Last session the party I am running through the Shackled City AP continued their search of Bhal-Hamatugn in search of Zenith.
The party is as follow:
Dwarven Warblade 7
Human Conjurer 7
Half-Elf Cleric 7
Halfling Rogue 7
Human Hexblade 6 (due to a death in Flood season)
The session before last the party defeated the 4 Kuo-toan guarding the entrance as well as the 4 sleeping in the room near the front of Bhal-Hamatugn. They then proceeded to head downstairs via the prison cells where they dealt with the Mummy relatively easily.
From there they found the secret back entrance to the area 5, the central room of the complex. They had a bit of difficulty with the Kou-toan Whips but still managed to kill all of the Kuo-toans and heal back up to full before Ashunna showed up.
Here's where things got messy. When Aushunna appeared the PC's were all standing on the platform next to the big statue. A 32 on a Knowledge:The Planes roll, combined with seeing her shoot off 4 arrows in 1 round told the PC's they were in trouble.
2 PC's jumped straight off the edge of the platform to the ground below (happily taking the 3d6 damage from the ground rather than staying in the open). The Rogue panicked, opened the door on the platform he had just unlocked (the door led to Mangu-Michu's chambers) and then shut it behind him. They other 2 PC's ran down the stairs, jumped off just before they got to the bottom and then tried to hide behind the pillars supporting the platform above them.
Ashunna shot another 4 at the Cleric who was prone next to the steps (he failed his Jump and Balance checks when he jumped off the stairs), hitting a couple of times. The party then started moving towards the secret door to get out of the room.
The rogue, after hearing more armour clinking in the room but not being able to see what it was coming from, panicked again, ran back out into the main area, and Spider Climbed underneath the platform towards the secret door.
Since everyone had bunched together nicely, Aushunna took advantage and dropped down to throw an Unholy Blight amongst the party, hitting all 5 of them. The party retreated into the passage but with little in the way of ranged weapons there wasn't a lot the PC's could do to hurt her.
The Conjurer cast fly on the Warblade and Polymorped the Hexblade into a Troll but it still wasn't enough. Even though I rolled appallingly with Ashunna's ranged attacks she still had the party quickly burning through almost all of their healing potions.
The Rogue was knocked unconscious 3 times and all of the others got close. They just couldn't deal with her mobility. The Warblade was the only one who could fly and when he got close to her she could just Greater Teleport away, regroup and attack the party again. Even if the PC's were right next to her she could just cast defensively (at a +20 to the roll). She did fail her concentration check once, took 2 AoO's and then passed the second check to get her spell off.
The DC 19 Unholy Blight meant that 3 or 4 of the party would fail their Will save each time and take 20-odd damage. The Rogue failed every Will save against it and kept dropping in and out of consciousness. The session ended with Aushunna teleporting from the side tunnel back to the main chamber after taking about 45 points of damage (less than half her hit point total).
So what do the PC's do now? A TPK is looking increasingly likely. The one possible hope for them (in my opinion at least) is to use a Rope Trick to hide. Aushunna will be able to see where the PC's are but she won't be able to do anything about it.
Once her 10 minutes are up and she disappears the PC's should be able to flee Bhal-Hamatugn, rest up and come back for revenge. My only worry is that once Mangu Michu gets his armour on he will find out where Aushunna is, discover the Rope Trick, and dispell it. This will leave the PC's facing both Aushunna and the Kuo-toan Cleric at the same time.
Does anyone else have any other ideas? I really don't want to see a TPK here but it is looking increasingly likely.
Olaf the Stout
I would suggest you send them here to get some help with tactics. She is only an Erinyes. They should have stayed and fought. The casting fly issue on the warblade was a good idea. Even if he can't get to her it waste a move action, and instead of making a full found of attacks she can only get one shot off unless she has manyshot, but that brings up a pretty good penalty so even that is a plus.
I am assuming the conjurer is a wizard(specialized). Summoning monsters that fly be a good idea to cut her off so the warblade can have more attacks. I don't know what spells are available so it is hard for me to say anything here. If I knew this guy's spells I could probably make this easier for them.
Half-Elf Cleric 7 If you allow the spell compendium light of mecuria and light venya are not bad spells to have for damage. I think the cleric has a spell that can make weapons good aligned. If the rogue has a ranged weapon that should help with the damage.
Halfling Rogue 7 If possible a rogue that can be made invisible or given concealment can sneak attack.
Human Hexblade 6 (due to a death in Flood season)- Great fluff, bad mechanics. If he can apply the curse to the enemy that would be a good idea.
I would suggest you send them here to get some help with tactics. She is only an Erinyes. They should have stayed and fought. The casting fly issue on the warblade was a good idea. Even if he can't get to her it waste a move action, and instead of making a full found of attacks she can only get one shot off unless she has manyshot, but that brings up a pretty good penalty so even that is a plus.
I am assuming the conjurer is a wizard(specialized). Summoning monsters that fly be a good idea to cut her off so the warblade can have more attacks. I don't know what spells are available so it is hard for me to say anything here. If I knew this guy's spells I could probably make this easier for them.Half-Elf Cleric 7 If you allow the spell compendium light of mecuria and light venya are not bad spells to have for damage. I think the cleric has a spell that can make weapons good aligned. If the rogue has a ranged weapon that should help with the damage.
Halfling Rogue 7 If possible a rogue that can be made invisible or given concealment can sneak attack.
Human Hexblade 6 (due to a death in Flood season)- Great fluff, bad mechanics. If he can apply the curse to the enemy that would be a good idea.
You make it sound like she's a pushover! :)
I see a few problems with the tactics you suggested. The biggest problem the party has is engaging her. She can greater teleport at will as well as fly at a speed 50ft. This makes getting into melee range a real challenge. Only the Warblade, due to the Conjurer casting the Fly spell on him can get close to her. The rest of the party are grounded. Even in the secret passageway the roof is 15ft high. She can sit right up near the ceiling and stay out of melee range.
If the Warblade does get in melee range of her she has a couple of options. She can just fly away. Her fly speed is faster than the Warblade's so she can keep moving around to stop him from doing any more than a single attack on her. She has DR5/Good so all his attacks do 5 less damage than normal as well.
Secondly, with greater teleport at will she can just teleport away from the Warblade if she wants to. With a Concentration check of +20 she doesn't need to roll very high to cast the spell with him right next to her.
The Conjurer is a Wizard that specialises in Conjuration. I don't have the book with me but I'm pretty sure the Unhallow spell in the room stops any good creatures from being summoned. Most of his other spells won't have much effect as the Erinyes has SR 20. The Conjurer has a less than 50% chance of a spell getting through the SR. And if it does then there's still probably a saving throw.
As for the rogue. She has true seeing that is always on. He can't be made invisible in order to sneak attack her as she can still see him. And even if he was invisible, he still can't fly in order to get next to her to use his sneak attack.
The party really doesn't have much that can damage her at range. Due to her DR5/Good most normal ranged damage gets soaked up by the DR. As a full round action she can take 4 shots and do 1d8+6+1d6 damage per arrow. So standing and exchanging ranged attacks with her isn't a great option.
The Hexblade did try and Curse the Erinyes. She made her save though.
Olaf the Stout
You make it sound like she's a pushover! :)
I see a few problems with the tactics you suggested. The biggest problem the party has is engaging her. She can greater teleport at will as well as fly at a speed 50ft. This makes getting into melee range a real challenge. Only the Warblade, due to the Conjurer casting the Fly spell on him can get close to her. The rest of the party are grounded. Even in the secret passageway the roof is 15ft high. She can sit right up near the ceiling and stay out of melee range.
If the Warblade does get in melee range of her she has a couple of options. She can just fly away. Her fly speed is faster than the Warblade's so she can keep moving around to stop him from doing any more than a single attack on her. She has DR5/Good so all his...
I did not mean to make her sound like a pushover but she should not be a TPK. Teleporting is a standard action which means she can't attack that round. The gives the party time to _____. I also forgot to ask what maneuvers the warblade has? Those guys normally do decent damage. She can fly faster, but even if he has to charge he should do so. If she tries to use the bow it is a AoO from the Warblade assuming he can stay close to her, and if she moves she is restricted to one arrow.
What spells does the wizard have?
Does she have manyshot? :)
She is only an Erinyes.
Actually, she's an advanced erinyes, and she does have manyshot. She's not at all a pushover.
Her ability to use unholy blight to force the heroes out of hiding can get overwhelming quickly. I have been nice and not overused unholy blight in the SCAP, since i think it is a bit overpowered as an at will ability. With only a single neutral character in the group, the blight gets old fast.
Aushanna is even deadlier due to the fact that she appears just after one encounter wraps up, and, if the fight with her takes too long, yet another encounter begins.
All this can easily add up to a TPK, but. . .SPOILER ALERT!!!
The party i DM for had to face her twice, and quickly retreated into the corridors so she could not rain down flaming arrows from above. The heroes finally confronted her in a four way intersection and were able to surround and grapple her, doing enough damage that the demon thought twice about facing them a third time. In the end, they didn't kill her, she just teleported away and hid until her summons expired.
She is only an Erinyes.Actually, she's an advanced erinyes, and she does have manyshot. She's not at all a pushover.
Her ability to use unholy blight to force the heroes out of hiding can get overwhelming quickly. I have been nice and not overused unholy blight in the SCAP, since i think it is a bit overpowered as an at will ability. With only a single neutral character in the group, the blight gets old fast.
Aushanna is even deadlier due to the fact that she appears just after one encounter wraps up, and, if the fight with her takes too long, yet another encounter begins.
All this can easily add up to a TPK, but. . .SPOILER ALERT!!!
** spoiler omitted **
The party i DM for had to face her twice, and quickly retreated into the corridors so she could not rain down flaming arrows from above. The heroes finally confronted her in a four way intersection and were able to surround and grapple her, doing enough damage that the demon thought twice about facing them a third time. In the end, they didn't kill her, she just teleported away and hid until her summons expired.
I forgot to consider that fact that my group was not restricted to core. I played archery tag with her, while the healer of the group would refill my hp. If she tagged him it was ok because there is an item in the MiC that allows the healer to receive the affect of a cure spell he uses on someone else. I wasted so many arrows.
They don't have an archer in the group so maybe a spell could be used to slow her down, but I don't know what spells the conjurer has. Without more info on the party's abilities all I can suggest is for the DM to fudge the dice.
Those whips were a lot more annoying than she was because they were prebuffed, and most of us could not hit them without rolling a 19 or 20.
My party are non-core as well. However, they don't have much at all in the way of ranged attacks. They don't have any weapons that are good aligned so the DR 5/Good means that their ranged attacks are almost useless against her.
Casting spells against Aushunna isn't a great option unless you have something that ignores spell resistance. Otherwise most 7th level casters probably have a less than 50% chance of their spells affecting her. Add in the possibility of a saving throw on top of that and the fact that she is immune or protected from a lot of energy types and spells become a lot more difficult.
The Conjurer in the party is a battlefield controller type of caster. However her spells are rendered relatively useless when Aushunna can just pop around the battlefield at will.
Olaf the Stout
My party are non-core as well. However, they don't have much at all in the way of ranged attacks. They don't have any weapons that are good aligned so the DR 5/Good means that their ranged attacks are almost useless against her.
Casting spells against Aushunna isn't a great option unless you have something that ignores spell resistance. Otherwise most 7th level casters probably have a less than 50% chance of their spells affecting her. Add in the possibility of a saving throw on top of that and the fact that she is immune or protected from a lot of energy types and spells become a lot more difficult.
The Conjurer in the party is a battlefield controller type of caster. However her spells are rendered relatively useless when Aushunna can just pop around the battlefield at will.
Olaf the Stout
The DR hurt me too. I went through a lot of arrows. Assay Spell Resistance is a 4th level spell that is on the wizard/cleric spell list. It gives +10 to the spell check so your players will start out with at least +17 before they roll the dice.
Align Weapon
Transmutation [see text]
Level: Clr 2
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Weapon touched or fifty projectiles (all of which must be in contact with each other at the time of casting)
Duration: 1 min./level
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless, object)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless, object)
Align weapon makes a weapon good, evil, lawful, or chaotic, as you choose. A weapon that is aligned can bypass the damage reduction of certain creatures. This spell has no effect on a weapon that already has an alignment.
You can’t cast this spell on a natural weapon, such as an unarmed strike.
When you make a weapon good, evil, lawful, or chaotic, align weapon is a good, evil, lawful, or chaotic spell, respectively.
Align Weapon
Transmutation
Level: Clr 2
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Weapon touched or fifty projectiles (all of which must be in contact with each other at the time of casting)
Duration: 1 min./level
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless, object)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless, object)
Align weapon makes a weapon good, evil, lawful, or chaotic, as you choose. A weapon that is aligned can bypass the damage reduction of certain creatures. This spell has no effect on a weapon that already has an alignment.
You can’t cast this spell on a natural weapon, such as an unarmed strike.
When you make a weapon good, evil, lawful, or chaotic, align weapon is a good, evil, lawful, or chaotic spell, respectively.
Here's what I've come up with after reading some suggestions on the EN World boards.
The Conjurer casts Rope Trick while Ashunna has teleported away. With the Conjurer only 7th level the spell won't last long for them to rest 8 hours to get their spells and hit points back. However it should at least give them a chance to come up with a plan to escape from Bhal-Hamatugn, regroup and come back for a second attack.
Aushunna would be able to find where the PC's were due to True Seeing. I was thinking of a possible reason why Aushunna wouldn't tell Mangu Michu (who will take another couple of minutes to put on his armour) where the Rope Trick was so that he could dispel it. However Ashunna could offer the party a deal.
Aushunna agrees not to tell the High Priest where the Rope Trick is if they destroy the statue she is currently bound to. This would then remove her from service to the Kuo-toans. She's already gotten her end of the deal from the Kuo-toans so she'd be more than happy to get out of being called upon to protect the temple.
To make sure that they do come back and destroy the statue she gets to keep one of the PC's to "play with" until they return. I'll then have her Charm Monster the PC until they fail their roll who will then be taken to Zenith.
The PC who I keep can take over rolling for the bad guys for me until they're back into the action. That way that person doesn't sit around bored while everyone else plays. When a PC was petrified earlier in the campaign that what I did and it worked really well. The player rolled horribly for the bad guys and everyone (including that player) was happy! :-)
I was trying to think of a way for Aushunna to take the PC back to Hell with her, thus guaranteeing that the party will have to summon her again in order to get that PC back. After the PC's had summoned her and then destroyed the statue I would have Ashunna attack the party again (just because she's evil! ), except this time the party would be a little more prepared for what they would be facing. This would give them more of a chance of defeating her. Defeating her would then give them a bit of closure. I'm not sure if this will work though as I don't think the rules allow her to take anyone back with her when her time is up.
The other thing I thought of was that the PC's destroy the statue as requested and don't face Aushunna at this point. I then bring her back into the campaign at a later date, just to be a thorn in the PC's sides.
Thoughts?
Olaf the Stout
Here's what I've come up with after reading some suggestions on the EN World boards.
The Conjurer casts Rope Trick while Ashunna has teleported away. With the Conjurer only 7th level the spell won't last long for them to rest 8 hours to get their spells and hit points back. However it should at least give them a chance to come up with a plan to escape from Bhal-Hamatugn, regroup and come back for a second attack.
Aushunna would be able to find where the PC's were due to True Seeing. I was thinking of a possible reason why Aushunna wouldn't tell Mangu Michu (who will take another couple of minutes to put on his armour) where the Rope Trick was so that he could dispel it. However Ashunna could offer the party a deal.
Aushunna agrees not to tell the High Priest where the Rope Trick is if they destroy the statue she is currently bound to. This would then remove her from service to the Kuo-toans. She's already gotten her end of the deal from the Kuo-toans so she'd be more than happy to get out of being called upon to protect the temple.
To make sure that they do come back and destroy the statue she gets to keep one of the PC's to "play with" until they return. I'll then have her Charm Monster the PC until they fail their roll who will then be taken to Zenith.
The PC who I keep can take over rolling for the bad guys for me until they're back into the action. That way that person doesn't sit around bored while everyone else plays. When a PC was petrified earlier in the campaign that what I did and it worked really well. The player rolled horribly for the bad guys and everyone (including that player) was happy! :-)
I was trying to think of a way for Aushunna to take the PC back to Hell with her, thus guaranteeing that the party will have to summon her again in order to get that PC back. After the PC's had summoned her and then destroyed the statue I would have Ashunna attack the party again (just because she's evil! ), except this time the party would be a little more prepared for what they...
Players roll good at the worse possible time for a DM. The spam monster trick may not work, and if your players pull a knowledge planes they may get her to sign some sort of contract, which according to most fluff she would have to honor, unless you can word it in a way that she can get around it, which devils are also known to do. :)
As far taking the PC with her she can't by RAW, but she probably has some boss in Hell that might grant her a little bit of power temporarily(if your players try to call you out on it).
On the charm monster issue, if you don't want to deal with the rolls you could say you kept doing it until they failed, but the PC may decide to fight back, which would mean the PC's death barring a miracle.
When I get back I will try to give you some back up plan.
The idea of having Aushanna try to conscript one of the PCs into serving her in the Blood War is a very nice touch. This is the way i was leaning if she was to hand the PCs butts to them. After knocking most of the party unconscious, i planned to have her offer to let the heroes live in return for one of them signing away their soul for a set amount of years in the afterlife. I figure that Auashanna would use her time in service to the clerics of Bhal-Hamatugn to her advantage, in a very patient devil sort of way.
Fortunately for my PCs, they were able to survive against her and destroy the statue of Blipdoolpoolp before she could come back again.
If the Warblade does get in melee range of her she has a couple of options. She can just fly away. Her fly speed is faster than the Warblade's so she can keep moving around to stop him from doing any more than a single attack on her.
Tactically, the way to overcome this would be a readied charge from the guy with the Fly spell. The charge would be greater than her regular movement, and then an AoO would result from the use of a ranged weapon or trying to use her teleport ability. Possibly 2 attacks per round which she cannot easily get away from. I agree that it is not a great improvement, but it is an option.
I like the idea that Aushanna tries to get out of her deal by asking the party to destroy the statue. Very Lawful Evil. She is still obligated to attack the group to defend the temple by the letter of her agreement. Maybe she can convince the flying guy to have her chase him, while the others take care of the statue.
Taking a party member back to the Nine Hells immediately would be bad for the group. There aren't a lot of ways for that guy to be recovered by a 7th level party. And I'm not sure how much Aushanna would be able to negotiate a "formal" contract for someone's soul while attacking them.
Tactical retreat is their best option. I would have Aushanna back off once they are out of the temple. Maybe you can have her negotiate with them once they are outside, when she is not obligated to kill all, just "defend" the temple.
If the Warblade does get in melee range of her she has a couple of options. She can just fly away. Her fly speed is faster than the Warblade's so she can keep moving around to stop him from doing any more than a single attack on her.Tactically, the way to overcome this would be a readied charge from the guy with the Fly spell. The charge would be greater than her regular movement, and then an AoO would result from the use of a ranged weapon or trying to use her teleport ability. Possibly 2 attacks per round which she cannot easily get away from. I agree that it is not a great improvement, but it is an option.
I like the idea that Aushanna tries to get out of her deal by asking the party to destroy the statue. Very Lawful Evil. She is still obligated to attack the group to defend the temple by the letter of her agreement. Maybe she can convince the flying guy to have her chase him, while the others take care of the statue.
Taking a party member back to the Nine Hells immediately would be bad for the group. There aren't a lot of ways for that guy to be recovered by a 7th level party. And I'm not sure how much Aushanna would be able to negotiate a "formal" contract for someone's soul while attacking them.
Tactical retreat is their best option. I would have Aushanna back off once they are out of the temple. Maybe you can have her negotiate with them once they are outside, when she is not obligated to kill all, just "defend" the temple.
Except Aushunna can just sit back out of charge range and pick him off with her bow. If she does get stuck in melee she can still cast defensively (with a +20 modifier to the Concentration check) to cast Greater Teleport. She will succeed in casting defensively about 60% of the time. If she fails the Warblade still has to hit and damage her. She then gets a second Concentration check to get the spell off.
The way I saw it, Aushunna had to defend the temple from intruders. If she negotiates with them to get the to leave the temple then she's technically still defending the temple. I image devils would use tricks like this to bend contracts in their favour.
Olaf the Stout
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She can also shout at them to "Smash the Statue! I'm going to keep killing you till you smash the statue that keeps me here!".
It's probably not something the Kuo-Toa thought of addressing in the contract. Hey, if it doesn't say she can't.....
Maybe if the PCs are trying to smash the statue, and aren't hurting her, have her play for time, by shooting at the person with the best AC or cover.
"Oh, look, I am defending this temple agaist intruders. Oh, dear, I missed again. How awful that I must keep shooting at these brave souls, while the item that binds me here remains in one piece...".
If you do this, though, forget giving full xp (if any).
Have you played the session yet?
I'm waiting with baited breath!
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I don't know about awarding less XP there Snorter. I think it could be a very interesting RP encounter, and I'm definately going to keep it in mind for my next run of the campaign. A bored devil toying with an outclassed group of PCs? Sounds golden, and explains why they would survive when they were intended to die forgotten in the Underdark.
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I don't know about awarding less XP there Snorter. I think it could be a very interesting RP encounter, and I'm definately going to keep it in mind for my next run of the campaign. A bored devil toying with an outclassed group of PCs? Sounds golden, and explains why they would survive when they were intended to die forgotten in the Underdark.
Well, any time the DM makes things easier, there has to be a corresponding reduction in xp. The official CR of any creature assumes they are going all-out to kill the PCs. Change that, and you change the effective CR.
If the encounter was a suicidally-depressed Pit Fiend, who laid his neck on a block, and told them 'The chest in the corner contains a +5 keen, anarchic, holy, devil-bane greataxe. Please kill me. I won't stop you.', I wouldn't give them xp for a CR20 creature.
Have you played the session yet?
I'm waiting with baited breath!
Not yet. We only play once a fortnight so the next session isn't until next Wednesday night. I'll be sure to post on here with the outcome of what happened. :-)
As to whether or not the PC's get full XP, they definitely won't be getting full XP for this encounter with Aushunna. If they had come up with the suggestion of making a deal with her I would have thought about it. They didn't though. This is something that I've come up with (with help from the EN World and Paizo boards) to try and avoid a TPK for my group.
The party will probably face Aushunna again at a later date so they'll get the XP for her eventually. I don't think they've much of her XP from her this time though.
Olaf the Stout
[joking]Just for the sake of conversation, she kinda-sorta gave them all a bonus level; in the -[-level] sense![/joking]
Our game is tomorrow night: hopefully I'll have that kind of 'logic' out of my system prior to 'Return to Drathkar's Way'
"Olaf, they bought their tickets. They knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em crash."
But you don't want a TPK, so here are a few options:
My Personal Choice (OPTION #1)
Jenya has a bad dream about the PCs. Believing it to be a bad omen, she uses locate creature to find the group and asks her good and dear friend, Alex Tercival, to go help them. He comes in at the beginning of your next session. You can make him as gnarly as you want because it won't matter in the end and it'll make it more believeable in Demonskar Legacy that Nabthataron is too wiped out to deal with the PCs and just skee-dattles. It'll also make it all the more poignant when, in a couple of modules, the group has to go help him (but is too late).
OPTION #2
Nidrama, who has been watching the group for a while, can't just sit by and watch. She casts banishment (invisibly, of course). Just have Aushanna look up, over a PC's shoulder, make a defiant gesture and then fade away ala Charlie X from the end of that old Star Trek episode. I'm thinking along the lines of the devil in Fantasia when he's banished by the tolling of the bells at the beginning of Ave Maria.
OPTION #3
The Left-Hand doesn't know what the Right-Hand is doing: Vhalantru orchestrated the PCs going there to get killed. Have the High Priestess of Nerull (who's always off-camera until late in the AP anyway) send a different group of PCs to Bhal-Hamatugn for the same reason. Make them obvious champions of good so the your group will recognize them as allies and not baddies.
Whatever you do, however, I think will be obvious to the players as, "Oh, yeah, the DM has his super-cool story that he wants to tell through to the end so we're not in any real danger because he won't let anything bad happen to us so we can pretty much be as reckless and as stupid as we want from here on out."
The best way to ameliorate this kind of hand-waving is not to do it; let them die (they shouldn't have panicked in the first few rounds or should've retreated at the beginning).
The second-best way to ameliorate this kind of hand-waving is to build good story around it; that's why Option #1 is my favorite.
Long post warning!
Well last session didn’t quite go as I thought it might. When we ended last session the party was looking pretty much boned. Aushunna still had 50-60 hit points remaining, while the party was close to being out of healing and a couple of PC’s were 1 or 2 hits away from dropping unconscious. In between our fortnightly sessions the players thought about what their next PC’s would be in the likely event that they died. (It was good to see that they were still interested in continuing the campaign at least).
We started the next session with the PC’s in the secret passage leading to the main chamber. Aushunna’s location was unknown as she had teleported away in the last round before we ended the session a fortnight ago. I kept the game running in initiative order and let the PC’s have a couple of rounds to quickly regroup before teleporting the Erinyes back into the passageway in front of the party.
Upon returning she told the PC’s (in Common – I decided she could speak Common as no-one in the party could speak any of her known languages) to stop attacking her as she had a proposition for them. She would allow them to leave Bhal-Hamatugn as long as the party agreed to return and destroy the statue in the main room that she was bound to. The party thought about it for a second and agreed. The Dwarven Warblade even quipped that was what he was trying to do but he was interrupted when she started attacking him! :)
The party started to leave when Aushunna then mentioned the one small catch. A PC would have to stay back in Bhal Hamatugn as insurance, just in case the PC’s decided not to return to fulfil their end of the bargain. This turned out to be a bit deal breaker for a couple of the PC’s. The Rogue, who had been knocked unconscious 3 times in the fight with Aushunna and was still in single digit hit points, was more than happy to agree to the deal. He was even happy to be the one left behind, as he knew that if the fight continued he was likely only a single casting of Unholy Blight away from dying. The Cleric of Heironeous also wanted to take the deal. He also selflessly volunteered to be the one left behind.
The Warblade, Conjurer and Hexblade weren’t so keen though. After about 30 seconds of discussion Aushunna said the PC’s needed to make a decision as the Kuo-toan High Priest would be with them soon and she would be forced to attack and kill the party. At this point the Conjurer decided they were better of just trying to kill Aushunna and cast a spell at her. I was quite surprised at this as I thought that attacking her at this point was pretty much a death with. I can’t remember the exact spell but I think it would have done either 4d6 or 7d6 damage, not enough to kill her.
Everyone re-rolled initiative to react to the Conjurer’s attempted spellcasting. The Cleric had the opportunity to grapple the Conjurer and stop the casting but decided to just tell her to stop casting, rather than physically restrain her. Thankfully for me (as I would have been forced to kill the party) the ranged touch attack for the acid spell missed and very generously gave the group one last chance to take the deal.
The Rogue started yelling that he would stay behind and everyone agreed to let him if that was what he really wanted. The rest of the party headed towards the exit to the temple but the Cleric of Heironeous changed his mind at the last minute and decided that he would be the one to stay behind instead.
The party (minus the Cleric) ran out the front of the temple, freeing the 2 prisoners from their cells along the way. The Kuo-toan ferryman appeared a minute or two later to take the party and the 2 freed prisoners back across to the other side of the lake.
About halfway across the lake the ferryman tried to tip the boat upside down and then dived into the lake. All the PC’s made their Balance checks in order to stay in the boat but the Halfling prisoner wasn’t so lucky. The Dwarven Warblade still had his Fly spell in operation so he plucked the Halfling out of the water, and flew him over to the far side of the lake.
Meanwhile, the Kuo-toan ferryman proceeded to smash holes in the boat from underneath. With the boat starting to fill with water, the Conjurer cast a Rope Trick spell and climbed up. She was quickly followed by the Halfling Rogue (who was still in single digit hit points at this point) and the other remaining prisoner. The Hexblade started climbing the rope when the Dwarven Warblade flew back towards them. Deciding that dry land was better than a magic spell in the middle of the lake he grabbed onto the Dwarf, who flew him to the far side of the lake. There, the 3 of them looked for any other passages off of the beach.
While they did that the Conjurer, Rogue and other prisoner discussed what to do next. After some discussion and a little rest they decided that they would take their chances in water. The Conjurer summoned a Fiendish Crocodile as well, just in case the Kuo-toa was still around. Thankfully he wasn’t’ and they were able to swim to the far shore without any trouble.
Meeting up with the other 3 people, they found a spot to rest for the “night”. After some rest, regaining of spells and hit points the party got themselves ready to assault the temple a second time. The prisoners didn’t want to head back in (or so they said) so the party left them to their own devices.
The Hexblade had Fly cast on him and then flew the 3 remaining party members across the lake to the temple. Some Kuo-toa guards attacked the PC’s with hand crossbows before jumping down to engage the party in melee. After the guards were easily dispatched the PC’s headed towards the main room in the temple. This time they went in through the front door, setting off a Glyph trap in the process which hurt both the Warblade and Hexblade.
They made it into the main room without any further incident, only to find another 4 Kuo-toan Whips and 4 Kuo-toan guards waiting for them. The Conjurer was able to pin the Whips in place with an Evard’s Black Tentacle. The other 3 party members set about engaging the guards. Despite being pinned in place they were still able to get a few Lightening Bolts off, hitting the Conjurer, Hexblade and the Warblade.
The Hexblade dispatched one of the guards before flying up to attack the statue. He was able to smash one of the gemstone eyes, reducing the potency of the lightening bolts generated by the whips. He then flew down to the back of the statue’s neck to try and hack off the head. The Warblade and Rogue dealt with the remaining guards while the tentacles slowly strangled the life out of the Whips.
While the party was still dealing with the other Kuo-toans Mangu-Michu, the Kuo-toan High Priest, entered the room from a door next to the statue, accompanied by his Duergar slave. The slave was quickly dealt with but Mangu-Michu was basically left free to buff himself up.
Once all the other Kuo-toans were dispatched a big melee erupted between Mangu-Michu and the party. The magic of the statue had been broken, thanks to the Hexblade hacking off it’s head (After taking into account hardness, the Hexblade managed to do over 150 points of damage to the neck! I figured that was more than enough damage to cause it to crack and break off, thus ruining the spell that called forth Aushunna).
Mangu-Michu did a bit of damage before finally being taken down as the last man standing. Thanks to an Unholy Blight right near the end of the fight the Hexblade was left on 0 hit points while the Rogue had just 3. The Warblade still had 30-40 hit points left (from a total of around 80-odd) while the Conjurer was in the teens.
That’s where we ended the session. So where do I go from here?
Thanks to the Cleric (unexpectedly) volunteering himself to be taken by the Erinyes the party now has almost nothing left in the way of healing. In the confusion of the party fleeing the temple, no one took any healing wands off of the Cleric. I’m not 100% sure but I think all they have left healing-wise is 2 Potions of Cure Light Wounds. With half the party 1 hit away from death that isn’t a great position to be in.
O
riginally I was going to have Aushunna show up again, summon some other devils for the party to fight and then flee. However, I think I might give that a miss now as I think the PC’s are in enough trouble as it is. I’ll probably bring her back into the campaign at a later date though.
So how can I avoid killing off the party? I don’t want to go too easy on them but in their current situation I don’t think that they will be able to survive another fight. The Whips all had scrolls of Cure X Wounds on them but since the Cleric isn’t with the party they are basically useless at the moment. The Rogue doesn’t have Use Magic Device so they have no way of casting it. One possible solution I thought of was for them to find a stash of healing potions in Mangu-Michu’s room. It makes sense that the High Priest would make healing potions for the rest of his tribe.
Other than the healing potion stash, I don’t know what to do. I’ve generally found that playing 3.xE without a Cleric is a tough ask, especially when you are basically out of healing potions as well.
I could have the Cleric escape somehow but I don’t think that would really make sense, especially since he currently has a Charm Monster spell on him. Aushunna put it on him (she said she would kill him if he didn’t accept her Charm Monster spell). Maybe I could have the Charm Monster spell end when the PC’s broke the statue (cutting off their connection with Aushunna)? Other than that, I’m stuck for ideas.
Suggestions?
Olaf the Stout
The cleric staying behind was a selfless act, but he should have let the rogue stay for the good of the party. I was surprised nobody tried harder to have the rogue stay behind. If there is another enemy coming up you could give them healing belts. I dont remember what is next.
I don't know the time limit the party has to help the devil, but she might have an invisibility potion for her prisoner if she gets a visit from her boss. That might give the party time to rest up again.
I would probably destroy the healing belts after the party was together again(not immediately) since they are only there to make sure a TPK does not take place.
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The way I see it, Aushanna can’t return any time soon (due to the statue being destroyed). The cleric being charmed is kind of irrelevant, seeing as the party did in fact fulfil their bargain with the erinyes (by destroying the statue).
Am I missing something? Can’t the group just pick up their cleric, get him to heal them up and move on?
Or did Aushanna actually take the cleric back to hell with her? In which case he’s probably lost … but doesn’t mean the rest of the party is. IIRC there’s really no one left in the shrine who’s likely to go after the now if they retreat and rest, and the adventure isn’t really on a timer (although the party might think it is).
Yes, where exactly is the cleric?
The Cleric's whereabouts remain a mystery to the party at this point.
Out-of-game, I haven't decided yet where he is located. He will be in the temple somewhere but I don't know where to place him. The two options I am tossing up between at the moment are in Mangu-Michu's chamber or with Zenith.
If the party did find the Cleric he would still be charmed (I don't see how Aushunna not being on the same plane dispells that). As a result he would attack the PC's on sight (having been told that anyone not Zenith, Aushunna or a Kuo-toa is the enemy). The Conjurer can't cast Dispel Magic so the Cleric is going to be charmed for a fairly long time (19 days if I remember correctly).
Without the Cleric the PC's can basically only heal via resting. 2 PC's are basically on 0 hit points at the moment so 1 good hit will kill them. That's not exactly an ideal situation for the party.
Thoughts?
Olaf the Stout
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My understanding of Charm Monster is that it doesn’t automatically allow the charmer to order the charmee to do things like order them to attack their former companions (that requires a specific order and an opposed charisma check).
Would Aushanna really try to order the charmed cleric to do something like that? Sure, she’s evil, so she might, but her goal here was simply keeping him as a hostage until the rest of the party destroyed the statue. They kept their end of the bargain. Aushanna might have tried to order the cleric not to return to his companions until they had completed the bargain, but I don’t know that she would necessarily try to order him to attack them.
If it were me, I would put the cleric in the prison area or the upper guard room or something, with Aushanna having told him not to leave the complex with his companions until they can prove to him that the statue is destroyed.
They should be able to find him, show him the destroyed statue and he now is free to leave and aid them as normal (despite still being charmed by Aushanna – the fact he is charmed is somewhat irrelevant since she’s not around, unless she was able to instil him with further specific orders via an opposed charisma check).
Dominate person or monster would force the cleric to fight the party, but charm spells only mean the charmer is your best friend. It does not stop your alliances to your old friends.
From the SRD
This charm makes a humanoid creature regard you as its trusted friend and ally (treat the target’s attitude as friendly)........The spell does not enable you to control the charmed person as if it were an automaton, but it perceives your words and actions in the most favorable way......
PS: How are spoilers done on this site?
Concerro:
Olaf, I have a few ideas:
1. Have the cleric nearby and easily rescued. Or have him dead (makes his sacrifice meaningful, and gets the party out out out)
2. If the cleric is alive, and if the party has any other source of protection from evil spells, then nudge the party towards protection from evil spells as the counter to the dominate monster spell. If the cleric can be freed long enough to be tied up and carried out, then yay! I can see your party hanging out in some out-of-the-way-corner doggedly casting multiple rope-tricks in order to pass the days away.
3. Give the cleric a(nother) saving throw (mentioned above - I don't like not being able to see the thread when writing comments) based on: whatever you want really (I'd go with his original command being "wait here and btw if you see your old mates then kill them" - when the conditional command kicks in, treat it as a second command...and roll the save for him;))
4. Have the 'interfering angel' (name escapes me) plop a lantern archon to hang out with the party for awhile...its protection from evil 10' radius should keep the cleric under control long enough for the party to make some decisions
I don't know how to 'end' dominate person/monster. Maybe it involves break enchantment...if only my PH wasn't just out of reach.
Hope some of this is helpful (my group had a big talk about how to deal with domination as a result of their vampire encounters).
Olaf, here's what you do: The destruction of the statue severs Aushanna's subservience to the kuo-toans but doesn't force her back to Hell. Just say it called her instead of summoned her. That's why Aushanna wanted the PC's to destroy the statue in the first place; she knows, as an erinyes, she is much better at corrupting souls than acting as a bulldog. And now, thanks to the desperate and questionable actions of the PC's, Aushanna is free to roam the Prime Material Plane doing the heretofore aforementioned corrupting.
And why not start with the Cleric of Heironeous? Have the PC's find the two of them together in the private chambers of the High Priest in bed, naked. I think the cleric is a man, so you can be as vulgar in your description of the coitus interruptus as you want.
Example: "You approach the sounds of grunting and moaning from the room up ahead. As you enter, Aushanna rolls off the top of the cleric. Both of them are naked and sweating. The cleric's chest is heaving with exertion. Aushanna clasps her hands to her nether regions and titters, "Oops, dripping. Wouldn't want to waste any of that," smirks and teleports away."
The cleric now has to atone for being violated/raped because in the middle of the act, Aushanna dismissed the charm monster and he kept going. Later, he'll have to deal with the cambion that he just impregnated Aushanna with. I'm sure Heironeous will be soooooo pleased.
I understand that you don't want to TPK your group, but anytime you do, there should be enough drama and hatred generated towards a villain that the PC's don't really notice it.
I forgot to update this for the events of last session. Our next session is tomorrow night so I'll provide another update after then. So what happened last session?
Well the session started with the PC's having defeated the Kuo-toan High Cleric (Manchu-Mitchu?) and some more Whips and Guards. All of the had less than 20 hit points left with the Hexblade on 0 HP's and the Rogue on just 1 HP. The party used their last 2 healing potions to heal back a few hit points for them. They then opened the door next to the (now destroyed) statue which led to the High Priest's chambers.
After opening the door they heard sounds of pleasure coming from the room down the far end of the chamber. They followed the noise and found Aushunna in the throes of passion with the (still charmed) Cleric! :)
(The player of the Cleric took this pretty well but the look on his face was priceless as the Erinyes thanked him for his "donation".)
Aushunna stood up and dismissed the Charm on the Cleric, smiling as she saw the Cleric realise exactly what had happened. The Erinyes then proposed another deal with the PC's. The party would agree to serve her for 10 days, gathering up the remaining Kuo-toans (without killing them) and forcing them to serve her (she figured she had served the frog people long enough so it was their turn to serve her). After the 10 days were up she would let them take Zenith Splitershield and go. If the party didn't accept her deal she would not only kill them but, using the information she had gathered from talking with the charmed Cleric, head to Cauldron and kill many of the people they knew and loved.
The PC's were not happy about this at all (but I think the players were ok with it). They were stuck between a rock and hard place. The Erinyes loved every second of it and wasn't afraid to show the PC's that. After a bit of discussion about what exactly the deal would involve the Rogue and the Hexblade agreed. The Cleric, still very pissed about what had just happened to him, agreed but swore revenge on the Erinyes. The Conjurer thought about it taking on the Erinyes before finally agreeing.
The Warblade was the last hold-out. He tried to pump Aushunna for more information but she wasn't having any of it. She gave him a countdown to agree to the deal. If he didn't agree at the end of that time she would kill him. And just to prove that she was serious, she shot him once, taking him down to single digits in hit points. He kept prodding her for more information before agreeing to the deal as the countdown got to 1! :D
So after being very reluctant (and annoyed) about agreeing to the first deal with the devil the PC's have now entered into a second one in the space of a day! I was very pleased with my rat bastadry! ;)
My plan from here was to get the PC's to round up all the remaining Kuo-toans alive. Once that is done she will make the PC's bend them Kuo-toans to her will using methods such as torture that the PC's will not be happy about at all (they still haven't come across the women and children yet - I'm not sure how depraved I am about that). After basically messing with the PC's for the 10 days and watching them squirm she will let them go, but kindly summon some bearded devils to attack them as they leave (she's not attacking them directly! :devil:) before teleporting herself away.
From there I plan to work her back into the campaign at a later date. I'm still not sure how exactly (and I'm open to ideas) but it would be a total waste not to have her reappear at some point. And I'm also not sure exactly what to do with the Cleric's "lovechild" either. I plan to have Aushunna go to a plane where time moves faster than the Prime Material Plane. That way I can bring the baby/child back into the campaign within a reasonable timeframe. Unfortunately the Cleric probably won't be around to see it as the player has decided to play a new PC, a female Monk which the party found last session tied up in Zenith's throne room. That's a bit disappointing but not too big a deal.
Anyway, back to the session.
The PC's then set about finding Kuo-toans to round up for the Erinyes. She followed the PC's around the complex, adding "helpful" comments and exchanging barbs with the party (mainly the Warblade). There was a nice moment when the PC's came across the Draconic Fingerlings (a cross between a dragon and a kuo-toan but still in a tadpole-like stage - they're only about as big as a finger at this stage). The Warblade grabbed a single Draconic Fingerling from the swarm of a couple of hundred, walked back to the Erinyes, handed it to her and said "One!" :lol: She thanked him kindly for his effort, riling him up some more.
He figured once they get the rest of the Kuo-toans captured he could spend the rest of the 10 days grabbing the Fingerlings one by one until the 10 days run out. Aushunna already plans to nix that by just killing the Fingerlings herself if she needs to.
The rest of the session was spent with the party scouting out the rest of the complex and capturing any Kuo-toans they encountered. The Hexblade nearly died for the second time in the campaign after falling down a 40ft pit trap and landing on 4 spikes. Unfortunately for him there was a Wight in the same room who Con drained him the very next round. If he got hit a second time he would have died. Fortunately the Cleric was able to turn the Wight in the nick of time.
A second death nearly happened when the Kuo-toan Assassin attacked the Conjurer. Luckily he rolled really high for his save to avoid the death attack. Aushunna was disappointed but got some fun out of both the near deaths by "offering" to "help" heal their wounds. The Warblade got more annoyed at this (in game, the player was having fun with the situation from an out-of-game perspective) and gave Aushunna a few choice words, allowing her to enjoy things even more.
The session ended with the PC's managing to take down Zenith (without killing him). Next session will see the rest of the complex scouted out (including the combat with the Black Dragon :devil::)) and then the PC's will have to break the Kuo-toans.
So what does everyone think? Personally I'm happy with how the situation has worked out. I've avoided a TPK, forced the PC's into another deal with a devil, built up hatred for what should become a recurring enemy while at the same time advancing the plotline. That's a much better situation to what I was faced with a couple of sessions ago. :)
Comments and suggestions of where to go from here?
Olaf the Stout
If you are playing the SCAP, do not read this post.
Where to begin?!? Read up (if you haven't already) on corrupting souls. The PC's have have made two deals with the devil. Aushanna's probably thinking, "Third time's the charm." Go for their souls. You seem to have made Aushanna out to be toying with the PC's for her amusement, but only that. Toying for amusement comes second, after they're condemned. Toying for their souls comes first, especially for an erinyes.
You say the cleric player is starting a new character? Oh, that just can't get any better! Once that cleric is your NPC, you retcon and say (maybe not out loud, and maybe not right now, save the story for later; but I'm getting to that) that Aushanna fully corrupted the cleric. Anything the PC did after the bedroom scene that might have seemed good was just an act. During the next session, randomly ask the characters to make a few (meaningless) sense motive rolls when the cleric does something, anything. Don't do it often enough to draw conspicuous attention and don't let it succeed to tip them off that the cleric is acting hinkey. It's just enough to cover your butt later.
Now, have the cleric take the child to the fast-time plane to raise his own child. When you re-introduce Aushanna, you now have a buffer between her and the group. Have the wight be in tow with the cleric (because after the bedroom, and he was corrupted, he commands undead instead of turn them).
That's just too much awesomeness. How to reintroduce Aushanna later on?
Once Nidrama gets of her celestial horse and starts to help out the PCs, how about the Ultimate Chick Fight. Smite Good in a hair-pulling grapple. Infernal Wounds from cat-scratching Nidrama's cheeks. I'm thinking outsider (G)lorious (L)adies (O)f (W)restling. You could have Jenya there as Nidrama's tag-team partner against Aushanna and the cleric's daughter (if you haven't decided on a gender). The cleric can be the manager and the PCs get into an out of the ring breaking chairs over the back fight while the main event is going on. With Mercane's handling all the betting, and modrons officiating. That's just one silly idea.
That might not have the emotional impact you're looking for. Or it might not fit into the campaign style. But sometimes, especially in a long-running campaign, there needs to be a good comic relief to reinvigorate the group. By the time the AP gets to that point, your group might be ready for just that sort of thing.
Or Aushanna, Cleric and Child are competitors for the Sign of the Smoking Eye. Maybe one even gets it. Maybe Aushanna has Cleric sacrifice child to gain the template (the reason she bore the child in the first place) while the group looks on, seeing just how far their former comrade has fallen. Or, having no further use for him, and much tighter control of her own child, has the child sacrifice the Cleric. And the group is even further motivated to avenge Cleric.
Or Child who is an innocent who happens to be Shackleborn. Cleric breaks free of Aushanna's control long enough to get to the party. Broken, shattered, jibbering, and useless as a party-member, the npc cleric can still be an adventure hook.
The ideas are endless, and from such a juicy starting point, there's just so many delicious and different ways to go!
H A V E F U N ! ! !