its_all_ogre
2008-02-17, 12:36 PM
before a possible tpk goes off!
bit of background:
pcs have been travelling through essentially unmapped wilderness when they stumble across a community of people, who appear friendly and fairly normal.
turns out these folk are aranea and tend to rob passersby who lodge with them, however they believe the pcs are too hard and risky for them and so after some nights rest they allow them to leave, however the pcs enter their most dangerous rivals lair soon after leaving.
now the aranea believe them to be in league with this enemy of theirs and so are going to try to capture and interrogate them to see what they know, killing them afterwards. if fight gets too nasty they'll kill them anyway, just in case.
now the pcs have been resting thanks to a rope trick item they have which can be used 3 times per 24 hour period. the aranea know they do this because one of the pcs used it while in their settlement because he did not trust their 'friendliness' (not due to any skill roll or anything)
so the aranea are going to follow them using magic to hide themselves (3 of the aranea are advanced so 2 are 6HD and 1 is 8HD. you normally advance them per character class, but i prefer this way so i'm doing it this way) there are also 6 normal aranea (effectively 6 CR4 creatures 2 CR6 creatures and one CR8 creature against a 6 person level 7 party).
for one day they'll follow in their invisibility spheres and lure beasts and other local fauna to attack pcs in an attempt to wear them down a little.
once pcs pick a rest site and climb up rope they'll set an ambush for when they descend.
basically they'll rest some 100 feet away so they can see the rope descend again and then prepare by casting spells.
2 clusters of 3 aranea with a 6hd one, to left and right of rest spot. cast mage armour, invisibility sphere and then silence on their web, ready for a throw (only the 6hd one can cast this and on his own webbing)
meanwhile the 8hd one will be casting mage armour, invisibility followed by summon natures ally 4(i realise this is a druid spell) to summon an arrowhawk to attack.
so query is how do i start this encounter? i mean the ones left and right will approach invisible and soundless until 50 feet away, the plan is that they'll see the arrowhawk appear and begin it's attack then they advance and begin throwing webs, the silenced webs at the party spellcasters that they know of. following this they're going to use grease spells from normal aranea, glittterdusts from 6 hd ones then move in to bite those not already incapacitated. the 8 hd one will stay back 100 feet unleashing more summoned monsters and then using spectral hand to unleash vampiric touches and other touch spells.
so arrowhawk appears and can instantly can attack and stuff, takes aranea one round to get into range for web throwing....so initiative rolled for the arrowhawks appearance, for those that spot it for the initial surprise round, then normal initiative rolls and rounds thereafter?
bit of background:
pcs have been travelling through essentially unmapped wilderness when they stumble across a community of people, who appear friendly and fairly normal.
turns out these folk are aranea and tend to rob passersby who lodge with them, however they believe the pcs are too hard and risky for them and so after some nights rest they allow them to leave, however the pcs enter their most dangerous rivals lair soon after leaving.
now the aranea believe them to be in league with this enemy of theirs and so are going to try to capture and interrogate them to see what they know, killing them afterwards. if fight gets too nasty they'll kill them anyway, just in case.
now the pcs have been resting thanks to a rope trick item they have which can be used 3 times per 24 hour period. the aranea know they do this because one of the pcs used it while in their settlement because he did not trust their 'friendliness' (not due to any skill roll or anything)
so the aranea are going to follow them using magic to hide themselves (3 of the aranea are advanced so 2 are 6HD and 1 is 8HD. you normally advance them per character class, but i prefer this way so i'm doing it this way) there are also 6 normal aranea (effectively 6 CR4 creatures 2 CR6 creatures and one CR8 creature against a 6 person level 7 party).
for one day they'll follow in their invisibility spheres and lure beasts and other local fauna to attack pcs in an attempt to wear them down a little.
once pcs pick a rest site and climb up rope they'll set an ambush for when they descend.
basically they'll rest some 100 feet away so they can see the rope descend again and then prepare by casting spells.
2 clusters of 3 aranea with a 6hd one, to left and right of rest spot. cast mage armour, invisibility sphere and then silence on their web, ready for a throw (only the 6hd one can cast this and on his own webbing)
meanwhile the 8hd one will be casting mage armour, invisibility followed by summon natures ally 4(i realise this is a druid spell) to summon an arrowhawk to attack.
so query is how do i start this encounter? i mean the ones left and right will approach invisible and soundless until 50 feet away, the plan is that they'll see the arrowhawk appear and begin it's attack then they advance and begin throwing webs, the silenced webs at the party spellcasters that they know of. following this they're going to use grease spells from normal aranea, glittterdusts from 6 hd ones then move in to bite those not already incapacitated. the 8 hd one will stay back 100 feet unleashing more summoned monsters and then using spectral hand to unleash vampiric touches and other touch spells.
so arrowhawk appears and can instantly can attack and stuff, takes aranea one round to get into range for web throwing....so initiative rolled for the arrowhawks appearance, for those that spot it for the initial surprise round, then normal initiative rolls and rounds thereafter?