This thread is about the penultimate encounter in "Menace Under Otari", the starter adventure in the Beginner Box Game Master's Guide (2e)...if you're planning on playing that adventure, consider yourselves warned that there are spoilers ahead and don't read on.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I am running this adventure for my son and my nephew. In our session this weekend, they got to to Boss Zolgran (the kobold leader) and engaged in a battle with her and her two guards (kobold scouts), plus one surviving kobold warrior that fled there from the prior room.
My son is playing a fighter (named Dot) and bravely fought them to the best of his ability, shoving one of the kobold scouts into the pit, but eventually getting knocked out by the other. My nephew, playing Merisiel (pregen rogue) was more timid and stayed back most of the battle. At the end of the session, Dot was unconscious and was hanging on death's door but was eventually stabilized by some first aid from Merisiel. The boys grandparents showed up at this dramatic moment to pick up my nephew, so we paused as a cliffhanger.
I'm thinking ahead to next session, and have confirmed with my nephew that he plans to have Merisiel attempt to drag Dot to safety when we pick up next time. That said, it will be very difficult for him to pull this off without assistance. Depending on availability of my other son and/or a couple of their friends, there is the possibility of timely reinforcements showing up to save the day.
Barring that though, I am debating ideas on how to handle. Dot is my son's first character that he actually put effort of his own into creating, and this is our first PF2 game (and the first RPG of any sort for my nephew), so I am hoping to avoid a TPK, so I was thinking about the kobolds capturing them instead of fighting to the death. I am looking for any suggestions on why Zolgran might want captives, and what she might do with them, and how I can leave enough bread crumbs for them to reasonably pull off a breakout, and was just curious if anyone had any good ideas to throw at me?
If it matters, the boys are both 11 in real life, Merisiel, Zolgran, and one of the kobold scouts are uninjured, the other two kobolds are at half health. Zolgran is up on the ledge by her throne, the injured scout is in the pit, the other scout is near the unconscious hero, and the surviving kobold warrior is at the foot of the stairs. Zolgran has used one of her Magic Missiles but has two remaining, and has used Ghost Sound to create a roar from the next room in the hopes of making them think that the dragon is coming (though it's not...yet).
Thanks!
The adventure is balanced for 4 PCs. Did you take any measures to adjust it for a party of two?
Sort of, we have a varying number of players in any given session because it’s my older son for sure, my younger son depending on his mood and attention level, and my nephew or my older sons’ friends if they happen to be around. The sessions are usually no more than a couple hours (1-2 encounters), and Dot goes back to the surface after most sessions and just comes back next time with whatever other heroes are available.
For example, this session one was pretty much just the mermaid fountain (room 16) into the two adjacent chambers described above (17 & 18). I think I went a little easy on them with the fountain trap in some fashion, and I definitely reduced the number of kobolds in room 17 (the kobold warren) from 6 to 3.
But at any rate, I’m not sweating what I could have done differently, just trying to come up with a way to go from here. At this point, I am leaning towards waiting until some of his friends are available to show up as well-timed reinforcements.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
The Zolgran encounter can be tough - let alone the final dragon - and in your case it also had an additional kobold on the boss' side; it's easy to see how wrong it can go with only two characters fighting, and now that there is only one standing, it's very very likely to go even worse.
So, how can the heroes make it now? One way is simply the arrival of reinforcements, as you said. Anything else depends on how you play the kobolds; here's an idea. Make them chase Merisiel away - I don't think your nephew's character will want to live her friend down, but the enemies could tell her that they will keep Dot as an hostage and send her (maybe after injuring her a bit) to fetch whatever they ask for ransom: gold, food, or both. That way she has a way to find some help and it won't feel like a trite deus-ex-machina if new adventurers show up; you also have a chance, if you want, to play the scene in different ways when they arrive: they can just charge in, or pay the ransom, or try a different diplomatic approach, and all the while the fighter may have come to his senses and have the choice of standing up and help in the possible fight, though wounded and unarmed.
If you want to add some drama, as Merisiel reluctantly leaves the scene to go back to the surface, her fine elven ears may catch the kobolds discussing about not keeping their word, feeding instead the downed fighter to the baby dragon who is getting a bit tired of fish.
Great ideas, thanks Megistone!