From your description I gather, that your party biggest problem is game play experience. The complete lack of strategic planning and sense of danger will prevent any success of your players in the adventures to come, no matter what characters they chose. So before continuing you should sit down together and analyse with your group, where they made bad decisions and how to remedy that in the future.
For your current situation, I think a rescue mission of the Stromblades should be appropriate. What do the survivors plan to do?
Remember that this adventure is supposed to be setup. If they succeed and bring Zenith back, great. Otherwise, Vhalantru has one less adventuring group to worry about. He can have Riavhaldi report to the Cagewrights about Zenith's location, and they can send the mad Derro Kravichek to get him or somesuch.
This is a mission that is designed to fail, like Vhalantru does to adventuring parties. (Like the setup that gets Todd Vadnerboren killed later.)
It really sounds like your characters didn't plan well, or either you overplayed how little time Davked Splindershield has left, and they are overly concerned with speed over safety.
On to the advice now, I'd let the bard roll up a new character, and the other two (captured players) characters play Fario and Fellian (unless they like Shensil better) and mount a rescue. Have Meerthan/Tyros prep them with some scrolls and such, as well as universal solvent (for the shields). Perhaps buy some Kua-Toa Bane arrows.
You have sneaky characters escaped, and the Half-elves are fairfly sneaky, so they could infiltrate and mount an escape to get Zenith. (Or if the sneak in fully, use a scroll of rope trick, caster level 9, to rest and memorize spells while in the Bhal-hamatun.)
I'd only use the Stormblades if your two escaped characters give up and don't plan a rescue. have Vhalantru send the SB's to finish. They can show back up with the prisoners and Zenith and all the loot. Really irk your players. Then you just grab a dungeon module for the right level and send them on a different mission after adjusting it to Cauldron.
my two coppers,
-c
SO here is what happened. Hopefully one of you can give me a idea of how to get the campaign back on track.
PC's - got thumped by the dragon but managed to kill it. It was just about to turn tail and retreat and then got critted for 40 HP's. They talk to Jared (which was great) rest and head down.
The Hydra wasn't a push over but they did a good job attacking it and beat it... unfortunately they were beaten up and low on resources... they decide to keep going.
They had a random encounter with 4 shadows and the fighter gets 4 strength sapped from him taking him to 12. more resources depleted and they don't stop to rest.
The meet the ferry man and I roleplay him as just concerned about ferrying the group not to attack at all. They don't fight him but still don't rest.
Here is were it gets interesting but falls apart.
So the bard uses alter self to turn into a Kuo-toa but the guards spot him doing the magic (one goes and warns the priest). The party battles the guards to get in (taking heavy damage due to the sticky shields). They have almost no resources and no spells and are hurt so they decide "lets explore more". The bard, still in Kou-Toa form walks through the trapped door to the ritual room where the whips are doing a ritual (knowing the party is there). He smooth talks his way through the room and ends up meeting the high priest. unfortunately the high priest catches his ruse (the bard said he'd say hi to the high priest if he saw him; unfortunately he was talking to the high priest himself... bluff failed).
Battle ensues and they get wiped out.
Bard - Dead
Monk - Could have made it out but died trying to create distraction so rest of party could retreat.
Cleric - captured
Fighter - 6 strength now due to curse and shadow. - captured
Rogue and fighter/rogue - escaped.OK so how do I save this game. I've decided that the Kou-Toa will hold them prisoners and I'm thinking the survivors will mount a rescue? Who should I have help with the rescue? The striders? The...
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Hi,
I should not be here, since I am playing SCAP, but we finished Zenith Trajectory a few sessions ago.
I joined this group just after the hydra, while on their way to Baal-Hamatugn : a group of 6 PCs (3 at level 8 / 1 at level 7 +1ECL / 1 at level 6 +1 ECL / 1 at level 7).
Man, that was tough, and I think this is a good lesson to your players : retreat or rest when things are getting tough !!
After the 1st attack on B-H, we retreated twice, i.e. it took us 3 assaults to get Zenith and clear most of the temple (dragon / kuo-toas including high priest / erynnies / Zenith ...), and we did not clear everything !!
It took us a long time also (I guess at least 5 to 6 4&1/2-hours sessions).
It made us wiser and more cautious, I guess (tired of looking for traps, I fell in the Kuo Toa's resting place trap & was hit by the undead there !).
I think you could probably spin it such that the Farstriders figured out that it was a trap (though maybe not who was behind it). Fario, Fellion and Zensil could rescue them from Kuo-Toa. In the meantime, Zenith is still needed by the Cagewrights... perhaps one of them or Vhalantru go in there and capture him. The adventure would be a wash for the players (no xp for the big fights) but it would keep the continuity.
You certainly would want to make up the xp before the next adventure, though.
Here's what I would do in your position: First, let the players who want to roll up new characters do so. Personally, I hate it when players keep trading out their characters, but if you stop them they will be miserable and make you a pay a price. Just roll with it. It's a long, long way to the end of the adventure path. Try to make it as painless as possible. Also, keeping dead characters dead reinfornces the notion that poor judgment resulties in fatalities and you will not bail them out. Second, have their new characters be introduced as captives of the kuo-toa whom the remaining survivors are thrown in prison with. Yes, it's the most obvious solution, but at this point you're doing triage. Third, the kuo-toa are planning to kill all their captives -- old and new -- in an elaborate human sacrifice. Fourth, hilarity ensues.