When we broke last time, my party was standing in the Starry Mirror room. They killed the nerra rogue and there's a wall of force between them and four pissed-off nerra, who are pacing like Obi Wan watching Qui Gon get shish-kebabed.
So they're almost tapped out. Believe it or not they have a bunch of sonic spells saved up (the new bard asked the evoker to take them because he can amp them), which they'll probably use to take out the nerra. If they don't take days of game time to solve the Starry Mirror, they'll find Alex and want to head back to Redgorge ASAP. The evoker has a teleport left, so will probably grab Alex and blip out.
Ole Nabby isn't going to like that, so should tp in before they abscond with the paladin, BUT, according to the text, "Ideally, the PCs shouldn't be faced with this encounter unless they are fully healed and rested, with all of their spells prepared for the day."
I don't see any way the party is going to rest in Alex's vault. So the text suggests that if the party is tapped out, I should send Nidrama in, but that kind of sucks. Any ideas or suggestions? I had thought to have Alex REALLY want to stay, but since his sanity is in doubt (and they've already been through this with Zenith), they'll probably just bop him on the head and get him back to town.
I hate teleport.
Maybe Nidrama's voice in their head and they get the equivalent of a night's rest? Maybe a side effect of going through the mirror is a night's rest? Any help would be appreciated.
The teleport will fail: the other end of the mirror where Alex is trapped is in the middle of some desert, far, far away. Teleport has a range of only 100 miles/level. Just make it slightly further away than the caster can go (I think it's written that way by default). Note that the mirror is a one-way trip. It's broken, and doesn't go back to the Demonskar. They'll be thinking that they'll have to be trecking out on foot, so they'll stay the night.
~Qualidar~
I had them appear in the Bright Desert in Greyhawk. It is further than 700 miles from Cauldron.
The teleport will fail: the other end of the mirror where Alex is trapped is in the middle of some desert, far, far away. Teleport has a range of only 100 miles/level. Just make it slightly further away than the caster can go (I think it's written that way by default). Note that the mirror is a one-way trip. It's broken, and doesn't go back to the Demonskar. They'll be thinking that they'll have to be trecking out on foot, so they'll stay the night.
~Qualidar~
We're still using 3.0. Distance is not a factor, though weight is. Actually they did the calculation last session and the mage can't tp the whole party at once (half-orc in full plate with a full blade = heavy). He might tp back with just Alex and leave the rest to wait a day. Then back, wait another day, and back again.
Dodo,
Just as a kind of an FYI, when my group went through the Starry Mirror to reach Alek they were spent out. Once there, the group decided to camp in the room Alek was trapped in before opening the door to see what was on the other side since they had no way of knowing where the mirror had transported them. Even fully rested and prepped back up, Nabthatoron nearly decimated them.
Alek was slain along with my NPC cleric and the group’s wizard. The remainder of the party, on their last legs, managed to take Nabthatoron down to roughly half of his hit points. At that point I had him mock them for failing to save Alek and let them know that through his machinations Red Gorge was now doomed. Nabthatoron then teleported away rather than risk more damage that might have made him vulnerable to a possible coup back in the Demonskar. This allowed part of the group to survive receive Nidrama’s warning through the dying Alek and set the stage for the Test of the Smoking Eye.
So just be aware that even with being at full strength, there is no guarantee that the adventurers can defeat the demon lord in a straight up fight.
Still, if you really want to see how your group would fair against the demon lord without hamstringing your player character’s capabilities, go ahead and let the group’s wizard teleport back with Alek. This allows the group to rest, even if independently, and lets them provide the basic means to handle the Red Gorge situation.
When the wizard returns the next day, have Nabthatoron strike at the party in retribution for foiling his schemes. If things start to go south for your heroes, have Kaurophon show up offering a way out via his plane shift ability, claiming he was sent by the “angel” rather than the “prophet” as given in his possible answers when being questioned in the Test of the Smoking Eye.
I think this idea will allow you to still have the big fight while allowing your players to feel that their decisions and actions make a difference in how the story is unfolding. Additionally, by using Kaurophon as the escape clause you segue nicely into the next chapter of the campaign.
I hope that the above is of some use and good luck with your campaign. I look forward to hearing how your group's battle with Nabthatoron plays out.
Good Gaming,
Mark
I may be misremembering the sequence of events, but isn't Nidrama supposed to deliver a message through Alek before they get a chance to tp out? If so, change the message slightly, from "You can't help Cauldron now" to "You can't help Cauldron or Redgorge now...", and stress that they should seek the smoking eye.
Before that point, if they try to teleport out, they're still fighting the bad guys, and Alek doesn't want to go, so he can't be teleported.
Actually that's the best suggestion. Alek isn't willing, so won't be able to be teleported.
It begs the question "Can an unconscious person be teleported?" I'd rule that if there was some sort of prior permission, then sure, but if no prior permission, or outright hostility, then no. If the decision to use teleport comes after someone is unconscious, then no. Adventuring parties would have to make prior agreements with each other-- "If I'm unconscious and an escape must be made, I hereby authorize you to teleport my unconscious form." No prior consent, no tp.
Heh.
I love the idea of Kaurophon showing up with a, "Come with me if you want to live" and off they go to the Occipitus, but I also love the dying words of Alek as spoken by Nidrama. I think I can probably pull that off during the battle, because when Alek goes down the cleric (or someone) will surely rush to his side to administer healing, and even mid-battle the cleric alone can get the message.
It's another couple of weeks until I run this, but I'll report back.
Actually, my party had an easy time with the glabrezu. The combination of Alek's holy sword (which was picked up by NPC Fario after the paladin's death), an align weapon spell on the fighter's weapon and Alakast (which I ruled as being able to bypass .../good DR) made minced meat of the demon. Since he is focusing his initial attacks on Alek anyway, the PCs will not be taking too much damage, so they should be albe to survive the fight (easily).