Hi everyone,
my group did take on the mission about finding Zenith and encountered Jared while running from the dragon. They decided to wait and see what happens. I chose to have Jared proudly walk back to defend his castle, which prompted Gottrod to catch him and start an interrogation.
The group still didn't want to attack, not being able to scale their enemy properly they didn't want to risk anything.
They snuck up on him and (due to a few bad rolls on listen/spot) the dragon managed to overlook them in the first place. They all had some position, when the Bard finally decided it was time to start singing. And that, of course, found Gottrod's attention. So much, in fact, that he got fascinated and - to add insult to injury - was suggested to follow the Bard, who proceeded to lead Gottrod away from the burning hut to allow the rest of the party to bring Jared to safety. Jared, however, didn't want to let this dragon part, not with his minions finally coming to see him and called out to the dragon, who still followed the suggestion given to him by the Bard.
Group decides to knock Jared out, which takes some time, despite the knock-out master dealing over 10 hp per round and getting help from other party members and the AoO allowed by Jared's attempt to educate his non-behaving minions by use of a spell.
In the meantime, the Bard starts talking to Gottrod and he tells about his motives, trying to find the Underdark, which coincide with the players, so the Bard makes the mistake of admitting that they, too, don't have a clue where to go and want to ask Jared themselves. Gottrod takes the opportunity to break from the suggestion and searches for Jared, as this is exactly what the Bard had told him is the course of action.
He finds him quickly as he (unconcious, ~40 hp subdual damage) is being dragged away from the scene by other PCs. He flies over quickly and talks to the PC who is holding him. After that one responds with draconic (Black half-dragon accent) and admits also not being able to help, he attempts to dispose of him using his breath weapon on him and his friend as well while at it.
Needless to say, Jared was between them and took the full 36 hp fire damage, not being able to save (helpless) and dies right there. The fighter/bbn takes 18 to the head, the fighter/rogue evades. I gave them exactly 1 round to attempt to rescue Jared and would have let them have it, but the fighter/bbn/dragon ancestry decided that curing himself of his flesh wound was more important than stabilizing their only source of information on how to proceed, so Jared died a quick death right then and there.
Gottrod didn't live very long after that as a combination of lightning bolt (7d6), phantasmal killer (3d6), magic missiles (4d4+4) and dispel magic (to make a few more arrow hit due to the dispelled mage armor) plus the Barbarian attack (full power attack and backed by an action point to make it hit nonetheless) had taken its toll on the poor beast.
6 characters (4 7th, 2 6th) do make a CR7 dragon really look puny... (at least it showed in the small chunk of XP they received for that)
They decided to drag the corpse of Jared back to Cauldron and have him interrogated through speak with dead.
What would he be able to tell as a dead person ?
Would he want to be resurrected before giving answers ?
Would he answer sensible ?
How can he reveal the information that he would have put on a piece of paper (map to pit) as a dead guy ?
Any input is appreciated.
Nib
>> What would he be able to tell as a dead person ?
You campaign is pretty derailed without his info, so I'd have him give it.
>> Would he want to be resurrected before giving answers ?
"This spell does not let you actually speak to the person (whose soul has departed). It instead draws on the imprinted knowledge stored in the corpse". So the subject, the corpse, doesn't get to ask questions or make any demands.
>> Would he answer sensible ?
Hmm, it's the imprinted knowledge that comes forth. I'd say his imprinted knowledge is crazy as well. It's going to take many Speak with Dead to get that information out.
>> How can he reveal the information that he would have put on a piece of paper (map to pit) as a dead guy ?
Have the map already drawn and stored in the "Andurian Treasury Vault" - a tree trunk or under a rock. Jared talks of the great riches hidden there only for the players to discover a shiny rock, an acron that looks like a face, and the map. He, he.
Don't forget Jared has to make a Will save. I'd let the players explore the "basement" of Jared's castle (a space dug under his log cabin) and find a map and a journal there which contain all the info they need.
Bran
Well, he can always impart the information in a cryptic riddle of some kind, though the spell would not allow him to refuse to answer until he's been resurrected. If you want to punish the players for selfishness, have Jared send them to the pit by way of the lair of some nasty creature.
I think the cryohydra is nasty enough, isn't it ? :)
Well, he can always impart the information in a cryptic riddle of some kind, though the spell would not allow him to refuse to answer until he's been resurrected. If you want to punish the players for selfishness, have Jared send them to the pit by way of the lair of some nasty creature.I think the cryohydra is nasty enough, isn't it ? :)
We had the session yesterday. I let them have the way fairly simple, but not without wasting at least one of their questions. Jared was crazy enough to respond exactly as per the book to their expected question: What is the way to the underdark entrance.
He told them to get pen and paper ;-)
Next was to describe the way. he responded with something cryptic: Head towards Kheltos and turn east as the sun sets.
In principle completely useless, but they had their best guess and just assumed that Kheltos would be Jared's name for Hookface and went north only to turn east when they saw the sun in the west descend exactly lined up with a bowl and a peak and a riverbed leading east.
They found the hydra.
I had decided earlier that I will treat each head individually and have it breath/attack on its own timing dealing 3d6 damage with the ice breath. Each jet/head allowing to save, which gave the 2 rogues a good time and everyone else a fair chance.
They met the first volley of rays head on, but were sufficiently spread out that no character received more than 3 jets. Some of them were quick to retreat, the Gnome wizard immediately fireballed away. However, they didn't expect the fast healing, so I tipped them off to this by stating that the fireball damage had almost completely worn off when the hydra came out of the hole again to face the illusionary group of adventurers (major image) and proceeded to attack those for a while (abysmal will save). The rest was doing about as much damage with arrows as the hydra regenerated with its fast healing. Until - the meatshield critted with his +3 composite longbow and dealt a whopping 25+ damage. Meanwhile every player was sort of aware that this thing healed quickly and so the wizard returned to massive damage (lightning bolt). The two most capable melee combatants then decided to charge it. The rogue, on his way quaffed a potion, drawing an AoO having neglected its reach, the fighter/barbarian flew into rage on the way down. Rogue after being hit for more than his potion had healed him, did a 180 while the fighter put the hydra to the test. He figured now or never and went all in. Full power attack, charge, and drama die (house rule, similar to action points), jumped the thing leading to a massive attack with his greatsword. He didn't crit it, but he didn't need to. 36 damage in a single massive blow brought the beast to -22 hp, which I deemed enough despite its impending initiative count when it could have healed up 17 points. I decided that he had cleaved the thing into two pieces. Everyone was breathing a big sigh of relief.
Was a good combat. Later that night a hill giant started raining boulder onto the camp, which was more dangerous to one PC who was particularly reckless.
Anyway, the hydra (with the stats from above) was nasty, but not deadly to a group of 3 7th level and 2 6th level characters, who knows that retreating is sometimes the correct choice. (I've had groups before who always assumed that no matter what they do, the encounters are both level-appropriate and mistake-forgiving)
For future reference:
I think this combat is all about synchronizing damage. If the group can and attempts to deal 77+ points within one or 94+ points in 2 subsequent rounds, the combat is very simple. If they resort to hit and run tactics, the fast healing and recharging breath weapons give the hydra a big edge.
Nib