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Post by ranzunar on Jul 12, 2009 21:53:11 GMT -5
Dolo loves to fight, but he also recognizes that he becomes closer to death than the rest most of the time. So I suggest keeping things simple i.e. not involve the drow and just make a simple distraction against Gertrude while the party gets in, kills some beholders, drag the spider weirdos and teleport out. I've been toying with an interesting idea to make sure that Gertrude definitely not be there. Idea is as follows: Dolo challenges Liam to a one on one fight in the arena. Normally a suicide move, if it wasn't the best bluff ever! Dolo goes to the arena and then does some crazy stuff to get away before the fight even starts. In the confusion, Dolo escapes and meets party in Gertrude's quarters. Luckily, we'll be able to teleport out before Gertrude can do anything about it.
Anyone who has better ideas are welcome to share them here.
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Post by streamofthesky on Jul 12, 2009 22:09:19 GMT -5
Any ideas for how Dais's illusions could help Dolo escape?
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Post by bardiclasher on Jul 14, 2009 2:18:34 GMT -5
I have no better ideas.
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Post by joviwan on Jul 14, 2009 16:58:14 GMT -5
How in the world would he do fancy tricks to escape with gertrude's antimagic eye doing it's antimagic thing?
This plot is getting mighty complicated. It's kind of fun, sure, but it does mean we need to think a little more carefully about how we want to proceed.
The big deal is distracting Gertrude. I think it's already been established that she will NOT be manning the walls against the spidermonster attack on the city, so she'll need to be distracted via other means.
Some options:
*Have her at the arena doing something while the party does a quick flash and thunder grab of the teleportation room. It's absolutely imperative that she be avoided at all costs, so it needs to be an important fight/distraction.
*Contact the mercenaries about planting evidence that would get Gertrude tied up in "court" over the supposed treachery, then move on a day she's indisposed.
*run really really fast
*Get someone else to fight Gertrude for us, providing enough distraction to get our asses to the teleportation chamber.
*Buy a scroll of Teleport and bamf into the chamber, kill everyone, and use it to escape
Just some ideas to discuss. I rather like the evidence planting one.
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Post by ranzunar on Jul 14, 2009 20:21:09 GMT -5
I originally wanted to avoid going into details as to how I wanted to elude giving specifics on Dolo's plan to avoid the coliseum. Mostly, cause I didn't want to subconsciously alter DM planning but anything that can be resolved before gametime will help in the longrun. Dolo's plan goes as follows:
First: Get to the waiting room of the coliseum and use bardic fascinate to get slave guy to say that Dolo has obtained a great power that even Gertrude cannot stop. The power to go ethereal. With a combination of ghost sound and ventriloquism, Dolo enters the coliseum, except it's not Dolo. Dolo has already casted invisibility on himself and is getting ready to leave the area. Dais is in disguise and in a quick to leave area where he casts some sort of illusion of Dolo going in there and doing stuff. The second that the antimagic cone appears, the illusion goes away, but the audience, Liam and Gertrude will assume that I went ethereal. I can make this more believable by getting a staff that has Nystul's fake magic aura of that kind of power. In the confusion, Dolo and Dais slip out. Anne and Char in the meantime have used their "persuasive" talents to get into Gertrude's chambers without too much suspicion with the spider merchants. Dais and Dolo run in, we kill what needs to be killed and we teleport out.
Jovi's ideas are interesting and might be used or tied into my own idea. Unfortunately, the weird plot aura turns anything close to teleportation into nothing more than DDoor. We can synchronize so that the fight also makes the other Triad people confront Gertrude and blame her for our commando mission. Some good old evidence planting and forgery might help. For example, a letter that says some witnesses to the assassination say that no mindflayers were there, but they did see a human with sunglasses (a common trait that humans that work for Gertrude have). Fun fact, partly the truth, seriously Dolo does look like one of Gertrude's goons to most Underdarkians. Dolo can claim that he killed Aratek, thus taunting her into making the match. Under the run fast plan, Dolo and a few others may need to get some potion or something that gives expeditious retreat or it's equivalent.
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Post by joviwan on Jul 15, 2009 12:08:53 GMT -5
Dimension door can still go through walls, so it's still an option for teleportation.
As for gertrude, I'm not convinced evidence planting ties in well at all with trying to fake Dolo in an arena match vs. anti-magic. It's an interesting concept, but Ethereal is defeated by a level 2 sorc/wiz spell. I'm open to discussion, of course.
I do like Charir and Ann bluffing/intimidating their way in.
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Post by streamofthesky on Jul 15, 2009 12:33:05 GMT -5
The Neogi were going to stir up an attack on the city not by themselves but by other triad forces already. So you don't need to worry about that any more than perhaps using spells and such to make the attack seem worse than it is. Maybe do some terrorist stuff inside the city, to make it look like they have guys inside. if you want to distract her by having a colliseum match, that might work. But it seems like someone's gonna end up buying time with his/her life that way...
Yes, DDoor can go through walls, and it's not a "weird plot aura." The underdark really does need a reason for why the powerful drow casters can't just teleport forces to the surface.
For the ethereal thing, nystul's magic aura won't help. If it's from a spell, it stops working in an AMF. NMA can make her think a spell is on that isn't, but that should mean it goes away from dolo in her eye, not dolo himself. It would have to be Ex etherealness. So that whole plan seems doomed to fail.
How are Anne and Charir bluffing/intimidating their way in? Remember you need a high level eye tyrant's eye to get in the room. Intimidate can do a lot of things, but it's not a dominate spell. Trying to intimidate one of the higher up beholders to let you in will not work no matter how well you intimidate. Gertrude's scarier. Making Gertrude think shit's worse than it is, and convincing her to use the tiles and take you and the Neogi with her since you're there (and she owes you the favor anyway) using bluff and/or diplomacy and the right planning to make her that desperate is probably the better option.
Saying all this as Dais, not as DM. Well, you know. Some as DM, like intimidate =/= dominate spell.
One important DM note: You're in beholder-land. You may spend some rounds in an AMF. It's entirely possible. Hopefully you still have your AMF char sheets up. If not, please try to prepare it pre-game, just in case.
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Post by joviwan on Jul 15, 2009 13:01:31 GMT -5
Hm... Okay, idea: We work to plant evidence that doesn't come to light until after the attack starts with the other members of the triad. This will scare Gertrude into running for her safe-room. How we get there ourselves (fight, flight, escorting her), we can show her the goods and be all "Well, this sucks, why don't you escape with us with all these spider guys?" We can drag Liam along as a show of good will, too.
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