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OK, so one of my PCs has thrown a wrench in the gears of my campaign, but in a good way. But now I would appreciate some help on what to do next.
We have a guy who is playing a Fetchling Rogue, working his way towards the Assassin PrC, and he showed his potential in that field last night, by solo sneaking into the Stag Lord's fortress and murdering him in his sleep.
The original intent was just to scout around and get a feel for the defenses, but he got lucky with his stealth rolls, and I had rough luck with my Perception rolls. I use the weather table every day to add some realism to the game, and it was a dark, rainy night, so he was tough to spot, and has good stealth checks anyway.
Then, by luck, he wandered right into the Stag Lord's bedroom, and did a successful coup de grace. Then he stole the Stag Lord's helmet and bow, and walked out. At that point his luck finally ran out (sort of), and he was spotted. But since he was wearing the helm, he was able to bluff his way out of it by grunting and acting drunk, and waving the guards away. He then walked right out the front door and back to the rest of the group. Best. Scouting Mission. Ever.
I could have just used some kind of DM fiat to make somebody spot him or something, but I didn't feel that was reasonable. The guy made the rolls and did it right - he deserved to win the day really.
My problem now, is trying to figure out what happens next in the fortress. I assume there will be some combination of defection, power struggle, and infighting, but I'd love to hear input from the hive mind here as to how to make that all shake out. I also want to know how you all would try to give Akiros his chance to properly show his possible future loyalty to the PCs, because I really like his story, and would like him to become an important NPC down the road if possible. If the PCs don't bite, they don't bite, but I at least want a believable way to give them that chance.
Safe to assume Dovan and Auchs try to take charge, but then what?
One idea that did cross my mind - tell me if you think this is crazy - I thought about doing a one-off weird adventure next week, where my PC's take the role of 5 of the key bandits in the camp next week, and let THEM sort it out. Good idea? Bad idea? I can say without doubt they're grown up enough not to meta-game it, such that they just sabotage themselves to make their main PCs lives easier.
Any and all input is welcome, you guys have always helped with this sort of thing in the past. So thanks in advance!
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OR ...
Maybe I make "Nugrah the Decrepit" a bit less decrepit, and he makes his move to take over the fortress. In that case, he's essentially the new BBEG at the end of the adventure. My only issue with that option is that it kind of feels like I'm taking away my PC's victory by just replacing one BBEG with another one.
Just trying to brainstorm here.
Wow, that must have been an epic moment for everyone involved! You definitely made the right calls there.
IMC I decided to install the Emerald Keep dungeon into the Stag Lord's fort with Nugrah the Decrepit as the "boss" of the cellar level. I described several journal entries detailing his descent into madness and his growing obsession over the beauty and grace of arachnids after the events of his tragic backstory (instead of turning to the worship of Gozreh, Nugrah turned to the worship of a homebrew demon lord of spiders). While the Stag Lord still exerted his will over Nugrah, the latter proved to be a formidable foe and a memorable villain for our intrepid heroes (we all thought that a mad, spider-crazed druid that crawled around on the ceiling while summoning vermin was pretty cool). I could elaborate more if you are interested.
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Wow, that must have been an epic moment for everyone involved! You definitely made the right calls there.
IMC I decided to install the Emerald Keep dungeon into the Stag Lord's fort with Nugrah the Decrepit as the "boss" of the cellar level. I described several journal entries detailing his descent into madness and his growing obsession over the beauty and grace of arachnids after the events of his tragic backstory (instead of turning to the worship of Gozreh, Nugrah turned to the worship of a homebrew demon lord of spiders). While the Stag Lord still exerted his will over Nugrah, the latter proved to be a formidable foe and a memorable villain for our intrepid heroes (we all thought that a mad, spider-crazed druid that crawled around on the ceiling while summoning vermin was pretty cool). I could elaborate more if you are interested.
Sure, Cesare, I'm game. Let's hear it! :)
I agree that a player gambling and winning on his scouting mission like that was a great moment and you do NOT want to take it away from the player.
If the players are up for it, it would be great to have them roleplay out the struggle inside the fort.
If they're not, you get to figure out what happens. (Roll opposed Charisma checks if you don't have any other ideas.)
I _think_ Akiros comes out on top (he's more trustworthy than Dovan and most of the bandits will know it). Then you get a negotiating session with him -- what does he want? how far can he take the bandits along with him?
But then maybe he asks the PCs for help dealing with the druid in the dungeon -- none of his guys will go down there, due to bad past encounters with nasty-tempered druids (and maybe there are a few moss-eaten skeletons in the cellar of bandits who dared to go down there). Druid + owlbear + maybe some other stuff in the deep earth + zombies (in one room or another). You could even throw in the Barrow of the Forgotten King from book 2 as yet another level of the duneon (hill fort built on top of that).
And Dovan ambushes Akiros and the PCs as they come out of the dungeon, unless they've previously taken precautions against this...
I would be tempted to give them 'some' of the bandits as a reward - but leave the fort as a weakened challenge.
Let Akiros lead a few bandits out and try to escape. The party have a chance to spot the escapees and talk / negotiate / accept surrender etc. If they negotiate an arrangement with Akiros, they gain an ally, with a unit of light infantry and a lot of specific detail about the fort and the people left behind.
The fort is still a challenge - but a significantly easier challenge now that two key antagonists have been neutralised.
Initially the party have to deal with an Owlbear, Dovan, Auchs and a few bandits (the L1 bandits are just cannon fodder so you can leave a few in there as well) - but (if they talked to Akiros) they know lots of details of their enemy - such as base abilities, preferred tactics and that the the owl bear WILL be used.
They also know that the basement has the real loot and that is protected by some sort of creepy cleric ...
So their reward for the excellent scouting trip is a weakened fort, really good intelligence on the fort and its occupants and the potential of a longer term ally.
Dovan takes over, Akiros leaves, morale plummets and more bandits leave, Stag Lord's dad in the basement gets his revenge and kills everyone in left the fort.
First off: Kudos on giving your player agency, sounds like an awesome session!
As for what happens now: Your suggestion of a one off with the players playing the bandits is a decent one. You can even give them the character backgrounds and motivations to help guide them if they are mature enough to not then use that knowledge later on in the campaign. The only problem I see with it is that the potential new leaders of the bandit camp are: Akiros, Dovan, and Nugrah (though he would have to do it more by sheer force than anything). While you could have a couple of players play the likes of Auchs and Falgrim, it may feel a little hollow to them knowing that they are not really "up" for the role of leader. That said, it could still be a lot of fun.
Alternatively, I really see the most likely leader candidates being either Akiros or Dovan. The defection of Akiros can even be handled (assuming you are doing this off screen rather than having a one off for your players to run) by essentially stating that it appeared as though the bandits were going to side with Dovan and Akiros says "Screw this." and leaves. Dovan is conniving enough that he could potentially pull it off. The only real problem with leaving Dovan in charge is his general inclination to run once the crud hits the fan during the assault on the fort. But really, that's not a huge problem anyway. It will just make the fight at the fort that much easier as essentially all of the major players will be gone (Staggy dead, Akiros defected, Dovan fleeing) they really only need worry about Auchs and Nugrah -- neither of whom my party had much trouble with (though I had Akiros convince Auchs to defect once Dovan fled). IMC, Dovan fled and the party never asked anyone about him, so there's no doubt that he'll make a return appearance at some point. :)
lol welcome to the GM world... :D
Frankly, cuddo since what you've done is no small feat, most GM would have protected their BBEG with GM Fiat as much as they can... Which is always a bad move... :p
Of course what the players are waiting for now is : disorganization and power struggle within the bandit's camp... And that's what you should give them...
In a Chaotic Evil environment, the power struggle can significantly lower the opposition, well for what it's worth, in every environment this can lower the force of the antagonists... And that's what the players will wait for... So be logic and do it... If you were everyone in this Bandit Clan and your Good for Nothing but Strong Boss died.. But a Less good for Nothing But less Strong Boss tried to be Califf in place of Califf ? :p
There will be small fights which will lead to lesser defense (not necessarily a ot of lesser defense depending on the difference of power of would be Califf... But less Defense nonetheless... Let them have it!!!
They deserve to be rewarded for good play and good thinking... Now if they go straight to the fort and don't have the power force to go against the lowered defense the crush them with leaving the possibility for "tactical retreat" and a way for the enemies to re-organize themselves... :p
Once again, if your players are good players and have good ideas you should always reward them by making things easier... And if they have bad ideas and makes bad moves you should punish them for it, not too much but having the whole fort against you 'cause you decided to go upfront is punishment enough... :p
Always think of your Bad Guys and Enemies Tribe as having a life on their own... When something happens try to think like the Boss and how you will react (depending on your Monster Background and your INT) and react...
A lot of times, in KM, my players tried to make siege... Meaning they would scout the area around a fort (be it The Grand Cerf Fort or the Troll Fortress and killing everyone in their powers going in and out of those fortress... The reasoning being: They are not unlimited in numbers, if I can kill enough of the guys going in and out I will thin the numbers of peoples in...
Which is good thinking until they realize that something is killing them when they go out with 3 people and decide to go out with 6... Then with 12 etc. But you have to give them a Max Person in Fort for them to use this kind of tactics...
So when they try something innovative and clever reward them for it with thinning the enemies and making the final encounter a bit easier... :)
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The Stag lord getting murderhobo-ed in his bed after a drunken stupor is actually a fairly common outcome to the first book. Since most of the rest are still around and might not discover the body until it smells (1d2 days if they think the stage lord walked off in the night they are prolly terrified enough of him to not go in his room until the place stinks.)
So if they attack in the next 2 days prolly not much happens differently except maybe the "Stag Lord" walking in the front door at night with the PCs might give a surprise round especially with solid bluffs.
If they wait for staggy to get discovered there's 3 possible contenders to take over:
-Akiros might try and take over but he doesn't have much support likely if he tries he's a dead man, he might also simply leave because why wouldn't he at this point.
-Dorovan has ambition and talent and maybe Auroughs and that druid dad.
-Druid dad would be most competent, if he survives long enough he could reincarnate his son and make this a thing again in later books. Bear in mind if it goesw south Druid dad can turn into a bird and bug out to come back later.