Red Hand of Doom: End of 2nd chapter

By the way, spoilers.

I have a potentially interesting situation that turned up in my current game. First, a bit of a recap.

My players just got to the end of the 2nd chapter. They got into the city and back out while Wyrmlord Saarvith and Regiarix were away, but the players were tracked down as they left the city. A fight ensued, and it was close. The party is 8th level right now, which is a bit ahead of where I think the adventure expects them to be. To reflect that, and my own tastes, I kicked Regiarix up by 1 age category. And of course, today had to be the day that the player of the Cleric could not make it. I played aggressive, but not unholy against the players. The dragon did land to engage for while, and I did not press every single advantage, but only because circumstances warranted it (having the dragon pull back to let the rider drink a healing potion instead of pulling a full attack on a warrior, etc). Even so, the party only managed to win because the dice started coming up perfectly. The dragon ended up meeting its retreat threshold (40 hp), and on the round it would have escaped, and with 1 HP left, the Ranger managed to score a hit for the last HP.

Here is the interesting thing though. The players used the scroll of Dominate person which was looted from the Mindbender. They managed dominate Wyrmlord Saarvith. Saarvith managed to survive the encounter as well (players used a potion to save him). This will lead to some very interesting things happening.

What I am wondering is this: Is the rest of the Red Hand leadership likely to figure this out through scrying / divination?

Also, any intersting ideas for what I ought to do with Saarvith while he is dominated?

END COMMUNICATION

From www.d20srd.org on Dominate Person: "because of this limited range of activity, a Sense Motive check against DC 15 (rather than DC 25) can determine that the subject’s behavior is being influenced by an enchantment effect (see the Sense Motive skill description)."

Basically, they have a robot, and almost anyone who spends a significant amount of time with the person will realize it.

Lord Zardoz said:

By the way, spoilers.

Also, any intersting ideas for what I ought to do with Saarvith while he is dominated?

END COMMUNICATION

Click to expand...

You shouldn't do a damn thing with Saarvith - that's the PC's job! Don't worry, if they're worth their salt they'll think of something you're completely unprepared for.

However, don't forget to make a new saving throw every chance they give you, then make intelligence and Bluff checks to see whether a) Saarvith is clever enough to hide his condition and b) successful in the attempt. Then be alert to take advantage of their assumption that they have a biddable robot when they really have a pissed-off goblin whose just lost his status.

As for what the Red Hand knows, step back and ask yourself: How are the scattered forces communicating? There's a number of ways it can be done, though it's not discussed in the module. Dragons can act as fast couriers; wyverns, hieracosphinxes, manticores, and chimerae, as slow ones. The clerics in the main body of the Horde can use Sending at set intervals to communicate and gather news and deliver orders, which is what Kharn is doing in my game. Mindbenders in disguise can act as message drops and spies. Look over the resources available and think like a communications officer.

My PCs just captured Saarvith, too, but the situation is different because I left out Chapter 2! In my version, there was no hatchery, and Saarvith is an opportunistic goblin with a rapport for dragons. When the duergar recruited dragons to help them attack Elsir Vale, Saarvith's preexisting friendship with Regiarix made him the logical person to recruit the only existing on-site dragon and his lizardman subjects to attack Brindol from the river side. Look at the map of Brindol - they are a natural force to take this flank, since the river is no barrier to them. Saarvith is taken prisoner while mustering the lizardmen, and under the influence of a Mark of Justice and a promise of parole after the Hand is defeated, sings like a canary, providing lots of military intel like troop forces, the original plan of attack before the PCs mucked it up, etc.

heh, I think I ought to rephrase my question..

Within a short time, the Red Hand forces will figure out that something happened to Saarvith. The elf tribe in chapter 2 in my game was replaced with an Orc tribe who were forced out of the swamp. With the dragon and wyrmlord gone, they are going to try to retake it, and probably succeed (No dragonfear to cause a route, and they are at least roughly equal in manpower to the Lizardmen + Red Hand forces in the swamp / lake).

Due to some timeline stuff I worked out in advance, Wyrmlord Koth was going to show up at the swamp soon, and will probably be showing up right about the time that the Orcs are attacking it. The Red Hand leadership will know something is up very soon. They may work out that Saarvith is alive and captured. They will certainly find out that the dragon is dead.

So, what might the Red Hand do in the event they discover Saarvith is captured? I have a few ideas, but I am willing to entertain more.

END COMMUNICATION