Yeenoghu Fight - How to Run the Beast

[INDYSTAR188]

We're playing Out of the Abyss and my players are in the Labyrinth and just witnessed Yeenoghu defeat a goristro and thought to themselves, "Hey, here's Yeenoghu surrounded by hyena's and gnolls! Let's go fight him!" I'm looking for advice on how to run the encounter and especially the demon lord himself. Should I include the gnolls and hyenas? Two of his legendary actions involve them. Should I stop the players before we game and double down on the whole, "Are you SURE???" thing?

The Setup:

There are three PC's, each level 12; a Barbarian|Fighter, a Blood Hunter, and an Arcana Cleric. They are currently on a ledge, 20-feet above the cavern floor and have not been noticed by any of the gnolls. The cavern encompasses the shore of an underground lake with several tunnels branching off in various directions back into the Labyrinth.

Yeenoghu himself is a CR 24 monster. I believe the module says that he has 20% of his HP gone after fighting the goristro so that would give him approximately 280 HP or so. If left alone he leaves with most of his hyenas and gnolls, leaving behind 8 gnolls and a pack lord (so we know there are at least that many gnolls in the cavern too).

[Randomthom]

Are your players familiar with losing fights? If not then their hubris might be the result of too many easy encounters and they are expecting another such similar encounter. If I were in a harsh mood I'd probably "TPK" them but allow 2/3 of them to wake from unconsciousness soon after to a single gnoll chewing on the 3rd who died, either determined at random or as a result of the combat if it is clear that one shouldn't have survived. I might even select one if I know one of the players isn't happy with their character and would welcome the opportunity to make something fresh.

This might bring back some of the fear factor to the players though it's on you to then create a few encounters that are neither too hard (like this one) or too easy.

[Vaz]

He's a demon prince of savagery. I'd say, as appropriate, give the characters a specific check that they're likely to make to recognise exactly how dangerous a foe they're going up against. And it also depends; do you want the party to survive?

Also, Yeenoghu can teleport, and there's the Initiative 20 Lair Action that can have them DC24 dodge or be restrained and take 27 damage. Not many things enjoy taking 25% damage and stop it from attacking (no such character has Dex as their save either, and the Barbarian doesn't get Danger Sense). He also has a DC17 Fear spell as they're missing a Paladin to take out the Barbarian.

Yeenoghu is one of the simplest demon lords to run; he's a Barbarian, who runs up, and Smashes it in the face with a big +3 mace, but has a few pretty neat tricks. Unless you want to pull your punches, his first action should be pretty much going straight in, pulling all of the melee characters in towards it. As a 3 person party, the 3 Legendary Resistances are going to be pretty annoying - I'd advise having a Legendary Resist burned as well (the Goristro would knock a target prone on its Charge or Hoof attacks if it failed a save, so there's a precedent).

If you're not playing adventurer's league, you could make the Goristro more dangerous - a Ring attached to the horns of the Goristro which grants Haste on the wearer would not only serve to make the Goristro more of the threat by doubling it's actions (ergo, 20% becomes 40%), while providing a neat boost for the party if they investigate that much. The artwork shows the Goristro has rings on its horn, or in it's nose. You could balance that by having the item be too big to be worn, and thus something they need to take the setting's resident magic item crafter some time to unpick the secrets of how it's made, and then have another one made in return.

The problem with this fight and wanting to "pull punches" is that the creatures are there to rip, tear, and kill, and descend to a primal savagery (I have a Blood Hunter Order of the Lycan dedicated to Yeenoghu, so spent some time researching him). There is precedence for the creatures killed to be left lying about ("Carcasses of prey are left to rot in an unnatural display of wasteful slaughter", which I'd take to represent that they're willing to go for a still living creature and return to the dude making death saving throws), so you don't have to worry about dudes in death saves getting torn apart by the adds.

You are also a human being outside of the game - speak to the players, and say that your characters are now level 12, and have a decent enough knowledge about what they're facing, and that it's not just likely that they're going to die if they face it, but stand an extremely good chance, and it might be time to reconsider your actions at the end of last session. Unless any have failed the Madness of course, in which case, they have a 3/5, possibly 4/5 chance of charging straight into battle as per the flaw.

[Falcon X]

A few ideas:

Deus Ex Machina - This is your time to blow the “Jimjar was a god the whole time” thing mentioned in the last chapter. Let them all die, then bring them all back with a one free save. It’ll teach them a lesson while keeping their characters.

The Maze Engine - If they fight and it goes poorly, which it will, and one of the characters decides to flee, have that person promptly find the Maze Engine and supernaturally know that it can turn back time, but at some kind of a cost.
If you want to force this issue, have Yeenaghu knock that player off the ledge, but then they survive the fall.

Slaves - If they loose, maybe Yeenaghu decides to ressurect/permamorph them as gnolls under his control. Now you are an evil party of gnolls on a mission from a demon. Or the players decide to quit. Their choice.
You can have someone save them later if you want. Like Gromph, or DeVir, or Sovereign Basidia.

Distraction - Here comes another demon prince to take a shot at a weakened Yeenaghu. Or maybe some Mind Flayers testing out prototype antimatter rifles. Something like that.

[INDYSTAR188]

Are your players familiar with losing fights? If not then their hubris might be the result of too many easy encounters and they are expecting another such similar encounter. If I were in a harsh mood I'd probably "TPK" them but allow 2/3 of them to wake from unconsciousness soon after to a single gnoll chewing on the 3rd who died, either determined at random or as a result of the combat if it is clear that one shouldn't have survived. I might even select one if I know one of the players isn't happy with their character and would welcome the opportunity to make something fresh.

This might bring back some of the fear factor to the players though it's on you to then create a few encounters that are neither too hard (like this one) or too easy.

They are not especially familiar with losing fights as a group, though they've been petrified and knocked unconscious a number of times. I agree with you, it might make the end-game much more scary and perhaps more enjoyable. I hate to kill PC's after so many months of playing (we are 'supposed' to play twice/month but it's usually once/three weeks).


He's a demon prince of savagery. I'd say, as appropriate, give the characters a specific check that they're likely to make to recognise exactly how dangerous a foe they're going up against. And it also depends; do you want the party to survive?

Also, Yeenoghu can teleport, and there's the Initiative 20 Lair Action that can have them DC24 dodge or be restrained and take 27 damage. Not many things enjoy taking 25% damage and stop it from attacking (no such character has Dex as their save either, and the Barbarian doesn't get Danger Sense). He also has a DC17 Fear spell as they're missing a Paladin to take out the Barbarian.

Yeenoghu is one of the simplest demon lords to run; he's a Barbarian, who runs up, and Smashes it in the face with a big +3 mace, but has a few pretty neat tricks. Unless you want to pull your punches, his first action should be pretty much going straight in, pulling all of the melee characters in towards it. As a 3 person party, the 3 Legendary Resistances are going to be pretty annoying - I'd advise having a Legendary Resist burned as well (the Goristro would knock a target prone on its Charge or Hoof attacks if it failed a save, so there's a precedent).

If you're not playing adventurer's league, you could make the Goristro more dangerous - a Ring attached to the horns of the Goristro which grants Haste on the wearer would not only serve to make the Goristro more of the threat by doubling it's actions (ergo, 20% becomes 40%), while providing a neat boost for the party if they investigate that much. The artwork shows the Goristro has rings on its horn, or in it's nose. You could balance that by having the item be too big to be worn, and thus something they need to take the setting's resident magic item crafter some time to unpick the secrets of how it's made, and then have another one made in return.

We are not playing AL, just a home game. I love this suggestion and will probably do something like this if they DO engage (I'm 90% sure they're going to). I was thinking on it's first turn Yeenoghu would use Spiritual Weapon on the Cleric (who I know will just stay on that ledge, 20-feet above the fray) while having gnolls/hyenas charge the melee PCs. He'd use the lair action, 'Steel Rod' to pin the Blood Hunter and then try to drop the Barbarian (cuz he's the fiercest looking PC). Do you think he would waste time casting spells? INT 15, WIS 24 but known as the 'Beast of Butchery' for a reason...


Deus Ex Machina - This is your time to blow the “Jimjar was a god the whole time” thing mentioned in the last chapter. Let them all die, then bring them all back with a one free save. It’ll teach them a lesson while keeping their characters.

The Maze Engine - If they fight and it goes poorly, which it will, and one of the characters decides to flee, have that person promptly find the Maze Engine and supernaturally know that it can turn back time, but at some kind of a cost.
If you want to force this issue, have Yeenaghu knock that player off the ledge, but then they survive the fall.

Distraction - Here comes another demon prince to take a shot at a weakened Yeenaghu. Or maybe some Mind Flayers testing out prototype antimatter rifles. Something like that.

I'm much more inclined to one of these three. I like the Maze Engine and the Deus Ex Machina in the event it goes completely south (and really how could it not). The PCs left JimJar at camp but since he's a god who cares!? I could use the Distraction, maybe Baphomet comes out of a side tunnel with some minotaurs and engage, then a group of gnolls engage the PCs.

So then the question becomes, should I let the PC's engage with Yeenoghu for a round or two and then *BAM* distraction! OR should I let them engage with Yeenoghu and get wiped... and then use one of the options above.