I've been running my AOW game for about 2 years now and the characters have reached the Writhing Sanctum. The players so far are oblivious to the fact that Lashona is their enemy. They didn't notice that she was undead when they met her, and they didn't find her scales in the wormvent caves. It seems almost like letting the cat out of the bag too early if Dragotha announces it to them. Besides, if he really is arrogant, then he doesn't fear them much anyway, so why bother trying to steer them off him? Which leads me to some motivational questions about big D:
How much does Dragotha really want to bring about the age of worms?
Is Dragotha merely compelled to obey the commands of Kyuss, or is it more of a "charm" effect, since Dragotha was created (as an undead) by Kyuss?
Just how much free will does Dragotha have? Presumably he won't (or can't) attack Kyuss or directly attempt to prevent the Age of Worms, but he will attack Lashonna (again) knowing that she is attempting to do that very thing. If Dragotha was more of a schemer, he might go ahead and allow Lashonna to be successful, and then try to backstab her somehow, meaning she does all the work and takes all the risk, while he reaps all the reward. Not sure about all that though.
Bottom line: would it be better for the players to be totally shocked by the Lashonna reveal at the end, or for Big D to blow the surprise in an attempt to save his hide?
Firelock
I'm always in favor of the big surprise. Especially if my players like the NPC that betrays them. It just gives the moment that extra special feeling.
I've been running my AOW game for about 2 years now and the characters have reached the Writhing Sanctum. The players so far are oblivious to the fact that Lashona is their enemy. They didn't notice that she was undead when they met her, and they didn't find her scales in the wormvent caves. It seems almost like letting the cat out of the bag too early if Dragotha announces it to them. Besides, if he really is arrogant, then he doesn't fear them much anyway, so why bother trying to steer them off him? Which leads me to some motivational questions about big D:
How much does Dragotha really want to bring about the age of worms?
Is Dragotha merely compelled to obey the commands of Kyuss, or is it more of a "charm" effect, since Dragotha was created (as an undead) by Kyuss?
Just how much free will does Dragotha have? Presumably he won't (or can't) attack Kyuss or directly attempt to prevent the Age of Worms, but he will attack Lashonna (again) knowing that she is attempting to do that very thing. If Dragotha was more of a schemer, he might go ahead and allow Lashonna to be successful, and then try to backstab her somehow, meaning she does all the work and takes all the risk, while he reaps all the reward. Not sure about all that though.
Bottom line: would it be better for the players to be totally shocked by the Lashonna reveal at the end, or for Big D to blow the surprise in an attempt to save his hide?
Firelock
I did not have him announce her position. I let it be a surprise. She was the one to announce it. When they found her in the last chapter she was in human form and they thought she was going to be helping them.
They(in character) were not happy when they found they had been duped. :). She thanked them for killing Dragotha, which promoted her to 2nd in command. She then gave them a chance to join Kyuss, but they refused of course. What would have been an epic battle was destroyed by that darn crit deck. The card that beheads the opponent was drawn.I don't think Dragotha cares if the Age of Worms happens or not for the most part, but he does feel like Kyuss will make it happen so he would rather be on the winning team.
The Dragotha in my games was going to kill her shortly before or right after the Age of Worms began. He was content to just sit back and let her do all the work.
In my game, during the vision after drinking from the fountain of dreams, when they players witnessed Lashonna turn into a dragon then fly off, only to get killed by Dragotha, once they realized what that meant (that Lashonna was not who they thought they were), there was a moment where all of their eyes went wide and they realized they'd been had all along. They then had half an hour where they argued amongst themselves whether they should confront Lashonna right then and there, or (as they eventually decided) take on Dragotha, as was originally planned.
In my game the player failed in kings of the rift and lashona was killed in the fissure. Dragotha is leading the rise of kyuss in dawn of the new age. But i dont want to make him fight to the death. I think a Evil epicdracolich ( now with his philactery) knows how to survive.
julio from brasil.
|
Due to a number of strange turns in our AoW campaign. The characters didn't face Dragotha in his sanctum.
First, they didn't secure the phylactery, Brazzamel made off with it.
They took a rather circuitous route through the Tabernacle, which gave Dragotha sufficient time to gather his forces and go after Lashonna, leaving the Wyrmdrake magically disguised as the dracolich.
By the time the party got back to Alhaster, a full-out battle was going on between Lashonna's wyrmspawn, and Dragotha's wyrmspawn and everything else in town was collateral damage.
At this point, the party still thought that Lashonna was their ally. They knew she was a silver dragon, but not that she was a vampire, so they assumed that she was above reproach.
When they found Dragotha assaulting the town, the party went after him, "killed" him (but only temporarily, as Dragotha had moved his phylactery to an unknown location). Once Dragotha was down, they went to the ziggaraut and were genuinely shocked to find Lashonna there.
They did in the end, destroy Lashonna, and Kyuss, but Dragotha remains. He's not likely to come looking for another fight with this particular group, though.
In my game, during the vision after drinking from the fountain of dreams, when they players witnessed Lashonna turn into a dragon then fly off, only to get killed by Dragotha, once they realized what that meant (that Lashonna was not who they thought they were), there was a moment where all of their eyes went wide and they realized they'd been had all along. They then had half an hour where they argued amongst themselves whether they should confront Lashonna right then and there, or (as they eventually decided) take on Dragotha, as was originally planned.
Curiously enough, during my campaign while I was reading the flavor text of Lashonna turning into a silver dragon and flying off to fight Dragotha, my PC's didn't wait around to hear that she was killed, they interrupted me, leaving Lashonna to her fate while they escorted the druids to safety... so they never noticed that she was actually killed. Perhaps Lashonna should be the one doing the monologue! Oh when she describes what really happened, just moments after they turned their backs, how surprising! Maybe I can even put a sympathy spin on it: "You left me to die!" hahaha!