I recently started the Test of the Smoking Eye for my group. To this point everything was going fine. During a random encounter in the flats I used the Random encounter tables and rolled a Hezrou. This is where my problems began. Not being overly familiar with the abilities of the Hezrou I started out with the spell like ability Blasphemy after winning initiative. Out of the five party members 3 were banished as a result of failed save. Four of the five are paralyzed. So, on the plane of Occipitus I have one member who is fully functional and prepared to fight. (He was outside the area of effect.) I have one member who is paralyzed and with in striking distance of the Hezrou, and of course Kaurophon. The rest of the group is banished...somewhere...not sure where you you go when you get banished.
So....problem number one. Where do my banished PC's end up? Problem number two...How do I get them back to Occipitus and the rest of the group?
I have decided to let this little side drama play out as I do not want the players to think that if things get a little difficult I will bail them out.
Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated.
Description of the Banshment spell:
"It enables you to force extraplanar creatures out of your home plane..."
The rest of the spell is mechanics; however, considering that the Hezrou is no more native to Occipitus than the party, I would argue that this spell should not have worked for it or been weakened - perhaps by only teleporting the party some distance away from it but still within Occipitus.
Aside form that, let's work with what we have...
Problem #1: Where do banished PCs end up?
The same place where all banished creatures go - back to their plane of origin; in the party's case, they go back to the Prime Material Plane (unless there are PCs in the group that are Outsiders).
Problem #2: How do they get back to Occipitus and the rest of the group?
As DM, you have many options...
1. Let the banished PCs worry about how to get back and fight on with whomever is left on Occipitus; this will likely result in the death of whomever is there, except Kaurophon (who will likely flee and renew his search for unwitting escorts to the Final Test). Those who died on Occipitus need to generate new PCs and will probably join the group as it re-encounters Kaurophon, who may just return to pick them up.
2. Save their butts by having Kaurophon plane shift back to the Prime Material, retrieve the banished PCs and plane shift back - burning uses of his Amulet of the Planes and exposing the powerful magic item to the party's knowledge.
3. Provide the banished PCs with a semi-obvious way back (support NPCs bearing scrolls of Plane Shift, etc.) without saving them outright with some miracle or powerful NPC plane shifting them as a favor.
4. Have Kaurophon reunite the party and "reset" the adventure by having him plane shift whomever is still on Occipitus with him back to the Prime Material; they can rest, heal and return with Kaurophon to Occipitus the following day "after I rest and recover spells" (after the amulet has reset, actually).
As a DM, I would pick option #4; it let's the party escape alive and reunited, as well as keeps Kaurophon from revealing too much of his true abilities or his amulet's powers.
My 2 cents,
M
...I started out with the spell like ability Blasphemy after winning initiative. Out of the five party members 3 were banished as a result of failed save. Four of the five are paralyzed. I have one member who is paralyzed and with in striking distance of the Hezrou, and of course Kaurophon. The rest of the group is banished...somewhere...not sure where you you go when you get banished.
So....problem number one. Where do my banished PC's end up? Problem number two...How do I get them back to Occipitus and the rest of the group?
Well, the spell description says that nonevil creatures are banished back to their home plane, and cannot return for 24 hours. I'd be inclined to say that they appear near their home or wherever they started the adventure. If you're feeling nasty, you could separate them by miles, leagues, or continents and let them try to get back together. I suppose hindsight tells us that fiends are more dangerous than their CR would suggest if they're on their home plane. I know that doesn't help you much right now. You shouldn't apologize to your players for aggressive tactics and smart thinking, though. The Hezrou performed brilliantly! To remedy the situation, I would let the dice fall where they may. If you're feeling charitable, you might distract the hezrou with a rival and let the PCs escape for the moment.
Description of the Banshment spell:
"It enables you to force extraplanar creatures out of your home plane..."
The rest of the spell is mechanics; however, considering that the Hezrou is no more native to Occipitus than the party, I would argue that this spell should not have worked for it or been weakened - perhaps by only teleporting the party some distance away from it but still within Occipitus.
But since hezrou demons are native to the Abyss, and Occipitus is a part of the Abyss, wouldn't being on Occipitus count for "home plane"?
M@
So....problem number one. Where do my banished PC's end up? Problem number two...How do I get them back to Occipitus and the rest of the group?
1) They went home, to the Prime Material Plane, in a random location of your choosing. You could always send them back to their point of departure off by the regular rules for Plane Shift, in a random direction determined by a d8.
2) To get them back, your pc's on Occipitus must deal with the Hezrou and then get Kauraphon to go and get the banished guys.
To accomplish that, I would suggest that after such a display of might by the Hezrou, Kauraphon tries to open up diplomatic chanels with the Hezrou (this buys him time for his allies to recover and her always ready a Dimension Door should negotiations go sour). Hopefully, your pc's will snap out of it and take care of the diplomacy or any bargains that need be made vs. the "good" demon. Whether it be a bribe, sacrifice or side quest, the Hezrou must want something...
good luck!
-c
1st - Occipitus, being part of the abyss is "home plane".
2d - Since you are refering to this as a debacle, then I would proably have the party sent back to desert area at the end of Demonskar. It keeps them together but still isolated so they cant swing by Skies and pick-up somehthing they wish they had.
3d - Kaupharon found them once before using scrying he can find them again so he can use his amulet to go back and get them.
4th - As for the parlyzed and unharmed PC's, once again you have Kaupharon. What better way to prove his trustworthiness to the party than save these two guys from the demon.
They key to any DMing debacle is to figure out a way to make it work for you. Use this to throw any suspicion off of Kaupharon.
They key to any DMing debacle is to figure out a way to make it work for you. Use this to throw any suspicion off of Kaupharon.
Exactly! This debacle is actually a great thing... I might have a hezrou "roll up" in my own campaign (we're just nearing Flood Season) when I get to that point, especially if Karuphon is mistrusted...
Hehehee.
Cheers,
Andrew