The Whole Party May Perish!!

[Evilboy]

Tough position. Like you said, having some powerful NPC come in and save them is a bad call.

Here's what I can think of:

1: Infect the PCs and let them loose. If one of the wererats is intelligent, use it against the PCs. Have them subdued, and they "escape" (a bit too easily ), only to wreck havoc when nightfall comes.

2: If one of the wererats has a bit of an ego or is a bit more ecentric, perhaps the PCs would be allowed to run (unarmed), making for an interesting game of cat-and-mouse (badabing). You'd probably lose a few PCs this way, but it could be a way to let the party survive without letting them off scott-free.

3: Kill the PCs. Hey, it happens .

Personally, #1 is my favorite, YMMV.

- Evilboy

 

[Jack Haggerty]

If this fight is taking place in the sewers, have a heavy storm hit... The sewer tunnels begin flooding and their adversaries flee like (excuse me) rats from a sinking ship, leaving the characters for dead. Now the characters will have to escape the slowly rising waters, instead of a horde of mean nasty rats.

If they are in the building, then perhaps a detachment of the town guard has trailed the characters to the baddies' hide out and has surrounded the building to arrest (excuse me again) the dirty rats. They propose an ultimatum to the were-rats to surrender, which they refuse, of course. The town guard then sets fire to the building to smoke them out. The rats flee the building through the sewers, and now the charcters must contend with escaping a burning building.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I like Jack's ideas. It changes the nature of the peril to a passive one instead of an active one, but leaves the PCs in peril, so it doesn't seem like a cop-out.

A variation on that would be to have the town guard burst in on the scene (led there by the woman they saved,) and just run a massive free-for-all fight sequence, as the rats, guards, and PCs all struggle to down as many foes as possible while staying alive. In the chaos, it should be easy for you to slant the battle so that most of the PCs survive. If at the end nearly all of the guards are dead, perhaps one or two PCs are dead, and the wererats are bloodied and fled, it won't seem like they were handed a get-out-of-trouble-free card, but clawed and scraped their way free, even if you did secretly make sure the PCs would mostly survive.

Granted, making adjustments to the outcome of the battle is pretty much as false as if you'd had an Uber-character come in and rescue them: in the end the PCs are surviving because you didn't kill them, rather than by their own merits. But the PCs won't know that, which makes it much more workable as a solution. Also, it sounds like in this one instance you want to do just that: bail out the PCs. With any luck, the nearness of the episode will cause the PCs to be extra-careful in the future.

 

[Rashak Mani]

Sometimes the Internal Politics tactics works....

One of the Wererats uses them to take down their leader so that he may take the leaders place. The PCs must collaborate or die.

If your going to make a super character save them... make him a polymorphed spy trying break up the wererat mafia ?

 

[TheDayKnight]

Personally, I like the captured PCs.

One of the wererats have been dabbling with his blood. Those infected turned into frenzied ratmen that wander the city in a killing spree. So the wererat infects the PCs with his blood.

But something is wrong with the wererats formula. The PCs instead of going on a frenzy, just feel sick (give them minuses to stats). They somehow find out (oracle, doctor, etc.) how to cure themselves. But the road to the cure is a dangerous one.

 

[Old One]

Another Option...

As mentioned by Evil Boy above, your options essentially consist of:

(1) Letting them all die.

(2) Using an unplanned (and somewhat cheesy) intervention by outside forces to save their hide.

(3) Something else...

I vote for the "Something Else", with a variation of the "If you can't beat them, join 'em" theme.

Finish out the battle, letting the chips fall where they may. If a PC dies or bleeds out, so be it. After the last one falls, the were-rats stabilize them and bite each one several times to ensure infection (I recommend rolling the saves for these yourself or just asking the PCs for several saves after they are unconscious, without telling them what it is for). Then have the PCs that are alive awaken in the sewers, stripped of any obviously magical equipement (ie, glowing swords) and monetary treasure, a storm is rolling in and the sewers are filling with water, which could lead to a harrowing escape as the few PCs that are awake drag their companions through the rapidly filling sewers.

If you don't keep track of the lunar cycles in your game, decide how long it will be until the next full moon. The PCs have that long to figure out that they have been infected and to cure themselves. Otherwise, they turn into were-rats and join the enemy!

You could drop little hints - like making the PCs roll a save vs. fear if a cat crosses their path and have them be troubled be increasingly terrible dreams as the full moon approaches. The PC cleric might get a cryptic visitation warning of dire consequences on the next full moon - but it shouldn't be too much of a "giveaway".

What are the were-rat motivations?

(1) The PCs have been making things "hot" for them in town. They are going to wait for the PCs to turn, then plant evidence pointing to the PCs having been the culprits all along, leading to the PCs being hunted by the law!

(2) There is an internal power struggle going on within the were-rat ranks and the the were-rats that infected the PCs are looking for allies. They infected the PCs, then might help them wipe out their bosses, only to exert control over the PCs after the switch.

This is a great opportunity to throw some major twists into the plot without having a TPK (at least, not immediately)!

~ Old One

 

[Chimera]

or...

They're captured. Alive.

They wake up in a small room, surrounded by bones and partially eaten bodies. Their wounds have been crudely bound. All of their equipment is gone.

Surprise, you're in the wererat's larder. They're saving you for food.

Heck, add to the terror by having another person (NPC) in the room with them. Missing some body parts ("They're EATING ME!!!") Shortly after the PCs awaken, the wererats come back and drag him off, screaming.

Now they're still in grave danger, but they have a chance to escape.

 

[Old One]

Re: or...

They're captured. Alive.

They wake up in a small room, surrounded by bones and partially eaten bodies. Their wounds have been crudely bound. All of their equipment is gone.

Surprise, you're in the wererat's larder. They're saving you for food.

Heck, add to the terror by having another person (NPC) in the room with them. Missing some body parts ("They're EATING ME!!!") Shortly after the PCs awaken, the wererats come back and drag him off, screaming.

Now they're still in grave danger, but they have a chance to escape.

Ohhh....

I like that one!

~ Old One

 

[Carl Cuthulhu]

chimera:

your idea is really cool. i like it.

i also like the idea of making them into wererats. that could also be fun. the human rogue in the party was asked to join the guild before he knew it was a guild of wererat cultists.

one option i am toying with is a act of some godly force; me, the dm! i am concidering metagaming a little and giving the near 2,000 xp that each pc has coming from the last two massive violent sessions. this will place them each up a level into 4th level. allow them to up bab, hp, spells, etc. so some characters will go from 0 to 5 or 6 hit points. and then let the chips fall where they may. let things go as they will and see what happens.

something about them getting placed in the larder is very cool though.

 

[Corinth]

Okay, so you don't want to kill the PCs.

Answer this question: What is the most logical result of the PCs' actions?

If the answer is something other than "They die." then you've got something to work with; if not, then let 'em die and start over. It's better in the long run to keep your campaign internally consistant (such as letting the PCs feel the full weight of the consequences of their actions, for good or ill) than to resort to lame theatrical tricks like the ol' deus ex machina.

That said, you have an out. The PCs did rescue that woman earlier, so using her as a device to bring in the calvary (as it were) is acceptable; this demonstrates that saving her was worthwhile, rewards heroic behavior and preserves the PCs' lives. This solution may not be ideal, but it is internally consistant and provides what you need.

I hope that this helps.