Well how do we get out of this?

[Trandir]

So the party was tasked to kill a wizard in a island on the enemy territory by the king. We received a McGuffin to get access to the prison where the wizard lives, another McGuffin to summon a dragon as taxi service from city A to city B and from B to A to save time.

We got the wizard and also got caught by the enemy army and havig failed to bluff the general we went full traitors. And the general wants the McGuffin to be able to free the incredibly dangerous war criminals in the prison to help against the king.

Now the king is a tyrant and will kill us and everyone we know if he discovers this (and not returning any of the utems will result in that). We left in the capital a PC who is overwelmed with work right now, an important NPC and I belive 3/5 of the PCs' families.

A couple of problems:
If the general has to choose between the McGuffin and our families the first will have priority;
We are expected back in around one week and the king is probably paranoid;
You can leave the capital only one day of the week and that would be in 6 days;
The city is warded against teleports.


This is a mess anyone has any idea on how can we save them without dying in the process?

Sidenote: the system us pathfinder if that matters

[Zarrgon]

Well.....give the general the key. Then go home and grab everyone and either hide them or get them out of the city.

Look, you are already in a bad spot: working for an evil tyrant king and you left behind lots of hostages. If the DM had mentioned this was the adventure during game 0, I would have backed out. But if you agreed, then you made your own game.

If it did "just happen", and even if you don't think the DM is being a jerk.....you might as well just nuke the campaign. Do whatever until the DM says "everyone's character dies".

This type of problem can be fun to fix, but not with a bad set up. Like really MY character would never live in a city with a tyrant king OR ever leave my family there. And if the DM is a jerk, you can always just leave the game.

Oh, and OK, so the whole city has an epic anti teleport ward covering it? Ok, lets just say that is fine....um, I'd guess that if you could use teleport to escape your characters are like what 10th level? So...lots of other ways to escape a city. How about invisibility? Reduce person? Polymorph? Planual travel? Gaseous form? Illusions? Assuming the city does not have an anti-whatever the players do ward, you should be able to find a way.

[Doctor Despair]

So the party was tasked to kill a wizard in a island on the enemy territory by the king. We received a McGuffin to get access to the prison where the wizard lives, another McGuffin to summon a dragon as taxy service from city A to city B and from B to A to save time.

We got the wizard and also got caught by the enemy army and havig failed to bluff the general we went full traitors.

And the general wants the McGuffin

Now the king is a tyrant and will kill us and everyone we know if he discovers this (and not returning any of the utems will result in that).

A couple of problems:
If the general has to choose between the McGuffin and our families the first will have priority;
We are expected back in around one week and the king is probably paranoid;
You can leave the capital only one day of the week and that would be in 6 days;
The city is warded against teleports.


This is a mess anyone has any idea on how can we save them without dying in the process?


Short answer: don't go traitor. Your main issue is escaping the general right now. It is easier for your characters to escape the general, or whatever prison camp he might put you in, than it is to rescue a bunch of hostages. Escape, go back, return the items, then evacuate your families if you wish. Maybe make a slight of hand to swap out the McGuffin with a nonmagical key, if that makes it easier.

Alternatively: give him the McGuffin, but ask for the chance to go to the city and rescue your families before he makes the prison break. Then, infiltrate the city and do so. Teleportation doesn't stop good old-fashoned stealth.

Edit: Or just use a spell to send a message to the families and have them leave on their own, if they're not under lock and key as it is

[dancrilis]

So the party was tasked to kill a wizard in a island on the enemy territory by the king. We received a McGuffin to get access to the prison where the wizard lives, another McGuffin to summon a dragon as taxy service from city A to city B and from B to A to save time.

We got the wizard and also got caught by the enemy army and havig failed to bluff the general we went full traitors. And the general wants the McGuffin to be able to free the incredibly dangerous war criminals in the prison to help against the king.

Now the king is a tyrant and will kill us and everyone we know if he discovers this (and not returning any of the utems will result in that). We left in the capital a PC who is overwelmed with work right now, an important NPC and I belive 3/5 of the PCs' families.

A couple of problems:
If the general has to choose between the McGuffin and our families the first will have priority;
We are expected back in around one week and the king is probably paranoid;
You can leave the capital only one day of the week and that would be in 6 days;
The city is warded against teleports.


This is a mess anyone has any idea on how can we save them without dying in the process?

Sidenote: the system us pathfinder if that matters

Firstly kill the general, then kill the king, hack and slash your way to victory woo-hoo.

Alternatively:

another McGuffin to summon a dragon as taxy service from city A to city B
If there is much trade between city A and city B and you have a dragon that can issues taxes on those routes then you might be able to crash both economies - and end food supplies - which will likely leads to riots and rebellions against the king and also cause the generals men to abandon the cause if they cannot get basic goods any more - you can destabilise the entire region and then both sides will be in too much chaos to really have the ability to seek vengence - if the dragon can impose these taxes via stealth you should be able to remain blameless.

[Trandir]

Firstly kill the general, then kill the king, hack and slash your way to victory woo-hoo.


We are three in a camp full of soldiers. Even assuming they all are lv 1 fighters we can't win since we don't have any aoe blaster. And then the general is probably by itself stronger than any of us.



Alternatively:

If there is much trade between city A and city B and you have a dragon that can issues taxes on those routes then you might be able to crash both economies - and end food supplies - which will likely leads to riots and rebellions against the king and also cause the generals men to abandon the cause if they cannot get basic goods any more - you can destabilise the entire region and then both sides will be in too much chaos to really have the ability to seek vengence - if the dragon can impose these taxes via stealth you should be able to remain blameless.

Little misunderstanding. The dragon willl only transport us from city A to city B and back to save a couple of days of travel, we don't command it and it does us this favor for the king whom gave us the McGuffin. Also city B has been burned to the ground by the king

[TheCount]

some questions:
Is the general good? or just wants to be in charge?
the king wanted to kill the wizard that guarded the prison? or was he jailed in there? big difference.
Does the king get reports from the prison? if yes, how often and by what method? also were you told to sign him somehow after the wizard is killed? or just report in person?
what forces do the general have? what can they do?
Do the general needs/wants you after the McGuffin?
What type of war criminals? you said dangerous, but aside from that?
Are you under guard? tied up or in confinement?
can you escape easily?

thats concerning the general and the king, now, the PC and families in the capital:
the message and quiet/stealthy escape is good plan.
what can the PC in the capital do? and the families?
do any have connections to smugglers? are they reliable?
Is there a sewer in the capital? if yes, do you know if its safe or where it leads?
also, do you know how far the anti teleport extends from the city? or just the city walls?

[Trandir]

some questions:
Is the general good? or just wants to be in charge?
the king wanted to kill the wizard that guarded the prison? or was he jailed in there? big difference.
Does the king get reports from the prison? if yes, how often and by what method? also were you told to sign him somehow after the wizard is killed? or just report in person?
what forces do the general have? what can they do?
Do the general needs/wants you after the McGuffin?
What type of war criminals? you said dangerous, but aside from that?
Are you under guard? tied up or in confinement?
can you escape easily?

thats concerning the general and the king, now, the PC and families in the capital:
the message and quiet/stealthy escape is good plan.
what can the PC in the capital do? and the families?
do any have connections to smugglers? are they reliable?
Is there a sewer in the capital? if yes, do you know if its safe or where it leads?
also, do you know how far the anti teleport extends from the city? or just the city walls?

Very. He's probably one of the nicest NPCs met so far

Jailed there. Also the king "owns" the prison. But the wizard was already dead. The quest was to kill the him and he is dead so mission accomplished.

The wizard was already dead probably for months if not years before we got there so no. He has no idea of what happens there. Report to him in person after the acy was done. This means that we would have to walk back to the burned city B and then report. This give or take will be at least a week long journey.

The general has a large number of soldiers including healers and spellcasters. We don't know how many troops are there for sure but I guess at the very least a couple of hundreds. We went full traitors so if we don't stick with him we might just die there.

I don't fully understand this question. The most notable ones are in the lower level, dragon tamers, some of which even managed to save their companions before getting imprisoned. And a lot of other people too busy getting mauled by the jailers to talk with us.

You mean by the king or the general? Thecnically my mission was to make sure the party got the mission so I have to surveil the rest of the party. As for the general after we went full traitors we even got our unsupervised tent (after we gave up our weapons but still). No idea but probably not since even if we could escape the camp we are still in a island and they have warships.

Anything a PC can. Same for the families. The king is a tyrant but the life there for the common folk is normal (punishments for breaking the law are harsh tho).

We don't.

I suppose there is one. But the king got extra paranoid so the city is surrounded by a forest and constantly patrolled by guards. I forgot this in the list of problems.

No idea honestly but probably either the city walls or the forest at most.

[dancrilis]

We are three in a camp full of soldiers. Even assuming they all are lv 1 fighters we can't win since we don't have any aoe blaster. And then the general is probably by itself stronger than any of us.

Well it depends on the tactics you (the rest of the players and the DM) are comfortable using in the game - but assuming the General sleeps you could merely sneak in with a Rogue (or the like) and coup de gras them to death while they are likely unarmed and unarmoured even if they do survive the initial attack.



Little misunderstanding. The dragon willl only transport us from city A to city B and back to save a couple of days of travel, we don't command it and it does us this favor for the king whom gave us the McGuffin. Also city B has been burned to the ground by the king
That suggestion was more a joke on your use of 'taxy' rather then 'taxi' - because the idea of a taxy dragon is something I have been considering for a while in various games.

[Trandir]

Well it depends on the tactics you (the rest of the players and the DM) are comfortable using in the game - but assuming the General sleeps you could merely sneak in with a Rogue (or the like) and coup de gras them to death while they are likely unarmed and unarmoured even if they do survive the initial attack.


That suggestion was more a joke on your use of 'taxy' rather then 'taxi' - because the idea of a taxy dragon is something I have been considering for a while in various games.

Still getting spotted once will mean certain death

And now I feel dumb

[TheCount]

i meant, those were the questions about them :smallredface:

seems pretty easy to me, you help the generall, kill/jail the jailors and free the the others. just ask the general to give back the McGuffin afterwards.

you go back, report to the king that the wizard was dead (wich is true), but someone else took over the jail (true), and you needed to fight the guards that were there (also true) but it got problematic as you coldn't defeat the new owner (true) and it took time to get away (still true)

after that.... welp
you said he is paranoid, so you will likely die no matter what.