The party has just arrived in caliphas, discovered some burnt/staked bodies and went to a ball. The party decided to split up, two went to buy dresses the other two went to investigate the stakes. They all ended up at the nobleman's stitch. The ninja snuck in downstairs and found some coffins and alerted the party. They created a distraction and went downstairs.
my problem is this, the party just walked into a fight with something on the order of 13 bad guys plus a cr 13 sub- boss. The only advantage they have is that it is daytime, but the shop seems reasonably protected from the sun, especially in the basement.
So, two scenarios occur to me they win our they loose
1. They win, knowing nothing of what is happening in town, they find confusing paperwork and alert the town guard with proof of vampires. Causing mass panic and retribution from the vampires themselves.
2. They loose, there is no reason to do anything but kill them, maybe turn one into a spawn for information and deliver the raven's head to the whispering way.
Ok so scenario one could be ok, they take the info they have to the order and eventually make sense of it, I can work with that. But if they loose? Any ideas? It really seems that them dying in the basement of a tailors shop is the best scenario for the whispering way
I've not read the adventure yet (still on book 3) but some ideas - have the coffins be empty and have the fight you're talking about happen in another tailor's shop. This one just runs a side business of fine coffin construction and sale (suspicious in and of itself) but not actually require a fight.
You can always reduce the number of bad guys in the fight, or claim that activity during the day makes them weaker or sluggish. You could have a few guards be shopping in the building (or near-by) and come running to help. Or have something happen outside that diverts the players from starting the fight in the tailor shop at this time. That'll give you time to redirect them.
Is it possible that the vampires here may not recognize the players as being the group the WW wants and instead just beat them up and leave them in public as a warning to meddling outsiders instead of killing and enthralling them. Ooo, added bonus, have one of the characters actually become a thrall but keep it a secret from the party! This might be why they'd "let the PCs go" when in fact sneaking a spy into their midst. The hard part is figuring out which Player would be up to the challenge.
Granted, there's the concern of having players pay for stupidity, but on the other hand you don't want them to accidentally trip an encounter early and pay for it by dying horribly.
Good ideas. As another thought, imagine the impact here if the seemingly innocent and charismatic Radvir pitches to the heroes that he is the sole vampire who is trying to liberate vampires from the blood bonds that tie them all together under Luvik's thumb and thus employs them as "heroic freedom fighters" to strike against the vampire haven? Food for thought, especially when you realize that one of the last places they might reach in the vampire underground is the imprisoned Ramoska, who could reveal Giovanni's real motivations and treachery.