My group has not rested between killing the hydra and now finally defeating Manga-Micto (they killed the guards at the entrance which I beefed up to 8, 4 with pincers, Bonecracker my mummy replacement and Aushana). At this point they are totally out of divine spells though they have two wands they are using to keep their health full and the sorcerer only has a few spells left. Though they are level 3 spells so do pack a punch.
We finished the game right after they killed Manga-Michto and they have all agreed they need to rest. I have some rules about resting in a dungeon, however, I expect this is what they will do. Thats fine by me. They have done this before since they realise the risk. So its a sign of how desperate they are.
Since most of the temple guards are dead with only the dragon, Zenith and the inquistor left I am not sure how to handle this. What would the remaining defenders do?
Clearly they don't have the power to mount an assault on the party (or at least organise fast enougth to catch them at their weakest stage). Zenith and the assasin don't seem like the type to come out and face the invaders.
Maybe the dragon will come out and harass them before retreating? I have changed the dhorlot's room to have a large amount of water connected to the lake. So it is to his advantage to wait for the invaders there. BUt it just doesnt seem right to me that he would just sit there. What do others think?
If you want a response, you could have Saagagoi go off to round up some outside Kuo Toa settlement's war party.
However, I tend to feel that Dhorlot would probably decide the jig was up in Bhaal Hamatugn and it was time to move on (since his comfortable set up has been trashed). As for Zenith, I would say he would stay brooding in his chamber until the very end come what may. Saagagoi could stay with him in an attempt to persuade him to leave.
In terms of providing a challenge once they've rested (if that's the issue) then either use the Kuo Toa reinforcements or give Zenith an extra invisible stalker, or beef his levels up (mobile defensive stance would be handy).
When my party finished this last week, they sound like they were in similar shape to yours (healed up but out of most spells) but they chose to push on in order to try to complete the mission before any more enemies turned up. Zenith and company gave them a tough fight, but no one died. The party never encountered Dhorlot as they guessed the drawbridges on the upper temple level must be guarding something important and on completing the mission they returned to the surface ASAP with their prize.
Sounds like good ideas. I'll send a "retrieval sqaud" after them.