So, my players have just fled the grounds of Iris Hill to rest after clearing the outbuildings and the first floor of the manor. Iris Hill was already on alert for the PCs before this first sally, after Risi escaped a failed attempt to kidnap them. I'm looking for advice on how Melissen will respond to the intrusion. She had pulled some of her forces back to her inner sanctum already, to guard against the PCs teleporting right into her midst via Star Stelae, and will probably want to maintain at least some of that guard.
Forces she has remaining:
* A Deep One Hybrid witch ally (expanding on the character of Lysie Brilt in the Thrushmoor Gazetteer)
* Her Byakhee
* Weiralai
* Risi Nairgon
* The Keeper of the Yellow Sign
* Rumatri the Penanggalen
* The Manananggal was forced to flee by Chill Touch-induced panic, but could likely return
* The Star Vampire
* Two kuru thugs
* Two cultists (plus as many as may be secretly out and about in Thrushmoor)
One thing I've considered is if she should make an open attack on Thrushmoor while the PCs are resting outside town, trying to gather up as many sacrifices as she can in one fell swoop, and thin her forces a bit from that effort. Or just a hunting party that (coincidentally) only catches up to the PCs after they've had the chance to rest?
Thoughts?
Revan,
I am wondering the SAME thing right now. Except my players are really pushing their luck.
They went to Iris Hill first when they started Trushmoore. They destroyed one gate to the manor, but I succesfully pushed them back because I didn't wanted them there right away.
They then invaded Fort Hailcourse.
My Risi also escaped.
One of the kidnapers escaped and alerted Melissen of the PC.
Now, not only Melissen knows the PC are coming.
They decided to take a loooooong break to craft magic items and retrain some of their feats and class levels. I think they spent over 10 days of downtime even though I told them Lowls is getting farther away from them and that kidnappings are still occuring while the're doing that.
So, I can assume the star stelae under Iris Hill is getting close to be fully charged if it's not already. What happens?
I was thinking, maybe, that the charged star stelae attracted more weird monsters making the last fight under Iris Hill harder.
Revan,
I am wondering the SAME thing right now. Except my players are really pushing their luck.They went to Iris Hill first when they started Trushmoore. They destroyed one gate to the manor, but I succesfully pushed them back because I didn't wanted them there right away.
They then invaded Fort Hailcourse.My Risi also escaped.
One of the kidnapers escaped and alerted Melissen of the PC.Now, not only Melissen knows the PC are coming.
They decided to take a loooooong break to craft magic items and retrain some of their feats and class levels. I think they spent over 10 days of downtime even though I told them Lowls is getting farther away from them and that kidnappings are still occuring while the're doing that.So, I can assume the star stelae under Iris Hill is getting close to be fully charged if it's not already. What happens?
I was thinking, maybe, that the charged star stelae attracted more weird monsters making the last fight under Iris Hill harder.
If the players really want to slack off on the plot like that I'd hit them hard! Maybe even have many of the townsfolk perish as Carsosa begins to suck the town away in a second Thrushmoor Vanishing or something. Consequences are needed.
In my game the exausted Players stumbled into Melissen and instantly fled to hide in town. The vigilante of the group stayed hidden at iris hill and overheard a order by Melissen to gather the kurus at the third stelae.
Melissen knows that she is under attack and is not sure how many forces are at ralley against her. So she decided to sacrifice the kurus to fully charge the staleas. (My players poisened the horsemeat forcing diarrea on all of the kurus, disabling them as guards)
They players went back to Mrs. Wentz and told her about that.
They decided to launch an attack on Iris hill with all the remaining forces, Cecilia Wentz can gather to occupie the guardians of the estate
Meanwhile the pc shall try to stop Melissen.
I decided to give this last opportunity to the players. If they fail, Trushmoore will be sucked into the void of carosa.
My next session is today. I´ll tell you about it´s outcome later