| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
My players have got themselves in a bit of a pickle through their adventures and I was wondering if any of you fellow GM's have any input on what happens next.
(Spoiler wrapped in case any players wander in here. This is not for you, and that goes double for players in my campaign...you sneaky gits!)
I'm running RotRl using the Pathfinder RPG system.
My players are:
"Chanak" Male Dwarven Barbarian - Raised by the Shoanti, wielding twin Klar.
"Adonica" Female Varisian Abyssal bloodline Sorceress" - One eyed and fierce she's currently out of action due to the Vargouille's kiss.
In her place her former companion, Manow, a male Elven pit-fighter is trying to find a cure for her. (Read as: Elven fighter is her backup, he joins after their second excursion into the Catacombs)
"Hrunt" Male Half-Orc Cleric of Gorum - Devoted and stoic (Joins after the second excursion into the catacombs)
"Jacob" Male Human Cleric of Desna - A no-nonsense man who, after Adonica gets bitten by the Vargouille stays in town to look after her and then gets replaced by
"Kruschev" Male Human Goblin-slaying Ranger - Crude but ruthlessly effective.
So the party is made up of Chanak, Adonica and Jacob for the first part, then after the second trip to the Catacombs the group is Chanak, Manow, Hrunt and Kruschev. Abit complicated, but I hope I explained it well enough.
Campaign went pretty "normal" until they discovered the Catacombs of Wrath. My players made repeat excursions into the Catacombs. This in and of itself was problematic since the place really doesn't feel like it it meant to be run as several encounters with daytrips back to town in between. On their first run they took out most of the complex, slaughtered most of the sinspawn but did not enter the Prisoner Pits, Vargouille infested washing pool nor the Shrine to Lamashtu. Second time around, instead of making the trip extremely uneventful, I add another sinspawn and have all the zombies moved into the hallways. Erylium is not about to let intruders prance about her sanctum unchallenged so this seemed to make sense. The heroes kill all the zombies and the sinspawn then proceed to the washing pools where the sorceress gets bitten. They thoroughly trounce the Vargouille and then head to the Shrine.
Erylium summons a sinspawn and combat ensues. The players nuke the sinspawn and it dies without really doing anything. Most of Eryliums spells get resisted so I have her screech and summon Korovus. He arrives a few rounds later at which point Erylium has taken to hit-and-run tactics, going invisible and then appearing and taking a few slices at a PC or hovering up near the ceiling and firing off some spells that start to wear on the PC's.
Korovus enters play, there's some shenanigans involving the PC's swarming him. The cleric gets taken out of action, others severly wounded and Erylium is at this point out of spells but otherwise unharmed.
The players decide to retreat and escape the catacombs.
At this point I was at a loss what to do next. I KNEW they'd go back down there and I'd used everything that was down there and then some. Only thing down there was Erylium which I could either just let them kill (which wouldn't have been very satisfying). So I decide to have Erylium make a last stand. At this point her plans for conquest and glory seem pretty hopeless. By all accounts her goblin and human allies are all dead. Her Sinspawn are all dead and her zombie worshippers are smashed and gone. She's all alone again and while the presence of Lamashtu is still present the power of the Runewell has lessened considerably and with it her hopes and sick dreams. In desperation she summmons another sinspawn, the runewells glow dimming even more. She has the sinspawn collect all the bodies into the Shrine and then prepares for the return of the PC's.
The PC's recruit a few more able bodied adventurers in town and head back to the catacombs the next day. The place is eerily quiet and the doors to the shrine are closed. The door is opened by reciting a prayer to Lamashtu that is written on the door (the prayer from the Lamashtu article in Sins of the Saviors...I think it was). The door opens, blood and ichor leaking from the wailing faces on it. The atmosphere was great, the PC's psyched.
Anyways...the über sinspawn attacks and lasts two rounds before being chopped apart and set on fire (oil + tindertwigs = Crispy Sinspawn). The dwarven barbarian has a personal grudge against the Quasit and goes after it. Erylium gives it all she's got and I play her very aggressively (mainly to give them more chances to get close to her). She uses loads of Inflict spells, claw attacks, hideous spittle on the ranger and so on. She's untouchable, she's a dervish of destruction, a cackling goddess of spite and rent souls
...
Seriously, they couldn't touch her! She escaped from grapples against all odds, she critted left and right and people were fumbling in face of her vicious assault.
In the end the elf splashes into the Runewell, fails his will save and impales the cleric who promptly goes unconscious. Then the mad elf takes out the barbarian. The ranger, not wanting to be next, takes out the elf from range. Just like that, 3 of 4 adventurers are down and all due to friendly fire. My jaw dropped as the ranger proceeded to fumble three times in a row and due to our use of the Fumble Deck he's pretty much crippled.
Erylium cackles as she slices at him a few times. The ranger tries to hit her...he really does...but he can't manage to hit this Avatar of Ruin =p.
The session ends where he's doubled over, winded and bleeding from a dozen small cuts. His friends all unconscious and a cackling demon thing floating over him, flickering in and out of invisibility and taunting him.
It's here that I need some advice. Should I just kill him and be done with it? That seems like a pretty blunt way to end things. Also what would Erylium gain by this? She has him at her mercy and her situation isn't so good.
I've been thinking that she'll try to break him, have him get something she needs. At the very least I think she doesn't want to be left alone again. With the runewell all but extinguished and a very real threat of the creatures on the surface returning again in greater numbers or, as she fears most, sealing up the way to the catacombs for good she needs something...
But what?
What would you fellow GM's do in this situation?
A spoiler won't stop them, but hey.
I assume your party has defeated Tsuto and rescued Ameiko, but they haven't been to Thistletop yet.
If this is the case, I would suggest that (if your players are willing to accept this) you kill off this Ranger and let the whole party roll up new characters. You're at a point in the story where the town is aware that something weird is going on, the authorities are going to investigate, but the meat of the plot is not yet exposed. Have the new PCs form the search team that finds the dead PCs.
Of course, anyone truly attached to their character concept could be raised in order to provide intelligence on what's going on. Sandpoint has limited resources for such things, and it could make up a side quest. You may have Eryllium flee the catacombs to make this possible, most players secretly love "the NPC that got away."
Provided your players are willing to play along with the PC switch, I'd say you've done nothing but good for your campaign. The catacombs are now an awful, dynamic pit of death just beneath the town of Sandpoint. Congratulations.
Yeah I would consolt your players on what they want she could sacrifice them all the Lamashatu and then become more powerful and leave the Catacombs and head off to Thisletop to help Nulia.
The new party could find the journal and all the dead former PCs and head off to Thistltop my sugestion would be to make them 2nd almost 3rd level though or they will get slaughtered
Just to clarify. They have rescued Ameiko but Tsuto escaped.
A "redo" with new characters is an option I hadn't considered. It's just that if I was Erylium I'd want to think very carefully about just killing the lot of them. Since Sandpoint is clearly aware of the underground sanctum what is to stop them from sending more down there? Just trying to see it from her point of view...how would she stop more people coming down to the shrine when she's the only one who can defend it? ^^
Anyways, all feedback is appreciated...its a complex situation.
Anyways, all feedback is appreciated...its a complex situation.
I have just written the longest post (for me anyway) on this which then disappeared... not happy.
So in brief. How about using ToyRobots idea of a new group for the players then...
when they confront the quasit have the ranger as her ally. His form twisted by the foul waters of Lamashtu and his mind unhinged by the quasits torments. Have him praise the 'gifts of Lamashtu' for his form and raise his voice in concert with Erylium as she preaches to the group. After they beat her (you hope) they can find the journal and wander off to Thistletop.
I then wrote a big piece about how a similiar thing happened to my group (one player did get away to recruit a new group however) and what I did but I can't be bothered to write that again. However it has strengthed the whole thing and the adventure has a dangerous feel to it now. The group are cautious and a little nervous... just the way I like it.
Gr4ys, I know exactly what you mean. My first attempt at writing this topic also got eaten. It had alot more info on what they'd done, how they'd handled themselves so far and more character info.
Really weird stuff since it seems that the posting session times out but I'm still logged in.
Silly boards =p
Anyways...I love that idea, I think I'll take the chance to do some roleplaying next session. Have Erylium taunt the doomed ranger, do abit of classic villain boasting and to give some insight into the antagonists mindset before we fade to black. Queue horrendous scream from ranger. Fin.
A powerful scene.
But I did abit of brainstorming on how to get the group back together. One PC is in town and out of action (Vargouille'd sorceress). One PC was NPC'ed since the player felt he'd kinda made a very boring character (the cleric). Since then I've turned him right around and made him very interesting. The Sorceress also happens to be Alderns object of lust/passion/madness so I think I'll send some unexpected help in the form of some way to cure the sickness. An attached letter will explain that Aldern heard of their distress while in Magnimar and had the best curative in the region sent express to them, he regrets not being able to be there in person yadda yadda, will attempt to visit soon.
That'll put one PC back in action. This'll mean I have two characters in town that have been there since the beginning and I can use those to recruit more adventurers!
Yey! More meat for the Wrath meatgrinder! ^^
Please post your thoughts on this, its great to be able to share this stuff with someone since pretty much everyone I know around here that can give nice constructive feedback is either playing or wants me to GM this for them later =D
p.s.
Haha! The board ate this post too! It took me about 10 min to write but I saved the entire thing to notepad before posting. This is a pretty big forum bug :p
My players have got themselves in a bit of a pickle through their adventures and I was wondering if any of you fellow GM's have any input on what happens next.
(Spoiler wrapped in case any players wander in here. This is not for you, and that goes double for players in my campaign...you sneaky gits!)
This has the same net effect of killing him, but provides her with a replacement minion until she can raise more Sinspawn.
But I did abit of brainstorming on how to get the group back together. One PC is in town and out of action (Vargouille'd sorceress). One PC was NPC'ed since the player felt he'd kinda made a very boring character (the cleric). Since then I've turned him right around and made him very interesting. The Sorceress also happens to be Alderns object of lust/passion/madness so I think I'll send some unexpected help in the form of some way to cure the sickness. An attached letter will explain that Aldern heard of their distress while in Magnimar and had the best curative in the region sent express to them, he regrets not being able to be there in person yadda yadda, will attempt to visit soon.
Having a player from the original group available is great - I was lucky enough to have that as well and keeps the whole thing flowing.
The link to Aldern seems a little weak as he has already left town and so how would he know? You could have someone from the church heal them at the request of the major? The sheriff is away, the towns deputies have disappeared, she needs someone to help her, rumors would be spreading, fear of more goblin attacks and so on. The Sorceress then recruits a new group to carry on.
Whatever you do let us know how it goes.
The link to Aldern seems a little weak
True, but I think I need to elaborate abit on my reasons.
When I first read over the Catacombs of Wrath I thought they were awesome. With my groups hit and run approach, however, it became abit silly since the monsters are few in number and quite static if each area is supposed to have something gribbly in it and if its supposed to have that "Egad, there's a hidden horror under the town!"So, I made the Vargouille abit more lethal by not having anyone know how to treat it. I made a roll or two and I placed all the elements for a cure IN the town but I wanted the PC's to put it all together. Researching abit here, asking this or that person, trying things etc. The priests had no clue how to treat something like this since the standard prayers didn't work. Remove disease also requires a 5th level cleric to cast and my rummage of the towns notable folk didn't find anyone with that sort of healing power.
Anyways...instead of it being the end for the character the clerics from the temple all pitch in and keep her bathed in light 24/7 but their strength at doing this is fading (lulz, takes no effort to cast a spell...mechanically no but I prefer to roleplay it that way ^^).
This basically means that I don't have any way to cure her sickness in the town. Unless I have the NPC'd PC take things into his own hands and just come up with the cure (which might feel abit like a cheat) I thought a outside influence they already know of and could believe had these kinds of resources was just the thing that's needed.
A simple potion and a letter may not be the way it goes down...one of his retainers in town might come around or something like that. I expect that a man of Alderns position isn't without some influence among certain people in town and perhaps enough so that he'd have someone to handle matters for him there.
This is all just rambling on my part really...but you see the problem. I've already made the Vargouille Kiss a big deal, just making it go away now since their group got wiped would send the wrong message methinks.
@Charles
Its a very interesting idea, and it would solve some of the problems I'm facing. Another group heading down there to face Erylium and some freaky champion is not something I'm too excited about since they just don't seem to be able to hurt her. Barring a group of mages just Magic Missile-ing her down I don't see how they'd win that fight.
But I don't know...Erylium just leaving the Runewell, even in its diminished state seems abit odd. She also has a stake in Nualia. And if she does somehow convert the ranger to her cause she would propably be able to find out that they haven't captured or killed her "apprentice" yet.
@Lord Fyre
I love that suggestion and I'm definitely going to use it! It's tempting to convert more than just the ranger...but I think that would be overdoing it. I think I might just have the others thrown into the prison cells to await their fate. Untreated PC's in negative hitpoints in a dark dungeon? Or should I just outright kill them? Hmm...
Well Maybe Amekio can help them she is a Bard and they did save her life she might be able to know how to cure the kiss or Shaleu.
To defeat her the party needs to use solid tactics grapple her and beat her down is a great way
Well I finally ran the adventure last night and this is how it played out.
I'd settled on that I was going to decide how things would play out depending on how the one remaining conscious character behaved. With this in mind the session started with Erylium taunting the lone adventurer. Viktor Kruschev, the only member of the adventuring party left conscious, appealed to Erylium's lust for power, trying to put her off balance so he could somehow effect escape for him and his friends.
Though, due to fatigue and despair, he was unable to convince her and she saw through his ploy. Erylium then attempted to recruit him to the side of Lamashtu and to drink the Waters. Viktor refused and Erylium left him to contemplate his fate. Erylium left to go to her sanctum and attempt to make contact with Nualia or one of her henchmen. She succeeds via some form of limited scrying and some goblins, led by Tsuto, set out from Thistletop to retrieve these intruders. Erylium is instructed to not kill them since her description of them matches those that Tsuto talked of and the descriptions of the surviving goblin raiders. Nualia intends to make an example of them to raise morale amongst the goblins and to sacrifice to Lamashtu on her altar at Thistletop.
Erylium starts to prepare a "Commune" spell intending to ask Lamashtu if she should grace one of these intruders with the Waters of Lamashtu. But Viktor, mad with fear or simply thinking it would do something else, runs to the Altar of Lamashtu and drinks from the foetid pool. He becomes nauseous, but stubbornly drinks more of the unholy water. Wracked with pain he stumbles from the altar, Erylium shrieking with laughter. Viktor's mind becomes clouded and he looks up at the door to the Shrine, which is inlaid with pictures of the Mother. Suddenly the images come alive. Lamashtu is there birthing generation after generation of monsters, her eyes burning into his mind. The walls become flesh and from gaping orifices monsters flood into the room to embrace him. He has ceased to be Viktor Kruschev and he has become something else.
He is free.
The session ended with dull recollections from the other PC's of being tied up and handled by gobbos. Blurred sights of a handsome half elf looking with disgust at some hunched beast that was giggling to itself (this would be Tsuto looking at Viktor who's revelling in his new form) and then of tunnels, the smell of brine, a scuffle and human voices (the guards posted at the tunnel entrance) and then of forests and smoke. Their characters are effectively prisoners in Thistletop all except for Viktor who's Erylium's new pet.
I've got one active PC in town, one NPC'ed PC. In the beginning of the game I had everyone make backup characters and they've all met the PC's. This way its not too hard to introduce them into the party. I had one of Aldern's retainers come to where the sorceress was sick with Vargouille fever and he brought with him a potion. The potion in and of itself was not enough to cure her, but coupled with the aid of a few of the backup PC's she was cured. I put on my best poker face when the group praised Aldern and they can't wait to meet him again. Quote from the PC's:
"Guess he isn't so creepy after all!"
Can't wait to start Skinsaw murders! =D
I think from a story point of view your almost-TPK turned out mighty well - you certainly turned it to dramatic advantage. Your recap was a lot of fun to read.