Well, in my campaign the players have discovered that cultists are in the Dourstone mine and planning a ritual in a few days time. Instead of trying to foil the plot themselves, they've decided that they should report the problem to the regional law enforcement through the Justicar that's in our mix of players. We're playing in the Eberron campaign. Diamond Lake is of course located in Breland not far from Sharn. They want to try to get the Citadel to send official troops to Diamond lake to take care of the situation. I'm formulated that getting a bunch of soldiers to Diamond Lake in three days time (the remaining time as they spent 2 days deciding what to do about it after they found out the information.) is a bit unreasonable unless mass teleportation or the like is used. But I thought that I would present the complication to the rest of you DMs and see what your reaction might be. I have considered the following: (1) The soldiers are dispatched and arrive later due to political red tape and distance. (2) The soldiers somehow arrive on time, fail to stop the ritual, and the PCs watch as the Overgod crawls up from the mines and starts to do bad things in town as referred to in the 3FoE issue of Dungeon. What do you guys think, and what are some other clever tactics I might use?

The first question would be whether or not the Citadel would take a group of fairly newbie adventurers seriously enough to send any real firepower into the area. Assuming that they would, one possibility would be for the party to somehow find out that the cultist has learned that their cover is blown and has moved up the timetable accordingly. Depending upon how the party alerted the citadel you could always have a garrison patrol return with the bodies of the messenger(s) that were dispatched.

All of this assumes that you want the party to deal with it themselves.

If you're inclined to roll with their plan. I wouldn't see any real force arriving in the town within three days. A patrol that was already in the area, perhaps. Hell, I served in the miltary and it took us longer than that to get a bed assigned to us.

Well, in my campaign the players have discovered that cultists are in the Dourstone mine and planning a ritual in a few days time. Instead of trying to foil the plot themselves, they've decided that they should report the problem to the regional law enforcement through the Justicar that's in our mix of players. We're playing in the Eberron campaign. Diamond Lake is of course located in Breland not far from Sharn. They want to try to get the Citadel to send official troops to Diamond lake to take care of the situation. I'm formulated that getting a bunch of soldiers to Diamond Lake in three days time (the remaining time as they spent 2 days deciding what to do about it after they found out the information.) is a bit unreasonable unless mass teleportation or the like is used. But I thought that I would present the complication to the rest of you DMs and see what your reaction might be. I have considered the following: (1) The soldiers are dispatched and arrive later due to political red tape and distance. (2) The soldiers somehow arrive on time, fail to stop the ritual, and the PCs watch as the Overgod crawls up from the mines and starts to do bad things in town as referred to in the 3FoE issue of Dungeon. What do you guys think, and what are some other clever tactics I might use?

I think you shouldn't discourage them. Even if it's far from the 'normal' adventurers behavior (take it in your own hands) they could have a chance to get a few contacts in Free City (Sharn). However I would suggest not to make it too easy. First it will take some time to make their report go up the command chain. Before any real decision maker hears it, it could take days. Then, if they're ill-prepared (no material evidence, only hearsays and so on) their counterparts may question their credibility. If they get some help, it will depend on their ability to convince that they are no jokers (Diplomacy, Bluff skills checks). Eventually if they succeed, they will discover that moving a military unit from A to B takes time too. Train must follow. And it's not very stealthy. Their foes may receive warning from cultists in town. They will have to fight a fully alerted Temple. They will be ambushed in the mines before they can make it to the shaft.

Another possibility depends on how you handle evil cults in your campaign, but if they are tolerated, PCs could be confronted with influent cultists in town arguing they are doing nothing illegal. Time will run out eventually and PC will have to go for the stealthy approach. However, they will have the feeling that they are free in your campaign, which is something players really prize.

Hope this helps,

Bran.

Instead of trying to foil the plot themselves, they've decided that they should report the problem to the regional law enforcement through the Justicar that's in our mix of players.

"This is very grave indeed. We cannot hope to get troops there before this ritual is supposed to go off. Perhaps you could delay them somehow or disrupt their plans long enough for us to get troops their. One extra day is all we will need."

Anything the party does to delay will probably ensue the mass attack on the Hextor temple. After defeating them, the party may just think "We can take them all" and if not at least they did something :) If they flee, you can have the guard tell them that they will probably have bumped up their schedule as a result and they must get back in and do whatever it takes to stop it.

I say, let them call in the cavalry. But, the policitcal red tape, especially from a bunch of unknown newbies in a crap hole town, will make it take even longer. But, don't have the Aspect come up before the army gets there.

Just as the soldiers start into the mine, it begins to shake, and collapse. Everyone rushes out, just as the monster climbs out of the elevator shaft and begins tearing through them. The Citadel didn't send really veteran soldiers, just some run of the mill patrol to assauge the fears of the PCs and report back to their superiors. Now, the Aspect begins wiping Diamond Lake from the map with a vengeance, possibly aided by any cultists that might still be around (as written, it kind of indicated a sacrifice of the high priests would be necessary, but I didn't go with that at all. I had the Faceless One summon up the beast.)

Not to mention, the mind collapsed shortly after the Aspect came out. There goes any treasure not carried with the cultists. However, they could probably get an equivalent amount of compensation from the military for their trouble and whatever aid they gave in bringing the Aspect down (whether this is realistic or not, I don't know, but they PCs should get SOMETHING just to be fair).

Then when Ilthane coems and lays waste to what's left of the town, even more developments occur. It's completely deserted. It's subjected to martial law. New temples are built left and right as the various faiths clamour to relieve the people, and convert them to their churches. Many options here.

This bring up the question to me: What if the Aspect gets to run wild? Has anyone had this happen in their adventure path? I can just picture the PCs sitting back and watching as the Aspect crashes out and starts destroying the town. They will likely make a fast retreat and head for the hills. The question is what if the Aspect doesn't get put down? Assuming Allustan doesn't deal with it, nobody really would. So would the Aspect just destroy the town and then slink back off into the netherworld again, or what? What do you think? I just like getting different opinions than my own. Thanks!

Two parameters here:
1. If the Aspect gets out...

2. And if no one in Diamond Lake can deal with it...

That would be an EXCELLENT time to go to the Citadel. Get a group of King's Wands together with a Citadel Elite, and go hunt it down. Let the Citadel deputize the group under some obscure writ the King made during the Last War; then they HAVE to go; this also lets them get a possibly lucrative career started with some real legends.