As the subject says, two of my players have become infected by a vargouille. The knowledge monkey of the group is about 3 hours behind the main group to the dungeon, so was not there to identify the creature. There is a good chance he will not get a chance to see it, or may not even succeed the check to know what to do.
The players are still in the early stages of dungeon, and are not in a position to leave any time soon. Even if they blitz though the dungeon and get back to the surface in say an hour, there is only about 4 more hours of daylight, and they are dead in 11.
once they get on the road back home, its a 2 day trip back to town. Its not looking good for them, and I really don't want to just hand them a cure, but some access to the daylight spell would be great!
I'm seeking ideas for items that have daylight or stronger built in, or even more creative ways to slow the progress.
I might fiat it that when a transformation step starts you can stop it and delay it another 1d6 hours by the application of a daylight spell, then have the party find a Brilliant Bullwark (which is good for 10 1-minute intervals of Daylight.) That could add some suspense of "are they going to get out without ear-wings and chin-tentacles."
The Bullwark is a nice balance of "neither too expensive nor too powerful" but makes them have to use it tactically (if they can't get remove disease upon leaving the dungeon, they'll have to charge it up to use it at night to keep them from changing further.)
Bottled Sunlight?
I feel it needs to be bright light in order to prevent progress, a sunrod only glows up to normal light. The item is right in line with the type of thing im after though.
I might fiat it that when a transformation step starts you can stop it and delay it another 1d6 hours by the application of a daylight spell, then have the party find a Brilliant Bullwark (which is good for 10 1-minute intervals of Daylight.) That could add some suspense of "are they going to get out without ear-wings and chin-tentacles."
The Bullwark is a nice balance of "neither too expensive nor too powerful" but makes them have to use it tactically (if they can't get remove disease upon leaving the dungeon, they'll have to charge it up to use it at night to keep them from changing further.)
I kind of like the idea of letting the progress freeze for a time from small doeses of light.
I'll deff save the shield though.
You could use disposable magic items like Feather Tokens for the same purpose as that shield. Perhaps some other adventurer had been killed before using them.
Who cares about the players? Are their characters alright?
You could be Gygaxian about it and have some sort of passage in the dungeon that is part test. If the characters pas the test, they get a McGuffin that cures them of supernatural afflictions. Make sure there's some sort of logic matrix to solve (you have to place five different colored beads in fives different shaped alcoves. There are four lines written above the alcove that gives hints at which order the beads go in. Place the correct bead in the correct alcoves and you pass).
Bottled Sunlight?I feel it needs to be bright light in order to prevent progress, a sunrod only glows up to normal light. The item is right in line with the type of thing im after though.
"A jar of activated bottled sunlight can be thrown as a splash weapon with a range increment of 10 feet. Upon striking a solid object, the bottled sunlight creates a 30-foot-radius burst of natural sunlight that persists for 1 round, after which all light from the jar fades."
"A jar of activated bottled sunlight can be thrown as a splash weapon with a range increment of 10 feet. Upon striking a solid object, the bottled sunlight creates a 30-foot-radius burst of natural sunlight that persists for 1 round, after which all light from the jar fades."Bottled Sunlight?I feel it needs to be bright light in order to prevent progress, a sunrod only glows up to normal light. The item is right in line with the type of thing im after though.
Yeah, that doesn't say it's bright light, though I'm not familiar with Varghouille so I don't know exactly what's required.
Natural sunlight halts the progress, but 6 seconds saved v.s. an 11 hours transition is..well.. pointless.
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They really know how to get a head.
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I've got a PFS character who this happened to, and he was treated part way through the transformation - he lost all his luxurious Taldan hair (managed to retain his little beard, happily) and has weird, fringed ears, but stayed human.
So you might work in some gradual effects as they change, some of which might stay with them if not treated soon enough.
It's definitely a painful situation. They are only 4 rooms into this dungeon and already have 2 players marked for death, another drug an enemy into lava to kill a monster.
Lucky for him the lava was a soul forge dedicated to the the dark god Droskar, he came back mythic, giving him 1 year to revive the dead religion, or lose himself and his brothers soul for ever.
So much more to have happen lol.