|
After the assault on Thistletop last session she'd be one pissed off (almost) half-fiend. The party stormed Thistletop to save Ameiko who was taken there by Tsuto after they failed to capture him at the glassworks.
They got to the fort and killed most the goblins there. Warchief Ripnugget, his Warchanter and five of his Commandos survived the attack. However, all of her cohorts were taken down. Orik after realizing he was the only one left made a deal to trade Ameiko for a subdued Lyrie and hightailed it out of there. They took Tsuto into custody, and Bruthazmus was slain in combat.
After waking Ameiko she warned the party they wouldn't be able to take on Nualia (since all of them were out of spells and had an average of 7hp each) so they jammed the lock outside of the Observation Deck and hightailed it out of there.
So after she attempts to leave not only is she going to have to destroy the door to leave the room she's also going to find out that most of her forces are dead and her lover Tsuto has been captured.
So what do you guys think? Any suggestions?
Option 3: She ambushes the party as they head back toward Thistletop.
She doesn't know Tsuto is captured. She knows three of her people are missing. Though once she talks to the goblins she may learn Orik left with an unconscious Lyrie. She may track them down first. ;)
If she attacks while outside then her Hounds have a huge mobility advantage. But attacking the town is dangerous because there are other people there who could prove a viable threat. So attacking the group outside is the best bet, especially if they're partway back.
Small suggestion: If they're not already working with the elf whose name I can't type to save my life ;) and if the party starts getting seriously hurt (say over half of them fail their saves to Yeth Hound howls - don't forget Bardic music can counter the howl) then have our favorite elvish archer appear and attack one of the hounds with arrow fire.
|
|
Well she'll know about Tsuto. His body isn't there and her hostage is gone too. So unless he fled for his life, (she knows he wouldn't dare) he's most likely been captured.
Although this presents another idea. How about she just send the goblins and two hounds. The hounds will work interference and the goblins are only a distraction so that one or two could sneak into the garrison and spring Tsuto out of his cell?
All of these sound good and I may just go with option one and have Shalelu on her way to Thistletop after hearing the PCs are going. And she can appear if the party needs the help.
Well, I did things a tad differently; my group actually went after Nualia in one go. I was quite surprised actually; they did return home, however before returning to fight Mal.
But as Tsuto, Lyrie and Nualia were all captives, I had Ripnugget (who with a Warchanter and some guards had survived) pull a raid on the town and free Nualia and crew. Ripnugget died by the Sheriff's hand while doing so - the PCs showed up at the tail end of the fight.
So you could very well have Nualia and crew MISS the PCs. They attack the town, free Tsuto and crew... and the PCs are back at Thistletop finding the end result. They may even kill Mal and the Crab. ;)
But really, either having them ambush the crew on the way back, or having Nualia remain in Thistletop (while trying hard to reach Mal) is the best bet.
Did they see the hounds at Thistletop?
If so, you could really play up the hounds tracking them through the forest to devastating effect. Constant howling and snarling in the woods could make it tough to sleep off all those 7 hp wounds, and could really make the players nervous about the inevitable attack. You could even turn it into a kind of chase situation, with the PCs trying to forced march their way back to the safety of Sandpoint... Which might mean that they'll be fatigued when Nualia finally manages to catch them. If I were running that game, it would be the most terrifying trek back to town ever.
|
|
No they didn't see the hounds but they heard them. However, I like that idea. I think I'm going to mix all of them together. The PCs are already in town but I think I'm going to have her send two Yeth Hounds after them. And while that's happening two commandos and two regular goblins will go and attempt to break Tsuto out.
And after all this (whether their plan succeeds or not) Nualia will be waiting in the chapel. Awaiting her love or the PCs. While this is happening WarChief Rippnugget and his remaining forces will come in from behind. Not overwhelming but it'll def be a good hard fight. And Tsuto may be there. ;]
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Perhaps something like this:
Have the party head back to Sandpoint unobstructed, and deliver Ameiko back to the rusty dragon where they can rest up over night and make plans. But...
“You are woken by a worried Bethana Corwin. She looks at you: "It's Ameiko again, come quick". Hurrying behind the halfling up to Ameiko's room you go inside.
Ameiko is laying on her bed, deathly pale, her pupils pinpricks and brow covered in sweat. The smell of decay hangs in the room. Bethana looks at you 'It gets worse I'm afraid'. She lifts up the bedcover to reveal Ameiko's naked belly, there are some slash marks across it, gleaming with corruption and putrescence. Ameiko is barely conscious, only able to mumble something about Nualia and 'she touched me there'. (Knowledge roll to recognize Lamashtu’s mark).”
Note: Ameiko has been afflicted by Lamashtu's curse, something that the players will find they have no way of lifting. Her condition will get steadily worse.
The next day after they players have had time to try and fail to help Ameiko, Sandpoint receives a visitor: a dazed looking goblin riding a mangy goblin dog. He bears a message for the PCs which he hands over:
“You have something of mine. A half elf. And you have another problem. Your Tian girl is not long for this world. If you bring me what I want I shall let you have her life. You know where to find me”.
The goblin can’t supply any additional information, he’s been charmed into coming and wants to get back to Nualia as fast as possible.
I would have the players encounter a hostage handover situation with Nualia back at Thistletop, which turns nasty when it becomes clear that Nualia has no intention of lifting the curse Ameiko and is intending to kill the PCs as soon as she has Tsuto. She could have gathered some extra goblins for support, plus Orik and Lyrie could have returned. If the PCs hand over Tsuto then Nualia just laughs, commands her forces to attack the PCs and disappears into the depths of her fortress. If the fight runs against her, have her flee down into Thistletop trying to draw the PC's towards Malfeshnekor while her remaining minions hold up the chase.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Perhaps something like this:
Have the party head back to Sandpoint unobstructed, and deliver Ameiko back to the rusty dragon where they can rest up over night and make plans. But...
“You are woken by a worried Bethana Corwin. She looks at you: "It's Ameiko again, come quick". Hurrying behind the halfling up to Ameiko's room you go inside.
Ameiko is laying on her bed, deathly pale, her pupils pinpricks and brow covered in sweat. The smell of decay hangs in the room. Bethana looks at you 'It gets worse I'm afraid'. She lifts up the bedcover to reveal Ameiko's naked belly, there are some slash marks across it, gleaming with corruption and putrescence. Ameiko is barely conscious, only able to mumble something about Nualia and 'she touched me there'. (Knowledge roll to recognize Lamashtu’s mark).”
Note: Ameiko has been afflicted by Lamashtu's curse, something that the players will find they have no way of lifting. Her condition will get steadily worse.
The next day after they players have had time to try and fail to help Ameiko, Sandpoint receives a visitor: a dazed looking goblin riding a mangy goblin dog. He bears a message for the PCs which he hands over:
“You have something of mine. A half elf. And you have another problem. Your Tian girl is not long for this world. If you bring me what I want I shall let you have her life. You know where to find me”.
The goblin can’t supply any additional information, he’s been charmed into coming and wants to get back to Nualia as fast as possible.
I would have the players encounter a hostage handover situation with Nualia back at Thistletop, which turns nasty when it becomes clear that Nualia has no intention of lifting the curse Ameiko and is intending to kill the PCs as soon as she has Tsuto. She could have gathered some extra goblins for support, plus Orik and Lyrie could have returned. If the PCs hand over Tsuto then Nualia just laughs, commands her forces to attack the PCs and disappears into the depths of her fortress. If the fight runs...
Wow, Yossarian. That is genius. Cruel and sadistic genius. I take my hat off to your malevolence.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I think for alot of people it is easy to forget Nualia's intentions in this adventure. Tsuto is a play thing and nothing more really. I believe she would be more upset about the loss of Lyrie, who was researching how to find and free Malfeshnekor but she may have already discovered enough for Nualia to continue on her own. Nualia wouldn't really care about the loss of goblins either so it is unlikely she would pursue any of the characters out of revenge. Her number one goal at this point is continuing her ritual transformation into a half-fiend and then onto becoming a full fledged demon (most likely a Vrock) and the best way for her to do so at this point is "Third Ritual" from http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/demon which says,
"Third Ritual: At some point after the mortal contacts her demon lord (typically after the second ritual succeeds, but sometimes before), the demon sends the mortal a vision of a task that must be completed (such as freeing a bound evil outsider from a Material Plane prison or assassinating a powerful cleric of a good religion). This task is typically one of significance to the demon lord, and in many cases one that the mortal has no hope of completing until she grows more powerful. There is no time limit for how long the mortal has to complete this task, but she must maintain her weekly devotions to her demon in the time that passes in the form of regular worship and continued atrocities in the demon’s name. Additional burnt offerings to the demon, betrayals of allies, and assaults on innocents are popular choices. Once the assigned task is completed, the mortal must perform another ritual in honor of her demonic lord—a sacrifice consisting of no less than a dozen nonevil intelligent creatures offered in the course of no more than a single week. The mortal must make a DC 30 Knowledge (religion) check at the end of the sacrifice, but gains a +1 bonus on the check for every 5 additional sacrifices offered beyond the initial dozen. If the check succeeds, the third ritual ends and the mortal permanently gains the half-fiend template."
Her goal is not to fight to the death all cinematic style but to free the bound fiend in Thistletop and to use him, a servant of Lamashtu in his own right, to sacrifice all the people of Sandpoint to Lamashtu thus completing the Third Ritual. If the PC's wait too long to return to Thistletop this could indeed be what she attempts. I would suggest perhaps leveling them first before a showdown in the town square between them and Nulia, a Barghest and a handfull of yeth hounds.
I think Yossarian's suggestion of using the Mark Of Lamashtu is dead on gold but as I said I would tweak it to use for Lyrie and not necessarily Tsuto.
Yes you're totally right, Nualia has no real interest in Tsutso. My thought was that she's just using Tsutso as a pawn to get at the PCs... that she recognizes them as a threat to her plans and wants them in Thistletop (alone) where she can kill them. She'd quite happily have Tsuto die in the hostage exchange.
But there's also dramatic license... if you can get a few epic movie moments it's worth bending the backstory motivations a bit: demonic curse on an important ally, lone rider coming into town delivering ransom note, hostage exchange gone bad.
I have a similiar issue. My group attacked Thistletop last session; they wiped the goblins out without too much trouble, but sounded the alarm.
I staged the fight below so that Tsuto (who managed to escape the Catacombs), Lyrie, Orik, Bruthazmus were all waiting below. The door was blocked with a table, so as the party bashed it down they got barraged with arrow fire. It was a great fight; two chracters nearly died, Bruthazmus died and I had the four harem goblin women rush out in a frenzy just to add chaos. Tsuto went down from a ridiculously lucky crit roll that maxed damage, Lyrie got knocked out and then Orik surrendered.
They interogated Orik and he told them about the 'nasty dogs' in the chapel. They healed up, left Lyrie unconcious but stabilized, and pressed on without many spells left. They opened the temple doors and the Yeth hounds bayed. The wizard and bard failed and fled, the fighters rushed in and in round one got hit hard (one crit) by the hounds. The party panicked and shouted a retreat, and by a fluke got the doors shut. The hounds bashed the doors down and chased the group up to the front door. It was a terrifying escape as they shut doors behind them and the hounds kept making the strength checks to break them down.
Per the description of the yeth hounds though, they hate sunlight and wouldn't go out into it. The party retreated all the way back to Sandpoint to rest.
It's the next morning, and come game night they are headed back to finish the job, giving Nuallia almost a full day to plan. Lyrie is alive and well, but they stole her spell book so she only has what she had memorized.
I am planning the defenses now and have some evil ideas. I have a week to finalize them. I figure she would have searched around for any allies. I'm having a goblin patrol return that night to find the carnage and get recruited. The party had healed the warhorse and calmed it down/fed it but it got left behind. I am thinking that maybe Nuallia could dose it up with Waters of Lamashtu and turn it into some twisted evil horse as the door guardian. I'm giving her 4 Yeth hounds total, but not yet able to release Malef. I figured she would be working on that, but gave it a three day time table in case they dawdled she would bring the fight to them.
I think the best spot for the final fight is still in the 2nd level beyond the trap. I'm going to try to split the party with the trap and have two hounds come in behind while Nuallia, Lyrie and the other two take out the heavy hitters that rush through, leaving the vulnerable wizard and cleric (hopefully) barred and cornered behind them. There is still a grease spell that might trip them up when they run through, and if it really goes well someone will get stuck IN the trap area and not only get locked in, but sliced up. Two yeth hounds still can bay and potentially affect people. All in all it should be interesting.
Anyone have some strategy ideas to make this as scary and dangerous as possible beyond what I've thought of so far? I leveled the party up to 4th after their retreat. We have a Ranger, Druid, Paladin, Wizard, Bard and Cleric.