| This Side |
Hey all,
I am a new GM running CotCT in a home game, and am looking for some advice from some more senior GMs. The party of 4 7th level PCs (fighter, unchained rogue, sorcerer, druid) just finished the Arkminos encounter, but have been pretty decimated to this point (especially the spell casters), so I think they are planning on leaving to rest, then heading back in.
They currently have 8 priests, the leukodaemon, and both iterations of Lady Andaisin left, but I'm afraid a fully spell-stocked sorcerer and druid will wipe through those encounters (plus, it doesn't seem realistic for the clerics to do nothing for an entire day).
Any ideas on how to reset the temple to make it more realistic (and more challenging)? Rolth escaped, but I am hesitant to bring him back (I doubt Lady Andaisin would be too forgiving). I was thinking that Urgathoa could animate the dead clerics, but zombies and skeletons won't provide much resistance to this party.
Thanks in advance!
| Askren |
Have Andaisin and anyone of authority leave. There's no reason to have them stick around. Having her leave the demon behind, but the actual cultists should clear out and take any important information with them. Reanimating the clerics as some sort of plague zombie would make the players have something to fight through that isn't much of a challenge, but still gives the impression that they're not just kicking around a now-deserted dungeon for no reward. They should come to feel like they missed an opportunity by leaving.
If you really want the cult to just be straight up dead by the end of the book, you can have them relocate somewhere that the players can try and follow the clues to, but it's pretty important to remember that with the main temple destroyed and the bulk of the cult's resources trashed and inaccessible (especially Andaisain's specifically-designed chapel to Urgathoa) means that they're all but defeated in their goals for the city, and there's not much way for them to organize whatever's left into an position to keep working within the city. They basically just have to go underground and lick their wounds.
Perhaps you could hide them away in some extra-hidden hideout somewhere in the bowels of the city where Andaisin could do some desperate last-minute sacrifices and rituals to make herself strong enough to hopefully finish her mission. Have the players follow a trail of clues and hunt down the cult, and then give them that high-stakes final showdown where Andaisin is transformed by her god and you can carry out the same cinematic stuff, while letting the players twist the knife into the cult to put them down for good.
Or, just put them on a shelf for later.