Ditching Kaurophon after the Cathedral of Feathers

[Arden Belus]

So, my group is pretty damn paranoid. I think the encounter with the beholder taking their victory from them early on set the mood for them...so when the soon-to-be-dead Alek recommended them to seek the Smoking Eye, and then the half-fiend Kaurophon appeared shortly afterwards, they didn't trust him at all.

One divination later (cast the next morning after resting after the glabrezu messed them up something awful) laid bare K's eventual betrayal of them, they decided to follow him only as much as they had to. They're planning on killing him off as soon as they're done with the first test. Of course, unless they get off a lucky hit, he'll just dim door out of the battle and wait.

My original plan was just to have him occasionally scry upon them (he's traveled with them for almost a week--he knows they're most active within an hour or two of dawn when the cleric gets her spells), and just teleport into the third test when they get there. (pre-buffed, of course. I bet they'll take more than 30 seconds to discuss their options, and that's 10 rounds of buffs right there, assuming I use the dramatic "of course he's scrying on you right then")

Does that seem fair? Considering they have to sacrifice an "ally", would the guy they've traveled with and fought alongside still count as an ally after they turn on him? Should I change the last test to be the sacrifice of a "companion", which he certainly was at one point even if they didn't trust him enough to be an ally? Or let him try to get them and assuming they win, not let them obtain the template unless they actually sacrifice a party member (or discover the "good" way of succeeding).

[Clint Freeman]

I would definitely have Kaurophon shadow them to the test. Perhaps he can recruit any enemies the heroes leave for dead, but not quite dead. Then he can show up with his own force, for two reasons:
1) to sacrifice
and
2) to take out his new competition

Plus Kaurophon has the added luxury of being able to sacrifice any of his new allies or his former allies, your heroes.

So, if he can save any of those guys who might not have died in the Cathedral fight, or get the Rakshasa and the Fire Giant from last test, that'd give him a boost. But I'd have him show up with help, even if it is just some grey and death slaadi looking for a good time.

-c

[PulpCruciFiction]

As for your problem of sacrificing an ally, I don't think Kaurophon would count after the party turns on him. From what you said, it doesn't sound like they ever really considered him an ally, and any alliance they may have had was broken once they tried to kill him. If you don't want the PCs to have to sacrifice one of their own, you could have them set up a tentative alliance with another group like the rakshasa or the succubus, or just make sure that they have the couatl or the avoral guardinal with them at the end.

[Arden Belus]

Clint Freeman wrote:

get the Rakshasa and the Fire Giant from last test

That's actually quite a good idea. The PCs are already convinced the Rakshasa and the Giant are allies of Kaurophon when he mentioned them as rivals for the Smoking Eye. May as well play into their fears. I had boosted Kaurophon a couple levels (the PCs demanded a side-quest during the winter months between Flood Festival and Zenith Trajectory in the spring, so they're a bit over the recommended party level. Due to the way that the half-fiend template works, there's a jump in CR right around 12 -> 13 hit dice due to the extra spell-like abilities.

As it is, I'm pretty sure they're going to go through the first two tests and quit when they come to the third. They're pretty strongly good-aligned, and I can't see them sacrificing a PC or a cohort.

[Arden Belus]

I actually had a brilliant idea the other day.

I don't really want the party to turn on itself and sacrifice a member, and I'm fairly certain they wouldn't anyway. Given how important the smoking eye is, they're going to want it by the endgame.

Now, one of the PCs has the the "Touched in the Head" trait from the hardcover, so Adimarchus is already playing with her head. I sent her a bunch of dreams she's been having since she came to Occipitus to foreshadow the endgame, as well as a bit of the backstory.

These have included a caged Adimarchus calling her "daughter", and scenes of Graz'zt's tricking Adimarchus into the cage. We'll see if the message I gave her "You are both your most valuable ally, as well as your most potent enemy" leads the crazy girl into sacrificing herself. :)

If she did, it'd work out nicely...first off, the rest of the party is scared to death of the crazy girl getting control of a plane, so it'd lead to some fun situations. Also, she is a fire-specialized psion with a modified elemental savant prestige class, so she's turning into a fire elemental. The Smoking Eye is right up her alley.

They'll probably get to the Test of Sacrifice tomorrow night; I'm excited to see how everything goes down.