I like the Living Story, but I don’t feel that Flame and Frost changed the world, and I doubt that fighting Canach will feel that way either. If you want players to feel like the Living Story changes the world, please don’t be afraid to actually change it! Kill characters! Make a mess! Consider this deviation of the same theme with the same characters, and how its impact on the world would have been felt in comparison to what is actually happening.
The Lost Shores
Captain Magnus dismissed Researcher Dessa and her warnings about what might happen to Lion’s Arch. After the Karka attack, he sent a single Lionguard inspector and her choice of subordinates to oversee the counterattack. And he yelled a bit. This threat nearly destroyed his city, and he did not see fit to attend or even send a larger force to the conflict with the Ancient Karka. Dessa takes note of Magnus’ lack of foresight. Kiel reminds her that Magnus was also absent during the Claw Island events in the personal story. Despite fighting alongside Destiny’s Edge five years ago, has not directly intervened in conflicts since.
Flame and Frost: The Razing
Periscopes were spotted along mountain trade routes normally maintained by the Lionguard. The Lionguard normally maintain these trade routes and are defensive of the land surrounding their havens, but they refuse to interfere with the Molten Alliance events or provide assistance to refugees. Many refugees camp outside haven walls or perish feet from Lionguard patrols. Stranded, helpless, and left with no where to turn, refugees sign Consortium contracts to be relocated to Southsun Cove. Braham and Rox individually make note of the Lionguard’s sudden apathy for their own trade routes and mistreatment of their people’s refugees.
The Secret of Southsun
Dessa and Kiel are called to Claw Island, which has fallen under attack. After traveling to the reused the Claw Island instance map, players enter a Living Story mission where they must kill a wave of Undead Karka, Reef Drakes, and Reef Riders. Kiel and Dessa lament that this should not be possible with Zhaitan dead. Upon returning to Southsun, players learn that the wildlife is agitated by Orrian Blooms corrupting the land. Players collect the samples for Dessa and return to Lion’s Arch under the insistence of Lady Kasmeer. They enter a Living Story cinematic for a meeting with the Captain’s Council to discuss the new undead threat, and they find Magnus missing and the rest of the council murdered in Crow’s Nest Tavern.
The Secret of Southsun: Kasmeer’s Crusade
Kasmeer informs players that during his fight with Morgus Lethe in Edge of Destiny, Magnus was corrupted by Zhaitan, who had been using Magnus to soften Lion’s Arch for invasion before the intervention of the Pact. With Zhaitan’s defeat, Magnus’s mental state was irrevocably damaged, becoming more insular and obsessive over time. The players enter a 15 minute story mission led by Lady Kasmeer in which they board the Cormorant, Magnus’ ship, now crewed by undead. They defeat two corrupted council members before fighting Magnus and two undead Karka pets. Before dying Magnus gives up the exposition: an Orrian Vizier has attempted to don Zhaitan’s mantle by corrupting the wildlife of Southsun to advance on the Constortium and Refugees on the island. With undead Karka and the thralls it could create from the bodies of the settlers, it seeks to rebuild Zhaitan’s army and capture Lion’s Arch – Magnus destroying the Captain’s Council was part of the plan.
The Secret of Southsun: Sand and Fog
This is where the subterranean dungeon is introduced – find the Vizier and kill it. The agitated wildlife wage war on their corrupted counterparts and the Refugees attack the Consortium outright in their effort to flee the conflict on Southsun Cove. With the Vizier dead, the players learn that Lady Kasmeer has appointed herself to lead the Captain’s Council during its reformation, which has placed the captains on edge. They believe that Kasmeer represents an underhanded attempt by human nobility to regain control of Lion’s Arch, straining relations with Divinity’s Reach and building a recipe for unrest, conflict, and betrayal.