So, last night my players finished up "The Demonskar Legacy" by driving off Nabthatoron and saving Alek's life. Alek still had 33 HP when Nabthatoron teleported out. The adventure says that Alek should fall into a coma but since he still has more than half his HP I don't really think that that is very realistic. So now I have a dilemma, what to do with Alek. Kaurophon should be showing up soon and whisking the characters off to Occipitus. Will Alek go along? How will he deal with being transported to a plane of the Abyss given his fragile state of mind? Should I steer Alek towards becoming a martyr for his cause and sacrifice himself in the plasma gusher? Would Alek willingly help the party complete the Test of the Smoking Eye? I'm not sure how to handle this.
Any advice?
Thanks,
Stickboy
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So, last night my players finished up "The Demonskar Legacy" by driving off Nabthatoron and saving Alek's life. Alek still had 33 HP when Nabthatoron teleported out. The adventure says that Alek should fall into a coma but since he still has more than half his HP I don't really think that that is very realistic. So now I have a dilemma, what to do with Alek. Kaurophon should be showing up soon and whisking the characters off to Occipitus. Will Alek go along? How will he deal with being transported to a plane of the Abyss given his fragile state of mind? Should I steer Alek towards becoming a martyr for his cause and sacrifice himself in the plasma gusher? Would Alek willingly help the party complete the Test of the Smoking Eye? I'm not sure how to handle this.
Any advice?
Thanks,
Stickboy
Here's how I dealt with Alek. In my game the players were well on their way to defeating Nabthatoron. Alek was still alive. I decided that rather than die, Nabthatoron's spirit would actually seek out and possess the weakened paladin (due to his low will save from madness). This was, in my game, what causes Alek to fall into a coma during the battle.
Another option, if Alek is to remain alive and well, is that he would feel a great deal of responsability to Redgorge and Cauldron and would seek a way to return there in order to lift the siege. At some point the Chisel might perform a sending for the party, and could possibly arrange to teleport them (or just Alek) back to Redgorge/Cauldron.
But if you decide to take Alek to Occipitus, I would definitely play up the madness. After all, the plane is the domain of the demon lord of madness. I would have the plane completely infect Alek, slowly turning him into a raving madman that the party would need to deal with. Ultimately I could see him sacrifice himself into the plasma gusher, but I would be careful with that as a DM, since ideally it is best that one of the party members makes the sacrifice. But perhaps Alek could be used by Kaurophon in order to gain the smoking eye template.
When my group saved Alek, I had Jenya deal with the 'heal' and 'restoration' issues necessary to restore Alek to functional sanity, and he has since stayed in Cauldron, and is another St. Cuthbertine ally for the PCs. In my campaign, he's fixated a little on the CN Druid, who saved his life (it's a little awkward between them since that, and given their opposing world views) and am going to have him handy to save the Druid's life at some future point and balance things out a little between them.
In the meantime, I show Alek in the background, working to attempt to stymie or slow the corruption in the guards, speaking out against the oppressions of the city, and mostly being sneered at or a little ignored by those who remember his nutso declaration of challenge against Terseon, and how he withdrew it because he'd been fooled by demons into making it in the first place (or such is the common conception in Cauldron).
When Terseon commits suicide later on, I'm going to have Alek step in to control the town guard once things get wonky and Vhalantru is on the way out.
When Terseon commits suicide later on, I'm going to have Alek step in to control the town guard once things get wonky and Vhalantru is on the way out.
He commits suicide? I don't have my HC handy but I can't remember this part. Is this just a house rule?
Yet another option is to have Alek return to Redgorge (as already suggested above) to stop the siege. If the party decide to assist or when they return after their trip to Occupitus, they could help the Redgorge defenders face the half-orc forces led by Tereson and the demonic forces lead by Nabthatoron. A final conflict on the battlements between the party, Alek and Nabthatoron (where Nabthatoron can have another crack at Alek ) alone or assisted by other demons (if they are higher levels) would make for a heroic end to the siege.
I wouldn't take Alek to Occupitus. It would change the dynamics of the adventure too greatly. If you don't like the above suggestion have him return to Cauldron (Jenya, Meerthon, Maavu etc?) and seek the mercy of Tereson for his dishorourable challenge.
Tereson would forgive him as long as Alek can find out what happened to the Mayor who disappeared recently. Alek will then attempt to follow the Mayors trial which will lead him to Sasserine where the mayor had been attempting to find out about Vhalantrus past. This will also lead Alek to the same place it lead the mayor, into the beholder cache Valantru once lead and give the players a side trek to find out what happened to not only the Lord Mayor but Alek too.
If this occured between chapters 7& 8 this would make Vhalantru's real identity even more shocking.
Another idea could be to have Alek consumed by the madness of the Smoking Eye and, after being healed, attack the party before fleeing. His dreams may lead him to Fetor where he becomes an blackgaurd determined to spread the release the 'will' of the Smoking Eye. This senerio makes for an interesting villian (ally turned enemy, good corrupted by evil).
Anyway, whatever your final decision make sure you have Nabthatoron visit the party later...
Delvesdeep
OK, so this is what I've come up with.
The PCs will start their long journey home through the desert. At some point Nidrama takes control of Alek and delivers her message at which point Kaurophon puts his plan in to action. He'll explain everthing to the PCs so that they feel that they had better go with him before returning to Cauldron. So, the party along with Alek are transported to Occipitus. At some point on their way to the Cathedral of Feathers the party is ambushed by a squadron of Vrocks set by some other demon lord to kidnap Alek. One of Alek's phophecies is "Seven blackbirds have ye, yet death is not decieved." This is a prophecy of his own kidnapping. I'm thinking that the demon lord behind the kidnapping wants Alek as a proxy for the test of the smoking eye. Of course in the few weeks that folllow Alek's alignment will shift to Evil and he will becom a blackguard.
How's that sound.
OK, so this is what I've come up with.
The PCs will start their long journey home through the desert. At some point Nidrama takes control of Alek and delivers her message at which point Kaurophon puts his plan in to action. He'll explain everthing to the PCs so that they feel that they had better go with him before returning to Cauldron. So, the party along with Alek are transported to Occipitus. At some point on their way to the Cathedral of Feathers the party is ambushed by a squadron of Vrocks set by some other demon lord to kidnap Alek. One of Alek's phophecies is "Seven blackbirds have ye, yet death is not decieved." This is a prophecy of his own kidnapping. I'm thinking that the demon lord behind the kidnapping wants Alek as a proxy for the test of the smoking eye. Of course in the few weeks that folllow Alek's alignment will shift to Evil and he will becom a blackguard.
How's that sound.
Sorry Stickboy,
I missed your post a month a go. Sounds good to me. Have you played since you made the decision? How did it go?
Jwallace,
Your reasoning sounds logically to me. Tereson problem woundn't be detered by Aleks revelation. It would be determined (as everything in D&D) by you and your players I guess. You could reason that Tereson was basing his attack on Aleks challenge and was attempting to prove that he was no coward to the rest of Cauldron. When Alek did not show up for the duel Tereson shifts his focus to the next available target - the Chisel. When Alek appears and reveals his bewitchment Tereson is appeased as lond as the rest of Cauldron hear the circumstances and he gains further respect rather than loosing it.
Another line of thinking could be that Tereson is charmed himself (Vhalantru) and so he would attack the Chisel nomatter what revelations come to light about Alek.
It all depends if you want the party involved in the seige or not and whether they are (or whether you want them to be) around for the battle at Redgorge.
Personally I plan on writing it up and using the seige as a side trek. I'm even leaning towards having Nabthatoran leaving 'early' during the final conflict of the Demonskar Legacy so I can st up the seige and another battle between the party and the demon general.
In terms of running the seige the easiest method would be the 'mirror version'. What this entails is simple to run the conflict in stages and have it broken into missions. The players may be gaurding the town gatehouse and depending on how they progress against the forces thrown at them and a group of defenders mimis how the rest of the town defences fair.
Missions/Challenges leading up to the final seige could be:
* retrieving blessed weapons, barrels of holy water etc to aid the defenders from sympathetic merchants in cauldron
*sneaking into the enemies camp to copy their battle plans
* defending the town from an overzealous and eager group of demons intent on raiding the town of important resources
*contacting Skylar amongst the forces of Cauldron to tell him the truth (ie Alek was charmed, Tereson is being duped into this attack by his second in charge (Blue Duke disguised as a halforc))Successful convincing Skylar causes him to lead the human gaurds from the conflict leaving only yhr half-orc forces behind.
All of these challenges will have an impact on the final conflict (attacker numbers, defender preparation, town resources etc)
* Final confrontation with Nabthatoran on the battlements as the coordinated forces of the demonic army and Tersons gaurds lay an all out attack on the town. Alek may be there to assist if he still lives.
Chef's Slaad wrote up and great thread on this on this board some time a go and I encourage you to read it if you are considering running the siege with your players.
Good Luck
Delvesdeep
The link to Chef's slaad's Battle of Redgorge ideas is here (if I have got the cut & paste right!)
http://paizo.com/dungeon/messageboards/shackledCity/runningTheInvasionOfRed gorge&page=1#66372&source=search (EDIT- this link works when copied from my word file but not from this post, for some reason. Just search the forum for Running the invasion of redgorge and you will find it!
I definitely intend to use it with a sort of victory points system to determine the results of the battle. In my campaign Alek was slaughtered in the first round, and Nabthatoron tactically withdrew after a hard fight. I am going to have them go on a quest to find Alakast in a modified (and slightly Kyuss influenced) Rana Mor from Dungeon 86 prior to the battle. With its (enhanced legacy) powers the stage will be set for a final conflict with Nabthatoron during the Battle of \Redgorge.
I think if Alek survives then having him succumb to madness on Carceri sounds good to me. I think it could be more dramatic if he succumbs whilst with the party (rather than after being spirited away) and the party are faced with the dilemma of what to do about his increasingly bizarre/dangerous actions. This would be more effective if his change happens gradually.
I am amazed that several of you found that Alek survived. After his mad charge out at Nabthatoron in the first round, Nabthatoron gets a FULL ATTACK. If I remember correctly he needs a 2 to hit Alek after a charge with 5 attacks and power attack and improved trip thrown in! In our game, he grabbed Alek with his pincers and basically tore him apart with his arm attacks (more than minus 10 hp). To ensure he couldn't be raised (and for dramatic effect) he then bit out his heart and swallowed it with the bite attack. Unless Nabthatoron allows himself to be distracted from Alek, I would be surprised by ALek surviving beyond the first round, let alone a couple more rounds!