The party have penetrated into the lower area. They have met their doubles and killed them. But they have not discoverd the secret doors and they are running low on resources.
There's every possibility they will simply head back to the Crooked House right now. So what happens next?
(I might add that I am a new DM, so forgive me)
Let's say they go to the planning room and start riffling through papers. Well, a couple of dopelgangers fled from combat in the main corridor outside the cells, so the rest of the coimplex is alerted. Shall I have Telakin simply emerge through the secret door?
Mind you - that's a suggestion.
Heck! One of the characters was in the room, tied up! He would have SEEN the fleeing dopelgangers run through the octagonal room and open the secret door!
Doh!
Thanks, guys.
Hi Paul,
Looks like you solved your own dilemma. Good DM's have a knack for doing that, so I reckon that's a good omen for you.
My group is playing in the same area, as they just defeated Telarkin last week. The low party resources made for a very memorable and long fight. That's probably just what you want really.
However, with my entire group now on low'ish hit points and very low on spells, this has created a minor dilemma of my own. Are Zyrzog and the drow thralls (the last encounter in Sodden Hold) going to take them out? Even with Zyrzog only blasting and running off, it could be the straw that breaks the camels back.
But, really it's no dilemma, as I just love it when it goes down to the wire. It's why I DM, to push players to the limit, and sometimes, just sometimes, a little bit over.
Cheers
GoV
(MAJOR SPOILER ALERT)
My group is still playing through HoHR too. If your players are having trouble with the Sodden Hold (to his credit, mine were cursing Bulmahn's name before they even got to the giant octopus), just wait until they get to Zyrxog's domain! My players had an easy time with Telakin - he was down & out before he even got to use his barbarian form. But I had a PC death via randomly-rolled black pudding just while searching the sewers alone... They all got charmed into bowing and scraping and giving the naga his 1000gp worth of gifts for safe passage when he vastly outrolled them on opposed CHA checks, then they rescued the prisoners from the drow. They decided to escort the prisoners back to the surface, offering to help them get past the yellow mold and try to talk the "friendly" snake into letting them by for free, since the prisoners were broke. Well, Fassash got angry at being reawoken, but noticed the impressive new "gifts" the party had brought him so he forgave them for interrupting him again and forgetting to kneel before him. He ate one of the elves and the charm effect was broken, but between fighting him as the other prisoners fled in a panic (all but one of them getting killed by the yellow mold), getting past the glyph (still active), battling the octopin sentinels (who kept on rending due to "lucky" rolls) and their bigger cousin in Z's lab room (who would have killed another PC if I hadn't had him power attack for max in a desperate gamble that he'd miss due to the huge attack penalty) and facing the stone brain, not to mention meeting up with the illithid right after the large octopin (they checked out the balcony (before casting any cure spells, would you believe?!) and he was in his room waiting, so they're fighting him in the lab instead of down below, which might actually have given them a better chance of winning were they not so near death when the fight started), they are just a couple rounds from a TPK if they don't come up with something pretty slick, and I mean pronto. And I've actually been fairly generous in terms of not trying my best to actually kill them, like what I did with the large octopin's power attack penalty... We had to end our session in mid-combat last week with half the party still stunned from Z's blast and the others with severely depleted hit points, and the octopins only just showed up last round... Zyrxog doesn't have a scratch on him yet. I have the fear. I'm hoping this Thursday won't be our final session in the Age of Worms AP! They have the eversmoking bottle, which one PC suspects is an efreeti bottle. They're thinking of opening it and 'wish'ing for salvation, so maybe I'll have Z be arrogant enough to retreat as the room gets all smokey and leave his Vrock statue to soften them up a bit more in hopes of amplifying their delicious terror before he goes in for the kill in the last room. At the very least, it'll prolong their torment...
Oh wait, there was a question, wasn't there?... Oh yeah. Aside from the warning that the rest of the adventure is even more deadly than the Sodden Hold, I'd say that if they don't find their way into the inner doppelganger rooms, Telakin should show up on their tail with any remaining minions as they battle the drow, with Zyrxog's letter in his pocket. That way they'll likely miss out on some treasure, but they'll at least have some clues as to where to go next...
Good luck!
Kang
I'd say that if they don't find their way into the inner doppelganger rooms, Telakin should show up on their tail with any remaining minions as they battle the drow, with Zyrxog's letter in his pocket
Yeah - good enough.
There are some fun times to be had yet. They did not encounter the octopus on the way in because I did not understand the way the water room worked, or (in-game) because Ixixian was leading the party at that point. Now that they are on the way out without their doppelganager escort, it will attack.
Fun times!
I'd say that if they don't find their way into the inner doppelganger rooms, Telakin should show up on their tail with any remaining minions as they battle the drow, with Zyrxog's letter in his pocketYeah - good enough.
Simplest solution I could think of, at any rate. Simple is always good for times like this, I find. Anything that lets them continue on without wasting more table time than necessary, really. Like I said, finding the secret doors would get them more treasure, but not finding them could stop them in their tracks. Since they didn't find them, just a matter of getting them back on track.
There are some fun times to be had yet. They did not encounter the octopus on the way in because I did not understand the way the water room worked, or (in-game) because Ixixian was leading the party at that point. Now that they are on the way out without their doppelganager escort, it will attack.
Fun times!
Not understanding the water room, I can certainly understand. Took me quite a while to figure that one out myself. If you're still struggling with it, maybe I can clarify it a little:
There are 2 tall shafts that fill up with water; one they took down from the Sodden Hold. At the bottom of this first shaft is a short passageway leading to the bottom of the other shaft.
When all the water is drained out of both shafts, the barrel sits on the floor of the first shaft, and the second one has a 10-foot tall pillar with the water-level controls on it and a ladder leading down to the floor. 40 feet above that is the walkway leading to the door that goes into the doppelganger lair. The giant octopus hides down the drains from the second shaft when the water is gone.
When the water level is raised (as it was supposed to be when they first came from Sodden Hold), the octopus has the run of shaft #2 (presumably could enter #1 also if you want), where the pillar raises up with the water level. The pillar meets the walkway and the 10 foot ladder goes down to water level. Shaft 1 also fills up to the 40 foot mark in this case, making the barrel float up as well.
I think it was the map that confused me the most - the little hallway at the top of the map of shaft #2 leads to the bottom of shaft #1, but this isn't as clear from the maps and descriptions as it might have been.
The octopus was a tough battle for my players, actually.
Kang
Not understanding the water room, I can certainly understand. Took me quite a while to figure that one out myself. If you're still struggling with it, maybe I can clarify it a little:
All done. I didn't even get to attack with the octopus, at the end. The story is here.
Oh well. Still got the octopins to come.