1) Well, Shalelu's death isn't catastrophic- they'll be lacking her expertise on the local goblin tribes, and Hook Mountain will lose some of its dramatic punch without her, but if it's important to you... how much did the PCs know about her? She's been kind of a cipher in my game- she's not prone to talking about herself, and the PCs have been respectful enough not to ask her a bunch of personal questions. Keeping that in mind, you could take the relevant parts of her backstory and personality and layer them on to any number of other NPCs.
2) I'd say probably no to the extra goblins and yes to Nualia realizing what's happened if any time at all goes by between regrouping (say, if the PCs head back to Sandpoint to heal up and recruit new party members). It seems like, judging by the attitudes of the goblins at Thistletop, that not everyone was enthralled with Nualia as Ripnugget. If he's alive, he might be able to get some additional goblins to come back. If not, they'll probably regroup under the next toughest goblin and wait until things at Thistletop have settled down a bit before trying to move back in. In my game, the PCs' assault on Thistletop basically broke the Thistletop tribe- not all of them were at the lair when they attacked, but between the failed assault on Sandpoint and the PCs' wiping of the lair, they basically were splintered and the Birdcrunchers went hunting them for stealing their queen. As to what Nualia can DO with the information that the PCs are coming, that really depends on what kind of forces she has left. She's probably not going to give up on freeing Malfeshnekor, but short of having any remaining yeth hounds standing watch and reporting back to her when the PCs arrive again, all she can really do is reorganize her spell selection and keep her fingers crossed.
Is there a body? If not, you could have Shalehu having only been brought to negative hit points and have been taken alive by Nualia. If they've not cleared out all of Thistletop they could even find her in one of the cells - otherwise have Nualia bring the captive elf to Judge Ironbriar and let him or Xanesha charm her. When they face her again, have her basically be blank-eyed and non-responsive while attacking her, and let the PCs have a chance of taking her alive but unconscious (with the charm wearing off in a day or so).
1) Yeah, thanks for the reply. Luckily I hadn't read up enough on Hook Mountain yet to even reveal that information. I like the stepfather/stepdaughter dynamic. I'll have to make another NPC to fit the story.
2) I just ran the Thistletop P.2 session. The real issue was the fact that they were able to level from 3 to 4 number wise between the two sessions. Big mistake on my part. They killed Malfeshnekor in 3 rounds and Nualia only almost knocked one unconscious (She got away though).
Sorry for asking, but how did level 4 characters handle a greater barghest in a confined room?
Mine were level 5, fought an Advanced Greater Barghest, and did so by sending in the Barbarian while everyone else peppered it from outside with spells and the like. The Barbarian just-about died doing this. (Blink is a devastating spell.) Literally the only reason the Barbarian didn't die is that Shalehu went into the room to help and was targeted in turn, and the NPC thief/wizard managed to hit it with a Shocking Grasp that overcame Blink and other resistances. ^^;;
It can be done.
My party said "Hmmm....barghest? Greater? Nah. We'll come back."
Anyway, they're living there now, so they'd be cleaning closet.
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A friend of mine had a similar thing happen when he ran his party through this. Shalelu died in Thistletop, and the party fled, leaving her body behind.
Nualia raised her in a ceremony in the Chapel, making her undead. I'll give him a heads-up on this thread, I'm sure he'd love to recount the story.
Sorry for asking, but how did level 4 characters handle a greater barghest in a confined room?
My party of 5 level 4 characters (Paladin, Monk, Sorcerer, Rogue/Fighter (Archer) & Druid w/Bear) took Malfeshnekor to pieces.
His blink ability dragged it out a bit but frankly he was doomed as soon as the words "Smite Evil" were uttered.Mind you, the party returned to Sandpoint after defeating Nualia, rested a couple of days, then returned to deal with the last couple of rooms (which included Malfeshnekor and the shadows) so they were at the top of their game.