The Vault creatures (possible spoilers)

[Laveral]

Has anyones group already made it to the vault and fought the vampires in What Lies in Dust? I was thinking of having the Mazeflesh Man be on the level above looking around. He doesn't seem like the waiting type.
My group ended the game last week defeating the Bisby skeleton. They will have to spend time in there getting info, so that gives enough time to prepare.

Just wondering how others played the vampires.

[Laveral]

Interesting development with Bisby's remains. The party sorcerer decided that instead of trying to figure out how to talk to him he was going to put hm inside of the Chelish Crux, because I let them keep it. They had left the Erinyes head inside of it, he took that out and threw it into the bug room and closed the door. They could still hear the thing screaming from down the hall as the sorcerer places the bones into the crux and closes it up. Seeing that Bisby was already defeated for the day I saw no reason not to let them do this.

On the note of the vampire,the Mazeflesh Man came up and found out they were up there he send rat swarms after them and then waits for them to come. The rat swarms are destroyed by one fireball. Then the Half-Orc fighter/barbarian comes down the hall and is the first person to turn the corner when he is hit with a dominate person. The vampire has him flee, and as the melee begins he knocks them around for a bit until they knock him down to 0 and he flees back down to the vault.

I am counting the Half-orc as a casualty and I am thinking of having him turned into a thrall of Ilnerik. There is little chance he can escape Ilnerik if the other vampire tells him to go to him. Is that me just being mean. dominate person is a good ability, but it is also a little weak in that you can't make the dominated people turn on their friends and attack them without another saving throw. So I did something nastier.

I also almost killed the party ranger with one pounce attack from the hellcat. It was a nasty night.

[Cralius the Dark]

I misread your first post; I thought your next game wasn't for another week. I was going to post earlier but didnt have time.

Anyway, good idea to have the MM encounter the group elsewhere. The Vault can get pretty nasty quick. I was going to do that too, but got caught up on some other idea and forgot about it.

I had the MM waiting for the group in the doorway in 23. The grinding of the stone desk alerts him someone is coming. As soon as 3 members entered the hall, he sent in some bat swarms, as he moved to the side and began shooting them with his crossbow. Between the spawn, the bat swarms, and the Mazeflesh Man, you can see where this is going. On top of that, two PCs tried to reach the Morrowfall, but didn't quite make it. I plan on doing a full write up on the action when I get some time.

At least your group knows whats waiting for them and can better prepare. I almost had a TPK and I didn't even use everything.

[Virgil]

My party got wiped by the vampires. Mazeflesh sent two rat swarms at the party when they started fighting the spawn in the hallway, and after a long-drawn out affair, had killed two of the five PCs by the time he was finally killed himself (all of the spawn had already been killed).

Wanting them dead and not wanting them to know that the sarcophagi were his resting coffins, he let them chase him all the way to the scroll room so Vahnwynne could handle the remaining three; and she did so (didn't even buff herself).

Technically the ranger's animal companion survived, being given a message for the Westcrown Rebels so they'd know it's filled with vampires, so that way there would be a tie-in for replacement characters to get word and head down. Problem with this though. One of them had a composite longbow, along with 10 adamantine arrows. As far as I can tell, Mazeflesh can use these two things and destroy the Morrowfall from a safe distance; which means the party will return to an empty Delvehaven.

[Ice Titan]

Virgil wrote:

As far as I can tell, Mazeflesh can use these two things and destroy the Morrowfall from a safe distance; which means the party will return to an empty Delvehaven.

Artifacts cannot be destroyed unless you do the specific steps to destroy it. This means that you can't break, for instance, a Philosopher's Stone until you put it in a Titan's boot for a week or something. It's the same way with the Morrowfall-- they can't destroy it unless they combine it with the Totemrix and destroy both. Their plan is to combine the totemrix with the Morrowfall and keep both in stasis, still allowing Ilnerik to use his powers, or to toss the Morrowfall into the ocean or something so the Totemrix can never be destroyed. Keep that in mind.

[Ice Titan]

Virgil wrote:

As far as I can tell, Mazeflesh can use these two things and destroy the Morrowfall from a safe distance; which means the party will return to an empty Delvehaven.

Remember, artifacts can't be destroyed unless you go about their specific destruction protocols. The Morrowfall has to be combined with the Totemrix to be destroyed. The vampire's goal is to get rid of the Morrowfall (toss it in the ocean) so that the Totemrix can never be destroyed.

[James Jacobs]

Ice Titan wrote:

Remember, artifacts can't be destroyed unless you go about their specific destruction protocols. The Morrowfall has to be combined with the Totemrix to be destroyed. The vampire's goal is to get rid of the Morrowfall (toss it in the ocean) so that the Totemrix can never be destroyed.

This is a great point to remember. Artifacts are GREAT at serving the role of Plot Devices since they're so hard to break! :)

[Ice Titan]

James Jacobs wrote:

Ice Titan wrote:

Remember, artifacts can't be destroyed unless you go about their specific destruction protocols. The Morrowfall has to be combined with the Totemrix to be destroyed. The vampire's goal is to get rid of the Morrowfall (toss it in the ocean) so that the Totemrix can never be destroyed.

This is a great point to remember. Artifacts are GREAT at serving the role of Plot Devices since they're so hard to break! :)

They're also great door stops and sliding wall and ceiling stops. Bring the Shadowstaff anywhere you go, and you have a very potent way to deflect and avoid any crushing trap you come across!

[Virgil]

That certainly adds a twist in their attempt to remove the Morrowfall. They achieved their goal of destroying the party, but the artifact remains both unattainable yet accessible. Would/could they use an adamantine melee weapon to cause enough structural damage to the Vault for a cave-in? They've already been shown to be able to dig tunnels relatively well, and obtaining the party's hardness-ignoring axe would make it even easier. If they fill it with rubble, attempts to dig towards the artifact will be relatively slow, which spells certain doom because of the cover-ignoring sunbeam every six seconds.

[Virgil]

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle this shift in fortune for the adventure path? The sixfold survivors have been killed; all but one of them will in fact rise as vampires under the control of Mazeflesh and Vahnwynne. The Westcrown Rebels received word of their deaths, but it's unknown whether the new recruits who can safely enter Delvehaven will arrive before the 1d4 day timer finishes.

Their goal of slaying them is fulfilled, but their Morrowfall goal remains. What are likely actions to be taken by them? How might things change if they choose to make the Morrowfall inaccessible by collapsing the Vault (assuming they can't think of any way to dispose of it), resulting in the new party having to face the Infernal Syndrome without having gotten the artifact and Ilnerik’s intimate knowledge of the Westcrown Rebel membership (along with the Sixfold Survivors as indirect minions)?

[Jim Cirillo]

If it was me I'd play out the new vampire spawns (the old PCs) being directed by Mazelflesh and the others to grab the Morrowfall (if they rise as vamps before the new group arrives). If they survive and are able to get the artifact and secure it then the vampire's mission is complete and they go dispose of that half of the Totemrix in whatever way they would. It'll make the battle with Sivenshin later on down the line possibly more difficult but it will not derail the AP if the Morrowfall is lost. And there are repercussions for anyone handling the Aohl without joining it with the Morrowfall but these things happen when evil wins a round in the war.