Looking for ideas for this encounter

[darni]

The party I DM for is travelling through an arctic area, and looking for interesting encounters I found this amazing monster, the Ijiraq (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/bestiary4/ijiraq.html). It looks interesting both crunch-wise and fluff-wise, so I'm looking for interesting ideas for an encounter with them (may be one or many. The bestiary entry says "solitary", but an ijiraq tribe could be interesting and is more inline with the original mythology).

So, my goals for the encounter are the following:

The PCs don't know about the ijiraq, they're in this arctic desert looking for some ancient treasure.
The ijiraq hasn't heard of the PCs either, they're just another humanoid.
As a guardian, the ijiraq just want to drive the PCs away from her territory. She isn't trying to kill them (and she's probably too weak for that)
As the fluff says, this creature doesn't want to be seen, so I'd like to use indirect tactics.
I don't have set expectations about the outcome of the encounter. I'm ok with the PCs finally killing her, or ending up talking to her (I have some useful clues from the campaign that they can get, and even a sidequest), or giving up and trying to find another way (they can find other ways to find those clues)


Feel free to start commenting ideas at this point. I'm writing below some stuff that I've already been thinking in, and some details about the PCs

My group consists of a CN dwarf fighter (solid melee damage), a NG human cleric of Sarenrae (healer+buffs oriented), a CG elf sorceress (mostly attack oriented) and a NG human ranger (archery oriented, favored enemies undead and animals), plus a leopard animal companion and a weasel familiar. All level 13. They are not murder hobos, so they won't chase too much a fleeing enemy (the dwarf might try, but he's the one with less mobility) unless they think it is a future danger for them or other people (or unless the enemy has/steals something they want). They also tend to accept to talk with opponents if they offer to do so.


I imagine that the creature can cover a really large area while scouting. with CL14 and dimension door at will she can move at 100mph!
I think it's in a good position to defend itself and stay away from dangerous range with dimension door and fly (even when the PCs have similar capabilities). I imagine that she might go away as soon as she's hurt and not come back until she's fully healed (she has 3 ccw/day so it can manage some healing)
And it should be able to get close to the PCs using stealth+hide in plain sight (not guaranteed, some of my PCs have amazing Perception bonuses)
Hallucinatory terrain at will. I'm pretty sure there's some really interesting stuff to do with that
I could add 3 or 4 levels of druid to the creature (or the leader, if I use a tribe), to put it in a closer CR to the PCs and give it a few extra options
The PCs depends a lot on the ranger to find food and find the way. If she gets affected by the -20 penalty from the ijiraq gaze, it would be significant; not death-significant because they can teleport away to a city, or abandon the quest if they are really hungry or lost, but it would really be a setback.
The PCs aren't very well equipped for the environment. They just bought some cold outfits, furs, and skis+cleats+snow shoes, and a few rations, but other than casting endure elements daily they are using mostly mundane equipment to handle this.


So, what would you do if you were this ijiraq to make things interesting?

[Geddy2112]

An Ijiraq is neither foolish nor stupid, so even if they wanted the party to leave, they know fighting them headon is not the way to beat them. It would probably use hallucinatory terrain to steer the party in the wrong direction-making them go around in circles or get lost, or perhaps head back the way they came.A hit and run disorenting gaze is also a pretty solid plan for this-blink away with dimensional door after you do it. great for a party member going to forage for food or whatever. Ensure there is always ice or snow so it can hide in plain sight. Be careful to not overuse hallucinatory terrain as the party will start detecting magic and interacting with everything. Make the terrain convincing enough to not be considered strange but effective enough to mislead the party.

If the Ijiraq has to fight, it would probably use hallucinatory terrain to maneuver the party into an area where control winds, sleet storm, and ice storm can do major damage and control the party. It can always blink away and cure critical wounds, and using flight can stop a lot of damage.

If it cannot fight, or knows it is beat, it would probably try to help the party get on with their quest and leave. Maybe in exchange for promising to tell others never to come to the desert, or promising to leave. Maybe it would even dimensional door them to the place they are going?

[Eox]

Killing the Ijiraq ought to attract the attention of some of the similar, scarier locals. (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/bestiary2/wendigo.html#wendigo)

[darni]

Killing the Ijiraq ought to attract the attention of some of the similar, scarier locals. (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/bestiary2/wendigo.html#wendigo)

I was thinking of a Wendigo for a later encounter but I haven't thought of the similarity. I may play with this (seeing the Ijiraq and making a very bad knowledge(planes) roll could make them mistake one for the other). Thanks!

[darni]

An Ijiraq is neither foolish nor stupid, so even if they wanted the party to leave, they know fighting them headon is not the way to beat them. It would probably use hallucinatory terrain to steer the party in the wrong direction-making them go around in circles or get lost, or perhaps head back the way they came.
(...)
Be careful to not overuse hallucinatory terrain as the party will start detecting magic and interacting with everything. Make the terrain convincing enough to not be considered strange but effective enough to mislead the party.


That's awesome, also I'm a bit stuck with how to use it (the spell description is a bit vague to me). If I can cast it at will, could I build an illusory faraway mountain and move it while they sleep? Could I create a deep ice crack that looks impassable (I know the PCs can fly over it, but if this work it could be the creature's first attempt if it doesn't know they fly)? Could I create a forest with the moss on the wrong (south) side? In that case, how much "interaction" is needed to suspect an illusion? I'm not sure what will work best here


A hit and run disorenting gaze is also a pretty solid plan for this-blink away with dimensional door after you do it. great for a party member going to forage for food or whatever. Ensure there is always ice or snow so it can hide in plain sight.

It's pure snow/glacier/frozen lake terrain so that should be no issue. I have some doubts here about this disorienting attack; I'm not sure if just having "gaze" in the name makes it a "gaze" attack subject to all rules (blindfolds make you immune, averting gaze, etc). And in that case, can the ijiraq gaze someone while hiding in plain sight? or it has to show itself?



If the Ijiraq has to fight, it would probably use hallucinatory terrain to maneuver the party into an area where control winds, sleet storm, and ice storm can do major damage and control the party. It can always blink away and cure critical wounds, and using flight can stop a lot of damage.


Flight can be helpful but if she uses a windstorm she's negating this advantage both for her and the party. Ice storm has limited damage effects (5d6 at best, which is not very serious for L13 characters), so I'm looking for an alternate damage source (perhaps from the druid levels). In any case I'm assume that she will be outgunned in a facedown (and she'll probably know it)



If it cannot fight, or knows it is beat, it would probably try to help the party get on with their quest and leave. Maybe in exchange for promising to tell others never to come to the desert, or promising to leave. Maybe it would even dimensional door them to the place they are going?


I have thought of a useful sidequest (recovering some stolen item that was stolen from her, actually by the guy that hid the treasure they are looking for). The part of carrying them through dimensional door is a nice addition. Thanks again!

These are amazing, keep them coming :)

[Geddy2112]

That's awesome, also I'm a bit stuck with how to use it (the spell description is a bit vague to me). If I can cast it at will, could I build an illusory faraway mountain and move it while they sleep? Could I create a deep ice crack that looks impassable (I know the PCs can fly over it, but if this work it could be the creature's first attempt if it doesn't know they fly)? Could I create a forest with the moss on the wrong (south) side? In that case, how much "interaction" is needed to suspect an illusion? I'm not sure what will work best here
You could do all of those things, but keep the area and casting time in mind. It can affect 1 30ft cube per level, so 14, so probably not going to make a mountain, but a deep ice crack is good, as are trees that have moss on the wrong side. Also, it takes 10 minutes a pop, but it last 2 hours/level so 28 hours once established. Once cast, it can't be moved but ended or another illusion cast. The key is to make things that look very very normal. Ice cracks and other abnormal things will cause PC's to investigate(maybe) and then get will saves. You can selectively move the PC's just by telling them "there is a thicket of trees here" or "a stream there" etc etc etc. If you do it really well, the PC's won't ever know something is up.

The strength of an illusion depends on how the DM interprets "interaction" with the illusion. Since you are the DM, this is in your favor. The rules say creatures do not get a save unless they study it or carefully interact with it. If it is a figment or phantasm the illusion remains as an outline.
I would say interaction/study takes at least a round worth of effort.

Other things to note is that proof an illusion is not real automatically reveals it to be illusion. What this proof is is up to you. A deer standing half in a tree created by hallucinatory terrain is probably good proof, but if the deer runs through the woods and it appears the deer actually ran through a tree(as opposed to running through the trees) then maybe not proof. Note that hallucinatory terrain cannot hide structures, equipment, or creatures within the terrain, so be careful not to leave obvious proof.

Also, illusions breakdown the minute one party member passes the save. If they disbelieve and communicates it to others, its a fresh save with a +4.


It's pure snow/glacier/frozen lake terrain so that should be no issue. I have some doubts here about this disorienting attack; I'm not sure if just having "gaze" in the name makes it a "gaze" attack subject to all rules (blindfolds make you immune, averting gaze, etc). And in that case, can the ijiraq gaze someone while hiding in plain sight? or it has to show itself?RAW this is not a gaze attack, and so long as the Ijiraq is in range it can use this, even if hiding. It is also a supernatural ability, so no verbal or somatic components that PC's would notice. They will notice the fort save though.


Flight can be helpful but if she uses a windstorm she's negating this advantage both for her and the party. Ice storm has limited damage effects (5d6 at best, which is not very serious for L13 characters), so I'm looking for an alternate damage source (perhaps from the druid levels). In any case I'm assume that she will be outgunned in a facedown (and she'll probably know it)
These spells are not for damage but area control if the Ijiraq could get them into unfavorable terrain/grouping. Ideally, the Ijiraq would hunt like any good predator- separate the weak from the pack and pick them off one by one. You could have it summon animals to fight as well, or gather other local fey.


Killing the Ijiraq ought to attract the attention of some of the similar, scarier locals. (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/bestiary2/wendigo.html#wendigo)
+1 to this, Wendigos are totally metal