Keep it Hidden, Keep it safe

[thesilentx]

The question: How do you kidnap the daughter of a Druid and a Sorcerer, and manage to keep her and yourself hidden?

The background: I'm currently running a campaign that involves a villain who kidnapped the daughter of a high-level druid and a high level sorcerer (both are around 18th). Due to in game reasons, spells and powers above 6th level do not work (no items, no metamagic shenanigans to drop spell levels, nothing). The Druid is the father and is a minor noble in the region (he has refused higher appointments to enjoy the peace of his forest keep), the Sorcerer is the mother. The Sorcerer has a high Int, (feels like a wizard, with the bookkeeping ease of a sorcerer).The family has been searching for 5 weeks for the missing daughter. They know their daughter departed with an honor guard of PCs about 6 weeks ago, but never showed up at her destination. Scrying and divinations have revealed the corpses of the guards lying around a ziggurat about 5 days travel from her home.

The Villain: The villain is a binder from Tome of Magic, but can be fudged to be a binder/psionic class. He travels around with a bunch of vampires and runs a large mercenary group that is often utilized by many different nobles of the region. He was hired to kidnap the daughter by another noble for political shenanigans. The noble doesn't care what happens to the daughter, he only cares that she stay with or near the villain.

The Goal: Have the PCs (11th level) get involved and start looking for the daughter or fight and defeat the villain and discover the daughter's corpse or undead form, and report back to the family.

[Troacctid]

My first answer was going to be Imprisonment (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/imprisonment.htm), but then I read the rest of your post. No spells above 6th level makes it more complicated, and he's the wrong class anyway. Could there be artifacts that duplicate spell effects above 6th level, though? One of the best things about being the DM is that you can create MacGuffins like that when the plot requires it. MacGuffins, being made of handwavium, can do whatever you want them to do.

[Deox]

Good item in this case:
Weirdstone - Player's Guide to Faerun.

Granted, it won't stop Divination (the spell) and Circle Dance (assuming the daughter is still alive and on the same plane).

[thecrimsondawn]

Question

What class/level is the daughter?

[thesilentx]

The thing limiting all spells is an artifact that may or may not be imprisoning an avatar or aspect of death (hint: it is). I would prefer as few Handwavium (I like this, I may use it in the future, lol), objects as possible, so I want to exhaust all other options before creating MacGuffin items.

Edit: thecrimsondawn: The daughter is a 9th level Bard

[thecrimsondawn]

Im doing some research on this as I would like to know more myself.

I found this spell




Abjuration
Level: Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Area: 30-ft. cube/level (S)
Duration: 24 hours (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This spell ensures privacy. Anyone looking into the area from outside sees only a dark, foggy mass. Darkvision cannot penetrate it. No sounds, no matter how loud, can escape the area, so nobody can eavesdrop from outside. Those inside can see out normally.

Divination (scrying) spells cannot perceive anything within the area, and those within are immune to detect thoughts. The ward prevents speech between those inside and those outside (because it blocks sound), but it does not prevent other communication, such as a sending or message spell, or telepathic communication, such as that between a wizard and her familiar.

The spell does not prevent creatures or objects from moving into and out of the area.

Mage’s private sanctum can be made permanent with a permanency spell.
Material Component

A thin sheet of lead, a piece of opaque glass, a wad of cotton or cloth, and powdered chrysolite.

Not sure if this is player made or not, but it may fit your needs being 5th level n all.

[thesilentx]

While awesome, the spell does the same thing as the Weirdstone that Deox mentioned.

[AnonymousPepper]

Does not prevent Sending. A PC could rather easily drop a few Sendings and talk to her and figure out where she is. You'd need a method of preventing that.

[OttoVonBigby]

If the daughter's kept unconscious, I think sending wouldn't work.

However, a void disciple's Sense Void ability could bypass the Mage's Private Sanctum. By RAW the void disciple would have to be within a certain physical distance, though (1000 miles IIRC).

If I were your villain I'd seriously consider a mobile base in which to keep her. Be constantly on the move and you'll foil (or at least frustrate) Circle Dance too. Can the ziggurat be a terrifying aerial fortress?

[Darrin]

Smoky confinement (Complete Mage) is a good way to confine or transport creatures. I'm not sure how that comes up under divination/scrying... but if you want to foil divination/scrying, use flesh to stone. There's an odd quirk to petrification... you no longer count as either living or dead, so divination attempts that target a creature or specific corpse would fizzle. The diviner would have to use something like discern location and specify an object that looks like the target.

[atemu1234]

Keep the daughter unconscious, get a wizard for a pet/partner.

[Mystia]

Keep her inside a portable hole with a bottle of air in there. Also add a permanent private sanctum as well, for good measure.

[Sliver]

Try wrapping her in tinfoil. Everybody will think she's a potato.

[atemu1234]

Try wrapping her in tinfoil. Everybody will think she's a potato.

I like this plan. /thread.

In all seriousness, find a way to get a led box you can put her in without suffocating and all of a sudden, you've got an (extremely heavy) portable cage.

[MrSinister]

They are villains with no reason to keep her alive.

Kill her, cast gentle repose, stuff her body in a bag of holding.

Or are there divinations that can still find corpses?

[Sliver]

They are villains with no reason to keep her alive.

Kill her, cast gentle repose, stuff her body in a bag of holding.

Or are there divinations that can still find corpses?

Locate Object is a fairly low level spell, if they know that she is dead. But the bag of holding part will do the trick on blocking that.

[Zaq]

If the daughter's kept unconscious, I think sending wouldn't work.

However, a void disciple's Sense Void ability could bypass the Mage's Private Sanctum. By RAW the void disciple would have to be within a certain physical distance, though (1000 miles IIRC).

If I were your villain I'd seriously consider a mobile base in which to keep her. Be constantly on the move and you'll foil (or at least frustrate) Circle Dance too. Can the ziggurat be a terrifying aerial fortress?

To be fair, it's really, really hard to get around Sense Void. If Void Disciples are a concern in this world, there's very little you can do (short of finding an extraplanar refuge of some sort) to prevent Sense Void. Hopefully, Void Disciples aren't terribly common . . .

[weckar]

a lead-lined room in a hidden location seems like it would do the trick.

[Mr Adventurer]

Scroll of Sequester

[Telok]

Baleful Polymorph: Turn her into a newt, she'll hide under a rock all day.
False Image: Redirects normal scrying attempts.
Nondetection: Prevents normal scrying attempts.
Planar Binding: Give her to a nightmare or a night hag.
Leomunds Secret Chest: Hide the body in a secret place on the Etherial plane for 60+ days.

[thesilentx]

Thanks for the suggestions. After realizing how complex and intricate of a plan would be required to hide something for a high level sorcerer and druid, I might just hand-wave it after all.

What I'm thinking is, about ten days after kidnapping the daughter, the villain realized how stupid of an idea this was, and killed the daughter. Meanwhile, the mother still continues to desperately search for her daughter (whom she thinks is still alive, and damn anyone who says otherwise). However the father has given up on finding the daughter alive, and is searching for her body to lay it to rest.

This may seem like a cop-out, but this was never supposed to be anything more than a side-quest/explanation of events that will happen later on in my over-arching plot.

[goto124]

May want to change '10 days' to '2 hours' :smalltongue:

[Escapist]

Alternately you could have the girl fall in love with/ develop stockholm syndrome for her captor and help hide herself while engaging in a crime spree.

[Milodiah]

Alternately you could have the girl fall in love with/ develop stockholm syndrome for her captor and help hide herself while engaging in a crime spree.

Now that's a pretty good twist.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Sequester (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/sequester.htm) for sure, whether someone can cast it or if you have to get a scroll. You can tie a string to her hand or foot to keep track of her.

[Grek]

Spell Requirements: Mage's Private Sanctum, Magic Jar. Nondetection, Magic Aura, Shrink Item and Illusory Script, Sepia Snake Sigil.
Item Requirements: A single quartz worth at least 100gp. All of the material components for the above spells. 100 tiny identical bags of sand. An inkpen. Ink.

Step Zero: Cast Mage's Private Sanctum. Do all of the following steps exclusively within.
Step One: Cast Magic Jar, using the giant quartz crystal as a focus, to put the daughter's soul inside.
Step Two: Cast Shrink Item on the body, turning it into a piece of fabric. Write out a message on the fabric, preferably some sort of villainous monologue.
Step Three: Cast Illusory Script (Suggestion: Set down this text and forget it exists) and Sepia Snake Sigil on the fabric.
Step Four: Cast Shrink Item on the giant quartz crystal, turning it into a grain of sand.
Step Five: Cast Nondetection and Magica Aura (nonmagical) on both the shrunken quartz crystal and the piece of fabric. Give both items, along with all of the sand, to a servant.
Step Six: Have the servant mix the grain of sand containing the princess's soul in with the rest of the sand from a random sand bag. Do not allow him to ask why he is doing this or tell you which bag he chose.
Step Seven: Have the servant read the fabric. He will be Sepia Snake Sigiled.
Step Eight: Kill the servent, then cast Shrink Item on his corpse.
Step Nine: Cast Nondetection and Magic Aura on the servant's shrunken corpse.
Step Ten: Keep giving servants bags of sand, killing them and shrinking them, just to confuse people. Put the important servant in with the rest.
Step Eleven: Write on all the servants. Cast Illusory Script (Suggestion: Forget why these pieces of cloth are important.) on the shrunken servants. Read the servants.
Step Twelve: Begin plotting your kidnapping attempt. Again.

[Vizzerdrix]

Grek- couldn't you then use the cloth and sand to make tiny dolls and animate them with Minor Servitor? Not sure what that would add, but it'd be creepy.

[atemu1234]

Alternately you could have the girl fall in love with/ develop stockholm syndrome for her captor and help hide herself while engaging in a crime spree.

Vhat a Tvist!

Although that would be fun. Perhaps I should use that one in one of my campaigns. For reference, one of my players is a druid with a (now plot relevant) teenaged daughter. In character.