My party of heroes is heading with VR toward a forest, south of Verbrek, to rescue one of the WF twins.
She is held in the ruins of a monastery, by Nathan Timothy and Natalia V.
Of course, they expect a battle with werewolves, but what else* would you add to this part of the adventure?
Joël
* monster, complications, NPC, strange locations, etc.
Rescue among lycanthropes?
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Joël of the FoS
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Rescue among lycanthropes?
"A full set of (game) rules is so massively complicated that the only time they were all bound together in a single volume, they underwent gravitational collapse and became a black hole" (Adams)
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Jester of the FoS
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NeoTiamat
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I like that.
For monsters and complications, I can give you a few ideas.
Assassin Vines: This is a ruin? Have ivy or vines entirely cover the sides of the ruin, and arrange for your PCs to have to climb them (perhaps too many werewolves guard the entrance). Just as the PCs are all climbing up, have the vines come alive and start strangling the PCs. Could make for an interesting fight, especially if some werewolves come to check what all the commotion is about and get entangled in the vines as well.
Undead: As a variant of the dormant artifact idea, perhaps the ruins are home to a powerful undead. Maybe a Rank Four Ghost resides there, and after observing the newcomers for a while, decides to toss them out of its home. Such a ghost might just seize upon the PCs as the method to do so, and create the extremely creepy circumstance where the ruins themselves seem to be fighting with the PCs. You can also use an Ancient Dead for this, as well as combine it with the artifact idea and have the powerful being be guarding the artifact. Alternatively, you could just have the ghost or AD decide to slaughter werewolves and PCs alike, as the situation requires.
Golems: Yet another variation of the ancient things being disturbed line of reasoning, perhaps the builders of the ruins wanted no one to disturb them, so constructed some stone golems (or perhaps Gargoyle Golems) to protect their ruins. Depending on the number and power of the golems, this might simply be a one time encounter, or a full onslaught. My favorite idea is to have three or four CR 11 Stone Golems awake some time before the PCs show up, and trap the werewolves in some small room in the temple. Teeth and claws don't work terribly well against something made of stone, and a stone fist crushing your body is quite unpleasant, even if you do have DR. The PCs would then have to get past the automatons to get to the lycanthropes. In the strangest variation of this, Nathan Timothy and Natalia V. might actually be willing to work with the PCs, just to get out of this mess alive.
Foreigners: This is south of Verbrek, yes? That puts it right on the border with Sithicus. Perhaps an Elven hunting party comes along for one reason or another (Hunting the Lycans, checking up on the ruins for some reason, etc.) and meets up with the PCs. This could turn the fight into a nasty free-for-all or gain the PCs some allies, depending on how its run. For a more malevolent twist, they could be Werepanthers from Valachan.
That's all I have for the moment, give me some more time and I'll have more.
For monsters and complications, I can give you a few ideas.
Assassin Vines: This is a ruin? Have ivy or vines entirely cover the sides of the ruin, and arrange for your PCs to have to climb them (perhaps too many werewolves guard the entrance). Just as the PCs are all climbing up, have the vines come alive and start strangling the PCs. Could make for an interesting fight, especially if some werewolves come to check what all the commotion is about and get entangled in the vines as well.
Undead: As a variant of the dormant artifact idea, perhaps the ruins are home to a powerful undead. Maybe a Rank Four Ghost resides there, and after observing the newcomers for a while, decides to toss them out of its home. Such a ghost might just seize upon the PCs as the method to do so, and create the extremely creepy circumstance where the ruins themselves seem to be fighting with the PCs. You can also use an Ancient Dead for this, as well as combine it with the artifact idea and have the powerful being be guarding the artifact. Alternatively, you could just have the ghost or AD decide to slaughter werewolves and PCs alike, as the situation requires.
Golems: Yet another variation of the ancient things being disturbed line of reasoning, perhaps the builders of the ruins wanted no one to disturb them, so constructed some stone golems (or perhaps Gargoyle Golems) to protect their ruins. Depending on the number and power of the golems, this might simply be a one time encounter, or a full onslaught. My favorite idea is to have three or four CR 11 Stone Golems awake some time before the PCs show up, and trap the werewolves in some small room in the temple. Teeth and claws don't work terribly well against something made of stone, and a stone fist crushing your body is quite unpleasant, even if you do have DR. The PCs would then have to get past the automatons to get to the lycanthropes. In the strangest variation of this, Nathan Timothy and Natalia V. might actually be willing to work with the PCs, just to get out of this mess alive.
Foreigners: This is south of Verbrek, yes? That puts it right on the border with Sithicus. Perhaps an Elven hunting party comes along for one reason or another (Hunting the Lycans, checking up on the ruins for some reason, etc.) and meets up with the PCs. This could turn the fight into a nasty free-for-all or gain the PCs some allies, depending on how its run. For a more malevolent twist, they could be Werepanthers from Valachan.
That's all I have for the moment, give me some more time and I'll have more.
Ravenloft GM: Eye of Anubis, Shattered City, and Prof. Lupescu's Traveling Ghost Show
Lead Writer & Editor: VRS Files: Doppelgangers; Contributor: QtR #20, #21, #22, #23, #24
Freelance Writer for Paizo Publishing
Lead Writer & Editor: VRS Files: Doppelgangers; Contributor: QtR #20, #21, #22, #23, #24
Freelance Writer for Paizo Publishing
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Jester of the FoS
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I was thinking elves too; maybe a dragon-cult (read Races of the Mists III 
) operates out of the ruins but was displaced. Shadow fey are also a possibility.
But then I keyed on the 'monastary' angle and got a flash of that Star Trek episode where the hate-eating energy being got the Klingons and Humans to fight with swords and kept ressurecting people to sustain itself. And I started imagining a bad battle between VanRichten, a darklord and famous villian and some PCs that simply gets worse and worse as this other force makes them its plaything. A situation that gradually gets more and more nightmarish or horrifying.
Part of me likes the idea of this big build-up to a climax and a showdown between two strong, opposing forces. Two sides bent on nothing less than destroying the other. Then, after a battle, they find themselves forced to work together for anyone to escape.
) operates out of the ruins but was displaced. Shadow fey are also a possibility. But then I keyed on the 'monastary' angle and got a flash of that Star Trek episode where the hate-eating energy being got the Klingons and Humans to fight with swords and kept ressurecting people to sustain itself. And I started imagining a bad battle between VanRichten, a darklord and famous villian and some PCs that simply gets worse and worse as this other force makes them its plaything. A situation that gradually gets more and more nightmarish or horrifying.
Part of me likes the idea of this big build-up to a climax and a showdown between two strong, opposing forces. Two sides bent on nothing less than destroying the other. Then, after a battle, they find themselves forced to work together for anyone to escape.
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Luke Fleeman
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A separate group of adventurers, perhaps evil ones, on theri way to do the very same thing on the commission of a sinister power. Competition makes for great fun.
Or, you could use my favorite forest encounter, the Evil treants and/or a Death's Head tree. Maybe darklings lurking in the woods, on the run from the lycanthropes.
Or, you could use my favorite forest encounter, the Evil treants and/or a Death's Head tree. Maybe darklings lurking in the woods, on the run from the lycanthropes.
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you - Friedrich Nietzsche
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Nathan of the FoS
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DeepShadow had a really good idea about the twins and Gennifer's possible lycanthropic heritage--did you already use that one? (I think it was DeepShadow--it might have been Rotipher. I'm thinking about the "secondary infection" possibility, with Natalya trying to trigger Genny's change to a werewolf, only to discover that she's now actually a were-tiger (or something) and not under Natalya's control in beast form...)
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Joël of the FoS
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That was Rotifer. And Yes, it's in the storyNathan of the FoS wrote:DeepShadow had a really good idea about the twins and Gennifer's possible lycanthropic heritage--did you already use that one? (I think it was DeepShadow--it might have been Rotipher. I'm thinking about the "secondary infection" possibility, with Natalya trying to trigger Genny's change to a werewolf, only to discover that she's now actually a were-tiger (or something) and not under Natalya's control in beast form...)
Joël
"A full set of (game) rules is so massively complicated that the only time they were all bound together in a single volume, they underwent gravitational collapse and became a black hole" (Adams)
My advice would be not to add anything. It sounds like your campaign is heading towards a climax with the party facing off against two major villains. I would let that play out as it does.
The only thing I would suggest adding is an adventure hook to where you want to the campaign to go next. Do you want them to go to Sithicus next? Then maybe they find the body of an elf in the monastery with a strange or intriguing book or note. Something like that which they can follow up on after the adventure.
Of course if it is not your intention of allowing either of the two villains to perish against the party then definitely throw something else in to distract them. There are already some good ideas above.
How about a doppleganger plant replacing some of the werewolves with podlings? Werewolves versus PCs versus podlings. Nathan and Natalya could easily escape in the confusion, or be seen to be killed by the doppleganger plant only to reappear latter in your campaign.
The only thing I would suggest adding is an adventure hook to where you want to the campaign to go next. Do you want them to go to Sithicus next? Then maybe they find the body of an elf in the monastery with a strange or intriguing book or note. Something like that which they can follow up on after the adventure.
Of course if it is not your intention of allowing either of the two villains to perish against the party then definitely throw something else in to distract them. There are already some good ideas above.
How about a doppleganger plant replacing some of the werewolves with podlings? Werewolves versus PCs versus podlings. Nathan and Natalya could easily escape in the confusion, or be seen to be killed by the doppleganger plant only to reappear latter in your campaign.
Only two things scare me and one is former back-up dancers for Christina Aguilera.