You've got a few options. First, ask your players what they might like - do they want to keep these characters? A very plausible outcome is that Ripnuggest coup de grace's the unconscious characters in an act of vengeance. But that's not very much fun. Unless your players want to switch out characters.
Ripnugget could also report the outcome to Nualia who has the pc's thrown in the dungeon to await sacrifice to Lamashtu - that is very much what she would do. This lets the pc's engineer their own escape, either by themselves (the 4 in the cells) or with help from outside (the witch) or both. You should strip the pc's of their weapons and gear but it can be tantalizing close (in a nearby room) if you're generous or perhaps in the temple if you're not. A rogue pc might still have a pick hidden in his boot kind of thing. Or they can strength check force a door, etc.
If the witch is reluctant to return to the fortress alone, you can provide some reinforcements. Shalelu is a common deus ex machina intervention at this point in the AP. She can find the witch wondering in the nettlewood or on the way back to town and encourage a rescue attempt. Most of the goblins are gone (as I understand it) so there's a good chance they can rescue the other pc's. Shalelu can even speculate that they may be kept alive for sacrifice. Important: keep Shalelu passive as possible - she shouldn't solve problems for the pc's, start taking out NPC's by herself, etc. She and Bruthazmus have a long-standing antagonism - she can face off with him and leave the rest to the pc's. Might even be a chance for the pc's to save her from the bugbear if it comes to it.
If you want to turn up the challenge a bit, you can have a small patrol of thistletop goblins return to the fortress before the witch (and Shalelu) get back there. (It could be this patrol that Shalelu was following before she spotted the witch fleeing the island.) The patrol (4-6 common goblins) are split up to watch over the cells and from one of the towers. Ripnugget and the chanter are in the throne room and everyone else is deployed per AP.
Are you using the Anniversary edition? I assume so. If you look at page 11, there's a text box that indicates by story milestone when the pc's should reach each level. There's a corresponding box for each book. That sets up what's called the "milestone method" of advancement - the pc's don't earn xp, they just jump a level when the associated story milestone is achieved. Having done the math (being something of a change resistant dinosaur) the pc's jump a level almost exactly at those points if you give out the actual xp as listed in the AP.
If I follow, it appears you have 5 pc's. That would explain some ease for them - the AP is rated for 4 pc's, further 4 pc's of 15 point build. If your pc's have better stats than that and there are 5 of them, the AP will be easier for them and you will need to toughen up some encounters, add minions etc. This would be another good reason to use the milestone method - doesn't matter how you change the encounters, they go up a level when they achieve the story outcome.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Yeah, seriously, screw those guys.