Has anyone considered "prettying up" the encounter with the hags and Lamatar on Hook Mountain? I was just looking at the covey powers of the hags and was thinking it would be more fun to pull the tried and true "beautiful damsel in distress" shtick, particularly since the hags are less than excited about their continued working relationship with Barl.
I imagine that as soon as the hags hear the combat between the PCs and ogre guards, they use mirage arcana to make their cave appear more comfortable, like a small cottage or boudoir (complete with lots of decadent pillows and gauzy hanging veils), veil to make Lamatar look like he did before he got "wight-ed," and disguise self to make themselves into the aforementioned "damsels." When the PCs bust in, the hags play all nice and convince them that they are a sorority of local "weather witches" and have been held here to make the rains that Barl wants. Lamatar keeps strangely quiet but backs up the sisters' story when prompted to do so. Assuming the PCs don't immediately attack, the hags offer a moment's rest and some nourishment, in the form of Oil of Taggit soup (Fort 15, unconsciousness). If the party all fail their saves (unlikely), the PCs wake as Barl's prisoners and get to enjoy his monologue about Mokmurian's power before they inevitably escape and kick butt. If at least some of the PCs remain awake, then the combat proceeds as the hags drop their illusions and Lamatar leaps into the fray.
Of course, if the PCs don't eat anything, the hags beg for the PCs to rescue them and, flee into the mountains, given the opportunity. The PCs might think they have successfully brought Lamatar back alive for Myriana, until the reveal, which should be fun. Also, the hags give one of the PCs a hag's eye as a reward, which allows them to show up later, when the time is right. Mwah ha ha.
The encounter seemed a little boring and too straightforward as written, so this seems like a better choice. Any suggestions or thoughts?
O
EDIT for more details.
Has anyone considered "prettying up" the encounter with the hags and Lamatar on Hook Mountain? I was just looking at the covey powers of the hags and was thinking it would be more fun to pull the tried and true "beautiful damsel in distress" shtick, particularly since the hags are less than excited about their continued working relationship with Barl.
I imagine that as soon as the hags hear the combat between the PCs and ogre guards, they use mirage arcana to make their cave appear more comfortable, like a small cottage or boudoir (complete with lots of decadent pillows and gauzy hanging veils), veil to make Lamatar look like he did before he got "wight-ed," and disguise self to make themselves into the aforementioned "damsels." When the PCs bust in, the hags play all nice and convince them that they are a sorority of local "weather witches" and have been held here to make the rains that Barl wants. Lamatar keeps strangely quiet but backs up the sisters' story when prompted to do so. Assuming the PCs don't immediately attack, the hags offer a moment's rest and some nourishment, in the form of Oil of Taggit soup (Fort 15, unconsciousness). If the party all fail their saves (unlikely), the PCs wake as Barl's prisoners and get to enjoy his monologue about Mokmurian's power before they inevitably escape and kick butt. If at least some of the PCs remain awake, then the combat proceeds as the hags drop their illusions and Lamatar leaps into the fray.
Of course, if the PCs don't eat anything, the hags beg for the PCs to rescue them and, flee into the mountains, given the opportunity. The PCs might think they have successfully brought Lamatar back alive for Myriana, until the reveal, which should be fun. Also, the hags give one of the PCs a hag's eye as a reward, which allows them to show up later, when the time is right. Mwah ha ha.
The encounter seemed a little boring and too straightforward as written, so this seems like a better choice. Any suggestions or thoughts?
O
EDIT...
I like it. My group'll be there soon so this should be a 'nice' change of pace for them, an interruption in the giant-slaying mayhem in which I expect they'll be engaging. Thanks for posting the idea!
|
I'd do this, but unfortunately, you seem to have come up with the exact same enounter I used for another hag, in another campaign I was co-DMing last week. Pretty much the same exact concept. they'd see through it in an instant, because two of the players were also in that session.
This is creepy; is this a common, classic idea, or do moderately-great minds think alike?
It's a fairly standard encounter in fantasy (cf. Conan's nearly identical encounter), but there's nothing wrong with old favorites every now and then.
Realistically, I expect the players will see through the deception pretty quickly, but, given the mind blank and plausible cover story, they might just roll with it for fun's sake.
I had the hags try this too, but my player is heavily into invisible scouting and scrying-type spells, so he knew what he was facing. The PCs amused themselves by pretending to go along with it until they were in position....
Of all the times NPCs have attempted to trick these PCs, they've only succeeded twice: once in Sins and once in Xin-Shalast. The one in Xin-Shalast may turn out to be a dilly, though.
Mary