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In case you didn't read the title, spoilers for Kingmaker: War of the River Kings below.
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So my players were rather clever in our last session and took out Villamor Koth, Irovetti and General Jurrg within minutes after they heard their capital was attacked. Irovetti was caught by the new icy teleport spell from UM and met a tragic fate when his Dimension Door activated and sent him straight vest except he was 600 feet up in the air at the time, Villamor was hacked to death and the General was feebleminded (now becoming a potential Magic Jar 'pet' like Drelev). The attacking army was neatly taken care of with the once per year ability of the Oculus of Abaddon. :D
I'd say it was the best session we've had so far, with a great performance from our king during stage 3 of the tournament where he both held a great speech, managed to get Pitax' contender disqualified (she ended up with a score of 117), and spent about 1500 platina to sway the audience' opinion of who had the best performance.
However now I have to figure out how the remaining events in Pitax will unfold without Irovetti's presence. A few Pitaxians saw Irovetti disappear, but nobody knows he's actually dead.
The party has stated interest in taking Pitax city and making it part of their empire, while letting the other cities and the land between them rule themselves.
Currently lvl 13 closing on 14, and I think it would be safe to unleash the events in the final chapter before they're lvl 15, but maybe let them hit 14 first.
I'm thinking of playing up the involvement of the noblehouses in Pitax, but until they learn that Irovetti is dead then I suspect they'll be doing about their business as normal. Perhaps later they can arrange for an agreement with the party and stay as vassals or similar.
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However now I have to figure out how the remaining events in Pitax will unfold without Irovetti's presence. A few Pitaxians saw Irovetti disappear, but nobody knows he's actually dead.
So, perhaps he's not dead. Simulacra, doppelgangers, or surgically altered slaves who have had their memories drained and replaced with more appropriate thoughts can all play their part quite convincingly. Especially when their death occurs out of sight of anyone who cares...
However now I have to figure out how the remaining events in Pitax will unfold without Irovetti's presence. A few Pitaxians saw Irovetti disappear, but nobody knows he's actually dead.So, perhaps he's not dead. Simulacra, doppelgangers, or surgically altered slaves who have had their memories drained and replaced with more appropriate thoughts can all play their part quite convincingly. Especially when their death occurs out of sight of anyone who cares...
That is indeed one way to play it, however I feel it might undermine my players efforts. They are very much enjoying sandboxing events, and I try my best not to railroad them. If Irovetti was never gone, then there should have been some indication to the players already, and not to mention Irovetti probably wouldn't have had all his items on his double.
As such I'm looking to alter how the remaining events unfold. Some may not be affected at all.
If he was taken alive I assume they would try to magic jar him, and attempt to fake his new alliance with the kingdom, however with him dead I believe they'll try to go to Pitax and arrange for a takeover. And if they find a clever way to do that I'm fine with that as my players seem more interested in figuring out who the "green woman with a red streak in her hair" is, rather than being involved in combats with Pitax or wage war.
Ooh...fun! Okay, a couple ideas:
If you have 6+ PCs, you should be able to run Book 6 as-is with the PCs one level lower than it suggests (ie: don't up the book using the 6-PC upgrade found on the board). APL would be correct.
If you have 4 or 5 as normal, then you'll want them to get some XP before tackling book 6, as it looks to be a doozy (I can't wait till my players get there!) To that end...
A power vacuum in Pitax. Irovetti's death will be found out soon enough. Scrying or other spells may do it. The Houses (especially the one Irovetti stole the kingdom from) will scramble to take control. And they won't all fight each other and let the PCs mop up what's left. Some may work together to keep the PCs at bay, some may join the PCs who defeated their tyrant.
If you haven't run the Abbey yet, the PCs could still hear about it (Irovetti may have sent his people off before he died, or one of the Houses could start it in order to get a leg-up on taking over Pitax--no one said the "Horn of Cloudkill" *has* to be fake...:)
At the very least, if they haven't run the Abbey yet, they should; and then take on Irovetti's castle in some form. Perhaps the Houses are all invading the place and chaos is ensuing. Or the "lady with the green hair" has sent an agent to collect the sword, having figured out that Irovetti kept it.
Good luck! I applaud your decision to take your players' actions and run with it. :)