An unexpected nemesis [Book 2 spoilers!]


Wrath of the Righteous


The party I have been GMing Wrath of the Righteous for over the last several months has been trusting. Very trusting. They're quite prone to redeeming reasonably redeemable enemies, and while it took a while for them to find a good chance to confront her, this party was able to effortlessly persuade the halfling, Nurah Dendiwhar, to give up her evil ways and begin a road to redemption.

And throughout their journey of Citadel Drezen, they disabled, and subsequently befriended, Jestak, and learned from her that Staunton Vhane's younger brother was potentially redeemable as well. Of course, the idea of saving people from demons continued to appeal to them, so they continued through the citadel, freed the captured crusader Maranse, and allowed him to join their cause against Vhane.

It is about this time that things started to go bad for them. Once they reached Joran Vhane's quarters and begin to fight against him and the babaus, they began to be outnumbered; not only by Staunton Vhane coming to stop the PCs from redeeming Joran, but by Kiranda, who wasted no time in shedding the Maranse disguise and stab the wizard in the literal back. This forced the party to retreat, an act that cost the life of Jestak (but fortunately neither Nurah nor Irabeth, nor any of the PCs).

It was at this point that as a GM, I needed to decide how Vhane and Kiranda would react to this attempt. Vhane's decision to kill his brother was obvious, and as the PCs left him unconscious, this proved to be an easy task (and one encouraged by Kiranda, who overheard the party's desire to redeem him). As for Kiranda, I decided she would test just how gullible the party was, and pull the exact same trick over again, this time disguising herself as Joran Vhane fleeing from his psychotic brother just as the party re-enters the Citadel.

So the party go to challenge Vhane again, and, predictably, Kiranda betrays them again, causing them to be caught off guard yet again and struggle through the fight despite their mythic power. And Kiranda managed to teleport away before she was killed, and thus moved to Chorussina's room (as detailed in her tactics). And, as the party moved on without finding Vhane's treasure, I followed the AP's directives of having a minion use the Oil of Life that was in Vhane's treasure to revive him... and left enough hints that it was Kiranda.

The party was able to take out Chorussina easily enough (due to the entire ritual circle failing saves against an Arcane Surged Confusion), but Kiranda was able to survive long enough to escape. Yet again. It's clear at this point that she's continuing to be a thorn in the party's side, and it is at this point that I feel I am fully justified in 'slipping' her a Nahyndrian Elixir just to make her that much more of an recurring antagonist to the party.

And all the while, the players have been loving it. They love just how much she's been deceiving them and taking advantage of their gullibility, and are definitely keen on seeing her continue to tease and torment them, both physically and verbally.

Has anyone else been having fun with this mischievous succubus?

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