Quote Originally Posted by Inspectre View Post
Okay, having read your additional explanation, I have to say that what you did was PERFECT.
You provided your players with a chance to feel a very strong emotion - grief - spared them from a TPK that you nor they wanted, presented logical consequences for their high risk attack that failed, and gave them a big reason to ultimately hate the BBEG.
It sounds like this was a fairly earned setback for the party given that the dice went against them - sometimes, **** just happens.
What you need to do now is to let them express that grief, before it drains away over the next couple weeks.
Thank you very much for the praise and the excellent advice for the next session... I've already sent out a text to everyone that next session will be mostly role-play and it will give them a chance to recoup and reconcile. (I'd like to keep the exact details a little bit of a secret.)

Last session we ended just before the they entered the "war room." So it's a perfect start to tell the players the enemy is doing nothing. In there I'll have the head minds having an argument about what the battle plan should be, letting the PCs chime in of course, and then have another recurring NPC say something about the moral of the men and get everyone to agree to have a service for the lost. (Details of the conversation still scrambled, I may play that by ear)

If the players go for it, then my job is easy. During the service I can re-introduce past PCs and spark a few memories of old characters the players used to have. (three story arches had involved her) I can also give Terial's daughter, who has been a background NPC so far, a bit of a spot light. (Don't worry, the only thing she shares with Terial, are the healing abilities and the power level, kind of a magical prodigy) After the service the wake will be held in the inn that all the PCs, past and present, first met Terial, as it's her inn. She named it the "New Bee Inn" (I was hit many time for the name) In the inn there was a table (table number 7) the the players new would spontaneously break as if some one were thrown through it, Terial would always mend the table only for it to break in half for no apparent reason a few hours later. I haven't yet decided if I'll have it break while they are there.

Anyway there they can share memories with other NPCs, and be told stories of her exploits. After that I'll have a party of old PCs invite the new party to a place where Terial had save them. (an old cave from a past campaign where the old party and Terial hid from enemy troops) There I can have a, PC turned NPC, "accidentally" find a secret path that leads to a note Terial left behind long ago, that offers advice as well as a way to defeat the BBEG and his army.

And a few sessions down, I can bring up Terials daughter again, asking to tag along or help out in some way. I'll figure out the details of that later.

Sound good? or am i way off base?