RttToEE: The moathouse cultists escape! Now what?

[Corsair]

First here is the explanation: The party of 5 entered the moat house, drove off big U, and decided to rest in the moathouse in a rope trick. Two party members had Haversacks, which they left outside of the rope trick. One party member refused to enter the rope trick, deciding to hide with the haversacks.

With Big U gone, the cultists and gnolls came up, discovering evidence of battle between the players and Big U, and seeing Thaque's body looted. They perform a cursory search of the upper level and easily find the rogue. A short lopsided battle later and they've captured the rogue, tortured him for information (including the fact that his party is hiding in the rope trick) then have the ghast kill him and turn him into another ghast.

The party comes out of their rope trick, is immediately attacked. They manage to hold the fort in the abandoned kitchen, with the psion repeatedly dropping high AC astral constructs in the doorway. Eventually the break a hole in the ceiling, and the psion and wizard manage to fly away. The dwarf cleric and half-orc barbarian are left behind, and they eventually get killed by the ghast as well.

Results:

*Party kills 3 ghouls and the ogre skeleton. Bad guys get 2 new ghasts.
*The cultists sent word to the folks in Homlett as soon as they finished torturing the rogue. Chen should have arrived in town about the same time as the fight with the rest of the party was occuring.


The question: Now what?

The cultists, having been discovered and knowing that two of the adventurers got away will attempt to flee to the Temple of All Consumption. How long will this take to organize? If they successfully flee, taking most of the evidence with them, how can I be sure the players get the clues they need to find the Temple of All Consumption (especially if they don't find Geynor's journal)? Or should I just have Geynor leave his journal behind in his haste to escape?

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Leaving the journal behind is ONE way of doing it.

It is always possible that since they figure they are discovered anyways, the cultists are a little too bold in their movements trying to leave and are captured by Elmo or someone else in town. This would allow the PCs to get the information.

Otherwise, you may have to have the PCs catch up with them. They may move slowly (no horses, so they are on foot). The PCs might be able to track them if they have someone with the track feat.

Keep in mind, the cultists want the items in the moathouse and don't have a way to transport them yet, so they may have to stick around or come back as well.

 

[VirgilCaine]

Keep in mind, the cultists want the items in the moathouse and don't have a way to transport them yet, so they may have to stick around or come back as well.

Perhaps the PCs will get their revenge when, after recuperating and recruiting new members, they go back to check on the moathouse again?

 

[MoonZar]

Perhaps the PCs will get their revenge when, after recuperating and recruiting new members, they go back to check on the moathouse again?

They could hire a ranger to track the cultist to the temple of all consumption. The cult guys will use chariot and they are many people, they should not be hard to be track.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Well, none of our groups really got nuked by the moathouse folks. What happened twice with us was the group decided to stay in the abandoned tower and woke up to find the cultists had reenforced the moathouse and it needed to be assaulted. Then the town-cultists arrived with re-enforcements from the ToAC with overwhelming force, took the items, and left the party to be killed.

With the party getting wiped out without defeating the forces in the Moathouse, and those forces most likely soon leaving with the items in tow, you'll need to create some extra encounters to get them the XP they need to level up some. If they're 4th level and run off to the CRM, they'll get dead real real quick. Setting the plotline up to be a series of TPKs for the party won't be much fun.

If I recall correctly, the book says that if the cultists pull out with the wagon, they'll leave a "surprise" for anybody that comes looking later, in the form of a Grick. I'd say a Grick + Undead + Geynor's journal getting "lost" on the way out should get things back on track.

One of my parties actually re-captured the moathouse items by making a dash for Verbobonc ... closer and smoother than the path to the CRM. Knowing the town the wagon came from (from the journal in the Mill) they were able to use quite a bit of party funds to buy a scroll of Teleport Via Plants and then port themselves to a ridge outside of town. They laid in wait for the wagon, and then struck from hiding (just got 5th level) with Fireball + Entangle + Silence + Angry Barbarians ... wasn't pretty at all. Wholesale slaughter. Really perked up the player's spirits.

--fje

 

[Corsair]

Perhaps the PCs will get their revenge when, after recuperating and recruiting new members, they go back to check on the moathouse again?

Oh I'm certain they want revenge! If nothing else, the wizard and the psion want their damn haversacks back!

Actually I just went and re-read the module, especially page 20, talking about events development. Looks like Gren recruits Chatrilon and Chenashi to return to the Moathouse with her. A day after Gren leaves for help, she returns with those two and the animate dead scroll. 2 days later, the wagon from the ToAC arrives. So all things consider the timeline I suppose looks like this:

Day 1: Party enters moathouse, chases off Big U, camps. Midnight - Gren is sent for help.

Day 2: (morning) party fights, psion and wizard escape. Evening - Gren, Chatrilon, Chenashi return (24 hours). Party recruits help, and makes plans, and rests. Spugnoir is finally located and killed by cultists (who perform a thorough search of the premises after chasing off the party).

Day 3: (morning) party sets out for moathouse again, looking for trouble, and finding it easily. (Gnolls upstairs, NPCs and undead downstairs)

Day 4: (afternoon) Wagon from Temple of All Consumption arrives, accompanied by Toridan to pick up the goodies and rescue the (likely now dead) clerics.

This will give the players 1 full day and the next morning to take care of the moathouse before the clerics escape. If they manage this, they still have time to return and surpise Dunrat, Grune, and Vacra at the mill!

(Thanks Monte for planning ahead and putting these paragraphs in! You saved me a lot of thinking. )

 

[Agamon]

A word of warning for the future: I'm assuming you're converting the adventure to 3.5. If so, there is an advanced howler at the entrance of the ToA-C. In 3.0, he's not so bad for a L6 party. Converted to 3.5...yikes. It might have been the extra feats I picked for him (Improved Nat. Weapon and Snatch), but he was a walking potential TPK all by himself. He's chained up in the adventure, but he's not likely to stay that way if the party fights its way in. I suggest that you have the ranger leader and his howler mount be elsewhere when they enter and have them encounter them later on, because it could end badly otherwise.

If you're playing using 3.0 rules, disregard all that.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

The Howler was a near-TPK all three times the game got ran in this area.

I then added insult to injury and reanimated the Howler as a skeleton, which largely made it HARDER for a lower CR.

I'd try to find some way to add Spugnoir into the mix without bumping him off, as he made a very excellent reason for the PCs to stay in Hommlet. Those parties where Spugnoir was not a major player tended to entirely ignore Hommlet beyond the first pass-through and spent almost their entire time in Verbobonc (not too far away). Seeing as Hommlett is fully statted in the module and Verbobonc is NOT, keeping them there might be helpful.

--fje

 

[Corsair]

RE: Howler

I actually read on the MonteCook.com forums that Monte himself has pointed out that the oversized howler (based on the advanced HD) would be overpowered, and has suggested keeping the custom 3.0 stats as a "custom" monster. I'll probably just run it as written. While yes it is a 3.5 game, many things I am just running straight out of the book, just converting the things that had major changes (spells, and certain monsters with abilities that changed, like DR, but not all). I'll give the Howler a look-see when they get closer to that, but I'm not too worried about it for now, as that is a ways off.

RE: Spugnoir

After reconsidering, I might keep Spugnoir there if the party hurries back, but he will be in much worse condition than presented in the book. Single digit HP, weakness from starvation, etc. I haven't exactly planned it all out yet. In regards to the Hommlet/Verbobonc issue, I've made a point to move Verbobonc farther away from Hommlet. My game is being set in the Forgotten Realms (mainly for the access to the Pantheon for my divine casters, and to give the players a sense of familiarity with the world around them) and plopped them smack dab in the middle of the Western Heartlands. Verbobonc is now about 3 days walk away through a notoriously untamed area. Enough to discourage players from unnecessary travel.

 

[JamesL85]

I'm assuming, since you mentioned montecook.com, that you're aware of the 3.5 conversion that the guys on his EZBoard did???

If not, and even if you know, someone else might benefit, the link is here. For those unaware, there is a whole forum for Monte's products here.

James