My players are now beginning the final battle(s) in the sunken church in the Styes adventure (Dungeon #121) and are in a somewhat difficult predicament. I'm seeking some suggestions as to how to manage the upcoming battles to both make them thrilling and to avoid a TPK, if possible.
Here's a summary of the situation:
- The party "defeated" the programmed images from Sgothgah, "The Whisperer", at the Temple of Tharizdun, but 2 party members (a rogue and a barbarian) are now enslaved and have led the party to the sunken church.
- Aside from the rogue and barbarian, the party does not know that Sgothgah is nearby, or that 2 members are enslaved.
- The party is fully rested and also includes a paladin, warlock, cleric, and ranger.
- In the sunken church, at Sgothgah's direction, the enslaved rogue pointed out the 2 aboleths (disguised as schools of fish) to the party by asking for a detect magic to be cast. The party does not know that the schools of fish are aboleths, only that they radiate magic, and the 2 schools (aboleths) swam out of the range of the PC's vision as soon as they were noticed. The 2 aboleths are readying to attack the party, and this is where the night's session ended.
- From the adventure description, Sgothgah's objectives would be to a) have the party kill the 2 aboleths who guard the church and to b) leave Sgothgah's juvenile kraken ward (not yet discovered) to continue to live and flourish. I suppose that Sgothgah might desire to kill off the party once the 2 aboleths are disposed of.
HOW DO I MAKE THE BATTLE EXCITING WHILE AVOIDING A TPK?
- Once the 2 aboleth guards attack the party, I plan to have Sgothgah join in the battle to help the PC's. This will make for a titanic clash of monsters, reduce Sgothgah's health and arsenal of spells, and similarly reduce the threat of the 2 aboleth guards.
- I believe that the 2 aboleths would focus on Sgothgah once he(?) joins the fray since there is already quite a bit of animosity between them and they'd want to make sure that Sgothgah wouldn't escape a second time.
- The enslaved rogue and barbarian would tell the party (at Sgothgah's direction) to only attack the 2 guard aboleths. Should I allow a chance for the enslavement to fail if Sgothgah is seriously injured during battle?
- If things go poorly for Sgothgah, I'd have it move to the pit area to attract the kraken's attention for assistance. This would alert the PC's to the kraken's existence. I'm also considering having the battle draw out the Kraken, even if the battle is going well for Sgothgah.
- I'm trying to dream up ways to alert the party that something is definitely wrong with the 2 enslaved party members. They suspect something with the rogue, but really don't have a clue.
Does this seem like a reasonable approach? Any other ideas?
Hurm.
Spot and spellcraft checks should tip the party off that the rogue and barbarian are under some sort of foreign influence. Especially when they start displaying a bit too much knowledge about what's going on in this sunken church. You may decide to give the two PCs new saves after combat begins and some adrenalin kicks in, even if no one casts magic circle against evil or dispel magic to get rid of the domination. The kraken should definitely be attracted to the various emotions coming from up above it that are being generated by the battle.