Old Klingon Proverb

[Gwaednerth]

I'm running an urban campaign, and in the course of tearing my beautifully designed adventure to shreds :smallsmile:, my players seriously pissed off a powerful noblewoman.
Now, I don't want to bring her back in just yet, because I want to keep the adventure at least somewhat on track, but I would love to have her turn up again an adventure or two later to throw a spanner in the works for the heroes either as a sidequest or as a driving force for an adventure.
So, I put it to the playground: What is the best sort of revenge? Keep in mind that she has access to just about any resources she could want.

[Strigon]

Slowly offer them resources; tanks, weapons, supplies, money.
Let them get a few things done with them, and allow their confidence to grow. Then, when they plan something big enough, at just the right moment to screw them over and past the point where aborting the mission is possible, withdraw your support. Freeze their bank accounts, have the tank crews fall back, weapons jam; everything falls apart at the most important time.

[Gwaednerth]

I like it, although I'd have to do it through a proxy, since they'd never trust a gift from the countess.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Another option is to slowly dismantle their support network. Spread rumors about how untrustworthy and ruthless the group is (this may not even be untrue). Encourage vendors not to sell to them or to inflate theirs prices to stymie their efforts to get the powerful items that would make them harder to deal with. As the adventurers are unable to acquire the necessary level appropriate items they will be forced to either do low paying quests (aggravating the weaker groups that would normally go after them) or be in a worse off position when they confront more dangerous enemies.

Regardless the countess should really be leveraging her influence to interfere with the group.

[BowStreetRunner]

The next time she needs a party of adventurers for a suicide mission, she just hires them through a proxy. Off they go to solve two of her problems at once. :smallbiggrin:

[Crake]

What did they do to piss her off? How powerful is she? What is the relationship between nobles and commoners in your campaign setting? Are the PCs commoners (in the social heirarchy sense, not in the NPC class sense)? Depending on these answers, the results may vary, but if it's anything like the middle ages, and the PCs are infact commoners, then depending on how badly the pissed her off, she could simply have them arrested and executed the very next day. They refused her punishment? They are now wanted criminals, known across the kingdom for their treachery, no town big enough to know who they are will take them in without arresting them on sight, and smaller towns simply don't know who they are, so they get no special treatment there. The only way they would be able to get out of it would be to either leave the kingdom and start anew somewhere else, hoping word doesn't spread, or to have an equally powerful noble friend. Or to be nobles themselves.

Again though, that depends on you having a social system like that of the middle ages, and that the PCs are commoners.

[TimeWizard]

I'm running an urban campaign, and in the course of tearing my beautifully designed adventure to shreds :smallsmile:, my players seriously pissed off a powerful noblewoman.
Now, I don't want to bring her back in just yet, because I want to keep the adventure at least somewhat on track, but I would love to have her turn up again an adventure or two later to throw a spanner in the works for the heroes either as a sidequest or as a driving force for an adventure.
So, I put it to the playground: What is the best sort of revenge? Keep in mind that she has access to just about any resources she could want.

What are the PC's actually doing? We can give you better, more specific advice if we know what's up. That being said, the classic Frame Job is always gold. PC's go to meet someone in a warehouse, but everyone's dead and super illegal things are around and the city guard is tipped off just in time to get you framed for really bad stuff. That one never goes out of style.

[Thurmin]

Create a proxy villian. A nuisance that the countess keeps in her confidences, or hires. Whichever.

Outfitted with excellent low charge gear (in the event he/she is caught). Specialized in Abjuration magics to dispel their effects during battles. Arrows with Silence to shut down their casters, area dispel arrows, or single target dispels.

Toss in just enough of these elements and scoot before the party can get a handle on this antagonist. Keep divination proof magics active on the person as well. Unknowable Alignment, Nondetection, etc.

[dehro]

have her buy up whatever debt they owe to anybody in the campaign.. Say they fail a mission and owe someone money or a favour because of that, have her jump in and then pit them, by proxy if need be, maneuver them and toy with them.