Gilladian
Adventurer
Okay, I'm in a situation as DM where I'm not sure how to take the plot for my next week's game.
This:
The PCs are in a dungeon. They entered room A, and fought a wight. It nearly killed them; took 1 party member (henchman wizard) down. The rest of the PCs had no magic weapons and could not really hurt the creature. They fled through the only other exit from the room, rather than retreating. On the other side of the door, in room B, was a trio of were-rats. Fortunately, the party knew wererats were around, and DID have silvered weapons aplenty. They fought a tough fight against them. They ended up killing 3 of them, driving one away. They are certain there are more wererats around. Because of the wight (which they failed to turn after several attempts) they feel that they cannot retreat back through room A (note that the wight will NOT leave its chamber because of who/what it was in life). I'm quite certain the wight would TPK them if they tried.
Now, the problem is that the were-rats could also quite easily TPK them. I would really rather NOT do what seems obvious and have the 'rats wait til deep night, bash open the doors, and attack from 2 directions (room B has 3 exits). In one way, it actually makes sense for the 'rats not to kill the PCs now. But I'm not sure that it will ever be obvious to my PCs why they don't attack. My reasoning is this: the wererat leader is a halfling rogue/lycanthrope. He has met, and very much LIKES in a potentially romantic way, the PC halfling cleric. Since he is working for an evil temple on this mission, it would be a VERY big feather in his hat if he could somehow WIN OVER this cleric of a good god to the side of evil (by converting her to lycanthropy). It would also potentially gain him a powerful mate, if things all went the way he desires.
Obviously, if the cleric is to survive this night, the rest of the PCs have to be allowed to survive (he thinks he can convert her later, by seducing her and infecting her). If he tries to somehow capture her but kill all the rest, he's fairly certain she'll never "come to the dark side" for him...
So how do I make it clear to the PCs that only because Achim is half in love with Poppy, they got to live? I suppose I could just HOPE for a great denoument scene later... but it seems kind of hit or miss.
What would YOU do to foreshadow Achim's love interest in Poppy? Given that she's stuck in a dungeon behind a door that his minions are guarding, and she's in fear of her life? Should he lead a rescue, pretending somehow (he is acting as if he's an archaeologist, exploring the dungeon ruins) that he knew she was in trouble? Or does that seem TOO contrived?
This:
The PCs are in a dungeon. They entered room A, and fought a wight. It nearly killed them; took 1 party member (henchman wizard) down. The rest of the PCs had no magic weapons and could not really hurt the creature. They fled through the only other exit from the room, rather than retreating. On the other side of the door, in room B, was a trio of were-rats. Fortunately, the party knew wererats were around, and DID have silvered weapons aplenty. They fought a tough fight against them. They ended up killing 3 of them, driving one away. They are certain there are more wererats around. Because of the wight (which they failed to turn after several attempts) they feel that they cannot retreat back through room A (note that the wight will NOT leave its chamber because of who/what it was in life). I'm quite certain the wight would TPK them if they tried.
Now, the problem is that the were-rats could also quite easily TPK them. I would really rather NOT do what seems obvious and have the 'rats wait til deep night, bash open the doors, and attack from 2 directions (room B has 3 exits). In one way, it actually makes sense for the 'rats not to kill the PCs now. But I'm not sure that it will ever be obvious to my PCs why they don't attack. My reasoning is this: the wererat leader is a halfling rogue/lycanthrope. He has met, and very much LIKES in a potentially romantic way, the PC halfling cleric. Since he is working for an evil temple on this mission, it would be a VERY big feather in his hat if he could somehow WIN OVER this cleric of a good god to the side of evil (by converting her to lycanthropy). It would also potentially gain him a powerful mate, if things all went the way he desires.
Obviously, if the cleric is to survive this night, the rest of the PCs have to be allowed to survive (he thinks he can convert her later, by seducing her and infecting her). If he tries to somehow capture her but kill all the rest, he's fairly certain she'll never "come to the dark side" for him...
So how do I make it clear to the PCs that only because Achim is half in love with Poppy, they got to live? I suppose I could just HOPE for a great denoument scene later... but it seems kind of hit or miss.
What would YOU do to foreshadow Achim's love interest in Poppy? Given that she's stuck in a dungeon behind a door that his minions are guarding, and she's in fear of her life? Should he lead a rescue, pretending somehow (he is acting as if he's an archaeologist, exploring the dungeon ruins) that he knew she was in trouble? Or does that seem TOO contrived?
