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This is my first time GMing a long campaign since back in high school, having taken a 20+ year hiatus from playing RPGs since then, and playing/GMing mostly Pathfinder Society in the 2 years since returning to gaming.
The group:
Selkirk - Half elf ranger, archery focused, doesn't like humans or cities very much. Enjoys hunting. Came to Sandpoint because he heard rumors about the Sandpoint Devil and wants to hunt it down. Lives down to his 7 charisma, especially for a newbie player who has never played a table top RPG before.
Kalaysa - Elven sorceress (copper dragon bloodline). Granddaughter of a copper dragon and an elf. Her draconic grandfather was killed by a blue dragon, who also stole an heirloom belonging to her elven family. Her long term goal is to eventually find that dragon and get revenge, which is why she traveled to the area, because she thinks he may be in the mountains of Varisia. Worshiper of Calistria, with the lustful personality to go with it, even though she could have just stuck with the revenge theme, given her back story.
Beramy Rollswagon - Human cavalier, Order of the Lion, loyal to the Mayor of Magnimar. Sees himself as a protector for all of Magnimar and its surrounding areas, including Sandpoint. Grandson of the patriarch of the Deverin family, which makes him a cousin to Sandpoint Mayor Kendra Deverin - his mother's maiden name was Deverin. Accompanied by Wilfred the warhorse. Traveled to Sandpoint from Magnimar at this time specifically to celebrate his cousin's town's big day (the Swallowtail Festival and church dedication).
Relyn - Human flame oracle, worshiper of Sarenrae. Came to Sandpoint for the dedication of the new church, and to talk religion with the local clergy.
Kvothe - Human bard. Comes from a performing family that was killed 5 years ago, when he was 10 years old. The Sihedron symbol was carved into one of their bodies. He has become a student of history trying to determine what it means and why they were killed. Fluent in Thassilonian. Came to Sandpoint to study The Old Light and meet Brodert Quink.
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Figured I'd start a new post to talk about the sessions so far, to keep things from turning into walls of text.
SPOILERS AHEAD (applies to the entire rest of the thread)
Our group has been pretty slow, partially due to timing issues in playing, partially due to newbies getting used to the game, and partially due to joking around a lot while playing. We can only play one night per week, for roughly 3 - 3.5 hours, because it's a week night, and most of us have to work the next day. So far, we've had 2.5 actual playing sessions (after 1.5 character creation sessions).
Our first playing session, we spent the first half finishing up character creation, then got into the Swallowtail Festival. The group really wasn't interested in RPing much of it, so it was uneventful. Selkirk and Kalaysa earned sloth points for sleeping in and not joining the festivities until later.
Second session - Goblin attack! Because of some socializing before we started, one total newbie learning how combat works, and the others getting used to this version of the game and their new PCs, we actually only got through the first two goblin fights, and didn't even get to the third one. But they all enjoyed killing the goblins. They were suspicious of Father Zantus, because the goblins attacked on his signal, until the priest healed them during combat, which laid their suspicions to rest.
Third session, last night. Finished the goblin raid. Much to my surprise, the group embraced Aldern Foxglove much more readily than I expected. They even made a point of escorting him back to the Rusty Dragon to make sure he got back safely after the goblin attack. Selkirk gets a greed point for only wanting to kiss up to the nobleman in the hopes of a reward. Kalaysa earns a lust point for trying to seduce Aldern. Those who know the adventure know where that one's going. Aldern didn't sleep with her, but was very complimentary to her, making her think he's interested but taking it slower than she is. They all accepted both the invitation to stay at the Rusty Dragon for free, and the invitation to go boar hunting with Aldern, which surprised me. I half expected Kvothe to want to go visit Brodert Quink for historical research right away, instead of going on the boar hunt.
The next morning, Sheriff Hemlock asked them to check out the graveyard, where they knocked out the skeletons much quicker than they'd dealt with the goblins. They all got suspicious of the Sheriff for not helping, and for even asking for their help investigating to begin with. I had him explain that he was feeling them out to see if they were as useful and kind as he'd heard from those who'd seen them fighting the goblins. With good sense motive rolls, they believed him... barely.
The problem came after that, when they wanted to keep the investigation going, but they ran out of clues. I was going to do the boar hunt next, but it was running late. I think I want to have Shalelu come to town almost immediately, just to give them a motivation to stay in town. Otherwise, they might try and follow the goblin tracks outside of town to hunt down random goblins, hoping to find clues about the attack and the theft of Father Tobyn's remains.
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We're meeting again tonight, so I thought I'd get back to this thread.
We actually had one more session in December that I didn't report here. We got through a lot of the Local Heroes stuff, but not all of it. Selkirk tried to drink the water at the Hagfish, but didn't roll well enough on his saving throws. The attempt and his joking reaction afterward were enough to earn the respect of the locals, though. The boar hunt had some mildly interesting conversation with Aldern Foxglove, including more flirting with Kalaysa and kissing up for cash by Selkirk, but the combat was quick and easy. They met Ameiko's drunken father at the Rusty Dragon while she was roasting their boar for them. And we finished with the report on goblin activity from Shalelu, with the PCs accepting the mayor and sheriff's offer to stay in town and keep an eye on things while Sheriff Hemlock travels to Magnimar to ask for more troops to protect the town from goblin.
Unfortunately, because of people traveling around the holidays, we haven't met in 3 or 4 weeks now. And one member of our playing group permanently left town last week, so I'm going to have tonight's session pick up where we left off in the mayor's office, with the bard deciding to continue his travels and decline the offer to stay in Sandpoint.
I wish I'd known in advance that I wouldn't get a chance to see him before he left, so I could ask the player for his character sheet and keep him on as an NPC. These aren't exactly power gamers, so I'm a little worried about continuing with only 4 PCs. I'll probably tone things down a little in some of the future combats, since I know they aren't the types who want an extreme challenge. Or possibly add an NPC to accompany them. I was thinking maybe Shalelu could join their travels, but she'd be redundant in a group that already has an archery focused ranger, and she's too high level for them right now.
Anyway, the only stuff left in Local Heroes is for them to meet the shopkeeper's daughter, deal with the goblin in the closet, and then find out Ameiko is missing, which leads to the Glassworks. I think I'll have them advance their PCs to level 2 before they go to the Glassworks next session. That seems like it might be a short session, but this group tends to be pretty slow, and we'll probably want to advance the PCs to level 2 as a group, since some of them are still new to the game and/or this version of it (vs earlier versions of D&D).
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Yeah, they'll probably be ok, but as I said, they're not power gamers. One's a total newbie, but he's playing the archer, and I've given him advice on archery feats, so it's an easy character to play effectively in combat.
Monday's session was a bit weird. The sorceress couldn't make it, so I just said her PC was busy flirting with Aldern Foxglove and not hanging out with the others as they wandered town (which fits with her previous behavior). The ranger has decided that the fish water at the Hagfish is now a challenge that he wants to keep attempting, so it's reached recurring joke status.
They dealt with the goblin in the closet easily enough (though I had fun pulling out 8 goblin minis before the fight started, just to scare them). The oracle has an 18 charisma, so I had the shopkeeper's daughter flirt with him, which was pretty awkward, because the player's a pretty quiet guy. He decided his PC would probably go along with it, and he got caught in the basement by her father, then failed to talk his way out of it.
Then I had them find out Ameiko is missing and are given the note and family history by the old halfling woman who works for her. Cue cliffhanger, and we spent the rest of the session advancing the characters to level 2. I know they're not supposed to level up until after the Glassworks, but I figure they could use the boost. Besides, it seemed like the advancements at level 3 and 4 might come too quick, so this way, they're spread out a little more.
Not sure when we're meeting next. The group's kind of in flux a little, with one member leaving and another having a new job schedule. We may switch days of the week. Hopefully, we'll be able to go back to weekly meetings like we had before the holidays.
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Last week, they headed to the Glassworks, then spent a ton of time debating the legality of breaking in to check things out. The LN cavalier didn't want to violate any laws. In the end, they realized the mayor was still in town, even though the sheriff had headed to Magnimar to get reinforcements for the town guard, so they went to city hall and asked Mayor Deverin for permission to break into the Glassworks, which she granted.
They broke in, and because of the route they took, they were blocking the path for the goblins to run down to warn Tsuto. They killed 7 goblins in the glassmaking room, and chased the 8th out and killed him on the run. None of them speak goblin, so they didn't understand that he was yelling "I surrender! Don't hurt me!" as he was running away.
Because our group is incredibly slow, and spent like an hour debating how to handle breaking into the Glassworks, that was as far as we got. They found the stairs down to the basement, and I think they're assuming it's going to be a large section of adventure down there, when it's actually just the one fight with Tsuto. So we'll pick up with that tonight, and hopefully finish it fast enough to start in on the Catacombs of Wrath.
Personally, I think all of the party suspicion can be leveraged to work to your favor. Tension is a great way to keep players interested and hungry for more. Give em a sweet roller coaster ride.
Pacing can be quite important. If you are truly concerned for how slow your players are progressing, first I would ask "Is everyone having fun and enjoying themselves?" Some people greatly enjoy planning and puzzling solutions as opposed to just kicking in the door. I would hesitate to steal this away from them unless it is taking away from the game. It could also be the case the players are just new and not confident in the abilities. They need to find their groove so to speak. If they are strangers, they may still be feeling each other out.
If you would like to push things along, remember as the GM you control not only monsters in combat, but the very world itself at all times. Use your town NPCs when appropriate. Example - while the party is discussing strategy have a town busy body approach to inquire what all the arguing and commotion is about. Or, while the group is discussing options, grant everyone a perception check to notice the curtain in the nearest window rustle.
You can be subtle enough to make it seemed planned instead of railroady. The idea is not to force the group into immediate action but to let your players know there can be consequences for inaction. Let the baddies get the drop on your conspicuous fellows.
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So we've had two more sessions that I didn't post about here. They captured Tsuto instead of killing him, so he's now in the Sandpoint jail. And they actually handled the Catacombs of Wrath faster than I expected. Apparently, once they're dungeon crawling, they're much faster than when they're trying to decide what to do around town.
After finding Tsuto's journal, they had already decided to stock up on silver and cold iron weapons because of the references in the note about a quasit and other things, so they had the weapons necessary for Erylium. At least, the archer had plenty of cold iron arrows, and the cavalier had a cold iron melee weapon that he couldn't use very much because Erylium was usually flying too high for melee range. That fight was still tough for them - it took 18 rounds of combat before they killed her, and even then, I'm not sure if I got one of the rules right. I decided that her fasthealing wouldn't heal wounds that overcame her DR (mostly the ranger's cold iron arrows). Otherwise, they never would have killed her.
We're having another change to the players in the campaign. The ranger player is leaving town, so tonight's session will be his last. We've recruited a new 4th player, who I haven't actually met yet. He's the boyfriend of the woman playing the sorceress. Apparently, he made a paladin character, and he'll be joining us for the first time tonight.
I already told them to level up to 3rd level before today's session and start the new PC at level 3, so they'll all be level 3 for Thistletop. Given that we'll probably spend the start of today's session finalizing everyone's details of leveling up, finalizing the new PC's details, and on rest/healing from last week's adventure, it'll probably take half the session before they even start out to Thistletop.
Something they don't realize yet is that the cavalier has 4 points of poison damage from the vargouille in the Catacombs that can't be healed magically without a tough caster check. Luckily, that was the fort save he missed, not the one against its kiss, which would have transformed him into a vargouille himself. And re-reading the description now, it's just magical healing that won't work on that, so two nights' rest should be enough to heal him back up.
The ranger player already said last week that he's actually hoping to get his PC killed before he leaves - go out in a blaze of glory or something like that. But I doubt that will happen if we stick to the main story, given the difficulty of what they're facing at the entrance to Thistletop. I don't expect them to get far enough to face the tough parts tonight. If he survives, I could keep his character around as an NPC, since they could use the extra firepower.
But I was also considering throwing in something outside the main storyline, just to have some fun with it. The ranger PC did come to Sandpoint specifically looking for the Sandpoint Devil - maybe I'll let him find it. That ought to be enough to kill him. :D I'd just have to be extra careful not to kill all of them if I do that, but I'm thinking it makes logical sense for the SD to target the guy hitting it with cold iron arrows, then take his body away to eat while mostly ignoring the rest of the group, if they're not in its way. Like I said, I'd have to be careful with this, but I think it could work. I'll probably ask the group what they want to do with the ranger's character (keep him around as an NPC or not), then throw in the extra optional encounter if they're ok with him dying.
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So the ranger's player who was leaving town was fine with us keeping his character in the campaign after he's gone, so I didn't have him go out in a blaze of glory, or sidetrack things to have them face the Sandpoint Devil.
We've met twice since the last post. The first one was mostly just finishing the new player's character, leveling everyone up, then interrogating Tsuto before heading off to Thistletop. The second session, they got through the first part of Thistletop, capturing the druid and clearing all the goblins on the mainland. We'll start tomorrow night's session with interrogating the druid, then crossing the bridge and "storming the castle".
I think this is the slowest group ever. At this rate, it'll take at least 2 years to finish the adventure path. But we're having fun with it, which is what matters.
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As mentioned in my Thistletop question thread, the group actually accepted Gogmurt's proposal to go after the "longshanks" and leave the goblins alone. They couldn't guarantee they wouldn't kill any goblins, but being evil, Gogmurt was OK with that, as long as they tried.
So they got across the bridge, listened at every door, and the ranger with +10 perception earned his keep. They heard the goblins in the throne room and goblin dogs in the courtyard, so intentionally avoided opening those doors, eventually finding the stairs down.
Downstairs, they heard Bruthazmus with his harem and avoided them, thinking it was just more goblins. They found Orik, knocked him down to -4 HP, took his stuff, and left him tied up, intending to grab him on their way out to take back to Sandpoint.
Then they hit the temple, and the yeth hounds woke the whole complex, before the PCs killed them. I decided that yeth hounds were smart enough to give up trying to bite the heavily armored tin cans after 3 rounds of not getting through the armor, and go after easier targets within a 5 foot step, especially when one of those other targets was the one doing the most damage to them (ranger with silver arrows), so the group had some healing to do after the fight.
I started doing the math on how long it'll take Bruthazmus to put on his armor, go look for Orik, grunt in disgust at Orik being stripped and left tied up, then make his way to the temple. During that same time, Lyrie will be going down to let Nualia know there's noise coming from the temple, and they (along with the third yeth hound) should also come to the temple to see what's going on. Unfortunately, I got around 14 or 15 rounds for both of them, starting from the first round of combat in the temple, when those 2 hounds howled. If the group has to fight Bruthazmus, Lyrie, Nualia, and the third yeth hound all at once, things could go badly. And I was considering having Warchief Ripnugget send the 6 sleeping goblins from the barracks downstairs to check things out, too.
I'm thinking maybe Lyrie and Nualia won't be in a rush, since they'll figure it's just the goblins upsetting the hounds, so that will give me an excuse to delay their entry. Maybe I'll intentionally decide in advance how many rounds of combat the group will have against Bruthazmus alone before the others arrive, like 3 or 4 rounds. That will give them a chance to soften him up, if not finish him off outright, before things get ugly.
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Took a while to play again, now we're playing twice in three days.
I had Bruthazmus show up and fight them for 4 rounds before Nualia and Lyrie got there. They ended up killing Nualia and Bruthazmus, but Lyrie got away and fled Thistletop. They also killed a few goblins who came down to see what was going on.
They ended up talking to Chief Ripnugget and he was scared enough of them (after being shown Nualia's severed head) to agree never to attack Sandpoint again, as long as they left the goblins alone. The other goblins will probably revolt against him shortly, but the PCs will be long gone before that happens.
They woke up Orik and agreed to let him live if he showed them as much of the lower level as Nualia had explored. So he played along. They decided not to explore too thoroughly, so they didn't find either of the secret doors or Malfeshnekor. They released Orik and returned to Sandpoint with Nualia's heady and body (no longer attached to each other), and told the mayor and sheriff what they'd found.
They were still debating going back to try and figure out who/what Malfeshnekor is and try to stop it from escaping and becoming a problem. I had them level up to 4th level while they're back in town. So in tonight's session, they'll probably go back to Thistletop and fight the shadows and Malfeshnekor, and maybe the giant crab.
Since there should probably be a break of a few weeks of game time from a story flow perspective, I need to find an excuse for them to stay in Sandpoint once they're done with that (if they even decide to go back to Thistletop for that, which they might not).
I was thinking that the ranger originally came to Sandpoint hoping to find the Sandpoint Devil, so I might have them pursue that. It could still be too tough at 4th level, though. I just looked at the stats, and that 10d6 breath weapon could be a one shot kill, especially on the group's sorceress. But it would give me an excuse to boost them to 5th before they start their investigation in chapter 2 of the adventure, since the anniversary edition says they should hit level 5 very early in that process, but it just doesn't seem like they'll spend very long or do much at level 4.
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So we got started actually playing late on Monday, because we were busy leveling up all the characters. I tried to do the NPC ranger (who used to be a PC before the player moved away from the area) before hand, but didn't finish, and I wanted to consult the group on some things. So we spent over an hour on that, then on them selling equipment and buying new stuff at Sandpoint.
By the time we started, they only had time to negotiate with the goblins for re-entry into Thistletop (Warchief Ripnugget is in trouble with the tribe, but smart enough not to cross the longshanks who killed/defeated Nualia and her crew), then they went underground and killed the shadows. That's where we called it a night.
So next session, they'll search for secret doors and hopefully find the giant crab and/or Malfeshnekor. I'll have to recommend taking 20 on the searching or they'll never find Malfeshnekor - that secret door is a 28 DC, and the party's best perception is +11, I think, so they'd need a 17 or higher on the die. They already failed to find that once with random searching.
I was also thinking that since they're supposed to level up to 5th early in the next chapter, I might just have them advance to 5th after they finish with Thistletop the second time. Beating the shadows, crab, and Malfeshnekor should be enough stuff to do at level 4, and this way they'll be 5th level for the whole murder investigation.
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I really haven't been keeping this thread up to date. We've done almost all of Skinsaw Murders since the last time I updated here.
They didn't kill Malfeshnekor. He kicked their butts, but they (just barely) all got out alive. They realized he was magically bound to that room, so they just closed the secret doors in the hopes the goblins would never find him, and decided they'd come back and deal with him later.
They spent a few weeks in Sandpoint training their horses for combat and training themselves (leveling up) before the sheriff asked for their help investigating the murders. They realized things were tied to Foxglove Manor after their visit to the Sanitorium (where they did NOT meet or fight the necromancer in the basement), and wanted to head there, but were interrupted by the talk of walking scarecrows. So they investigated that, killed a couple of ghouls, and continued on to Foxglove Manor.
They also guessed that the strange occurrences of the sorceress losing possessions, and the notes turning up addressed to her, were probably from Aldern. Also, the group oracle picked up ghoul fever from one of the ghouls they fought in the farmlands.
In the Manor, they thoroughly searched upstairs, setting off lots of haunts to get back stories, and the sorceress picked up Vorel's Phage from one of the haunts. Following Aldern's undead bride downstairs, the cavalier picked up ghoul fever from one of the ghouls in the sub-basement. They watched the two lead undead duke it out, then helped them finish each other off. They picked up on the hints that Vorel had been trying to become a lich, and that Aldern had contacts worth investigating in Magnimar, but consecrating the manor to make it safe from Vorel's haunts never crossed their minds.
So they used an Animal Messenger spell to send a note to Sheriff Hemlock, then headed directly to Magnimar without even returning to Sandpoint. Along the way, they realized that three party members were sick.
In Magnimar, they went to the cavalier's family home. He was born and raised there, from a minor noble family, so we all figured they'd have a big enough home for visitors to stay with them. They stocked up on anti-disease supplies (anti-plague, healer's kit), but didn't slow down the investigation at all. The paladin is just preparing Lesser Restoration as his only spells every day to mitigate the effects of the diseases, but they all still have them.
At Foxglove's townhouse, they killed the faceless stalkers, then found the secret compartment and book with the hint about the Seven's Sawmill. They asked around among Foxglove's neighbors, who didn't really know him, but told them about the series of murders in the city. They went to the city guard and told them about Aldern and Foxglove Manor. The city government didn't want the amateurs interfering with their investigation into the murders within the city, since it was obvious that they weren't all done by Aldern, but they did get confirmation of the victims have the Sihedron rune carved into them like Aldern's victims, so they knew they're related.
So they finally got the sawmill and staked it out for a bit, rather than going right in. I had one of the cultists walk in from outside during the stakeout, and the paladin detected that he was evil. I also had them see Ironbriar on the roof sending a raven north, but he was too far to detect evil on. Ironbriar's high perception paid off for him, and he noticed the paladin in full plate trying to be stealthy. He called all the cultists up from the basement, and the paladin got one more detect evil off on one of them while they were coming up the stairs and heading around the building.
Realizing the place was loaded with evil, they decided to just go in guns blazing. The cultists knew they were coming, so they fought their way through all of them, eventually facing Ironbriar on the top floor. The cavalier made good use of combat maneuvers to trip then grapple Ironbriar, so it really wasn't much of a fight, though the Reaper's Mask's two Confusion spells per day made for some fun moments, with the ranger, his badger companion, and the paladin all getting confused.
They weren't sure if they should go to the authorities, but it occurred to them that if they stayed at the sawmill, more cultists might come home. Also, they realized that the ranger could prepare a Speak With Animals spell after resting for the night, and ask the carrier ravens what they knew. So they actually spent the night at the sawmill, taking shifts on guard and sleeping.
In the morning, they used their anti-plague and healer's kit, and everyone passed their fort saves on their diseases. That's two days in a row for the sorceress with Vorel's phage, and the first day for the oracle and cavalier with ghoul fever, so they all have to make one more day's fort save to be totally cured. Then, the ranger talked to the ravens and they found out that the ravens like flying to the tallest tower under the Irespan.
And that's pretty much where we left off - they'll head to the clock tower next time.
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So last night, they started raiding the clock tower.
Despite a good stealth roll by the Scarecrow, the ranger still spotted him with a high perception roll (they tied at 31). So they didn't get surprised by the golem. I rolled awful for his attacks the first couple of rounds, so I kept missing, but then I got two hits against the cavalier in the same round, scaring the heck out of them with over 50 points of damage at once. The cavalier then hit back with a crit and a regular hit while power attacking and otherwise buffed, doing over 60 damage in one round to knock him down (he'd already taken over 40 HP damage before that). So it was an easier fight than I'd have liked, but the massive damage in one round was enough to scare them and make them glad he went down before getting to attack again.
They started climbing the stairs, and broke them by bunching up too much on their way up. The oracle fell 20 feet. Nobody in the group has knowledge: engineering, but I gave them an intelligence check to realize that spreading out might be safer when climbing up the fragile stairs. So they spaced themselves out at 15 foot intervals the rest of the way, with the badger using her climb speed to follow on the wall instead of using the stairs at all.
I rolled randomly for the falling bell, and it just happened to smack the two squishiest party members (the sorceress and the ranger's badger companion). Luckily, they both made their reflex saves to avoid falling 60 feet, on top of the direct damage from getting hit by the bell. Either of them actually taking that fall damage almost certainly would have gone down to negatives.
They reached the bells and the fight with the faceless stalkers was relatively easy. That's where we stopped for the night, since it was getting late.
Per her tactics, Xanesha was invisible and watching the fight against the faceless stalkers. I should have made a mental note of that in advance, and made notes of party tactics in that fight and how she'd react to them, because now I'm trying to remember the next day, and my memory's a little fuzzy on some of the details.
Based on watching that fight, I think she'd consider the oracle and ranger the biggest threats, which is ironic, since the oracle is usually the least directly threatening in most fights. The oracle flew, used a successful Command spell to make one faceless stalker lose a turn and drop prone, pulled out his morningstar to hit one of the stalkers once, and healed the paladin after the fight (since he was the front liner that got damaged). The ranger hit with a lot of arrows and deadly aim, knocking one faceless stalker down in the first round before he'd had a chance to act. Xanesha also saw the paladin take some shots and get a hit or two in, but he rolled low for damage, so she wouldn't consider him a top priority target. She saw the sorceress use Magic Missile, but I don't remember what else. Being a squishy looking spellcaster, she'd probably be third target. Because the fight was in a tight space of the stairs, and the cavalier and badger are melee types, they didn't get close enough to help, other than the cav using Lion's Call to buff the others.
So in Xanesha's mind, the oracle is an effective spellcaster, and the healer who can keep the others in a fight, while the ranger is the heavy damage dealer, if allowed to fire lots of arrows, so they're the highest priority to kill first. After that, go for the sorceress, then the others. Since the ranger and paladin are NPCs now (they started as PCs before the players left the group), I would prefer to kill them before the others for reasons of metagaming and being a nice GM, but Xanesha's too smart not to use intelligent tactics.
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Something I came up with over the weekend ahead of tomorrow night's session: Xanesha's tactics say she opens up with an illusion of a demon flying around the top of the tower. I happen to have this mini for a vrock, so I think I'll use that and even let them ID it using knowledge: planes. I doubt if anyone will know this much, but if they happen to recognize it and know it's CR 9, that will seem reasonable to them as the boss fight for a level 7 group. So I'm guessing they'll be totally fooled by the illusion.
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I used a marilith. It's the right size, it's got a female top and a snake bottom, and is armed with weapons. Perfect for when I place it on the table, and my players begin to excrete bricks. Also, it gave me a chance to use this line:
"This miniature, both literally and figuratively, is not armed as shown."