I'm thinking my group of players is unusually creative and opportunistic. Yesterday they entered area 23 in the Whispering Cairn for the first time. Upon hearing the description of the room, their eyes got big and they immediately started making plans.
They scouted out the room, dealt with the grick, identified the trap (the hard way), and made the expected deal with Alastor.
First step in their plan is going to be to go to the garrison to claim possession of the abandoned house the surrounding terrain. Then they are going to start gathering the iron spheres, carting them out, and selling them on the open market, being careful not to flood the market.
The engineer player in the party ran the number quickly, he figures that there is 150,000gp of iron in the bottom of the room. They also view the trap mechanism as a potentially endless source of more iron spheres. They are trying to figure out how to trigger the trap on a regular basis to maintain their supply. Their worst case plan is to use the Warlock in the party to trip the trap (he has the Troll Blooded feat, making him hard to kill, but severely weakening his effectivenes otherwise).
Does anyone else have players that look for profit in every situation?
I would rule that the floor of this room has a number of holes that lead through tubes and back to the trap mechanism (Similar to how a batting cage works). This way there is a set supply of spheres, but you should congratulate your players for a very interesting idea.
There is an old thread that brought this up. There were ideas on how to deal with such a situation.
My PCs tried to do the same, but I had the iron spheres turn to rusty dust once they left the cairn (The ancient magic of the Wind Dukes of Aaqa).
Peace and smiles :)
j.
I would rule that the floor of this room has a number of holes that lead through tubes and back to the trap mechanism (Similar to how a batting cage works). This way there is a set supply of spheres, but you should congratulate your players for a very interesting idea.
Thats exactly how I envisioned the trap worked. In fact, I added a hydrolic air-pressure like sound when the balls started shooting.
There is an old thread that brought this up. There were ideas on how to deal with such a situation.
My PCs tried to do the same, but I had the iron spheres turn to rusty dust once they left the cairn (The ancient magic of the Wind Dukes of Aaqa).
Personally, I think creative players should be rewarded.
MI
Personally, I think creative players should be rewarded.MI
I agree. I would give them some time to work out their plans and try to have it backfire, but it ends up being a solid idea I would let them run with it. If its too much headache, I would have them corrode quickly but put some treasure in the bottom for when they begin carting them out.
I hope I dont sound to condescending when I say that there is a fine line between being "creative" and being "overly opportunistic". I'll humor the idea that the magic trap generates the iron orbs when some come up missing; what is the exchange rate - how much material can they haul - who is buying? I'm sure I'm missing other questions that these would-be entrepreneurs would need to resolve to establish their successful buisness, but ultimately I (as the DM) would like to tell the story of some adventurers adventuring. Not only is selling ore unheroic, but its boring too.
It might also be argued that they are simply taking advantage of an error in script. Logically there is nothing wrong with this, but are these actions in the spirit of the game/campaign? Only the DM would know if this abuse is the case, however.
Recall: in Baldur's Gate you could create multiple characters, equip them, then leave their equipment in a central location for your REAL character to happen upon.
um, the simple solution that the old thread suggested was just change the iron spheres to hardened clay balls.
That's just what i did.
um, the simple solution that the old thread suggested was just change the iron spheres to hardened clay balls.
That's just what i did.
If my players want to try it when they reach the room I'll allow it - props to your players, I say. The trap, however, would be recycling the balls from the pit in my estimation, though (like the earlier batting cage analogy).
It might also be argued that they are simply taking advantage of an error in script.
And that's what it was. I'm the DM, I can do whatever I want with the adventure.
If you want your PCs sell them, so be it. I didn't want the hassle of the consequences if I allowed it. Now the PCs are still adventurers instead of merchants.
Peace and smiles :)
j.
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If you're really worried about it, figure that the mine personel would have a beef with the players suddenly ruining their buisness (beign careful not to draw attention would be nearly impossible in diamond lake, where everyone is into everyone else's buisness). Smenk would certainly drumb up a way rob the PC's of this resource if possible, let alone if he didn't out and out hire people to kill the players. Extra unwanted attention drawn to the Lake area would also upset the cult. Finding workers to help remove the iron might not be as easy as one would think, even in a town full of hardened miners (there's a reason they don't look for cairns to rob....they are workers, not danger-seekers). With the expense remove the iron, pack it and ship it off to greyhawk (its useless in a small berg like DL)plus the license fees, monopolized smelting fees, etc, the players might be lucky find it a break-even profit. Then again, you can throw some bandits and humanoids at them during a convoy shipment. Oxen pulling heavy ore are not fast.....it would be an adventure in itself trying to make it to Greyhawk...and who knows if a few Rust Monster's dont come calling to smell all that feris metal.......
I suppose there are various directions a DM could take this.
The Iron is probably magically generated like the lanterns. Perhaps is does disentegrate into rust after a day, a week, a month, or is permenant like a wall of iron spell. In a world where a wizard can conjure upiron at will, will these spheres really be worth that much?
Scheming plans are great, but the goal is to financially unbalance play. 1st level characters with 150,000 gps?!? Dream on!
At first I would flat out tell the adventurers they will be taking the adventure into a different and possibly less heroic adventure than you had anticipated. If they persist, they run a campaign along those lines. Take a vote and majority rules.
They will need to deal with Kullen and crew and then Filge to appease Alastor Land's ghost. Then off they go.
They will gain experieince dealing with unscrupulous thugs hired by a rival mine operator, thieves, roaming monsters who try to set up home in the cairn, wandering monsters or bandits along the road. Call it 'the Age of Iron' adventure.
As an added way to lure them back into the adventure path, have some kenku steal their first chest of hard fought gold and see how motivated they become to get into 'the 3 Faces of Evil' adventure.