First, a bit of backstory (and my apologies for the lengthy description) ...
On their first attempt to penetrate the thistle tunnels the party killed the refugees and the goblin dogs, but were then driven off by Gogmurt. So they found other stuff to do in town while they waited for the infamous goblin attention span to do its thing. I figured that Chief Ripnugget would try to deal with the incursion without the longshanks' help (so as to impress Nualia), so he didn't bother to inform the lower levels regarding the situation.
Fastforward five days and the party attacked again, this time killing Gogmurt before he could send a message to Ripnugget. (Tangletooth escaped into the wild.) And they retreated to town again - Gogmurt was a tough nut for them to crack.
The next day the party crossed the bridge (they failed a Perception check to find the trap, and by sheer dumb luck didn't set it off) and entered Thistletop proper. The doors were ajar again, it being six days since the island goblins had heard of any danger. The goblins in the barracks and the one watchtower (card-players) were taken out, and then the party found the stairs down beside the barracks.
They decided to go down the stairs down. Without clearing the top level first. (As GM, I did a mental facepalm but otherwise said nothing.)
On the first dungeon level, the party killed Bruthazmus and Ripnugget's wives, then ran into Tsuto (he'd escaped them at the Glassworks) and Orik. Tsuto was put into the negatives, stabilised, and taken prisoner. Orik surrendered after managing just one blow for minimum damage, and the party accepted his parole.
The party then decided to return to Sandpoint, due to low resources and having a prisoner to bring to trial (Tsuto). On they way out, they triggered the bridge trap, dumping Orik and Tsuto into the drink. (Orik survived, but the helpless Tsuto drowned and became bunyip lunch. No one felt bad for him.) By this point the goblins had realised that Something Was Up. The killgull players turned up with their mounts in tow, and the pickle thieves woke from their food coma. The pickle thieves rushed off to warn Ripnugget. The outside guards fought the party by the bridge and were slaughtered. Now quite battered and all out of healing, the party managed to make their way across the dangling bridge, fished Orik out of the drink, and returned to Sandpoint.
First bonus piece of information: Erylium escaped the party in the Catacombs, and went to Thistletop to join Nualia.
Second bonus piece of information: 4-member party at L 3 (paladin, rogue, bard, oracle).
My question (in two parts): what would Ripnugget do, and what would Nualia/Lyrie/Erylium do?
Assuming that his guards notice the party's return, should Ripnugget set up the ambush in his throne room as per the book?
What about Nualia and the others - if they even notice or care that Tsuto and Orik are missing? After all, all three females are rather single-minded in their focus/interests. Maybe I'll put Erylium in the temple with the hounds, and leave Lyrie and Nualia where they are.
Of course, some of this depends upon how long the party spends in Sandpoint this time (probably just overnight).
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Ripnugget has tied his success to Nualia. He's never heard Malfeshnekor's whispers, and he's a bit enamored with the aasimar. He knows he's lost a whole mess of troops, so if the PCs get back to Thistletop, he's probably in big trouble. He knows the party won't fall for the bridge trap again, so he'd probably just remove the bridge until Nualia is finished with the ritual. They need to figure out some way across that doesn't alert the island at that point. It'll be harder, but the PCs still have one advantage - they're still fighting goblins. If any creature would become lax too quickly after the enemy has invaded, it'd be a goblin. Ripnugget would probably execute the pickle thieves for stealing rations, but he needs them - they're now the guards on the far end of the bridge. Their job is to hide in the thickets and wait until the PCs come up with a plan, and sabotage it while they're putting it in action. (This assumes the two can focus on that long enough to be effective at it.)
Nualia probably won't care. She and Erylium are trying to free Malfeshnekor - everyone else can and will be sacrificed to achieve that goal. Lyrie's a bit different. She originally signed on to translate and research a Thassilonian site, but she started obsessing on Tsuto. She knows Tsuto's dead, and she knows the party killed him. I think she'd focus on whoever she blames the most for dumping them all in the drink, and make him the focus of her aggression. That PC gets all her hate and all her magic missiles.
That's a good point about Lyrie - I'd forgotten about her obsession with Tsuto. And I'm sure that at least one of the surviving tower guards saw what went down (pun intended). She has probably threatened dire consequences if she is not alerted the moment the goblins notice the party's return. So Ripnugget's crowd can have her as back-up. Which is good, as they're down to 2 regulars (Warrior 1), 3 commandos (Ranger 1), 1 warchanter (Bard 1), Chief Ripnugget (Fighter 5), Stickfoot, and 4 goblin dogs.
As a side note: if this party takes too long, poor Shadowmist will be dead by the time they think to search the place properly. :(
Thanks for the rest of your advice - it too will prove useful! :)
I'd have Ripnugget retreat to the lower chambers and join Nualia why would he stay in his throne room?
Nualia and Lyrie would definitely opt for revenge. How about you exchange the inhabitants - let Nualia and her gang occupy the upper level and have Ripnugget move into the lower level (with Erylium staying below); so no surprise attack bonus for the PCs any longer and a fully prepared party awaiting them.
Ruyan.
Okay, I'm going to give you a couple options. The first is what you would do if you were Nualia (the TPK option) and the second is what you should do if you want the campaign to continue :)
Option 1: The goblins are relieved of watch duty immediately. That role is taken on by Erylium and the Yeth Hounds, stationed on the towers. The four of them take turns patrolling over and through the Nettlewood in the air - Erylium while invisible. When they spot the pc's approaching, they attack, using the hounds' howls and the quasit's hexes and spells to split the party and kill anyone they can isolate. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. If that fails they retreat to Thistletop. Erylium waits in the thorn tunnels and when the pc's arrive, she moves to the keep. There the Warchanter uses her wand to put up an illusion of the main door closed when it's actually open (she can hold this indefinitely with concentration.) Everyone who can use a bow has one and when the players try to cross the bridge (which has been left up in the "trap-triggered" position as bait) the archers concentrate fire on the least armored character. Supported by magic missile from Lyrie - she's got 38 charges on that wand, she needs to empty that baby into one pc until dead. Unless they are foolish enough to cross the bridge, in which case she casts grease on it. And then returns to the magic missiles. All the while the flying creatures continue to attack the party. The air patrols should include a swing over the ocean in case the pc's try to approach from that direction. Make sure grease gets used if the pc's try to climb up the side of the island.
Option 2: Lyrie and Erylium take command of the main level. They nail shut/barricade-until-impassible the main doors. They establish a rotation of goblin watches in the towers and frequently visit each tower to keep the goblins on their toes. When the pc's are spotted, the goblins and Lyrie retreat to C11. Erylium watches while invisible - the assumption is the pc's will climb the walls and enter the corral (C16) or into one of the towers. They attempt to setup an ambush in C16 or C11 with the goblins funneling in from all directions either way. Erylium and Lyrie maintain position such that they can retreat to the lower level and join Nualia and all three Yeth Hounds in the Temple. There they wait for a final confrontation.
Thank you to everyone for all the party-killing advice! I'll be taking part of it into account this afternoon. :)
(By the way, Yeth hounds refuse to go out in daylight - but otherwise that is a nasty set-up indeed!)