ZEITGEIST Saxby big bad adv. 5

ediz · Apr 2, 2019

So my party has thrown Kell in the hoosegow and since Saxby got away in adventure three, I was thinking she could be the big bad that will get the party amped.

I was thinking about bringing her up to level ten from her Adventure 3 self and maybe augmented with some equipment, what do you think?

hirou · Apr 2, 2019

For me that would be difficult from the point of motivation, both for Margaret and for Ob. Saxby is "slightly corrupt cop boss" character, who's covering some shady stuff in hope of promotion. Among Cauldron Hill personnel only Leone Quital seems to doubt that Born is being created as secret Risuri military project, the rest think that in the end they're working for King Aodan, even if that means associating with Lorcan Kell in the process. Saxby can still bite into that, but her usefulness to Ob is extremely limited once she's exposed by PCs.

If you're looking for "bad guys" there are likely still ruins of Kell's structure in the city, even if you have apprehanded Kell himself and his leutenants. In my own campaign I promoted one of Kell's underlings as a head of new and developing assassin's guild, who's only starting to discuss the possibilities of working with Ob, that kinda worked.

Andrew Moreton · Apr 2, 2019

I also had Kell gone from the picture . If Saxby escaped she would be a good option in my game she was in custody so I did not consider her.

I would pick from your available pool of villains someone who the players found memorable as an opponent and would like another chance at. I used the 'Shadow man' from book 2 but had him fall in a pool of Witch oil and come back as even more of a megative energy being, but he was outstaged by Bourne.
Nothing he could do made as big an impression as Bourne towering over them and starting to move.

Whoever you are using decide what allies she will have with her and then work out what you need to boost her to be a real challange to the pc's. I think the idea of giving them some sort of boost with Ob golem or shadow energy technology to make them seem weirder is interesting, but I would at least give them gear equal to WBL.

For Saxby I rebuilt her as a Slayer anyway as Rogue/Fighter says rebuild me as a slayer to me whenever I see it and she was not a Dex build to use unchained rogue Weapon Finesse. So boosting her as a higher level slayer is straight forward which means she wants allies to flank with , the Ankou's shadow archetype gives some cool and atmospheric shadow powers she could have gained. I don't see any good prestige classes or muticlassing opportunities. A Golem arm with an autoloading firearm which can makes its own extra attack would be a nice weird addition and help her with the action economy against a squad of pc's, as would some form of haste effect from a golem frame built into her limbs or the like, maybe she has electicity pouring through her nervous system driving her into a berserk hasted frenzy with the same stat boosts as a barbarian and if you are really mean letting her pounce attack .

ediz · Apr 2, 2019

Maybe Saxby would not make sense. I think she might show up in adventure seven then when the party is searching for Quittal and she just happens to be in a location they are in. They came in from the VIP section so they haven't tripped the alarm yet. I had Asrabey find Kasvarina and I think he will not be able to carry her back out through the tunnel shaft and climb a rope at the same time. She will be there to wake Borne. How it all plays out depends on which button the party presses in the elevator. If the party goes down to the regular platform, it will go as in the book but if they press the bridge, who knows? Since they went in the covert way, they have their entire force minus 3 to guard the scientists. I am toying with idea of Quital not sealing off the escape so as to allow more enemies in.

Andrew Moreton · Apr 2, 2019

Just go with whatever makes the biggest impression of Bourne.
I had them engage the golems while Quital menaced Kasavarina and was pursued by Asraby (I specifically did not want my pc's to speak with Kasavarina) , they talked philosophy with the golems who then stood down and as Quital was about to swipe them with Bourne I had Kasavarina go nuts with chain lightning injuring Quital, and bringing bourne fully on line before falling into a bottomless pit. As PC's know falling into a bottomless pit is a guaranteed return for people like Kas, Quital and Asraby. Really the mechanics of the fight were just scene dressing for the big event of Bourne waking up but thats what worked for my group yours may well differ

gideonpepys · Apr 2, 2019

I would use Leone to the fullest. Put the willies up your group with his adventure 7 stat block (modified because there are no trains to throw, just engineering equipment). From up on the scaffolding he should be fairly terrifying. Then when Grappa reaches him, and wakens Borne, he gets removed from the picture and the party can concentrate on the colossus.