At the end of Demonskar Legacy, Nabthatoron is portrayed as being satisfied with killing Alek Tercival, thereby ensuring (or so he thinks) the conflict between Cauldron and Redgorge. As written, he only bothers with the PCs if they're able to hurt him, and then only long enough to get them out of the way. Otherwise, he has no interest in them.
Um...hello? One of the PCs at this point is likely brandishing Alakast, the very weapon carried into battle against against Nabthatoron and his armies, the very weapon that helped Surabar Spellmason defeat the demon, a defeat that resulted in Nabthatoron being banished to the material plane, where he has been in exile for nearly 700 years! And he's just supposed to ignore the PCs???
I think that Nabthatoron would very much want to know where/how the PCs came by Alakast, and he'd probably want to sunder it as well (though my version of Alakast will be far more difficult to damage than a normal magical quarterstaff).
Anyone else feel this way?
At the end of Demonskar Legacy, Nabthatoron is portrayed as being satisfied with killing Alek Tercival, thereby ensuring (or so he thinks) the conflict between Cauldron and Redgorge. As written, he only bothers with the PCs if they're able to hurt him, and then only long enough to get them out of the way. Otherwise, he has no interest in them.
Um...hello? One of the PCs at this point is likely brandishing Alakast, the very weapon carried into battle against against Nabthatoron and his armies, the very weapon that helped Surabar Spellmason defeat the demon, a defeat that resulted in Nabthatoron being banished to the material plane, where he has been in exile for nearly 700 years! And he's just supposed to ignore the PCs???
I think that Nabthatoron would very much want to know where/how the PCs came by Alakast, and he'd probably want to sunder it as well (though my version of Alakast will be far more difficult to damage than a normal magical quarterstaff).
Anyone else feel this way?
From my reading of things, Nabby's main motivation is to get the hell off the Material Plane as fast as he can. He's been exiled there for 700 years, and by this point he's just sick of it. He's tried crushing Redgorge through force of arms with the help of the Demons of the Demonskar, but was ultimately defeated by Spellmason. This not only disgraced him with Yeenoghu, but in my campaign the demons of the Demonskar no longer willingly follow him (at least once he leaves their sight) because he turned tail and ran before Spellmason during a siege that, to their way of thinking, SHOULD have succeeded.
So yes, if he recognizes Alakast he will probably try to snap it in a fit of spiteful rage. But he's been setting up a war between Cauldron and Redgorge for months, so he's not inclined to worry much about a group of meddlers unless they prove to be capable of putting his plans in jeapordy by harming him. After all, to his mind, if they can't hurt him, they also probably aren't powerful enough to get home in time to do any harm.
Eric "Critic of the Dawn"
I made Nabthatoron a horned devil instead of a glabrezu. A powerful devil who has never failed in a task given to him, when his master failed against Spellmason, Nabthatoron was enslaved to the hags who order him to kill Alex Tercival if he ever makes it out of the Starry Mirror and anyone Alex has communicated with.
Nabthatoron totally caught the group flat-footed. They were terribly unprepared for that fight and he was wiping the walls with them.
I have modified the Deck of Many Things to include every card in a tarot deck. One of my players drew the card that grants the one-time service of a great wyrm of compatible alignment. She's had that card for about six levels. I'd forgetten about it. So had she. But realizing that it was shaping up to be a TPK because she was the only one still standing, it was time to pore over the character sheet to look for anything that might help.
She found it. She used it. A copper dragon ripped the stone roof off of chamber and glowered down at Nabthatoron . . . who promptly teleported away. And, for the first time in millenia, failed. He remembers Vanya and takes it personally.
Nabthatoron has also acquired the sign of the smoking eye and is systematically taking out anyone else who has the sign. He wants a rematch with the only other person who has it: Vanya.
I never thought it was a good idea to have Nabthatoron ignore the PC's. So I didn't. It worked out and now the group has a serious nemesis that's going to be a lot of fun.
I was using a version of the Siege of Redgorge, and I had (behind the scenes) Nabthatoron plotting with the Cagewrights, specifically a certain beholder.
The deal was that Cagewrights would help foment and resolve the conflict between Redgorge and Cauldron, and Nabby would kill Alek (and the party once they got in the mix) and throw his forces in with Zarn Kyass' mercenaries against Redgorge. The reward for Nabby: a way off the prime.
When the party first meets outside the Starry Mirror, Nabby is surprised by the presence of Alakast and retreats after the round it took to kill Alek.
The second attack by Nabby occurs as the party is attempting to rally and repair the defenses of Redgorge. Some properly aligned weapons fought him off, but he teleported away.
The third attack occured as the demon army was dispersing due to the party's guerilla activity and the Cauldron forces were called back to the city due to the party's diplomacy via sending spells. A final gamble to save a failing plan, Nabthatoron was undone by a lucky dimensional anchor. He died with the words "So the beholder has betrayed me." That stopped some of the party's rejoicing!
The whole time I played Nabthatoron as gambling that the Cagewrights were his best shot off this god-unforsaken plane, and that they were too powerful to dissappoint in any regard. Thus the repeated attempts to fight a party that could kill him when properly prepared.