My heroic party of heroic heroes arrived in Runeforge today's gamesession. They're now trapped there, and don't know how to get out. To begin with, they played it very cautiously. The witch scouted the Envy section with a floating eye, and proceeded to check out the opening section of Wrath and Greed, before checking on Lust. In Lust,she saw Mr Mutt, and instantly dropped any semblance of subtlety or care. They charged forth like big damn heroes, and were instantly heard and met by the Alu-Demon sister. Delvahine joined shortly after, and what followed was... unfotunate. After a bit of back and forth, the party witch managed to tick Delvahine off a bit, wherepon she suggested that the witch get down and bark like a dog. The Bard decided to countersong the effect, wherupon the Witch went into combat-mode, and from thereon the party simply got destroyed. First to act was the party Rogue, who sneak attacked Delvahine with her holy bow. Pissed and hurting, Delvahine called for the slaves, and ordered her daughters to silence the Bard and Kill the Rogue. The Monk tried valiantly to pose a threat to the Alu-Demons, but being good daughters, they did what mommy said,and maintained focus on the two squishies, while Delvahine assumed Greater Invisibility and initiated a grapple with the witch, managing to energy drain away access to her highest level spells.
The fight continued for a few rounds, and the party remained in control of themselves by virtue of the Bard's countersong. Then the Witch had to dimensiondoor out to save her skin, and as the Rogue and Bard lined up to follow, Delvahine dragged the bard off, to prevent them from escaping. The bard was struck down and is bleeding to death. The rogue escaped to the main chamber with a sliver of health, and the Monk, while battered and bruised, is not ready to leave the Bard behind yet. So now its the Monk and the Paladin vs the entire Cathedral of Lust. No enemies are down yet, or even at half HP. And Delvahine presently has the helpless Bard in her grasp, high above the battle, ready to murder him in a second if needed.
I imagine Delvahine would wanna keep the Bard for a pet for a little while, seeing as how he has an extremely pretty voice (Casual 50 perform), and would probably start a hostage situation, rather than continue the fight, with the risk of losing her daughters to a lucky smite.
Can you offer any advice on how to make the most of the present predicament?
Thanks in advance.
-Nearyn
Not so much run or die.
Delvahine has a party member captive.
That doesnt have to mean 'she wants to kill him'
She already has a propensity for keeping slaves.
She should stabilize the bard but bind and gag him or place him in an unknown location and leave the party to negotiate his fate.
Doesnt always have to be about death death death all the time.
Find door number 3 and 4 and 5.
Play her in a way that invokes the players to use reason and judgement and conversation instead of deathy death death or 'abandon the bard to his fate'
At the end of the day Delvahine doesnt want the Runelord of Wrath getting out before Sorshen either... The party isn't without a certain leverage. If the party isnt willing to talk about it... She's been down here with these rubes for centuries and suddenly here's somebody new... Surely she's curious what they're up to and why they're here. Surely cat doesnt just want to kill new mice... Cat wants to play first. And if played properly might gain helpful perspective in being more curious about the party than the party is curious about her.
Sound advice.
Having Delvahine becoming more curious about the party is a viable angle. I do not wish to kill off the Bard (or anyone else for that matter), and with his countersong out of the picture, the party again becomes succeptible to the charms and suggestions of Delvahine and her children, who would, of course, rather have toys than corpses to play with.
-Nearyn
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To be honest, it depends in how far to the picky details you wish to go. Delvahine would certainly capture characters. In my world at least, she wouldn't bargain. They run of already beaten and weak. They can't prove anything to her anymore that she can't take for herself. As such, she would control them and capture them, making characters her new puppets for all eternity.
I know this isn't really what you wish to hear. No GM likes TPKs, so I will spill out few ideas that might be usefull:
a) If you still have the white dragon in your capable hands, this can solve issue. Dragon is mad at the PC's and he want's his own revenge and would not satisfy himself for anything else. In a way, PC's get a dragon as a temporary ally (unknown to them). I am sure that you can follow up the rest of this idea.
b) When/If you capture all PC's, play a session of pure stealthiness and escape, similar to the prison break scenario. This might be fun way to escape from the continuity of combat scenario's in RotR.
c) PC's can try to ally themselves with another group of beings here in Runeforge. This might be a hard task tho.
d) Classic, rocks fall, everyone dies. New characters please.
That's about all I could figure out for the moment.
Malag
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Per her tactics, she technically likes to drain down PCs (DC 35 Diplomacy lets her allow them to pre-buff).
The reality is that if the PCs stop fighting and act subserviant, she might allow them to live; or even to have one of their toys (especially if they offer good tribute; I would certainly increase the cost since "the mistress is not meant to be hurt"). If they continue to fail to show respect to the mistress, they deserve what they get; sometimes PCs need to learn the hard way it's not all about hack-and-slash.
Remember her attitude is more playful than hostile. Maybe have the servants suggest the PCs get on their knees and beg for a good lashing and her mistress will grant that ("and the mistress gives such WONDERFUL lashings").
Have fun with it; and if they keep acting like psychotic aggressive barbaian morons kill them and teach them their lesson :).
Have fun with it; and if they keep acting like psychotic aggressive barbarian morons kill them and teach them their lesson :).
My psychotic, aggressive, barbarian moron took on Delvahine almost single handedly...It was Xanesha that was the TPK for our party.
I think what's unfortunate is your party's unwillingness to run. My party got trampled in the Cathedral of Lust as well (dead barbarian, negative HP sorcerer, paladin at under half HP, and bard about to get pummeled to death by giants) and were wise enough to teleport away (well, Jester's Jaunt) to fight another day.
You're mid-fight. Delvahine has the bard, and in my mind, there's NO way she would kill him; she's had no male plaything save Mr. Mutt for millenia. And there's no reason for her to negotiate with the monk and the paladin; they can stay and be defeated, or they can run. She'd rather they stay so she can have multiple playthings. Heck, she might even order the giants to start hitting for nonlethal just to give her extra toys.
So if you're concerned about killing PCs or a TPK, I'd have Delvahine stay airborne draining the bard and spamming him with Dominate or Charm Person until he succumbs. Have the giants use their clubs for nonlethal; yeah, -4 to hit against a monk and a paladin is going to stink, but I think Delvahine would rather have two more male human-sized slaves than her five giants. If the giants fall, have the girls (alu demons) continue going for lethal. There's a limit to Delvahine's patience.
Honestly, it sounds like the witch and the rogue are going to have an epic RP moment seeking help to save their three captured companions. It will be hard to manage the human aspect of it ("Sorry, guys, we're having a session with just the two survivors"), but once the paladin, monk, and bard are captured, the other two are going to have a few millenia to come up with a rescue plan...
EDIT: And don't forget the wings aren't all lovey-dovey towards each other. If they go to another wing seeking help against Delvahine, they just might find it...
Alot of good suggestions.
Yeah, I don't see combat end anywhere but in tragedy for my party. She hasn't even called in her two shining children yet. The party don't know they're even there. So its 4 Alu-demons 2 of which are at around 3/4ths hp, 5 completely unhurt giants, Delvahine, who is healing up from the Rogue's sneak attacks, and 2 Shining Children vs a Rogue, a Monk, a Paladin and a Witch, with the added bonus of their enemies having the Bard at their mercy.