SPOILER: My Cormyr Burning players probably ought not read this thread.
I am facing a crisis: the logic of my game situation has placed my party in a very bad position, and I think they're likely to all die if I don't intervene. They are out numbered and being hunted by a superior foe which can trace their movements magically and is more mobile. They can't run. They can't hide. They can't stand and fight. A total party kill seems likely at this point.
Last session, I'd extended an break to them. One of the enemies offered to turn coat and fight with the PCs if the Ranger would return to their evil realms. It is a morally complex offer from an obviously unreliable enemy. Only the ranger is privy to this offer, and he is on the verge of declining the offer.
So, what do I do? I feel I’ve extended them a chance at survival, by making a moral sacrifice. This is great drama, here. If I weaken the upcoming fight, I drain all drama out of the decision, because the PCs know that no matter what they chose, I’ll present them with the right challenge. If I don’t weaken the encounter, I add a lot of value to the drama of the decision, but perhaps at the cost of a total party kill and a campaign-ending blood-bath.
I’d love any advice!
BACKGROUND:
Party is a well balanced mix of 8th-10th level characters, 7 total.
The PCs have infiltrated into a secret evil shadow-man base, and activated a steam engine to open some doors. Once they did, they released a massive stone golem. This foe was beyond them, and they fled. In fact, I'd expected them to easily out maneuver the very slow golem or crush it with the great steam-drive doors. After a brush with hand-to-hand with a 36HD golem, however, the PCs routed.
Under the golem’s level, in the lower level, I'd planned a tiered defense, with two groups shadowmen + a single boss shadowman. Each group and the boss would be CR13, or approximately the right strength for my group, if the PCs fight them in series. But now, the shadow-men know their secret base has been discovered. They are going to group up and hunt down the PCs.
Meanwhile, above ground, another group of shadow-men and loosely allied dark fey (Sidhe, unabashedly stolen for the Tales of Wyre story hour) have attacked and wiped out the base the PCs were operating from, a camp of Church Knights from a psuedo-Roman Catholic Church. The attackers, in the guise of the PCs, killed thirty sleeping bothers of the inquisition, but carefully left enough witnesses to implicate the PCs. In game, this is a case of the shadow-men turning their enemies against each other. Meta-game, I am setting up a fight with the inquisition vs. the PCs.
This is where where we ended two sessions ago. In my mind, the shadowmen are going to go after the PCs. The PCs know the location if not the purpose of the secret base, and the PCs must be destroyed or contained so the secret base’s location is not revealed yet. The boss and half the shadow men from the dungeon, the two shadowmen from above, and the fey should band together and wipe out the PCs. They can track the PCs magically (how, I will not divulge, because I hope my players can figure out on their own) and they can Shadow Travel, so they are much, much faster than the PCs. I see an obvious total party kill, so I intervened between game sessions.
I created an out for my PCs: the fey leader, a displaced self-appointed queen and the shadowman Boss (a half-demon) are or were lovers. The Shadowman boss, being driven by his lustful demononic ancestery, took too keen an interest in a female PC as he and the fey queen scryed on the PCs. This lead to a lovers’ spat and a rift between the shadowmen and the mercurial fey.
Next, the shadowman boss ordered a clumsy attack to kidnap this female NPC. This is actually the first time the PCs have seen the shadow men, and the first time I’ve used them, so I forget several of their defensive abilities. The PCs killed two and one escaped and foiled the kidnapping. As GM, I forgot a few key defensive abilities of the shadow men, so I might have given my players a false sense of confidence. This was intended to key the PCs that the shadowmen are interested in this woman in particular.
Next, the Fey Queen approached the PCs under a flag of truce. She singles out the party ranger, an hansom elf. (And that was the extent of her/my reasoning.) However, this elf is rather morally upright, especially when compared to the rest of the party.
She admits freely to killing the inquisitors, and framing the PCs. But she makes this offer: if the ranger will agree to return with her to the Faerie Realms as her Consort/subordinate, she’ll betray the shadow-men. She states in no uncertain terms the the PCs will die if they face the combined stength of the her forces and those of the shadow men. Her motives are to snub her ex demonic lover and seek allies to reclaim her lands.
Now, our ranger and the rest of the party for that matter, is simply refusing to make the moral bend to work with the fey princess. This is some simply awesome role-playing, with the ranger and the fey struggling for moral advantage, and I think it is going to lead to the PCs refusing to agree to her demands, and her pride (bruised already, at the shadowman-boss’s rejection) preventing compromise.
SO WHAT NEXT?
I expect my PCs will not agree to the fey queen’s demands. If I carry though with this next adventure as I expect, I think they’ll likely die.
I am struggling here. I feel I have given them a reasonable avenue of escape, although at a high moral cost. They have chosen the moral high road, knowing it will cost them. Perhaps they don’t know just how dearly it will cost them.
So I am stuck: I could tune the fight to make it the correct challenge level, tough but with victory likely. But should I? Logically, based on what is in play in the game, I shouldn’t. If I make it ‘just right’ then I’ve cheapened the moral price the ranger is going to make.
I’d love to hear anyone’s suggestions.
I am facing a crisis: the logic of my game situation has placed my party in a very bad position, and I think they're likely to all die if I don't intervene. They are out numbered and being hunted by a superior foe which can trace their movements magically and is more mobile. They can't run. They can't hide. They can't stand and fight. A total party kill seems likely at this point.
Last session, I'd extended an break to them. One of the enemies offered to turn coat and fight with the PCs if the Ranger would return to their evil realms. It is a morally complex offer from an obviously unreliable enemy. Only the ranger is privy to this offer, and he is on the verge of declining the offer.
So, what do I do? I feel I’ve extended them a chance at survival, by making a moral sacrifice. This is great drama, here. If I weaken the upcoming fight, I drain all drama out of the decision, because the PCs know that no matter what they chose, I’ll present them with the right challenge. If I don’t weaken the encounter, I add a lot of value to the drama of the decision, but perhaps at the cost of a total party kill and a campaign-ending blood-bath.
I’d love any advice!
BACKGROUND:
Party is a well balanced mix of 8th-10th level characters, 7 total.
The PCs have infiltrated into a secret evil shadow-man base, and activated a steam engine to open some doors. Once they did, they released a massive stone golem. This foe was beyond them, and they fled. In fact, I'd expected them to easily out maneuver the very slow golem or crush it with the great steam-drive doors. After a brush with hand-to-hand with a 36HD golem, however, the PCs routed.
Under the golem’s level, in the lower level, I'd planned a tiered defense, with two groups shadowmen + a single boss shadowman. Each group and the boss would be CR13, or approximately the right strength for my group, if the PCs fight them in series. But now, the shadow-men know their secret base has been discovered. They are going to group up and hunt down the PCs.
Meanwhile, above ground, another group of shadow-men and loosely allied dark fey (Sidhe, unabashedly stolen for the Tales of Wyre story hour) have attacked and wiped out the base the PCs were operating from, a camp of Church Knights from a psuedo-Roman Catholic Church. The attackers, in the guise of the PCs, killed thirty sleeping bothers of the inquisition, but carefully left enough witnesses to implicate the PCs. In game, this is a case of the shadow-men turning their enemies against each other. Meta-game, I am setting up a fight with the inquisition vs. the PCs.
This is where where we ended two sessions ago. In my mind, the shadowmen are going to go after the PCs. The PCs know the location if not the purpose of the secret base, and the PCs must be destroyed or contained so the secret base’s location is not revealed yet. The boss and half the shadow men from the dungeon, the two shadowmen from above, and the fey should band together and wipe out the PCs. They can track the PCs magically (how, I will not divulge, because I hope my players can figure out on their own) and they can Shadow Travel, so they are much, much faster than the PCs. I see an obvious total party kill, so I intervened between game sessions.
I created an out for my PCs: the fey leader, a displaced self-appointed queen and the shadowman Boss (a half-demon) are or were lovers. The Shadowman boss, being driven by his lustful demononic ancestery, took too keen an interest in a female PC as he and the fey queen scryed on the PCs. This lead to a lovers’ spat and a rift between the shadowmen and the mercurial fey.
Next, the shadowman boss ordered a clumsy attack to kidnap this female NPC. This is actually the first time the PCs have seen the shadow men, and the first time I’ve used them, so I forget several of their defensive abilities. The PCs killed two and one escaped and foiled the kidnapping. As GM, I forgot a few key defensive abilities of the shadow men, so I might have given my players a false sense of confidence. This was intended to key the PCs that the shadowmen are interested in this woman in particular.
Next, the Fey Queen approached the PCs under a flag of truce. She singles out the party ranger, an hansom elf. (And that was the extent of her/my reasoning.) However, this elf is rather morally upright, especially when compared to the rest of the party.
She admits freely to killing the inquisitors, and framing the PCs. But she makes this offer: if the ranger will agree to return with her to the Faerie Realms as her Consort/subordinate, she’ll betray the shadow-men. She states in no uncertain terms the the PCs will die if they face the combined stength of the her forces and those of the shadow men. Her motives are to snub her ex demonic lover and seek allies to reclaim her lands.
Now, our ranger and the rest of the party for that matter, is simply refusing to make the moral bend to work with the fey princess. This is some simply awesome role-playing, with the ranger and the fey struggling for moral advantage, and I think it is going to lead to the PCs refusing to agree to her demands, and her pride (bruised already, at the shadowman-boss’s rejection) preventing compromise.
SO WHAT NEXT?
I expect my PCs will not agree to the fey queen’s demands. If I carry though with this next adventure as I expect, I think they’ll likely die.
I am struggling here. I feel I have given them a reasonable avenue of escape, although at a high moral cost. They have chosen the moral high road, knowing it will cost them. Perhaps they don’t know just how dearly it will cost them.
So I am stuck: I could tune the fight to make it the correct challenge level, tough but with victory likely. But should I? Logically, based on what is in play in the game, I shouldn’t. If I make it ‘just right’ then I’ve cheapened the moral price the ranger is going to make.
I’d love to hear anyone’s suggestions.
on the body of one of the villains in a scouting party. That offers them a way out. Alternatively, shadow-walk or gate would work too though the offensive potential of gate would probably offer too simple a way out).
