| ZackAtk84 |
We just ended our fourth session last night, and things went a little off the rails in all the best ways.
In the East Wing I slightly changed the final opponent's alignment, as I knew my players (incredibly my faithful of Sarenrae) would want a way to 'save' it. (If you know, you know, but I'm trying not to spoil things too much). That was a big change, but not the biggest.
Side note (for those concerned about a massively OP thing tagging along with a bunch of low-level PCs): It won't be adventuring with them. After they took the path I knew they would choose, we discussed a few options, and they settled on having it act as a guardian of a location (Possibly Oleg's or the Temple); specifics are still TBD.
Things happened, the story progressed, choices were made, the final opponent from East Wing left the building, more things happened, the story moved along more, and we cut to the last bit of incident in the West Wing. Here's where things took a more significant turn that I hadn't planned for.
They skipped over a room entirely, one with a certain stranded companion, three miscreants, and the second in command... Again, if you know, you know. Instead, they went straight for the final battle. As a party of three, I had concerns for them from the get-go, but we navigated the challenges well. They brought along two companions (Harrim and Linzi), who they managed to get to helpful and maximum influence, respectively.
I played the boss smart and mean, like I felt she deserved, and the dice seemed to agree. After three rounds and a couple of well-timed, powerful attacks, the two combat monkeys went down. The healers did their best, but things were taking a sharp nose dive for trouble, so I followed the advice in the book and had Jamandi wrap up what she was doing and come to their aide.
The combat monkeys made their death saves and were healed, so they were back in the fray; the combat was down to one terrified cutthroat and the boss. They were utterly outmatched, and that's when I thought - There's still someone else here. Someone cruel, cunning, and utterly without scruples, who has a (as far as anyone else there knows) vulnerable and innocent life in his hands.
To cut an already long story short, The second in command interrupted the combat to show off his captive with a knife to her throat and demand that he and his boss be allowed to leave unharmed unless they wanted him to slice the captive's throat. Lady Jamandi hesitated, and ultimately refused, so they got a description of said events, including him leaving as Lady Jamandi and my two combat oriented players dispatching the boss.
Did the feast and following events turn out the way I had anticipated? No. Would this ending work for every party? Again, no. But did we all have a lot of fun, and did my players end the session feeling satisfied, if a little disgusted, at the results of their actions? Abso-freaking-lutely. And I would do it that way again, given the choice.
I guess the moral of this post is 1) I'm proud of myself for finally feeling like it is okay to change the story as written when it works better for you and your group, but also 2)I'm just really freaking stoked with what I came up with on the fly.
TLDR: Through a series of unfortunate events, my players gained a Frost Giant but lost Jaethal, and her blood is literally and figuratively on their hands (and the priest's vestments); the big boss and all but two of the other cutthroats are dead; and there is now a vindictive and murderous 2nd in command with vendetta out there gunning for them. And that was just the prologue!