Hey all, just a quick question on our good ole undead friend Davik. As written, he automatically knows that the PCs are not aligned with Staggy. However, my question comes from the fact that my PCs have all gathered on of the amulets that the Stag Lord bandits have a tendency to carry and each is currently wearing the same so as to be able to show it to other bandits in an effort to gain their trust before capturing/killing them.
That said, would it be reasonable for Davik to notice the amulets as well? If so, would that not make him think that they are in fact his tormentors? Or is he only interested in seeing Staggy dead and doesn't care about his followers? If its the latter then the story of him going after the bandits when they came back after killing him doesn't fully make sense.
Just curious as to what everyone's thoughts are on this. As always, thanks in advance for any advice!
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I think it's up to you, but if you decide that he'll attack anyone wearing a stag amulet, then that makes it harder for Davik to give the PCs his quest. Or best case scenario, the PCs will have to have at least one (but probably more than one) pointless battle with him before he reappears and they try and talk to him, thereby giving you an opening to present Davik's quest. It depends on if you're okay with that. Me personally? There's already a ton of sidequests in the first book of the AP that distract from the main quest and from establishing a kingdom that I wouldn't want to waste any time with a battle the PCs can't win.
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You could have Nettles rising from the waters, his rasping voice, barely a whisper, yet clearly heard by all, uttering the following : "These waters be my domain. You carry the offal miasma of he who has given me rage beyond death's embrace. So long as he breathes and escapes my vengeance, my powers shall continue to stretch the length and span of these waters, denying all who seek to cross over. Until the blood toll is paid in full, I shall know no respite. If you are his by oath, your lives are mine to reap."
Then give the PCs a chance to use Diplomacy or Bluff to either convince him that they're not men of the Stag Lord or to cause a diversion so that they can flee before Nettles brings the battle to them.
CB
Excellent thoughts both of you. CanadianBakka that is a particularly effective way of handling it, lets the party know that wearing the amulets can go both ways! Thanks for the thoughts!
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If the hints are too subtle for your party you can always make them more obvious. Instead of stating the above Davik could ask them a question. Either why they carry the amulets, or if they work for Staggy depending on how blunt you want to make it. This way the dialog is opened before there is a chance to brandish a weapon and once people start talking they tend to keep talking.
This at least from my experience of a few years of DMing an intelligent but dense party (Guessing average real life stats of Int 16, Wis 8 :P). No shame in spoon feeding them when needed if it helps the campaign.
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If a party wishes to engage Nettles in combat after that speech, he can always simply do nonlethal damage to at least one of them to subdue him/her. After all, a bandit dedicated to the Stag Lord is often a craven and superstitious at heart, so Nettles might make a successful Sense Motive check to realize they're not who they are pretending to be.
Or, as Bennyzoid suggests, you can be more transparent about it and simply have Nettles preemptively question them on the sincerity of their "allegiance" to the Stag Lord. Nettles is not omniscient but he was a no-nonsense type of guy in life: he didn't care who you were. If you wanted to use his bridge, you were going to pay the toll or find another way around. ;P.
If you want to build additional sympathy for Nettles, you could always mention that they not only burned down his home, destroyed his bridge, and killed him, they also killed his dog. How low is that? That should incite your players to truly hate the Stag Lord (unless your players are secretly fiends in disguise, but that is a different problem altogether).
CB
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Well, my players probably are fiends in disguise but I'm not sure their characters are. :P
Seriously though, this is great stuff. My players will almost certainly take the hint in this instance as they definitely want to take out the Stag Lord. Both from a character standpoint and a player standpoint.
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Let him attack them :) He isn't that hard to kill - especially if they have reach/missile weapons. After all, he will be back on full HP again tomorrow, and they will have to do it all over again - until they decide they need another approach :)
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Good point. I forgot that Nettles was essentially immortal until his spirit could rest with the death of the Stag Lord and the tossing of the Stag Lord's corpse (or head) into the river.
That got to be annoyingly frustrating for a pc cleric of Pharasma if the party elects to just destroy Nettles, with the same result time and time again, ;) "Come on, this is making me look bad in front of my goddess!"
CB
Good point. I forgot that Nettles was essentially immortal until his spirit could rest with the death of the Stag Lord and the tossing of the Stag Lord's corpse (or head) into the river.
That got to be annoyingly frustrating for a pc cleric of Pharasma if the party elects to just destroy Nettles, with the same result time and time again, ;) "Come on, this is making me look bad in front of my goddess!"
CB
Lol, yeah I'm not really concerned about the party fighting him per se, I just wasn't sure how the whole displaying the amulet aspect of it would work with how he was written. Frankly, my party I think is getting increasingly more cautious as they've learned that the Stolen Lands are a really dangerous place. Ironically, the ranger died last session and is likely going to simply replace her character (though I did up Jhod's abilities a bit and give him access to reincarnate). This is ironic because the ranger's favored enemy was undead and there was no way he'd have let Davik be. :)
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Heh, the irony is delicious. "Aww, if only there was a ranger who was the bane of the undead. Bummer."
Nevertheless, it is good that your party has become more cautious. Even the random encounters at this level are capable of TPK. A boar once nearly killed half of the my players' party due to thee team splitting up and me rolling high while the players were cursed with a low rolls streak. Ah, good times.
CB
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Indeed, first two party deaths were to a random shambling mound in the second session. That was after the first session saw them randomly encounter 1d4 trolls, which fortunately I allowed them to observe before the trolls observed them . . . which almost resulted in the ranger shooting one of the trolls. Were it not for the cavalier shouting "Holy Excrement!" and practically tackling the ranger, it might have been a first session tpk. :P