I'm a DM running ToA. During the PCs travel to Fort Beluarian (to buy a charter of exploration), my PCs encountered the Flaming Fist (1 knight, 1 acolyte, 2 Deinonychus and 4 Guards) but thought they were thugs.
One thing led to another and they attacked the patrol (the players thought that the Flaming Fist were bandits instead of the Lord's Men). The knight and the 2 Deinonchyus retreated and got away - everyone else from the patrol was killed.
So my question is: What do you think should happen next? Would they be hunted by the Flaming Fist? Would they be arrested and brought to a court in Fort Beluarian? How much backup would they be returning with? Would they be killed on contact? What punishment (if any) would the PCs receive? Is there any way of avoiding a TPK or should they just create new characters since they would be wanted criminal??
I made sure to emphasize that Chult was an extremely dangerous place - not only because of the death curse but also because it’s more like the Wild West of the DND world. (That’s one of the reasons they attacked, they were unsure about these guys and didn’t remember the name “Flaming Fist”.
I gave them the rules of what would happen if their character died (you build a new character from scratch at Level 1). Other PCs can donate exp during the creation of your character to help you level up, but you can’t donate more exp that the min amount necessary to be at that level (you can’t level down from a donation).
Then we had our first session and they got extremely reckless and came close to a tpk due to their recklessness. I reiterated that this is a much more dangerous setting than any other that we have played (we’ve been playing for 28 years).
If you guys have been playing together for 28 years, I feel like you already know which way this is going to end up going, but I leave that up to you all.
Assuming the knight got a good look at the players and can confirm that they're not zombies or dinosaurs or any of the other random encounters that can wipe out a patrol - The Fist is going to have to go after them. It just plain looks bad to lose a whole patrol. And they're probably going to guess why a pack of professional scum and villainy were on their way to Beluarian, too.
How long would it take? What kind of reinforcements would they come back with? Let's start instead with what your players do. Because if they keep walking towards Beluarian after this, I'd be tempted to wipe them. But I'd proooooobably bring them back alive to hang at Beluarian and show everyone that no one gets to kill Fist troops. This gives you a few potential outs. My favorite is a team-up-of-necessity between the Fist and the players as they're swarmed by zombies and the survivors learn a grudging respect for one another. A trial would be...well...as I see it, the only way they'd escape hanging would be if the Triceratops Society sprung them out of jail for some reason. OTOH, they can probably turn around right now and hide in the crowd in Zaru until the heat dies down, although they'll have to figure out their charter still.
Another thing is: now that they've got a taste for it, they don't technically NEED a charter, if they're willing to keep killing Fists. Or, if not the violent route, the next encounter could go something like "Oh, I'm sorry officer, a dinosaur ate our charter! How about I hand you this big diamond and we call it even?"
Did they have a guide with them? This is a really good argument for employing a local guide.
ETA: It's also a good argument for not putting a coat of arms on a shield, in case anyone does that.
I'm a DM running ToA. During the PCs travel to Fort Beluarian (to buy a charter of exploration), my PCs encountered the Flaming Fist (1 knight, 1 acolyte, 2 Deinonychus and 4 Guards) but thought they were thugs.
One thing led to another and they attacked the patrol (the players thought that the Flaming Fist were bandits instead of the Lord's Men). The knight and the 2 Deinonchyus retreated and got away - everyone else from the patrol was killed.
So my question is: What do you think should happen next? Would they be hunted by the Flaming Fist? Would they be arrested and brought to a court in Fort Beluarian? How much backup would they be returning with? Would they be killed on contact? What punishment (if any) would the PCs receive? Is there any way of avoiding a TPK or should they just create new characters since they would be wanted criminal??
I made sure to emphasize that Chult was an extremely dangerous place - not only because of the death curse but also because it’s more like the Wild West of the DND world. (That’s one of the reasons they attacked, they were unsure about these guys and didn’t remember the name “Flaming Fist”.
I gave them the rules of what would happen if their character died (you build a new character from scratch at Level 1). Other PCs can donate exp during the creation of your character to help you level up, but you can’t donate more exp that the min amount necessary to be at that level (you can’t level down from a donation).
Then we had our first session and they got extremely reckless and came close to a tpk due to their recklessness. I reiterated that this is a much more dangerous setting than any other that we have played (we’ve been playing for 28 years).
Looking for advice.
If you guys have been playing together for 28 years, I feel like you already know which way this is going to end up going, but I leave that up to you all.
Assuming the knight got a good look at the players and can confirm that they're not zombies or dinosaurs or any of the other random encounters that can wipe out a patrol - The Fist is going to have to go after them. It just plain looks bad to lose a whole patrol. And they're probably going to guess why a pack of professional scum and villainy were on their way to Beluarian, too.
How long would it take? What kind of reinforcements would they come back with? Let's start instead with what your players do. Because if they keep walking towards Beluarian after this, I'd be tempted to wipe them. But I'd proooooobably bring them back alive to hang at Beluarian and show everyone that no one gets to kill Fist troops. This gives you a few potential outs. My favorite is a team-up-of-necessity between the Fist and the players as they're swarmed by zombies and the survivors learn a grudging respect for one another. A trial would be...well...as I see it, the only way they'd escape hanging would be if the Triceratops Society sprung them out of jail for some reason. OTOH, they can probably turn around right now and hide in the crowd in Zaru until the heat dies down, although they'll have to figure out their charter still.
Another thing is: now that they've got a taste for it, they don't technically NEED a charter, if they're willing to keep killing Fists. Or, if not the violent route, the next encounter could go something like "Oh, I'm sorry officer, a dinosaur ate our charter! How about I hand you this big diamond and we call it even?"
Did they have a guide with them? This is a really good argument for employing a local guide.
ETA: It's also a good argument for not putting a coat of arms on a shield, in case anyone does that.