The Goldhammer dwarves, in the dock buildings, have been wiped out. The Cyphermages, holded up the remains of Witchlight, are nearly wiped. The PCs see an attack on the Cyphermages with 2 dozen Akatas.
Cleeg on the other hand is camping in the open and seems to be doing...OK. That doesn't feel right. Without defenses, seems like they should have been wiped out first. Are Akata's supposed to be afraid of the bonfire? Is something else going on?
actually this did kind of bug me aswell, never mind the fact that this sort of thing screams TRAP to players... I don't remember anything about them being afraid of the fire but that could easily be Clegg's excuse for safety...
Creative Director
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Well... Clegg's camp is a lot better defended than the cyphermages and Goldhammer's guys are. Goldhammer's group, in fact, was mostly low-level experts. The cyphermages were relatively few in number and pretty squishy, being wizards. Clegg's group, though, is relatively large and has some pretty tough characters and pets. The akatas are less likely, as a result, to attack Clegg's group... perhaps because they attacked the Cyphermages and found them a bit tougher than they thought.
Also, the akatas are aliens. Who knows how an alien thinks? :)
Anyway, if the PCs think Clegg's camp is a trap and they attack or avoid it or something... run with it! The adventure just wants the PCs to find the drow caves; what they do on the island is presented almost as a sandbox for them to do whatever they want in whatever order. If they stake out Clegg's camp, have the void zombies wake up or have the camp attacked by akatas. If they attack, you've got everything there to run the battle. Just because the adventure suspects that most groups will talk first doesn't mean that's the only way to handle Clegg and his guys.
Oh I understand that Clegg and co. aren't honestly important in the grande scheme of things and that the Drow caves are the true core of what's going on. I was just agreeing that the OP is right in that it looks too unguarded overall after everything else the pcs will have encountered, being there are only like 10 guys in tents, as opposed to the mages in the tower etc. From a players standpoint 10 thugs in tents are nowhere near as defendable as 5+ mages (even though alot are hurt by the time the pcs get there ) in a tower. Seems to me and probably to alot of players that the mages have spent their time getting wasted by constant attacks in their not so defendable tower, while these schmucks hang out in some cloth tents and lose all of like 2 guys (at least by pc perspective). Just seems like something is up, which in all reality there is, but it almost instantly will cut out any possibility for working with CLegg in my players at least, though I have been fooled before...
the Akata's should fare poorly against Zincher and his men as compared to the Cyphermages and Goldhammer's men
If you remember the Akata have SR 15, which gives them a 65% chance to resist any of the 1st level Cyphermage spells, ontop of a wide range of immunities that makes them immune to many combat spells
It would make sense that a group of wizards would get torn apart by these creatures, ontop of which these particular wizards are as stated in the tactics section "cyphermages are scholars and readers, and
the concept of battle leaves most of them quaking in their
boots. They cast mage armor as soon as possible, then
magic missile at the closest foe."
Under morale it further states, "Once a Cyphermage has cast magic missile or is wounded, he flees to somewhere safe."
go ahead, run a test encounter with the 12 Cyphermages being ambushed in their tents in the dead of the night and also run an ambush of Goldhammer's men as well see what happens
then run a similar ambush of Clegg Zincher and his men getting ambushed
you will note that Clegg and his men make out much much better than either of the previous groups will
>> the Akata's should fare poorly against Zincher and his men as compared to the Cyphermages and Goldhammer's men
So? The Akatas attacked once, got spanked, and are now afraid of the camp? Doesn't sound like the aggressive beasts I picture the Akatas to be. And it doesn't explain why new Akatas don't attack (the other ones tell them to stay away? They hunt in packs?)
How about this: Zincher learns of the Akata's vulnerability to salt water some how. Those trenches around the camp are filled with salt water and that's what keeps the Akatas away.
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>> the Akata's should fare poorly against Zincher and his men as compared to the Cyphermages and Goldhammer's men
So? The Akatas attacked once, got spanked, and are now afraid of the camp? Doesn't sound like the aggressive beasts I picture the Akatas to be. And it doesn't explain why new Akatas don't attack (the other ones tell them to stay away? They hunt in packs?)
How about this: Zincher learns of the Akata's vulnerability to salt water some how. Those trenches around the camp are filled with salt water and that's what keeps the Akatas away.
Think of it this way. There not afraid of Zinchers men but just like real animals in the wild they will go for what they perceive as the easier kill. So the dwarfs and wizards who in there initial encounters were torn to bits are by there instincts easier pray then Zinchers group that thought back and drove them off.
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Also, there's only ten of Zincher's original 40. Maybe the akatas are just waiting for their void zombie minions to take out a few more ruffians, and then they strike.
Again the akatas are only Int 3 animals so as they probably have no idea how many men Zincher or the other groups have all they know on a basic lvl is Group A (Zinchers)= Lots of resistance and Group B and C (dwarfs and wizards)= much less resistance so an easier meal/group of hosts ect.
I wasn't debating any of these issues, and as the dm with these sections of knowledge I already know this. My big issue is how undefensible it looks to players. The issue is that it smells like a trap from second one and any possibility of conversing with him and his men is pretty much thrown out the window. Personally I dislike this idea, and I think I'll use the saltwater trenches idea, so that after the tower attack and the pcs see the akatas getting melted and then they notice the trench they'll put 2 and 2 together and everything else can proceed as planned.
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Creative Director
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I wasn't debating any of these issues, and as the dm with these sections of knowledge I already know this. My big issue is how undefensible it looks to players. The issue is that it smells like a trap from second one and any possibility of conversing with him and his men is pretty much thrown out the window. Personally I dislike this idea, and I think I'll use the saltwater trenches idea, so that after the tower attack and the pcs see the akatas getting melted and then they notice the trench they'll put 2 and 2 together and everything else can proceed as planned.
And again... that's fine. If the PCs think Zincher's camp is a trap, run with it. It's certainly likely that the PCs will already have an unfavorable opinion of Zincher anyway. Of course, the idea of saltwater trenches is pretty cool too... although they'd have to be pretty wide of the akatas to not be able to jump over them.
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I wasn't debating any of these issues, and as the dm with these sections of knowledge I already know this. My big issue is how undefensible it looks to players. The issue is that it smells like a trap from second one and any possibility of conversing with him and his men is pretty much thrown out the window. Personally I dislike this idea, and I think I'll use the saltwater trenches idea, so that after the tower attack and the pcs see the akatas getting melted and then they notice the trench they'll put 2 and 2 together and everything else can proceed as planned.And again... that's fine. If the PCs think Zincher's camp is a trap, run with it. It's certainly likely that the PCs will already have an unfavorable opinion of Zincher anyway. Of course, the idea of saltwater trenches is pretty cool too... although they'd have to be pretty wide of the akatas to not be able to jump over them.
I think it woild be easier to say Cleeg and his men carry buckets of salt water with them weherever they go, and splash any Akata on sight-that would solve the problam. void Zombies, whoever, could be a real risk.