scottsch's page

What is the best way to handle darkvision with the nexus of evil? This combat is especially important to me for 2 reasons. 1) One of my PCs has a lich nemesis in his backstory, so, of course, this will be him! And 2) they just rested, so I need to wear them down a bit so Kaurophon can actually make them sweat.

If the half-orc or psionic munchkin characters see the lich in the Nexus right away, it'll be over pretty quickly. If not, the lich has a tactical problem.

My current idea is to have the lich scatter summoned animals around randomly at first, then toward sounds of combat. When he finally casts True Seeing, then he'll be able to see out of the Nexus.

This is what my party will ask. Alek/Nidrama told them their foes in Cauldron are too powerful and they should seek the Smoking Eye. After they get the Smoking Eye, they will inevitably ask how it actually helps and why they bothered to get it. They gained a few levels and one of them has a relatively minor buff that doesn't seem to have anything to do with Cauldron. And why should they go back to Cauldron, a city full of powerful enemies, to twiddle their thumbs and be sitting ducks? They still don't have much of an idea of who the Cagewrights are.

Those crazy players... who ever knows what they're going to do? They started with a flaming-sphere-first-ask-questions-later attitude, then switched gears to watch poor Jared get eaten by Gottrod. Just to confound me, they peacefully hopped in the kuo toa ferryman's canoe and opened negotiations at the entrance to Bhal Hamatugn. What do I do with this?

The easiest options are 1) to put the adventure back on the rails by having the kuo toa shut up and just shoot or 2) have them disarm and be brought before Xenith. 1 is boring -- I want to reward the players for role-playing reasonably well. 2 would most likely be an auto-TPK.

Here is what I came up with, but I'd like to hear your suggestions.

1) Have them leave and come back the next day. This gives the kuo toa a chance to consult with their leader and gives the party a chance to rest.
2) Bring them to the central worship room. A cleric suppresses the statue's planar ally effect. He charges them with slaying Dhorlott if they wish to see Xenith. The kuo toa have decided that they don't entirely trust the dragon. The fingerlings have started nibbling. And, obviously, they don't feel up to the task of defeating the dragon themselves.
3) The players defeat the fingerlings and Dhorlott. I probably will adjust his stats a bit.
4) They emerge to find dozens of kuo toa awaiting them. If they look ragged, the kuo toa attack them to provide great sacrifices to the Sea Mother. I'll position the kuo toa so the players have an avenue of escape. They'll then have to fight their way back in, though if they do enough damage, the kuo toa will let them reopen negotiations. If they emerge from Dhorlott's lair, looking strong, then they are brought before Xenith.
5) Either way, they get to Xenith. They must subdue him and get away with him. The difference from the adventure as written is that there might still be a lot of kuo toa around to hamper their escape.

I probably will pare down elements of Bhal Hamatugn that aren't related to this, e.g. that assassin kuo toa.