I'm running a Ghosts of Saltmarsh campaign, and to be brief, kids got kidnapped on the orders of a Nighthag from the Dreadwood. The sourcebook says she has an elite guard of 23 oni and 3 vampires that work for her, and throwing all that at the part in one go would be a TPK, so do any of you have ideas for how to segment them in a way that both makes sense and would still show the party that the dangers are present even in victory?
So far, I figure it could be that they've spread out to search for the party and kill them, so they'd only encounter 4 or 5 oni at any given point, but I do want it to feel a bit more impactful than just "Oh here's a group. Kill". I guess I'm asking if there's a way to reward their progression beyond exp.
I don't think these 'elite henchmen' were ever intended to be met as a single force. The book describes them as messengers and enforcers, so you will probably only ever meet 2 of them together at most, unless your assaulting Castle Spiral itself.
The Dreadwood kind of lends itself to a horror theme (or at least a very scary fairy tale), what with all the undead and jackalweres. You could use one of her vampire consorts to distract the party, whilst an oni infiltrates. I'm thinking, the oni, disguised as an adventurer of some kind, claims the vampire was attcking him on behalf of Granny Nightshade because he knows of some important artifact that Granny wants. He could claim he could take them to it and then constantly lead the party into traps, or have them unknowingly help Granny achieve her nefarious goals (perhaps something to do with the 3 sea hags and Dalixiateara, if you haven't already used them).
If the oni is discovered, have them constantly harass the group as they move through the Dreadwood. Check out this Beyond article on how to use an oni effectively.
I'm running a Ghosts of Saltmarsh campaign, and to be brief, kids got kidnapped on the orders of a Nighthag from the Dreadwood. The sourcebook says she has an elite guard of 23 oni and 3 vampires that work for her, and throwing all that at the part in one go would be a TPK, so do any of you have ideas for how to segment them in a way that both makes sense and would still show the party that the dangers are present even in victory?
So far, I figure it could be that they've spread out to search for the party and kill them, so they'd only encounter 4 or 5 oni at any given point, but I do want it to feel a bit more impactful than just "Oh here's a group. Kill". I guess I'm asking if there's a way to reward their progression beyond exp.
I'm not really sure if from that description the henchmen would really be on search and destroy orders. The party would have to really piss her off for that to happen because it sounds like she has better things to do. Granny nightshade herself is not likely to be in deadwood because she sounds way too powerful to actually be confronted by any one but the most powerful parties. If you wanted you could borrow the realm of tither from wild beyond the witchlight witch has a granny night shade as well, the realm isn't geared to combat so you could have the players traverse the dark wood to find a fey crossing then pursue granny nightshade in there ( this would probably throw players for a massive loop).
As for encounters with the oni and vampires I'd give them jobs. The vampires in particular should have names and be busy because they're legendary creatures. Things like:
a vampire is leading kids away from towns by running a circus and charming them at performances. The circus may be a mixture of charmed humans, vampire spawns, jakal weres and oni
A vampire guards an important location like a fey crossing with some powerful creature they've mind controlled. This vampire is acting as a local bandit king or controlling the villages in the dread wood.
A vampire has gained a local position of power and keeps their identity secret to manipulate things to the hags benefit. They are under the benefit of [Tooltip Not Found] and takes a potion daily to protect them from being damaged by sunlight. They live in a manor with human guards possibly even oath of the crown paladins. They probably wont directly hinder the party and may even help them defeat the other vampires but will probably also give the other advanced warning to play both sides.
Some oni are keeping watch on a hag coven that serves granny night shade. The hags are making potions for granny nightshade and the oni guard the house pretending to be children they've charmed/ captured.
Inside the dreadwood the players have a chance to come across a party of adventurer's who are actually working for granny nightshade . Use a mixture of oni with different weapons for example one with large javelins which does 2d6+4 at 30/120 ( possibly a javelin of lightning) or a single oni with some companions like a warlock of the archfey, archer or mage. The humanoids may also be [Tooltip Not Found] giving them protection from non silver weapons and pack tactics
In terms of alternative experience rules. You can offer experience for any way they deal with an encounter for example by avoiding an ambush, convincing the oni, exposing a noble as a vampire or freeing people from mind control . You can also offer xp for objectives like rescuing children, breaking curses or destroying a fey crossing.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hey DMs
I'm running a Ghosts of Saltmarsh campaign, and to be brief, kids got kidnapped on the orders of a Nighthag from the Dreadwood. The sourcebook says she has an elite guard of 23 oni and 3 vampires that work for her, and throwing all that at the part in one go would be a TPK, so do any of you have ideas for how to segment them in a way that both makes sense and would still show the party that the dangers are present even in victory?
So far, I figure it could be that they've spread out to search for the party and kill them, so they'd only encounter 4 or 5 oni at any given point, but I do want it to feel a bit more impactful than just "Oh here's a group. Kill". I guess I'm asking if there's a way to reward their progression beyond exp.
I don't think these 'elite henchmen' were ever intended to be met as a single force. The book describes them as messengers and enforcers, so you will probably only ever meet 2 of them together at most, unless your assaulting Castle Spiral itself.
The Dreadwood kind of lends itself to a horror theme (or at least a very scary fairy tale), what with all the undead and jackalweres. You could use one of her vampire consorts to distract the party, whilst an oni infiltrates. I'm thinking, the oni, disguised as an adventurer of some kind, claims the vampire was attcking him on behalf of Granny Nightshade because he knows of some important artifact that Granny wants. He could claim he could take them to it and then constantly lead the party into traps, or have them unknowingly help Granny achieve her nefarious goals (perhaps something to do with the 3 sea hags and Dalixiateara, if you haven't already used them).
If the oni is discovered, have them constantly harass the group as they move through the Dreadwood. Check out this Beyond article on how to use an oni effectively.
Hope that helps.
I'm not really sure if from that description the henchmen would really be on search and destroy orders. The party would have to really piss her off for that to happen because it sounds like she has better things to do. Granny nightshade herself is not likely to be in deadwood because she sounds way too powerful to actually be confronted by any one but the most powerful parties. If you wanted you could borrow the realm of tither from wild beyond the witchlight witch has a granny night shade as well, the realm isn't geared to combat so you could have the players traverse the dark wood to find a fey crossing then pursue granny nightshade in there ( this would probably throw players for a massive loop).
As for encounters with the oni and vampires I'd give them jobs. The vampires in particular should have names and be busy because they're legendary creatures. Things like:
In terms of alternative experience rules. You can offer experience for any way they deal with an encounter for example by avoiding an ambush, convincing the oni, exposing a noble as a vampire or freeing people from mind control . You can also offer xp for objectives like rescuing children, breaking curses or destroying a fey crossing.