Xanesha fought the party in Magnimar to a stand-still, then quit the field and joined Lucretia. The party took them both on and made use of a lot of poison, which proved a very good tactic. Didn't stop both of them from running, though, and so now both are abroad.
So, what should I do with them now? Fort Rannick has just been retaken, the ogres there routed and killed, and the two lamias are out there somewhere with a bunch of paralytic poison pumping through their veins. I can't really see them wanting to go back to the Kreeg stronghold to report the situation, especially given their weakened states. So what do you think they'd do next?
Hmmm...
Depending on how much you want to expand your campaign, you could have them go to ground in another city, where they could hide, take up new identities (at least for a while), and recuperate before reporting back to their superiors.
My two suggestions would be either:
1) Riddleport. A lovely city of sin to hide out in, and already detailed in PF#13: A Shadow in the Sky (if you have that issue, of course). The only problem is that it's nowhere near where the party will be heading in the campaign as written. So my other suggestion would be;
2) Kaer Maga. With the new PF Chronicles supplement on the City of Strangers coming out in July, it could be one heckuva side quest - and it's in the general area of PF#4's events. You might have to slow things down a bit to wait for the book to come out, but a trip there would be memorable for any party of adventurers (again, assuming that you're planning on getting that book).
Just my humble 2cp, as always :)
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR"
I've got a couple of questions too.
They might actually be afraid of the characters at this point. In this case, the world is large, and nothing prevents them from going to more distant places to setting up shop for themselves.
Would they have any knowledge they they could use for revenge? Even trivial things like "The heroes came from Sandpoint" could be of some use - giving the Lamia's a place to start seraching for more knowledge. Charm Monster on a Spouse, Mentor, or Friend can do wonderful things to mess over a character's life.
Would the two ladies be able to disguise themselves and then seduce one or more of the heroes away from his buddies?
Got a character who fancies themselves as a "Ladies Man"? Perhaps it is time for him to be allowed to role-play his interest with to very lovely and very willing women -- and fall completely under their thrall ...
I've got a couple of questions too.
How badly off are they?
They might actually be afraid of the characters at this point. In this case, the world is large, and nothing prevents them from going to more distant places to setting up shop for themselves.How much do they know about the characters?
Would they have any knowledge they they could use for revenge? Even trivial things like "The heroes came from Sandpoint" could be of some use - giving the Lamia's a place to start seraching for more knowledge. Charm Monster on a Spouse, Mentor, or Friend can do wonderful things to mess over a character's life.How much to the characters know about the Lamias?
Would the two ladies be able to disguise themselves and then seduce one or more of the heroes away from his buddies?
Got a character who fancies themselves as a "Ladies Man"? Perhaps it is time for him to be allowed to role-play his interest with to very lovely and very willing women -- and fall completely under their thrall ...
Also considering their overall involvement in things they could do as suggested, learn about the heroes coming from Sandpoint and use intelligence and the like to learn about the upcoming raid. Then you could have them join in as the raid leaders help, essentially giving him buffs and the like and some help.
Both of mine escaped as well. Lucretia was able to get most of the weapons and gear on the road to the Fortress well before the PCs got to Hook Mountain. She and Xanesha, who had been at HM overseeing production, are on their way back to Mokmurian. Not sure what part they'll play. They might take part in the raid on Sandpoint but I've already got Nualia (who escaped as well) involved in that one.
M
The two are currently pretty badly off simply because they were surprised with poison. The battle between Xanesha and the party was inconclusive and had the party not resorted to a lot of poison, at best that battle probably would have been inconclusive too. Xanesha lost her snake skin shirt and Lucretia lost her wand and rapier. Xanesha is also down to a strength of 6, while Lucretia has a 12. Bad enough to make them not want to fight right now, but I don't think the party has managed to impress them to the point of making them afraid.
I think they only know that the party came from Sandpoint and that's it. Hmmm...charming sisters, who come and charm a Scarnetti...
The party knows what the two look like. From my understanding, the shape-shifting they do only lets them switch between a lamia and a normal-appearing woman, so the woman part still looks the same no matter what. So I don't think a romance angle would work.
I expect that they're ticked off and want revenge. Like I said, I don't think the party has managed to impress them enough yet to scare them. Having them join the giant raid against Sandpoint doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.
I think they go to Sandpoint and get their revenge
I agree that they'll probably want some revenge. In my game, and maybe the adventure as written, they're pretty fiercely loyal to their boss because of who lives in his head. That means they won't just slink off into the marshes or something...the more the PCs anger them without killing them, the more they're going to want to add souls to their boss' warchest. Have one or both sneak into Sandpoint while the PCs are taking the winter off and start marking folks with the Sihedron rune. Then, when the PCs discover it (make sure they do) they'll be even more horrified about the raid. They don't know what it does yet (in my game anyway) but they know it's bad news.
BTW, I love that our rogue has decided to kife a sihedron medallion and wear it (semi-secretly). I'm going to have fun with that.
M
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Xanesha was entrenched in the politics of Magnimar for years through Ironbriar. She probably has dirt on many powerful men and women, greedy people she had planned to sacrifice in the name of Karzoug. Lord-Mayor Groboras was on the top of that list. She can't sacrifice them, but she can still use them.
Lamia matriarchs can cast Dream three times a day. That's three opportunities a day to send blackmail terms to these powerful men and women. She will use them to maneuver against the PCs while she and her sister remain in hiding, healing.
Things that might happen as a result:
- An innkeeper poisons the PCs meal, using a toxin similar to what plagues Xanesha and Lucretia.
- Fort Rannick is repealed as a reward, its title mired in bureaucracy.
- The Triodea puts on a performance slandering a PC.
- The Lord-Mayor manages to avoid future meetings with PCs.
- The Szcarni place a contract on the PCs lives.
Ultimately Xanesha and Lucretia could plan to return to Magnimar disguised as Aldern Foxglove's older sisters. The AP mentions they live in Korvosa but they don't have an impact on the storyline. Xanesha would know all about them, and two grieving, matronly noblewomen returned to settle an estate and a host a belated funeral would be an awesome cover.
The lamia sisters aren't foolish enough to think the characters wont uncover their ruse, but with enough support from other blackmailed nobles they wont care. They'd probably love the idea of goading the PCs into a fight during a service at the Church of Pharasma (Lamias hate Pharasma) and causing a huge, bloody scene.
:)
@Selk: You are a devious person. I like you. Heh. Really great stuff. Totally going to steal some of it.
M
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Xanesha was entrenched in the politics of Magnimar for years through Ironbriar. She probably has dirt on many powerful men and women, greedy people she had planned to sacrifice in the name of Karzoug. Lord-Mayor Groboras was on the top of that list. She can't sacrifice them, but she can still use them.
Lamia matriarchs can cast Dream three times a day. That's three opportunities a day to send blackmail terms to these powerful men and women. She will use them to maneuver against the PCs while she and her sister remain in hiding, healing.
Things that might happen as a result:
- An innkeeper poisons the PCs meal, using a toxin similar to what plagues Xanesha and Lucretia.
- Fort Rannick is repealed as a reward, its title mired in bureaucracy.
- The Triodea puts on a performance slandering a PC.
- The Lord-Mayor manages to avoid future meetings with PCs.
- The Szcarni place a contract on the PCs lives.Ultimately Xanesha and Lucretia could plan to return to Magnimar disguised as Aldern Foxglove's older sisters. The AP mentions they live in Korvosa but they don't have an impact on the storyline. Xanesha would know all about them, and two grieving, matronly noblewomen returned to settle an estate and a host a belated funeral would be an awesome cover.
The lamia sisters aren't foolish enough to think the characters wont uncover their ruse, but with enough support from other blackmailed nobles they wont care. They'd probably love the idea of goading the PCs into a fight during a service at the Church of Pharasma (Lamias hate Pharasma) and causing a huge, bloody scene.
:)
According to the second book after defeating Xanesha they find a list of people, and I believe (going off memory) that its left to the DM to add a couple people from Sandpoint including PC's if needed. I would be thinking that Xanesha would hook up with one of the families (Scar-whatsits) and plot a revenge, say hamper PCs efforts during the giants attack on town??
My group has a special place for the lamias in their hearts (and the Wizard declared Xanesha ilduliel). I introduced Xanesha as a friendly NPC prosecuting attorney who helped them with their case against Tsuto and Nualia (presided by Justice Ironbriar of course), foreshadowing the end of Skinsaw. They had to flee Xanesha atop the clocktower, by jumping (!). She captured the archer for the Sihedron Ritual, but they managed to save the archer just in time by buying a ton of scrolls for the wizard, causing Xanesha to flee.
Xanesha joined Lucrecia, and the party came in to Fort Rannick through the shocker lizards, which meant they found Lucrecia first. They didnt realise she was evil, and she made up a cover about wanting to elope with Kaven, and when the PCs left to go upstairs, she alerted Jagraath, and then both lamias joined a fight that soon included all denizens of the main complex at once. When the savvy Wizard (confused at the time by Dorella but momentarily lucid) used a Dimension Door scroll to grab the archer's unconscious body, Xanesha followed him down only to find that he had placed himself near the shocker lizards, which zapped her. Meanwhile, the cleric had Bestowed the -4 to all rolls Curse on Lucrecia, causing the sisters to Dimension Door to safety.
I had them go get a Remove Curse for Lucrecia and then report to Barl Breakbones that these PCs were trouble. The hags' weather control made travel tough, though, so they stuck around and pincered the PCs in the Barl fight, and once again the Wizard Dimension Doored out with the archer, so Xanesha tried to KO Shalelu and grab her, but Shalelu chose that time to roll two 20s (she only hit the sisters on like a 19) while inside the cleric's Destruction domain aura of auto-confirming crits. Fortunately, one of those hit a Mirror Image, but Xanesha had to Dimension Door out. Lucrecia got cursed again by the same pain curse, but both sisters escaped again.
I'm going to have them return to Mokmurian in Jorgenfist, possibly encountered with the regular lamias or in one of the nearby areas.