Thanks for getting my back, guys. I do appreciate it. I mean, it's okay to not be a fan of out of the blue save-or-die, but obviously my group, including an assassin as it does, doesn't have much of a problem with it. I can guarantee that the Assassin has had his share of victims who didn't know he was coming, so it was definately an out-of-the-blue save-or-die by him a few times.
And what's good for the party is good for the DM, ya? Specifically, I have two players who have the absolute best opinion (IMHO) for being players: "I like my character. I'd like them to live. But if they die, I've got a hundred and one other neat ideas I'd like to see."
Since it went down last night, I'll tell the tale. The naysayers did lead me to slightly pull punches, but the group was entirely content with it...
The party consists of a manic-depressive maenad wilder who plays the party's leader, a sneaky ninja/assassin with sticky fingers, a rather ditzy barbarian (the legendary king), and an egotistical Elan egoist who is doing research on the wilder for his orgainzation. There is also a young girl (one of the few healers) from the legendary king's homeland who has a major girl crush on him. During the night in the tavern, the ninja/assassin was off stealing things, the Elan was writing notes in the inn room, and the wilder, the barbarian, and the healer were celebrating in the tavern (the Elan was performing something dirge-like on stage, and bringing ogres to tears).
The barbarian and his romantic interest, the healer, were dancing with each other to the dark melodies, when he saw the bullethole appear in her head. Pretty typically, there were tears, there were shocked faces, there were Vader-screams ("NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"). They also did the whole "let's look around outside and find out what happened!" approach, and were suitably confused. However, they wrapped their heads around magic pretty quick. Specifically, the Elan (with Knowledge (arcana)) made the assumption that the assassin had teleported.
The assassin did, indeed, use knowledge of divine magic -- the tribe's healer was attacked and killed the next day, and the night after that, the ninja had an attempt on his life (that failed because of bystanders).
They determined a few things. Namely, that they had to get out of town before the ogre magi grew angry at them (since the assassin obviously had no qualms about killing those around the PC's, either). Also, that they were hunting something that used a lot of magic (silence, pass without trace, etc. were figured out pretty quickly).
Of course, they had their own approaches. When they left the town, the Elan used Metamorphosis to become "something that digs fast" (I quickly pulled a Dire Mole out of my bum, and had him dig at about 10 ft.). They dug underground, making a convinient home for themselves. They made a chimney ("now a regular-sized mole"), and they left their tent and their horses up top, as bait for the Assassin. Meanwhile, the Elans psycrystal was put up the chimney on the surface, to see what was happening from a place under the snow. They lit a fire under the ground, and grew comfy. Their strategy: lure it into close quarters. They knew it would only attack once a night. And they knew that it would only attack them if they were isolated.
The assassin fell for it. Through the psycrystal, they got a view of a half-giant (the assassin was using Alter Self) who killed the horses out of frustration, and then used the dead horses to plug the chimney (where he could see the smoke) and the entrance (which he saw when he killed the horses...which they put in the tent....for some reason...).
No complaints. No resurrection. Nobody accusing me of pulling DM rank and killing the innocent bystander just because I could. A dramatic burial scene in a berry patch, a great display of friendship, and a healthy fear of walking down dark alleys alone. In addition, I was able to harp on the "kill the healers" theme that I have had going. The party still can heal -- indeed, the two psions can heal more than a low-level Favored Soul could anyway. But the last retainers to the old religion have been destroyed, not just around them, but right in front of them.
I do believe the knowing grin from the player of the Elan told me that it was well-played. He enjoyed having a knowledgable foe to spar intelligently against, and enjoyed knowing that I wouldn't pull punches just to keep someone alive. After a few encounters slogging through the wild animals of the Ogrelands, they liked being brought back into the plot suddenly and forcefully. Characterization grew.
And now that we know what happened, we can get back to the idea that my style kills for my own amusement alone.
