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My players started City of Seven Spears last week. They decided to set their campsite up on Uggimo's island in the government district.

Now last session, they defeated Uggimo and made their first foray into the serpentfolk controlled section of the district. They will undoubtedly run into the Rakshasa soon. Reading up on the Rakshasa, it seems like his plans and the detail in general leave something to be desired.

To flesh out his plan a bit and make it fit an intensely clever narcissistic hedonist, I decided to flesh out his strategy a bit.

If he notices the PCs approach (which is just about certain if they get in a tussle with serpentfolk), he will become invisible and observe the PCs. When he is ready, he will pick out a PC to target for his pleasure, assume the form of an attractive tribesman of the opposite gender, and attempt to lure them in by pretending to be a prisoner of the serpentfolk they have just slain.

(As a side note, I changed the overpowering scent to a subtle one... curious PCs who make a perception check might find some bodies stashed in a distant corner of the dome, perhaps being a clue to Akarundo's true nature)

If they party tried to get him to leave, he will make up a fictional serpentfolk priest whose magic holds him thrall, implying some geas like effect. He will try to get the PCs to bed down for the night, saying he can keep them safe in the dome. He will try to lure an attractive character or a Lothario into a tryst for the evening.

Sometime during the night (especially if the above fails), he will try to use message, suggestion, and silence to lure away a second character, and assume a different form, pretending to be another figure (say, a tribseman related to the first) and attempt to have a good time with the second character.

Eventually, he will tire of the PCs or they will see through his ruse. He will sneak away if possible, and get the serpentfolk to come visit, possibly using illusion spells to create the sounds of one of the supposed identities being abducted by serpentfolk.

Then he'll make a grand play of having the serpentfolk bear up his alter-ego onto the ziggurat, possibly having earlier intimated that sacrifice is in the offing. If the players decide they need to execute a daring rescue, so much the better.

Of course, at some point this will likely all seem too odd for the PCs. When that happens, Akarundo will likely shed his disguise and blast them.

Saventh-yhi got really repetitive really fast.It all went down to clearing one district at a time one encounter at a time. It became a grindfest and my players constantly wondered what all the other factions was doing while they went around killing everything in sight.

Y'know, I sort of saw this coming. But to me, the solution was in hand: the other factions are not going to sit on their hands. Factions move in and take over districts of their own at the same time. I forsee the PCs only really engaging in 2 or 3 districts at the most (with one being an alliance with the serpent tribe in the artisan district if they play their cards right.)

I am planning on dropping hints directing them towards the districts I think sound the coolest. The rest of the districts will be taken by other factions. Then the action moves away from the repetitive "clear the hex", and more faction rivalry and diplomacy.

Psion wrote:

Least favorite: the all-too-common "combat is the solution to everything" approach to the game.

Would it be fair to say therefore that this is a very much Hack-And-Slash AP?

That's not exactly what I am saying, no. I may have overstated the case a bit; there are some pretty appreciable non-combat challenges for the group (not spoilering anything here; if you are playing in this game, you shouldn't be reading this thread!): activating the tide stone and otherwise finding your way across the lagoon, finding the prizes for Nkechi.

More what I am getting at is it seems like there were a few moments that shouldn't have been combats but were (like the idols in the Azlanti ziggurat in Tazion) and there was a dearth of classic pulp/Indy style tropes that would have made the game more fun (puzzles, chases). For example, the assault by the faction agents at Kalabuto was a potentially harrowing fight. But just think how much more fun it would have been if they broke in and stole something needed to get to Tazion!