The Abandonment of Golismorga

[The Magehound]

I have a bit of a problem here and could use some advice...

I should start by saying that my players are not a typical party. At the moment they are made up of a Pixie Rogue, a Half Fey Ultimate Magus, a Half Doppleganger Swashbuckler, a WereTiger Favored Soul and a 10 year old Aquatic Lizardman as their Legendary Captain. It has been an incredible campaign so far, full of a lot of laughs as my players role play their characters very well. But they are a very tough lot and suffer from a certain sense of invincibility at times even though a few have been killed off in the past.

The problem you see, is that my group recently made it's way to Golismorga and naturally went to the first (and only) man made looking structure they could find. Upon reaching the Ziggurat, they watched the troglodytes for a few minutes as they milled around the building. At this point, the fearless 10 year old Lizardman (played by a 30 something man with a great sense of humor) decided that he would don the pixies hat of disguise and make himself look like a trog. The pixie thought this great fun and off he ran into the midst of the trogs. He was promptly Dominated and put to work.

Most of the party didn't get that there was a problem at first, but eventually realized they had to get him out of there. Thus the battle ensued and all hell broke loose. The Pixie and the Half Fey were killed and the Captain nearly fell as well. Their only saving grace was that the majority of the party stayed a good distance away from the fight and rained down fireballs. In the end they managed to get both corpses and huddle up for a teleport back to the docks where the shadow pearls are delivered.

In the end, after a few quick (yet expensive spells) Revenance and Revivify, the party is whole again, but a bit shaken. They have determined that it would be unwise to try to tackle the ziggurat again, or even return to Golismorga for that matter.

Any suggestions as to how I might impress the dire outcome of that decision upon them?

[Chris P]

Who is the Favored Souls god? Maybe a vision of the Tlocs' Tear (sp?) causing the wall to come down. Maybe telling one of them that during the fight they saw a lone creature searching the ruins itself, so that they would talk to the devourer and get more info.

[Matthew Vincent]

The Magehound wrote:

They have determined that it would be unwise to try to tackle the ziggurat again, or even return to Golismorga for that matter.

This seems incongruous with your earlier statement of "they are a very tough lot and suffer from a certain sense of invincibility at times"

Do they realize that shadow pearls are being made there and sent abroad (thus heralding The End Of The World As We Know It)? Do they know that they can pretty much avoid the (overly powerful) ziggurat entirely by merely breaking a crumbling piece of rock (i.e. the Tear of Taloc)?

If not, then you should make this information available, maybe via:
1) The troglodyte 'ally' freed from prison earlier in the adventure
2) The aboleth posing as a god's avatar
3) The mongrelmen
4) Recovered notes from the Brine Harlot
5) Interogating captured crimson fleet pirates
6) Lavinia insisting that they she prefer the world not be destroyed
7) Divination: the party cleric(s)should be casting this spell daily if they have down-time.
8) As a last resort: Noltus Innersol (a Pelorian cleric from the next adventure) could come down off the mountain and explain to them (in no uncertain terms) exactly what his own divinations have revealed.

It sounds like they simply think that they are supposed to fight the entire ziggurat (and don't realize there is an alternative).