So Raknian escaped in the Champions Games and I remember that it suggests he might reappear in Alhaster. Well the party's finally made it to Alhaster and for various reasons within my version of the campaign they are actually expecting the guy to be in town. I'd kinda forgotten about him but they've zeroed in and I'd like to reward that.
So my question is has anyone actually had Raknian return and if so how did you do it/how did it go.
Thanks,
Shade325
Well, last session I decided to have Raknian return, and it went...well, it went disastrously.
So, I had Raknian return as a Death Knight, using a modified version of the template from Monster Manual II. Basically, they'd had a lot of roleplaying encounters on the street, so I wanted to spice things up. Well, after my players spent 10 minutes talking about how they wanted to overthrow Prince Zeech and free the kingdom...in the middle of the street...I had Raknian appear and try and take his revenge.
Unfortunately, the fighter sundered Raknian's sword and the fight was over just like that. So, I had several members of the Blessed Angels flying in their direction...thinking they would run and hide, but nooooo....they stood and picked a fight, and now they are known criminals in the city and the Blessed Angels are trying to hunt them down.
They've teleported outside the city and are in hiding, but this has thrown a serious monkey wrench into the game. Now I've got to find a logical way for them to get back inside the city, snoop around, get invited to and go to the banquet, etc. It's just a whole big mess.
There is a logical place to put him in Prince of Redhand without worrying about huge battles in the streets, the PCs fleeing from Alhaster, etc. The Well of Triptych Knowledge. After his successful transformation, Raknian has undergone a pilgramage to the holiest place of the Ebon Triad. How he knows about it, and how he got past Furpotia, are a bit of fuzzy areas, of course. Did Lashonna meet with him now that he's a valuable ally of the cult? Is the sickhouse now a burning ruin, the Blessed Angels investigating finding nothing of interest?
It's just a whole big mess.
The big problem here is Blessed Angels. Consider having Lashonna call the Angels off of them. Lashonna wouldn't want to jeapordize her champions chances of carrying out her whims.
The PCs could be approached my Mahuudril in the outskirts of the city to pass along news that the Blessed Angels have granted the party a one-time pardon, but that the party will be watched like a hawk...."be on your best behavior". Further, she could be the one that presents the party with the Banquet Invitiations and tells them that Lashonna looks forward to meeting them again (yeah, let that slip of the tongue occur, but don't play heavily on it - come library of last resort, they'll be like "ooooooooohhhhhhh").
In our campaign, Raknian is perhaps the second most-hated villain in the story - second to maybe Lashonna.
The PCs will get a chance to exact revenge on the Kyuss Death Knight in the final chapter.
What I'm going to do is have them come across an encampment of rebels that are living in exile outside the city. The exiles are basically going to tell the party that you've got to be subtle in Alhaster -- that you can't go picking fights in the streets, no matter how much they provoke you. The rebels are going to sneak the party into the city, but from there it will be up to the heroes. Basically, a "Second Chance" for the city. I'm also thinking of having Fario and Fellian from the Shackled City campaign among the rebels, but maybe not.
As for the Blessed Angels, Raknian, and Zeech, I'm going to say that Raknian and the Blessed Angels were sent by Zeech to prove a point: anyone who makes trouble in the city is going to get smacked down. That having been said (and the point gotten across), Zeech is interested in the heroes because he has heard much about them, and basically sent the Blessed Angels to intimidate the heroes. However, at the dinner, he treats them as any other adventurers at the banquet, believing them to have been sufficiently cowed by his display of power.
My PCs found Raknian when they investigated the Traitors' Graves in Alhaster. Various corpses were strung up with signs that read, "Thief", "Murderer", and in Raknian's case, "Heretic". This left them rather satisfied and tied up a loose end.
Raknian actually got the ritual off (PCs were too scared to explore the Kyuss complex after all nearly dying to a bunch of oozes, so I have the problem of an entire city (the biggest city) hating Raknian and even putting out bounties on his head. Since I want to keep Alhaster as ambiguous as possible regarding the taint of Kyuss, I may do what Office_ninja did and simply have him at the grave. This reinforces the anti-ebon triad sentiment. However, he is one of the most hated villians in the campaign, so I'll probably slake the PCs bloodlust by changing him into a Knight of Kyuss and having him come at them in the WormCrawl (to steer them toward the tabernacle).
BTW, the fight against the apostle of Kyuss was THE COOLEST fight in the game, mainly if the PCs don't stop the ritualand fight it in the arena. A character with Fighter levels was in the Apostle's mouth THREE times, and due to divinations, the PCs knew that the campaign would end if a "champion" was killed by the Son of Kyuss. Grapple results: #1 PC-Nat 20, AOK- 13 (Nat20 always succeeds)
#2 PC- 13, AOK- Nat 1, #3 PC -3 ("well, here it ends), AOK rolled a second Nat 1. INCREDIBLE! (I did end up critically biting the Paladin of pelor, and inflicting 13 Con dmg on the Spirit Shaman from the necro-breath- no coming back from that!)
Good Times!