The Ebon Ward is a Pathfinder series about the members of a morally dubious secret peacekeeping organization struggling to get by.
The Ebon Ward was originally founded as a secret peacekeeping organization designed to fight dangerous entities and generally anyone who might risk throwing the world into calamity. In order to do this effectively, however, they had to lower their membership standards so the things that go bump in the night could be put to use fighting the much more dangerous things that go bump in the night. Because of this, as well as the general lack of trust around the organization due to their secretive nature, the Ebon Ward developed a less than sterling reputation. They were eventually ousted as the peacekeeping organization of choice by the Keepers, a group of righteous, holier-than-thou paladins. Membership declined, etc. etc., and now the Ebon Ward is more or less on its last legs... which brings us to today.
The series follows the misadventures of a group of Ebon Ward recruits as they fight trees, ambush old men, and investigate the world's most convoluted smuggling ring.
The series can be viewed here
, and livestreams are typically every Sunday from 3-6PM EST. It also has a pair of spinoff mini-series called Ebon Ward North and Ebon Ward West, which follows a handful of members from the Ebon Ward's Northern and Western Branches respectively.
The Ebon Ward contains examples of:
- A Birthday, Not a Break: Happens in the case of Mia, a girl from Suino's hometown. It's her seventh birthday on the day when the player characters arrive, and also the same day where the entire town is taken hostage and almost turned into ghouls.
- A Father to His Men: Out of the four Ebon Ward leaders we’ve seen before, three of them fall into this trope. The South characters (eventually) outright say that the Duchess is like family to them, the Matriarch is shown to be a motherly old woman who regularly bakes for everyone in the East, and, while it’s more downplayed in his case, the Baron also seems to care a lot about the members of North. Sir Remington, however, does not follow this trope.
- Alliterative Name: Particularly noticeable with the player characters: Maze Myers, Suino Songfury and Dia Diadem, to be exact. Musty Macaw, Mysterious Musket Master takes this up to eleven.
- Arc Words: Two words: Doctor’s Orders.
- Author Catchphrase: The question and answer of “What happened last time on Ebon Ward?” And “Last time on Ebon Ward…” respectively, almost always used to open the episode.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: While the Ebon Ward's members toe the line of moral dubiosity more often than not, they're usually working towards the greater good in some way, and they're certainly not afraid to confront truly evil threats like The Good Doctor or Yotis.
- Blatant Lies: "Everyone knows bears don't exist."
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Eugene Verger. A loud man who’s cursed to always have one hand gesturing dramatically and a mansion that is constantly being rained on … also an accomplished scholar who regularly studies highly dangerous magical items.
- Busman's Holiday: The party decides to visit Suino's hometown for a breather after completing their mission in Kragmurr's Fissure. This does not go smoothly.
- Cave Mouth: Episode 13 has the party come across a suspicious cave, with the glimmer of possible treasure shining from within. Redpath offers Maze ten gold to check it out, and he accepts despite them both clearly knowing it's a trap. Thankfully, the party accidentally agitates the monster into revealing itself before he walks inside its mouth.
- Chekhov's Gun: Will, in particular, is an absolute master of this trope - particularly mention goes to the Hangman Tree Spores being introduced in Episode 3 being used to control Jamie nearly 60 episodes later.
- Costumes Change Your Size: Subverted. The Hat of Disguise only creates an illusion; it does not actually alter the wearer's physical size. Considering the disguise used in Episode 3 is that of a 10 year old child, this presents problems. This discrepancy is later used for a 'magic trick,' in which Gnash pours a bowl of candy into his actual mouth. Because of the illusion, the candy appeared to disappear over his head.
- Covert Group: The Pie Association. Also, by premise, the Ebon Ward.
- Dark Fantasy: Subverted. While the setting and background plot events are certainly dark, the player characters tend to be rather silly. Add to that things like the Pie Association and Z'erbert the Hip Old Drow and you've got fantasy of a lighter shade.
- Dark Is Not Evil: The whole purpose of the Ebon Ward - outcasts from society who would normally be considered 'evil' (such as gnolls, werewolves, and tieflings) trying to protect a continent that shuns them.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: Zinderella. Don't get too attached.
- Happily Adopted: Such is the case for Redpath and Suino.
- Knight Templar: The Keepers, being an organisation of Paladins who have fallen from grace and resorted to more brutal and harsh tactics. Dia outright tells a Judge that, to some people, the Keepers coming to their town means death if they don't listen to them.
- Obliviously Evil: The first adventure features a man brainwashed by an evil tree into thinking he is making clay sculptures to help 'put his town on the map'. What he's actually sculpting is kidnapped townsfolk.
- Papa Wolf: Judge Garron Everlyn plays this trope straight with his protection of Andrin - so much so that he’s willing to risk losing his position as a Judge just because someone was insulting her.
- Put on a Bus: With the nature of the players having different characters they can switch between, this happens every so often: Bossanova and Zephyra conveniently going to the surface after the Kragmurr’s Fissure arc is an example of this, and extreme note should be given to Musty Macaw, who was a player character for all but three episodes and then ran away to do his own thing.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Ebon Ward's declining numbers have left them pretty desperate for members, no matter how quirky they might be. It shows.
- Scenery Porn: The maps. Dear God, the maps - thanks to the asset packs of Gabriel Pickard and David Hemenway (and the incredible effort Will puts into putting the maps together), a lot of the maps in Ebon Ward hardly get enough credit for being absolutely gorgeous. Special mention goes to the maps for The Keep in the 'Ebon War' arc.
