I had to post about this awesome session. The party consists of Jamion, (NG) Cleric of Nethys, Jexx, (N) Sorcerer, Valgard, a fighter, and his grandmother, Bergdis, a bard. Oh, and Emma, the lawful evil Zen Archer Monk.
This last one is an odd duck indeed. She was raised as a single-minded assassin of the Chelaxian Empire, and has all the personality of a broken record. Winding up on this quest by accident while on assignment, and now obeying the voice that commanded her to find Bab Yaga, she has accepted the Sorcerer as the legal authority of the party. She has all sorts of cleanliness quirks, and suffice to say that she is a little difficult to work with.
As the session begins, the party steps through the winter portal, and saves Nadya and her party from the Mantis. They recognize her from the ice blocks, and eventually break the bad news to her as gently as possible. (Mierul was there, to my pleasure.)
They get to town, sell stuff, and stop by the tavern. You know, adventurer things. Katrina convinces them to have a drink, and Bergdis, Valgard, and Emma order the tea. I decided it was brewed as a batch, so Valgard and Bergdis were receptive to her suggestion and decided to up and leave town immediately - pretty much right that second.
Emma merely commented that the tea tasted a little weird. Jamion, who had ordered the ale with Jexx, shot back with "You're a little weird! There, I said it!", which earned him several minutes of laughter. Jexx threatened Katrina, so Emil pulled his bow on Jexx, and Emma pulled her bow on Emil. Initiative ensued, Katrina went down to Color Spray, Jexx went down to Emil's Human Bane Bolt, and Emil went down to a crit from Emma, in quick succession. Jamion, unsuccessful at bringing Bergdis and Valgard back, responded to the screams and healed Jexx, while Emma went to finish off Emil.
The three of them ran around like headless chickens for a few rounds, trying to figure out how to cover up a murder, until Katrina recovered from being stunned. At that point, she screamed as loudly as possible. Emma rounded on Katrina, taking her from full hit points to dead over one or two shots. I tell you, they were even worse at figuring out how to handle a double-murder.
The shopkeeper and the dwarf (Varana and Rusilka, maybe), from the establishments nearest the tavern, stopped in to see what was going on, and both backed out in terror of the scene with which they were presented. With Valgard and Bergdis heading for the hills, I ended the session with Jamion, Jexx, and Emma returning to Nadya to find her house full of Pale Tower Guards... and me working out what to do next!
Execute them all - tell them "The Penalty for Stupidity (and well, murder) is Death". Perhaps the next set of PC's might not slaughter each other over a relatively minor jest.
I'd expect this out of Drow. Except even they aren't THAT stupid.
Wait a minute-she took being called weird as a threat? That didn't make any sense.
To clarify a few things:
This was not PvP combat. I suppose I described things a little out of sequence. Emil and Katrina are NPCs that Emma murdered. Just prior to that fiasco, Jamion called Emma weird - which she is. It wasn't taken as a threat, merely as a statement of fact.
The session was funny for some blindingly obvious statements and a small misunderstanding that got bad really, really quickly, resulting in two townsfolk corpses and some urgent pending arrest orders.
Doesn't exactly sound like "lawful" actions, for a monk...Chaotic Evil - you bet.
My original comment still stands. :-)
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I'm not sure that this is really a problem.
First off, there was unprovoked aggression from a number of NPCs who are, in fact, lackeys to the lords of the Pale Tower:
So first off: they are not murdering innocents in the town. Katrina is NE! Sure, they are motivated by fear, but when you serve suggestion tea to a bunch of well armed individuals and then pull out the crossbow.... actions lead to consequences.
Second off, I understand why you're concerned. Emma may have crossed the line. But, the town is entirely cowed by the Pale Tower. None of them are going to provoke violence, they have been ground down under the bootheel of the White Witches. The peasants are unlikely to respond.
Something about that scenario sounds familiar and bad with respect to writing. I would change it were I to run it.
I'm not sure that this is really a problem.
It's not a problem to me in the slightest. Maybe to my PCs, who now know for sure they have an extremely loose cannon in their midst. They seem to think they've ruined my game, but this is more or less what you can expect. I was just sharing what was to me and my group an immensely memorable session. :)
The town certainly isn't going to do anything. I might have an overreaction from the investigating Pale Tower guards, but I know my PCs can handle them just fine.
Lawful evil is a devil alignment... you can't see a devil with a bow (say an erinyes?) acting the same way?
Lawful evil doesn't mean "I follow the law no matter what"
What was chaotic about this scene?
Jexx, the sorcerer, is the recognized party authority by emma (the LE monk).
Emil (and NPC) pulls a x bow on Jexx,
Emma responds in kind by drawing her bow down on emil.
When init goes in order, Jexx color sprays katrina, emil basically kills the leader of the party (Jexx) with a crossbow, someone Emma has recognized as her leader.... so she SHOULDNT shoot back??
Katrina gets back up, so emma drills her to... isn't this the chick that started things by trying to drug/poison them?
put this in a modern sense...
you and your buddies go to a local restaurant, you happen to be law abiding citizens carrying concealed firearms.
One of your group discovers the proprietor and the server are conspiring to drug you... he yells at the serving wench "hey what the heck are you trying to pull!" and which point her boss pulls a shot gun on your friend.
your friend dives for cover trying to use the server as a body shield, but the proprietor gets off a blast with his shotty opening a big hole in your buddies gut, the chick is knocked out when her head hits a table when she falls.
So it's a BAD thing for you to shoot the guy with the shot gun.... with your pistol?
a chaotic evil person (in my mind) might find a window to jump out and save his own skin.
A lawful person is loyal to his accepted group, especially a self chosen leader, who just go laid out.
to the OP, I dont see anything really wrong here... shouldnt derail anything... most of the people in this town are bad news... a few extra dead ones aren't going to throw anything out of whack.... maybe the combat is supposed to be focused in the tower, so what diff is it if there is a trail of bodies on the way to the tower?
I'd have Nadya run in and try to usher them out to her place, try and pack, have the guard show up, have her hide them in the attic, have the guards take her to the inn, bam you're right on the railroad the book suggests.
The odds are pretty durn high that the encounter with the Pale Tower guards is going to result in combat instead of diplomacy. Just have the screaming townies run towards those guards accosting Nadya and blabber about what they just saw. The guards leave Nadya alone (since they think they've got their quarry cornered at the scene of a crime) and charge off to the inn and then you have your fight there (with all of them at once, not the two separate guard encounters). Might be a slightly tougher fight, but if she's considered part of the group at this point, Nadya could follow and get in a good sneak attack or two from behind while the guards engage your party.