Beefing Up Mbala (TOA Spoilers)

[ArwensDaughter]

Later today my players will reach Mbala. Their characters are a mix of 4th and 5th level; they are currently accompanied by 3 NPCs: Musharib (CR1), Artus Cimber (CR 7), and Dragonbait (CR 5).

In Mbala they will encounter a Green Hag (CR 3) and a Flesh Golem (CR 5)

I'm concerned about this being too easy of an encounter, especially with Artus and Dragonbait along. I have good story reasons for Musharib to refuse to join them in exploring Mbala (he is fixated on Hrackhammer and objects to distratctions), but not for Artus and Dragonbait (they and the party have been attacked by Xandala, who fled; there is safety in numbers).

I'm trying to sort out some contingency plans to beef up the encounter if it turns into a cake walk. Some things I've considered:
-a second Flesh Golem
-Have Xandala ambush the party/try to take out Artus as soon as the hag and golem are defeated
-Have Pterafolk (from nearby nest) attack once hag, etc. are gone (this makes less sense narratively-they were at odds with the hag)

I'm not good at assessing difficulty of an encounter. It doesn't help that I don't know how to convert CR to lvl to run encounter building calculations, and that I don't know how many players will be at the table until game time. (They are all high school students with busy schedules)

Suggestions?

In addition to Artus and Dragonbait, the party consists of anywhere from 2 to 6 of the following PCs (3-4 players is most common):
lvl 4 Mood Druid (Aasimar)
lvl 5 Beserker Barbarian (Lizardfolk)
lvl 5 GOO/Tome Warlock (Lizardfolk)
lvl 4 (maybe 5) Devotion Paladin (human)
lvl 4 Sorcerer or Wizard (human?)--this player is rarely present, thus my uncertainty
lvl 4 Champion Fighter (half-orc)

 

[Eltab]

Supply some terrain:
- Quicksand will channel the melee PCs into certain areas.
- Describe some pavement as flat and smooth but other parts as all torn up.
- Trees and shrubbery and undergrowth that block line-of-sight (challenge the artillery PCs)

Artus has some other folks searching for him (see Storm King's Thunder) and their local pawns show up just now. One toughie and a sidekick, who concentrate on HIM and distract him from the main fight. (He polishes them off the turn after the PCs go back to help.)

 

[ArwensDaughter]

Thanks! Before they met Artus, they had a brief encounter (role play, no combat) with a group of Zhents looking for Artus. I could pull some of them in, perhaps in league with Xandala to tie up Artus (and Dragonbait for that matter) during the combat.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I think this is really meant to be a non-combat encounter. The hag will pretend to be a harmless and helpless old crone and try to trick and befuddle the party. If she thinks that isn't an option she would just do a runner.

 

[ArwensDaughter]

That’s not entirely how I read the description, although I agree it’s not meant to be an immediate combat. ( she will try to pick them off). If our Druid is along, combat is far more likely. Her backstory has a hag connection that means she goes bezerk when encountering hags. It won’t be automatic, but I will tell the player that something about Nanny P puts her on edge.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

How would the druid know she is encountering a hag? I don't think they get auto-hag detection.

I would expect her to pretend to be in need of aid, and try to persuade the party to go somewhere deadly. Hags aren't dumb, she would take one look at that party and do anything possible to avoid a fight, including offering genuine assistance if she can't trick them.

 

[ArwensDaughter]

Druids don't get auto detection, and she won't automatically know she is a hag. But the character in question was raised by a hag, and hates them bitterly. Narratively, I think it makes sense that she feels something is amiss. That said, you are right about Nanny P. realizing they are more than she can handle and sending them off to deal with others. Like the pterafolk nest.... Thanks.

 

[Quickleaf]

Later today my players will reach Mbala. Their characters are a mix of 4th and 5th level; they are currently accompanied by 3 NPCs: Musharib (CR1), Artus Cimber (CR 7), and Dragonbait (CR 5).

In Mbala they will encounter a Green Hag (CR 3) and a Flesh Golem (CR 5)

I'm concerned about this being too easy of an encounter, especially with Artus and Dragonbait along. I have good story reasons for Musharib to refuse to join them in exploring Mbala (he is fixated on Hrackhammer and objects to distratctions), but not for Artus and Dragonbait (they and the party have been attacked by Xandala, who fled; there is safety in numbers).

I'm trying to sort out some contingency plans to beef up the encounter if it turns into a cake walk. Some things I've considered:
-a second Flesh Golem
-Have Xandala ambush the party/try to take out Artus as soon as the hag and golem are defeated
-Have Pterafolk (from nearby nest) attack once hag, etc. are gone (this makes less sense narratively-they were at odds with the hag)

I'm not good at assessing difficulty of an encounter. It doesn't help that I don't know how to convert CR to lvl to run encounter building calculations, and that I don't know how many players will be at the table until game time. (They are all high school students with busy schedules)

Suggestions?

In addition to Artus and Dragonbait, the party consists of anywhere from 2 to 6 of the following PCs (3-4 players is most common):
lvl 4 Mood Druid (Aasimar)
lvl 5 Beserker Barbarian (Lizardfolk)
lvl 5 GOO/Tome Warlock (Lizardfolk)
lvl 4 (maybe 5) Devotion Paladin (human)
lvl 4 Sorcerer or Wizard (human?)--this player is rarely present, thus my uncertainty
lvl 4 Champion Fighter (half-orc)

Assuming you already know - based on your group - that a violent conflict with Nanny Pu'pu is imminent, I would think about the green hag's strategy. With flying monkeys at her command, desperate folks coming to see her, and the Invisible Passage power, it's very possibly she knows the PCs are coming for her and knows they're a big party with more than enough firepower to kill her.

I would have another adventuring party looking to have a fallen member raised from death (albeit as a zombie); I would have these adventurers be somewhat sympathetic in the eyes of players, but not clearly good guys. After all, they have a sacrificial goblin (or whatever) en tow. Treasure hunters whose path the PCs crossed before and traded maps/notes, that kind of thing. Have them be equal in # to the PCs' party size minus one (the dead cleric). Have them be returning to Nanny Pu'pu with payment (e.g. one of Saja N'baza's scales or a lock of Commander Breakbones' hair), a bit beat up from their journey through the jungles. The NPC party leader is secretly in love with the fallen cleric, and she won't let PCs stop them from bringing her back. Other members of NPC party may be more reasonable, though probably wouldn't betray their party.

This makes the challenge much more layered & interesting. For example, Nanny Pu'pu could or capture one of the NPCs and assume their place using Illusory Appearance. Depending on PCs' actions, they could come to blows with NPC party, convince the rogue NPC to sell out his companions by giving them the payment for Nanny Pu'pu (thus ruining the deal), or even make a tense alliance ("we kill the hag after you get your cleric back"). I could even see a scenario where Nanny Pu'pu fights alongside the NPC adventurers (albeit in a support capacity).

If it comes to just the PCs' party (including the allied NPCs) against Nanny Pu'pu and her flesh golem, there would be no contest, and not much point to rolling dice. The PCs would win by a landslide. However, I'd imagine Nanny Pu'pu has lots of zombies hidden around her hut that she can call on; after all, her schtick is that she's a follower of Myrkul who can animate zombies retaining their sentience. I would consider giving her a virtually unlimited number of zombies, perhaps arranged into 3 waves. For a party of that composition, it would be reasonable to have 40-60 zombies in each wave (erring higher if the Sorcerer/Wizard is present or much higher if a PC can Turn Undead).

Maybe the zombies get their animating power from 3 skull fetishes scattered among the ruins of Mbala... for example one hanging from wooden entry gate, hanging from the collapsed shrine to Ubtao that used to be at the heart of the village, and hanging in Nanny's garden. Destroying a fetish either reduces size of zombie waves OR eliminates one or more waves altogether. Destroying these fetishes encourages one PC to separate from rest of party – which is Nanny's preferred hunting opportunity. Maybe her flesh golem emerges from the earth to grapple that PC, or maybe she pretends to be a "sole survivor" (Illusory Appearance and/or Mimicry and/or minor illusion) and begs PC to rescue her from a precipitously collapsed home.

 

[ArwensDaughter]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I sometimes have trouble thinking outside the box, and I found the discussion helpful. I decided to run with Quickleaf's suggestion about Zombies, and set up to use some of the zombies listed in TOA. But I also paid attention to his suggestions about strategy. In the end, combat didn't happen. Our Druid player was there, but she didn't pick up on the hint I provided her. (Another player, however, did, and Nat 20'd his check to determine if Nanny P was a hag). In any event, Nanny P went invisible as soon as she knew the crew was on to her, and got out of range, deciding to wait them out. (I figured the zombies were buried in mounds and not visible).

It would have been an interesting, if long fight: I had 7 players tonight!!

 

[Unwise]

I tend to use NPCs as a tool to show the dangers of an area that I don't want PCs to fall into. So when exploring a fetid swamp or steamy jungle, I would give a powerful NPC malaria. It adds an interesting element to the interactions with the hag if they really need her herbs to cure the malaria.