[3.5] Adventure/Plot Advice: Mechanus, Plane Shift etc.

[Thurbane]

Hey, looking for some DM advice:

My group was exploring a dungeon last night, and the Paladin triggered a Prismatic Spray trap.

Long story short, he got plane shifted to Mechanus, and the party has no means at hand to retrieve him.

He is a LG Aasimar Paladin (non-casting variant; of St Cuthbert) 9. The rest of the party are a Human Ranger (non-casting variant) 9, Human Warmage 6/Sandshaper 3, and Human Favoured Soul (of Lendor) 8/Church Inquisitor 1.

They have no spells or items that would be of any help.

They were on a fetch quest for the Church of St Cuthbert, and coincidentally, the Paladin is carrying the McGuffin (a thigh-bone from a Saint; no special powers, but of religious interest to the church).

So I'm wondering, what options would the Paladin have to get back to the Prime Material plane?

Looking for some interesting story-based ideas, if possible.

Cheers - T

[Karl Aegis]

Guvners try to confiscate contraband.

[Troacctid]

Waiting in long orderly lines in order to gain access to authorized planar transit. The Mechanus DMV.

[BowStreetRunner]

While not directly an answer to your question, I do have a relevant suggestion. Whenever I've DMed a party that had to be split for a significant amount of time, I let the players whose PCs were out of the picture each run a temporary PC - basically an NPC that would be around to help the PCs who were present. In addition, I would give each temporary PC their own set of goals they wanted to accomplish besides just aiding the PCs.

This helped take the pressure off of trying to balance between the disjointed groups and allowed each PC group to focus on doing what they needed to instead of feeling like it had to be rushed so that the other players weren't bored. It also was a fun opportunity for the other players to try some different builds - whether I made the characters for them or gave them a chance to make their temps.

[Jack_Simth]

Dismissal is Cleric-4, and will *usually* get you back to the right plane. So the Paladin needs to find a friendly-ish Cleric-7.

[Thurbane]

Thanks for the feedback so far.

If I don't go with the above suggestions, I've concocted somewhat of a scenario: since the Paladin has high Cha, he may be attacked by a couple of Visilights (MM 3).

After he fights them off, he might run into a Spectator (LoM), who has access to Plane Shift 1/day. The fluff of Spectators implies they are interested in philosophical and theological debates, so maybe if the PC engages the Spectator in a stimulating discussion, in return it might agree to pop him back to the Prime Material?

In regards to what the rest of the PCs will do in the meantime, one of the characters is an NPC, so the missing PC player could run the NPC in the interim.

[Uncle Pine]

The Paladin is now the MacGuffin: the other characters can go to the church of St. Cuthbert and pay for the services necessary to get planeshifted to Mechanus (as well as a scroll to get back). Saving private Ryan: interdimensional edition.