Has anyone done much with brining back NPCs that have survived prior encounters with the PCs?
Of the top of my head the following have got away / been allowed to get away:
- Scarplume (allowed)
- Azvernathi Raul (allowed)
- Nox (fled)
- Sabo (snuck past / tricked)
Now I know about Nox. The others I don’t think will hav much cause to come back and I don’t want to punish PCs for not killing everyone
However I feel like there should perhaps be some fall out on the Sabo situation and she may want some revenge. But I feel like she might be removed from her role at the prison once the “transfer” was proven to be fake
I guess she could seek some outsider or priest of Asmodeus aid when looking for the PCs? Or perhaps even swallowing her prior concerns and getting another one of the kytons (my party curb stomped that so bringing one back probably won’t be too boring)
Any thoughts on who she might ally with?
And has anyone else had prior villains come back? Do they all get stored up for the end of book 4?
|
IIRC, Scarplume's stated motivation was to be able to buy her way back into the Kitkasiticka tribe, so she might reappear in Book 5. Azvernathi just wants to flee the city, but maybe he could reappear in Vyre or in the countryside on the way to Menador Keep in Book 3, or the Terapassilion in Book 5? Sabo is both an Asmodean inquisitor and a dottari commander, so she can reappear in multiple places in Book 4. She could also appear as a Rival to one of the PCs in the Ruby Masquerade, having fixated on the person she most blames for tricking her (and for the nigh-inevitable demotion).
So many. Not all as reprise enemies.
Nox is pretty much as written, though my PC's had a second encounter with her at the end of book 2. Nox escaped a second time with dimension door.
Sabo was also part of that encounter and did not survive it.
My party fled from the kyton Ghenemal? And encountered her in a very cool encounter that was very cathartic. One of the PC's had been tortured by her for weeks and that PC landed the killing blow.
Azvernathi Raul bought his life with information and coin only to lose his cleric powers. The PC's found him despondent and managed to convert him. He's a cleric of Cayden Calean now and engaged to Setrona Sabrinus.
Menotheguro survived several attempts on his lair and eventually abandoned it but the PC's tracked him down and ended the Aboleth once and for all.
I've also gone out of my way to introduce the book 4 flunkies but none of the encounters were combat oriented.
I do plan for Tiarese to come back as a greater banshee instead of a nehmain and do so early (since I'm only running to book 4)
How did you bring in Tiarise in a way that made it so the group wouldn’t try and attack her?
I think my group are too high level for that kind of thing now!
|
One of the things that makes me chuckle, and love this AP, is the sheer amount of, "They Always Come Back," it seems to throw at the party. I like how the writers thought of every possible way to bring back an enemy that, unless they want to put a TON of effort in, the party just really can't do much about it.
That being said having other NPCs who are not specifically written to have a returning role in the AP show up later might make that mechanic wear thin for players.
It's different for different groups though.
How did you bring in Tiarise in a way that made it so the group wouldn’t try and attack her?
I think my group are too high level for that kind of thing now!
It wasn't meant to be an encounter. Tiarse was visiting Geoff Tanessen, who happened to be the brother of my party's vigilante.
He came end at the tail end of the conversation and was in social guise.
Basically, I engineer social encounters where the party could enact violence but it would have consequences.
I typically avoid enemies coming back as enemies because it reinforces the typical RPG mindset that you have to kill the bad guys or they'll just keep coming back.
Kossrani, the Red Jills (but not Scarplume), Blosodriette, Nox, Luculla, and Sabo are all potential enemies that survived their first encounters with the PCs. The Red Jills and Blosodriette slowly became trusted allies of the group, Nox came back, Luculla redeemed herself off screen and the players learned about it in the final book. The others left Kintargo or were imprisoned for their failures.
I typically avoid enemies coming back as enemies because it reinforces the typical RPG mindset that you have to kill the bad guys or they'll just keep coming back.
Kossrani, the Red Jills (but not Scarplume), Blosodriette, Nox, Luculla, and Sabo are all potential enemies that survived their first encounters with the PCs. The Red Jills and Blosodriette slowly became trusted allies of the group, Nox came back, Luculla redeemed herself off screen and the players learned about it in the final book. The others left Kintargo or were imprisoned for their failures.
Yes this is my general idea. I just think my players would like to see Sabo again - show up and say “so look who have been naughty boys then...”
They got beaten by her and ran (and then snuck past with disguise magic due to a bit of liberal interpretations). I think they have taken it as having their bottoms spanked by this middle aged lady and can’t seem to full get over it!
I am just musing on if she would have suffered from any kind of reprisals beyond demotion and if that impacts who she can bring along to help her...
Anything that would be with the dottari or church seems like a place to start.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Sabo is both an Asmodean inquisitor and a dottari commander, so she can reappear in multiple places in Book 4. She could also appear as a Rival to one of the PCs in the Ruby Masquerade, having fixated on the person she most blames for tricking her (and for the nigh-inevitable demotion).
In my campaign, Sabo will be taking the place of Nox in the Ruby Masquerade, as the party killed off Nox.
I am thinking of having a leveled up version raid the base in book 4 with inquisitors instead of Tombus and the dottari
Move Tombus to the street as he seems more the type to brashly confront them in the open
Sabo seems like someone who might feasibly have been able to find them without needing to be told due to scrying or the like
I think I will have both encounters in one order or another. Fear on Inquistors is of course with the Thrune fight at the end of the book. Don't want repetition. I need to try and come up with a slightly different concept for her. Tricky as the main inquistor thing past level 5 seems to be - a few buffs plus bane and then hit hard. Turning her into an archer doesn't make sense. I will think on it