We started the RHC fight yesterday, but since we got a late start, we had to quit just before they headed down to the Subrail station. So, we will probably have to wait another few weeks before we properly finish Digging for Lies... *sigh*
So, after the portal to Apet opened, and Xambria made her escape from the interrogation (controlled by Sijhen), I pulled out the maps, and placed the minis where they went, and explained the situation to the team. Here is Delft's and Saxby's offices, it looks like one of those huge maw things is up on that floor, also it looks like Xambria is up there, headed toward Saxby. Here's all the bystanders. Here's a weird squad of black-clad intruders. What do you want to tackle first?
They suffered from a bit of analysis paralysis at first. There were so many things going on, they weren't real sure what to do first, but luckily the player for Viktor Bays (my human wizard, also my brother...) had decided he was ready to move on to a different character, and we had already agreed to find an elegant way to end Bays' story, so he kind of thrust his character straight into danger and headed for the kill squad.
Naturally, the rest of the group followed, and the result was the shadow stalker (or, as my players referred to her, the daggerman) stabbed Gareth Carter (the swordmage) and teleported him into the middle of their group, where he was crit twice and knocked unconscious during the very first turn! This prompted a bit of a panic, and the group stated using encounters (they had already used most of their dailies during the museum encounter). The fight was prolonged - nearly 8 rounds! - and deadly in such small quarters, but they finally finished off the daggerman, five of Kell's men, and the nethermancer made his escape through the portal in the stairwell, which confused and irritated my group to no end. He'll be back at some point, I'm sure.
Next, they headed up to Delft's office, where the maw was just about to make its way in - but they ended up separating at this point, for some reason. Bays and Casimiro del Garra (the longtooth shifter monk/shaman) went to the second floor to help some of the bystanders with the flying things and the flashing orb while Carter and Reginald Battersea (the human artificer) headed to take on the maw. Bays was knocked unconscious once, but del Garra revived him. Delft proved quite capable in combat once he was helped, and they took down the monsters, and then took a quick rest in his office before heading to confront Saxby and the other group of constables.
They all met in the hallway between Delft and Saxby's offices, and Saxby called on her men to take down the "traitors". The fight was pretty quick, but at one point Carlao knocked Bays down to 1 hit point, and on the very next turn, Dima crit him (all legit rolls, even though we kind of planned for Bays to die - I was planning on it happening against the Thing from Beyond) and killed him. This shook the other group of constables, and after Saxby was knocked down on the next turn, they surrendered themselves.
Delft brought them back to his office to plan what to do next.
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A few notes.
1) My players decided early on in the campaign their default setting was stun not kill. When the Kell guilders identified themselves, they immediately all said they wanted to switch to deadly force for this encounter. It was a bit of a turning point for a group that has been pretty stand-up for the campaign. They haaaaate Kell.
2) One result of this was that Serena and Saxby were killed during their fight with the other constables, and if she hadn't surrendered, they definitely would have killed Dima as well, for killing Viktor. Delft and the Lord Viscount have some difficult discussions ahead of them, methinks.
3) Since Bays is dead, I'm going to probably have his player use Delft during the fight against the Thing from Beyond. I don't want to send them down there with just three PCs. That sounds like a recipe for disaster. I may also tone down the encounter a bit, I'm not sure. Can someone who has run this encounter please advise?