Well, it was my own fault really.
My players headed right towards the double doors, skipping the entirety of the dungeon. They came up to the cathedral doors...
My little brother: "Guys, double doors means boss fight. We should turn back and go through the dungeon. Everybody knows you need the dungeon item to defeat the boss" Big zelda reference that nobody at the table understood /sigh
Nobody else cared that the boss was behind the doors, and charged in... to see nothing. they casually walked around, until Erylium summoned (invisibly) an elemental who jumped the party. Suprised, but they were happy to find something to beat on. Until suddenly... The cleric was put to sleep!! So the elemental is commanded to.. COUP DE GRACE! I let it be minimum damage, so only a DC18 fortitude save... for a fresh level 2! Luckily he was a cleric and had a decent save and made it.
Erylium appears and starts throwing her dagger for a piddly 1-2 damage every round, while the party tries desperately to hit her. The paladin's smite is up. She summons a sinspawn. The cleric is built for healing, and there is a paladin in the party too...
3 in-game minutes of combat go by. They are plinking against each other, and I need to spice something up to get them to actually be AFRAID of her, or at least leave her alone until later. Korovus shows up and pukes on the party. The cleric has been saying mean things about Lamashtu, driving the quasit very mad.
Long story short, nobody says they are low on HP until they are unconscious. The party is out of healing and trying to retreat. The rogue goes down. Cleric drags her out. Wizard goes down, paladin stands over his body to try and protect him long enough for the cleric to drag him out too. Paladin goes down after taking Korovus to -5, and cleric is left holding the wizard in the midst of melee. Cleric goes down...
Situation: 4 party members unconscious in the Cathedral of Wrath.
Erylium used one more charge out of desperation from the minor runewell, and then the party used it, leaving only TWO charges left (eep!)
Both the Cleric and Paladin have been openly hostile towards Lamashtu.
How do I teach my party a lesson (they are mostly new players) without just TPKing them and say "you'll know better next time).
How do I justify Erylium NOT sacrificing them to Lamashtu/the minor runewell? Especially the cleric and paladin.
How do I save the party besides a cheesey rescue mission (Ameiko, Shalelu, Hemlock, and Koya..)
You could play it as a prison break. Make them wake up in the cells. They'll be moved to Thistletop as captives. Destined for beheading and Yeth hound purina.
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Erylium ties them up and feeds them water from the runewell.
Your PCs have visions of Xin-Shalast and slowly become more barbaric (+1 str, -1 wis every day until cured, rune water must be affected by secret prayer to Lamashtu and must be fresh from the runewell).
Erylium makes them fight hand-to-hand with sinspawn for her entertainment but does not let them die.
PCs are kept in the old cages.
Ways out:
1. Escape tunnel dug accidentally by a bullete (or similar) a few hundred years ago. PCs can see it but are not locked up in the right cell, they need to find a way to convince Erylium to lock them up in a new cell without her checking out that cell.
2. Mutant-goblin-rescue! Koruvus talks to the PCs (only other things to talk to) when he gets bored of the zombies. If they can befriend him he won't let them die and instead will slip them a key. This only triggers when one character's wisdom slips below 4.
3. Gladiator stuff! When the battles are going on the PCs can try to escape or create distractions. Erylium likes to upset the PCs by piling up their gear nearby as a reward for beating all of the sinspawn, presenting the chance for palming spellbooks or weapons, and leaves other stuff lying around (lamp oil, rope, etc.) Let PCs work out how this situation might be changed.
Also, when they escape, spending an hour immersed in salt-water will halt the wisdom damage and reverse the strength damage (no min-maxing with sin-juice) but to restore the wisdom damage they have to destroy the runewell.
Love all of GertainElberion's stuff! I'd implement it, but add other ways out:
4. Sinspawn of wrath, sick of stupid gladiator fights, opens cage to kill off PCs while Elyrium isn't looking. They have to defeat it unarmed and unarmored to escape to the surface.
I'd avoid a rescue mission in this particular case. They were warned it was a boss fight, went in anyway, waited until it was far too late to try to flee, and got captured. I think there should be consequences, and GeraintElberion's stuff is just too cool to pass up.
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Your PCs have visions of Xin-Shalast and slowly become more barbaric (+1 str, -1 wis every day until cured, rune water must be affected by secret prayer to Lamashtu and must be fresh from the runewell).
The only thing I would change is that the visions would be of Xin-Bakrakhan and of the angry woman whose statue stands at the first room... maybe visions of the hellfire flumes. Remember this is runewell of wrath, Alaznist's domain... it would make more sense to have her influence. Maybe if they are marked, it can have an effect later if they face certain peoples in the Runeforge! ;p
EDIT: Or, if you don't want to mislead them too much, have the vision contain both Alaznist AND Karzoug in a face off!
EDIT EDIT: I wouldn't punish them for not preparing, as it sounds like the warning was mostly in jest, but I think simply getting captured and humiliated offers a lesson that they should be careful in future endeavors...
How about a dream/nightmare sequence imposed on them by Lamashtu. maybe impose a penalty of some sort - temporary. But when they actually go back into the adventure - rewrite the encounters and creatures.
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Your PCs have visions of Xin-Shalast and slowly become more barbaric (+1 str, -1 wis every day until cured, rune water must be affected by secret prayer to Lamashtu and must be fresh from the runewell).
The only thing I would change is that the visions would be of Xin-Bakrakhan and of the angry woman whose statue stands at the first room... maybe visions of the hellfire flumes. Remember this is runewell of wrath, Alaznist's domain... it would make more sense to have her influence. Maybe if they are marked, it can have an effect later if they face certain peoples in the Runeforge! ;p
EDIT: Or, if you don't want to mislead them too much, have the vision contain both Alaznist AND Karzoug in a face off!
EDIT EDIT: I wouldn't punish them for not preparing, as it sounds like the warning was mostly in jest, but I think simply getting captured and humiliated offers a lesson that they should be careful in future endeavors...
Yes, yes, yes: I can't believe I got that wrong!
And that would be a lovely thematic reference which might help players to access ideas that are otherwise concealed within the twisted knot of the backstory.
In my version of the Catacombs of Wrath, I made the double-doors to the Cathedral of Wrath to be very well-hidden secret doors (DC 40 to detect-- far beyond what the PCs would have been capable of seeing.
In spherical Scribbler's Room, I placed a more normal secret door that led to a small passageway that led to a ladder, that led to a trap door in the floor of the northern closet in the the Cathedral. That way, the party did indeed have to go all the way through the dungeon before getting to the boss battle.
Hmm flashbacks of Xin-Bakrakhan is a fantastic idea! Brodert Quink will be sooo happy to know his theory that the lighthouse was a giant tower of fiery doom was correct! Along with all of the escape possibilities. I think I will make all of them possibilities, with NobodyHomes' idea only if they fail at the others..
At the beginning of the campaign I asked all my players to pick a sin that they felt their character was most associated with, 2 picked wrath. I might give those 2 some extra fun goodies courtesy of Lamashtu (paladin and cleric har har). They both have a couple Wrath points already built up too..