Need a realistic character reaction for my D&D game (longish)

[NewJeffCT]

OK, next session, the party’s Neutral Good rogue is going to find out he has an aunt he has never met before, while the aunt will simultaneously discover she has a nephew she never knew, the party rogue.

The aunt Non Player Character (NPC) is the consort to a powerful foreign king. She is from a minor noble family who went to visit this foreign king a few years after he became a widow. Her grace, charm and beauty captivated the king, but her lower status meant that they could not marry in their very strict caste-based society. However, she has managed to stick around as the king’s consort. (As written in the book, she is a good person and an influential voice with the king on behalf of the poor and downtrodden.)

The PC rogue had thought his mother and father were a fisherman and his wife. However, the “mother” made a deathbed confession to the PC that his real mother was a noblewoman named Suluri. When Suluri was fleeing her evil and abusive husband, her ship was sunk by pirates. The fisherman and wife found Suluri in the wreckage of a sinking ship, clinging to her baby and a few possessions. Fearing for her own life, and that of her child, Suluri paid the fisherman & wife with her remaining money to raise the baby as their own. The baby would later grow into the PC rogue.

The dying fisherman’s wife then gave the PC a necklace that she said was from his real mother. She did not notice that the PC had a ring and rapier that matched the necklace. (The PC was given the rapier and ring by a goodly cleric he helped to save months ago (in game and out of game), so he has not come by the items illicitly.)

The noblewoman Suluri later was found by her evil husband and killed. The evil husband was supposedly later killed in turn (heh heh heh, at least they think so…)

This was part of the rogue’s background already.

Cut to the next session – the party will meet with the king (also good), and the aunt will notice either the necklace or ring on the PC rogue as having belonged to her long-lost sister. The aunt will not make a scene there, but will later confront the PC one-on-one and demand to know where he got the rapier, ring and necklace.

PC rogue (I assume) tells the truth and the aunt figures out that the PC is her long-lost nephew that she did not know she had. The aunt has a very good perception (i.e., high Bluff & Sense Motive) and will have access to clerics that can cast Detect Lie.

What would her initial reaction be to finding out this news and figuring it is true? Would she embrace him warmly, or still be suspicious until confirmed? With a 16 Intelligence, she will likely ask a cleric to discern the truth even though her Sense Motive is very high. However, I am looking for a good initial reaction, and then a later reaction after confirmed by a cleric. She did have a good relationship with her sister. Would she warmly embrace him right then? Is that realistic?

The rogue has a pretty good Bluff and would have a slim chance of beating her Sense Motive if he wants to lie. However, if he tries to lie and fails to beat her Sense Motive, he could be in trouble.

My long-term goal is for the aunt to help the party out on occasion.

Thanks!

[Orsino]

1. You didn't say much about the aunt.

She's highly intelligent, good-aligned, and loved her sister. However, she by now would be used to all sorts of schemes to get at her and thereby to the king. She'll be a little suspicious of a story that frankly sounds like a fairy tale, and will do her best to verify the claim. If the PC resembles her sister, that'll be a point in his favor. I think she'll arrange a subsequent meeting, with that cleric hiding in a closet to cast Detect Lie. Possibly a Detect Magic, too, to help see though a possible Alter Self your PC might be using to look like the sister. She'll want to be sure.

Once she's sure, your PC will have a (temporarily, at least) powerful ally, in a position to do some very nice, if unofficial, favors.

[NewJeffCT]

2. Well, she is not naive enough

to take him at his word... I had pictured her as confident of her position, and a very warm and passionate person, quick to anger, but also quick to forgive.