Hello All,
I need some help!! Here's what is going on. My players have breezed through all but the last battle. They have bet on themselves and now have tons of cash. They have decided that they are going to skip the last fight and infiltrate Rakains palace instead. They have missed quite a bit during the adventure. They never found the Shrine of Kyuss, so they don't know that this is where the Ulgurstasta is. They figured out that the crowd at the games was probably at risk from the Ulgurstasta. So how would you all handle this.
I think that if they really decide not to compete in the last fight, I will have the third place team compete and have things move forward as they would have anyway. Any help would be great.
Beldar
From what I recall, since your PCs never found the shrine, Bozal is still in there to release the Urgulstasta when the moment comes, and there's nothing to prevent the ritual from being completed via the critter consuming Auric.
In this case, the results could be very bad. The PCs won't be there to stop the urgulstasta, so the ritual will complete, and most of the spectators will be turned into Wights (or whichever undead it is they turn into).
More of a problem, the PCs will miss the climactic scene. Having negative consequences of their choices = Good. Having them entirely miss witnessing this important scene = Bad.
So if I were you, I'd try to find a way to get the PCs there.
OPTION 1: If they just disappear before the fight (don't announce they're withdrawing from the competition), have the entire thing delayed by half an hour or so while guards attempt to look for them - Raknian by now wants to see them die, and may well delay things a short time trying to get them into the killing field.
Meanwhile, let them infiltrate his house and find some notes telling them a bit more of what's going on today. Maybe a rumpled message from Bozal that landed in the fireplace but not in the fire - it could say something along the lines of:
"My dear Loris -
Congratulations on reaching this day. When you stand before the crowds within the Free City Arena and I release the Apostle of Kyuss, all will see the glory of our lord. You stand on the precipice of greatness, and will be propelled into ever-greater glory by the lives we will spend this day.
-Your servant in Kyuss,
Bozal Zahol"
Then, the PCs should race to the arena.
OPTION 2: Alternately, let them find the secret door to the shrine from Raknian's mansion. They can get to Bozal just as he finishes releasing the Urgulstasta. The downside of this is that they'll need to fight Bozal (unless all he tries to do at that point is get away), THEN fight the urgulstasta, and Bozal may delay them for too many crucial seconds.
OPTION 3: Let them investigate Raknian's palace, and when the come out, it's all over. Either the Free City has a new influx of undead, or else Auric's band managed somehow (possibly with the assistance of the #3 team plus some of the other teams who would now be spactators in the stands) to destroy the urgulstasta - in the latter case, Auric is the hero of the city, and in either of these cases, the PCs may well be suspected of causing the (near-)disaster because they were, after all, conveniently missing when this happened. They'll need to depart the city in a hurry, perhaps never to return...
I've said before on another thread that my biggest beef with this adventure is that the only one who really knows the magnitude of what's at stake is the DM. Your PCs need to know it too or the drama of this adventure is lost.
You've got some good suggestions on steering them back in the right direction. If you want a quick and easy way of getting them back where they need to be, have a cult member turn traitor (came to his senses, got cold feet, decides apocalypse is overrated, whatever), seek out the PCs, and spill his guts. (Remember, by know the cult sees them as a threat, so it's natural a traitor would seek them out rather than risking the normal authorities). I would make sure they know EXACTLY what can happen if they don't stop the beastie from snacking on a champion (and point out to them Loris' little "you're all champions!" speech at the dinner).
I had almnost the exact same thing happen in my game, excpet my PCs were so terrified of Kyuss worms, once they got to the shrine via the sewers they immediately fled, never to explore it for the rest of the path. This was due to Spawn raining worms on them as they climbed up...Anyway, the whole session after that, they made similiar plans to inflitrate the palace. I appealed to my character's Lawful natures, having Ekaym tell them that a lawful investigation would garner Raknian's arrest based on what was beneath, but investigations couldn't begin while the games were going on. They became more concerned in being in the games than starting trouble prematurely...I hadf hoped to get them to go back to the shrine, but they never did, forcing me to go cheesy. I was forced to ad-hoc and have the main cleric and paladin receive dreams of what was about to take place. Short notice, but it explained what was about to happen and how they could be responsible in fulfilling the prophecy. I also had Eligos's last message be concerning the prophecy of the "Hero of the Pit", which helped to foreshadow the possible doom. The thing still rose up, but due to a natural 1 on Ugly's first attack against Auric (had to move to get to him) and him flying away immediately, disaster was averted. Half the party died, but so did Ugly. Curiously enough, my PCs that could have fulfilled the prophecy all had Freedom of Movement, simply dying from bite damage and its breath when it got down to 15 hp.
Sorry, I'm longwinded. Cintra's suggestions hit the nail on the head.