So, here's the setup:
the group used a large portion of day two of the games to explore the understructure, but ended up wasting a lot of time in the sewers without finding the sewer entrance to the hidden shrine of kyuss. they had to go and rest in order to take on pitchblade the next day.
Pitch blade hurt them pretty bad (I added a third brother dwarf, and it made the fight nicely tough, but some bad luck made it a near TPK). they decided that they had to spend the time till the next match resting and regaining spells and hit points. because they didn't get far enough in the understructure, they went and faced madtooth at level nine.
they managed to kill madtooth in a 6 round long fight with one casualty - the fighter went down in the first round. their eventual stratagy ended up being a combination of the rogue carving her way out of madtooth's stomach, the druid using call lightning to keep the frog slowed, and the warmage pounding on it with Orbs of cold. the half-orc fighter was reincarnated that evening as a full orc. I told them all to level up to 10, and we called game for the evening.
the way it's looking, they're gonna spend the evening resting (madtooth ate a lot of their resources, a CR 13 encounter vs a level 9 group). so, that means that they're getting to the final fight of the games without having discovered bozal, the urgulasta, or even having a clue as to what's about to happen.
so, all that's easy, but what am I going to do with bozal once the Urgulasta's out? Just adding him to the fight would make it incredibly overpowering, and while on some levels it would serve them right for messing around so much on the side quest that they knew was important, it would feel kind of like I railroaded them if I throw that kind of fight at the end with the expected result of thousands of wights released into the free city.
I also don't really want to run a dawn of the dead kind of running escape from the free city. It's a fun idea, but knowing my party they'd sidetrack right into a TPK - a situation i'd rather not deal with, considering the fact that nearly everyone in the campaign is on their second or third character at this point.
so, what about bozal? what should he do, considering that he'll probably survive the champion's games, one way or another.
well, they can always attempt to ally with auric's warband to fight the Apostle and Bozal. That's what my PCs did, and the fight was pretty easy (bozal was already dead though).
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Man, I sympathize with you. My party did almost exactly what yours has done. They fought the Ulgurstasta, Bozal, and a pile of undead in the final fight (Khellek threw in with them after Auric died). They all ended up bugging out due to the onset of cataclysm. This is definitely the most likely scenario if you throw Bozal in without further balancing that fight.
Maybe you could narrate a battle between onlookers or guards and Bozal in the stands as the party fights the Apostle? That way you tie up the loose plot end without killing the party.
As an aside, I decided I'm happy with the apocolypse scenario. I found a way of goading the party (but not too hard) into working with the Thieves guild to confront Bozal and the Ulgurstatsta. They got to kill the bad guys and move on to Gathering of Winds with the thought that there's still an ongoing event happening in Greyhawk. The undead dominate the city's sewers and come out at night to claim more victims. They also have now seen the 'disease' of the Kyuss worms take root in the swamp, and in the Freecity, so there's a little more suspense to the game, like they're trying to outrun and stop the wider apocolypse, still without really knowing entirely what's going on. GoW has been great fun, but I can't wait for Spire of Long Shadows, when some questions will finally be answered.
You could also have an unexplained one day delay. (I'm sure you can think up a reason--it can be as simple as a heavy storm passing through--the rainout would cause a decline in attendance, so Raknian decides to postpone for a day.) Have Ekaym bring a pile of potions and such to replace the burned up resources and help the party heal back up again. This gives the party one last chance to discover the foul secret that's brewing below the arena. You can even drop more clues to get the party on the right track--maybe the smell of rotting flesh begins to pervade the corridor outside the room that hides the secret door to Bozal's hideaway.
Haven't got there yet, but I think throwing Bozal and the Ulgurstasta at them in one fight is asking for a TPK. Anyhow, Bozal isn't necessarily the sort of fellow who would join the fray to finish off the party unless he sees that the party will certainly win otherwise.
I agree, Ugly even against Auric and Khellek and the golems is a fight enough (mine resulted in three PC deaths), so I wouldn't add Bozal to the final fray. Bozal's appearance is quite recognizable and strikes me as the secretive type so would either further entrench himself in the temple if his plan is successful or flee the city entirely if Ugly dies. If the PCs fail, he makes for a reasonable fill-in villian for the aftermath, acting as a ringleader for the PCs to take down or thwart as they attempt to escape or save the city.
If Bozal escapes, (as he did in mine) he can be inserted in the future if you wish for the party to find the apostolic scrolls (he would probably keep them even after their use). I had the party encounter him on the road as they journeyed back to diamond lake, and it helped to foreshadow the danger the ebon triad still posed even after their victory in the arena. (a dying bozal mentions his death is already being avenged on their homes).
As advised above, it makes sense for Bozal to stay clear of the public eye no matter what happens. Your party won't get enough XP out of this adventure to hit 11th level, but my group didn't get enough XP either and they killed everything except the uber-tough demon under the arena. Just be prepared to run a side-trek at some point. Assuming they win the games, the PC's could be sent under the complex to clear it out, where they will get to meet Bozal etc. That's not that unlikely, in my opinion...
If you have the Ulgurstasta turn up early on in the fight vs Auric, Khellek and the golems, then it makes sense that both groups fight the Ulgurstasta (how coordinated they are would depend, but regardless, it would be stupid for the teams to keep attacking each other at this point!) So even if you think Auric, Khellek and the golems are going to be tough for your group, it might only be a round or two before the Ulgurstasta changes the fight altogether. At that point, it's actually not that likely (in my opinion) that the Ulgurstasta will get to eat a Fighter.
Certainly when I ran it, my group was well on the way to defeating Auric's warband when the Ulgurstasta turned up (didn't help that Auric's team all rolled bad init - my PC's then nailed them with dominate person on Auric and Dispel Magic on Khellek - ouch!). At that point, Khellek sent his Gollems in to try and stop the Ulgurstasta getting him and/or Auric, while the PC's also wailed into the Ulgurstasta. I think it only took another couple of rounds for the Ulgurstasta to end up dead, with only a couple of Gollem casualties. In retrospect, I should have had Khellek surrender at that point, because Auric was still dominated (and had been forced to surrender), but for some reason I had him try "just one more round" - unfortunately for him, his Confusion spell back-fired, and the only PC who was confused got a lucky roll and got "attack the caster", so after three powerful arrows hit home, Khellek was dead.
I guess it all depends on how well your group is managing to defeat their opponents in the games - my group found them all too easy, but it sounds like your group is finding them a more appropriate challenge. So just run it as suggested in the adventure and you should be fine (don't go out of your way to make it any harder than it already is).
My PCs did a really interesting, and pretty funny thing...
Auric was in the negatives when the Apostile burst through the ground, at which point Raknian gave his evil guy speech and ordered the Apostle to swallow Auric. Realizing that something really, really bad would probably happen if the Apostle succeeded, the PC next to Auric did the only thing she could... she cut off Auric's head and ran. The Apostle swallowed the body, but with Auric dead the final act of the ritual went unfulfilled.
Quick question about dispel magic: is the DC to dispel 11+caster level or 11+minimum caster level to cast the spell. So if a 10th level wizard had stoneskin and someone used dispel magic, would the DC be 18 or 21?
My PCs did a really interesting, and pretty funny thing...
Auric was in the negatives when the Apostile burst through the ground, at which point Raknian gave his evil guy speech and ordered the Apostle to swallow Auric. Realizing that something really, really bad would probably happen if the Apostle succeeded, the PC next to Auric did the only thing she could... she cut off Auric's head and ran. The Apostle swallowed the body, but with Auric dead the final act of the ritual went unfulfilled.
I used the same ruling for my big Ugly fight.I was uber-strict on the ruling that the Apostle couldn't "convert" an already dead PC, and the things bristels and bite damage alone killed numerous PCs before they were swallowed. This made the fight fair, I thought.
Quick question about dispel magic: is the DC to dispel 11+caster level or 11+minimum caster level to cast the spell. So if a 10th level wizard had stoneskin and someone used dispel magic, would the DC be 18 or 21?
DC= 11+Caster Level of Spell of spell. So, that someone dispelling a 10th caster-level stoneskin spell would need a 21 (11+CL 10), Rolling d20+ their caster level (max 10 on normal dispel).
There's only one thing to do with Bozal Zahol--change his damn name!
or just let it slide when your players call him bozo ze a-hole.
I would suggest letting Bozal get away, although there can be some clues about him having been there, assuming your PCs are triumphant against the Urgulstasta and manage to search the place afterward. You can bring him back in a later adventure, advanced appropriately to be a challenge. I think one of the last two adventures specifically mentions a spot where you can bring back an old foe that the PCs failed to defeat previously. Although, if the PCs investigate the understructure after the fight, you don't want that to be too anticlimactic, so having Bozol wait in the room with the Alkilith demon (is that the right name?) might be fun, too. Since Raknian's betrayal will have become obvious, the PCs can be asked to help ensure there's nothing dangerous left to his mansion, and they can enter via the secret passage from there.
Since your PCs also don't really understand everything that's going on, you may want to be sure to add extra clues during the fight itself. Raknian's instructions to the Urgulstasta as it appears are all well and good, but you might want to add a strange shadow-light that surrounds the Urgulstasta (not enough to impair vision, more of a visual aura than anything else) and similar auras that arc and surround everyone in the area who happens to have Fighter levels. That way, it's clear who the Urgulstasta is going after (Auric, any PC with lots of Fighter levels, then other fighters among the guards in the stands).