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My group had a tough time with the quasit. They were all level 2. They had done research in town, asking the local bards and wizards about what a quasit is. They found out its vulnerability to Cold Iron...then ignored that fact completely! They entered the Catacombs of Wrath, and the first room they entered was the temple. Heh. They also ignored the altar/dirty water and plunged into the main chamber. Erylium summoned up the sinspawn and the group went at it. About 2 minutes of fighting later the group was desperately weak. Their arrows were spent, the lucky wounds they caused were all healed up on the quasit, Erylium wasn't even bothering going invisible because they could barely touch her, and 2 out of the 4 party members were about to drop from poison damage (Dex). Erylium and her +11 attack was just...awesome. Oh, and the fighter was wrathful, from the sinspawn's bite. So, wisely they retreat.
They rest for a day, Father Zantus helps heal them, and they gather some cold iron weapons from Savah (Savah's Armoury). I rolled randomly to see what was available and they got some arrows and a shortsword. Returning to the Catacombs, they fight again. Erylium doesn't summon a sinspawn at first, but once 2 of the cold iron arrows hit her (good shots) she summons one as a distraction to let her heal. They dispatch the sinspawn quickly enough, but then have a run of bad luck and many of their arrows miss. Low on arrows and getting *very* frustrated (this was about 2-3 hours realtime), they finally decide to tackle her. The first flying leap off the raised platform misses, but after a while (and some nasty AoO clawing) they grab Erylium from the air...and stab her to death with *cold iron arrows* because the fighter was pinning her. The players faces were twisted in savagery as they rolled to plunge those arrows in. The scout particularly enjoyed running around the grapplers (to get her skirmish damage) and then leaping on the tiny quasit with her arrow. Yes, the arrows snapped each time they struck ;)
It was a lengthy battle, but ultimately satisfying when they finally laid Erylium low. They also learned the valuable lesson of *preparing beforehand* and using sound tactics.
Perhaps because of karmic balance, the fight against Koruvus was incredibly short. 1 ranger and 1 ranger/scout, both archers, with goblin as favored enemy. Yeah. Quick.
The group and myself are seriously enjoying this adventure path :D
It sounds like they've earned themselves some wrath points in the process. :)
Thanks for the story! It sounds like an encounter the players will be remembering in day to come.
My players also grappled her, then beat her to death with a cold iron birdcage they'd found in a side quest, since they didn't have any cold iron weapons.
"She's pinned? Good! I'm doing a coup-de-gras with the... birdcage."
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The fighter and the scout/ranger certainly got wrath points. The scout/ranger is usually full of anger, and is always looking for a release. Very good for the future (insert evil laugh here).
Sir_Wulf, I believe you can't Coup de Grace on a pin. The pinned creature is immobile, but not helpless. Hence my party stabbing, and breaking, multiple arrows to get the job done. Cool idea about the birdcage though. Ugly way to go!
My group just entered the Catacombs of wrath last night :) Also in level 2 - and they also went directly into the Cathedral. They butchered the Sinspawn and the summoned fiendish wolf and snake easily enough (btw my players really feared the sinspawn (the sorcerer was quite surprised to find out he was up against a monster with spell resistance, at level 2)). However, when it came to battling the AC 24/30hp/fast heal 2/DR 5(cold iron/good)/flying/invisible quasit queen...
The quasit kept flying 15' up most of the time, letting its tiny dagger rain upon them (dmg 1-2 each round). It didn't really bother being invisible, since nobody could hit it anyway. It shattered the barbarians Earth-breaker, caused fear etc. etc. Meanwhile, the party spent all of their spells and most of their arrows. They tried grappling it (escape artist), they tried to lasso it and what-not.
In the end, I had a very frustrated group of players - a relatively unwounded party of PCs and a totally unwounded quasit (with no spells). Since I didn't want us to die of boredom, the quasit retreated, woeing to return and slay the infidels.
I reckon the party will do some more research before returning to the catacombs, and hopefully return with some ideas on how to defeat the quasit queen. I guess I will have her and Koruvus together, as I don't think she will dare to use the runewell again, even to save her own skin.
If only they'd remembered the birdcage...
Sir_Wulf, I believe you can't Coup de Grace on a pin. The pinned creature is immobile, but not helpless. Hence my party stabbing, and breaking, multiple arrows to get the job done. Cool idea about the birdcage though. Ugly way to go!
A quick review of the SRD agrees with you, but I figured that a tiny creature pinned by multiple medium opponents was pretty darned helpless. (All it did was speed up the inevitable by a few anticlimactic rounds, as the raging barbarian pounded Erylium to a paste.)
But can you have more than one medium creature grapple a tiny creature? That's like having a few guys strangling a cat at once :p
Besides - why didn't they just put the quasit inside the cage? That would've been interesting
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But can you have more than one medium creature grapple a tiny creature? That's like having a few guys strangling a cat at once :p
Besides - why didn't they just put the quasit inside the cage? That would've been interesting
then have the quasit flying around armored.... hitting players over the head?
Flying around? She would be in a cage. And obviously disarmed. Nevermind...