Impending TPK...
They all escaped, but now it's possessing their fighter (strategy in the book says it possesses whoever it separates from the group) and there's no way for them to know and no purpose for the demon to do anything except wait until they're asleep then coup-de-gras them.
They're content, even happy, with making new characters, but I feel wrong ending it this way. I want to have done something wrong that I need to ret-con, or have a reeeaaaaally convincing reason for the NPC to go completely against his CE desire to destroy everyone.
It has to be really convincing because they will be very unhappy with a blatant Deus Ex Machina. Suggestions? Calling it a fair and legitimate TPK, and advising me to embrace them making new characters is a perfectly valid piece of advice, but I'm hoping for something to keep them alive.
If they have encountered the Mwangi witch that had the fetish, you could have the person carrying it remember its usage, and if they find him acting oddly try to use it on the fighter. Otherwise, having some tribesmen carrying the fetish find them is another option. Nothing wrong with letting the possession continue for a while, but honestly the best possible solution would be to have them get their hands on the fetish.
They already used up the fetish on the dire ape which failed >.>
You now have a great opportunity to present your players with a very difficult situation. So do it! Embrace the challenge of what you have wrought! You are the GM, challenge them. Give them options- a Perception, Bluff, or Sense Motive check lets someone realize Fred the Barbarian is less Fred-like after the encounter.
re-rolling characters because they die is lame.
Work through the encounter to raise the challenge for the players. It's about surviving, not winning. They might not 'win' the encounter, but it is in the Gm's best interest to let the players solve for survival. Character death should be real, not a speed-bump in an AP.
Because after this, they'll never forget the campaign where the fighter was possessed by an evil spirit, and they came together to drive it out and continue on to glory given their resources.
One option is to have them come across a war party of a Mwangi tribe that is hunting a crazed dire ape terrorizing the region. That war party may have another charm to use or once the PCs are rounded up the shadow demon changes to posess the war party leader. Depending on how you want to play it you could have a diplomatic contest with the PC's needing to convince the war party the leader has been possessed.
Another would be to have them come across a rival faction's scouting group who can help them out. You could use it as an interesting set up for book 3 complications plus should motivate your group by seeing that another faction is close.
Or use it as a role play challenge for the player. Have the demon learn about Savinth-Yhi and wanting to hitch a ride to the city. The player then should play the character a little bit creepier, more aggressive, and less protective of his party members. A bit meh about other people's suffering. Could be a lot of fun and gives you the option of having the demon leave the PC to find a stronger host in the city or ride for awhile looking for some maguffin until the PCs are strong enough/equipped to deal with it.
I've tested the waters of how the players want to proceed - how open they might be to a second chance. I'd really like to see more of the interesting cast of characters they currently have, but they seem to be embracing the idea of making a new team from one of the rival factions and picking up where their old characters left off rather than hoping for something to allow their old characters to survive.
I don't think a single one of them has particularly lamented the loss of their characters. It's not that they didn't enjoy playing them, they just relish the chance to try something new. I think I'm the only one who is having a serious issue with it because I feel responsible, you know what I mean? The whole point of a game is to have fun, and if that means I have to suck up not getting the poetic ending I wish I could give, then that's what I'll have to do.
Thank you for the good suggestions though. They may come in handy for future misfortunes.
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I think I'll at least give them an epilogue of their characters surviving in a sailing-into-the-West sort of way. Closure that's not "And you all die in your sleep as the fighter kills you off one-by-one." I'm thinking the fighter kills off the NPC guide (Nketchi the priest of Gozeh) and it wakes the party up. They manage to knock out the fighter (they have a subdual expert) and the demon emerges. They scatter all directions into the jungle, the druid healing the fighter enough that he can flee too. The demon gives chase but is distracted by a tyrannosaurus (legit random encounter).
The PC's who were really bent on the idea of joining the Zenj rebellion do so, fermenting the civil war that may eventually end the Sargavan oppression. The druid joins Athyra in protecting the lives and freedoms of the dinosaurs and chickens of the M'neri plains with extreme prejudice. The fighter hooks up with his basket weaver buddy and they sail into the sunset in his beloved boat (he really likes his boat). The half-orc ranger of Gozreh joins a Mwangi tribe and, after a montage of training and studying, hunts down Itombu, killing the shadow demon to avenge Nketchi.
I just didn't use deeper darkness, since the description of the fight states that Itombu "begins by casting fear at its opponents. Then, relishing in its physical body, it forgoes further spellcasting and leaps into combat, rending with its bite and claws." Clearly the writer doesn't intend for greater darkness to be used, whether through just enjoying ripping things to shreds, or because it's contemptuous of the "weak mortals" to explain its lapse. Sure, if you use all the abilities, it's a really tough fight, but if you use it as the intent of the encounter, and not use any other spellcasting, it gives the pcs an opportunity to use the fetish, and also foreshadows things to come in the later adventures.
I saw this encounter as more of a storytelling opportunity, than an opportunity to open a can on my PCs. They were getting their asses handed to them at first, until the Oracle remembered the fetish. The shadow demon was still in the body of the ape, so corporeal. The caster level of the fetish is 9th, so only needs an 8 or better on the roll to overcome SR of the demon. The saving throw is then 19, so the demon needs to roll a 12 or better to succeed. So the chances of succeeding were over 50%
Lyarie,
Like the idea about the TRex. You can always have that come back as a high level encounter later. Shadow Demon Possessed T-Rex. ;)
The shadow demon was still in the body of the ape, so corporeal. The caster level of the fetish is 9th, so only needs an 8 or better on the roll to overcome SR of the demon. The saving throw is then 19, so the demon needs to roll a 12 or better to succeed. So the chances of succeeding were over 50%
This isn't quite true! SR requires only a roll of 8 or higher. Which means it has a 13/20 chance of success, and the chance of the demon making the save is only 9/20, or rather there's an 11/20 chance the shadow won't make the save. While both are over 50%, this spell's success relies on not one but both conditions being true. 143/400, or roughly 36%.
So 36% of the time it works. And this is if they know that the ape is a demon and remember that they have the fetish (and haven't used it yet.) if they try the fetish against an incorporeal Itombu the chances are roughly 18%, and you have to enter its melee range!
That said, I just ruled the fetish to automatically work against Itombu. People seem to want it to be a way out of the encounter, why not just let it do its thing, you know?