Information at the bandit camp

[Higginz]

Spoiler:

If the PCs capture and interrogate the bandits at the northern camp, do the bandits know the way to the Stab Lord's fort? My players will almost certainly do this. How do you prevent them from making a straight line from the bandits at letter "K" to the Stab Lord's lair?

[Bardic Dave]

Tailor whatever info you give the PCs for your specific group. Maybe in your campaign, the surviving bandits don't know where the Stag Lord's fort is.

Alternatively, the only captured bandit who knows the way could say it's too tricky to explain and instead offers to lead them there himself. He could then lead them on a wild goose chase before slipping away in the night.

Or, just let your PCs make a B-Line there, but make sure they're warned about how dangerous the Stag Lord and his lieutenants are. If they insist on storming the fort as level 1s / 2s and die, oh well!

[tonyz]

This is something that will pop up repeatedly throughout this adventure path -- the designers seemingly not realizing that PCs can beeline straight to the Main Bad of the adventure without doing all the low-level adventuring necessary to get the XP to survive against the final threat. (the Stag Lord, Vordakai, Fort Drelev... it all adds up).

If the PCs interrogate and get some information out of the bandits -- and make them work for it! -- let them find out where the Stag Lord's fort roughly is, but they still have to go there and find it. Then warn them of how gnarly it is (things like a big strong Brevoy knight impaled over the front gate, that sort of thing), and hopefully they will think twice.

Having a bandit or two betray them (maybe tell them the fort is at "Location X" and it's really a lair or something) would be good, particularly if nobody put ranks into Sense Motive.

Having the Stag Lord be willing to talk with them, particularly if they bring alcohol, and try and recruit them -- that could open the door to a lot of interesting roleplaying.

And if they're idiots, well, there are always more adventurers willing to enter the Stolen Lands... start up a new party.

[Higginz]

OK, that is all very helpful information. I think I know how I will handle it now.

[CalebTGordan]

Here are two ways to handle this. There are other ways, but these are just the two I thought of.

1)Tell them flat out as a GM that the adventure will be very short if they go after the stag lord immediately.

2)Suggest through the NPCs that he is skilled and powerful, and that the bandits he keeps around him are also powerful. That in a fight, they can take on anyone and easily kill them. Also suggest that one does not simply walk into the stag lord's fort.

Luckily, I never had the problem you had. The players nearly killed themselves attacking the bandit camp, and only after some considerable luck did they survive. After that, they realized just jumping into things would mean death if they didn't properly prepare and level up.

[Higginz]

I think there is another solution as well, actually. If the bandits they capture and interrogate have never actually been to the Stag Lord's hideout, then they can't tell the PCs where it is, similar to the situation with Happs. This will allow the PCs to learn that a bandit leader named the Stag Lord exists, but they will still have to find him.

If they capture Kressle and interrogate her, I could just rule that she won't sell the Stag Lord out for fear of his wrath, no matter how strenuously they interrogate her.

[CalebTGordan]

Don't forget that Jhod Kavken can cast Zone of Truth.

He gained major points from the party when he showe up to assist in humane interrogation.

[Higginz]

Spoiler:

They won't meet him until they return from their battle at the bandit camp at letter "k" though. So their ability to benefit from his ability would be dependent upon whether or not they bring back prisoners from the camp.

[CalebTGordan]

The full result of the camp in my game:

My group actually succeeded in taking half the camp alive. I keep track of stabilization and death of NPCs (in Kingmaker, it makes sure the party has a few returning baddies if they just leave them for dead,) and while a few weren't harmed enough to bring them under 0 hp, the party actually revived and bound all those that didn't die just so they had plenty of bandits to interrogate and redeem. It was at the trading post that Jhod showed up and helped them, and he was very impressed with their ability to capture so many alive.

Of course, his Zone of Truth revealed exactly who wasn't repentant and the next day all but a couple of bandits lost their heads.

[Lex Starwalker]

You could also let them learn the location of the fort and find it. But when they see it, impress upon them how fortified it is, guarded and manned. You can use your description of the fort and the guards they see to convey that it's beyond their ability, without having to directly tell them. If they choose to try to take it anyway, then they'll learn a valuable lesson. In that case, I'd recommend having them encounter guards before they actually get into the fort (or maybe archers on the wall). Make them strong enough to bloody the party pretty bad straight away so they're forced to flee. This would give them very good in character reasons to explore all they can (and maybe make some allies or find some magic items) and put off their confrontation with the stag lord as long as possible.

"Every time you think of the Stag Lord's keep, the shoulder where his archer's arrow hit you starts to ache."

[PJ]

CalebTGordan wrote:

** spoiler omitted **

My group also interrogates as many of the bandits that they can get a hold of. They try to give any 'repentant' bandit another go. They've made a chain gang of sorts at Oleg's that cut logs, dig ditches and in general do the hard labor work of a growing camp.