Anonomuss
2014-01-26, 09:08 AM
Hey there Playgrounders,
I've recently been running a Rise of the Runelords game with some friends, and I've run into a situation that I'd really appreciate some help with/advice on.
If any of my players have happened upon this, I would appreciate you not reading on. As to be expected, Spoilers Follow.
The group is sort of an odd composition for the adventure. The party composition is as follows:
-A Neutral Good Halfling Barbarian, from the frozen north. ("I've always wanted to try one")
-A Chaotic Good Human Warblade, a female heir to a noble house who faked her death to avoid an arranged marriage into House Jeggare, who's now posing as a male travelling blade.
-A Neutral Gnome Alchemist, a travelling salesman and potionsmaker. ("No I don't have love potions, what I do have are some reasonably priced aphrodisiacs.)
-A Half-Elf(Drow) Mysterious Stranger Gunslinger. ("Let's see if I can charge full price for my ammunition on our expenses.")
-A Neutral Evil Human Ninja, who's sort of a lay priest for an Asmodean sect, who was to attend the consecration of the temple. ("Everyone can enjoy a good consecration"). [And no, he's not stupid evil, he's just part of a "Might is Right" Sect]
Given that they were all sort of thrown into the events of the adventure, while they're not completely indifferent to the plight of the people of the town, they're less than attached to the fate of the town as of yet. They looked for, and received compensation and expenses for their part in the defense of the town.
Since they're not particularly attached to the town, I had the Mercantile Guild hire them to reassure the public, that even though Hemlock has headed south to get reinforcements for the town, everyone is safe and the town is still open for business. As part of this they were expected to help people with anything the diminished town guard couldn't handle, and to keep the people of the town calm.
That afternoon, Bethana Corwin approached them and informed them of Ameiko's disappearance. They had quite an interesting response to the discovery of Tsuto's note.
Halfling: So we're going to kill him then.
Ninja: I don't quite understand your thinking, I mean Ameiko could have just stayed talking with him.
Halfling: No, not Tsuto, his father.
Alchemist: I don't think I follow you.
Warblade: I think we should at least investigate the Glassworks first.
And so off they went to investigate the Glassworks. The shuttered windows and locked doors making them instantly suspicious. The ninja climbed on the roof and looked within, making out the goblins therein, and more than one dead body. Having noticed that much, the halfling paid a gold piece to a suspicious bystander to go and fetch Shalelu, thinking that they could use a helping hand. Meanwhile, the party enlarged the Warblade with a potion the Alchemist had made, and she bashed the door in.
With this, the fight in the furnace room commenced, and the goblins turned to attack as the Ninja broke through some of the glass domes and rained down fire from above. Not long thereafter, the majority of their numbers eliminated, the two last goblins fled down towards the basement. The Alchemist, the closest to the basement after the goblins fled, heard them speaking with another deeper voiced individual.
At this point, whether it was fatigue (We started quite late in the day, due to schedules) or just misjudgment on their part, they decided not to pursue, and instead investigate the rest of the ground floor, reasoning that they might as well wait for Shalelu to arrive to clear up the last few goblins. And, since it was growing late, and one of our members wasn't feeling well.
My question is this, what does Tsuto do? By the module, he should take the fight to the PCs, but it doesn't really seem to make sense for him to do so right now. There's five of the "Heroes of Sandpoint" sitting upstairs in the glassworks, with full view of the goblins and of his father's gruesome corpse.
His aims as far as I see them are:
-Prepare the town for Nualia's attack (In Progress)
-Get revenge on his father (Completed)
-Try to Recruit his sister to join them (In Progress)
Going up to fight the Heroes of Sandpoint doesn't seem like it helps those goals all that much, unless he can kill them all. While he's cocky, I don't think he's that cocky, especially since the goblins told him they had a giant with them. (Enlarged Warblade, killed about four of them single-handed), and killed 8 of them without "Even hurtin' em boss".
What I was considering was, if they're just sitting up there, he'd fall back on his backup plan, get Ameiko to Thistletop. The major problem I see with this, is, unless the party happen to track him all the way there, they lose out on all the important plot information that defeating him brings. So, instead, I was thinking of an alternate way to resolve the situation.
Have him head upstairs and talk to the players, I was thinking something along the lines of
"This is really embarrassing, but I was just smuggling some things through the secret tunnels below this place when this goblin ran straight into it." Throws goblin corpse on the ground (One killed earlier by Ameiko as they swarmed her. "I figured they had to be running from something, so I thought I'd come clean. I really need to get these items to where they've got to go, or the Scarzni will break my knees. Please, can we keep this quiet, and I'll give you my payment, I'm just really attached to my kneecaps, and I'd rather it stayed that way."
This gives the two remaining goblins time to get Ameiko out of the basement of the glassworks, and possibly gives Tsuto a way out if they fall for it. If they do fall for it, they'll get some of the treasure Tsuto should give them (The pouches of gold dust), and they'll find his journal in a satchel in the smuggler's tunnels (That the goblins have accidentally left behind). If they don't fall for it, they'll get all of his usual treasure, his notes, and have a reason to at least investigate the tunnels. Further, if he delays too long, Shalelu shows up, and reveals who he is. I think it's probably a better way to go about it, because it doesn't immediately turn into a fight.
What does the playground think? Should I stick to the adventure's plans? Is my alternative too harsh? I'd really appreciate any suggestions you could give me, because I'm not quite sure what to do.
I've recently been running a Rise of the Runelords game with some friends, and I've run into a situation that I'd really appreciate some help with/advice on.
If any of my players have happened upon this, I would appreciate you not reading on. As to be expected, Spoilers Follow.
The group is sort of an odd composition for the adventure. The party composition is as follows:
-A Neutral Good Halfling Barbarian, from the frozen north. ("I've always wanted to try one")
-A Chaotic Good Human Warblade, a female heir to a noble house who faked her death to avoid an arranged marriage into House Jeggare, who's now posing as a male travelling blade.
-A Neutral Gnome Alchemist, a travelling salesman and potionsmaker. ("No I don't have love potions, what I do have are some reasonably priced aphrodisiacs.)
-A Half-Elf(Drow) Mysterious Stranger Gunslinger. ("Let's see if I can charge full price for my ammunition on our expenses.")
-A Neutral Evil Human Ninja, who's sort of a lay priest for an Asmodean sect, who was to attend the consecration of the temple. ("Everyone can enjoy a good consecration"). [And no, he's not stupid evil, he's just part of a "Might is Right" Sect]
Given that they were all sort of thrown into the events of the adventure, while they're not completely indifferent to the plight of the people of the town, they're less than attached to the fate of the town as of yet. They looked for, and received compensation and expenses for their part in the defense of the town.
Since they're not particularly attached to the town, I had the Mercantile Guild hire them to reassure the public, that even though Hemlock has headed south to get reinforcements for the town, everyone is safe and the town is still open for business. As part of this they were expected to help people with anything the diminished town guard couldn't handle, and to keep the people of the town calm.
That afternoon, Bethana Corwin approached them and informed them of Ameiko's disappearance. They had quite an interesting response to the discovery of Tsuto's note.
Halfling: So we're going to kill him then.
Ninja: I don't quite understand your thinking, I mean Ameiko could have just stayed talking with him.
Halfling: No, not Tsuto, his father.
Alchemist: I don't think I follow you.
Warblade: I think we should at least investigate the Glassworks first.
And so off they went to investigate the Glassworks. The shuttered windows and locked doors making them instantly suspicious. The ninja climbed on the roof and looked within, making out the goblins therein, and more than one dead body. Having noticed that much, the halfling paid a gold piece to a suspicious bystander to go and fetch Shalelu, thinking that they could use a helping hand. Meanwhile, the party enlarged the Warblade with a potion the Alchemist had made, and she bashed the door in.
With this, the fight in the furnace room commenced, and the goblins turned to attack as the Ninja broke through some of the glass domes and rained down fire from above. Not long thereafter, the majority of their numbers eliminated, the two last goblins fled down towards the basement. The Alchemist, the closest to the basement after the goblins fled, heard them speaking with another deeper voiced individual.
At this point, whether it was fatigue (We started quite late in the day, due to schedules) or just misjudgment on their part, they decided not to pursue, and instead investigate the rest of the ground floor, reasoning that they might as well wait for Shalelu to arrive to clear up the last few goblins. And, since it was growing late, and one of our members wasn't feeling well.
My question is this, what does Tsuto do? By the module, he should take the fight to the PCs, but it doesn't really seem to make sense for him to do so right now. There's five of the "Heroes of Sandpoint" sitting upstairs in the glassworks, with full view of the goblins and of his father's gruesome corpse.
His aims as far as I see them are:
-Prepare the town for Nualia's attack (In Progress)
-Get revenge on his father (Completed)
-Try to Recruit his sister to join them (In Progress)
Going up to fight the Heroes of Sandpoint doesn't seem like it helps those goals all that much, unless he can kill them all. While he's cocky, I don't think he's that cocky, especially since the goblins told him they had a giant with them. (Enlarged Warblade, killed about four of them single-handed), and killed 8 of them without "Even hurtin' em boss".
What I was considering was, if they're just sitting up there, he'd fall back on his backup plan, get Ameiko to Thistletop. The major problem I see with this, is, unless the party happen to track him all the way there, they lose out on all the important plot information that defeating him brings. So, instead, I was thinking of an alternate way to resolve the situation.
Have him head upstairs and talk to the players, I was thinking something along the lines of
"This is really embarrassing, but I was just smuggling some things through the secret tunnels below this place when this goblin ran straight into it." Throws goblin corpse on the ground (One killed earlier by Ameiko as they swarmed her. "I figured they had to be running from something, so I thought I'd come clean. I really need to get these items to where they've got to go, or the Scarzni will break my knees. Please, can we keep this quiet, and I'll give you my payment, I'm just really attached to my kneecaps, and I'd rather it stayed that way."
This gives the two remaining goblins time to get Ameiko out of the basement of the glassworks, and possibly gives Tsuto a way out if they fall for it. If they do fall for it, they'll get some of the treasure Tsuto should give them (The pouches of gold dust), and they'll find his journal in a satchel in the smuggler's tunnels (That the goblins have accidentally left behind). If they don't fall for it, they'll get all of his usual treasure, his notes, and have a reason to at least investigate the tunnels. Further, if he delays too long, Shalelu shows up, and reveals who he is. I think it's probably a better way to go about it, because it doesn't immediately turn into a fight.
What does the playground think? Should I stick to the adventure's plans? Is my alternative too harsh? I'd really appreciate any suggestions you could give me, because I'm not quite sure what to do.