|
Author
|
Comment
|
smetzger
Pie
(11/11/02 7:12:23 am)
Reply
|
Hommlet Cultists Moving against PCs
Ok, here is the story.
PCs brush Chat off.
Leave for Moathouse early in morning without telling anyone (only ones who know are Spug's girl and Elmo)
Explore all of moathouse, except for the obelisk room.
Party returns midday to Hommlet with Spugnoir.
Party buys a few potions, has a few potions identified.
Chat, seeing the blood and torn clothes of the party tries to chatt them up. Party again rebuffs him and Paladin detects evil on him.
Chat, does a little more checking and finds out that the party has rescued Spug. So he talks to Spug and finds out what about the moathouse. Chat rides to the moathouse. Seeing the destruction, he picks through the corpses belongings and retrieves a few magic items that the party had left behind.
Chat returns to Hommlet that evening and talks with Master Dunrat. Master Dunrat is worried because the wagon will be here any day now. Dunrat decides to wait and see what the party does next.
Party leaves at first light to go back to the Moathouse.
What do you think Master Dunrat will do?
I see a couple of options:
1) ambush the party as they exit the moathouse, with the full force of the cultists.
2) try to buy the artifacts from the group; send Chat to steal the artifacts, and maybe kill one or more of the PCs in their sleep.
Thanks.
|
smetzger
Pie
(11/11/02 9:19:06 am)
Reply
|
Re: Hommlet Cultists Moving against PCs
This is what I am thinking I will do.
Dunrat casts locate object on one of the artifacts and finds out that its in the room with the PC Druid.
Dunrat buffs Chat with Prot from Good and Silence.
Chat uses wand of invisibility.
Chat goes in kills the Druids dog first, since there is no sound this won't wake the Druid.
Then Chat puts a noose around the Druids neck and hoists him up by the rafter (this will give the Druid a very small chance of survival). Chat ties the Druids hands.
Chat then rummages through the euipment finds the artifacts and takes anything else of value. Chat then writes a suicide note, unties the Druids hands, and leaves the stone w/ silence cast on it.
Thats what Chat will plan on doing. The Druid hasn't used wild change yet, so he has a chance. At least more of one than if Chat Coup De Grace + Sneak Attack + Death Attack while he sleeps.
What do you think? Is that better than having the whole cult jump an injured party as they exit the moathouse?
I figure Dunrat's main concern is getting the artifacts back. A Silent and Invisible Chat would have a very good chance of being able to steal the stuff. I figure Chat is just a mean SOB and after having to fight the dog takes it out on the Druid.
|
Axelay
Pie
(11/11/02 10:17:44 am)
Reply
|
Re: Hommlet Cultists Moving against PCs
Sounds good. I agree that the cultists are mainly interested in getting the artifacts. Then again they probably won't hesitate to kill the whole party if they get the opportunity. Personally I would go the way you suggested to avoid a TPK - or at least the party should have a chance to avoid it. Your call.
greetings
Axelay
|
Thrommel
The DM
(11/11/02 11:32:52 am)
Reply
|
Re: Hommlet Cultists Moving against PCs
Hmmm... have to say I don't like it. You're putting a lot of pressure on the druid's player to think of ONE course of action in order to escape a certain death. (And the strangulation rules are pretty brutal.)
Plus, you have one scene where the rest of the party is just sitting around talking about the latest episode of Buffy while you and the druid resolve this thing. Then -assuming the druid dies- the druid's player has to just sit there quietly and stew about his death for the rest of the game while the rest of the party tries to figure out what to do.
In my experience, these types of staged events either go TOO well (ie, the PC on the spot is overwhelmed by the strategy you've clearly spent hours crafting) or they go VERY badly (like the druid pulls out some tactic you didn't think of and you sit there scratching your head wondering what to do). It ends up being either a railroad job or you waste time trying to regroup your thoughts and figure out what to do next.
I'd say, send the cultists en force out to the moathouse. It's certainly better odds for the party, and it keeps everyone involved in the action. Plus, there's no reason Dunrat can't capture the PC's, or call for their surrender if he's clearly winning.
That keeps the whole party participating in the action, no one is "unfairly" singled out, and the ending is much more flexible and open-ended.
Note that I REALLY like the whole set up of the silence and the suicide note, etc. That's a clever scenario. But I'd save it for a different adventure, or maybe pull it on an NPC. (Could be great to do with the body of the REAL Jaroo.)
-Thrommel, who likes to keep the amount of time his players sit and discuss Buffy to a minimum -- for obvious reasons...
|
Ulthwithian
Pie
(11/11/02 11:57:46 am)
Reply
|
A note...
Um, don't dogs have Scent? If they do (and I can't see why they wouldn't), wouldn't the dog smell Chatrilon and raise an alarm? That could be a serious problem if the Druid thinks you just bypassed that ability of his dog and thus are really railroading him.
|
 Infiniti2000
Pie
(11/11/02 12:05:23 pm)
Reply
ezSupporter
|
Re: Hommlet Cultists Moving against PCs
Besides the scent ability on the dog, Chat will become visible after killing it. Chat will need to make an assassination attempt (though using the paralysis instead of death) on the druid, thus giving him a chance there. The druid thus gets about three chances (scent, fort save, strangulation), which I think is fair. To Thrommel's point, perhaps you should get an NPC ready for the player to run if his druid dies. OTOH, this will be a good wakeup call for the CRM, where this type of thing can and SHOULD happen, especially from the likes of badguy Outer Fane types like Thrommel 
An alternate idea, have Dunrat and his group go to the Moathouse, with Chat in front. When they descend to the bottom of the obelisk, seal it up behind them. Chances are they can still get the 3'x3' multicolored carved block.
Another one, have Jaroo request that the druid turn over any of the artifacts to him. Is the doppelganger still alive IYC?
One other thing, the suicide note would not be believable if all the items disappeared.
|
Siobharek 
Orc
(11/12/02 12:16:52 am)
Reply
|
Re: Hommlet Cultists Moving against PCs
This is somewhat late, but how would Smetzger know what artifacts the moat house cultists have found and that th ePCs have retrieved. What I mean is, how would he know what to cast Locate Object for.
If you want to be harsh, have the cultists ambush/chase the PCs in the moat house and the moat house dungeons. But don't do the one-on-one, I'd say.
Siobharek
...it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. |
smetzger
Pie
(11/12/02 6:06:06 am)
Reply
|
Re: Hommlet Cultists Moving against PCs
Yes, dogs have scent. But Chat is under a silence spell, so the combat with the dog will be pretty quiet. I expect the dog would wake up and start growling or barking when the door opens and he smells a stranger. But no-one would hear this. Chat would then sneak attack the dog, bye bye doggy.
Chat could now Coup d Grace + Sneak Attack + death attack the sleeping Druid. Almost no chance of survival and not much fun. Thats why I thought of stringing the Druid up. Didn't even think of the Druids Wildshape until after I had started writing it.
Dunrat should know what artifacts have been found. The wagon is going to arrive any day now, its a long wagon trip from Rastor. Why would he send for a wagon if he didn't know that they found something? He can cast Locate Object on one of the artifacts and discern where it is.
I was thinking the Druid assassination would be a good way to avoid a TPK. I didn't think the party could survive an ambush from the cult after dealing with Festrath and 2 Grells. However, I did think of a way that I can warn the party. The party has a retainer, the Druid's Dire Bat, and the 2 Paladin's Warhorses hidden on a hillock overlooking the moathouse. The Warhorses can warn the Paladins via the empathic link about the ambush. I think that is the way I will go. I will also have Dunrat hold back on his bead of force. I expect I will kill 1 or 2 party members with a possible TPK if they aren't smart. I think I'll email my group explaining the message the warhorses send, that way they can think about it a bit before next session.
Thanks,
*:> Scott
|
Siobharek
Orc
(11/12/02 6:12:18 am)
Reply
|
Re: Hommlet Cultists Moving against PCs
Naturally YMMV, but how would Dunrat know what artifacts have been found? But as you say, there may indeed have been communication between the Hommlet and the moat house cultists.
The warhorse warning is a very good idea, IMHO.
Siobharek
...it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. |
Infiniti2000
Pie
(11/12/02 6:21:48 am)
Reply
ezSupporter
|
Re: Hommlet Cultists Moving against PCs
I think smetzger has a good point. Since it takes a while to send a wagon from Rastor, it is quite likely that Dunrat knows what the artifacts are and has been in the moathouse to see them first hand, especially the 3'x3' block. Did the PC's take that?
In any case, unless Chat gets the drop on the dog, the dog still has a chance to wake his druid buddy. The dog should get an initiative roll vs. Chat. Obviously if Chat wins, he gets a sneak attack. He still might miss however. The dog's first likely action will be either to attack Chat or wake the druid (a good grab and pull outta work).
Other than that, I like the plan. It'll wake the party up and make them paranoid, which should help keep the rest alive in the CRM and Fanes.
Here's hoping smetzger puts his twenty-sider in the freezer the night before...
|
|
Okay -- Your Turn
Email This To a Friend
Topic Commands