Goristro vs Hillsfar

[lianightdemon]

I was running the Harried in Hillsford (4th adventure) and my party failed to stop the ritual that summons the Goristro. Since my campaign is not adventurers league and the campaign is continuous the consequences of the pcs actions should effect the area. The adventure doesn't really give much description other than having it vanish from the tomb and a feeling of foreboding.

What should I have the demon do now that it loose in the world. The adventurers are only level 1 and won't be near ready to challenge it, anytime soon. My thoughts were for the demon to wreck the farmsteads then make it way to attack Hillsford, but not sure how damage it could do to the town or if they could even stop it.

Any fun ideas on what the demon should do? How much damage it could do to the surrounding area?

[hymer]

DMing a 3.5 FR campaign that involves Hillsfar, I'd say the city would have little trouble with a goristro. Sure, it might kill some guards and civilians, and wreck some buildings before it gets handled. But the city has withstood the Black Network for a long time, and it is ruled by Maalthiir, an 18th level wizard, who might well decide to bind the goristro to his service. I don't know if he's retired for 4e, of course, but I'm sure the Zhents have been able to throw far worse things than a single Goristro at Hillsfar, and the city is still there and thriving.
The goristro being used by someone with more drive and deliberation than itself is likely worse than a lone, ramapaging goristro in the countryside. Or it could perhaps be drawn to something unfortunate. A buried shrine, perhaps, or some gate.

[AttilatheYeon]

Have it run for presidency 😉

[Unoriginal]

Goristro aren't genius, but they should have enough brain to know they won't accomplish much alone.

They'll probably seek the nearest goblinoid/orc/lizardfolk/bullywug/etc tribe and take over, for starter. Or do it with the local groups of bandits.

[danpit2991]

Goristro aren't genius, but they should have enough brain to know they won't accomplish much alone.

They'll probably seek the nearest goblinoid/orc/lizardfolk/bullywug/etc tribe and take over, for starter. Or do it with the local groups of bandits.

i must agree and it has the benifit of providing you with a BBG and a ready made story arc stop the bandits/orcs/goblins ect that the Goristro is stirring up then defeat it in an epic throwdown i would also have npc's blame the party for allowing it to get loose in the first place

[the_brazenburn]

Wait, can't goristros (like all demons) summon lesser types of demons?

Instead of spending your low levels fighting kobolds and orcs, you'll be dealing with manes and quasits!

[Unoriginal]

Wait, can't goristros (like all demons) summon lesser types of demons?

Instead of spending your low levels fighting kobolds and orcs, you'll be dealing with manes and quasits!

Some Goristros can summon lesser demons, but it's a 1-min-deal.

Of course the Goristro can also have others do rituals to summon more demons, just like how it was summoned in the first place.

[GlenSmash!]

The question to to ask is why was this goristo summoned to this place at this time. What is special about it?

Is it a vanguard to to something even worse?

[Lalliman]

On the one hand, Forgotten Realms is full of high level NPCs and so it wouldn't be unreasonable to say that it isn't such a big deal. On the other hand, that would be a horribly uninteresting way to deal with this. If you write off what would be a major disaster in a reasonable setting with "the high-level wizard takes care of it", you're basically telling your players that their actions don't matter.

Because let's not forget, a Goristro is a CR 17 creature with resistance to nonmagical weapons. It will take a legitimate army to stop this thing. And while it might have Int 6, it also has Wis 13, enough to retreat when it's losing. So even if the city's standing army can stop it, I doubt they can kill it.

Point is, if I was one of your players, I would be disappointed if this isn't a campaign-defining event one way or another.

[Marcloure]

"the high-level wizard takes care of it"

"And then, Elminster just bumped there and banished the demon. That ends it. Thank you all."

[SirGraystone]

A Goristro with Intelligence of 6 is very stupid but it is 20' high and is "siege weapon" which mean it does double damage on buildings. It's gore attack does 7d10 +7, with a charge you add an extra 7d10, double that mean it can charge and gore building for 28d10 +14 damage.

My point is a Goristro is not likely to bother taking over a group of orcs or goblins. Just have it break one of Hillsfar wall or crush its gate, rampage godzilla like in the city destroys a few dozens building until some heroes powerful enough can stop it. That can happen when the group is in the city or they can come back to Hillsfar and just see the destruction.

Maybe they can help save peoples from collapsed building. Maybe the city leaders with powerful divination magic find out the group was there when the demon was summon and thing they are to blame for the destruction. Have them arrested and go before a judge, and explain to a crying mother whose little boy got crushed that they did all they could but failed.

[Unoriginal]

A Goristro with Intelligence of 6 is very stupid but it is 20' high and is "siege weapon" which mean it does double damage on buildings. It's gore attack does 7d10 +7, with a charge you add an extra 7d10, double that mean it can charge and gore building for 28d10 +14 damage.

My point is a Goristro is not likely to bother taking over a group of orcs or goblins. Just have it break one of Hillsfar wall or crush its gate, rampage godzilla like in the city destroys a few dozens building until some heroes powerful enough can stop it. That can happen when the group is in the city or they can come back to Hillsfar and just see the destruction.

Maybe they can help save peoples from collapsed building. Maybe the city leaders with powerful divination magic find out the group was there when the demon was summon and thing they are to blame for the destruction. Have them arrested and go before a judge, and explain to a crying mother whose little boy got crushed that they did all they could but failed.

Int 6 is not smart, but not that stupid. It's just one point higher than a Hill Giant, and one point lower than your average Lizardfolk, and both of those beings understand that you can be much more efficient if you have more people on your side.

Furthermore, the Goristro knows it has a rare opportunity to roam the Material Plane unburdened, and so that it has to make it count.

The Goristro would probably try to make the various humanoids fall under the dominion of its demon boss, but even if it doesn't, it knows better than to just rush toward the nearest city, destroy a bit, then get nuked back to the Abyss.

What I'm saying is, aside from destroying any small villages it finds on the countryside, the Goristro will probably try to get evil humans, orcs, or really anyone who's nearby and who can be "motivated" into helping the Goristro sacks the big city.

Heck, it would probably try to contact demon cults or Minotaurs, if there is any in the region.

[SirGraystone]

Then have a warlock have a plan of domination, and the Goristro happy to help as long as he can destroy things. In my opinion a Goristro are big, aggressive and not the patient kind, he would prefer doing chaos and destruction now instead of planning for a long term plan.

Have a goblin warlock ride on his shoulder and give him advice.