Who wants to be today's villain?

[Sabaron]

Pretend you're Raghla Gyaria. You've recieved this letter from your superior; what would you do next? Figured it could be fun to have a mind other than my own working on this for once.

For reference: A Fist of Hextor is composed of 1 3rd level mounted priest, 2 2nd level mounted fighters, and 6 1st level warriors on foot. All carry flails. The only clues you get to the party's level are what you get in the letter. Your henchmen are mostly on the level of these Fist of Hextor guys.

Note: Spending less money earns you more favor with the Grandmaster, too. A full Fist of Hextor, with their plate armor, is quite expensive. Of course, failure is even more expensive...

Letter from Krakos, Grandmaster of the Order of Hextor
To: Raghla Gyaria, Tyrant of Tristis.

Knights KIA: Roderick Tavish, Tobias Tavish, Poslen Niemark, Ular Isten, Baery Agyara, Harn Aghrys.

Priests MIA: Overseers Opert Hivirk, Navor Agyara.

Footmen MIA/KIA: 17

We must track down the agents responsible for this havoc. Here is the information we've gleaned about them, based on two combats with the group. In the first combat, a footman escaped on horseback to inform us. In the second, Overseer Vahrys Anvirge escaped their clutches and managed to get back to us.

Sergeant's synopsis of the first battle. Cleaned up due to his poor writing skills (we must teach these men to write better reports!)

Us: One Fist of Hextor, commanded by Overseer Navor Agyara.

Them: 4 on horseback. 3 humans or half elves, 1 dwarf. 1 of the humans is female. The humans wore full plate armor, two unornamented, one covered with the symbols of St. Cuthbert. The priest of St. Cuthbert and the dwarf dismounted to fight, while the other two stayed mounted and fought with lances. The dwarf, despite his light armor, was the most dangerous. The other 3 were troublesome. I didn't see the priest cast any flashy spells.

When we first approached them, they seemed wary of us. One of the knights exchanged words with Sir Roderick, insulting his battle prowess and spoiling for a fight. The fight was short and bloody, for us. Sir Roderick and Sir Poslen fell quickly, along with several of my fighting brethren. When Brother Navor fled the battlefield, myself and a fellow footman mounted the fallen knight's horses and fled in opposite directions. I was not chased down, and was able to make contact with our agent in Brakkis.

That's the end of his report. To reiterate, we lost both knights and 4 sergeants in that battle. Overseer Agyara is missing, as is another sergeant. At this point, since neither has made contact, it is safe to assume that both are captured or dead.

Overseer Vahrys Anvirge's report:

Us: Two Fists of Hextor, commanded by Overseers Opert Hivirk and Vahrys Anvirge.

Them: 5 on horseback. 1 on a giant bat. Same group as last time, with the addition of a halfling druid riding a dire bat and an old woman dressed as a peasant. Druid's spells: Entangle, Flame Blade. Cleric's spells: all I saw was a bit of healing. The old woman did not participate in the battle.

Their initial tactic was to send the male knight forward, flanked by the dwarf and the priest. The female knight remained behind with the woman, We did not intially know that these were the people that killed our last group; our assignment was to establish a new base in the town of Whitefort and investigate what happened to Overseer Agyara's command. The dwarf confessed to killing the last group. Upon hearing this, we launched our attack.

The attack was a standard one: the knights and footmen charge while we hold off and throw spells. Unfortunately, their druid got off an entangle spell after the knights charged but before the footmen could attack. Only a few managed to escape the tangling vines. During the battle, I managed to paralyse the male knight, and a footman killed him. Also, the dwarf became a werewolf upon getting hit, and bit me. I managed to enchant Sir Tobias' lance, and he finished the vile creature off. Later, he was killed dueling the female knight (the other knights had all died within 10 seconds of the battle's opening). I fled soon after, and am sure that no one else escaped. It was only chance that I managed to get away; my horse was caught in the vines, but the werewolf tore me out of them. I took Sir Tobias' horse and got away on that. I suspect the three footmen still caught in the vines at the end of the battle surrendered, for the female knight was armed with a longbow. One footman was badly injured and surrendered.

Their tactics were unimpressive; they just charged straight forward into battle with us. The werewolf/dwarf was especially vicious.

End of report.

Need any more info? Have fun.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

So, what forces and equipment do I have at my disposal? And what other responsibilities/enemies do I have to deal with?

Also, a few questions for the Overseer Vahrys:

You say that the male human knight was killed by a footman and that Sir Tobias killed the dwarf. Did you see them downed in an obviously fatal manner (decapitated or otherwise brought to -10 in a single blow)? Or did your soldiers take the time to make sure they weren't coming back?

The female knight was armed with a longbow--was that her primary armament or did she exhibit melee capabilities.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Hmmmm.

"1 3rd level mounted priest, 2 2nd level mounted fighters, and 6 1st level warriors on foot. All carry flails."

That's not much to work with.

The enemies of Hextor clearly can wipe out a Fist. The werewolf is very concerning, he is doubtless very powerful. The dire bat is also worrying as these unbelievers will have superior maneuverabity and reconaissance. We must therefore assume that they will win every battle with a Fist and avoid battles where they are obviously outnumbered. It is also safe to assume that their superiority with magic will also win them every battle and they will be fresh after every fight. It is a given that the entangle spell will be used at every opportunity and we must assume that our Fists will not be able to shake off the effects.

Finally, given the presence of such magic, it is safe to assume that the old woman is more than she appears. It is possible that she might simply be some old biddy. But old biddies do not normally consort with werewolves.

I don't think we'll be able to pull this off without some sacrifices.

1) remove their ability to recuperate.

We can not permit the knights and the lancanthropic dwarf to be our main targets. They have at least one false cleric and a nature priest. These must be our priorities. We will expend 400 gold pieces on a Fist and purchase shortbows. Our first target will be the pagan cleric of Cuthbert. Our wariors will be ordered to fire no less than two volleys at the priest. If they are in melee of any of the interlopers they may then drop their bows and use their flails. If not they are then to keep firing on the priest should he live or move on to the dire bat -- NOT ITS HALFLING RIDER! We want to pint these cretins down.

2) Remove the knight as a factor.

The first spell our Blessed Priest of Hextor should cast is cause fear ... on the charging knight's horse. That should occupy him for some brief time.

3) Harrass the werewolf

The next spells our priest should cast are summons. We must surround the werewolf. He doubtless will survive the attack of so many minor foes, but we merely want to harrass him or at least flank him when he comes into melee.

4) Call in support.

We will have two other Fists. One to the left and one to the right. Both will be a 15 minute's run by foot away. When (not if) the battle looks lost, our soldiers will be given orders to break to the left or to the right. We must assume they will get somewhat lost on the way to their brother Fists, but that is not relevant. As long as an attack from another fist comes within one hour of the inital battle, the interlopers will have likely used their best spells and, ideally, one of their healers will have died. Given that they will have two fights to go after the first one, they will drop from simple attrition. Our targets will be the same as before: Cleric, Dire Bat, druid. Druids are not as flexible healers as clerics and we need their air support elminiated if we are to even hope of having superior intelligence.

 

[Sabaron]

Elder Basilisk: The other duty you have in the area is winning the good will of the people. For the moment, the head boss' (you don't know exactly who he is) way of achieving that is passing out discount healing and ordering Fists to hunt bandits. You have a few Fists of Hextor at your disposal (the number varies based on current circumstances), and can call upon other members of the church if needed (NPCs of up to 5th level or so).

From Overseer Vahrys: "The knight and dwarf are assuredly dead. The knight was under the influence of my paralysis spell, and the footman had plenty of time to line up his shot (coup de grace). The werewolf returned to dwarf form upon being charged by Sir Tobias' enchanted lance. This only occurs when a lycanthrope is dead. The woman knight did not use her longbow except to pick off stragglers in the vines. She mostly charged foes with her lance, but dropped it when she duelled Sir Tobias, relying on her longsword for that fight.

Biggus Geekus: Your clever mind does honor to Hextor. His only qualm is that you failed to note the death of the lycanthrope and knight. Unfortunately, self-styled "heroes" of this sort tend to acquire reinforcements after suffering losses of this magnitude.

One more thing which I have learned from Overseer Vahrys in the meantime:

The dwarf was wearing armor when he changed. A breastplate, in fact. His party seemed quite surprised when he transformed, and when Sir Tobias suggested a temporary alliance to deal with the werebeast, the female knight seemed amenable. The rest of the adventurers did not, however, and continued to tear into our forces.

Side note: Yes, this sounds pretty lethal, and no doubt some of these suggestions (definately Biggus') are even more lethal. However, I have little pity for the PCs in this case, as they launched an unprovoked attack on a powerful organization, and then allowed enemies to escape. Imagine how much harder it would be for the villain if all you knew is "We sent three Fists to the city of Brakkis. None came back." Versimilitude is the key here, which is why the Church would also appreciate cost-saving measures (a fully equipped Knight of Hextor costs roughly 5,000 gp, much of that tied up in the plate barding of their horses).

 

[MaxKaladin]

So, what forces and equipment do I have at my disposal? And what other responsibilities/enemies do I have to deal with?

Ditto. That's going to have a lot to do with it.

A couple of ideas though:

The clerics can cast 1st and 2nd level spells. Good choices might be...

Random Action on spellcasters. Perhaps they might use some of their devastating spells on their own party.
Hold Person on spellcasters to get them out of the fight. Might be interesting to cast this on the bat...
Cause Fear on mounts to cause mounted warriors trouble.
Summon Monster to bolster your numbers and to summon a flying creature to attack the bat.
Bless your own troops.
Silence to neutralize the casters.

A sneaky thing to do might be to break up two or more fists and disguise the clerics in charge of all but one of the fists as mounted knights or footmen. This may throw off the enemy and allow you to surprise them with more spellpower than they anticipated. Use the rest of the fists as a reserve under the mounted knights. Have them concealed at a distance and summon them by some signal when the enemy is met. Hopefully, if the initial force loses or must flee, the reserves will catch the enemy unaware or in pursuit of the initial force.

If possible, I might hire some local mercenaries and equip them with slings to provide missile support to the fists. If it is necessary to arm them better, use daggers or clubs and buy shields. Don't expect them to melee, just do missile fire. Since the unbelievers will undoubtedly believe the worst of us, a sneaky trick would be to disguise the slingers as slaves or captives of some sort that the fist is guarding. When they mount a rescue, they find themselves outnumbered by the addition of the people they thought to rescue to their foes. If the climate is cold enough to justify even captives being in heavy clothing, one might even try this with footmen wrapped in robes of some sort.

I'd look for other ways to lure them into combat with a force stronger somehow than they thought they were tangling with. After all, we don't know where they are and they seem to have the mobility to evade a fight they don't want. Therefore, we have to make them come to us.

 

[MaxKaladin]

Elder Basilisk: The other duty you have in the area is winning the good will of the people. For the moment, the head boss' (you don't know exactly who he is) way of achieving that is passing out discount healing and ordering Fists to hunt bandits. You have a few Fists of Hextor at your disposal (the number varies based on current circumstances), and can call upon other members of the church if needed (NPCs of up to 5th level or so).

BINGO!

Put the word out that there are dangerous bandits operating in the area and give the description of the surviving PCs. Offer an appropriate reward for information about their whereabouts. Then launch an attack on them when they're not prepared. Preferably when they're asleep!

It might be necessary to call in those higher level NPCs if the enemy causes too much trouble in the meantime.

 

[Sabaron]

Grandmaster Krakos suggests to Max Kaladin that he should get some more field experience. Preferably in the clerical wing of the organization

Why?

Spell choices are excellent. Currently, the standard issue spell choices are: Bane (Disrupt enemy morale) Cure light wounds (Hextorites convert to Inflict by default), Obscuring Mist (For those quick getaways and dealing with enemy archers), Magic Weapon (War Domain spell. Other domain is Law.), Hold Person, Cure Moderate Wounds and Calm Emotions (Domain spell, knocks enemies out of combat and dwarf barbarians out of their rage).

Your choices are markedly better, and will be adopted by Hextorites in the field.

However, your melee and ranged tactics are a mixed bag. Disguising our clerics as mere footmen is an excellent suggestion, though it deprives them of the ability to flee if necessary. The sling idea is not so good. Sling bullets will bounce off the armored hides of our enemy like nothing, and the mercenaries will be simply ridden down by the female knight (a favorite tactic of hers).

As far as the bandit idea goes, it has some merit, but not enough to use. No one will believe that a cleric of St. Cuthbert has turned to banditry. In addition, bandits rarely prance around in full plate armor on heavy warhorses.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

I'm assuming that I'm the real LE church of Hextor not some simpering LN tinged branch.

Now, it appears that we have a problem. Our known enemies include a priest of St. Cuthbert, an old woman of unknown capabilities, a female knight, and a female halfling druidess. Judging from my knowledge of adventurers, however, they will probably soon be joined by more adventurers--whose capabilities we cannot assess at the moment. They appear to be hostile to our intentions in the town--with the possible exception of the female knight whose acceptance of a temporary alliance against the obvious common threat of the werewolf in their party indicates a mental toughness that, given the proper encouragement, might develop into usefulness to our cause.

We need to develop a considered response to this that will support both our long term and our short-term goals. We need to speed our gaining of the trust of the populace to levels that support an full scale implication of Hextor's law. So, I plan on calling on some support to implement some of the following plans.

Needed additional personel--an arcanist capable of casting 3rd circle spells including suggestion. A special operative skilled in the arts of disguise and impersonation, 2 fists full of overambitious, incompetent, or dubiously loyal knights who won't be missed.

Synopsis: Frame the adventurers for banditry and/or collusion with the bandits, demonstrate the inability of local law enforcement and our forces (under their current restrictions) to deal with the problem. I will then persuade the authorities that the only way to deal with the bandit problem is to allow us to implement martial law and solve their problems for them.

The frame up:
1. Sow suspicion. Special operative disguises himself as a member of the party--suggest the old woman, the druid, or the new member and meets with known underworld figures or bandits. We arrange for a gossip or informer to observe the meeting.

2. We need some verifying details. Arrange for one of the party members--surely one of them will be given to enjoying the seedier side of life and will be perpetually out of money. Have the special operative disguise himself as that party member and take out a large loan from a local loan shark. When the loan shark attempts to collect, it is likely to result in violence--which will tend to confirm the image of them we're presenting to the town.

2b. More corroberating evidence. Find a hot tempered member of the party--I'm sure there will be one. Wait until he's drunk a fair amount--adventurers aren't noted for their temperance. Then suggest to a local pickpocket or good-for-nothing that it would be the right time to steal his gold. With luck, the pickpocket will be noticed and dealt with. . . harshly. The more violent and unpredictable a reputation the adventurers aquire, the easier it will be to accomplish our goals.

2c. It might stretch credibility to immediately suggest that a cleric of St. Cuthbert is in league with bandits. However, if it is properly presented, we might convince people of it. If he doesn't serve in any of the community's places of worship, we can stir up rivalry between him and the established clerics. If he does, a well timed suggestion to one of the young women (or young boys) he deals with might place him in a compromising situation. It doesn't matter if he does anything then; simply being seen would create rumors and suspicion. We could then plant symbols of Syrull or Iuz in his quarters where they might be found by cleaners. Or, if it became necessary, use illusions or our special operative to actually allow people to see him committing a crime.

2d. After killing bandits, take some of their loot--the more recognizable the better. Arrange for a local fence (or our special operative disguised as a local fence) to sell it to the adventurers--surely one of them will be willing to buy cheap goods no questions asked--and then manuever the owner into describing the stolen object and casually inform him/her that it was seen in town. The adventurers will probably have an explanation but it will still create suspicion and bad feelings.

3. Cause trouble between the druid and the community. Many communities place bounties on wolves or other beasts that prey on livestock. Overhunt them and then make sure the druid finds out the balance of nature is being disturbed. When the druid objects to this, emphasize the danger of the livestock--either by summoning fiendish wolves in the night to attack livestock (preferably those of our enemies in the community although we might occasionally cause cosmetic damage to our allies in the communities too so that it isn't obvious that we're behind the attacks) or only verbally through aour agent disguised as a farmer.

3b. Alternately, we could instigate a number of attacks by wild animals and then suggest that the proper way to deal with it would be a bounty on wolves or whatever pest of the week is appropriate. Tree huggers can be counted on to object to such things and if handled properly, that should drive a wedge between her and the community.

4. The adventurers seem to have a violent opposition to us. So send one of the sacrificial fists to attack some bandits and then leak their location to the party--or if the party is not likely to ambush them while they're pursuing bandits, arrange for the sacrificial fists to encounter the party on their way back from fighting bandits--preferably with bandits who will be allowed to escape in the inevitably ensuing confrontation.

5. With the adventurers destroying 20-40% of our forces in the region, we should have demonstrated to the community that it is necessary to bring in more forces. At that point, we convince them to agree to allow the full occupation force in the area.

6. Thereafter, we can either hunt down the adventurers with elite forces (I would suggest an arcanist with lots of area effect spells, a large force of elite knights, several priests focussed on spells to effect the weak of mind, and a large force of footment enhanced with the blessings and Recitations of Hextor). Or we could let them go, use them as a mechanism to dispose of disloyal or unwanted elements in our organization and use them as justification for further policies we want to implement. During this process, we could potentially recruit tough minded members of the adventuring party who are distressed by the depravity of their companions. Although I wouldn't give us more than a 50% chance, we might be able to recruit the female knight or some others. (We should be careful not to risk anything we care about in our recruitment attempts however--it doesn't have a very high probability of success.)