Test out my puzzle?

[IIzak]

Hey everyone,

So I'm setting up a puzzle for my players and my brain is fried, so I'm just wanting to hear how people would deal with this puzzle if they were playing in a game. Sort of like a what if type thing.

So the party is all level 7, there is a Druid/Wizard/Mystic Thurge(I forget the spread but druid is higher than wizard), Warblade7, Warlock7, Ranger7, Dragonfire Adept7, Beguiler7, and scout2/duskblade5.

The puzzle is a hound archon trapped and asking for help. The Archon is stabbed and pinned to a wall by cursed spikes. He can still speak, but can't move or teleport because the spikes are disrupting his magic. He has vital information that he needs to report to his superior and begs the party to help free him. If the spikes are pulled out of the wall, The archon will die. The spikes are also built in such a way that he cannot be pulled off the spikes. How would you go about freeing the archon without killing him so that he can report his information? I'm looking for multiple ways that the party could solve this problem, so please feel free to get creative with solutions. You can assume average WBL and an average amount of optimization from each person. Thank you.

EDIT: There are 5 spikes in total, one in each forearm, one in each thigh, and one in the stomach. The spikes constantly drain his HP to keep him at 1hp and pulling them out causes a detonate spell to go off.

[Maximum Carnage]

Thinking outside of the box, I would try to remove the spikes from the wall, so that even though the hound may still be impaled, it could at least run on the party's plane.

[Sayt]

Take the Remove the prongs from the spikes. An adamantine weapon or some Stone Dragon maneuvesr from the sworsage could do this, and the druid reqdies to heal him when he's pulled from the spikes.

Why will removing the spikes from the wall kill him?.

[IIzak]

Why will removing the spikes from the wall kill him?.

Its not a damage thing (although he is damaged down to 1 HP from the spikes, they drain his health and keep him as close to death as possible while still being able to speak), if the spikes are removed from the wall though, it will trigger a detonate spell that will kill him.

[ATHATH]

Just heal him or give him some temporary hit points before yanking him out. Ask him to tell me what he's trying to relay to his superiors, first, just in case he dies in the attempt.

Or, just cast Create Lantern Archon (it's a Sanctified spell) and have it relay the information that the Hound Archon needs to get to its superiors.

I could cast Polymorph or the like on him and turn him into a Lantern Archon or something, dismiss the spell, then let him teleport away.

If I was evil, I'd use him as a soul component (remember that the body of an outsider is its soul) to cast Summon Lemure Horde or Call Nightmare or something.

Before doing any of that, though, I'd take some of his bodily fluids. There's bound to be some use for the blood of an Archon in the creation of some obscure magic item or something. Depending on the sex of the Archon, I might be able to use some of his bodily fluids to create a half-Celestial kobold (with the consent of the mother, of course) or something in the future, which I can then indoctrinate to serve me/the party. Alternatively, I could just give it (the fluids) to a couple that can't have children normally and get paid quite a few GP for it (who WOULDN'T want their child to be a paragon of Good?).

[ATHATH]

I could also just cast Dispel Magic on the spikes, so that their enchantment would be temporarily suppressed. If I can find a way to keep them in an anti-magic field for a while, I might be able to use them as time bombs later.

[ATHATH]

Wait a minute... Why can't the Hound Archon escape by simply shifting into Hound form?

I roll to disbelieve.

[ATHATH]

Won't the Hound Archon just "respawn" back in the Celestial Planes after it dies?

[IIzak]

Wait a minute... Why can't the Hound Archon escape by simply shifting into Hound form?

I roll to disbelieve.

Well technically all of the archon's powers are disrupted so he can't use any of his abilities. He can't even use his tongues ability so he only speaks the languages that they actually know. Also, the spikes continuously sap his HP, sorry if that wasn't clear. Any attempt to heal him will pretty much be negated by the spikes.

(He was K.O.'d and trapped here by a not nice wizard who designed these specifically to trap him so he couldn't say anything about the wizards plans [the important info].)

I'm liking a lot of these though. Please keep them coming?

EDIT: To answer the respawn question, according to my research, that only happens with demons now? Basically an outsider does not have a dual nature—its soul and body form one unit. When an outsider is slain, no soul is set loose. Spells that restore souls to their bodies, such as raise dead, reincarnate, and resurrection, don’t work on an outsider. It takes a different magical effect, such as limited wish, wish, miracle, or true resurrection to restore it to life. An outsider with the native subtype can be raised, reincarnated, or resurrected just as other living creatures can be. Only summoned stuff returns to its plane of existence and this archon isn't summoned.

[ATHATH]

Can I cast Benevolent Transposition on him? It's much easier to rez a mortal than an Outsider.

[IIzak]

Can I cast Benevolent Transposition on him? It's much easier to rez a mortal than an Outsider.

Do you mean benign transposition? If so, I don't see why not that'd totally work.

[ATHATH]

Do you mean benign transposition? If so, I don't see why not that'd totally work.
Yeah, I mean that.

Can I still cast spells while impaled?

[An Enemy Spy]

Why not just cast Dismissal on it?

[Fey]

Are the spikes stabbed through his legs? Cut the legs off, heal him to close off the wounds so he doesn't bleed to death, and carry him to safety. When you get where you're going, get someone to Regenerate the severed limbs.

[IIzak]

Yeah, I mean that.

Can I still cast spells while impaled?

Well, the impalement would trap your arms so not ones with somatic components, unless you have still spell, and you'd probably have to pass a decently difficult concentration check as well.

[IIzak]

Are the spikes stabbed through his legs? Cut the legs off, heal him to close off the wounds so he doesn't bleed to death, and carry him to safety. When you get where you're going, get someone to Regenerate the severed limbs.

@An Enemy Spy yeah you could, but the party are all level 7, so I don't think anyone can cast dismissal yet.

Also to clarify, there a 5 spikes in total, one in each forearm, one in each thigh, and one in the stomach. I will update the original post to include that info.

[flappeercraft]

Cast plane shift on the archon, he is technically not being pulled out of the spikes

[Blu]

Dispelling the spikes seems the more reasonable solution. Ideally an AMF just for 100% chance of sucess. Other than that... Maybe leaving the spikes in place and breaking the wall to take the spikes with the archon? With Mountain blade the Warblade can really dig through that wall.

Does the party have some time to solve the puzzle? Like enough to buy a scroll of AMF?

[IIzak]

Dispelling the spikes seems the more reasonable solution. Ideally an AMF just for 100% chance of sucess. Other than that... Maybe leaving the spikes in place and breaking the wall to take the spikes with the archon? With Mountain blade the Warblade can really dig through that wall.

Does the party have some time to solve the puzzle? Like enough to buy a scroll of AMF?

They have plenty of time, but they're only level 7, and the dungeon he's trapped in is several days from the nearest town, they don't really have access to super fast travel options yet.

I'd probably allow the dispel though, that one makes sense, and breaking the wall makes sense too lol.

[Telok]

Anklet of Translocation. Not his magic.
Dispel Magic. Negate the spikes.
Stone Shape. Remove the wall.
Ask his name and get a scroll of Planar Ally/Binding.
Amputate and heal.
Strap a +1 Death Ward shield on him before pulling him off. (assuming it's a death effect)
Cast Death Ward and pull him off.
Buff his resistances and saves sky high before pulling him off. (assuming it's an explosion)
Cast/Potion of, Gaseous Form.
Blink or any etherialness effect.
Quintessence.

Edit: ooh, tummy spike. Ix-nay on the amputations then.

[Arc-Royal]

EDIT:

Disregard this post. I just noticed I accidentally wound up in the D&D 3e/3.5e/d20 forum, not 5e. My bad!

[ATHATH]

Too bad they don't have a cleric (or high-level paladin), because then they could just cast Death Ward on it, yank it off, and it'd live (gets pulled off, dropping it to 0 HP, but because of Death Ward, is instead just kept at 1 HP).

Depending on what spells the warlock has, they might be able to cast Banishment on it, thereby just popping it back to its home plane.
That's... not how Death Ward works.

Are you thinking of Delay Death? That's not how Delay Death works either, but it's close.

[Deophaun]

Assuming the spikes are specifically disrupting his magic, i'd take off my anklets of translocation and put them on the archon; now he can use their magic and teleport off.

[gooddragon1]

Time Hop (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/timeHop.htm) the archon. Remove the spikes. If they would kill the party, have a few summoned monsters remove them or maybe telekinesis.

EDIT: Not enough sleep. Thought it was a general question.

[animewatcha]

Detonating spikes if removed means magical trap which atleast one of the group has trapfinding.

[ben-zayb]

Can't you just carve out those sections of the wall where the spikes were impaled? Warblades have the stuff to do that, and he can even carry the wall chunks for the archon.

[MaxMAnAtArms]

Not sure if its just me but my quesiton would be what is the wall made of? Depending on what it is. Stone/metal/etc. Theres always transmute it into something else or even heal em up and damage the parts around him to set em "free"

Suggestions such as
Stone to flesh
Soften Earth and Stone
Transmute Metal to Wood
and if its made of Stone of some sort Move Earth


Only some suggestions

[Dappershire]

Kill it before the Spikes do, thus stealing the XP from the big bad wizard that put him there.

[lbuttitta]

Disintegrate the spikes?
Remove the wall from the spikes?
Teleportation magic?

[Eldariel]

The important question is, how much do the PCs/the Archon know about the Spikes? My initial assumption would be that they're antimagic, which is actually much more involved than they actually are. At any rate, the problem is easy to solve if the players know all you explained in this thread. If they're working with incomplete information, however, things can be different. And they might mistake it for a trapped fiend masquerading as a good outsider, though simple Detect Good will solve as much.

My initial solutions would probably be in order from first to last:
Dispel Magic (though magic traps have the tendency to blow up in your face if you blow the check)
Mountain Hammer (obliterate the spikes)
Mountain Hammer (obliterate the wall - magic works too)
Teleportation effects
Healing magic + removing the spikes (though if I notice healing spells being negated I'll call it off)
Disable Device the Spikes
Other, more creative magical solutions


Though I'd first ask him to report the information to me and offer to relay it myself should things go wrong. I'd Diplomacy or even Charm to this end if necessary: I find it imperative a failure wouldn't mean the end of his quest - and I believe the information may be important to the party as well.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

Its not a damage thing (although he is damaged down to 1 HP from the spikes, they drain his health and keep him as close to death as possible while still being able to speak), if the spikes are removed from the wall though, it will trigger a detonate spell that will kill him.

How is the detonate spell maintained? If it's by something like contingency, it might be possible to dispel it. The Beguiler's trapfinding might be able to disable it as well. One could also try using dimension door to hop the Archon out of the blast radius.

The obvious solution for getting the Archon's report is to ask him to tell you the information and then go deliver it yourself. Of course, it's possible the Archon or it's superiors won't trust a bunch of adventurers.