So I've got a case of a burning barn and dead arrows. The party decided to burn down the Graul's barn when they opened the door and found three Ogrekin inside.
Problem being, while they detected good, the arrows were out of their range. Oops.
I could have hinted heavily that they shouldn't do it, or come up with some way for them to save the arrows, but I wanted them to learn a lesson here as it's not the first time they've gone in shooting without thinking things through.
I'm currently planning on Shalelu freaking out and leaving when she figures out what has happened and taking her father's belongings with her. She will likely not want anything further to do with the PCs.
Are there any other repercussions that I should be aware of? I realize that they fort's betrayal will be lessened, but that's no big deal.
How did they set it on fire? The buildings are covered with moss and lichens and thus is very damp wood. It would take a bit of oil to get it to light, and it should burn only fitfully.
The barn is in poor shape. The Ogrekin inside should not be trapped. They can easily break through a wall, given their strength and the shape of the building.
Finally, if they saved the Firepelt, you could have it trying to get INTO the barn.
So I'd suggest retconning far enough back so the fire just started to burn and have the Firepelt (if alive) trying to get into the barn, the Ogrekin breaking OUT of the barn to attack, and maybe Shalelu having a "oh hell!" moment as SHE realizes what's up with the Firepelt.
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I have to disagree with Tangent. NEVER retcon. Its nasty when its done on tv and its just as nasty when it happens in a rpg.
With the Black Arrows dead, there is
A) No information source from the snively Kaven. He has died and his Brand has powered up something just a little more. Lucretia might be sad for a milisecond.
B) Kipp needs a new owner. Do you have a Ranger in the party ? :)/ or Druid
C) An opportunity to introduce some more in the basement cells. If you really want more.
D) Shalelu would be cross. She might go as far as trying to bring him back from the dead (why npcs dont do this more is beyond me), but would of course need to take him/body back to Magnimar. Id remove her from the adventure.
Ive just recently completed this part (the liberation myself) A Player died to Lucretia but on the whole they really cleansed the place completely.
I had Shalelu and the team run a diversion for the group consisting of 4 ogres being drawn out to investigate smoke a distance away.
Pillage, THEN burn! It's Maxim 1 for a reason.
Assuming you don't do the thing with having the rangers in a root cellar, they're in a fix. They won't know about the secret passage into the fort, so they'll have to fight or sneak past a lot of ogres. Hope they can come up with a good distraction. They also may not realize that there's more ogres up on Hook Mountain that need dealing with.
Yeah, the books are really written assuming they have information. If you don't want to do a lot of work, your best bet is to give them more rangers to rescue, making the dead ones random spear-carriers. It's not clear if they've already investigated the wreckage. If they have, then you should make another encounter, maybe move Myriana's grove into the Kreegwood and have the rangers trapped there. Then Yap can come early looking for help.
Actually, it depends on WHEN they ended the game. If the end of the game was "we set the barn on fire" then the next game can start with trying to get the fire burning and noticing the Firepelt's reaction. And also the attack from Ogrekin inside who don't want to burn alive inside a barn (seriously, they WOULD break out. And the barn's not sturdy enough to keep them from doing so).
In that case it's not a retcon. It's a continuation.
There is no reason for Shalelu to realize her adoptive dad is in the barn. Well, unless you only had the barn burn a bit and had the people inside dead of smoke inhalation and also had someone search the rubble afterward. So as far as she knows, he was captured and eaten by Ogrekin.
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Heres a point. Is that Moonshine they make... volatile? God knows whats in it (Im not even sure they know). I had the fumes as pretty strong. If it is volatile (and Im no expert on home brewed liquor myself) then you could make the barn literally blow up.. ( or at least some of it)
THe party are expecting a small fire maybe a big fire... maybe an ogrekin bursts out (or is flung out as the moonshine explodes). Would be an awesome image.
Oh yes. I forgot the Moonshine still.
Have it blow up. 10d6 damage to everyone within 20 feet of the barn, with everyone catching on fire, and force saving throws for every piece of equipment they have. ;)
Depending on WHERE they set the fire, the force of the explosion could put the flames out and not kill the Black Arrows who are protected by a massive area of webbing from the spider inside.
If the dice are amusing, you could have the PCs end up as naked as the Black Arrows. ;)
They set the fire by having a druid cast produce flame and lob round after round of flames at the barn and the cleric summoned fire elementals to dance on the roof.
The Ogres *did* try to get out, but I had them roll strength checks and they did amazingly poorly. I don't think I rolled more than 5 on that.
I'm not bailing them out on this one, they need to learn that you just can't burn everything down as soon as they see it. If I bail them out this time, they'll never learn the lesson and this will just keep coming up. They are fugitives in Magnimar already for not thinking things through...
I like the idea of Shalelu turning to the darkside, the team includes a ranger that was initially trained by her. Could make for a cool story.
Forgot the moonshine, I think I might have that explode as the actual building collapse has *just* happened (didn't take terribly long as I figured the thing doesn't have great supports to begin with).
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Just for giggles... This is how *I* would run this...
The building is beginning to wobble from the raging fire. It is obvious to you that it is about to collapse in a fiery blaze. The firepelt cougar suddenly begins rolling on the ground, growling and hissing. A faint illusionary image appears over the cougar, of a wounded man writhing in agony as he burns alive. The cougar rears up and attacks the player's ranger (for betraying his bond to nature by killing another ranger- or just because it senses this PC SHOULD have saved the ranger NPC).
Just as the building collapses, it explodes, showering shrapnel in a 120-ft. radius around the building (REF for half damage) (FORT to keep from being blown back...say 30 feet). Investigating the ruined building Shelalu finds Jak burned and torn apart... JUST AT THE DOOR!
In tears, she curses the PCs as murderers. She tries to collect his remains... but he crumbles to ash. She screams out in agony. She gathers a handful of his ashes, stares menacingly at the PCs and then runs off into the forest.
Later she is unable to find a cleric of sufficient power to help her with the money she has. A Contract Devil shows up (Bestiary 3), and offers her comfort. She signs his contract and is granted 3 wishes... but you see, to actually bring him back ALIVE she has to provide a death for his life. So she wishes herself to the PCs (not thinking that it would have been better to wish a PC to her), uses the second wish against the PC she would hate the most "I WISH YOU WERE DEAD" she hisses venomously, and POOF PC drops dead. She has to have her third wish to bring him back so she flees into the woods... maybe caught and killed be preferably gets away.
Now the PCs must find a way to bring THEIR guy back from the dead.
Ultimately Shelalu joins forces with the Runelord and she faces off against them again in book six, along with Jak...
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ink I rolled more than 5 on that.
I'm not bailing them out on this one, they need to learn that you just can't burn everything down as soon as they see it. If I bail them out this time, they'll never learn the lesson and this will just keep coming up. They are fugitives in Magnimar already for not thinking things through...
To be honest if being made fugitives from the law did not make them begin thinking things through then this probably wont either.
Seriously. They go to the Fort. Don't pull a single punch. In fact, have the fire have put the Ogres on full alert. They saw the smoke and Lucretia thought "we have adventurers coming." And then kill a couple characters. Let a couple escape, but be sure to have when they try to recover them? Find the bodies were eaten. Nothing left.
When players are ignoring warning shots, then go for the kill. Just leave enough standing so the game doesn't end, but force them to start with nothing afterward. Basic equipment, no magic items despite starting at a higher level. And if they complain, shrug and say "you're the one who killed the people who could have warned you about the traps and let you know about back ways in."
Wow. Ouch.
Yes. Without the Black Arrows (and I like having the PCs find their corpses, and Shalelu storming off, never to associate with them again), the PCs are going to have a hard time of it. They won't even know that Fort Rannick is taken, much less manned by dozens of ogres. RotRL is all about gathering information and allies and having an easy time, or proceeding headlong and cluelessly into hopelessly-over-CR encounters.
Don't give them any hints. Put the ogres in the fort on high alert (no penalties to PER rolls, and eliminate that silly rule that they don't investigate noises of combat). Don't give the PCs any other help from any other NPCs.
With those steps, Fort Rannick is a meat grinder. The PCs will be in serious trouble, especially if the ogres hole up in the keep once the PCs inevitably decide to burn the fort. (They've burned everything else. Why wouldn't they?)
So there's a chance they're going to manage to "break" the AP. The fort is so well-manned and they're so poorly-informed they may decide it's not worth the money and give up on trying to retake it.
It'll take extra effort on your part to decide "what happens next", but I always feel that if the PCs decide to break the railroad, then they don't get to complain when "what happens next" is Not Very Nice.
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I must disagree. Ogres are well.. not as effective against Level 8 possibly 9 characters. They arnt. One fireball from a level 8 sorc will take down a collection of them. The Level 5 Ogre fighters are stronger yes and can cause some pain. The real pain comes from Jaggarath, his wife and Lucretia.
I had a group of 4 reasonably optimised characters who cleansed the Fort pretty well (bar the Ninja who died). Its doable.