|
Okay, so last night my pcs finished clearing out Lord Vhalantru's lair, and with great trepidation, put the elf rogue in the simulacrum suit and sent him off to the party.
After drinking a potion of glibness, and with other magical reinforcement, bluff checks of 70+ and disguise checks in the 40's saw our diligent rogue through all sorts of difficulties, and he learned the evil plot about to unfold, gracefully departing the party with his brutish (and duped) mercenary guards.
The players heard that the Hexblades want the PCs dead. They're in a panic, and have decided not to return to their town manor, for fear of assassins, or an assault. They have strangely chosen to hide in the sealed Temple of Wee Jas (IMC Kelemvor) via dimension door. And to terrify them even more, they thought this party was a chance to round up and identify the Thirteen, and instead they found out that it was a meeting of "Cagewright Wannabes".
My question is this -- to wrap up Lords of Oblivion, what should I have the Necrocants, Adrick, the Last Laugh, the vampire, and Zarn Kyass do? Should they attempt to hunt down the PCs? (it's what the players expect) How would they go about this? What sort of detection spells would they use to find the PCs? What devious evil plans would you use?
I could use some ideas to make an exciting wrap up to Lords of Oblivion, and allow some closure IMC. To be honest, I've hinted that Adrick might turncoat, I've made Zarn into an interesting recurring NPC (although he's appeared in previous sessions as a gnoll).
My seven players are all 13th level, if that helps.
"Fear leads to suffering...." etc - Yoda ;)
If you want to be truly evil, you have to make the players fear - fear that which they dont know. Id say you have two choices to do that - a) give them what they expect, but make it seem too easy - like something is missing. Or b) do nothing.
Id say, if your heroes did not directly offend, or interfere with the plans of the evil agents at the party, they wouldnt necessarily be interested in the heroes. After all, they are there to get most possible gain, and fighting a party of 7 well-equipped heroes might be more hassle than it is worth.
Yes Velanthuu is dead, but the Sorcerer Rhiavadi was the one who promised them power. If she is still alive, why would the agents of evil expect the deal to be off ? As long as the Cagewrights open the portal to Carceri, and keep their end of the bargain, what does it matter that some heroes try to stop them ? None of the parties invited to House Rhivadi has any reasons to kill the heroes, unless asked so directly by the Cagewrights.
If it was me, Id have all the evil guys lay low. Disappear. That should make your players nervous.
Then go on with the adventure. Both the Necrocants and Mhad should have access to undead minions. Set up short encounters that are easy for the players to deal with (especially with a cleric). Keep it up. Itll be a nuisance, which might take the players focus away from the main thing, and try to track the aggressors down.
If they do, good - the party will feel they accomplished something, and you distracted them from the real issue. Let them win. You can then have the Cagewrights abduct an important NPC, and let the heroes know, in no small terms, that they could have prevented this if they kept to their course.
If they do not deal with it, hit them with that same kind of low-level encounter in the middle of something else. A recommendation might be to use Entropic Reapers (from Libris Mortis), who can planeshift in at opportune moments.
Think about it. Fear is not always about showing how powerful you are. Then again - sometimes it is ;)
|
|
Well, here's what I've decided to do:
Thirifane and Zarn - since Thirifane has a hideaway in Vhalantru's underground complex, they'll discover he's dead pretty quickly. In response, Zarn will disguise himself as Var, and will have proclaimed to the city at large that the PCs have foiled yet another evil plot against the town, and that their presence is wanted for a celebration/feast/knighting, etc, and *everybody* in town will be looking for them.
The Necrocants - they're a straightforward bunch, so they'll try to hunt down the PCs and kill them, burn down their house, etc.
The Last Laugh - a little more subtle - they will start making huge Gather Information checks to try to take cohorts/followers hostage, blackmail the PCs, or subvert them to their cause.
Adrack - he's not too powerful, so he'll try to double-cross the bad guys and help the PCs.
Mhad - too powerful, will retreat to her hideaway and observe.
Vervil Ashmantle - I'm not sure what to do with him -- ideas?
|
|
So, last night I ran my weekly game session, and I mostly winged it to see where the PCs would go. They holed up in the Temple of Wee Jas under a Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum spell, teleporting to Sasserine to sell all the loot they had got in Oblivion.
After a day, they poked their heads out to see what was going on. What they found out was Vhalantru sent out heralds proclaiming that he had been rescued from an evil fiend by the PCs (known as the Defenders of Thalm), and had named a festival in their honor ("Thalmsday"). As well, the town was looking frantically for the PCs to take them to the Lord Mayor's Hall for a reward/knighting/feast in their honor.
Of course, the PCs think it's a trap, so they've been skulking around, attempting to find out what's going on. After little luck, they decided to assault the Hierarch's Hall -- I slowed down the session with 28 mercenary guards of varioius levels at the front door, but now they're going in.
Inside, I've decided that Thirifane has discovered Vhalantru dead, and now has Zarn masquerading as Vhalantru. Inside they'll have themselves, some more half-orc mercenaries, her shield guardian, and be waiting to spring a trap.
So -- devious people of the message boards -- what sort of traps would you lay for the PCs? What sort of allies/goons would you have inside?
Thanks!
Vervil Ashmantle is a slaver, not?
I'd make him ambush the players w the help of some goons (and not to forget his deadly Babaus), trying to neutralize them.
Then the players may wake up on some sort of twisted slave market, in the hands of the Cagewrights or the Necrocants who have plans for them?
Just an idea...