So if you're party smokes out the shocker lizards, what exact impact does that have on the enemies in the fort? My players smoked out the lizards, set fire to the barracks, dropped a boulder on the old watch tower, and rang the bell all at about the same time. They ambushed Jagraath in the bell tower and killed him all kinds of dead, and meanwhile the rangers and spell casters have decimated the few ogres left outside. A wall of fire has been cast over the entrance to the keep, making stepping out of it a dicey prospect.
As my party descends down the bell tower and sweeps the second floor, I think the shocker lizards need to be causing chaos on the lower levels. But I'm not entirely sure what that should look like, and I'm curious what other folks did for them. Did you kill off any of the ogres, or deal some damage to the named Fighters?
Of particular note is Lucrecia. She's in the basement, closest to the lizard warrens, so it seems likely they are going to come into contact with her. I'm not especially sure how she'll react and where she will wind up going.
Thoughts?
I had the lizards kill one of Ogres in the armory who are wearing Medium sized armor (lower reflex saves) and knock half the HP off the other, and one Ogre in the courtyard tried to chase one when it ran into the secret tunnel between B5 and B15 smashed it when the animal tried to turn around becaue of the Spectre's unnatural aura then he went to investigate B15 and was killed by the Spectre, so was added to that encounter later as a fresh Spawn. Otherwise I'd knock a d8 or two off the HP of a few random enemies on the first floor and the ground floor.
Lucrecia was tipped off that something was up by all the smoke and the noise, so she went invisible and just stayed out of their way and buffed up and waiting to see who was coming.
Man, I don't love how boss enemies are so inclined to just sit and wait while you murder your way through their minions. It might be what Lucrecia does (I don't remember explicitly reading that like I did for Jagraath or the Grauls) but it still annoys me.
In the case of Lucrecia I think she ultimately wants the Ogres dead anyway as sacrifices to fuel the Runewell, she'd use them to try to kill the PCs but is also perfectly happy if the PCs slaughter their way through them as long as she herself gets away.
My PCs plan was to sneak in to the fort via the secret door into her room anyway, so they actually encountered her first while the Ogres upstairs were still dealing with the Lizards. If they'd gone another route and she'd heard combat from above first then she'd have probably gone to investigate and join them against the PCs.