greetings playgrounders,

as many of you know, I've been running a 'teaching' module for my on campus group, and we're nearly done with it (yay!)

however, one of the players can't make it next session, and the last part of the module is.... well
if anything in the module is going to kill them, this is it.

so I want them all to be present for it,

so I have to come up with an interm adventure until next session.

I have come up with the following,

I want to know
- any suggestions/critques you have
- predicted survival rating
- changes you'd make
- questions you have for me

the party is all level 2 and consists of
Human Paladin
Human Ranger (melee)
Half Elf Ranger (ranged)
Elf Druid + wolf animal companion
Elf Rogue
Dwarf fighter - absent player

given this, and the obvious inexperience of the group, what would you rate the chances of survival for the following encounters?

(these have not been fleshed out, this is merely a framework I plan to build on)

also, if anyone cares to know, its a slaneeshi cult

Spoiler
Show
As you are all sitting in the tavern, taking a well earned rest from your fight with the orcs, a messenger stumbles into the tavern, appearing very distraught and disheveled. He looks around the bar and spots you, and hurries over.

“you must come quickly” the man pants, still out of breath. ‘marlak the sorcerer requires your presence immeidietly!”

As you enter marlak’s abode, you notice that the old man is sweating profusely and is clearly distressed. as you enter, he shudders and turns from gazing at the fire.

“a great evil will occur this night if you do not stop it.’ He states. ‘there is a demon-cult within this town, up until recently they have not been worth the trouble to destroy. But something has changed, they’ve become far more focused and degenerate over the past few weeks, and tonight they plan a sacrifice to their god. I know not how much destruction they can wreak with their first sacrifice, but I do know that this is but the first step on the road to damnation and greater power for the individuals within the cult’

Pause for questions

Marlak gives you directions to the location he believes the rite will take place. He emplores you to proceed with all haste.


You arrive in the general area well after night has fallen, but according to marlak, you should still have a few hours before the sacrifice.

……..What do you do?

As you proceed towards the sacrificial circle, a mist rises from the damp ground, slightly obscuring vision … after a few moments, off in the distance, you see a humanoid figure shuffling through the darkness in your general direction.

Encounter 1
Depraved commoner
10 HP
Stats: all 10’s
Unarmed
AC 10
Masochist

‘as the man notices you, he giggles dementedly and shuffles towards you, muttering under his breath’



Encounter 2
4 ‘hell’ hounds
Replace fire breath with acid stream.


Encounter 3
X number of cultists (all possess masochist)
1 leader, conducting sacrifice
If sacrifice is interrupted – 4 manes are summoned and attack the party
If sacrifice is completed – 4 manes are summoned + cult leader gets to roll on ‘benefits’ table

For x, I’m thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 – 20 with varying deformities (vile feats) from the BoVD


thanks in advance.

have at it