A little advice on this little pickle that I've DM'ed myself into would be fantastic.
The Setup: The characters (lizard-folk ranger 17, aasimar sentinel 17 and half-elf rogue 7/wizard 5/arcane trickster 6) had made it to the chambers of The Thirteen after successfully aiding in the evacuation of Cauldron. They were on cruise-control until they ran into a group of flamewarder guards while battling with Freija Doorgan. Things spiralled out of hand for the trio quickly as more haraknin joined the fray along with Ti'rok Coalfire. It was a real messy fight and the arcane trickster was the first to fall to Freija's Prismatic Spray and then regrouping with the haraknin force and the giant. It was nip and tuck right to the bitter end, but superior numbers got to them and it was a TPK.
The Problem: Of course, as we know, the gate opens with the failure of the PC's and we have Carceri-on-Greyhawk with fiends flooding through the gate, etc... The trouble is, as final as that seems, the characters aren't really dead and the campaign didn't just come crashing to a halt. Earlier, while on Occipitus, the trio had simultaneously acquired the Sign of the Smoking Eye as they all selflessly sacraficed themselves to the flames in a display of comraderie that I could not ignore at the time. I had the powers of good reward that act and they all gained the template, thereby gaining the "lie-in-state" boon of being able to reconstitute after death. So now I have three players who desperately want to get back to Cauldron to get back to the fight and shut that gate down, slay as many fiends as possible, and take it to the Cagewrights.
The "How would you do it?" part: I'm interested to hear how some of the other DM's of the AP would handle this, bearing in mind that none of you would have had the lack of foresight to dole out the template to three seperate individuals at once in an act of DM kindness/let's keep the campaign rolling.
How many demodands come through at once? There's vague hints that a decent sized group was gathered near where the gate was going to open (Asylum). How many come through after the initial opening?
How do the Cagewrights handle the opening of the gate? Do they teleport up to Cauldron to start interacting with the horde or do they hang back to see what happens? Do they then move into Carceri through the gate to free Adimarchus?
At this moment, I'm not sure how I'm going to handle things but I have a small respite of a week or so as the characters have decided that taking out Hookface once and for all should be their first matter of business, before they begin the mind-boggling work of trying to close a gate and stop a demodand horde. I think it was more tangible for them to consider this first instead of trying to tackle the near impossible of not even knowing where to start, and to be honest, I'm a little grateful that they were overwhelmed, as I'm overwhelmed some at the options myself.
Thanks in advance.
Well, believe it or not, you're NOT the only one who had three players acquire the Smoking Eye template. One of my players volunteered to sacrifice themselves. Just before she was to jump, the npc sorceror traveling with the group, (I can't remember his name offhand, but he's the guy in the module,) tried to push her in, and she didn't resist. So, she sacrificed herself, the sacrifice clause kicked in, and she appeared on the other side. This prompted the party's monk and fighter to push the npc into the fire, one aiding the other. The npc toppled over into the fire, the killing an ally clause kicked in, and then, because of the aid another action, two characters gained the template.
Hmm... fighting Hookface could give you some time to think things through. If they're really heading up into the mountains to deal with Hookface, then it really doesn't matter how many come through the gate. After all, they'll be gone a week, and by that time, the horde has crossed over. I personally would make the Tree the focus of the gate, and if the party destroys the Tree, the gate closes.
You could also have an army of celestials show up and start duking things out... however, if you do this, show the party the consequences of this... demons destroying the city, angels falling, etc. Let the party's actions dictate the result of the fighting.
Squid
There are definately a couple of things that could happen. Here's my two cents worth:
The goal of the party should still be to shut the gate. It can still be shut off with the collar that the protoplasmic dragon protects.
With the hordes of demons and devils and lawyers and whatnot coming through the portal, the party will definately need help. The help could be Nidrama along with a bunch of fallen angels that just couldn't sit by anymore. That could provide enough of a distraction to the cagewrights to allow the party to sneak back to the tree of shackled souls and shut it down.
But, you can also limit the number of demons escaping Carceri to serve your needs. The denizens of carceri were somewhat aware that a portal may open, so there could have been a large force of other demons to prevent their escape.
Or maybe the hordes that escaped Carceri form groups that start to fight against one another to try to gain some control over their new environment.
And as far as Adimarchus goes, none of the cagewrights have the ability to release Adimarchus from his cell, so the party will still have to face him at the end. Even if the cagewrights were able to remove the cage from Carceri, the party will have to meet up with him... either on the material plane, or maybe even a showdown on Occipitus.
Actually, the party still has a chance to shut the portal without Adimarchus ever escaping Carceri, and then have them finish the last two adventures with little change to how they are written.
It depends on how you might "guide" you players through the situation, or if that's not your thing, then it will totally depend on what your players want to do about it.
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Or, if you want to add insult to injury, you could just tell them that the Stormblades took care of it. There would be a lot of hoop-la for them, but the Stormblades weren't out to stop the Cagewrights, just out for money and glory. So the rest of the Adventure Path would remain for your party to complete.
Or, if you want to add insult to injury, you could just tell them that the Stormblades took care of it. There would be a lot of hoop-la for them, but the Stormblades weren't out to stop the Cagewrights, just out for money and glory. So the rest of the Adventure Path would remain for your party to complete.
hehehe.
The total number of gehreleths (demodands for you clueless primes) is pretty limited, if I recall correctly. There's no more than 10.000 in existence at any particular time, divided equally among the three types. I'd say that in case of an invasion, they could muster, at most, around half of that. The rest being caught up in the blood war and all. On the other hand, there could be many tanar'ri trapped (or imprisoned) on Carceri, just waiting to join the invasion and escape Carceri. Now whoever put those fiends there isn't going to be too happy when he finds out they escaped.
A well co-ordinated effort from the celestial camp, or even from one of the fiendish camps, should be able to put a halt to the invasion. Perhaps the PC's could rally some unlikely allies. Maybe hookface, or one of the other dragons encountered during the AP. After all, it's not in their interest to have their hunting ground infested with filthy 'leths.
Of course, the invasion is merely a distraction, co-ordinated by Adimarchus. With so many of the 'leths, and possibly Tanar'ri busy on Oerth, the cagewrights should have a much easier time sneaking Adimarchus back into Occipitus. Once there, it should be fairly easy for one of the cagewrights to aquire the smoking eye template and free Adimarchus.
Unless the PC's are able to stop him that is... (dun dun dun)
I'm thinking along similar lines to Chef's Slaad...let the PCs see the devastation being wrought on Cauldron and surrounds, see the Demodands issuing forth and Carceri-on-Oerth.
Then let them discover, or remind them, that the real goal is stopping Adimarchus from being freed, and let them go diving THROUGH the gate and after the "real goal". Let them worry about 'picking up the pieces' afterwards.
For a really twitchy ending, after they prevent Adimarchus from rising, have them deal with two forces...one of demons, another of angels, both pledging to follow them against the Demodand army, each for their own reasons, since they are now the undisputed rulers of Occipitus.
The total number of gehreleths (demodands for you clueless primes) is pretty limited, if I recall correctly. There's no more than 10.000 in existence at any particular time, divided equally among the three types.
Hold on are the Cagewrights dealing with Gehreleths? I thought they were dealing with the 'lolths? 'lelths are totally xenophobic and I couldnt imagine them helping anyone without direct benefit for themselves.
If its the 'lolths waiting to invade you could have the 'lelths and Elysium forces intervene or help the party.
And you are right 'lelths only number 10k. In times of dire need they can doulbe that number temporarily.
Hold on are the Cagewrights dealing with Gehreleths? I thought they were dealing with the 'lolths? 'lelths are totally xenophobic and I couldnt imagine them helping anyone without direct benefit for themselves.
I just checked planes of conflict. Farastu, Kelubar and Shator are Gehreleths. By lolths I presume you mean Yugoloths? I'm not sure who I would rather face, a horde of 'leths or a single 'loth. At least with the 'loth, you know you're screwed.
I think opening a gate out of Carceri is probably the only incentive the 'leths need to work together with the cagewrights. Carceri is a prison plane, after all. And who wouldn't want a nice chaotic prison brake? Of course, the fact that the cagewright's head honcho, Dyr'ryd is a shator helps.