The Dying Skyseer: What does Leone do with the hostages?

[selkirk89]

My group just finished the 'weight of a crumbling stone' encounter. It wasn't hard for them (even the fight with Creed just before wasn't that hard, but they were impressed by his powers). The bard talked with Leone for a bit and the Avenger immediately found the chimney escape route. Since they had the slippers of spider climbing and a rope, getting out was trivial. I wished I'd foreseen this and made escaping just a little bit harder, to increase the tension. But anyway, I digress.

So what does Leone do with his hostage in the event that the party escapes even before he can present it? I understand that the hostage is there in any case, it has been captured in preparation for the encounter. The hostage I decided to use is one of the PC's contacts, a journalist named Adesa. The night before, the PC's tipped her off about the dragonborn arsonists who very nearly burned down Sechim's factory, so she started asking questions about fires in parity lake, and got kidnapped by Leone's men as a result. Now he finds out that the party is long gone just as he wants to present the hostage to them. What does he do?

Option 1: He gets furious and kills her anyway (the hostage is useless now anyway, right?).

Option 2: He brings her to MacBannin, who locks her up in his lab until a possibility to use her presents itself. The PCs then have the opportunity to rescue her during the climax (or MacBannin has an opportunity to use her as a human shield. Maybe he even extended his 'Bond of forced faith' ritual to her, to be extra vicious and cruel?).

I lean towards the 'human shield' version of option 2, personally. Any thoughts?

 

[efreund]

Of course you do the human shield option! They don't call it "forced" faith for nothing.

Maybe even give some light hints of experimentation: some negative levels, some witchoil burns, etc.

 

[ediz]

In mine, Leone killed one of the Skyseer's contacts... his mentor.

 

[selkirk89]

I like the idea! Much more interesting that way then just having the NPC killed off in absence of the PCs.

 

[mbaum]

I like option 2. I used Heward Sechim as the hostage and when the Pc’s did the Factory in Flame encounter he was tied up in the building waiting to be saved. I believe one of my pc’s rolled a mid 20’s perception and heard his screams from inside as they were questioning Eberardo. The half dragon brothers are CE so you could easily put a hostage anywhere with them like on the burning pyre of there cart.

 

[selkirk89]

That' also a nice option! Unfortunately, my group already captured the arson brothers (in a very memorable fight that started out very desperate for the party, but was eventually turned around by them due to a very nice combination of powers, and sealed with a natural 20 on an intimidate check by one character standing over the unconscious body of the barbarian, threatening to kill him if his brother wouldn't yield).

 

[ediz]

I meant the PC who is a skyseer's mentor. Which really had a dramatic impact. The PC had leaned on her for guidance during the investigation into around Parity Lake so when she got nabbed and then executed it really shaped the PC for the climatic ending... the 17 year old RHC sorcerer attacked Macnbannin while the others were trying to talk him the mayor into surrendering but bam... it was great.