I'm trying my hand at being the first time. I'm currently GMing Hell's Rebels (my first AP as a GM), and so far we're doing great. The party is about halfway through Book Four: The Song of Silver. And we haven't lost a single one of the four PCs we started with so far! It helps that my players are mostly veterans (we have one rookie player, but we have been very supportive of her and now she is one of the most deadly PCs at the table)
Here's the tricky bit. In order to make my players really invested in being rebels and defending Kintargo, I worked with them on their backstories and tied most of them to major NPCs in the AP (the only one without a backstory tied to a major NPCs is the above aforementioned rookie player, since she is new to the whole roleplay aspect)
When one of my players decided to be a Pitborn Tiefling, I arranged it so he was a half-brother to Hetamon Haace via their half-succubus mother Natsiel. Well, when it came time to confront Natsiel under the Silver Star at the start of Book Four, he lost his chance to confront his villainous mother.
See, our Warlock Magus cast Invisibility Sphere over the party and the allied NPCs (Shensen and Strea Vestori). Between the bonus to stealth Invisibility Sphere provided and the situational -20 to Perception Natsiel and her Green Hags at the moment, it was a massacre. Natsiel died in the surprise round before my player connected to her could even land a blow on her, let alone talk to her.
Now my player is seeking ways to bring Natsiel back to life, because he wants to try and redeem her. Even after what she and her Green Hags did to his half-brother Hetamon. Between not having anyone willing to raise her and Natsiel herself not wanting to be raised, my player was denied a potent moment for his character.
This is where I got creative. Spoilers for Hell's Rebels ahead:
Spoiler:
I'm going to use the Soul Anchor under Kintargo to transform Natsiel from a Half-Succubus to a full Succubus and bring her back for a second encounter. Now she has 10 levels of Sorcerer in a Succubus chassis, making her a CR 14 creature.
Thing is, a single caster is going to get slaughtered by a party of four with a APL of 12-13. She needs back up, so I want her to have brought some demons from the Abyss back to Kintargo with her. The easiest way to go to make this a CR 15 encounter is two give Natsiel two Vrocks as backup.
However, if I want to make it challenging, I could give her more mooks to fight the party with. Another way to make it a CR 15 encounter is to give her one Brimorak (CR 5), two Babaus (CR 6 each), and one Vrock (CR 9). I think my players could handle it, but it could also go sideways fast.
For clarification's sake, my players currently have an APL of 11. I plan to introduce the second Natsiel encounter until after they've reached an APL of 12 or 13. The party itself consists of a human Constructed Pugilist Brawler/Mounted Fury Vigilante (he actually wound up with Zailosorn, the wyvern from Menador Keep as his mount), a baseline halfling Ranger specialized in Archery with a Dire Wolf Animal Companion, a tiefling Nornkith Qingjong Monk/Divine Hunter Paladin with the Champion of Irori Prestige Class and a human Warlock Vigilante rounding out the group.
Anybody have any input on this? I would really appreciate a second opinion on this.
What if you used a Glabrezu (CR13)? Let's say Natsiel has fallen prey to the Glabrezu's temptation of granting her a Wish of some kind (to reunite her with a lost love, or whatever mcguffin you want) and once she dies then the Glabrezu gets to claim her for his own, and now the Glabrezu has come to collect his prize. When the PC's approach, the Glabrezu has already arrived with his small host of demon minions, and the Glabrezu is trying to absorb her body into his own (Glabrezus typically imprison people in their bodies).
This explains the additional minions for the encounter.
Natsiel sides with the Glabrezu during the fight, but only to ensure he doesn't die, because the Glabrezu is the only one who knows where Natsiel's mcguffin is. Glabrezus are extremely deceitful, and any wish you get from them is going to be a "corrupted wish", and the wish is often as sadistical as possible. So what if the Glabrezu got the mcguffin and hid it, and the condition that Natsiel gets to actually get her mcguffin again is when the Glabrezu absorbs her into his body for eternity and then he'll finally go get the mcguffin and have it next to him.
