I don't see how my players are going to make it alive. They just got done finishing off the four whips and soldiers in the main shrine room. They've used almost all resources available. The party cleric is out of spell-casting healing and has 5 charges on a wand of CMW. The barabarian and ranger are at mid to low hp, the rogue is near full and the sorcerer is full-up on hp. The sorcerer has no 0 or 1st level spells left, but does have his 2nd (Flaming Sphere, not too good vs flying). The party is effectiely split up in this room with 3 on the floor level and 2 on the middle level balcony.
And we are 2 rounds away from Aushanna showing up. She's going to blow them away I think. I was playing as the party cleric since the player couldn't make it last session. I made a quick (fake) knowledge Religion check and had the cleric tell everyone "we better get out of here now, that statue's eyes are getting brighter and most shrines of this magnitude have summoned protection."
Maybe everyone's first action will be to run but they can barely make it out of the room before Aushanna appears. and even so, she'll quickly track them down. Say they do manage to run to the stairs out, there won't be any canoe waiting for them.
As a DM I'm just dreading the next session because I don't see a way out. Maybe if they have the guts to split up, Aushanna will have to focus on one of them and maybe that one can hold her off for a few moments while the others get away. Other than that I don't see this ending well.
If they do die, I will have a player who will get really upset. The others will take it in stride I believe and create new ones for another go. That could take an entire session however.
As a DM has anyone ever known for an extended time between play sessions that everyone is very likely to die almost immediately? Anything that can be done to lose as little time as possible? Anything you think I can do to cut the players a break without making it totally obvious? I guess I can make things happen so that at least one survives. I might have Fario and Felian show up, though they haven't been seen in quite awhile and I have no idea how they could suddenly appear many miles into the underdark.
Any tips appreciated.
Eric.
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You could delay her arrival. The players don't know it takes her 2 minutes to arrive. It could take 2.5 or 3 minutes instead. That would give them time to either run or perhaps you could even prompt them to destroy the statue, if you wanted to rule that destroying the statue would interrupt the calling.
If you give them such strong hints and they don't act on them however, I think you're justified in smiting them with the devilish wrath that is Aushanna.
As a DM has anyone ever known for an extended time between play sessions that everyone is very likely to die almost immediately? Anything that can be done to lose as little time as possible? Anything you think I can do to cut the players a break without making it totally obvious? I guess I can make things happen...
It's a difficult position you are in, and I don't think any DMs on this board envy you. To begin with, which is more important: that you run the adventure as written and possibly TPK, or modify it and not TPK? If it's the former, go to it with gusto and don't have any regrets. If it's the latter:
- Adjust her stats. Aushanna doesn't /have/ to be as dangerous as she is written.
- If the PCs flee, have Fellian and Fario be seen approaching the ruins in a canoe - perhaps they were following up on their own tips.
- Perhaps while searching the corpses, they overlooked some curative items?
- If one of your players is restless with their current PC, take them aside before game and see if they would be interested in a heroic stand to save the party, then allow them to make a new PC that comes in at the same level as the rest.
Hey there,
When I ran this campaign almost 2 years ago we had the same issue. The party was defeated but none of them were killed (they were all about -3 to -8). What I decided to do and it worked out well was have them captured and thrown in the cells. In my mind it made sense for the dwarf to still have a portion of his humanity and decide to not outright kill the pc's as they were a connection to a time when he was not insane.
I split the PC's up and threw them into 2 cells. If memory serves there were 2 NPC's, one who is a traitor and one is not and I had them each conceive of a plot to escape. The PC's had to decide who they trusted and how they were going to escape.
It made for some tense times and it was fun to have the PC's sneaking around trying to find their equipment and then once they had it again seek revenge on the remaining bad guys.
I remember this encounter well, although its been almost a year since I ran it. The party was severly weakened by Mangh-Michto and the other Kuo-Toa when Alushanna appeared. However, they were still pressing on; climbing up the stairs to where a locate object said the Splintershield standard was located. Unfortunately, none of the party members had any ranged weapon that could bypass her damage reduction so despite many hits and very slowly hacking away at her hitpoints it was looking rather grim.
I went easy on them. Something I kind of regret, honestly. First, she didn't fire all of her four arrows at one member of the party, instead firing one per party member. Also, realizing that the party was so weak, I had her teleport closer for melee. This gave the party barbarian a chance to jump from the third story and tackle her to the ground. Once engaged in melee, the party paladin was able to deliver a smite evil attack which did the trick.
In the end, noone in the party died; but they were all really close. They should have retreated while they had the chance. If your party decides to do this, I wouldn't punish them. Having them be chased out of the temple by a mad eriynes should be punishment enough. Maybe she won't cross the threshhold of the exit to Bhal-Hamatugn. Then, fully rested, they can face her when they reenter the big room and you can play her to maximum deadliness.
My party was in a very similar situation. That day, the party was composed of:
- Human Paladin, level 7
- Human Fighter, level 7
- Wood elf Ranger, level 7
- Human Cleric, level 7
- Gray Elf Wizard, level 7
- Human Rogue, level 6
They managed to detect and deactivate the trap on the doors to the room, thus saving a lot of healing resources. Then they fought the clerics and soldiers and won, although the Fighter died since he failed a save on two lightning bolts. I modified the adventure as written by placing two scrolls of raise dead on the priests, in order to give them a bit more of a fighting chance against Aushanna.
They finished this fight on round 17 or 18, so the next 2-3 rounds were spent raising the fighter and healing him, while the other wounded drank some potions. I didn't give them a warning of what was about to happen, although luckily for them, they did heal themselves somewhat anyway.
By the time Aushanna appeared, the Fighter and Ranger were wounded (low and half hps respectively), the rest were at or near full health. The cleric had some healing magic left, but not much, and a wand of cure moderate wounds. The wizard had probably half of his spells left. The paladin had already used his lay-on-hands earlier in the day, during the ambush at the entrance to the building.
The main problem is that they were separated, and the cleric has a movement rate of 20 (10 in water). The paladin was flying, since the wizard had cast fly on him earlier to fight the soldiers above. The cleric and fighter were on the platform below. The rogue was hiding next to the platform, in the water. The ranger (archer) and wizard were on the middle level.
During the fight with Aushanna (who was flying the whole time), she started with unholy blight, killing the fighter again (luckily he stabilized at -8), and wounding the cleric. Then she proceeded to kill the ranger, who was damaging her somewhat, although her damage reduction helped her. Then she killed the paladin who had charged her (she would step back 5 feet and do a full attack on him with her bow). He also was inflicting some damage, although again diminished by damage reduction.
The wizard and cleric had both been trying to damage her, but their spells were not getting through her SR (neither had spell penetration). She resisted every single spell (scorching ray, searing light, and a few others).
Once the two main damage dealers were down, she killed the cleric while he was trying to heal himself and others. The wizard tried to escape but was too slow and also got killed by her arrows. At this time, Aushanna had 65 hps of damage (out of 116 hps I think).
She never saw the rogue, who had drank a potion of Hide before she appeared and was hiding with an adjusted roll of 37. Her +17 in Spot was not enough to see him. The rogue, seeing that he would not do a lot against a flying oponent with damage reduction, stayed hidden throughout the fight, and as soon as Aushanna left the room to get her allies to recover the bodies, revived the fighter with a potion, and proceeded to drop the corpses into their bags of holding and escape as fast as they could. I was nice enough to not roll for wandering monsters on the trip back, since that might have resulted in a TPK.
After using the remaining scroll of raise dead, and using most if not all of their remaining cash to purchase raise dead spells for the remaining three, they went back to the temple.
They were prepared with scrolls of bless weapon, and were fully buffed with extra hps, STR, DEX, flying spells, etc. Aushanna died on the second round after she appeared. It was a massacre.
To this day, my players talk about that epic battle they lost, and the revenge they got. And the rogue will never let them hear the end of it, since without him it would definitely have been a TPK!
I think that there is a decent chance that your party will experience a TPK, and therefore you should try to work it into the plot. If someone survives, that person can be the one to take the bodies away while Aushanna gets help to clean up the mess. Otherwise, I think the jail idea is a very good one. Finally, if one or two of the group are willing to sacrifice themselves to let the others go, you might be able to have Aushanna take them prisoner and then play a rescue mission by the rest of the party afterwards.
But I do think that your group has little to no chance of winning this fight in the situation they are :(
Great tips and ideas so far. I like the idea of capture. I do belive Aushanna will come out with all she has, but if anyone stabilizes before -10 I'll have them wake up in a cell.
Party makeup:
Lev 6 Half-orc barbarian
Lev 6 human ranger (two-weapon style)
Lev 6 halfling rogue
Lev 4clr/2ftr human
Lev 1ftr/5sor dwarf
The party has some resources and I've tried to warn them so we'll see. The rogue has the Cloack of Arachnia, Ranger has slippers of spider climbing, Sorcerer has a wand of invisibility, the Barbarian has a Ring of Ram, and the cleric as I mentioned has 5 charges left on wand of CMW.
As for invisibility, the rogue tried it earlier against the Kuo-toa who happen to be able to see invisible creatures. I thought Aushanna might have some sort of True Seeing or something of the like to make invisibility not very effective (I don't have the mags/book in front of me.)
If they can make it to the water I do like the idea of having her basically scream epithets from the stairs as she won't leave the temple. I will have her loose arrows and the canoe (which miraculaoulsy I suppose is there) might catch fire sinking, giving swimmers cover. WHat's the movement on a canoe with one paddle?
Thanks for the ideas,
Eric.
Although Aushanna does have true seeing, true seeing gives no advantage against creatures that are hiding (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/trueSeeing.htm). Aushanna will still need to make a Spot check against opponents that are hiding, although will be able to see all invisible opponents.
Do not of course forget that Lord Vhalantru intends for the mission to be a TPK, so it's advantageous for it to feel that way.
If they later find out the intent behind the mission and they recall it as being a deadly experience they are going to be seriously hacked off. A bit like eye stalks really.
I ran this adventure about a year ago, and it was a TPK, of course the party didn't finish off the whips from the earlier encounter and had to fight them as well as Ashaunna. It's a tough encounter, especially with her abilities. My players loved it though, to this day that is the game that we always end up talking about.
My party avoided 2 total Party Kills in this adventure, both I thought were excellently done.
First, they frontal assaulted the place, making noise and clatter as they went, the guard arrived and easily smacked em down in force.
But, they showed intelligence and surrendered. I tossed them in prison with the two NPC's in there, whom they befriended and planned an escape with their help.
Then, in the Main Temple Area, I was in the same boat as the OP, my party was spent against the Whips and such, with Aushanna and the High Priest possibly entering the fray any round now.
But again, intelligence saved them. They fought a quick defensive withdrawl back to the secret passage in the back wall of the courtyard area, and the Wizard used "Rope Trick" to hide them all for a bit in an extra dimensional space. This took care of Aushanna as she was only there, summoned or called, for a short time, and the guards searched of course, but assumed the PC's escaped during the hour or so they hid up in the space.
When the heat was off, they moved about quietly until they found a hold up area to rest, then resumed with full spells the next morning.
Very cool ideas I has thought, made for some tense, but very rewarding (for players and DM alike) gaming sessions!
So we have had a couple of play seesions since I originally posted my thoughts. When we began, my 5 players are hurting, they are all in Area 5 having just finished off the kuo-toa, and Aushanna is 2 round from appearing. The party cleric recognizes that a shrine of this magnitude could very likely have extraplanar protection and the ominous glow of the statues eyes signaled that something was coming soon. She yells for everyone to run for it and decides to try and delay whatever is coming as long as she can relying on her troll-blood to keep her alive (Regeneration/1).
Well the party isn't keen on listening, the Ranger decides he has to have the scrolls on the dead kuo-toa, and the rogue wants to hide and see. The dwarf sorcerer runs like hell and the Barbarian does to, running through the secret door, through the torture room and then slowly approaching the cells where they had left the prisoners locked up. Well they unlock the cells and tell them to run for it also. It's a nice diversion as Aushanna kills White-eye and Cherrit while searching the complex.
The Rogue did successfully hide but instead of getting out, went back to the shrine to cure the Cleric with a healing potion. The Cleric comes to and tells the Rogue to split again. But the Rogue stubbornly hides again waiting for the demon to reappear.
The Sorcerer has made it to the lake and is trying to off load some gear to be able to swim for it when the Barbarian decides to try the doors leading toward the shrine. The trap explodes bringing Aushanna immediately who quickly puts 3 arrows into the Sorcerers back flaling into the water and floating off. The barbarian still manages to run away back toward the torture chamber where he runs into the Ranger. They both submerge themselves and hide praying to not be seen.
Aushanna sees the cleric up again and decides to finish her off for good this time. When the Rogue hurls a Halfling's Exit at her (sling bullet that bursts into a cloud). The rogue misses and gets -20 to her hide, 3 arrows later she's dead. The cleric again ends up unconcious but alive, captured and thrown in the jail cells. The Barbarian and Ranger hide successfully, free the cleric and get out.
Not a TPK. The player of the Rogue was not happy but if the character had run or just stayed hidden she would have survived. You take a chance and sometimes it doesn't pay off.
With 2 out of 5 dead, they head back to town and we get 2 new characters, another Rogue, and a Fighter/Sorcerer. Both 5th level. Ranger and Barbarian get to 7th level, Cleric is still 6th.
Next session they go back in. They know what's coming. They start preparing for her appearance again when the Rogue produces a scroll and gives it to the Cleric. She Casts Consecrate on the shrine. Since I had made it a point to let them know trouble was on the way by giving them a visual cue of the statues eyes glowing brighter and brighter, it seemed to them that the statue was actually triggering the call of Aushanna. In the end, I liked that they had finally come up with a tactic that wasn't just bust down the doors and hack em all to pieces. So, I let the Consecrate break the Shrines connection to Blipdlepoolp (sp?) thereby canceling the summoning of the Erinyes while the spell is in effect (in the hours range).
A nice solution I think and one I had not seen anywhere else on the boards. A DM could rule that it doesn't work, but since they had already faced her and come up with a pretty good answer, I let it work.
E.
My group is now inside Bhal-Hamatugn. And it is indeed a TPK. In fact, it has been in this dungeon that we have had a total "renovation" of PC. After the Whips, they where captured. I send Alek Tercival to help them. They had to scape from Aushana after beating Whip's boss (don't remember his name). During the flee several PC died under Aushana arrows, including Fario and Fellian (who where already with them at the start of the adventure). Finally, with new PC, they confronted with Aushana and beat her using a disipation spell to return them to wherever hell she came ;)
Some tips:
- I didn't let Aushana go beyond the temple doors.
- I always assumed that there was a canoe available.
- PC beat Aushana using a Dispel magic spell. It's another way to win without killing her. Although it doesn't seem permanent, at least they will have more time to recover. If you are going to introduce Farion & Fellian let them get some Dispel Magic scrolls.
- If they end up unconsious, don't kill them and make prisioners for the mommy to torture them. Send some NPC or new PC to rescue them.
Q. (sorry for my bad english)
My party didn't have too much trouble in the temple. The initial whip encounter weakened them (the soldiers being mere distraction). Then they barged in on the High Priest and I thought they were going to be in trouble with 2 EL9 opponents when Aushanna arrived. However, the Priest had yet to get all his armour on, so he was not as dangerous as he would normally be. Aushanna had appalling luck on her first 2 volleys and by then the party had dispatched the Priest and taken cover in his room. After that it was easy, given the problems Aushanna then faced- time limit and restricted room to maneuver if she came after the good guys.
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My party got lucky and managed to get off a good ray of enfeeblement that made Aushanna unable to use her mighty composite bow and close into melee range. Unfortunately they all scattered after she dropped the cleric and wound up getting killed by the other inhabitants of the temple. One wound up falling in the trap with the wraith (after attempting to lock his friends out of the room and keep them stuck with the Erinyes another almost made it to Zenith but got into a duel with the Kuo-toa assassin (almost one in a one-on-one fight too, I was impressed) and the cleric's cohort and the spellthief ran for it.
Luckily a TPK at that spot is easily workable in since Demonskar just needs the group to be residents of Cauldron to get involved, and not need to have anything to do with the previous chapters.
Near TPK for my group as well. They dealth with Aushanna with no one dieing, rested, but than ran into Dhorlot. He beat the party up bad. They atttempted to flee, but Dhorlot caught up to and ate one of them.
The rest of the PCs have fled. Don't know if they are going to go back or not. I'll use V to encourage them to go back. If they don't, I'll send the Stormblades.
After a long time off, we finally ran the Aushanna encounter. It was an entire 7 hour session, and at the end we were kind of sick of it.
The party had cleared the Kuo-Tuoa guards in the last session, so I just stationed one in one of the eyes to give warning should they approach again. They entered the temple unhindered, and went straight to the main chapel, where the whips were waiting for them with lightning bolt ready.
They lost initiative, took the lightning bolt, then the evoker rained a fireball down on the whips which took them all down in one swell foop. The guards proceeded to fight delaying tactics (running for the pool at the statue's feet while peppering the party with crossbow bolts). They finally dispatched the last guard and sent the rogue up to the third level when Aushanna showed.
The battle with Aushanna was basically a series of standoffs. They kept hiding in the hallway to draw her into melee, and she kept trying to draw them out. They tried to make a break for it a number of times thinking she was tied to the interior of the temple, but she would pepper them with arrows outside, and they'd retreat to their hallway.
Finally they got her over the central lake, and the evoker cast a shatter on the buckle of her quiver, causing it to fall in the lake. No more arrows=melee.
So they wear her down in melee, but she keeps retreating to the temple, rifling through the dead whips for scrolls of healing, and healing herself. They know there were only 4 whips, so after the 4th time, they figure she's out of healing, and instead of making a break for it (which they could have done), they decide to finish her off.
"You open the doors to see the bat winged woman standing next to ANOTHER kuo-tuoan. He's wearing plate mail, magical energies crackle around him (spellcraft-- yes, they are protective buffing spells), and he seems to be healing her once again."
Yes, we had finally reached round 48, when the high priest enters the battle.
Back to hiding in the hallway. Aushanna kicks in the doors and goes in for a final melee. They retreat to the entrance, give them Aushanna w/o the high priest (hey, he's there to protect the temple, if they seem to be leaving, that's fine with him).
When they finally took her down, they were out of healing, everyone's HPs were in single digits, the fighter had gone down more than once, and the battle had lasted so long that we were all just begging for it to be over. They ran away to rest, with grumblings of, "We'd better level after this."
This weekend they're going to rest, level (to 8), and re-enter Bal-Hamatugn for (we hope) the final time.
The only thing is, they're meta-gaming a bit, thinking that the campaign is FUBAR for siccing these overpowered monsters on them, rather than thinking as their characters and saying, "Hey, somebody intended this to be a suicide mission."
My party entered the temple last night and barely managed to crawl out. Nobody else seemed to mention this, but the unhallow effect managed to prevent the party's sorcerer from entering the room - she couldn't make her will save. Even though her fireballing the ground floor whips from the secret passage was very useful, she had no impact on Aushanna, who tore through the party grunt in two rounds without being touched - 4 arrows a round was lethal. The party cleric and rogue decided at that point to run for it, resulting in a party that was completely scattered through the complex.
After playing hit and run with the devil, I finally let the rogue (using his slippers of spiderclimbing) deface the statue of Blibdoolpoop and so prematurely end Ausshanna's reign of pain.
The party grabbed the fighter's body and fled.
Given that they were all 7th level( fighter, rogue, cleric and sorcerer) Bhal Hamatugn is one seriously lethal holiday spot.
Reggie.
The unhallow effect is an unfornate error that crept into the HC. Normally, an unhallow effect only prevents a summoned good creature from entering the area if they fail their will save. Non summoned creatures are unaffected by that part of the unhallow spell. I think james or one of the authors commented on this a while ago
Good call on the rogue, b.t.w.
Hi All,
My group just finished Bhal-Hamatugn and over the last three sessions, it has been one fun but brutal module. David Noonan did a great job with the scenario and my players and I have enjoyed it.
The group is made up of the following:
Arivanna: Wood Elf Ranger/Fighter 4/4
Zaruthiel: High Elf Fighter/Wizard 2/6
Romin: Human Cleric of Fharlanghn 8
Shao Lin Shado: Shifter Druid 8
Ollo: Halfling Rogue/Wizard 3/5
The group’s first session in Bhal-Hamatugn was the initial foray into the complex and ended with the high priest’s death and the group on the bottom most level, just outside of the main shrine. At this point the group had slain several of the kuo-toans and were fairly spent as far as resources. The last spell that the high priest had cast was deeper darkness, still active in the shrine.
The next session opened at the point 20 rounds had passed since the group had entered the shrine. Yes Aushanna was called forth into a deeper darkness effect. The group discovered she was there when the first volley of arrows issued forth.
:-)
That session covered two days of game time with the group retreating and having to face Aushanna twice in as many days, along with the kuo-toan survivors and Dhorlot. For a brief time the group had the aid of White-Eye, but he was dismissed when the group saw that Aushanna’s Unholy Blight did not affect him. The games of cat and mouse, using hit and run tactics, baiting the group into Dhorlot’s lair (they did manage to get him to flee), and charming the ranger to meet Aushanna in the shrine the next day (so as to trigger the planar ally yet again) were all fun and memorable moments. Aushanna was a great foe to run.
The final session of Bhal Hamatugn was this evening and ended with Arivanna and Romin slain, Zenith taken prisoner, and the rest of the party finally slaying Aushanna. Ollo was at 2 hit points, Zaruthiel was strength drained and at 10 hit points, and Shao Lin at 12 hit points. Due to certain story elements evolving in my own campaign, Fario and Fellian arrived via a specialized Dimensional Folding spell cast by Tyro Amberhelm to recover the group after Romin’s death. Now the group is in Cauldron recovering with Romin and Arivanna back from the dead.
Having now concluded Bhal Hamatugn, I have to say that only some lucky dice rolls when needed, my changing up Aushanna’s tactics round to round to avoid an outright TPK, and the fact that my campaign is using action points as detailed in Unearthed Arcana allowed the group to succeed. Otherwise, I believe my group would have all been slain and needed raised from the dead or, barring that, a new group would have been rolled up. Bhal Hamatugn was definitely not suitable for a 6-member party of 6th or 7th level characters.
Still, I must say my players and I did have a lot of fun and I think they learned some valuable lessons from Zenith Trajectory due to how hard the module was. I’m curious to see what transpires as we get into The Demonskar Legacy.
Good gaming,
Mark
I stumbled upon this thread just a few hours before running the whips+Aushanna encounter in my SC campaign, and it helped me to avoid (barely) a TPK, just like many others before me.
I withheld a lot of Aushanna power, and I had her combat for capturing instead of killing, so now my whole party is somewhat alive and jailed, stripped of everything useful except their wits (not so valuable, actually :P) and some inherent powers, like the druid wild shape or the monk unarmed attack.
While I hope my players will come up with some plausible escape plan, I need to have a believable backup plan, just in case they won't. So, I'd like to hear some suggestions, especially from fellow DMs like Strachan Fireblade and Sean McDaniel who ran similar development to this encounter.
Additional infos:
- PCs are: 6 Druid, 4 Monk/2 Sorcerer, 5 Barbarian/1 Sorcerer, 4 Fighter/1 Cleric, 6 Rogue (yes, they are low on both divine and especially arcane magic -- their choice)
- Cherrit and White-Eye left the shrine, in not-so-good terms with the PCs -- they hardly will come back to help'em, although mockin'em could be an option ;)
- The only NPC that could conceivably come to their help is Crazy Jared; no one else knows their whereabouts
Could you help me, please?
Thanks,
Exilas
Maybe, just maybe, not every kuo-toa in the complex is happy with having Zenith as boss and Dhorlot as a long term guest. Maybe an orthodox kuo-toa dissident would like to return to the old ways and helping the party is the best way to make that happen.
Just to let you know my PCs managed to escape from the cells (Druid shapechanged into a small viper), almost naked and empty-handed, then they tried to rearm themselves from the kuo-toa armory, were discovered by a sentinel and engaged a new battle against the remaining whips with the same catastrophic outcome as the first one, except this time they bit the bait (kuo-toan high priest coming out of his room fully armed and beefed up with flashy spells) and run out of the temple swimming furiously for the other shore.
Now they are ashore on the other side of the cave, HPs in single digit, out of spell and with no equipment whatsoever, in for a volley of flaming arrows from Aushanna's bow (yes, they managed to start the summoning AGAIN).
I foresee a grim session next weekend... :)
We just finished our B-H session last weekend, and my crew gave it a new twist... they opted to run through it without resting or retreating, even though they were low on HP. My level 7 party kept metagaming and figuring there couldn't be any harder encounters in the dungeon than (take your pick: the kua-toa high priest, Aushanna, Zenith...), so we may as well keep going. Almost got them TPK'd.
They started by trying to talk their way in - this got 8 kua-toa soldiers and the high priest onto the steps, where they were not that tough of an encounter once the kua-toa decided to attack (they said they wanted to take Zenith). They were then able to face down all the clerics in the temple without their high priest - no problem, especially when they came in the back way through the torturer's chamber and out the secret door, under cover of the central platform. Sweet!
Even though we ended one session when all the kua toa in the room were killed, and I clearly stated we were still in rounds (big trouble), they dallied in the temple and managed to meet Aushanna there. Fortunately, they had downed potions and healed up well before she appeared. They made good use of cover and ran like rabbits for the secret door, hoping to bring her down to ground level and rush her. She teleported to the entryway and came back through the prison area to the torture chamber, so they spotted each other on opposite sides of the torture chamber.
(Un?)fortunately, the guy who plays the cleric took all the hints about a watery environment and had sweet-talked the loan of a wand of control water from his friend Jenya. He commanded the water in the room as a weapon against Aushanna. Of course, it swept up friend and foe alike as he directed it to fill the place, rush down the corridor, released it, re-directed it, etc., but it kept her from firing and - more importantly - from spellcasting and teleporting out to a clear area. Between great offensive/defensive use of the water and two botches on the part of Aushanna during attempted underwater combat, they did her in without taking a fatal beating.
Then they fascinated Zenith (go bards!) and took his gear, so he (when finally threatened) broke free, teleported, then ran straight for Dhorlot. They met Zenith and Dhorlot together in room 11 and were totally unprepared for a dragon on top of the kua-toa soldiers and draconic fingerlings. The cleric went down fast to the dragon's breath weapon and the rest fled, leaving his body behind. They fought Dhorlot (who rolled badly for his breath weapon recharge time) and were all nearly dead by the time he backed off for a final breath weapon use. The sorc, who was out of spells, used the Sphere of the Unseen they'd taken from Zenith, and the invisibile stalker saved their butts. They fled, but had to swim the water or use the slippers of spider climb to get to the passage out, waiting for the dragon to come up on them at any second. Nothing happened, to their surprise, though they did have to mop up the squad led by the spear master who tracked them out and surprised them during their rest.
Why no pursuit? I had been reading/plotting ahead and found out that Kaurophon had been scrying on them periodically to judge their strength and find a time to ingratiate himself with them. Rather than TPK the party, I decided he was watching them and used a scroll of teleport to pop into the room after the dragon left. Cone of cold killed all the nearly-dead kua-toa, then he stuffed the cleric's and Zenith's bodies, AND the dragon's hoard into his bag of holding. When Dhorlot returned to see what all the noise behind him was, Kaurophon cone of colded his scaly tail into the ice age, taking him to -22 - hence no dragon or kua-toa pursuing the survivors (all at around 3-10 HP each).
K. took the cleric's body to Jenya and the two of them scraped together enough to buy a scroll of true resurrection, all from party treasure which they had in their posession because - how handy - the cleric was the one with the party's bag of holding! Now the cleric, who has really made himself integral to the story and Cauldron, has been revived and is mightily beholden to the evil yet believable Kaurophon [and in love with Jenya, but that's another story]. The Occipitus adventure has been foreshadowed, but they are not ready for it yet, so K said he'd contact them if evil creatures were close to taking the test.
I think they could have handled this adventure at L6 with the (mostly) careful playing they did - preparing for water, using the wand to good effect, talking instead of going in shooting, taking cover and setting up cross-fires, etc., but not as it was written and not without withdrawing and resting. Also, read ahead and make use of Kaurophon if you need to, though he won't endanger himself for them. This near-debacle has worked out well for my group - the survivors are MIGHTILY suspicious of having been set up and are really ticked off and ready for blood. Tomorrow we play the followup, wherein they find out via sending that the cleric has been revived... and why. Oh, and that the barbarian failed his save against ghoul fever and the sorc contracted slimy doom swimming the lake... heh heh heh. I love DM'ing.
Oh, and I get to skip the unbelievable encounter where Kaurophon summons the demons to attack the party so he can "rescue" them - they would never have believed it and would have easily made the spellcraft checks to see that he faked the use of the scroll. I was worried about that one. My PC's don't trust their own grandmothers.
My guys just finished BH as well, and it was definitely one of the most memorable encounters I've run.
For fun, I added another pair of whips and soldiers to the central combat in the big, balconied room, for a total of 12 KT in that combat, all CR3. Everything was going well (ie party was holding their own, and had nearly finished off all the KT) until round 20, when Aushanna showed up. The wizard, floating 30 ft up in the middle of the sanctuary, was the first to go (smug little bugger had cast Resistance to Electricity and was feeling invulnerable until Aushanna turned him into a pincushion).
Next was the Fighter/Cleric ranged specialist.
Realizing that she could kill them all easily, Aushanna offered them a deal. In return for not killing them (and a solemn promise that they would not deface the temple), she would get their souls, or a year of service in the Blood War, whichever they preferred.
This deal happened telepathically between the Erinyes and the LN gnomish urban ranger/rogue.
Having read all of the posts about TPKs in BH, I thought this was a neat side-step that was both believable and could lead to some interesting role-play as well as possible alternate adventures.
Next session: consequences.
Thoughts?