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I swear I saw a thread at one point that put forward an idea I want to pursue with my guys. The idea was that the Brotherhood of the Seven are composed of 7 different murderous bastards who all dedicate themselves to the Skinsaw Cult. Each murderer has his own modus operandi, however thanks to Xanesha's influence all of them have been carving the Sihedron into their victims recently. Can anyone help me find any posts relating to this idea, or if you have ideas of your own related to this, toss em out there please! After I flesh out my murderous menagerie Ill post more info about them here.

So a blog I frequent does a weekly deal where they do a write up fleshing out a set of worshipers for an otherwise obscure or underused god. This week he wrote about Alazhra and inspired me to do a write up of my own. I enjoyed what I produced so much that I decided I might post it here and see if you guys enjoy it too.

The Black Sisters of Mahl Bathahn

The Black Sisters are an amazingly large coven of Night Hags, operating together in service of Alazhra within the Shadow Caverns of Nidal. It is unknown exactly how many Night Hags live in the massive city structure of Mahl Bathan, but the number is conservatively estimated to be in the hundreds. Mahl Bathan itself is a sprawling temple complex within a massive cavern, surrounded by the insanely twisted living quarters of their Derro servants. Together they live in a symbiotic relationship of amazing stability, considering the evil nature of the creatures involved. Together, the Black Sisters, and the Pale Shadows (as the Derro refer to themselves), tend to the Fields of Night, a stunningly massive complex of gardens, dedicated to growing one of the rarest plants in all of the underdark, the Mindcap Mushroom. Treasured for its unique alchemical properties, as well as its mind rendingly powerful hallucinogenic qualities, the Mindcap is tremendously rare because it can only grow on a living sentient creature. As such, the Fields of Night are not filled with soil, but rather with the sedated bodies of hundreds of thousands of slaves and captives. The Pale Shadows use their alchemical skills, bolstered by the dark magic of the Black Sisters, to maintain the bodies of their captives for years. The Black Sisters, however, are not interested in the Mindcaps because they are focused on harvesting something much more valuable from the Fields of Night, the dreams and nightmares of the sleeping beings.

The history of The Black Sisterhood is truly ancient, dating back to the Age of Darkness. Freed from countless ages of imprisonment, Zon Kuthon had returned to the world, and his followers were beginning to carve out the mighty kingdom that would in time become Nidal. And yet, the wilderness was dark, and filled with all sorts of terrifying creatures, and no place more-so than the sinister Uskwood. Deep in its center, a coven of three night hags had taken up residence in a small cave near an icy pool. All three were devout worshipers of Alazhra, and the eldest among them was a powerful cleric of the dark goddess. For a century they dwelled in the damp cave, picking off travelers, and learning how to strip their dreams, nightmares, and even occasionally their souls, to be used as currency in the lower planes. However, victims were difficult to find in these dark times, and the Hags were hesitant to travel far from their cave, for fear that they would run into Nidalese Soldiers and they were unwilling to attract the attention of the torturous clergy of Zon Kuthon who invariably accompany Nidalese forces. One dark night, however, a band of Derro scouts searching for a new path out of the darklands climbed up from the depths of the caverns the Hags called home. The Sisters fell upon them and captured them all, but to their dismay they found their minds already twisted and somewhat immune to their dark harvesting methods. The Derro managed to strike a bargain with the Sisterhood, agreeing to share the bounty of slaves and captives they planned to take from the surface, if the Hags would in turn allow them safe passage while denying any others who would seek to use this path; and agreement which served the hags needs quite well.

In the ensuing decades the Derro exploited their access to the surface world to take thousands of captives back to the darklands to be test subjects in their twisted experiments. One Derro, however, took a particular interest in the hags captives, whom they maintained in a state of constant nightmarish sleep until they died. This Derro was obsessed with Hallucinations and Fungi, and in particular the rare Mindcap Mushroom. He entreated the hags to allow him to experiment with the sleeping bodies, and in return he developed methods for feeding, maintaining, and otherwise extending the lifespan of their sleeping captives. In return he was allowed to develop methods for growing and harvesting Mindcaps from their bodies. Together they were able to gather an extraordinary amount of their valuable commodities; dreams and souls for the hags, and Mindcap Mushrooms for the Derro. With the influx of wealth came the ability to expand, and so they did. They retreated back down into the area just above the darklands, to a massive cavern system more appropriate for their needs. More derro were recruited and put to work, and likewise, more Night Hags were birthed by the sisters who took the unprecedented step of raising the daughters themselves in order to steer them towards the worship of Alazhra.

Over centuries, and then millennia, the city of Mahl Bathan grew in the lightless depths of the Shadow Caverns like an abscess in the earth. A great history of wars, betrayals, plots, pacts, and demonic deals of the darkest sort passed unseen beneath the feet of mortal men as the world above slowly brightened and grew and changed throughout the two score centuries. Today Mal Bathon sits in a state of some stability, firmly allied with the Umbral Dragon Visceroth who oversees the slave trade through the Shadow Caverns in the name of Nidal. This, combined with the great number of Derro, Shadows, and Daemons they have bound to their service, the Black Sisters are a force to be feared by those who know of them. And among the slaves of the Darklands, there are few fates more feared than to be delivered into the Black Sisters dark embrace to become fodder in the Fields of the Night.

A friend and I were recently discussing Paladins, and he mentioned to me his extreme dislike of Paladins of Ragathiel. He recounted several tales of people who used the supposed tenants of the Empyreal lord of Vengeance as an excuse for players to use Paladin powers to enact “murder-hobo” behaviors. He stated, “Vengeance is NOT a Lawful Good act.” I love a good paradox so I gave it some thought. What would a Lawful Good Paladin of Vengeance actually be like? Well, the Lawful Good part is a great place to start. Lawful… there would have to be a code involved. Without a doubt. A very strict and rigid one I think. And Good, with a capital G. This isn’t just a vague idea. We arent talking about ends justifying means here. We are talking about True Good. Ragathiel is also carries Chivalry and Duty in his portfolio. Good, Chivalry, Duty, put these together and you come up with terms like service, selflessness, devotion, protection, bravery, honesty, justice. The story of Ragathiel also brings us an interesting bit of information about his struggle against the anger in his heart (a gift, perhaps, from his father Dis) and how its mastery is central to his being. So lets see here; we need a code of conduct that allows Vengeance while upholding the ideals of selflessness, protection of the weak, honesty, and justice. I imagine something like this.

1. A life for a life. One death does not justify a hundred acts of Vengeance. The path of the sword is one of balance, and every act of Vengeance may beget another. A paladin of Ragathiel seeks to balance the scales, not fill them to overflowing.

2. Torture is not Vengeance. There is more than enough suffering in the world. You shall not add to it in Ragathiels name. A clean death can be an act of just Vengeance, but a torturous one is almost always an act of evil.

3. No Vengeance but Ragathiel's. Once a Paladin of Ragathiel has agreed to take vengeance for someone, the matter is finished. The wronged party must move on with their life as soon as the Paladin agrees to enact the Vengeance. They are not to witness the deed itself. They are not to seek further Vengeance against the friends or family of the target.

4. The Silence of the Grave. The matter is never to be spoken of again. You are never to speak of the Vengeance you request with anyone. Ever. You may only make a silent sacrifice to Ragathiel one a year in remembrance. Otherwise you are to act as if your loved one died a natural death. Mourn them, but do so with no anger.

5. No Vengeance for yourself. The paladin may never entreat himself for Vengeance. He takes Vengeance for others, at their request, and only if they are worthy and willing to follow the rules set out for them.

6. Do not suffer a Demon to Live. Demons are Anathema. All demons are assumed to be worthy of Vengeance. The paladin is called to destroy Demon-kind wherever they find them, or spend their life attempting to do as much damage as possible. This is not an requirement to suicide recklessly. It will likely be that a Paladin may do the most damage by raising an army, or training to become powerful enough to slay the beast.

I imagine my paladin as a grizzled old war-dog. He has seen pain and death meted out by the ton. Long ago he had any fire burned out of him. He sits and listens as people entreat him to enact his god’s Vengeance for them. He asks pointed questions, gauges responses, he judges without heat or anger those who have had their lives torn apart. Most are unworthy; not because they are bad, or because their stories are not terrible, but because they are unwilling to release their hatred and put their Vengeance wholly into the hands of Ragathiel. Occasionally, he finds a case that is right for him, where his actions may serve to heal a person in need, and not just end a life that is deserving of such. On these days he takes up his blade and ends a life so that another may begin again. He walks the way of the sword, knowing that in time he will meet his end that way, and that he will deserve it a thousand times over. Until that day he is the Sin Eater. He is the hand of Vengeance. He is a Paladin of Ragathiel, and you had better pray that you do not deserve his attention.

So... my kingmaker group is all arcane casters (been a blast so far.) We are building a kingdom with lots of magic. Anyone, rich or poor, noble or common, with talent is allowed to study magic, but in return they have to do some community services. So... What are some things that low to mid level arcane casters can do with 1st - 3rd lv spells to make things better for everyone? Are there any potential alternations to common spells that might come in useful (example - Phantom Plow Ox... Like Phantom Steed, but comes with a plow and yoke instead of reigns and saddle. Any ideas are appreciated.

I have an Air Elementalist Wizard in my group. She wants to be able to use Create Pit. She points out that it does not have an Earth descriptor in the PRD. I seem to remember a list of elemental spells that did not all have descriptors, and I thought Create Pit was on it, but I cant find it anywhere. Can anyone help me understand which spells are Earth spells and thus uncastable by my Air Wizard?

So, my players happen to have enchanted an item here and there with Ant Haul to better enable their insane loot gathering exploits. When they got to the Rune Cauldron room, the Barbarian decided he wanted to flip it over so it would stop smoking and bothering the Pally. I quickly looked up the weight, and realized that the 900lbs listed was far too low. That must just be the empty cauldron. So, a quick discussion followed, with a little trip to Wolfram Alpha. So... should any of you need to know this in your campaign...

10ft across and 12 ft tall. roughly spherical with the extra height being the two foot tall legs. The volume of such a sphere is about 520 cubic feet. A cubic foot of water weighs a bit over 62 lbs. I will round down mostly here. So... the water in the cauldron weighs about 32,240 lbs. Round it up to 33k lbs with the weight of the Cauldron itself. That's about 71k Kilos for you people who use sane measurement systems.

So assuming Medium size and biped... you are looking at a required strength of over 40 in order to even shift it.

No Mr. Barbarian, you cant move the cauldron.

So, last night my group had one of those amazing moments that just needs to be shared. For your amusement, please find below a tale of roguish hi-jinx and atomic pyro-calypse.

So, having arrived in the Valley of the Black Tower, the group decided to do some scouting. They managed to find and loot the lair of Longtooth the Dragon (slain by the groups pally back in Sandpoint - that story has been told already). They then find the River caves and the secret passage within, and proceed on towards the Giants Caves. They struggled a bit with the Redcaps within, but due to the groups rogue making a couple handy disarm rolls they manage to prevent them from sending a warning to the enemies ahead.

Now... at this point, the groups Wizard, who has a penchant for running into melee range at times, has to leave because he has work in the morning. The rest of the group decides to push on for one more encounter before they call it a night. Some pointed questioning of the Redcaps warned them that there is a fearsome "wee red beastie" that none of them wants to tangle with further down the hall. Curiosity piqued, they proceed on, with the rogue scouting well ahead. As he draws near the entrance to Enga's cave, he quaffs potions of Invis and Haste, and rolls a disturbingly high stealth roll. Enga is unprepared for him. I describer her as "hunched over a pile of refuse, picking through it for edible morsels. Beside her lies a short spear that glows with a blue light." The rogue tells me "I have a GREAT idea! Go with me..." He then stealth's up to the square directly next to her. At this point I think that he is about to discover the hard way that not all Kobalds are what they appear to be, and furthermore that you can not sneak attack a lv 12 Barbarian. He then tells me "Ok, as my standard action, I pick up her spear."

"Uh... what?" I reply, with my usual level of wit and panache.

"Yeah, you said it was lying on the ground. I pick it up. Since I am not attacking I don't break invis. And now for my move action I take off back down the cave towards the group."

So, naturally Enga enrages and gives chase. She just saw her spear take off down the hallway, and she wants it back! The rest of the group, unaware of what has just transpired is gifted with a surprising view of a glowing spear bouncing down the hallway towards them and being tossed to fall on the ground ten feet in front of them. It is followed quickly by a 2 foot tall raging lizard creature wrapped in spiked armor.

Enga is able to double move to the square next to her spear, but has no actions left to pick it up. As she rushes by the invisible rogue, he attempts to back-stab her with a sap. Nothing happens. His sneak attack doesn't resolve and the sap itself doesn't overcome her DR.

"Uh oh" he thinks, "what have I started here?"

Now the groups barbarian decides he will deal with the little creature his way. Charge / Bullrush. 6'4'' Halforc Barbarian in fullplate smashes into the little Lizard Critter and comes to a complete stop, as if he hit a cave wall.

"Uh oh," he thinks "What has the rogue started here?"

The Half-orc paladin decides to smite her and asks if it resolves. I check alignment... "Yep. The light of your goddess shines down and highlights her for you. She is smitten."

The Half-orc druid (yeah, three half orcs... makes trips to town interesting), the last person who gets to act before Enga, steps forward and picks up her spear right before she can.

Disarmed and enraged, Enga attempts to charge / bullrush her way past the Rogue and find something else she can use as a weapon to kill these invaders. The fight bottlenecks with Enga sandwiched between the rogue (using feint to sneak attack... I thought that was brilliant), and the Half-orc Barbarian vital striking up a storm, but unfortunately the Pally is unable to reach his target.

Enga manages to bullrush her way past the rogue, but the barbarian spends a double move to run to the end of the cave and block her in again. Now Enga finds herself surrounded by guys who are tearing her apart.

The pally charge attacks and lands his first strike of the melee. Crit (his dice must be blessed by Iomedae) 88 points of damage. Enge is suddenly at 4 HP.

Enraged and completely devoid of fear, Enga uses the only weapon left to her. She snatches off her Necklace of fireballs, and with a hearty curse in Draconic she slams them onto the ground.

"This is going to be bad guys," I tell them.

Cocky and unfamliar with this particular item, the barbarian seems unworried. He is sitting at 132HP after all and has insane saves.

The pally is stoic and quiet. He knows me well enough to know that when I say bad, I usually mean REEEAAAALY bad.

The rogue, who knows exactly what is going on just asks "What is the DC?"

I decide to do the damage dice first. "Four, Six, twelve, twenty eight... its going to be thirty six guys."

"Oh you had me worried there." says the Barbarian.

"No. 36D6." I reply.

The dice fall. I see a lot of fives and sixes. "144 points of fire damage. DC 14 Reflex for half, guys."

There are three or four seconds of dead silence followed by a muffled "Holy Crap..." from the barbarian.

The rogue rolls a 15, one more than he needed. "Sweet! I take no damage!"

The pally rolls his dice. "25 I take half. 72 points of fire damage. That puts me exactly at 0 HP."

The barbarian rolls. "10. Crap. I'm dead."

"What were you at before? 132? You are now at -12. So you are not QUITE dead."

"Yeah but my rage ends when I fall unconscious. I loose my con bonus and all my extra HP. I am dead." reply's the barbarian.

"Oh damn... wait... you are a half-orc. You have Orc Ferocity. So does the Pally!"

So the Pally and the Barbarian are left standing there staring at each other. Both of them are smoking like a B-B-Q. The barbarian is missing all his hair and bone is showing through his ragged flesh wounds. Between them is a breast plate and buckler both glowing white hot, and a greasy black smear - all that is left of poor Enga the Kobold Barbarian.

Meanwhile the rogue pops out from behind the pally where he hid to avoid the effects of the blast.

The pally looks at the barbarian, grunts, and slaps his holy symbol of Iomedae, channeling a heal for 30 points, bringing them both back to positive numbers.

The rogue then complains that his cloak got soot on it.

Thus ended our epic evening. The Wizard who missed it all was actually overjoyed, because he would almost definitely have been in range of the blast and would likely have been turned into paste.

Oh for bonus points, we had the barbarian roll a d100 to see what he would have been reincarnated as had he died.

92.

Kobold.

Is this anywhere in the core rules? Do spells have obvious effects as you cast them? Like, could a non spell-caster know the difference between a person casting a spell, and a person waving their arms around and speaking pig latin?

Also... does everyone cast the same spell the same way? Do all fireball spells look the same as they are being cast? Or will two wizards cast fireball with different movements, words, and effects?

So, this week my group will be running into the Redcaps under Jorgenfist. The adventure gives these guys just a short entry with very little flavor or creativity. I, personally, think we can do better! These guys are small, on their home turf, and potentially very dangerous. Give me ideas for how I might spice up this encounter. If they are good enough, I may make an appropriate map just for the encounter and upload it for everyone to use.

So my group has had a couple heavy combat sessions over the last few weeks dealing with the giant raid on Sandpoint. Now the dragon and Mr. T are dead, the giants to the south got away with the Scarnetti fortune / prisoners (Titus and his two sons, his wife and daughter were safe in Sandpoint shopping when the raid happened). Likewise I am going to have them make off with the body of Longtooth. Also a medium sized group made it out of town with some other prisoners into the forest. I am going to say that it is almost impossible to keep up with / track the giants through the forest (on foot they are faster than the PCs are, and flying the PCs would not be able to see them under the tree cover).

So, the obvious conundrum is, who do the PCs pursue; the dragon, or the Scarnetti hostages. Naturally Titus' young wife Lucia will demand that they save her family (and their fortune of course). I figured Hayliss Korvaski would insist that they pursue the dragon to prevent it from being resurrected and returning to burn them all (plus she hates Titus). I figured a town meeting could be called where Lucia could leverage her connections with the Valdamar family and the carpenters guild, and possibly even Mayor Deverin who needs their lumber to build a new grain mill. (Perhaps the PCs will agree to fund the lumber needed to free her from their influence). If they help her out, then Kendra Deverin and Ameiko Kaijitsu could band together to fight off the influence.

Any thoughts guys? Think I can pull this off or is it too high concept? Any advice on how I can make it better?

Ok, I expected some shenanigans when my caster asked to research the spell Fabricate. After all, he is prone to doing fairly insane things at every opportunity. However last night, as my guys were fighting the BBEG at the end of the Stones over Sandpoint encounter in RotRL, he kind of caught me by surprise.

The exact phrasing he used was "I use the Fabricate spell to encase the giant in stone."

So I rush to the SRD, and start looking at the rules thinking, "there has to be a rule for this... something." No save. No SR. "Creatures or magic items cannot be created or transmuted by the fabricate spell," I tell him. "Oh I am not casting it on him, but rather the stones under his feet." uhh... he has got me there. "You don't have any appropriate craft skill, how can you work stone like that," I ask. "Oh, I don't need it to look good. It can look like a child playing with playdoh for all I care, just so long as the stone is thick and encases him," he replies. I read some more, looking for an out from this conundrum that has no saving throw. "If you work with a mineral, the target is reduced to 1 cubic foot per level instead of 10 cubic feet. That is not enough to encase a giant." I tell him, thinking I have got him. Ok, fine, I just encase his feet and attach them to the stones below." Well, I suppose I should be grateful that he did not encase the giants head in an orb of stone. I decide to allow it this time as a reward for creative use of spell mechanics, this time at least. I adjudicate it like an entangle and move on, saying that I will research it further tomorrow.

So, it is now tomorrow. I searched through a few pages of posts on these boards and found no one else who used this in the same way. Some other players have used it to damage structures, like bridges, upon which bad guys were standing, however no where have I found accounts of people who have used it as a direct weapon. Please help me figure out how to adjudicate this in the future (because I am sure I will have to lol).

Ok... I ran the first half of the Raid on Sandpoint for my guys last night. It did... not go quite as I expected it.

So the giants attack from the north. The Paladin and Mage head off that direction to engage. The rogue and barbarian do to... but they were drinking at the rusty dragon and have much father to travel. The Druid Barkskins, then transforms into an air elemental at the garrison. So on the third round the giants and dire bears hit the east side. Rogue and Barbarian are right near there so they head over and start fighting that group, with the druid supporting them.

A fairly intense melee follows, with some serious hits landing on the party, but overall they handle things with no deaths (two close calls however; rogue goes down to 4 hp, and paladin goes negative but his half orc racial keeps him up long enough to self heal). At this point I am thinking "Yeah... now it is time to break out the big guns!" In fly's Longtooth from the north. I give a great description of how he almost takes off the mage's head as he stands on top of one of the guard towers. Both mage and Pally make their fear saves. Pally smites the dragon, and mage hits him with a bestow curse. I figure this would draw the dragons attention, so I have him circle back and breathe on the two of them and the one remaining giant. Giant is the only one who makes his save, mage and pally are hurting but still up.

At this point I figure the dragon is feeling pretty saucy. I have him circle around and land so as to better gobble up the two puny adventurers.

This will henceforth be known as "Mistake #1"

Pally drops a spell I totally forgot about on the presmitten dragon called Litany of Righteousness. Yeah, if you don't know about that spell, and you have a pally in your group, go take a look at it. I'll wait.

All read up? Yeah. Pally is hasted and his first swing misses. I figure, ahh good. Only two attacks left, he will wound the dragon... dragon flys away, torches a few buildings and otherwise avoids the pally for the rest of the encounter.

Second hit lands, but is not a crit. Which is good because the pally auto confirms crits due to bless weapon. Good deal. Pally rolls dmg. Greatsword, plus lv 10 smite (on an evil dragon), plus his bonded weapon is active so it is holy.... 114 dmg in one hit.

I was flabbergasted. Like woah.

Pally still has a haste attack left. He swings and hits for another 40 pts. One round standing next to a pally and the dragon is toast.

I give them a great description of the pally severing the dragons head from its body in two swipes of his glowing blade. Everyone is cheering. I am happy for them, it was one of those great moments that I am sure they will talk about for ever.

However, now I have to figure out what to do. Teraktinus literally JUST stepped foot in the town. Six giants, two bears, and the FREEKING DRAGON are already dead. Should he immediately call off the assault? They haven't even had time to get any prisoners!

Should I perhaps pad the encounter some? Perhaps add a few more giants raiding the town, while others stand on the shore across the river chucking stones? Perhaps they brought some other cool creature with them to support them? If so... what? Perhaps Mookie gave them an item that summons an impressive creature to keep the PCs busy? A demon or an elemental of some sort? Perhaps one of you has a good idea of what I can add.

Any thoughts guys? How do I make things interesting for the second half of the raid? Or do I call it now and tell them the giants all took off running in fear?

So I am planning to play a Cleric of Sarenrae in an upcoming game. He is somewhat young and inexperienced, a bit naive and idealistic, and more book smart than street smart. I figured that I would role play him as being prone to spouting off aphorisms and catch phrases of his faith. So... I am asking you guys to help me come up with a nice long list of good aphorisms for a cleric of Sarenrae. Things like....

The light of the goddess upon you.

The light redeems.

The holy flame will burn cleanse your sins.

Darkness is nothing in itself, it is only the absence of Light.

Be healed by the touch of the Dawnflower.

Things like that perhaps? I would also be interested in any particularly insightful views of her faith that may help me to play my character better.

All right, after making all of those nifty maps, next Saturday I am sending my crew into the (potential) meat grinder. I have read a half dozen threads which contained a lot of conflicting info. The one thing I heard over and over was make a timeline document. Well... check. I have that. What other advice do you guys have? Anything is appreciated!

I am gathering together a list of published info about Thassilon.

1. Lost Kingdoms - an entire chapter on many topics.
2. Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Ed. - Appendix on Thassilonian magic with new spells.
3. RotRL Burnt Offerings - Appendix on history, society & religion.
4. Shattered Star AP Shards of Virtue - History,
5. Shattered Star AP The Dread Heart of Xin - Info on key Runelords.
6. More Magic of Thassilon Web Enhancement - Thassilonian magic and spells

Does anyone know of other places where there is more than a passing mention of Thassilon? Are there any PFS Modules that involve Thassilon? Any help is much appreciated.

I have a Druid in my group, raised on the Storval Plateau, who is looking for information about what kinds of animals she would have encountered during her years traveling the plateau. I am having trouble finding such a list. Does anyone have any thoughts, advice, etc I might pass on to her?

So... my group took on Ft. Rannick this week and finished off everything but Lucrecia. In fact, they took down Pappy Jarg without him even being able to swing an actual Melee swing (he bull rushed the Wildshaped druid and three others into a corner, then promptly got entangled, grappled, and generally shredded in two rounds by some very angry crits.) The encounter overall was a win however, as the group was completely spent and greatly enjoyed the way it turned out. And yet... the next night will begin with the group searching the fort and more than likely coming across Lucrecia downstairs. This seems like a somewhat lame way to introduce her to be honest. I am thinking of alternitive ways to handle this encounter, and perhaps you guys can offer some advice or ideas.

So the group expanded from three players to six last week, so I decided to have the extra NPCs wait outside the keep (resting and healing). Currently I have Shalaelu, Jakardros, and Kaven out there. I am thinking of having Lucrecia attempt to sneak away from the keep and discover the NPCs camped out in front of the keep. She can then take them hostage perhaps and somehow use them to make the fight more dificult on the PCs. Perhaps she uses charm monster on Jakandros and Shalalu and forces them and Kaven to attack the group? This could make for a much more interesting encounter. What do you guys think?