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Message: <blockquote data-quote="leporidae" data-source="post: 2481420" data-attributes="member: 19624">The setting was a newly built small town deep in monster-infested wilderness. What I had planned as a minor event - the NPC LG Cleric of the third largest church in town planned a protest rally against a small tax increase - shifted the entire direction of the campaign. Her plan was to attract members for her church, as well as put some pressure on the party, who had become important figures in the other churches and town in general. Several of the PCs, especially the CG cleric/bard, join the rally, get carried away by the rhetoric, and begin to call for a revolution. They take over the rally, transform the crown into an angry mob and lead a charge on the guard barracks. A very surprising outcome to me considering that 80% of the city guards were co-religionists of the cleric/bard, and the party's and townsfolk's prior complaint with the guards was that they were too cautious, and were refusing to patrol until they received reinforcements (which the tax increase was going to finance in part).The guards fire a few warning shots over the cleric/bard's head as he leads the mob against the stone keep (hastily built, and in no shape to resist a determined attack even with crude siege tools) where they live with their families. I think this through for several minutes to make sure I'm not just killing a character for doing something unexpected, but the guard's best option is to take the cleric/bard out permanently and quickly. His charisma is holding the mob together, in addition to the 'bard bonus' to combat, and sense of personal betrayal. The first volley of 25 heavy crossbow bolts is entirely targeted at him, 15 hit and make a messy end for a 5th level character.In a sense, it was a risky tactic for the guards, if any of the other PCs had been willing to take up the cleric/bard's banner and lead the charge the mob would have been even more enraged. But they knew the guards would have time for at least one more concentrated volley before they reached the walls, and the other PCs dived for cover. Without a leader the mob fled as soon as the guards started firing at them.That night the guards and many of the leading citizens slipped out of town, leaving the party in total control, and me throwing out several pages of future plans.</blockquote>

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