Dungeon Magazine Brodrins Watch Help

[beldar1215]

I need some help. My last session of Brodrin’s Watch did not go how I expected. The party went into the final encounter very hurt (down HP and VERY few healing surges) and should never have attempted the final encounter in the state they were in. Long story short, two of them died and two are now prisoners of Tusk, as is Kalad the Paladin. Now I’m stuck with what to do next. I’m pretty new to DM’ing 4E and have never been very good at dealing with situations like this. I’m working on this.

Any ideas or help with how to move forward with the adventures would be great.

Here are a few of my questions:
How would you handle a rescue attempt?
Should I
Should I have them play one of the other bands of adventures from the adventure?
They were all 4th level. If they make new PC’s, how do you deal with magic Items?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Beldar

[Asmor]

As far as magic items go, the standard rules for a new level N PC are...

1 magic item of level N+1
1 magic item of level N
1 magic item of level N-1
Gold worth the market price of a level N-1 item, which may be spent however the player desires (e.g. keep it all as gold, or buy a bunch of lower level items, or even cash it all in for a second level N-1 item).

Not terribly familiar with the adventure in question, but my suggestion would be to have the two dead players (assuming they're not intending to be resurrected somehow) start new PCs who are rescuing the remaining ones, or even make them prisoners who were captured previously and all of them meet in the dude's dungeon.

[Wormwood]

Originally Posted by beldar1215

Long story short, two of them died and two are now prisoners of Tusk, as is Kalad the Paladin. Now I’m stuck with what to do next.

You could have the two players whose character died make new 4th level PCs who are the last surviving members of another adventuring group that took it upon themselves to assault the tunnels (remember, Overlook is filled with adventurers at this time). They could come across Tusk and his band just as the prisoners are roused for interrogation (after a short rest to heal and get their encounter powers back).

In fact, you could even come up with a short skill challenge for the interrogation, allowing the prisoners to stall Tusk, loosen their bonds, etc.

[vagabundo]

I'd let the players roll a new set of PCs and send them to rescue the captives - you can be sure when there are wars brewing there are many mercenary companies afoot.

After that let the players decide who they prefer to run and have the others retire or become NPCs. But keep the narrative moving and look at these things as an opportunity to do something different.

[Scott_Rouse]

Spoiler alert below

The last encounter is brutal. We lost our Paladin and were close to a full on TPK.

For the captured:

I agree let the two dead PCs create new characters. There were many other adventuring parties hired by the town council including the groups like the Long Striders.

You could have your twosome come up with (or give them) a back story that their party was killed in the vents and that they were wandering lost until they stumbled upon the large room with the flood valve. They saw the orcs take away the others and two have been devising a plan to rescue these fellow adventures. I would give them a small (and somewhat easy) skill challenge like sneaking past a sleeping guard, stealing keys (or picking a lock), finding an seldom used corridor, and escaping to the main room.

Or have the NPC Kalad(sic?) reveal a hidden lock pick, secret release mechanism or some other way of escape. This was a dwarven built area so he may have some insider knowledge that could help. Or just have the party escape with a skill challenge on their own and meet up with the other two, possibly freeing them from a cell and immediately forming a bond of friendship.

As for the magic items, you could have them discovered in the escape as if the orcs likely looted the bodies or have the two new PCs fight two orcs who started using them after they killed the PCs, make them dumb minions and allow the PCs to choose what they get.

[Pbartender]

Originally Posted by Scott_Rouse

I agree let the two dead PCs create new characters. There were many other adventuring parties hired by the town council including the groups like the Long Striders.

You could have your twosome come up with (or give them) a back story that their party was killed in the vents and that they were wandering lost until they stumbled upon the large room with the flood valve. They saw the orcs take away the others and two have been devising a plan to rescue these fellow adventures. I would give them a small (and somewhat easy) skill challenge like sneaking past a sleeping guard, stealing keys (or picking a lock), finding an seldom used corridor, and escaping to the main room.

Or have the NPC Kalad(sic?) reveal a hidden lock pick, secret release mechanism or some other way of escape. This was a dwarven built area so he may have some insider knowledge that could help. Or just have the party escape with a skill challenge on their own and meet up with the other two, possibly freeing them from a cell and immediately forming a bond of friendship.

Make it a simultaneous two-tiered skill challenge... One skill challenge for the two new PCs working their way into where the captives are held, and one for the captured PCs escaping on their way out. Both skill challenges are happening concurrently.

The combined successes determines success of the skill challenge, and the ratio of the two groups' successes determines where they meet -- If the rescuers have 5 successes, for example, and the captive only have 1 then they find each other just outside the prison cell, but if the rescuers have 2 successes and the captives have 4 then they meet over the unconscious body of an orc guard at the edge of the camp.