OK - So we have some teleporting monkey demons here. I <3 them. I have been thinking about how they might better use their abduction abilities. Help me Rhonda.
The adventure as written suggests the demons will abduct PC's to the top level of the blood pool room ( to fight 2 on 1 )and into the shaft below the throne room. No problem.
But the abduction ability can do so much more......
Why not abduct the a PC into the room with the big O?
Why not teleport into the room with big O and alert him to the threat, Bringing O into the fight earlier?
Why not abduct a PC into the surrounding forest? The range on this ability is pretty darn huge.
Why not put a PC into the shaft - then teleport up to the throne room and pull off the grate to allow the MOB into the shaft.
Now my concern here is twofold -
1) I don’t want to make things not fun for players ( I see players being very disgruntled with being teleported 4 miles into the forest alone, even though it's a sound strategy on the demons part )
2) Making the encounters too deadly. (having the MOB funnel down onto a lone PC while the rest of the party is otherwise occupied)
Who has run this and how much trouble did your PC's have with the challenges as written?
Any other ideas?
I have not yet run this, but I am just about to. Still, I think I can contribute.
It should not result in a TPK if you keep in mind their goal. They aren’t trying to kill everyone – they want sacrifices! Therefore, what should mediate the combat should be their desire to keep them alive. That gives you great flexibility – you can make the combat as light or as challenging as you feel necessary depending on how the party is doing – which is exactly what Olangru would do. He’s toying with them, but if the party just plows through his harem and is kicking his simian butt, he’ll get tough.
What’s his motivation? He’s a little desperate, trying to get in Demogorgon’s good graces. I know the module infers that he is only seeking one sacrifice, and it seems to expect that to be Urol, but I don’t see why he wouldn’t try to get as many sacrifices as he can. In his desperation, he gets over-ambitious and makes bad choices. Yes, I know that begs the question “Then why doesn’t he just teleport one character at a time back, sacrifice him, and go get another?” Then you start getting into:
Scott Evil: What? Are you feeding him? Why don't you just kill him?
Dr. Evil: I have an even better idea. I'm going to place him in an easily escapable situation involving an overly elaborate and exotic death.
If you need a good explanation, he wants to sacrifice them all at once because he really wants to get Demogorgon’s attention. For crying out loud! The scenario has an “UNNECESSARILY SLOW DIPPING MECHANISM” for pity’s sake! What does that tell you?
I know you were really asking for specific tactics, but you seem to have most of the really good ideas figured out on your own. Hopefully I’ve addressed your underlying question regarding justification for Olangu “pulling his punches.”
Actually just ran this part not too long ago. Instead of using Abduction to separate the group, I used it the way Nightcrawler teleported in the X-Men 2 movie. They would grab someone and teleport themselves and the victim to a wall or ceiling (the bar-lguras can climb) and drop them. It was far more interesting then just splitting people up as it not only did falling damage and landed them prone, but it was also good for separating their close-knit formations and forcing them to adapt as they fought.
This tactic was pretty powerful in the final room when Orlangru teleported himself and the ranger to the ceiling above the fire pit and clung there while she fell away into the furnace below.
This was far more interesting and manageable, in my opinion, than shooting party members across the Isle of Dread, which I think is pretty ridiculous.
Thanks for the input. Keeping O's motivations in mind helps me out somewhat. But even if the motivation is sacrifice; that doesn’t preclude the harem monkeys from going to grab O straightaway. Maybe they don’t want to interrupt his sacrifice of the gnome?
And the climbing idea is a great one. I'll use that. And yea - teleporting the PC's across the isle is ridiculous and really not much fun, but the strategy does fall in line with their capabilities. It's right up there with teleporting 2500 feet up, dropping the pc then teleporting back to safety before they hit the ground, leaving the PC to wish Patrick Swayze was below them with a parachute.
I put a savage monkey in the pit, but it will be a few more sessions before my group gets there. (O is trying to bring about his own savage Tide one monkey at a time :)
O's mates have the same access to the healing that he does (naga) so they would not have any problem dropping people into unconciouesness (sp?)for later sacrifice.
Also O wants to sacrifices done in pairs (imho) for the duality of the big D. So he has to wait until they get the second one. His mates are a little less so. To satisfy their blood lust they may attack first, get O later.
as a tactic I think it would be interesting for them to toy with the party. Once they see the PCs have left tavey/avner/etc alone in the jungle, have mates bring in a second victim just long enough to be seen then go get O. (forget how many ports they have in a day-so maybe not work).
On a related question, did anyone get the 35% to bring in a 4/5/6/7th BarIgura?
|
Great stuff friends!
I'll actually be running that encounter this coming week-end and your posts provide good inspiration.
I'm looking forward to seeing how that goes.
Also, if I may thread-jack a little, now did your players manage in the Shrine of Duplicity, with the 2 mirrors. I'm asking because it looks to me like a difficult puzzle to solve.
In particular, there is this text in the adventure: "If both mirrors are touched appropriately, [i]triggering the trap twice[\i], the mirrors change into swirling vortexes"
The first time they touch the mirror and get caught in its trap, I expect my players to say "that's the wrong way to go. No way we have to get bitten _twice_ for the exit to show up".
How did that go for you?
there's a whole other thread or two that covers the mirror trap. I think its called "inappropriate touching" Good stuff there.
Thanks for the good ideas. I especially like the nightcrawler idea. It is really chaotic, too.
I am preparing this adventure at the moment, but it will be a while when we play it. We play only once every 3 weeks and have just now started SWW.
I will check out the thread of the mirror trap. I was wondering about it too.
Ran this last weekend. My players had a good fight in the blood pool room. Heres some on the fly ideas I had that were fun (for me)....
Have only 2 of the mates engage the pc's at first. The third can stay invisible and use telekinesis to wrest the players swords away and fling them into the blood pool, dispel magic and summoning to harry the players.
Also - once a mate gets beat down to 15 Hp or so - have them teleport into the naga room for healing.
Bear in mind the fiends are immune to electricity and that the naga can cast lighting bolt......
I used different minis each time the mates emerged from invis and teleporting - my players thought they were fighting 6 or 7 of them!
I spent some time describing the vines as having heart like pulsing fruit and the players were sure that the vines were "assassin vines"
As a DM I like using metagame mind tricks to enhance in game confusion!
Good ideas! I have made a note of them! I will certainly borrow this!