My group did something unexpected in our playing session yesterday evening. They fought Sutolore and when he was unconscious they bound him and tended his wounds. One of the characters speaks abyssal and another one has access to detect thoughts and zone of truth.
Has anyone else had the same problem? How did you deal with this?
If you want to railroad, you can just have him die anyway, if the PCs didn't heal him back above 0 hp.
But, really, are there terrible consequences for the game if they know Malcanthet is trying to manipulate them somehow? Surely Sutolore doesn't know much about his mistress's intentions anyway--he's just following orders. This knowledge might steer them away from taking the bat statue, which means they won't placate Zotzilaha on the IOD and thus probably won't get the help of the natives in the battle against the Crimson Fleet. And they won't have the tooth of Ahazu, which will limit their options in the Wells of Darkness, IIRC. I'm not sure how their knowledge that Malcanthet is trying to manipulate them would affect their later dealings with the Queen of Succubi as far as building the alliance against Demogorgon is concerned. You can always add some other alternatives, so that if the PCs shun contact with Malcanthet out of fear, maybe they can get help from some other quarter. Graz'zt, or Yeenoghu, or even Adimarchus (you could adapt part of STAP to arrange a rescue of Adimarchus in return for which he helps the PCs against Demogorgon, for example, if you haven't played STAP.)
Also, these two spells leave you some wiggle room. Zone of Truth merely prevents the subject from lying outright if he fails his save. He can still refuse to talk or speak in misleading half-truths. If intimidate is used to try to force him to talk, remember that Malcanthet will do far worse things to Sutolore than the PCs can even conceive if he spills the beans. And when the PCs ask him the question "who sent you?" Sutolore is likely to be thinking about the horrible death he'll be subjected to, rather than the actual answer to the question.
Heck, maybe Malcanthet or one of her lieutenants has been scrying on Sutolore to make sure he's getting the job done properly. In that case, the big M. will send a lillitu or a succubus agent in the middle of the night to kill the hapless servant, perhaps leaving bite/kiss marks that unnerve the PCs without giving them a definite idea of who killed him or why.
The lilitu or succubus idea is nice. Probably an extra fight for the PCs. Demons suddenly appearing at night will probably freak them out, and they still get the idea they are on the right track, else why would someone suddenly send demons after them?
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Yeah, it's definitely not a disaster. You can really play with their minds too. He could say he was ordered to leave the statue by a succubus who had a magical image of the group. The succubus was angry that one of the group was more interesting to her boss than she was. No names, no gender, just boss.
The attack is a good idea too. Some PC-appropriate cannon-fodder while an greater-invisible succubus coup-de-graces Sutolore, leaving a kiss... on his neck.
"Vampire? Demon? What's going on? We're out of our league man!"
That is a really nice touch!
I was also thinking of having Sutulore not answering the group's questions at all. After all he has been locked up for quite a while with hardly any food and drink. Perhaps he is just staring ahead of him, not looking at the group at all, and saying things like: "Well, she wanted me to put it here. Well, I did! And what did I get for all my troubles? Spiders, nothing but spiders for food!"