Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
[Wulf's BARAKUS FOLLIES] TPK with malice aforethought?
Just another after action report for those of you who may be following the Lost City of Barkus Campaign I am running. At this point the party is all 5th level, except for the paladin, who is 4th level (damn vampires...)
So the players have the Sword of Kell, but they are missing one little magic token they need to fully activate the Sword's power to destroy the evil lich.
They've scoured the whole dungeon and there's only one place it could be: on level 4, which they've seen, but retreated from quickly, due to a hydra they weren't quite ready for yet. This area is also crawling with spiders and drow.
They head down by a back way, not really realizing they were on the same level as the hydra and the drow, and they encounter a trio of abyssal orcs. In the course of this fight, they draw attention from the rest of the level, which included 12 ghouls, a ghast, and the Ghoul Lord.
There is a door that separates them from the drow portion of the level, and the drow have arcane locked that door, as they fear the ghoul lord. The drow also know that the ghoul lord has the 4th token. And the drow WANT that token for their own purposes.
The PCs barely manage to overcome the orcs and the ghouls-- but in their fighting retreat, they have to leave their fallen rogue comrade unconscious on the floor. As the tunnel was really too tight to bring all his troops to bear, I decided the Ghoul Lord would probably risk taking a round to devour the fallen rogue. The party was blanketed in magical darkness but they could hear the unmistakable sounds of their buddy's skull and brains gettin' chowed down on like a soft-boiled egg.
Ahhh.... Good times, good times...
But, the party prevailed. Healed up, but pretty much out of spells, and down one party member.
They loot their fallen foes, and recover a magic crown from the ghoul lord. They don't know what it does, yet. (It ain't good.)
By fortuitous circumstance, they head north first-- bypassing the throne room of the Ghoul Lord (where the token is just sitting in a lockbox under his throne) and going straight to the door that separates the drow from the ghouls.
Confronting an arcane locked door, down one member, and short on spells, they have no choice but to use their last knock scroll on the door and open it up, right away.
Inside they see four drow warriors standing guard. (Another had already run to warn the priestess).
There is parlay. Parlay! For months now, I have been beating my players up over the fact that they never talk with any of the monsters. Had they rushed in, they could easily have overwhelmed the four drow fighters, with time to spare.
But this time they choose to parlay.
The drow suggest they speak with their priestess. She arrives in about a minute with all of her warriors-- a 6th level drow priestess, a 5th level drow mage, and about a dozen 1st level fighters.
Unbeknownst to the party, there's also two 4th level rogues that she has set to watch... and wait.
The priestess knows the party must be tough to have bested the ghoul king, so she feels them out a bit. Who are they and why are they here?
The party... oh man... the party tells them they are down here searching for the magic token.
So they killed the ghoul lord but they don't have it.
She gambles big.
"Well," she suggests, "the Hydra has this thing you seek. We will allow you to pass through our territory, in exchange for the Ghoul Lord's magic crown."
A 100% win-win for her. This is really too good to be true.
The party, at first, agrees FLAT OUT.
Unfortunately, there's a bit of inter-party negotiation. The priestess, who really had total faith in the stupidity of the surface worlders, begins to fear she might have over-reached.
"Ahhh, in every bargain, we expect some negotiation. Perhaps," she suggests sweetly and helpfully, "I have over-reached. If you will give us the crown, we will go with you and help you kill the hydra."
Ultimately, she just wants to draw the party into her territory and away from the ghoul lord's lair because she knows the magic token is still down there. She can just send her rogues in to get it.
We had two players absent last night so we had to call the game. It was too big a decision for them to make without everyone present. Most pointedly, nobody was sure how the paladin would take to it.
As it stood last night, the group thought it would be best if the paladin stayed behind, alone, with the crown, to ensure that the drow could be trusted. The rest of the party was going to go after the hydra, with the drow to "help."
The paladin will be left alone with two drow rogues, and the other three party members are going to go off in the company of over a dozen drow.
I really see two options:
TPK or slavery.
Just another after action report for those of you who may be following the Lost City of Barkus Campaign I am running. At this point the party is all 5th level, except for the paladin, who is 4th level (damn vampires...)
So the players have the Sword of Kell, but they are missing one little magic token they need to fully activate the Sword's power to destroy the evil lich.
They've scoured the whole dungeon and there's only one place it could be: on level 4, which they've seen, but retreated from quickly, due to a hydra they weren't quite ready for yet. This area is also crawling with spiders and drow.
They head down by a back way, not really realizing they were on the same level as the hydra and the drow, and they encounter a trio of abyssal orcs. In the course of this fight, they draw attention from the rest of the level, which included 12 ghouls, a ghast, and the Ghoul Lord.
There is a door that separates them from the drow portion of the level, and the drow have arcane locked that door, as they fear the ghoul lord. The drow also know that the ghoul lord has the 4th token. And the drow WANT that token for their own purposes.
The PCs barely manage to overcome the orcs and the ghouls-- but in their fighting retreat, they have to leave their fallen rogue comrade unconscious on the floor. As the tunnel was really too tight to bring all his troops to bear, I decided the Ghoul Lord would probably risk taking a round to devour the fallen rogue. The party was blanketed in magical darkness but they could hear the unmistakable sounds of their buddy's skull and brains gettin' chowed down on like a soft-boiled egg.
Ahhh.... Good times, good times...
But, the party prevailed. Healed up, but pretty much out of spells, and down one party member.
They loot their fallen foes, and recover a magic crown from the ghoul lord. They don't know what it does, yet. (It ain't good.)
By fortuitous circumstance, they head north first-- bypassing the throne room of the Ghoul Lord (where the token is just sitting in a lockbox under his throne) and going straight to the door that separates the drow from the ghouls.
Confronting an arcane locked door, down one member, and short on spells, they have no choice but to use their last knock scroll on the door and open it up, right away.
Inside they see four drow warriors standing guard. (Another had already run to warn the priestess).
There is parlay. Parlay! For months now, I have been beating my players up over the fact that they never talk with any of the monsters. Had they rushed in, they could easily have overwhelmed the four drow fighters, with time to spare.
But this time they choose to parlay.
The drow suggest they speak with their priestess. She arrives in about a minute with all of her warriors-- a 6th level drow priestess, a 5th level drow mage, and about a dozen 1st level fighters.
Unbeknownst to the party, there's also two 4th level rogues that she has set to watch... and wait.
The priestess knows the party must be tough to have bested the ghoul king, so she feels them out a bit. Who are they and why are they here?
The party... oh man... the party tells them they are down here searching for the magic token.
So they killed the ghoul lord but they don't have it.
She gambles big.
"Well," she suggests, "the Hydra has this thing you seek. We will allow you to pass through our territory, in exchange for the Ghoul Lord's magic crown."
A 100% win-win for her. This is really too good to be true.
The party, at first, agrees FLAT OUT.
Unfortunately, there's a bit of inter-party negotiation. The priestess, who really had total faith in the stupidity of the surface worlders, begins to fear she might have over-reached.
"Ahhh, in every bargain, we expect some negotiation. Perhaps," she suggests sweetly and helpfully, "I have over-reached. If you will give us the crown, we will go with you and help you kill the hydra."
Ultimately, she just wants to draw the party into her territory and away from the ghoul lord's lair because she knows the magic token is still down there. She can just send her rogues in to get it.
We had two players absent last night so we had to call the game. It was too big a decision for them to make without everyone present. Most pointedly, nobody was sure how the paladin would take to it.
As it stood last night, the group thought it would be best if the paladin stayed behind, alone, with the crown, to ensure that the drow could be trusted. The rest of the party was going to go after the hydra, with the drow to "help."
The paladin will be left alone with two drow rogues, and the other three party members are going to go off in the company of over a dozen drow.
I really see two options:
TPK or slavery.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
