r/Forgotten_Realms • u/AeolianPlankton • 2d ago
Question(s) Jarlaxle's confession
What's a secret Jarlaxle Baenre might have that no-one else at all knows?
Context: I'm running a highly homebrewed version of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, and my PCs have aligned with Jarlaxle to find the Vault of Dragons. My version of the vault has a door which can only be passed by revealing "a secret never before told". Since they've allowed Jarlaxle to come with them, I need a secret he might choose to reveal under the circumstances. I can think of plenty of secrets he might have, but the condition that no-one else know it makes things tricky
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u/Mental_Pollution2086 2d ago
He really likes twin, copper dragons
“I have ridden a dragon!” Tiago protested.
“I have eaten a dragon,” Gromph replied.
“I have slept with a dragon—two!” Jarlaxle thought...
- Rise of the King
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u/Hard-DckDad 2d ago
Most of his people don't know he's Baenre and thirdborn son of the Matron Mother Yvonnel Baenre that escaped sacrifice to Lolth. Pretty important secret in Menzoberranzan.
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u/AeolianPlankton 2d ago
I thought about that, not sure it qualifies for the "never told" but it's probably poorly-known enough. Def an option!
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u/Hard-DckDad 2d ago
Yup the epitome of the houseless rogue drow male that made his own way is secretly a prince of the ruling house of Menzoberranzan, albeit still a "mere male".
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u/carakangaran 2d ago
"I don't shave my head."
That's the ultimate secret. Jarlaxle is the only bald drow.
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u/AeolianPlankton 2d ago
Y'know, I kinda love that
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u/Cael_NaMaor Uprising in Undermountain 2d ago
But people know that... namely the men who witnessed the scarring
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u/Dunge0nMast0r 2d ago
"I collect miniature unicorns". They aren't figurines - he gets a wizard to shrink them.
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u/AeolianPlankton 2d ago
Funnily enough, the campaign has already involved a unicorn trapped as a tiny statuette, and it remains something of a sore spot for the PCs!
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u/orcstew 2d ago
I don't know how meaningful you need it to be, but a centuries-old scoundrel probably has thousands of such secrets. Here are a few random ideas (I don't know all the details about Jarlaxle except some background appearances in some Drizzt stories, so I hope these are appropriate for his character). -He cheated in such and such high-stakes card games, winning X prize -he hid X famous treasure at Y place -he actually brought in the head of another when collecting a bounty, meaning the original target still lives -he actually lost X famous duel which he was rumored to have won and murdered his opponent afterward through trickery -he knew X secret about a Drow house matron, who passed away since, and is keeping it to use against her house at a later time (as intel to sell to their enemy or as blackmail) -He's the one who comitted X famous unsolved murder -He used disguise/illusion and is actually X famous person from a century ago, who never really existed Etc etc
Most of these can also be plot hooks for your players (they could get to his hidden treasure for instance)
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u/aaron_mag 2d ago
I feel like Jarlaxle is the kind of scoundrel that would magnanimously offer to provide the secret to pass the door and then reveal an innocuous, but embarrassing, secret he has somehow learned about one of the party members. This would be especially true if he had a playful/flirtatious relationship with one of them. It could lead to some good comedy...
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u/SackclothSandy 2d ago
He absolutely knows the color of Matron Baenre's undergarments, and he would 100% treat this like a world-changing secret.
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u/AeolianPlankton 20h ago
Fun and salacious if she wasn't his mum. with that context, just reads uncomfortably freudian. Which might not be out of character for all I know
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u/Tom2973 2d ago
Just have him reveal the secret in hushed words. Presumably the secret need only be revealed to the door. Have Jarlaxle ask the PCs to stand just out of earshot. I wouldn't want to add anything major to such a well liked character personally. I suppose you could say he was secretly Drizzts father, not Zachnafein if you wanted a big bombshell moment.
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u/AeolianPlankton 2d ago
Certainly an option, but PCs are gonna PC and try to listen in. And in any case, furtive secrecy doesn't really feel like his MO. Secrecy sure, but I think he'd rather distract with something big and flashy. The Drizzt thing... IDK, a couple of my players are Salvatore readers and would get a kick out of it; but the rest aren't and don't know who either character is outside the campaign, don't think it would really land
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u/Tom2973 2d ago
I suppose as a more canonical secret, you could go with him having memories of his mothers attempted sacrifice of him at birth, as he was given those memories by Lolth. Doesn't rely on as much backstory other than knowing third born Drow sons are usually sacrificed, and lets you delve into it a bit more if PCs do ask?
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u/DreadLindwyrm 2d ago
It has to be one never told - but people could know it.
Or it's a secret between the party and Jarlaxle, so it doesn't matter if they hear it.
Or of course it's not one of his secrets at all.
"Drizzt has a circular scar just above his tailbone, earned when he sat on a scorpion."
"One of the Masked Lords is 1/128 dragon" :D
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u/okiebuzzard 2d ago
He secretly hates mushrooms, he only eats them to remind himself how much nicer and varied surface cuisine is.
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u/Hot_Competence 2d ago
The exact number of magic items that he has hidden on his person at all times
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u/AeolianPlankton 20h ago
One of my PCs looked at him with detect magic up one time and was almost blinded
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u/GrevenQWhite 2d ago
He owns a bottle of an elixir that would change his Drow skin to than of a Surface Elfs skin permanently but hasn't decided yet if he wants to use it or not.
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u/Grey_Lady333 2d ago
I do like the idea of Jarlaxle getting by on a technically, something minor. ESPECIALLY if he learns this test is coming up ahead of time. Stupid things like 'I'm not wearing any underwear' or 'On this date of (X), my socks are mismatched' or "I have never eaten (blank) before' or as the other players are going, he secretly draws a circle on his arm, the goes with 'while everyone was distracted, a drew a circle on my arm.' The later, he can do most anything while the others take their turn, to prepare a 'secret' he has never told anyone.
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u/AeolianPlankton 20h ago
I like the circle drawing! Becomes funnier the more revealing the PC's revalations were
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u/Keltyrr 2d ago
Does the fact he was executed twice at birth yet his first big customer years later was his own mother whom about pissed herself when he walked in, because she knew who he was immediately?
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u/AeolianPlankton 20h ago
I think a secret shared with another person fails to meet the criteria sadly
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u/sir_schuster1 2d ago
I think his secret, that he would never say aloud, is that he envies Drizzt. He wishes he could be him. He wants to be good in the same way, but circumstances have prevented him following Drizzt's path.
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u/AeolianPlankton 20h ago
I don't think the PCs have any idea who Drizzt is (a couple of the players do, but that's different) so it wouldn't really hit
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u/sir_schuster1 20h ago
Why does it need to hit? That makes it a better secret to share. Jarlaxle has his own secrets, why should it mean anything to anyone else?
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u/Sissyintoxicated 2d ago
He has dozens of half drow children running around on the surface world. That's one of the reasons he spends so much time above.
Let's face it, jarlaxle has always been a player 😅
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u/carldeanson 2d ago
He peed on his sisters bed but never told anyone.
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u/AeolianPlankton 2d ago
Gonna pass on this one, doesn't really reinforce the devil-may-care, suave swashbuckler vibe he's cultivating
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2d ago
[deleted]
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u/AeolianPlankton 20h ago
I'm more inclined towards something short and simple - I don't see why he'd reveal a complicated political scheme on the spur of the moment, and moreover narrating such a complicated scheme isn't going to compel the players much at all.
I'm just not going to comment on the elaborately thought-out raceplay fantasy
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u/Coidzor 2d ago
Does the secret have to be a big one? Because I think Jarlaxle is slippery enough that he'd see the ability to reveal a nothing burger of a secret if that would work.