My group spent a whole whack of money to get shadow walk cast on themselves, then they wandered Korvosa at high speed using a wand of locate object to find death's head coffers, snatch them, and stick them into a bag of holding. They didn't get all of them, but among those they nabbed were three containing crossbow bolts. These, of course, belonged to Jolistina, and the PCs quickly tracked her down and charmed her (even though she's an elf).
She told them that Rolth had wanted her to use those, and she asked if the new set was ready. They tried to convince her to leave town, then they left before the enchantment wore off.
So now the bad guys know that someone's on to them, though Jolistina only saw one PC and he was in disguise. She didn't say where or when she was going to use the crossbow bolts, but the PCs think it's the Carowyn party. Rolth has time to make some new death's head coffers before the party, but he (and everyone else) will be pretty keen to discover who that disguised person was.
The plan still needs to go ahead. There was a second choice for Jolistina's target (Vudran Day at the Eyrie Host Club), but that event was cancelled. I'm not sure what even the Red Mantis can do in this situation, but they probably don't like being jerked around like this. Maybe they'll send a couple of assassins along to the Carowyn party in case the individual shows up there. In fact, Lady Andaisin could theoretically cast a divination or two and find out if he's going to be there or not, and maybe even what costume he'll be wearing.
On the other hand, maybe the Red Mantis won't get directly involved at all. After all, the cover story is that Dr Davaulus is working with the cult of Urgathoa, not the Red Mantis. Maybe the latter group will just stand back and watch, evaluating. The cult itself might not care about Jolistina, who isn't even a believer. Rolth seems to be tiring of her anyway, so they might just offer her up as a distraction and then snatch their Varisian guinea pig elsewhere.
Does this sound right to the rest of you?
Well, Jolistina is crazy. Rolth could chalk this story up to that, give her more bolts, and send her on her way. That's the easy solution. Let the players then stop her when she shows up.
The PCs didn't follow her?
Again, on the keeping it simply side, Rolth may be afraid that he has screwed this up and decides not to tell anyone for fear of the repercussions.
Or maybe Rolth tags along with Jolistina to make sure this gets taken care of correctly. It is a masquerade party with the guests in costume right? Figuring out who Jolistina is during the party, watching her to identify Rolth, and then foiling the attack once the spring it sounds like fun (ignoring the part of the adventure that says Jolistina just bursts in and starts firing).
They spent a whack of money, they should get an advantage. I say the master puts it down to her delusions getting worse.
Well, Jolistina is crazy. Rolth could chalk this story up to that, give her more bolts, and send her on her way. That's the easy solution. Let the players then stop her when she shows up.
That's true, but Rolth also knows that a group busted up his lab in the Gray not long ago. He found out who they were and discovered that they're minor members of the aristocracy, so he has delayed his revenge. Moving Jolistina's attack from the Carowyn party to the host club would have accomplished this, but now that has been cancelled. He doesn't know that these are the same people, but he might suspect.
The PCs didn't follow her?
Their first pass through the city (using the wand) didn't take very long, but all they had time to do was mark all the boxes on a map and then go back and collect them later. The second pass also involved a lot of work in the river, and so the process took several hours. After that they took all the coffers to the bank, where a section of the vault has been set aside to hold infected coins for a week. It was only once they were in there that one of the PCs (wearing a periapt of health) opened them all and discovered the crossbow bolts. By then Jolistina had discovered the theft and gone to a place in Midland (just some random abandoned house) where she'd been told to go in case of emergencies. Someone met her there and got her story, and after that the PCs tracked her down.
Again, on the keeping it simply side, Rolth may be afraid that he has screwed this up and decides not to tell anyone for fear of the repercussions.
I guess. On the one hand Rolth doesn't seem like someone afraid of consequences, but on the other hand Lady Andaisin is pretty scary. He could also avoid telling anyone because he's feeling ashamed of his girlfriend.
Or maybe Rolth tags along with Jolistina to make sure this gets taken care of correctly. It is a masquerade party with the guests in costume right? Figuring out who Jolistina is during the party, watching her to identify Rolth, and then foiling the attack once the spring it sounds like fun
I like this a lot! As far as I can tell the rest of the adventure doesn't get screwed up if Rolth dies early, though I don't think cult has anyone else who can make more coffers. The real question is whether or not the research in G5 concerning Varisian immunity will proceed sufficiently without him that it can be used in creating a cure later.
(ignoring the part of the adventure that says Jolistina just bursts in and starts firing).
That's an easy change. If nobody had interfered then that would have been her plan, but now that somebody's on to her she's been told to exercise a little caution. :)
They spent a whack of money, they should get an advantage.
I agree.
I say the master puts it down to her delusions getting worse.
The tricky thing is that I'm not sure that this counts as an advantage. In this case she doesn't have the disease to spread, which is her entire purpose in going to the Carowyn party. So the PCs show up at the party and she doesn't, which will make for some fun roleplaying but won't advance the plot. Then at some later point Jolistina (or someone else) will set out again to fulfill the queen's demands against those nobles, and this time the PCs won't know about it in advance.
I think that it's a bigger advantage to the PCs if I have Rolth give her more bolts and she shows up as planned, and the PCs can set up an ambush. I might even have him accompany her, to give them a chance to whack him before facing a bazillion other opponents at the same time in the Hospice.
I agree with you in principle, though. :)