Whats a girl to do?_Nurah's dilema (contains spoilers)

[RunebladeX]

So my players have gotten past the point where Nurah has planted the demon blood. Through interviews they have came to the conclusion that Nurah was probably behind it, but just don't have any evidence to prove it. Being a heavily good party they have just taken to keeping her close (taking her with them on every mission)and under close watch.

The thing is it seems that Nurah's treachery is supposed to be discovered and resolved at that point or soon after. I'm not seeing any more plots shes suppose to hatch after that point.I did have her ring the bell in the Chapel as she snuck off under stealth. The players suspect (incorrectly) she had something to do with Arles's freak out but still haven't taken any actions against her nor have they tried to redeem her. She hasn't helped them one bit in battles either. She's played it off as "i was guarding the rear, getting into position

Now this is where it gets complicated. Nurah isn't stupid and probably not suicidal. After she witnessed the PC's completely annihilate everything in the chapel, without so much as breaking a sweat, its pretty obvious the players are extremely powerful. Or watched over by the gods themselves. She knows they suspect and are watching her and she's no match for them, or even a lone PC, for when they tire of her. She suspects that not even the demons left in Drezen can stop them, especially with an Aasimar paladin of Iomodae leading them. His power attacking smite evil with radiance has just destroyed the opposition. She could easily sneak away, but she would have to face the party in drezen or at some point. She could Flee the war completely, but the demons would surely hunt her down.

The most logical coarse of action seems to be just stay with the PC's out of self preservation and avoid risk. I could have her attempt one last PLOY and make a run for Drezen. Then have her work against the players indirectly while retreating further into Drezen until she's forced to choose a side.

How would other GM's play this out? And what are some plots she could hatch without putting herself to much in harms way?

[Tangent101]

She commits other acts of sabotage against the supplies and the like. However, you could have her just tag along and then when they attack Drezen itself join the antipaladin in fighting them.

I mean, think of it: they haven't attempted to redeem her. She has no reason to stick around with them. Watching them, getting an idea of what they can do (tactics), and then supplying her superiors with that information is still a valid course of action.

Just be sure to give the PCs a slight chance to find her sneaking away. ;)

[Marios]

She would most definitely stick around sticking to her role until opportunity presents itself to do something better!

In my campaign Nurah's treachery was never found out. She managed to plant the Shadowblood in Aron's stuff, the party confronted him in an entirely miserable way causing him to run away (they later found him possessed by the shadow demon and promptly slaughtered him... but that's another story!).

I ruled that Nurah would bide her time till Drezen, see what happens there and act accordingly. To make a long story short, during castle Drezen's exploration (she had asked to tag along every major exploration / battle in order to "record" it) Nurah never had a chance to do anything because the party never found the secret door (where she was supposed to try to lock them in) and Staunton was felled in a single round by a well placed Deep Slumber spell. Thus, even though she was about to expose herself in order to help him, she promptly fell back (she was invisible as she usually was, something the PCs had agreed upon, so nobody detected any unusual behaviour).

Anyway, on to your base question! What happened next? Staunton was taken prisoner and Nurah devised (and flawlessly executed) a plan to rescue him. I intend to have both of them reappear during the Arushalae encounter!

I understand that in your campaign (where the PCs are suspecting her of treachery) such a feat would be much more difficult to perform, yet, when the siege begins the party will have so many things to do that it is inevitable that at some point their guard will lapse and she should be ready for that! At the very least she could wait to sneak away when in Drezen so that she could join Staunton.

Have her do something they'd remember her for! :)

[captain yesterday]

do as Marios and Tangent says does:)
as an aside how awesome an adventure is it when

:

the two major protagonists are a dwarf and a halfling! finally the lil people (dwarves and halflings i mean) can f&&% s+@! up all evilly

best adventure in the path for that reason alone! :)

[JohnHawkins]

She should stay away from confused dwarven rangers as it turns out they can accidentally hack her to death with an axe. And then be upset for killing an ally .

[NobodysHome]

I really wish I could help/join in the fun here. Let's just say she didn't do well with my group. I'd go with Tangent101 and Marios as well, and for inspiration, look at page 39. This page provides wonderful details as to what infiltrators are hoping to learn/accomplish.

[isaic16]

My group hadn't actually figured out who had poisoned Aron, so they set up, essentially, a sting operation at the next breakfast to catch her. Because of her, she never really had a chance to escape. On the plus side, she actually did get redeemed, and even went on to marry one of the PC's.

(She's actually one of my top 3 favorite NPC's that I've had as a DM, though interestingly enough, only my second favorite in this one.)

[NobodysHome]

isaic16 wrote:

My group hadn't actually figured out who had poisoned Aron, so they set up, essentially, a sting operation at the next breakfast to catch her. Because of her, she never really had a chance to escape. On the plus side, she actually did get redeemed, and even went on to marry one of the PC's.

(She's actually one of my top 3 favorite NPC's that I've had as a DM, though interestingly enough, only my second favorite in this one.)

I'm jealous. Virtually identical situation in my group: They found the poison, didn't know who'd planted it, set up a sting, and caught her.

Then packed her in a saddlebag and sent her back to Queen Galfrey for judgement. Not even an attempt at redemption -- they loathed her. Maybe I just played her a bit too vile, but I was running her based on the background she has in the book...

[captain yesterday]

as someone with extensive experience playing and running halflings, you gotta play the villainy close to the vest, trickery and misdirection are their best attributes:)