The Whole Party May Perish!!

[Carl Cuthulhu]

as the heading suggests, the whole party may well perish next week.

the party has been working on cleaning out a building that has become the base of operation for a cabal of wererats.

the party entered through the sewers of the city and slew many direrats and quite a few wererats.

our heroes consist of a human barbarian1/fighter2, human rogue3, elf evoker3, human fighter2/rogue1, and a halfling cleric2/rogue1.

due to poor dierolling on their part, and lack of diplomacy they ended up surrounded by 12 direrats and two of the higher-ups in the rat cult; a 2nd level wererat rogue, and a wererat fighter1/rogue1.

when we left off this evening two characters were at 0 hp, another was at 1, one was at 2, and the lucky human rogue was at 12.

and to make matters worse they dropped their weapons when they realized they were outnumbered. yet still after dropping weapons they then decided to attack the foes. the fighter/rogue went down when he tried to tumble through a mass of direrats.

i do not want them all to die. i have put a lot into the campaign and they have all put a lot into their characters. i would feel terrible to destroy them all.

so i am asking you folks for a couple ideas to save them without it seeming cheesy. they previously rescued a woman from this place who was held hostage. i am thinking of perhaps having her lead some guardsmen to the building.

any ideas?

 

[Nightfall]

Have a foe hunter type of NPC (think Blade) save their butts. Makes for good drama, especially if he or she just walks off ignoring them.

 

[Carl Cuthulhu]

Have a foe hunter type of NPC (think Blade) save their butts. Makes for good drama, especially if he or she just walks off ignoring them.

interesting idea, but it seems a little deus ex machina to me.

i like the idea though. but i want to make it look like i am not saving their arses, even if i am.

 

[Nightfall]

Okay so make him/her badly wounded and/or affected by some curse, something makes him/her NEARLY as dangerous as the were-rats. Perhaps he/she is under a geas to kill were-rats, and cannot rest until all the were-rats are dead, and he/she must also kill anyone that tries to stop him/her.

 

[Carl Cuthulhu]

nightfall: you may well be onto something.

in a previous adventure the human rogue was warned via a elven-scribed note that he should not trust the men he now knows are wererats.

and in this characters past is time spent running with an elven assassin. i had previously thought she would make an appearence in the game, but not this early.

perhaps it is time...

 

[Nightfall]

Well glad I could help.

 

[Frostmarrow]

The characters are in quite a fix. You wish to save the party but it must cost them dearly, otherwise it becomes cheesy no matter what you chose. Have one character sacrifice himself for the good of the party.

Perhaps a couple of unlabeled potions might infuse the characters witth some much needed power, provided they are willing to risk drinking them unidentified. The potions might be in a trapped cupboard. They find the trap but can't disarm it. Therfore one of the characters must actively sacrifice himself. Make sure he knows he must die.

Trust me, it's the only way to go. If you send in your assassin to save the characters you risk disappointing the players. They know full well that they are screwed and they expect casualties. Perhaps you can even talk to one of the players before hand and let him in on the scheme?

 

[Nareau]

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Why not have the were-rats capture and "embrace" the PC's? They get thrown in a makeshift prison until the first change takes them (give them a week or two before the next full-moon). During this time, the were-rats inform the PC's that once they undergo "First change," the curse will take them (it'll make them all Chaotic Evil) and force them to join ranks with the bad guys.

This'll allow them to keep their characters. It'll allow for some ingenuity in terms of them finding an escape plan. And it'll give them some lead-in to the next adventure (finding a cure!).

[Edit: Spelling]

 

[Horacio]

I prefer this solution. It seems more like you'd planned all, not like you're saving their butts. It doesn't smell "deux ex machina", it's looks like a well crafted plot. And it gives the PCs some REAL motivation to find a cure. It can lead to some great adventures....

 

[fakename]

They all deserve to die.

That said, it would better to kill only half of them


Have the wererats give them a 10 second head start, and then they hunt them down. With the hit points they are on a few of them should die, but some will make it out of the sewers.

- Doug