ZEITGEIST Book 2 Zeitgeist minor villain dead before his time, need advice for replacement

[Root7OneOne]

***Spoilers occur within for book of Zeitgeist.

***

So, the party I run for managed to kill Cillian Creed in the abandoned church with a crit and focusing the party's attacks on him without many misses. I even fudged his HP a fair amount trying to keep him awake so he could flee. Instead of arresting him or even waking him up to question him, the party outright killed him.

So for the final portion of the book, when he's supposed to pop back up as part of the final fight, should I introduce someone/something new? A different witchoil animal creation perhaps? Or should I try to ensure Macbannin escapes the courtyard encounter and engages in a fight with a pair of Kell-guild thugs in the basement? Maybe using three thugs in the courtyard instead of the listed two? I'm also not 100% on why Kell-guild thugs are manning the Mayor's manor to begin with. From what I can tell, Kell was just an independent party that eventually sold out the location of Wolfgang so Leone could ambush the party there.

Thanks for your time.

 

[RangerWickett]

Kell guild is responsible for dirty work the Ob needs done. They've been marking crates on the canal so that enchantments along the bridges cause them to disappear into the Bleak Gate. They've been silencing people who get a whiff of the Ob's plans. And when Macbannin realizes he's attracted attention from the RHC, Kell guild thugs give him muscle to kill whoever shows up. He'll find a way to spin it afterward, once there isn't anyone left who knows anything.

Two ways you can go about this, I'd think:

1) The PCs won fair and square, so Creed stays down. Macbannin is particularly paranoid, so he gets an Obscurati specialist (maybe grab stats of one of the guys from the end of adventure 3) to be his bodyguard, but the guy isn't as canny as Creed. Macbannin, if he's able to see the new guy work, scoffs at how much less effective he is than his previous bodyguard.

2) Macbannin is a master of the dark arts and well-versed in the spirit magic of Cauldron Hill, so he just drags Creed's undead soul back to guard him. Creed shows up again, but is clearly wracked with agony and madness, instead of being a cold-blooded assassin.

 

[Root7OneOne]

Thanks for the reply!

I knew I remembered something about Kell's gang being involved with the smuggling and arson, but I couldn't find exactly what I wanted in the book. This clears it up, thank you!

Sound advice about Creed. I want to reward the PC's for having overcome him early, but I also don't really want to bring on another random body guard who just waits for the PCs in the basement instead of being at Mcbannin's side. I hesitate to bring Creed back, but I think it's the coolest option. I'll try to turn him into some kind of phantom undead creature, but make him have to make a Will save or lose his turn (or something) due to his spirit's agony at being rebound to this plane by Macbannin's powerful, but hasty, magic. Or maybe a failed Will save causes him to lash out at Macbannin instead of the PC's.

Anyway, thanks for the input, I appreciate it!

 

[RangerWickett]

There's always the old 'I wear this medallion that lets me control him' schtick. Since the adventure tries to get the PCs to take Macbannin with them into the basement laboratory, they'd have an opportunity to see Macbannin concentrating, or maybe the amulet glows when Creed attacks. So if you can get the thing off Macbannin, you can end the threat (and do Creed a solid by releasing his tormented soul).

(Or if you don't, the RHC takes the medallion and locks it away with all the other horrible cursed artifacts they keep on hand for special occasions.)

 

[Root7OneOne]

Definitely a good idea. My group tends to be pretty thorough with their strip searches, so we'll see how it goes. Perhaps his urgency will get the party moving too quick to properly search him.