have liked. Liam's capturing and killing of Stelian Orza, combined with Tadeusz's growing concern over his own "indolence" within the Knaves, led to a violent end to the conflict-that-never-was. It ended in a bridge duel to the death that I sincerely hoped he would have avoided.
[hide=Liam Einhardt]


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The aftermath of Liam's death was not particularly easy. Everyone immediately began to believe that Tadeusz was a Knave. Eleleth Einhardt was now out for Knave blood - and was eager to take Tadeusz's first. She made several attempts on his life. He tried (and failed) to assassinate her in Peerage twice. The woes of being a crappy dex rogue build against a saves cleric! Nonetheless, this made him cross paths with Leon Tegyr, who he would eventually clash with later one despite the man being integral to helping him avoid Eleleth's wrath.

This is a long exchange, but a look at some of Tadeusz's more manipulative tendencies and desire to besmirch the name of the Nephezar banner house.
[hide=Einhardt and Tegyr]








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Knavery, however, came with its own set of rewards. Meetings with Rubies before they made themselves known. A peek into some of the truths behind the city. A look into the plans of an ascending Count...
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Some miscellaneous DM quest shots...
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Tadeusz wasn't religious. Any references to the Triune were, in large part, an act. However, he did have a decent among of respect for the lesser gods that revealed themselves to their worshipers. Tadeusz felt that anything that could not be seen and could not enact its will upon the world wasn't worth worship. And, as he felt he had demonstrated, religion was often a tactic for manipulation rather than a sincere belief. However, as his time with the Knaves went on, he began to worship a certain being with a growing sincerity, even despite himself...
[hide=Zarono Senuspur]





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A few glory shots of the crew robbing a certain red dragon's vault...
[hide=Oscar Tchammor]






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Various interactions with PCs as a retainer of House Sunpurse. Tadeusz struggled mightily with having to be a leadership figure after most of the Knaves died off or went off to do their own things. Eris Hale's return was a small consolation, but it didn't change the fact that Tadeusz was most comfortable as an observer and an actor, not a leader.
[hide=Misc Interactions]








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Aurelia Greywood was always involved with the Knaves, oftentimes through Rosalia's influence, but Tadeusz had the pleasure of working with her before being (accidentally) involved in her demise. Not incidentally, her death was related to getting revenge for Rosalia. Cool PC, wish we had spent more time together.
[hide=Aurelia and more Rosalia]







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More Knave shots...
[hide=Additional Knavery]








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Any semblance of control that Tadeusz might have maintained over the Ward was shattered during a Council of the Peers in which Leon Tegyr struck at Senuspur loyalists and nearly killed them all. Handing over the rebel's sword to the Count was a significant consolation for losing the few allies Tadeusz had remaining, but it still left him very alone - a tragic circumstance for someone who was originally so eager to find a 'family'. Verent was always a good sport, too.
[hide=Meeting with the Count]





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A few more final interactions with the Count...
[hide=Daddy Senuspur]






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My last set of screenshots are of an interaction with Gwenillian Haremarch in an effort to try and reinvigorate my love for the character. It didn't work, but I thought this was a nice look at the transition from one generation of characters to another. VP is always a class act, so I guess it stands to reason that I knew this would be a worthwhile conversation to document if I continued Tadeusz.
[hide=The Serpent and the Hare]





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That's it. That's all I've got. If you've made it this far, thanks for indulging with my narcissism. Thanks to all the players and DMs that embraced this crazy, weird, awkward, murderous character and made him so much fun to play for such a tumultuous era of EFU.
Also thank you cmenden, I know you CTRL+F'd this thread for your name.

[SalveForThePeople]

Incredible. All of it. The screenshots. The character.

[VanillaPudding]

Nice! It's fun to see some old images and stories (at this point) and you really did an awesome job on Stracony. I remember that conversation fairly vividly and loved it, so thanks for sharing! :)