Help the traitor escape!

[DrummingDM]

The Scenario:
4 PCs are chasing a former party member across a desert wasteland. The PCs are exiled from their homeland, part of a rebel group still loyal to a deposed king.

The traitor just happens to be a cousin of the family who overthrew and captured the throne. Prior to her passing into NPC-hood, she struggled with her divided loyalty between family and rightful-king. Eventually, she decided that her family ties were more important than a former king's claim to a throne. She fled her allies with the aid of some hired help, and took off for home. Her former party members now chase her, hoping to catch or kill her, to prevent her from betraying the rebel groups plans, location, and new alliance with a long-lost elven nation.

DISCLAIMER: I want to keep this traitor alive. I want her to escape to her family to futher some (what I feel are) very interesting plot devices I've got cooked up, with a minimum of PC deaths - she really does feel bad for abandoning her former companions, and doesn't want to hurt them if she can avoid it. That being said, if the PCs are able to catch her and defeat her, and possibly incur some losses in the process, I'm cool with that. I'll make it work however it plays out.

The PCs:
Dwarf Fighter 7/Dwarven Defender 3
Human Battle Sorceror 1/Warlock 4/Eldritch Theurge 5 (my smartest, most "dangerous" player)
Elf Fighter 6/Rogue 3
Halfling Druid 9
(Yes, I, and my PCs know these are hardly optimal builds, druid possibly excepted, but it's been a largely martial, semi-low-magic campaign thus far, so all the characters are appropriate for the game.)

The NPCs:
Human Cleric 9 (the traitor)
Elf Fighter 6/Tempest 4
Elf Rogue 5/Assassin 5
Elf Wizard 10

The Plan (So Far):
What I've got planned for the party is that they'll come up on the would-be escapee's camp, seemingly abandoned. In reality, most of the NPCs are bunched together, under the cover of an Invisibility Sphere, safely outside the camp. Hopefully the party will either split, some investigating the camp, others waiting outside, or all entering the camp to check things out.

Wherever the larger of the two groups is will get hit with a Transmute Rock to Mud, hopefully slowing and effectively trapping them. Then, the Rogue/Assassin will break his own Invisibility, and hopefully effectively take the Eldritch Theurge out.

Then, a Transmute Mud to Rock should lock the trapped PCs in place, and the Cleric and Wizard are free to escape, leaving the Rogue/Assassin and the Fighter/Tempest to disarm and take the party captive.

This sets the scene for the party to escape the Assassin and Tempest and continue their pursuit. I hope.

Now, I know that a lot of things have to go right for that plan to work out. And I never assume that my PCs are going to operate according to my plans, but I think I've got a pretty solid strategy set up there.

Please, please, please point out the holes in my plan that I know are there, and feel free to suggest alternate plans, or contingency strategies if you've got 'em. =/

[Kioran]

Your NPCs, unless you´re into that kind of thing, don´t even need to fight the PCs - apart from being smelly, dwarves are also slow, as are Halflings, so unless they magically enhance their base land speed (granted, they could, with Longrstrider from the druid), your traitor wouldn´t even have to fight them. Same goes for any "short-range" encounter: A summoned Monster or two, maybe fog or similiar, and run. Chances are, they don´t catch up.
That is, unless your cleric wears heavy armor. Then it all goes down, and you´ll probably have to fight them.

Does the Warlock have "Fell flight" or any other Invocation making him faster, or can they realistically run? Does the Cleric have the travel domain?

[kamikasei]

She bears.

I think you dropped something here.

What are the cleric's domains? What are the wizard's spells known? Will they have time to rest/prepare before encountering the party?

[DrummingDM]

I think you dropped something here.

No, actually, I have no idea where that text came from. I removed it.

What are the cleric's domains? What are the wizard's spells known? Will they have time to rest/prepare before encountering the party?

Cleric domains are Protection and Law.
Wizard Spells Known - assume anything from PHB and PHB 2 is available.
Yes, they have time to rest and prepare before the party is on them.

That is, unless your cleric wears heavy armor. Then it all goes down, and you´ll probably have to fight them.

Yeah, the cleric is heavily armored. Full plate.

Does the Warlock have "Fell flight" or any other Invocation making him faster, or can they realistically run?

They can definately realistically run. The dwarf will be left behind. The halfling can hop on her wolf companion and pursue (or shift into something that can pursue) while the warlock and elf can run easily.

[mostlyharmful]

Hate to say it, since it effectively cuts out the possibility of an encounter and gets the NPCs away to complete safety, but why doesn't the cleric prepare two planeshifts, one to bounce them somewhere safe and the second to shift them back to where ever they want on the planet. You get to choose your destination and ok you arive somewhere near it rather than bang on the money but it's pretty much rangeless teleport. With a party like that there doesn't seem to be a whole lot they can do once the traiter is 15,000 miles away in his temple.

[Tempest Fennac]

I don't have much information on them, but could the NPC Wizard use the Whelm seires of spells which Begillers can use? (Page 174 of http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/rules...asses-Base.pdf ). They would fit in with the traitor not wanting to hurt her ex-allies if they did catch up with her.

[Kioran]

Yeah, the cleric is heavily armored. Full plate.

Apart from that being a grievous error if you have even decent dex (matter of taste, but.....), even if she doesn´t use Plane Shift-Cheese, she could Lesser Planar ally to negotiate transportation - that is, if she´s Neutral or Evil. Summon an Achiaierai, and ask it to transport her, as her mount, of sorts. Costs her something worth 6000 GP, but if she has it, she might have an even better chance to escape.
Otherwise it looks kinda bleak for her.....meaning she has to fight. Meaning she´ll die or TPK the party/cause great casualties.

Perhaps she could, if ever encountered by the party, use Air Walk + terrain features to escape, or at that, use a strong wind in her back + Air Walk for faster movement......Every little bit helps.

[DrummingDM]

Hate to say it, since it effectively cuts out the possibility of an encounter and gets the NPCs away to complete safety, but why doesn't the cleric prepare two planeshifts, one to bounce them somewhere safe and the second to shift them back to where ever they want on the planet.

Long-range magical transportation is pretty much a no-no. I don't allow it in my game, save for specific magical items, so that's out. Otherwise, the wizard would have teleported the traitor's group safely away. Thanks, though.

I don't have much information on them, but could the NPC Wizard use the Whelm seires of spells which Begillers can use? (Page 174 of http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/rules...asses-Base.pdf ). They would fit in with the traitor not wanting to hurt her ex-allies if they did catch up with her.

I'll take a look. Thanks for the heads-up.

[Tempest Fennac]

You're welcome. I'm assuming that they class as Enchantment spells if you haven't made decisions regarding the NPC Wizard's feats.

[Telok]

Cleric spells: Symbol of Sleep, Spell Resistance, lots of Dispel Magics.
Wizard spells: Mind Fog, Waves of Fatigue, Black Tentacles, Lesser Globe of Invulnerability.

Preparation: Spell Resistance on the wizard and cleric. Lesser Globe and Invisibility Sphere.

Round one: Mind Fog, Symbol of Sleep. Tempest and Assassin ready attacks to disrupt spellcasting. Fighters and animal companion are down for the count.

Round Two: Black Tentacles, Dispel Magic counterspell. Tempest and Assassin ready attacks to disrupt spellcasting.

Round Three: Waves of Fatigue, Dispel Magic counterspell. Tempest and Assassin ready attacks to disrupt spellcasting.

Ought to work.

[Funkyodor]

You mentioned a Wolf ally for the Halfling. If the player realizes that the Wolf gets Survival, Tracking, and Track by scent; then this could lead them to where you are invisiblly hiding and they won't split up. Either run while laying traps to slow them down or ambush them and hope for the best.

Telok:
While Symbol of Sleep would be a good spell to combine with Mind Fog. Symbol of Sleep doens't really work that well as a reliable offensive spell. It relies on a trigger, so you have to hope that they trigger the effect after they fail their save vs. Mind Fog and not before. Also the mist from Mind fog might alert them to you're presence, I'm sure the saves will. And with Range 0, casting time 10 min... It is a very effective trap to put along your escape trail, and a nice ambush starter.

[two_fishes]

Why not just do your best to keep her alive but simply accept that she might die as a result of the players' actions? Think of a few fun and challenging consequences of her death, just in case, and roll with it. If you're trying to wedge the players into a pre-planned climax, then you might be seriously compromising their authority to contribute to the story that is being shaped by the group as a whole and robbing them of their fun. However, if they like the idea of following your pre-planned story (if they trust you to make it good), then why not just explicitly tell them, "Hey, guys, it's important that she stays alive, okay?" and hand-wave her survival?

[DrummingDM]

Why not just do your best to keep her alive but simply accept that she might die as a result of the players' actions? Think of a few fun and challenging consequences of her death, just in case, and roll with it.

Please read my disclaimer in the OP. I'm cool with her dying. But I want to give her a realistic chance of surviving, too.

[two_fishes]

Ah I see. I didn't immediately translate "catch her and defeat her" as equal to "catch her and kill her." Well, it looks good to me, then! Have fun!

[Megafly]

repeated of glyphs of warding would discourage and slow down pursuit and delay tracking.



if you must have a fight, in a pre-planned ambush glyphs can be placed like mines to hurt PC's who go where you expect them to when the fighting begins.


don't pin all your hopes on the mud trap, plan for the PC's to move and use simple things like web or summoned creatures with grapple to pin them down.

[mabriss lethe]

An added dimension to the plan. This will require extra NPCs to pull off effectively. My recommendation is that the NPCs run across a small band of desert nomads and then the wizard bespells them into tagging along as bodyguards.

The PCs come to the encampment. There are mooks hidden by the invisibility sphere. But the traitor isn't among them. But we'll get back to that part in a bit.

The mooks are hired thugs/ mercenaries/ dominated nomads, whatever...(my vote is the dominated nomads) plus the assassin and tempest. They suprise the party with orders to slow them down. While the PC's are dealing with the mooks, they see the wizard and traitor riding away from the camp making a bee line directly for the road home. After a certain amount of time, either the enemies are dead or the survivors break off and run. The traitor hasn't gotten much of a head start, so they might be able to catch her. But it's not her. The two riders aren't the traitor and the wizard. they're just two decoys(more nomads) dressed in their clothes/armor. So to where did the real prey disappear?

There's an entrance to a natural cavern, or old ruin, or whatever hidden by the remains of the traitor's camp. The traitor and her wizard fled down the bolt hole the moment the PCs engaged the mooks outside. It leads in the same direction as the decoys. (toward home) and terminates some distance further along the way from where the PCs confront the decoys. The players will probably jump for the obvious bait, chase the decoys down, realize it's a false trail, then have to backtrack back to the camp, find the bolt hole and continue the chase with your traitor now having a couple of hours head start.

[Talic]

If the PC group is relying on tracking skills primarily, or divination, then Nondetection and a bit of translocation magic can slow things up. Even if you only jump about 400 feet or so, in a wooded area, that's a major break in a trail, involving hours to pick the trail up again, if they guess what happened.

[DrummingDM]

Words.

I like this. Very much so.

Danke.