Murderous Rogues! Oh My!

[AKA_Bait]

Howdy folks,

I'm going to be running a side quest for 3 9 and 10 level characters (ToB fighter type / Beguiler / Favored Soul). I plan on having them targeted for assasination (because of other stuff that has gone on thus far in the campagin) by a rogues guild, hired by the BBEG.

Does anyone know of any free adventures or maps that would be easily adapted to this scenario?

Thanks!

[Falrin]

uhm, It's a long shot but what about just making up a

10th LvL rogue
5 Rogue, 5 Assasin
A squad of 2 a 9th LvL Nightsong Infiltartors & Enforcers
A 7th LvL doppleganger Rogue
1 3th LvL Rogue, 5Th LvL Wizard, 4 AT?

And hit them when they're staying in an inn?
And infiltrate the party?
And lay a ambush on the road?

1) Be carefull for a TPK, when unprepared a well infromed Assasin is deadly
2) Try to get away and hit again, and again, and again.

[AKA_Bait]

Not a bad idea, but I want these folks to be more of a nusance that ticks off the party even more against the BBEG than anything else. The NPC spotlights on The Scars seems like what I'm leaning towards at the moment as well as 'The Sewers' Viscious Venue. With some tweaking of course.

[BCOVertigo]

I don't really do pre-generated adventures so I'm not much use in that respect, but I will echo the idea that a well informed assassin getting the jump = game over.

You might consider giving the players an ally or at least an informant. If an assassin uses his abilities correctly he should win without breaking much of a sweat.

Poisons, death attacking the guy who can fix the party and retreating, waiting for the poison to do its work and coming back to finish the job when appropriate. This will vary between situations but it will be nasty regardless unless you:
A.) hold their hands
B.) give them an edge

[AKA_Bait]

I don't really do pre-generated adventures so I'm not much use in that respect, but I will echo the idea that a well informed assassin getting the jump = game over.

You might consider giving the players an ally or at least an informant. If an assassin uses his abilities correctly he should win without breaking much of a sweat.

Poisons, death attacking the guy who can fix the party and retreating, waiting for the poison to do its work and coming back to finish the job when appropriate. This will vary between situations but it will be nasty regardless unless you:
A.) hold their hands
B.) give them an edge


I plan on giving them an edge. The first one that comes after them is not going to be CR appropriate. The should be able to catch and kick his ass with little trouble. They will then know the Assassins are on to them. I expect them to go after the guild.

[DraPrime]

If one of them get separated then you should an assassin after the one that got separated. Make the assassin retreat because the separated character is too strong. Do this whenever someone gets separated. Knowing that someone is trying to take them down 1 by 1 is going to scare them a bit. Eventually just have the assassin and some minions attack the entire party.

[goat]

You could have the BBEG send the guild to capture them rather than kill them. An assassin can choose to paralyze instead of kill, and once someone's paralyzed, it's easy to c-d-g into unconsciousness.

[AKA_Bait]

You could have the BBEG send the guild to capture them rather than kill them. An assassin can choose to paralyze instead of kill, and once someone's paralyzed, it's easy to c-d-g into unconsciousness.

I thought about that, but he (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52326&highlight=Minions+Lich) already captured and Gaesed them once before but they managed to (according to plot) find someone (BBEG's Awakener) to break the Gaes. At this point, he would just want them dead so that no one else knows about him. He has already started moving his base of operations to a backup spot and hired the Assassins to get rid of the threat before they have a chance to expose him, or at least to distract them as he relocates.

I think step one will be putting Cave Terror poison in their drinks though and then a death attack on whoever seems to have passed their save.

[The_Werebear]

Hrm...

Well, if you tip them off that an assassin is after them, one or two of equal level to the party should be a credible threat without being overwhelming. If they set up a guard or two, they'll catch the assassin's approach and be able to shut him down.

Actually... If you are pulling stuff from the Wizard's site (I think that is where the Scars are from initially), there is an assassin who works by blackpowder bombs somewhere in the early stuff. I have no idea where to find it though.

[AKA_Bait]

Yeah, I think they may have taken that NPC down. I pretty much have looked at everything on the Wizards site with NPC and assassin in it using the search tool.

[Falrin]

That's the problem:

When the party goes to sleep in the local Tavern a rogue can easely sneak in there room and C-D-G at least one of them. Unless the party expects something like this there won't be much trouble with his High Sneak damage, move silent & open lock.


Best shot you have is letting the PC's know they're after them

Ideas:

- You could have the assasin kill an major NPC that was involved with the reason why he's after them. Preferably one that's travelling with the party.

- You have a message from a NPC stating that he fears for his life for reason x & y. He gets killed before the PC's can act.

- You have a failed attack by an arogant assasin who thinks he can take them.

- Another Guild warns them and maybe even adds a litlle extra Info where to find certain guildmembers.


Once the PC's know they're being hunted you can use the assasin at his full strength.

- At least one Night-Attack attempt.
- Always Follow them, when they are low on resources hit&run one of them.
- Find out where they're going and place ambushes, use falls info to get them where you want and even to get killed themselves. (The old man with the Dire Rat infestation apperantly forgot to mention the Lycanthrope Wererat lord that accompanies them)
- Set a Building on fire, collapse the dungeon entrance, flood the undergorund passage, ...


Get the right gear for the job:

- Escaping tools: Smokebombs, Dimension Door, Invisibility
- Attacking tools: Poison, ranged weapon, hirelings
- Utitity: Knock, scry, invisibility, fly, grease, disguise self


Next: Be prepared for a counter move. Unless the PC's are on a tight scedgual (?) they'll probabnly want to smoke the guy and his contractors out.


Personally I would go for a Doppleganger:
PC's will need time to figure out he's a doppleganger, so more surpires for you.
Taking the Waiters place and poisoning there food.
Taking a known PC's place and 'cutting the rope'

(personal favorite) Take a PC's place, rob a store, plant the evidence in his room, pay some thigs to kill him in jail. Works best with Vs a Wizard, he's 'helpless' in jail.

[AKA_Bait]

That's the problem:

When the party goes to sleep in the local Tavern a rogue can easely sneak in there room and C-D-G at least one of them. Unless the party expects something like this there won't be much trouble with his High Sneak damage, move silent & open lock.


Best shot you have is letting the PC's know they're after them

Ideas:

- You could have the assasin kill an major NPC that was involved with the reason why he's after them. Preferably one that's travelling with the party.

- You have a message from a NPC stating that he fears for his life for reason x & y. He gets killed before the PC's can act.

- You have a failed attack by an arogant assasin who thinks he can take them.

- Another Guild warns them and maybe even adds a litlle extra Info where to find certain guildmembers.


Once the PC's know they're being hunted you can use the assasin at his full strength.

- At least one Night-Attack attempt.
- Always Follow them, when they are low on resources hit&run one of them.
- Find out where they're going and place ambushes, use falls info to get them where you want and even to get killed themselves. (The old man with the Dire Rat infestation apperantly forgot to mention the Lycanthrope Wererat lord that accompanies them)
- Set a Building on fire, collapse the dungeon entrance, flood the undergorund passage, ...


Get the right gear for the job:

- Escaping tools: Smokebombs, Dimension Door, Invisibility
- Attacking tools: Poison, ranged weapon, hirelings
- Utitity: Knock, scry, invisibility, fly, grease, disguise self


Next: Be prepared for a counter move. Unless the PC's are on a tight scedgual (?) they'll probabnly want to smoke the guy and his contractors out.


Personally I would go for a Doppleganger:
PC's will need time to figure out he's a doppleganger, so more surpires for you.
Taking the Waiters place and poisoning there food.
Taking a known PC's place and 'cutting the rope'

(personal favorite) Take a PC's place, rob a store, plant the evidence in his room, pay some thigs to kill him in jail. Works best with Vs a Wizard, he's 'helpless' in jail.

Usefull suggestions all. Letting them know by virtue of failed attack is the plan at this point. I'm probably going to have the NPC they are going to warn about the BBEG not answering his door (he's dead) and have poisoned cups waiting for them at the inn as well as a low level assassin planning to death attack whoever the poison doesn't get. I know it will not get one of them, as the Favored Soul has a VoP and doesn't drink.

Also, since it's a confusion poison I'm planning on using, and I expect the ToB fighter to probably fail his save. Which means I won't have to frame the PC's, odds are one of them will kill a patron in their confusion.

I fully expect them to try to hunt down the guild from there. The low level guy will be wearing something identifying him as a member of the thieves guild of the city a little ways downriver, where the guild is located. That should get them over there and looking for the guild.

[Machete]

Have you considered ninjas? Nonmagical invisibility is excellent for hit and run and since it isn't the spell, it doesn't end when you attack nor do they drop rings of invisibility.

[Falrin]

Also Attacks from Guild x with marks from guild y work wonderfully. Especially with Dopplegangers :)

[BRC]

schedual a time when one of the players can't show up, say you'll play their character for the session. Little do the players know that said PC has actually been kidnapped and replaced with a doppelganger.

[Quincunx]

"Hired" assassins, you say? Have one of the players wake up one morning with a note attached to his/her vitals: Not Paid in Full. They can have an attack of conscience while the BBEG curses and raises the extra funds.

[AKA_Bait]

Have you considered ninjas? Nonmagical invisibility is excellent for hit and run and since it isn't the spell, it doesn't end when you attack nor do they drop rings of invisibility.

Yeah, but I don't have the book for Ninja's handy. I don't really want to toss in the oriental flavor either, the campagin setting, at least where they are so far, is pretty anglo.

Also, I plan on just using potions of invisibility so that they don't have to drop rings. That and not being invisible at all and just blending in with the crowd.



Also Attacks from Guild x with marks from guild y work wonderfully. Especially with Dopplegangers :)

They do but I have the guilds connected. It's not as though the Assassin is planning to get caught/killed and leaving marks to intentionally throw them off the trail.

[BRC]

Have some well-preped assasins attack them, only to be driven off by a friendly DMPC, who turns out to be working with the assasins, and betrays them after learning their strenghts+weaknesses and getting them into an oprotune location.

[AKA_Bait]

schedual a time when one of the players can't show up, say you'll play their character for the session. Little do the players know that said PC has actually been kidnapped and replaced with a doppelganger.

Nah. I've found that doing things like that always causes trouble with my players.

They are splitting up (2 players aren't around for this week's session) but I want them to get the feeling of being hunted and hunting them back. If it's just a doppleganger waiting for them to sleep and then making an attempt it seems to lessen the drama.

Also, no offence, doppleganger assassins impersonating party members seems a bit cliche.