Despite an initial tactical faux pas by the team's barbarian that left him dying in the middle of a room full of skeletons, the party seemed to do all right in the end, defeating all the skeletons, guards, and cult fanatics. Then, deep in the heart of an enemy temple, having exhausted their spells and resources against a defense force that showed great tactical training and planning, and having seen at least one guard exit the room possibly to get reinforcements, the group all agreed the best thing to do would be to search the 20 or so bodies they'd left lying in the hallway. Needless to say they were totally unprepared for the second wave of guards and the Dire Boar that came charging into their midsts.
The big surprise, though, came when, despite the TPK, everyone made their stabilize rolls. Even the barbarian had stabilized before the Tiefling coup de graced him when the rest of the party refused to negotiate.
This means I have the real, non-fudgy opportunity to keep the team alive and start the next session as prisoners of Theldrick and friends. The barbarian's player has already made a new character and there's a fifth player who (suspiciously) wasn't able to play this session who can mount a rescue mission.
I have some ideas for this, but I'd like to hear what y'all have to say. What would you do in this situation?
There are some fun possibilities, for sure. The opportunity to introduce new PCs is also helpful.
I had thought up a scenario in case my group was captured, and I had settled on an idea from The Queen with Burning Eyes (Dungeon #113). The clerics set up to sacrifice the group to the pit, and some PCs, who by chance have infiltrated the Ebon Triad, free the PCs, return their weapons and fight together.
You should have all of the PCs fully healed (to make better sacrifices), and limit the amount of NPCs that are involved with the ritual. Still, facing Theldrick, Grallak Kur and the Faceless One all at the same time will be something.
I also considered an Indiana Jones-inspired idea, where the bad guys actually summon the ebon aspect, only to have their life essences sucked out of them (which happens anyways if the ebon aspect rises prematurely). Then the party would have to deal with the ebon aspect and what ever minions are there.
Of course, it might be easier if the new PCs were able to sneak the rest of the party out, then regroup.
Can't think of any specific suggestions off the top of my head, BUT...THIS IS VERY COOL. A once in a DM's lifetime opportunity for an amazingly cinematic action sequence. Have fun! And make sure the players do, too.
If they are Prisoners of Theldrick I would have a line of questions for the PC's, "Who sent you?", "Why are you here?" etc. If Balabar is still alive in your game Theldrick could curse his name and say something like "I should have taken care of the heretic a long time ago!" and send minions out to do it. All with the PC’s as witnesses.
I would also use this opportunity to give the PC's some insight as to what is happening down here... monolog anyone? Theldrick could gloat about his glorious plan. Sure the PC’s screwed up in their tactics and ended up captured, but that does not mean the game is over for them… in fact I would give them more inside information and opportunities to set things right.
Having the followers of Hextor telling the other factions is a bit too much IMHO. Fighting 3 bosses at once is suicide.
Unless… [lightbulb] you have one faction want to kill the PC’s outright, and another says there needs to be a sacrifice, so a fight breaks out among factions. LOL.
Anyhow, good luck with this. Please post your results.
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Dude, having your PCs naked, shackled on the floor, Thedrick's foot on the neck of the strongest fighter... Grallak Kur with his Lee-press-on beholder eyes hovering above them, and the Faceless One drifting around... I would love to see this scene played out!! Like the others said, very cinematic possibilities! And perfect opportunities for villainous grandstanding!
I agree with Big Jake, having them healed, but subdued, and then Raiders of the Lost Arc it!! Having the Ebon Aspect go ape-kaka over the summoners, giving the PCs just enough time to get a key from a fallen captor or an Escape Artist check and run deeper into one of the temples to try to find any gear to stand up to the rampaging aspect... The confusion of the cultists who can't understand why their god's aspect is ripping them in half... Plus, the cultists could do a bit of damage to the aspect, leveling things out a bit for the unprepared PCs.
If you go that route, don't give 'em time to discuss options. They have 5 seconds to make a move or they loose the round. I remember the DM who ran us through Dungeons of the Slave Lords did that during action points. It really magnified the chaos and made it a bit scary and a lot of fun.
I hope you'll keep us informed of how you handle it and how whatever you do works!
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If Theldrick captured the party, he might manipulate them to either kill Balabar Smenk or (most likely) the Faceless one.
Of course he'll plan to ambush the pc's to make himself look good in front of any surviving cultists. The Faceless One could do the same to Theldrick or try convince the spellcasters in the group to join the vecna sect in return for a place in the new world order when the age of worms occurs.The Grimlock will most likely sacifrice them than to interrogate unless the faceless one found out and orders him to have them brought to his prescence, secretly without the priest of Hextor knowing. Regadless,Bad Guys ranting the rightness of their cause to a captive audience is a great way to get infromation instead of waiting for Allustan to give them hints or send them to yet another sage.
“I should have taken care of that heretic a long time ago!” That piece of dialogue alone makes this whole thread worthwhile.
Now you guys have got me all excited for this scene. I'm actually glad my players screwed up now. There's no way this group would survive a fight against all three cult leaders, but I'd hate to pass up the chance to introduce some of them. There will be at least one interrogation scene with Theldrick and the thought of having the Faceless One hovering in the background is too rich to pass up. Just the sight of him quietly flipping through the PC’s wizard’s spellbook will be enough to catapult him to uber-villain status in spite of Theldrick’s tortures.
I’m going to keep Grallak an unknown, though. Theldrick can mention him when he talks about assassinating Smenk, but I think I’ll have him send the last two Tieflings to do the job in the night.
The second interrogation session will be interrupted by the guards return with the report of their success. That report, of course, will end with them whipping off their chainmail masks and revealing themselves to be my other two players.
Hurrah!
I fear that will lead directly to a huge battle with the beast and then straight into the fight with Theldrick in the “big room” so I’ll need a way to get my spellcasters up to snuff. Any thoughts there?
Oh, Lord... I've been hoping to be able to run this situation.
I would have the PCs come to, shackled, stipped of gear, completely screwed. Guards come to bring food or perhaps move the prisoners for interrogation. Have one or two of the guards disguised allies, PCs, NPCs, iconic heroes, whatever. A couple judo chops later, and the PCs are freed. Each PC gets a healing potion, then they make a mad dash for their weapons, maybe suit up, and proceed to fight their way out once again.
How to get the spellcasters ready for the fight? They might just have to take a back seat...after all, they put themselves in this position through faulty judgment. Or, you might allow them to quickly recover useful scrolls and potions from the dead bodies of their captors. An elixir of firebreathing, or maybe Tenser's Transformation.
With y'all's help, this is the intro I've come up with for our next game. To keep you in the loop, the surviving characters are Valzen, the wizard; Cordelia, the halfling rogue; and Pierre, the cleric of Obad-Hai. Link is the half-orc barbarian that died last session.
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You surge to consciousness as every one of your wounds rips free from your body. The healing magic is unlike Obad-Hai’s, instead clawing the injuries from your body in one final burst of pain before leaving your body whole if still weak.
As your vision clears, you begin to make out the features of the man who “healed” you. He’s an older man with long grey hair and weathered features. More than one scar marks his face and the largest of them seems to be from when he lost his left eye entirely. His plate armor clatters as he gestures to the two figures you hadn’t even noticed were holding you upright.
“Put him with the others.”
The two tiefling guards release your arms with a shove, sending you sprawling to the floor. Your surviving party members try to catch you, but they’re in just as bad a shape as you are and the three of you land in a jumble. You extricate yourselves in time to see the cleric speak with a previously unseen companion.
“Remind me again why we don’t just kill them?” asks the cleric. “I could just as easily get the answers we want from their tortured spirits.”
His companion looks up from the book he’d been reading. His face was hidden by a leather mask that hid everything except his coal black eyes.
“Secrets given are so much tastier than secrets taken, priest,” he answers, allowing the book to close. You note he’d been flipping through one of Valzen’s spellbooks before dismissively tossing it to one of the demonic guards. “We will get the answers we want from them and then we shall kill them.”
With one last look at the prisoners, the faceless man sweeps from the room. The Tiefling nearest the door hurries to get it open in time for him to walk out of the room, closing it as the last swirl of his green robe passes the frame.
The priest turns his attention back to you, his one-eyed gaze evaluating each of you in turn. He absent-mindedly caresses the symbol of Hextor scrawled in dried blood on the chest of his armor as he makes his decision.
“That one.”
The Tieflings lunge across the room. The demonic eyes peeking from behind their chainmail masks dance at the knowledge of what’s to come. Together, they heave the struggling Halfling into the air and present her to the cleric.
“Now, let’s see what secrets we can find…”
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“Smenk!” The Hextorite’s interest in his victim disappears at the mention of that name. “I should have killed that heretic a long time ago.”
His anger is soon replaced by disciplined resolve. “It looks like Grallak’s message didn’t take,” he says to one of your guards. “Looks like we’ll have to try something stronger.”
The guard replies in a voice that sounds surprisingly human, “Shall I summon him here?”
“No, leave the unblinking fool to his visions,” answers the cleric. “You two will deliver my message for me. Make sure Smenk understands his role in this arrangement.”
A complete understanding passes between them and the Tieflings eyes tighten into smiles behind their masks. Without another word, the two planetouched warriors slip from the room. The cleric follows them to the still-open door before turning back to you three.
“We’ll continue our talks later. In the meantime, I’ve invited some company to ensure you don’t get up to anything.”
As he marches from the room, three familiar men step into the room and take up guard positions at the door. Two of them you recognize as cult fanatics you'd faced earlier. Even if you hadn’t killed them yourselves several hours ago, their shambling movements and still-gaping wounds mark them as zombies. The third zombie stares at you with the same empty expression as the others, but you can’t shake the feeling that there’s the slightest glint of recognition in Link’s eyes.
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I will start the next session with Theldrick resuming his interrogation just before the guards return. Hopefully the players were paying attention and realized the same guard the Faceless One tossed the spellbook to then went on to grab the rogue. I'm going to have her grab out a few pages for the wizard to ready spells with during the night, but I'd really like her to think of it herself. The action will start when the guards whip off their masks, reveal themselves to be my other two PCs in disguise, and commence the whooping of some zombies.
Is there anything anyone would care to add or change?
Well, yesterday was the big day. After not enough preparation, I set my players to the task of escaping the horrible clutches of Theldrick. The first lesson I learned was the difference between heroic fiction and roleplaying.
As I’d described before, each player got a narrative describing the events leading up to the session. The prisoners got the above text, while the other two were lead to Smenk’s where they were on hand when the dispatched Tieflings attacked. The goal was to start in on another round of interrogations during which the tiefling guards were to return. Then everyone would scream in joy as I had the guards whip off their masks to reveal themselves as the victorious PCs from Smenk’s house.
That’s when I learned PCs aren’t at all beholden to the DM’s schedule. In order to give the prisoners the most opportunity to participate in the adventure, I let them have a quiet night’s rest before the second day of interrogation. Unfortunately, the wizard (who was a really good sport about it) didn’t have his spell book and was left with only the two cantrips he’d had left over from before. As an added handicap, the player of our Halfling rogue was sick yesterday and her character was considered unconscious from the interrogation and wouldn’t participate in the escape. The cleric, however, was able to memorize any spell that didn’t require a holy symbol or material component. Sure enough, my cleric of Obad-Hai took flaming hands and produce fire and was a breath away from attacking Theldrick and the zombie guards. Hoping to avoid the murder of another PC, I had the “guards” show up and unmask. They ultimately won the fight thanks to an impressive amount of strategy and clever spellwork, but the loss of any roleplay time between the arrival of the guards and their unmasking took away any dramatic moment it might’ve had.
And that’s the lesson I learned yesterday. Let the players create their own drama, don’t script it for them.
I would've had the PCs taken to the grimlock caves, due perhaps to a prophecy given to Theldrick by Grallak Kur. Then I've have them slowly regain consciousness, only to find themselves bound, gagged, unarmed, naked, & in the dark, with unseen creatures speaking in a gutteral language (grimlock) nearby. Then I'd provide an opportunity to escape, & run a 3FoE meets A4 type of adventure!