Things have been progressing nicely for the group that I'm DM'ing, and they've become rather cocky. The party is magic-heavy - consisting of one paladin, one cleric, one wizard/archmage, one magic theurge and a highly mobile warlock with that highly annoying short-range dimension door at will.
If the party meets a locked door, they usually "dimension door" to the other side - but at this level, they still have to leave one character behind. (Which I've taken advantage of, off course)
So the warlock, the cleric, the paladin and the theurge dimension-doored into the Womb. Open central eye, spit, hoover... The theurge missed her fort. save and were paralyzed.
The remaining three moved outside the central eye cone, that took a full move for the armored halfling cleric, the paladin flew into position to do a devastating melee attack and the warlock dimension-doored out to get the wizard into the fight.
The paladin took three rays - missed his save on one of the death attacks and hit the ground, dead. The halfling cleric took three rays as well but succeeded her save and responded with a Destruction spell that didn't go thru'...
The wizard and the warlock arrive and the wizard casts Antimagic Field to avoid the rays. A spit later, the wizard was paralyzed and the cleric was hit by a death attack. That's two dead, two paralyzed in the antimagic cone and one warlock, which move quickly to grasp the two dead bodies outside the cone and dimension door out. Phew... That was pretty close. Don't know what they were thinking of - going into that lair without sufficient protection.
The remaining party will surely want to come back for revenge - probably stocked with Death Ward's and whatnot, but that'll take a few days before they're done raising and restocking.
Here comes the problem: What's the insanely intelligent Lord of Oblivion going to do now? Surely not sit idle and wait for their return... Is it too much of a stretch to let him disintegrate his way to the surface, turn up at the Cusp of Sunrise, charm the doorman, take up residence in the club, enjoy the wine and perhaps a snack on a few in the staff - probably charm a few of the nobles that frequents the club as well?
The party will go back to Oblivion, find conclusive evidence that suggests that a new mayor should be elected. Let the charmed nobles suggest that the election meeting is set at the Cusp of Sunrise and have the Lord of Oblivion turn up at that meeting for a bloody revenge just in time for the earthquakes to begin... Throw in a few bottles of poisoned wine, falling book racks and dropping crystal chandelier liberally augmented with flasks of alchemist fire.
Basically, the Lord of Oblivion will play the part of the Derro surprise attack. I might be able to use the Derro encounter later - during the eruptions or later if I feel the need to shake things up and underline that the Cagewrights are actively reaching out and trying to get to the characters.
I’m not sure if this plan will work – how would you play the Lord of Oblivion after this first confrontation with the heroes? I played him as being somewhat surprised when he put down four of the heroes in about as many rounds, so it’s safe to say that he knows that the heroes can do a lot better. I also feel that the right thing is to "play" the Lord of Oblivion now – while the action takes place in Cauldron. That’s the home turf that he’s lusting for. That - and revenge.
Any thoughts? Or better ideas on how to handle the situation that I’ve ended up with?
Kind regards / Henning
I like what you came up with as written. I think the derro thing is part of "another BBEG we never heard of" problem of the SCAP. IMC, I tried to emphasize on some NPC and don't bother to use the others. Less work for me, more fun for the players. A win-win situation. :)
The City council scene is brilliant and it should motivate them enough to pay a second visit to the Lord of O. Meanwhile, it gives their word enough weight to influence the council once they got rid of the opposition. After all, you don't save the whole nobility and priesthood of Cauldron everyday, do you?
Bran.
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I don't think the Cusp of Sunrise idea is very believable, to be honest. An arch-villain like Vhalantru would know better than to hole himself up in a less defensible location than before and wait for the PC's to show up again. He should take immediate steps to protect himself, and then set about destroying the people who know his secret.
If I were him, the first thing I would do is destroy all of the hard evidence that could expose him, making the PC's put their own word against mine. To be really sneaky, he could burn down his house, destroy as much of his compound as possible, and publicly accuse the characters of trying to murder him and take over the town, depending on their reputation around town.
If you still like the idea of putting him at the beginning of Foundations of Flame, you could do that, with it being an emergency meeting to discuss each side's allegations and Vhalantru finally losing his temper in public and outing himself.
If things go according to plan for Vhalantru, he'll soon be the mayor of a town with a giant gate to carceri. And when that's done, his secret isn't that important anymore. His best bet is to take out the PCs hard and fast now, while they're regrouping, rather than wait for them to come to him, prepared. Either that or find a good place to hide out while the cagewrights take care of them for him.
What valantru would probably do now is either send some minions out to dispatch the PCs, or get his own hands dirty. If he does the first, he would probably arrange it so that the minions leave a trail back to him. Big V would then set up shop in a spare lair (perhaps the Malachite Hold from the first adventure?) and set up a whole bunch of traps and monsters. Then he'd try to take out the PCs from there.
I don't think the Cusp of Sunrise idea is very believable...
I have a nagging feeling that you're right - that I’m stretching the believability a bit here... But then again - I ran the encounter in the Womb as written even though it stretches my believability that the ritual would be completed just as the characters arrived. And I find that the Derro surprise attack also is “stretching it”.
Having Big V disappear completely from the surface of Cauldron, and start major regrouping efforts so close to the eruptions and the influx of an obedient demon army feels a bit too safe – and might spark off a story arc and drag out the confrontation to a point in the adventure where the party really should be focusing on the Cagewrights (my party isn’t very good at handling multiple, concurrent threats or tasks).
Most of Big V’s allies have been killed by the group, Last Laugh has been disbanded (minus Jill) and the group of heroes have a very good reputation in the city, so I believe that any sort of confrontation or verbal standoff between Big V in disguise and the party will escalate into melee in seconds. They’ll go for his throat and try to keep minions/opposition away with Walls of Force and whatnot.
His best bet is to take out the PCs hard and fast now, while they're regrouping... What Big V would probably do now is either send some minions out to dispatch the PCs, or get his own hands dirty.
His movement, tracking ability and clean escape plan is somewhat hindered by the fact that he can’t cast Teleport on his own. I haven’t checked his hoard for scrying devices, but I suspect that he doesn’t have any of those either.
Big V’s really annoyed by that warlock’s escape. It turned a clean win into a very messy situation. My first impulse was to have Big V escape and join up with the Cagewrights, but I like the idea of letting the party finish him off (or at least get another chance at doing so) in Cauldron. That’s where he belongs story-wise.
With a dimension-dooring warlock/rogue in the party, it'll be hard to find a really good defensive position anywhere around Cauldron anyway, even though I like the idea of reusing the Malachite Hold.
I’m really in love with the idea of having him hide out in the club that he’s familiar with, which will enable him to continue his manipulative, decadent lifestyle and then just cease the opportunity to crush every member of the Cauldron elite when given the chance.
I’m grateful for the added insight in Big V’s possibilities that you guys have given, though. These boards have been a great help in running these adventures! I’ll report back on how the rematch goes.
/ Henning
Henning, I'm down with your plan. I look forward to the update.