Have any of you relocated some Magnimar antagonists?
One inquisitive PC was being held by the faceless stalkers in the Bell Tower until he regained consciousness and could be interrogated. The PCs rushed in, rescued him, and rushed out. They managed to hold off the various nasties in there long enough to get away, but the only long-term damage they did was scare one of the faceless stalkers so much that she ran all the way back to the Brinestump Marsh. The value of the tower as a secret lair, however, is completely gone.
The PCs have gone back to the Sandpoint Hinterlands. They never found the information about the lord mayor, and in fact they never found the sawmill (though they have the notes from Tsuto's townhouse and may ponder them now that they're back home). My guess is that Xanesha is going to be pretty steamed at the PCs. She'll probably want some revenge, and I'm guessing that she'll give the job to the Brothers of the Seven. This means that there are some more exciting times ahead for Sandpoint.
In the meantime, the civil authorities have been alerted to Xanesha's presence in the tower. Sure, she could get Ironbriar to bury the information and in any case the lord mayor has been cutting expenses related to civil guards, but I think that Xanesha would be happier moving somewhere else. (The PCs have already found (and looted) the townhouse where Tsuto was living until a week or so before the beginning of the path. They have also found (and burned down) the townhouse where Nualia lived before moving to Thistletop.)
I see three possibilities. First, she might look for a new secret lair where she could hole up and direct matters. Second, she might go live with one of her many human lovers for a while, and direct things in a less hands-on manner. Third, she might gun for the lord mayor immediately and then check Magnimar off her list and move on (possibly to Nybor, which the PCs have a personal reason to visit).
How does a new lord mayor get selected, anyway?
Anyway, the first thing to do is to send a team of the Bot7 There are thirteen of them at the sawmill, not including Ironbriar, so I figure that for something this important to Xanesha they'll send four to six, possibly accompanied by a faceless stalker. If they don't return within a week then Ironbriar will shut down the sawmill and take everyone he's got and hunt the PCs down.
The second thing to do is get Xanesha back on the program. I'm less certain what I'm going to do with this.
Has anyone had something like this happen already?
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I figure that Xanesha can move into Aldren's townhouse and continue to harvest greedy souls for Karzoug. The PCs really did not do anything to interrupt her operations except invade the clock tower. The golem can go to the sawmill and the group can continue their work. I would not even track down the PCs - they failed in their mission and unless they come back to Magnimar they will not have a chance to stop the group.
I suggest that Xanesha has the group continue on their list. It is going to get ugly from there. Maybe Karzoug even gets loose before they get to him in Chapter 6 with more greedy souls being fed to him.
Then there is the whole - how do they find out about Fort Rannick thing... I guess you can do that in a new way. Seems to me the PCs did not really follow the clues they had. I would probably kill off the Mayor and have the news of the event reach Sandpoint. As a matter of fact I would have it be a lot of murders. And maybe they send another agent to Sandpoint area now that Aldren is dead (he is isn't he?).
I don't think that I'll have Xanesha go to Aldern's townhouse. The town guards have been made aware of it as an important location, particularly since at least one person or creature has been impersonating a guard there. We know that she has a bunch of lovers in town pining after her, so if she decides to try to fit into normal human society then I expect she'll just go live with one of them.
You make an interesting point about her not caring enough about the PCs to have them tracked down and eliminated. After all, she's about the Greed not the Wrath. The PCs have been accepting help from the Scarnettis recently "with no strings attached", and I think it's time to start tugging on those supposedly-non-existent strings. Maybe an important Scarnetti in Magnimar is next on the list, and the Sandpoint branch of the family (aware of the PCs' previous experience with the seven-pointed-star) volunteers them to deal with the murderer. After all, the PCs are only monsters, and nobody would be surprised to find them going on some sort of murderous rampage. The Scarnettis can hardly be faulted for any resulting carnage, and can only be glad that at least some of the victims were actual criminals.
Xanesha still has two of the three faceless stalkers who were with her at the tower, and one of the two she'd assigned to Ironbriar survived (having left Aldern's townhouse after one of the PCs showed up and got captured). I think she'll have "Aldern" go to the guards with stories about the horrible monsters (describing the PCs) who attacked him and ransacked his home. She'll send the other of her two stalkers to Ironbriar, and give instructions concerning the expediting of the remainder of the list. She'll go live with a lover, and keep a low profile. (I'll take your advice about the scarecrow.)
Thanks for the ideas!