daggaz
2008-01-10, 10:36 AM
My gaming group recently waltzed into the encampment of lizardfolk who happen to be controlled by/worshipping/whatever the BBEG, an old black dragon.
(Michael, Michael, Alex, stay out!!)
So yeah, the sandbox style campaign grew railroad tracks and they were whisked off into the underdark, taken captive first by the lizardmen (it was that or certain death) and then handed over to a group of Yuan-ti led by an abomination cleric. And they were robbed of their epic-plot-gem, a large sapphire with some unkown connection to water.
Luckily for them *cough plot cough*, the yaun-ti were ambushed by a large group of drow, who were able to seriously weaken the captors. In the confusion, the group managed to slip their bonds and hide, and they waited the fight out until it was just the abomination versus a handful of drow.
They then buffed up and lept into battle, albeit a little too soon. Seeing the newcomers charging into the frey (they attacked the abomination first), the drow pulled back and waited to see who would be the victor, stealing the groups entire battle plan! (heh they were like...daaamn, we should have waited longer).
Well, with the help of a few crits, and the fact that the cleric was out of useful spells and pretty badly wounded (tho heavily buffed), they managed to kill him. Facing now an onslaught of poisoned arrows from the drow survivors, they managed to fight these guys off as well, forcing two to run off into the dark, no doubt to find reinforcements.
So now the party is lost and alone in the underdark. With a good survival check, the dwarf could probably find his way back the way they came, but that is a pretty dubious road that leads back to the BBEG. They will probably try to find some other way back to the surface.
The dwarf also scored pretty high on a knowledge religion check for the drow, and realizes that they worship Lloth and revere spiders, which plays into my question.
The druid has the vermin feat from eberron that lets him summon and wildshape into vermin, meaning he can turn into a medium spider. (very cool feat for this campaign, its core only but i just had to allow this one, especially since I removed natural spell.) Armed with that knowledge, I can definitely see him trying to use it to sneak/trick his way past any drow. He will probably also try something similiar using his crocodile form if he meets any yuan-ti again.
So my question is, what are the obvious give-aways (besides blatantly turning into the form right in front of the enemy) that it isnt a real spider, but a druid trick? And if the drow do figure it out, how much do you think they will care one way or another? I mean, the guy can turn into a freaking spider, thats a pretty cool trick if you were a drow.
The party, if it matters, is
TN human druid 6, no AC (the lizardfolk ate his hyena)
NG dwarven cleric (war and strength) 6
CE human rogue 6, working towards shadowdancer (he thought he was CN, I just fixed his sheet after his latest...erm...proposal for solving a problem).
They are slightly above WBL
(Michael, Michael, Alex, stay out!!)
So yeah, the sandbox style campaign grew railroad tracks and they were whisked off into the underdark, taken captive first by the lizardmen (it was that or certain death) and then handed over to a group of Yuan-ti led by an abomination cleric. And they were robbed of their epic-plot-gem, a large sapphire with some unkown connection to water.
Luckily for them *cough plot cough*, the yaun-ti were ambushed by a large group of drow, who were able to seriously weaken the captors. In the confusion, the group managed to slip their bonds and hide, and they waited the fight out until it was just the abomination versus a handful of drow.
They then buffed up and lept into battle, albeit a little too soon. Seeing the newcomers charging into the frey (they attacked the abomination first), the drow pulled back and waited to see who would be the victor, stealing the groups entire battle plan! (heh they were like...daaamn, we should have waited longer).
Well, with the help of a few crits, and the fact that the cleric was out of useful spells and pretty badly wounded (tho heavily buffed), they managed to kill him. Facing now an onslaught of poisoned arrows from the drow survivors, they managed to fight these guys off as well, forcing two to run off into the dark, no doubt to find reinforcements.
So now the party is lost and alone in the underdark. With a good survival check, the dwarf could probably find his way back the way they came, but that is a pretty dubious road that leads back to the BBEG. They will probably try to find some other way back to the surface.
The dwarf also scored pretty high on a knowledge religion check for the drow, and realizes that they worship Lloth and revere spiders, which plays into my question.
The druid has the vermin feat from eberron that lets him summon and wildshape into vermin, meaning he can turn into a medium spider. (very cool feat for this campaign, its core only but i just had to allow this one, especially since I removed natural spell.) Armed with that knowledge, I can definitely see him trying to use it to sneak/trick his way past any drow. He will probably also try something similiar using his crocodile form if he meets any yuan-ti again.
So my question is, what are the obvious give-aways (besides blatantly turning into the form right in front of the enemy) that it isnt a real spider, but a druid trick? And if the drow do figure it out, how much do you think they will care one way or another? I mean, the guy can turn into a freaking spider, thats a pretty cool trick if you were a drow.
The party, if it matters, is
TN human druid 6, no AC (the lizardfolk ate his hyena)
NG dwarven cleric (war and strength) 6
CE human rogue 6, working towards shadowdancer (he thought he was CN, I just fixed his sheet after his latest...erm...proposal for solving a problem).
They are slightly above WBL