If you can't beat em, join em... (RttToEE but no real spoilers)

[the Jester]

So I'm running RttToEE for my party and, in last week's game they started penetrating the Crater Ridge Mines... and got spanked. Two pcs were captured and the rest fled. Last night we played again and the free pcs (mostly chaotic neutral to evil in alignment) decided to join the cult.

Anyone else have anything like this plan? They just watched their captive buddies get sacrificed after another couple of days (that beautiful scene in the earth temple- it was their hearts fed to the xorn), and when a few other pcs came to try to "rescue" them they captured one and killed the other (he was the lucky one, the captive is a furry tabaxi that's been given to a mean NE orcish necromancer/fighter on his way to pale master, doomed to a bound life of humiliation and buggery. And this from a pc!)

Now, granted, the hook to get the party to the adventure isn't the standard one, they're looking for a lost apprentice of their employer; but still, they've switched sides to the bad guys', making the module a little trickier to run...

Anybody else have anything like this happen? What'd you do?

 

[Averil Wehstrom]

Me, I say run with it. Let them go on a few "quests" for the Temple folk (like clearing out the orcs and apes in the CRM), and eventually have them be the team that seeks out the Champion of Elemental Evil.

Have them release the big bad at the end of the module.

Have the big bad free the bigger bad.

Have the bigger bad eat the world.

Have everybody roll up new characters for a new campaign.

 

[BlackMoria]

I agree with Averil.

Have them clear the mines of the non-cult factions.

Then have them chose a temple to support and have them as major players in taking down the other temples ('There can be only one' sort of idea).

Then have them as the principle organizers of the defence of the Mines against a kick ass NPC crew of good guys.

If they survive....let them bring on the apocalypse as Averil suggested.

Then restart campaign - and instantly kill all CN and Evil characters as a object lesson in not going down that road again...

 

[Wolfspider]

Don't forget that there are plenty of evil folks who would hate to see the Cult succeed, so fee free to throw other bad guys at them as well.

 

[the Jester]

okay, here's a spoiler...

little spoiler follows....
















































Well, the irony here is that Tharizdun ate my old campaign world, and I really don't want to go down that road again (my new campaign world is essentially a 'simulation' that was made 'real' by pcs a couple of years ago on a major quest, so Tharizdun is involved in the storyline as a major background figure.)

I am going to run with it, however, at least until the pcs reach their goal of finding Anvar (the aforementioned lost apprentice.) I've already given some thought to them being the ones to find the Champion of Elemental Evil (actually, one of them has already unintentionally implied that he himself might be the Champion to one of the priests; this will lead to interesting developements for sure...)

I've also given thought to the inter-temple rivalry thing and plan on involving some of that at some point, maybe next session... an earth temple attack on one of the other temples, perhaps? We'll see...

Thanks for the input, folks!