Lyria Akenja: 3rd level NPC wizard from the Thistletop dungeon in Rise of the Runelords. PCs spared her life, so she's coming back as a recurring villain. They'll next encounter her in Magnimar, where she's become a fairly successful drug dealer, buying and selling pesh and zerk.
So she needs to be leveled up, from 3rd to... oh, probably fifth level. Here's Lyrie as she is now:
Spoiler:
Lyrie Akenja
Female human wizard 3
CE Medium humanoid
Init +2; Senses Perception +2
DEFENSES
AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, +2 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 19 (3d6+6)
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +4
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee dagger +0 (1d4–1/19–20)
Special Attacks hand of the apprentice (7/day, +4 ranged)
Spells Prepared (CL 3rd)
2nd—mirror image, shatter (DC 15)
1st—burning hands (DC 14), mage armor, ray of enfeeblement (DC 14)
0—acid splash, detect magic, prestidigitation, ray of frost
STATISTICS
Str 8, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 17, Wis 10, Cha 13
Base Atk +1; CMB +0; CMD 13
Feats Alertness (as long as Skivver's in arm's reach), Dodge, Mobility, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (evocation)
Languages Common, Draconic, Elven, Goblin, Giant, Thassilonian, Varisian
SQ arcane bond (cat familiar named Skivver)
Spellbook 0—all; 1st—burning hands, comprehend languages, detect secret doors, floating disc, identify, mage armor, obscuring mist, ray of enfeeblement, sleep; 2nd—locate object, minor image, mirror image, see invisibility, shatter, spider climb
Some of this is pretty simple -- stat increase on Int, for instance. But I'm wondering what spells and which feat she'd take that would be thematically appropriate to her new career. She gets four new spells, two of which should be third level, plus a feat. What would be thematically appropriate / useful for a 5th level wizard turned drug dealer?
(Also, the PCs took all her stuff, so she has to start over with fresh gear...)
This would probably be more at home at the Rise of the Runelords forum, but I expect the mods will take care of that.
Awesome use of Lyrie, by the way. Do you plan on making her a combat encounter? I'd personally use her to deliver some exposition.
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Even someone as tough as Lyrie would be disturbed by the dissapearances at the hands of the Brothers of the Seven, especially seeing as the bodies are being mutilated with a rune she'd be intricately familiar with (having seen it around Nualia's neck.) She might even suspect her involvement, knowing that Nualia had some "friends" in Magnimar.
I actually tried to set up Nualia as a red herring for this adventure, but my players stubbornly refused to bite, and had to be led by the nose to each set piece encounter. It was a little dissapointing, but as one of my first times in the GM chair, it was definately a learning experience.
As for leveling her up, you're definately on the right track. I'd imagine as a crime boss she'd have to invest in some social skills at the detriment of her magical studies. Some ranks in Intimidate and Diplomacy (for Gather Information), and possibly the "Persuasive" feat as well. Sense Motive wouldn't be a bad choice either. Remember she gets a bonus to Sense Motive from her Alertness feat as well. With her new int bonus she can max Intimidate and still have twelve juicy skill points to work with (meaning she can max two more skills and still have two points to add to, say, stealth or knowledge local)
Spells? You know your party better than us. Consider Detect Thoughts for flavour, Scare for scattering the party and your two favourite third level spells. (Slow is nice, but it targets Will, just like Scare.)
I'd also give her some hireling thugs as part of the encounter, to keep your meleers off of her for a round or two. They could just be third level warriors, or they might have a level of rogue for a little bit extra oomph.
As for equipment, she should have 3,450 gp according to the Core Rulebook. This should be split 3 ways into offensive items (such as a wand), defensive/wondrous items and consumables (two or three potions of cure moderate, maybe.) If you're feeling really generous to your party casters and plan on pitting her against them, give her a lesser metamagic rod and watch them fight over it. It really depends on what your party are going to need as treasure, and if she won't be a combat encounter, you can just keep it simple here.
Here's the setup: Lyrie will contact the PCs when they reach Magnimar with an offer of truce: she wants to talk! The PCs will reasonably suspect an ambush but actually Lyrie wants their help: she's being stalked by someone. (Modest spoilers for the module Skinsaw Murders follow.)
Spoiler:
It's the Skinsaw cultists, of course. Judge Ironbriar and Xanesha knew all about Nualia, and now they want to eliminate Lyrie just because she's a loose end. (It's nothing personal.)
Lyrie needs enough money to leave town, fast, and run far away. Unfortunately, it's rather a large amount of money -- she needs to hire a small ship with a trustworthy crew, and then she'll need seed money to start over again in a distant city. We're talking like 1,000 gp here. So here's her offer: she has vital information that the PCs will need, about the Skinsaw Cult and its leadership. She's willing to sell it. In return, either the PCs can give her the money -- or they agree to be her bodyguard for three days until she can do some "business" to get the money. The business is selling a large shipment of drugs, naturally (though of course she won't tell the PCs that).
Nongood PCs may want to beat the information out of her. If so, she tries to run (she should have an escape plan ready) or fight to the death. Though Chaotic Evil and utterly untrustworthy, Lyrie is frightened enough that she'll give honest (if incomplete) information. After all, if the Heroes of Sandpoint go after the Skinsaw Cultists, it's win-win for her.
Lyrie is herself an addict as well as a dealer. While on zerk she gains d4 Str and +1 initiative, but it's deeply addictive. Have her covered with little scars and half-healed cuts; DC 20 Healing or DC 15 Knowledge (local) to realize she's a zerk addict. She's obtained a large quantity of the stuff somehow -- say, 50 doses, street value 2,500. If the PCs won't give her money for her information, she wants to sell some of the drug for quick cash, keep the rest for herself, and flee town. Obviously nothing can go wrong with this well-considered plan...
Oh, and by meeting with Lyrie, the PCs bring themselves to the attention of the cultists (who are watching her, of course).
Branches: PCs pay off Lyrie, she escapes the city and pops up later as a recurring nuisance. Or, PCs pay off Lyrie, then the cultists catch her. The PCs will encounter some gruesome remnant of her (like her face, tanned and turned into a ceremonial mask) at cultist HQ, or maybe at X's.
If the PCs don't pay her but agree to the bodyguard thing, they may then be attacked by cultists, angry drug dealers when Lyrie tries to cheat them, or both. Or, PCs try to interrogate Lyrie; cultists break in (they don't want her talking!) to kill her, fight the PCs for a bit, then run if they can. As long as all paths lead somewhere interesting...
Did she get to keep her spellbook ? I'd assume the PCs took that from her as well...
as a pesh dealer I think illusions and mind-affecting spells are a good start, give her a bodyguard with a slight Zerk addiction.
3rd level : Suggestion, major image seem fitting to influence her clients
Evocation spells : Call the Void, Force Punch or Pain Strike would seem fair choices in an urban setting.
2nd level : False Life, Kinetic Reverberation for her body guard, Disguise Other as a service to valued clients or her body guard, Alter Self might be a wise precaution Hypnotic Pattern to intensify the drug experience nd make them prone to suggestion, Mad Hallucination might be something people pay for, Burning Arc, Admonishing Ray, Arcane Lock, Knock, Eagle's Splendor.
1st Color Spray, Ear Piercing Scream, Charm Person
I'd consider having her turn to worship of Nocticula or Shamisha, possibly grooming her for the PrC demoniac, which would involve Knowledge Planes, Spellcraft and Intimidate 7 ranks and the feats Iron Will and Demonic Obedience.
Did she get to keep her spellbook ? I'd assume the PCs took that from her as well...
Let's say she had a spare.
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give her a bodyguard with a slight Zerk addiction.
One of her thugs betrayed her to the cultists, and she only escaped by luck. So now she's super paranoid. No bodyguards. (That's why she needs the PCs.)
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I'd consider having her turn to worship of Nocticula or Shamisha, possibly grooming her for the PrC demoniac, which would involve Knowledge Planes, Spellcraft and Intimidate 7 ranks and the feats Iron Will and Demonic Obedience.
I'm not a big fan of the Demoniac PrC, but if you're going that route, Nocticula would be a plausible patron.
Remco Sommeling wrote:
3rd level : Suggestion, major image seem fitting to influence her clients
Evocation spells : Call the Void, Force Punch or Pain Strike would seem fair choices in an urban setting.
All good suggestions! And Call the Void is one of the more flavorful new spells out there. Hm.
Female human wizard 5
CE Medium humanoid
Init +2; Senses Perception +2
DEFENSES
AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, +2 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 26 (5d6+6)
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +5
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee dagger +1 (1d4–1/19–20)
Special Attacks hand of the apprentice (7/day, +5 ranged)
Spells Prepared (CL 5th)
3rd - fireball (6d6, DC 18), suggestion (DC 17)
2nd — admonishing ray, mirror image, extended mage armor (10 hour duration)
1st — burning hands (5d4, DC 16), ear-piercing scream (DC 16), ray of enfeeblement (DC 15), vanish
0 — acid splash, detect magic, prestidigitation, ray of frost
STATISTICS
Str 8, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 13
Base Atk +2; CMB +1; CMD 14
Feats Alertness (as long as Skivver's in arm's reach), Dodge, Extend Spell, Mobility, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (evocation), Varisian Tattoo
-- Feats, Varisian Tattoo plus Extend Spell as her bonus feat. She casts Extended Mage Armor every morning for ten hours of protection.
-- Skills, she maxed out Intimidate, threw a rank into Diplomacy, and kept Appraise, Knowledge (Arcana) and Knowledge (Local) topped off. Has fallen behind on Spellcraft but, hey, she's been busy.
-- New spells, Fireball and Suggestion are simple classics that fit her fairly straightforward personality. Admonishing Ray can do 8d6 of nonlethal damage, which is good for dealing with thugs and minions. Vanish is for fast getaways.
Still need to equip her -- she can't quite afford a Headband of Mighty Intellect, more's the pity. I expect she'd have a lot of scrolls, since she has the feat. (A rules question: if an NPC has that feat, then I assume the scrolls only cost half against her money limit?)
The rendezvous takes place in one of Magnimar's many convenient abandoned warehouses. Lyrie has Mage Armor and Spider Climb precast (the latter from a scroll). If the PCs attack Lyrie, she fights like mad, but not quite to the death. She probably open with Fireball (6d6 damage, DC 18) then takes a move action to climb 20' up, which gets her next to a window. Against a group of 4th-5th level PCs, her odds of escaping are not great; if captured, she'll try to trade her information for her freedom. If the PCs turn her loose, she probably ends up killed by the cultists.
If the PCs decide to be Lyrie's bodyguards, then they'll have to watch her for 3 days until the big deal goes down. During this time, Lyrie is likely to try a Suggestion on at least one PC -- probably a big dumb fighter type. Nothing murderous, but something along the lines of "keeping Lyrie safe is your highest priority". She may also start a romantic or sexual liaison with a PC with a high Cha; this is part coldblooded calculation, part poor impulse control (18 Int, but 10 Wis, and a junkie.)
Attacks: at some point the cultists will try to take her down for good. There will be four standard Skinsaw cultists (the cleric 1 / rogue 1 guys, same as in the sawmill), one more senior cultist (a cleric 1 / rogue 3), and a mercenary -- a 5th level illusionist -- who is there to counter Lyrie's magic. Even with the advantage of surprise, these guys aren't really a match for the PCs plus Lyrie, but OTOH they're not trying to win -- they want to kidnap Lyrie or, failing that, to kill her.
Drug deal: Lyrie is going to do a major drug deal, and she's going to try to cheat. She is NOT going to tell the PCs either of those things. So they'll tag along to a big "meeting", Lyrie will hand over the goods -- and then the buyers will angrily announce that the stuff has been cut by 50%, and how stupid does she think they are? Time to die!
This is actually a much tougher encounter. The drug dealers consist of a Ftr 2/Rog 5 boss, six Rog 1/War 1 thugs, and a lieutenant/second in command who is an Alchemist 5. (Not a vivisectionist, either. The blow-stuff-up kind of alchemist. He's the one who will test the drugs. Lyrie wasn't expecting him to come along, and will be visibly shaken when he shows up.). It works out to around CR 7, which should keep a party of 4th-5th level PCs busy even with Lyrie's help. (Which they may or may not have... if Lyrie has both the money and the drugs in her hands, she has a scroll of Expeditious Retreat ready for just this moment.) Also, while these guys are scum, killing them may bring unwelcome attention from Magnimar's underworld.
One wonders what the PC's reaction to all this is likely to be. A lot of the might just walk under those circumstances. Of course, that might give them a bad rep in Magnimar...
