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View Full Version : Need help saving a hostage *Players keep out*



wykydtron
2009-07-16, 11:22 PM
I'm currently running a campaign where my party (ECL 3) was part of a cult trying to overthrow the rule in the city of Menzobarrenzan. The thing is, they don't know that yet . . .
They've just woken up at a dinner in which everyone was dead and the food had begun to decay. They were then attacked by a party of 4 drow sent to make sure they were dead and to loot their hideout. They've managed to capture one and I'm not sure how to handle it. I want to have the prisoner reveal just enough clues to set them on their way while keeping them in the dark.

My party:
Drow Wizard 1
Drow Monk (revised) 1
Drow Warlock 1
Deep Imaskari Necromancer 3

I'm using the drow from the Underdark so they have a LA of +2.

I don't want them to peice together what they were upto until the whole of Menzoberranzan is descending upon them and they need to find a way to escape, somehow.:smallbiggrin:

Callista
2009-07-16, 11:36 PM
Random thoughts?

Drow... well, chances are their prisoner knows very well they can't do any worse to him than he'd get for betraying secrets to the party. Most likely the prisoner would try to escape, if he couldn't escape then suicide.

I'd have some kind of physical clue on the prisoner or in his belongings... plus, having the prisoner (most likely evil and selfish as any drow tends to be) actually think of death as the easy way out? That'd really bring home the seriousness of their situation...

Dunno if that idea will fit into your scenario, though.

Teutonic Knight
2009-07-17, 12:26 AM
Since its Menzoberranzan you're playing in, the drow prisoner should have some form of identification that will lead your PCs in the right direction. Maybe the certain style of dress the prisoner wears will give them a clue. Knowing drow, the prisoner will not talk unless probed by a squid thingy. (I'm thinking Drizzt held captive by House Baenre in Starless Night.)

They can ask someone about that style of dress and that person could lead them in the right direction, such as with the name of the faction that most likely poisoned the dinner and sent the four drow to clean up.

That's all I can think that fits Menzoberrazan. Hope it helps.

Kaihaku
2009-07-17, 12:51 AM
Drow save hostages?

HamsterOfTheGod
2009-07-17, 03:26 AM
I'm currently running a campaign where my party (ECL 3) was part of a cult trying to overthrow the rule in the city of Menzobarrenzan. The thing is, they don't know that yet . . .They've managed to capture one and I'm not sure how to handle it. I want to have the prisoner reveal just enough clues to set them on their way while keeping them in the dark.

Er...OK so the party has some sort of amnesia...

The ways to use him will partly depend on the party. For ex, if they torture him, use some sort of intimidate check. If they decide to let him "escape"so they can follow him, you have to be prepared for that.

One way to use the prisoner is to sort have him become an "adopted" party member. That is this "DM PC" can be used as a continual source of info/plot hooks for you if you can give the party enough reasons to keep the prisoner around. Think Danifae Yauntyrr in the early part of the War of the Spider Queen series.

You don't want the prisoner fight along side the party or lead the party by the nose or even advance him in levels to match the party but if the party leads a little nudge in the right direction then you can use the prisoner for that.

So for ex, when interrogated by the PCs, he can tell them that he does not know who hired his party but he can lead the PCs to the person who hired them.

Once that encounter is over, if the prisoner has somehow managed to survive then the party will still need some sort of "guide" in Menzobarrenzan...I mean if they don't know they were part of the cult, what else don't they know.

A secret "twist" you could keep, again if the prisoner survives, is that this prisoner is actually an agent of the cult the PCs were members of. Why did he attack the party and get captured? Well that was all part of the plan...that is if the party does not kill him.

Dixieboy
2009-07-17, 03:45 AM
You don't really have to take special precaution to avoid telling them too much, what kind of weak drow breaks under a little torture?
There's no way he/she (especially a she) would betray his/her matron mother to a couple of level 1 amnesiacs, what the hell would they have to offer him/her anyway?

Your problem here is more of a "How are they actually gonna make the enemy talk" and not "How do i avoid the enemy talking too much".

Have the dude/tte spit in their face and call them some assorted non-niceties from which they can gather some info.

HamsterOfTheGod
2009-07-17, 06:29 AM
What kind of matron mother would normally allow herself to be in a position where she could be betrayed by a prisoner under torture?

only1doug
2009-07-17, 12:42 PM
there's not just suicide to prevent talking, theres also magical compulsions which can kill him off for the PCs just asking the wrong question. (you should be careful to make these compulsions carefully worded to avoid your PC's killing off the bad guys minions with a question mid fight :P )