Hi, everyone. Our group finished the Temple of Echoed Souls last year(!) and have been preparing to assault the Frost Needle's Eye since this February when the blizzard elementals attacked. It's well past time Kreven pushed the issue, but I'm at a loss as to what he should do next. A rerun of the blizzard elementals seems super-boring (not to mention that 3WR died in the encounter, in part because of some "friendly" fire from Dämmek). Anyone have interesting ideas as to how Kreven might "encourage" the heroes to get on with it?
WotBS "if the heroes dally, Kreven can continue to attack" (spoilers in the posts -- go away, Basel!)
RangerWickett
Legend
Strategically, Leska's foremost goal is to get the Torch. If she knows the PCs have the Torch, she'll target them, or try to goad them into doing something she can exploit.
Her secondary goal in the war is to use the Koren Obelisk to strike from afar, similar to what the Torch would allow, but the cost of tormenting spellcasters probably ought to make it have, like, limited 'ammo.' She initially invaded places to try to find the Torch and make sure no one thought they could invade Ragesia after Coaltongue's death (in particular, screw Shaaladel). Well, she's seized Gate Pass so the Shahalesti are stymied for now. She could have Kreven hit some of their targets of value, but the PCs likely won't have an emotional response to that.
She had armies try to march through Dassen to get to Seaquen to get more mages to use as fuel. The PCs have blocked them at the Alydi Gap, but I suppose she could be preparing another push, and could hit some people in Dassen the party likes.
The army in Sindaire is not especially loyal. She might just target them, though again, if you want to involve the PCs, that probably won't do it.
I've been watching this YouTube series about World War 2 week by week, and one of the recurring points the hosts make is that both sides tried to use 'terror bombings' to cow their enemies into surrendering or into turning on their leaders. This was incredibly ineffective and horribly immoral. They'd end up killing many civilians - and often prisoners of war - and do little lasting damage to factories or infrastructure. But the loss of life caused people's resolve to harden. It's how the UK weathered the Blitz over London, and the same dynamic happened in Germany and occupied France.
Send a bunch of planes, lose a good number of pilots, and mostly just kill non-combatants who end up hating you and becoming more determined never to surrender.
Well, . . . Leska's a murderous hateful person motivated by spite already, so maybe there is a supply caravan coming from Sindaire to Seaquen, and Kreven uses the Obelisk to inflict horrible diseases on everyone in the caravan right as they're nearing the city. It doesn't just kill people; it tempts the 'good guys' to kill them, because they won't have enough magic to cure all the diseases, and there's a risk that anyone could transmit the disease throughout Seaquen.
Bonus, now the party has a desire to briefly seize control of the Obelisk and use it to do a mass 'cure disease' from afar before the whole thing goes out of control and blows up. Surely it's okay to draw upon collective agonized torment of spellcasters if you're using the energy for good reasons, right?
Her secondary goal in the war is to use the Koren Obelisk to strike from afar, similar to what the Torch would allow, but the cost of tormenting spellcasters probably ought to make it have, like, limited 'ammo.' She initially invaded places to try to find the Torch and make sure no one thought they could invade Ragesia after Coaltongue's death (in particular, screw Shaaladel). Well, she's seized Gate Pass so the Shahalesti are stymied for now. She could have Kreven hit some of their targets of value, but the PCs likely won't have an emotional response to that.
She had armies try to march through Dassen to get to Seaquen to get more mages to use as fuel. The PCs have blocked them at the Alydi Gap, but I suppose she could be preparing another push, and could hit some people in Dassen the party likes.
The army in Sindaire is not especially loyal. She might just target them, though again, if you want to involve the PCs, that probably won't do it.
I've been watching this YouTube series about World War 2 week by week, and one of the recurring points the hosts make is that both sides tried to use 'terror bombings' to cow their enemies into surrendering or into turning on their leaders. This was incredibly ineffective and horribly immoral. They'd end up killing many civilians - and often prisoners of war - and do little lasting damage to factories or infrastructure. But the loss of life caused people's resolve to harden. It's how the UK weathered the Blitz over London, and the same dynamic happened in Germany and occupied France.
Send a bunch of planes, lose a good number of pilots, and mostly just kill non-combatants who end up hating you and becoming more determined never to surrender.
Well, . . . Leska's a murderous hateful person motivated by spite already, so maybe there is a supply caravan coming from Sindaire to Seaquen, and Kreven uses the Obelisk to inflict horrible diseases on everyone in the caravan right as they're nearing the city. It doesn't just kill people; it tempts the 'good guys' to kill them, because they won't have enough magic to cure all the diseases, and there's a risk that anyone could transmit the disease throughout Seaquen.
Bonus, now the party has a desire to briefly seize control of the Obelisk and use it to do a mass 'cure disease' from afar before the whole thing goes out of control and blows up. Surely it's okay to draw upon collective agonized torment of spellcasters if you're using the energy for good reasons, right?
WotBS: the gift that keeps giving difficult choices.
Thanks, @RangerWickett. I appreciate you taking a view with the bigger picture in mind. That helps keep it from becoming Yet Another Encounter.
We played on the fourth, and I had some vague ideas about your disease idea (in combination with a more straightforward Kreven-attacks-with-the-Obelisk encounter) that I was prepared to run through, but we spent the whole session on their practice encounter under spellduelists' ettiquette and didn't get any further. Which means, now I've got less vague ideas. Anyone remember anything about fungal zombies for third edition?
Another idea you've given me: If Leska's goal is to get the torch, mightn't she try to outright take it some way? So, I've got vague ideas for an encounter where, with layered misdirections as to how they might do that. And it'll even give Dämmek more opportunity to "practice" with the torch!
For what it's worth, the encounter Tuesday was pretty straightforward: A glyph of warding trap, a somewhat run-of-the-mill inquisitor (Etienna reblinged as Ogoth), a not-so-typical druid (Lee Sidoneth with tweaks, mechanically), and some Ragesianredshirts deserters to round things out. More interesting aws the setting: The Lyceum students set up their idea of what they might encounter at the Eye, which basically consisted of a couple adjacent underground lakes, blinding snow, and grapplers in the water. Oh, yeah, there was also a big swarm of arctic piranhas in one lake! 
The piranhas encouraged the heroes to use water walk, which meant the inquisitor had fun with targeted dispelling. Also, at long last, my fourth attempt to use overmaster finally bore fruit (the first was with Etienna, but Basel kept making his caster level checks!
), and I was able to steal like lightning from Basel and use it against him and Seda. Dämmek played oddly cautiously and burned through her flame strikes for the day instead of simply going over to Ogoth to hack him to bits -- but at least she's getting the hang of the torch's swift teleport ability. Leon (a spellthief, a new character this chapter replacing Three Weeping Ravens) was moderately effective and chopped up several of the redshirts.
Edit: flame strike, not empyreal fire. Duh.
We played on the fourth, and I had some vague ideas about your disease idea (in combination with a more straightforward Kreven-attacks-with-the-Obelisk encounter) that I was prepared to run through, but we spent the whole session on their practice encounter under spellduelists' ettiquette and didn't get any further. Which means, now I've got less vague ideas. Anyone remember anything about fungal zombies for third edition?
Another idea you've given me: If Leska's goal is to get the torch, mightn't she try to outright take it some way? So, I've got vague ideas for an encounter where, with layered misdirections as to how they might do that. And it'll even give Dämmek more opportunity to "practice" with the torch!
For what it's worth, the encounter Tuesday was pretty straightforward: A glyph of warding trap, a somewhat run-of-the-mill inquisitor (Etienna reblinged as Ogoth), a not-so-typical druid (Lee Sidoneth with tweaks, mechanically), and some Ragesian
The piranhas encouraged the heroes to use water walk, which meant the inquisitor had fun with targeted dispelling. Also, at long last, my fourth attempt to use overmaster finally bore fruit (the first was with Etienna, but Basel kept making his caster level checks!
), and I was able to steal like lightning from Basel and use it against him and Seda. Dämmek played oddly cautiously and burned through her flame strikes for the day instead of simply going over to Ogoth to hack him to bits -- but at least she's getting the hang of the torch's swift teleport ability. Leon (a spellthief, a new character this chapter replacing Three Weeping Ravens) was moderately effective and chopped up several of the redshirts.Edit: flame strike, not empyreal fire. Duh.
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RangerWickett
Legend
In this case, distance and distrust is a good reason not to try to steal it.
Leska isn't going to risk herself going so far beyond the boundaries of where she has allies, so she's not just teleport in as a snatch and grab. Also, the Torch outright can kill people who try to take it, so her options for whom she could send to steal it are basically zero.
But she can guess they might try to attack the Obelisk, and she's got a good chance of Kreven's people beating the party and dumping them into the prison. A trap, where the party is away from their allies, is her best option.
So, to follow up: As the heroes were walking back from their practice session in some of the sea caves at the east end of the peninsula, a flock of elder arrowhawks appeared above them and started to attack. Meanwhile, their "bodyguards" (a bunch of 5th-level enchanters that were based on Diogenes as he's written in chapter one) started coughing and sneezing as they, and a whole lot of other Seaqueners, starting coming down with White Nose Syndrome (power word, fungus, anyone?). The bodyguards actually did their jobs, casting mage armor on the heroes not already protected by armor. Meanwhile, the heroes took a belt-'n'-suspenders approach: Seda cast resist electricity, which would have rendered them all but immune to the arrowhawks, despite me giving them the Plunging Shot feat to ramp up their damage. Meanwhile, Basel cast wall of ice to create a hemisphere protecting them from the 'hawks to give them time to buff (which, of course, the 'hawks immediately blasted a hole through).
'course, this is when I learned my first lesson about Torch-wielding heroes: One of the bodyguards got killed in the arrowhawks' initial onslaught, which meant that Dämmek was able to teleport the survivors away (to the teleportation beacon, but good enough). Well, so much for that encounter....
Anyhow, the players took the hint, especially as they saw how many had been infected and made plans to make their way to the Frost Needle's Eye the next morning. At this point, they've confronted and survived the guardians guarding the entrance to the needle and are already a bit worried about how fast they're going through their resources. Which means I didn't get to play my geased Shahalesti POWs trying to steal the torch from them on the streets of Seaquen.
I never did decide on who might have sent the snatch-'n'-grab team, but there's no reason to assume that anyone but the heroes are aware that grabbing the Torch is dangerous. And, thanks to the Third Hand feat, the elves might have gotten away with the Torch anyhow.
So, thanks for the suggestions, @RangerWickett! I got some good mileage out of them.
'course, this is when I learned my first lesson about Torch-wielding heroes: One of the bodyguards got killed in the arrowhawks' initial onslaught, which meant that Dämmek was able to teleport the survivors away (to the teleportation beacon, but good enough). Well, so much for that encounter....
Anyhow, the players took the hint, especially as they saw how many had been infected and made plans to make their way to the Frost Needle's Eye the next morning. At this point, they've confronted and survived the guardians guarding the entrance to the needle and are already a bit worried about how fast they're going through their resources. Which means I didn't get to play my geased Shahalesti POWs trying to steal the torch from them on the streets of Seaquen.
I never did decide on who might have sent the snatch-'n'-grab team, but there's no reason to assume that anyone but the heroes are aware that grabbing the Torch is dangerous. And, thanks to the Third Hand feat, the elves might have gotten away with the Torch anyhow.So, thanks for the suggestions, @RangerWickett! I got some good mileage out of them.
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