Last night, we finally ran the Battle of Farshore. It was a great session, but we ran out of time after fighting the Vrocks. The night ended with Vanthus's arrival and revelation to Lavinia. So, on Monday night we'll open with the fight against Vanthus. Here's the dilemma: The party has fought well, already amassing enough victory points to win the day (barring a shadow pearl disaster). However, the Vrocks nearly killed them all. They completed their dance of ruin, killing the cleric and the samurai outright. I had Captian Kabbanja rush to their aid to desperatly try to defeat the demons. Our psion poured considerable energy (and XP) into raising the two dead characters, as well as Kabbanja when he valiantly fell. The five of them finished off the demons. Unfortunately, now they've got a cleric with almost no spells and a psion with almost no power points, leaving basically the banged up samurai and rogue to take on good ol' CR 14 Vanthus. Granted, it should be a tough fight, but I want to give my guys at least a fighting chance. This has TPK written all over it. Any suggestions?
|
Well, I suppose you could have them find a good healing magic item like a staff of life in one of the ships or one of the dead bodies of their enemies. Or maybe Lavinia has something like this to use on rainy day. The only other option would be some help in the form of an NPC cleric or a good outsider drawn to the conflict with so many demons in one place.
Here's a thought:
Are the Jade Ravens still around? Did the Olmans and Phanatons come to help?
If so, you could place your players in charge of them under the direction of the ones still alive. Have them each run their own litte crack squad - a low level olman shaman or cleric to provide whatever healing he/she can, a phanaton or two or three armed with a ranged weapon for ranged support, and one of the Jade Ravens to take it to Vanthus up and close or in whatever fashion best suits their skills. Meanwhile, the other PCs still living are doing whatever they can as well.
That's my suggestion.
If the day is lost to him, Vanthus might tussle with them for a few rounds and leave of his own accord before killing the PCs.
For example: Vanthus shows up and does his thing not really paying attention to the battle around him and instead concentrating on the PCs and his sis. A round or two after the fight breaks out describe the overall scene around the fight to the players (while their characters are being trounced). Describe it in a way that makes it look like that by tying Vanthus up they are allowing the colony's defenders the chance to turn the tide. A dramatic round or two later, and the battle is won (at least in the area that can be seen). If one of the player characters doesn't think to tell Vanthus that he's lost and that he should pack it, in before they all die at his hand, have Lavinia, the Ravens, colony NPCs, a small army of commoners and town militia (or all the above) make the point by interposing themselves between the nearly-beaten characters and their foe. "These are our heroes. If you want to get to them you'll have to go through us first - all of us." One "You win this day, heroes. But the next shall be mine" and a suitably dramatic exit later and you will really have the PCs scared/revved-up for their third and final encounter with Vanthus (after he's evolved a bit, of course).
The path to victory is not always by way of force alone.
GGG
Vanthus has a high AC and lots of mobility, but he really can't dish out that much punishment, from what I've seen. My PCs were completely out of spells/healing when they fought him, had one guy unconscious, and he still managed not to drop anyone.
The Olman/militia/Jade Ravens/phanaton helpers are good fix, if he's about to murderify everyone.
I would have Lavinia toss out healing potions and scrolls like it was her job. Maybe you can slip a wand or something (with only enough charges to get them through this encounter) onto Lavinia so that she can toss it to a spellcaster at the beginning of the encounter. Roleplaying is just as important as the combat in this encounter and it could be really dramatic to have the PCs give a last ditch struggle to kill Vanthus. Having VV stand back and use his spell-like abilities can give the banged up characters a round or two to recouperate. A round or two of melee, Vanthus retreats again, the PCs heal again, etc.
Have Uncle Maravanchi enter the fray at the last moment.
Have surviving town's people swarm in for a round or two. Have Lavinia take on her bro.
Actually have Vanthus hesitate on the brink, as the sight of his sister brings to the front the final vestiges of his humanity.
Or have Vanthus start monologuing.
Let Vanthus win.
No, really. He's here for his sister; as far as he's concerned your players' party is a pack of NPC mooks. If they fall in battle, he's not going to bother finishing them off any more than the PCs would waste mission time ensuring that each and every last pirate is killed. Upon his arrival and the beginning of the fight, he gloats. He gloats again as each bodyguard falls. After the bodyguards are dealt with, he grabs Lavinia and pauses to gloat some more. He then leaves with her, gloating all the way until they are both gone. To him, the attack may have failed as far as his masters are concerned, but he still has what HE really wants.
Since he failed to complete his mission, he is not absolutely sure he will be allowed to return without being killed, but he figures if he can cut out the middlemen in the Pearl production he will be forgiven. He heads toward Golismorga with Lavinia in tow, with the PCs presumably in hot pursuit once they've recovered sufficiently. Not finding what he wants there, he then ascends to Tlaloc's Crown to contact Throgiff. There, he steals one of Throgiff's ledgers, planning to use the information contained therein to re-ingratiate himself with his bosses.
At this point, the players have completed the next two modules in the series and are poised to rescue Lavinia in the third module in sequence, exactly as intended.
...
Or have Vanthus start monologuing.
The best answer, lol
On a more serious note, I like GGG's answer. Really, the PCs have already done enough to turn the tide of the battle, so all they have to do is tie up Vanthus for a few rounds. And the cleric may still be out spells, but he should still be able to melee (or at least take a few hits)
Vanthus has a high AC and lots of mobility, but he really can't dish out that much punishment, from what I've seen. My PCs were completely out of spells/healing when they fought him, had one guy unconscious, and he still managed not to drop anyone.
The Olman/militia/Jade Ravens/phanaton helpers are good fix, if he's about to murderify everyone.
I have to agree. Vanthus wasn't a threat to my players. It was everything up to Vanthus that caused them problems.