I’m currently reading through Foxglove Manor and have come to Iesha’s Prison. It says that after she recovers she shrieks about Aldern and then moves to seek him out. How did you handle this?
If I tell everyone to roll initiatives after her shriek they will automatically assume it’s time to do battle. If I don’t, then it’s pretty much guaranteed that they will realize something is up and delay their actions to see what happens.
I really want to portray that sense of uncertainty and see how they react, but I’m struggling with an adequate way to present the situation.
Any advice would be much, much appreciated.
Ask the players "what do you do?" If they prep for combat, have those characters roll for initiative. The others don't.
To be honest? The moment my group realized "Undead!" the cleric tried to Channel Energy on her. This was while the mirror was still up. I ruled the attack allowed her to overcome her aversion to the mirror and immediately attack the cleric... who was taken to half hit points and fled. The Barbarian killed her without taking a scratch... after being buffed by the Ranger/Wizard with Bull Strength! (Literally, she was brought to -1 hit points. He was grousing he didn't get to land a blow or use a spell on her despite my pointing out that she took 4 extra HPs damage with two blows from the Barbarian (who, with Rage and Bull Strength, was at Strength 28).
If it weren't for the fact the Barbarian isn't min-maxed and is designed to be a "scholarly half-orc barbarian" who has glasses he wears to read by? I'd probably be thinking of ways to take out the barbarian quickly. But then again... the one time the Barbarian WAS taken out (paralysis from the Skaverling) it took forever for the remaining group to take it out! (Admittedly I beefed up its hit points significantly, but still!)
"What do you do?" Simple, but effective, advice.
I honestly don't know what to expect, I guess my best option is to prepare for a variety of reactions and try to think on my feet as best I can.
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In our last gaming session, my group found Iesha. She kept failing her saves against her despair, and I was starting to think it was going to be pretty lame. Every time they would do something (mirror, picture, scarf, whatever) she would fail that damned saving throw.
I think they were about to give up and leave, when one player put he scarf on a table and she finally made her save. She fixated and the group was about to leave, and I asked them what they were doing with the scarf (maybe I actually asked them if they were going to grab the scarf...I can't remember). Anyways, the one said he would grab the scarf and then she just laid into him and started to put on some serious hurt.
I kept emphasizing that she was fixated on the character with the scarf and he responded with "yup" and kept on being a punching bag. Finally, the sorcerer turned him invisible and she then went on her way down stairs.
In hindsight, there was an opportunity for her to rip up the scarf while it sat on the table, but for whatever reason I had it in my mind that it was important for someone to hold it (hence, asking about the scarf). If I were to do it again, given the same circumstances, I would have her tear up the scarf and ignore the players unless they deliberately got in her way.