SoT Book 6 Chapter 3 - The Ant-Pocalypse

SoT Masterpost

I wish our Bugzilla was this cute...

Hey folks!

My group is gearing up for the epic finale of Strength of Thousands, and I'm super excited! I love the concept of a massive larva breaking free, wrecking havoc on the place the PCs have spent the last several years (both in-game - for my group, it's been about 7 years - and out-of-game - we've been playing for almost 4 years!), and the final ritual is a really appropriate finale to a magic school AP.

Perhaps my favorite thing about this chapter is the "Coming Late" section of the three encounters under "The Larva Spawns" - making the choice of what order to do these in matter is amazing design, 10/10. Unfortunately, this design doesn't extend to the rest of the chapter, and the PCs have effectively limitless time to complete the other encounters with no consequences for wasting time!

My least favorite thing, however, is just how many combats there are. It's kind of overwhelming! Most of them are low or trivial threat, which is great for making the PCs feel baddass but bad for giving enough XP to fill out a chapter (IMO less important in the finale where they're already level 20, but the design intent is clear). So, there's a ton of them!

In this post, I aim to address both of those in one fell swoop! Essentially, the PCs will have limited time. Prioritizing some fights over others might gain them allies that they can dispatch to solve those situations for them! And for every situation the PCs don't successfully resolve in time, the final waves of enemies get harder as there are fewer allies in other areas to draw them away.

Make It Personal

Before we jump in, a quick note! I highly recommend going through your notes from the last 5 books, noting down what matters most to the PCs, and using that to raise the stakes of this chapter. Not only should the things being threatened be things that the PCs care about, but any major changes they made in Nantambu or any major alliances they made should come back to give them some kind of leg up!

Here are the things I am using, but your list will depend on your campaign!

• My PCs got Old Mage Jatembe's help in the Protea Pavillion (he held off the attackers by the portal while the PCs took out Koride and co upstairs), and tried to send Sendings to him from the Endless Table. So, he knew enough to start gathering potential allies to campus and prepare for a potential evacuation or struggle.
• Teacher Ot will be with the delegation instead of Izem, and it will be leaders from other Magic Schools who the PCs were trying to make alliances with.
• If rescued, they can help as a second Response Team!
• Teacher Lesedi (who is the Aunt of some PCs) will be the one teaching the class instead of Tahenkot.
• During the Larva's rampage, it will destroy things the PCs care about:
• As written, the Heron Archive and Indigo Hall
• Spellskeins will flutter out into the air, desperately fleeing pools of acid
• The Story Tree that our Ranger grew in the central field with Ekujae Shape Script for his feat of magic in Chapter 1 (though after the fight, they will find a new sapling growing where it fell - a sign that the story of the Magaambya isn't over, it's just started a new chapter)
• Leshy bounce about trying to ready their wooden constructs to slow down the larva, but they're not making headway
• As it makes its way all the way south of campus, it will destroy the Speaker's Stage where they first met Asanda!
• The Nantambu Thieves Guild (with their ally Grinning Lex, visiting from Jula) will be available as a Response Team (see below).
• The Mpeshi that the PCs got their assess kicked by and then returned to the mountains in book 1 is gonna come back to help defend the city in a clash of lightning (for the defending the ritual bit)

Finally, all the various NPCs that the PCs have befriended should show up for the final ritual! This should include most people who were at their Naming Ceremony, minus anyone who fell in the preceding encounters, and I highly recommend going through them all avengers-style.

"The Unfurling" Scenario Structure

This section should be measured in 10-minute increments.

• The PCs have 1 hour total, plus 30 minutes for each Day early they left the Endless Table. At the end of this time, the Larva has finished its initial rampage, and Jatembe emerges at last after finalizing his plans for the ritual to trap the Larva and stitch it bag into its egg form.
• Allied forces may be able to slow the Larva down, granting an extra 10 minutes per team!
• If you'd like to be slightly more generous, give them 90 minutes to start, but only have each day give them 20 minutes extra, as the Larva isn't weakened linearly.
• Each new Location the PCs go to takes 10 minutes (between travel and the combats/etc).
• If they spend a substantial amount of time in any given location (talking, carefully poking around, or similar), the GM should have another 10 minutes (or more!) pass.
• If they're just talking/planning, maybe suggest to them that they heal/refocus while talking!
• The PCs can also take Exploration Activities that take 10 minutes, such as Treating Wounds or Refocusing. They can talk and plan during this time.
• If they have leftover time at the end, they can use it to prepare for the final assault!

Also, quick note that it is night time (or soon will be)! Dusk falls when the PCs have 1 hour left (possibly at the beginning of their emergence, or not if they left the Endless Table early) - the moonlight above makes outdoor locations dim light.

Starting Narration

What do the PCs see as the Larva begins to Unfurl?

• They see ordinary insects grow to gargantuan sizes, or into deadly looking humanoid forms replete with weapons.
• They see Thema and several students run into the Shifting Greenhouse (H) as a gargantuan beetle rampages outside. Pooling acid begins to creep towards the building.
• They see Amaechi and other workers coordinating to get students up on rooftops (I), away from their foes! They are being chased by horrible, horned, cat-like creatures (Leydroths).
• They see a Griffin fly away from them after its rider speaks to Amaechi (DC 30 Perception: carrying Oba Eze from Book 2).
• Mafika leads a group of Tempest Sun Mages in confronting the bulk of the Wereants (J), using walls of force and similar to contain them. They are holding for now, but if they were aided they could begin to help elsewhere.
• High Sun Mage Oyamba grabs a dazed Teacher Ot (if he survived) to perform a ritual at the Whistling Tower to gather reinforcements (K).

Timeline

Here are all the potential events, collected from the sections below (note that if the PCs deal with those encounters first, these events obviously don't happen):

• After 20 Minutes: 
• Oba Eze returns with her pteranodons to start evacuating students in I2.
• Wereant Disciples start attacking I2 to prevent this!
• Every 5 minutes, a student is pushed off the roof and killed by the Leydroths below. There are 12 total, plus 6 builders defending them.
• 30 minutes after they're defeated, Oba brings in reinforcements that count as a Response Team!
• Annihilator Beetles start attacking K1 to stop Oyamba/Ot from completing their ritual!
• 10 minutes after they're defeated, the ritual is completed!
• Every 10 minutes after the ritual is completed, the PCs get a new Response Team as mages from across the Expanse teleport in to help!
• After 30 Minutes: The Tempest Sun Mages in J1 run out of Walls of Forces and begin taking losses.
• After 40 Minutes:
• The PCs hear a scream as Acid in H2 reaches H4, injuring a student!
• Every 10 minutes after this (if not stopped), a student dies.
• The Tempest Sun Mages in J1 sustain casualties, only counting as 1 Response Team if freed up.
• The Annihilator Beetles break through the wall in K1 - if not dealt with immediately, the ritual cannot be completed!
• Every 20 minutes after they're defeated, the PCs get a response team of mages to help them out (max 3 such response teams)
• After 60 Minutes: The Tempest Sun Mages in J2 have sustained enough casualties that they no longer count as response teams

Response Teams

Depending on what order the PCs rescue allies in, they might be able to recruit those they rescued to help elsewhere! I recommend that you start the PCs with 1 Response Team based on their previous actions in the city (mine will be current and former Thieves Guild members that they've befriended). In addition, if the PCs rescue the Delegation, those powerful spellcasters can serve a second Response Team! The PCs can earn more from areas I, J, and K as described below.

Response Teams can be used in one of two ways, after which they are too injured or tired help significantly (at least until the final ritual):

• They can defeat 1 Low- or Trivial-Threat Encounter for the PCs. Whether they defeat an encounter or not, they will also slow down any consequences from that location for 10 minutes.
• They can slow down the Larva, giving the PCs an extra 10 minutes to complete everything.

Greenhouse Rescue (H)

I like that H4 has another moment where choice matters - "If the heroes didn’t do anything to slow the flowing acid in area H2," the acid might seep through and kill an initiate! However, to fit our Scenario Structure, we're going to change this to "After 40 minutes have passed, if they have not rescued the Initiates from H4 or slowed the flow of acid in H2, the PCs hear a scream from within the Greenhouse - something is horribly wrong inside!"

Essentially, the Acid starts to seep through, and catches one of the initiates unawares! They are horrifically injured, and will die in 10 minutes. This repeats each 10 minutes afterwards, with a new student injured, and previous injured one dying as the acid spreads and the remaining acolytes crowd into ever smaller sections of the room.

If the PCs go straight to the Greenhouse after the first scream (they should hear a new one every 10 minutes), and they don't rest between the fights, they can still save the first injured student!

Across Roof And Sky (I)

Amaechi and co. immediately start getting Students up to the rooftops.

I1. The Leydroths start off chasing students around, and then later prowling around under ladders that they can't easily climb. Their Wereant Sentinel warder stays close to them. The PCs may be able to catch them separated, attacking 1 combatant and requiring the others to spend 1-2 rounds reaching them!

I2. The Wereant Disciples only start attacking the students on top after 20 minutes have passed (the PCs should hear this). They start out slowly, picking targets carefully, and only pick up the pace if attacked. 

I3. The Wereant Disciples are in reserve, waiting 

30 minutes after the PCs complete this area, Oba's flyers are done evacuating students, and can begin bringing in reinforcements from outside the Magaambya, giving the PCs an additional Response Team!

Holding the Line (J)

After 30 minutes have passed, the Walls of Force fail, and defenders start losing people. After 10 minutes of this (if the PCs don't intervene first), they only count as 1 Response Team. After another 20 minutes (30 minutes total after the walls fail), Mafika and a handful of others survive, but they are too injured help elsewhere.

If the PCs join the fight at this stage, I'd let one of them control Mafika and the others control Elite Tempest Sun Mages, and add 4 Wereant Disciples to the fight in J1 (making it a much more chaotic Moderate 20 encounter).

Failure. With the Tempest Sun Mages decimated, one of the Arboreals survives to 

Toppling Tower (K)

After 40 minutes have passed, the Beetles breach the wall! 10 minutes later (so if the PCs do not immediately deal with the tower after this breach), the tower collapses, the ritual cannot be completed, and the oozes come out to attack.

If the PCs manage to help Oyamba complete the ritual, then every 20 minutes after they do, a response team of mages teleports onto campus to help however the PCs see fit (up to a maximum of 3 response teams).

Failure. If the PCs do not save the tower, there is a Wave 0 while defending "The Circle" where the PCs must fight an Annihilator Beetle. It is also likely that High Sun Mage Oyamba and Teacher Ot will die.

Failure - Defending the Circle

If the PCs fail to save any of the sections above, then there are both narrative consequences and consequences for their final defense of The Circle. As written, there are three waves - some of them might get harder, or there might be an added "Initial Wave" that happens before the written First Wave.

• Failing Greenhouse Rescue. Themba and the students are killed. If the Annihilator Beetle is not destroyed, the players must fight it as an Initial Wave. Regardless, the Second Wave has one additional Wereant Poisoner.
• Failing Across Roof And Sky. Amaechi and the other crafstmen die, as do most of the students. If the Leydroths are not destroyed, the players must fight one of them in an Initial Wave. Regardless, the First Wave has 2 additional Wereant Disciples.
• Failing Holding The Line. The Tempest Sun Mages are decimated in the coming years. In addition, a Hivebound Arboreal joins the First Wave, with the Apocalypse Ant Swarm inside it until it is below half-health (the Arboreal will try to grapple creatures, and the ants will bite anyone grappling or grappled by it).
• Failing the Toppling Tower. High Sun Mage Oyamba and Teacher Ot die. If both Annihilator Beetles still live, then the players must fight one of them in an Initial Wave. Regardless, the lack of reinforcements from across the Expanse means that fewer foes are drawn away from the center, leading to an additional Wereant Sentinel in each of the Second Wave and Third Wave.

It's unlikely that the PCs will fail more than one of these, but if they do... oh boy, they're really gonna need that magic crown!

I think that's all for this one! Not just this post, but probably this AP overall! Crazy. I'm pretty happy with how the finale is looking, so I think I'm gonna leave it alone apart from the prep that ALL y'all should do which is bring back the people and ideas that your players most cared about to wrap them up into an epic finale. What a great AP.

It's been a blast :)