OK, I find myself in a major DM bind. My players had been looking forward to the Champion's Belt and some good arena combat, and so they were more than glad to sign up with Ekaym and take part in the games. They breezed through the first fight with no problem, bet on themselves, and came out victorious and with a hefty sum of cash. That was the last positive thing that happened. After that, things went rapidly to heck.
On the first night after their victory, Ekaym came to them with the story about his missing sister. So on that very night, without resting up from the day's exertions, they go off exploring the caverns. One of my PCs has a low-level ghost as an Undead Cohort (he's a dread necromancer/cleric gestalt), so he started sending the ghost off to scout the sealed-off areas undergounds (the plug in the water, the stairways in the circular hallway that were blocked by stone. The ghost passes through everything incorporeally, and happens upon the ruined training room of where the Morhg and the six spawns were stationed. When the ghost tells them of his discovery, they immediately decide to dimension door into the room.
At this point, they are still 9th level gestalts. There are only two players in the campaign, backed up by multiple summoned creatures and controlled undead. Well, what essentially happens next is probably lack of DM preparedness more than anything else, but they go many rounds with Bozal Zahol, and end up defeating him. However, in the last round before his death, he takes his standard action to release the ulgurstata.
The ulgurstata immediately surges its gargantuan form towards the nearest living thing, but by the time it squeezes its bulk near them, they've moved away and left several summoned creatures behind to act as meat shields. When they see how easily it swallows/cuts through the things they summon, they decide to get out of there with another dimension door (not before accidentally stumbling into the alkalith's chamber and being acid-slapped about, though).
The adventure ended with them dimension-dooring back to the Coenoby, where they hope to pick up some of the rest of their larger undead minions, then are going to use the last of their spells to dimension door out again.
OK, I'm rambling, but here's my problem: this effectively ends the Champion's Belt adventure for them. The ulgurstata will break through the ceiling in minutes, and will release a horde of Kyuss Spawns on a sleeping Waterdeep. The PCs are completely depleted, and will need 8 hours to recover. They are still only 9th level, and will now likely be faced with several mobs of Kyuss Spawns and Kyuss Knights before they can get out of town safely.
This is such an unexpected turn of events for me as a DM, I'm not sure what would be best to do next. Is this a job for the Grey Hand to deal with? And if the PCs just leave town, they still have insufficient XP to deal with Dragotha, much less the next of the adventure paths...le sigh. How do I keep them involved, now that they've inadvertently doomed thousands of innocents?
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Well-since the Ulgurstatsta hasn't completed the ritual, it's not going to be making Spawns of Kyuss, just low-level skeletons. So at least a viciously infectious zombie plague won't be hitting the free city. Normally.
You can put them through a side quest, to get them enough XP for next level. In fact, given their reliance of dimension door, you could require them to fight a running battle with undead mobs through the city as they flee. Plus, you can include a random encounter or two on the way to the next adventure. The Ebon Triad might send someone after them for destroying the cult earlier in the campaign. The police, after various divinations, might consider the PCs "persons of interest" and in the process of trying to 'question' the PCs, invoke a couple fights.
Well, I believe that the Apostle of Kyuss (the ulgurstasta) is still "enhanced", with full hit points, haste, shield of faith, etc., as a result of the Apostolic Scrolls--as such, it also has the ability to vomit out two spawn of kyuss and six skeletons instead of just normal skeletons. (Those who perish as a result of its necromantic acid rise as spawn of kyuss.) This is a CR 13 baddie, and almost certain death for an unprepared party.
But, it doesn't have to be. With a two-person gestalt party, already drained from combat, the options are limited indeed. However, consider the following options:
1: Have more heroic remaining members of the Champions Games break out of the Coenoby to try to save Waterdeep. Perhaps they offer to help the PCs try to stop the monster from destroying the city. This gives you some extra numbers to assist your PCs in overcoming the marathon run of encounters. You may even want to give the NPCs a cut of the experience as a warning for your overzealous PCs to be more careful with their resources in the future. You might even want some of the more terrified guards to release Madtooth the Hungry to try to do combat with the Apostle. Certainly Auric would be likely to help.
2: Reduce the ulgurstasta to that of a normal ulgurstasta. I think it's CR 11, which should still be manageable. This will reduce some of its more numeric advantages, which the PCs can capitalize on, even with their lack of resources.
3: Let Waterdeep rot. It's a harsh situation, but it will help bring home the very real threat Kyuss can be, even from the shadows. It will give the PCs a reason to pursue the path of the Age of Worms to its writhing conclusion.
4. Why not just rule that the Ulgurstasta is quickly 'subdued' by Loris and his minions, to be released later (i.e. as scripted, during the last fight). Loris would be inclined to do this because otherwise his cover is blown prematurely, his plans foiled. You can try to keep the PC's in the games by whatever means seems least forced, but it's even possible that Loris might want to keep them in the games to stop them blabbing about what they say under the arena (figuring he'll see them killed off at some point, by fair or foul means - e.g. in my game, he sent his henchman in to try and assassinate them at one point, with one of the dwarves, then claimed to know nothing of it to the authorities). If you follow this sort of tack, somehow Loris also needs to make sure the PC's do not get back to the Ulgurstasta a 2nd time - hopefully the demon under the arena will suffice as a powerful guardian (in my game, the PC's fought that one twice and dimension doored away from it both times).
That's an awesome scenario you have there. I suggest milking it so that the situation ends with the PCs earning at least the same amount of XP had they continued with the games as normal.
Great suggestions so far. I suggest running a chaotic scene where the gladiators rally and fight. Auric's Warband, Pitch Blade, and any other teams you create could wallop the ulgurstasta and the undead, to say nothing of what the PCs could achieve. Heck, throw Madtooth at the ulgurstasta and see what happens. ;-)
It's happening at night, right? No crowd, so no dire threat of an exponential infestation right away.
And even if a chain-reaction infesting triggered somehow, I doubt Waterdeep would be doomed. Anyone familiar with FR could conjure up some aspect of Khelben, the Chosen, Halastar, the Paladinson, Malchor Harpell, Maskar Wands, and countless other heroes and adventurers to turn the tide (many of which are included in the City of Splendors text, and several other books).
The gargantuan statue guardians could pulp spawn of Kyuss with ease. Also note that temples of Oghma and Tyr and Blackstaff Tower are only about four blocks southeast of the Field of Triumph. Plenty of powerful wizards and clerics there, including Lareal Silverhand (which also means that all of the Seven are possible NPCs if need be) and Lorkas Ermaxis, a paladin 20 of Tyr. There's also a temple of Lathandar right across the street to the southeast, which could house any number of moderately (or highly) powerful clerics of Lathandar, including Ghentilara, a cleric 6/morninglord of Lathandar 10. The Hall of Heroes is a temple found right across the street to the north, but I'm not entirely certain which god that temple was built for. Plenty of potential allies no matter the situation.
If you do trigger an infestation, drag it out. Street-to-street fighting mobs of undead, people dying everywhere, Dawn of the Dead, very chaotic. Hours of die rolling, tense pressure, worms flying. Think of what one mob of wights or spawn of Kyuss could do to a street full of Waterdhavians. Things could get out of hand real fast. If you need to, have a notable hero or wizard make an appearance to turn the tide in some dramatic way, whether on a small or large scale. It's Waterdeep. It happens.
Unless my PCs seek out the ulgurstasta, it will definitely eat a fighter in the final match, and there will definitely be a hideous apocalyptic mass-curse leading to thousands of wights pouring out of the Field of Triumph, with the PCs in the middle of the arena. I'm definitely taking advantage of that situation. This is the scenario I've wanted to run for a long time. Raknian becomes a death knight and escapes, to face the PCs again alongside Darl Quethos and his other minions.