Just desserts vs. TPK

[klofft]

I'm running my group through the end of Fortress of the Stone Giants right now.

They have just finished with the Hounds of Tindalos and have no idea that Mokmurian is waiting for them in the next room.

The party healer is largely spent and suffered Wisdom damage earlier. They lost one party member (of 6) to the forgefiend. The artillery sorcerer is down to low-level spells only. The only thing really going for them is that they are all at decent hit point levels.

Not even knowing how close they are to the end, they are talking about trying to find someplace to hole up and recover. They've retreated from the fortress once already and they think (probably correctly) that they can't escape and hope to get back in so easily. Yet, as DM, I know there's really no safe place for them inside now that Mokmurian knows they are here and close. (And they never met Conna.)

Advice on how I should handle this? Mokmurian and a couple wounded Hounds will likely take them apart right now, but honestly, they're a powerful party and if they are allowed to rest for a night, the opposite will probably occur. How can I make this both "fair" and exciting?

Thanks in advance.

[Greycloak of Bowness]

klofft wrote:

Advice on how I should handle this? Mokmurian and a couple wounded Hounds will likely take them apart right now, but honestly, they're a powerful party and if they are allowed to rest for a night, the opposite will probably occur. How can I make this both "fair" and exciting?

Thanks in advance.

It really depends on what they do:

If they push ahead in their weakened state, I don't see why they shouldn't face a really tough fight and may be forced to retreat or die. If bad tactical decisions don't have consequences, then things lose their excitement level pretty quick.

If they leave the complex to rest up, I would think that there would be new guards brought in from one of the tribes and the PCs would have another tough slog to get back to where they were - ("fairest" would be for the new guards to be less effective but more alert than the ones they are replacing).

If they try to hide somewhere in the complex, Conna could find them before Mok does, tell her story and offer to hide them in B6. The benefit would be that even though the surface would be re-stocked with new goons, the PCs wouldn't have to wade through all that again and would just have a few "new" guards between them and Mokmurian. It could also create a cool encounter where the PCs are hiding somewhere (maybe behind a stone-shape wall) when Mokmurian or one of his agents comes to ask Conna if she's seen anything. Conna could also help them get past the new guards the second time because it's in her interest to keep the PC-on-giant bloodshed to a minimum.

[klofft]

Thanks. Those Conna ideas are cool. This helps a lot.

[Sunderstone]

Greycloak of Bowness wrote:

If they leave the complex to rest up, I would think that there would be new guards brought in from one of the tribes and the PCs would have another tough slog to get back to where they were

Keep in mind that sending out word and getting replacement guards all in the same night (assuming the PCs left to rest outside) isnt all that likely. It depends how long the party stays out.

Assuming the party comes back the next morning, Id just take the remaining guards and scatter them to defendable positions expecting the party back at any time. Maybe even have the party's ECL worth of guards (or Mokmurian as a roving defense coordinator) on a sweep patrol within the fort.

Bring in a couple of new guards if you want, maybe they were out hunting, or coming back from outside patrols, etc.

I havent read too much of this chapter of the AP yet, but this is my typical "on-alert" response for any prolonged foray into an enemy stronghold.

[Greycloak of Bowness]

Sunderstone wrote:

Keep in mind that sending out word and getting replacement guards all in the same night (assuming the PCs left to rest outside) isnt all that likely. It depends how long the party stays out.

Assuming the party comes back the next morning, Id just take the remaining guards and scatter them to defendable positions expecting the party back at any time. Maybe even have the party's ECL worth of guards (or Mokmurian as a roving defense coordinator) on a sweep patrol within the fort.

Bring in a couple of new guards if you want, maybe they were out hunting, or coming back from outside patrols, etc.

I havent read too much of this chapter of the AP yet, but this is my typical "on-alert" response for any prolonged foray into an enemy stronghold.

The stronghold is surrounded by camps of giants of all different races that likely have been bypassed by the PCs so this minimalist response doesn't make sense.

If I were a genius necromancer giant whose defences were just pierced in such dramatic fashion, I would invite a tribe or two to at least defend the approach used in the previous attack. I would probably also animate some of the slain defenders from the previous day to serve as the inner-circle guards of today (perhaps in secret to prevent a morale problem, or perhaps using the non-giants corpses that should be around).

I prefer dynamic dungeons to static ones when there is central command and control. If Mokmurian couldn't shore up his defences adequately in a couple of hours, he should be teleporting away to make sure he can.

[klofft]

To their credit, when they left the complex the first time, they re-entered by a different method. So while there were more giants inside, they didn't run into too many of them.

Ultimately, they went forward and found Mokmurian. We are on round 11 and the fight is only about 1/3 over. So far, only the loss of a cohort. Mokmurian's battlefield control is making things very difficult for them, but the party's saves have kept them from the worst of M.'s offensive spells, and his melee ability is not super-scary since his damage is so low.