Hopefully tonight is the last session spent in the Kopru Ruins for my group. They have spent the past 3 sessions in the ruins. In the first session they encoutered Triel fairly quickly (after setting off the alarm of couse). The past two weeks have been spent dealing with every mook in the place.
Two weeks ago, after defeating Triel, they successfully navigated the ruins so that they would encounter nothing mooks. I told them there weren't many mooks left and that the next session (last week) should be much more exciting. Boy was I wrong. After searching Skaven's room (he's waiting for them with the spiders) and defeating his elemental, they met the last of the mooks. *yawn* Endless mooks bore me to death.
I also stopped giving all the mooks masterwork items. It was just getting ridiculous.
So tonight the only areas they have left are the large room with the slaad, the spider caverns, and the undead caverns. They almost went in each of the cavern areas but backed off at the last minute. Just go in already!!!
How did your groups fare in the Kopru Ruins?
My group set the alarm off and then went straight for Triel (with some mooks first). They then cleared out the undead caverns (Tarkilar was a GREAT encounter, my PCs were super scared and it took up a good amount of resources), and then rested. They rested back in Triel's room after resetting that nasty razor door trap.
I agree that there are too many mooks. This is especially true because they don't really pose a threat to the PCs; they just become tedious encounters. What I'm going to do is remove most of them from the remainder of the ruins. (After Triel's death, i'm justifying it that they fled) I'm thinking about leaving that little hallway trap encounter where the thugs shoot from the slits in the wall; it's just that good.
Skaven who is busily researching in his study lets the mooks flee. After all, he's got the ettercaps and spiders to protect him. IMC, he is going to be a recurring villain later replacing Fetor Abradius in soul pillars.
I agree that there are too many mooks. This is especially true because they don't really pose a threat to the PCs; they just become tedious encounters. What I'm going to do is remove most of them from the remainder of the ruins. (After Triel's death, i'm justifying it that they fled)
Hmm, good idea. In hindsight, I might have done something similar. Tedious is the perfect descriptor for the mooks.
After all, he's got the ettercaps and spiders to protect him. IMC, he is going to be a recurring villain later replacing Fetor Abradius in soul pillars.
I thought about having Skaven retreat but he's dead now.
My PC's finally made it to Skaven. He had retreated to the spider caverns after the alarm was set off and then used his divination spells to keep track of the PC's. In the final cavern, the PC's were up against 2 ettercaps (one wounded), the harpoon spider, and Skaven. They were lured into the center of the cavern and then Skaven appeared (he was hiding with a potion of hiding) and cast a fear spell (I tweaked Skaven and posted the stats in a previous post).
3 of the 5 PC's failed the save; the dwarven bbn/ftr and cleric made their saves. I thought things were going to go very badly from here on out. The dwarf actually got a hit on Skaven because he was out in front to cast the fear spell. The cleric cast deafness on Skaven and he failed. The cleric then dealt with the ettercaps and the dwarf attacked the spider. The spider was able to hit once with its fangs and trip the dwarf once but overall was surprisingly inneffective (it was only 4 HD after all).
After a few spells (magic missile, ray of enfeeblement), the dwarf cut down the spider and closed in on Skaven. Skaven pulled out his last resort: Phantasmal Killer. He overcame his deafness and the dwarf made his Will save...a natural 20!! Weakened and hurt, the dwarf reared back, Power Attacked, and dropped Skaven.
It was a great battle and even though most of the group was running in fear, everyone was cheering at the end. Skaven would have been much more deadly with a more powerful meat shield minion.