My Players are Moving Into the Dungeon! [SPOILERS]

[Demiurge 1138]

My Rise of the Runelords game is going along nicely enough, with the party just clearing out the Catacombs of Wrath last session (it's quite pleasant running an entire dungeon in a single session - I shouldn't get used to it). But now, there's talk of the party arcanist, a Shoanti war-mystic (wu-jen/warmage) moving in. It has clean water! A floating room! And everyone seems to think it's a pretty good idea. It'd give them a permanent base in Sandpoint, after all. They'd pay Ameiko for the property, and make sure the workers at the refurbished Glassworks knew what was going on when they came out and went in.

But, of course, there's lots of talk of the Catacombs being returned to in Sins of the Saviors. Hints that the Scribbler's restless spirit will manifest.

What should I do? Should I foreshadow that the Catacombs are a Bad Place? Or should I let them have it? And I should assume that the dungeon opens up more at some point when they're not at home, right?

[That Dave Guy]

Demiurge 1138 wrote:

My Rise of the Runelords game is going along nicely enough, with the party just clearing out the Catacombs of Wrath last session (it's quite pleasant running an entire dungeon in a single session - I shouldn't get used to it). But now, there's talk of the party arcanist, a Shoanti war-mystic (wu-jen/warmage) moving in. It has clean water! A floating room! And everyone seems to think it's a pretty good idea. It'd give them a permanent base in Sandpoint, after all. They'd pay Ameiko for the property, and make sure the workers at the refurbished Glassworks knew what was going on when they came out and went in.

But, of course, there's lots of talk of the Catacombs being returned to in Sins of the Saviors. Hints that the Scribbler's restless spirit will manifest.

What should I do? Should I foreshadow that the Catacombs are a Bad Place? Or should I let them have it? And I should assume that the dungeon opens up more at some point when they're not at home, right?

I am assuming that the PC's won't be able to open the rest of the complex until they find something specific. I would let them move in.

But if anybody tries to sleep in the Scribbler's levitation room I would give them vicious terrible nightmares.

[darkbard]

I'm with Dave, only I'd add game mechanics to back up those nightmares (a la the spell)!

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

I'd let them move in. There is a small chance that you'll have to modify something when the adventure in question comes out to explain how it is that whatever is going to go off still does. But think of the possibilities of having bad things come out of the walls while their all snoring the night away. That could be a real fun start to the adventure with the PCs running around in their underwear.

[James Jacobs]

HA! Awesome! Let them move in!

There's going to be a lot more places that the PCs will be able to claim as headquarters as the campaign progresses, so there's a pretty good chance that your PCs will move out of the catacombs before "Sins of the Saviors" starts anyway, but even if they live in the catacombs for only half an adventure, they'll be that much more a part of your game so that when the time comes to return to the catacombs, it'll be all the better.

A preview of what's in store for the catacombs in Pathfinder 5:

Spoiler:

The scribbler is resurrected by Lamashtu as a guardian of a temple to the Goddess of Monsters and Madness. This temple is accessed by the stairs leading down near the floating room; those stairs will be cleared out by the time Sins begins. The temple is a second level under the catacombs, and is about the same size. The encounters therein are geared for 12th level characters, so you shouldn't encourage your PCs to dig the place out early, of course. OH! And events in Pathfinder 4 and 5 cause part of the catacombs to collapse into a sinkhole. Basically, the last room in the catacombs collapses and becomes an open air chamber into Sandpoint above; this event starts "Sins of the Saviors" out and has everyone in town looking at the catacombs all over again... especially at the strange sounds coming out of the hole and wondering what happened to the group of guards Hemlock sent in there to explore... the guards that never came back out...

[Djoc]

Ha, I described the place as a bit too creepy for my players to want to live in there. But if they did, I would have Lamashtu's presence influence them. Dreams (or more likely nightmares) and primal/violent urges among others. And, of course, monster babies if they were to bring in their lovers in there ;)