My gaming group is composed of six death machines. After retreating to her room & healing herself, Triel gave them a pretty good fight before they dropped her. The real problem is that they didn't kill her. After knocking her into negatives (-7), they quickly stabilized Triel. Soon they will ask her questions. The dwarven wizard has spell focus: enchantment and has a very good chance of charming Triel, if not the very next game session, it's only a matter of time before she fails her save. A charmed Triel could really sing far more about the Cagewrights that is called for in the AP at this point. If worse comes to worst, then I can have Thifirane (via Scry) disintegrate Triel via Limited Wish, but that's the very definition of Deux Ex Machina. If I cheat on her next Charm Person save hoping that that little bastard (one of my players) didn't rack a 2nd *just for that contingency*, then they *might* deposit her in jail for a night at which point Vhalantru could be ported in to disintegrate Triel himself. This is better because at least she's not literally being killed from a bolt from the blue right in front of them! She'll just have disappeared, which they'll find suspsicious & far more mysterious and consider treachery, and all kinds of other theories. Regardless, my guys are *smart* and I'd like to come up with something better in either case. Anyone have any ideas?
Dear Forever Man,
things seem to look rather bad right now, but there is hope, as always. First of all, Triel is not a member of the Cagewrights - shes not a part of the whole Adimarchus business, the Ebon Triad only had a contract to fulfill - which they did only to further their own goal of fulfilling the prophecies given (which lead to the age of worms adventure path), Cauldron has to be destroyed for a greater good/evil - therefore you don´t really have to do a great deal of foreshadowing of upcoming threats/villains, if you don´t want to (but now you can share with the players exactly that kind and amount of information, you want them to have - and they will buy all, trusting their spell ...) and even a charmed Triel will only tell what in her opinion is the truth ... Triels history (posted by, among others, the same author, under: the Triel Eldurast file) states clearly, that revenge on Cauldron is Triels main motivation - if a mysterious stranger approached her, telling he has plans that would deal damage to the city, but he needs some help in doing so, she won´t neither ask a great deal of questions about the motivations of that stranger, nore hesitate to give her full support ...
If you try the deus ex machina way, give the players a hint, who is behind the sudden desintegration - they will get the feeling that they stumbled over something important, but have to be careful, if they want to learn more, they have to be brave/foolhardy enough to follow the hint about whom, who is behind all.
I´m sure those little lines did spark lights of imagination within your mind, to be prepared for the challenge,
yours truly, Claremont the elder, Lord Buckley
Remember that Triel wasn't the leader during the whole deal of the crafting contract (soulcages) with the Cagewrights.
Grehlia Cairhns (Spelling?) was. Have her be the only one who ever met with a cagewright.
Things Triel can leak without killing the storyline:
1) The group enchanted adamantine/mithril cages with the schools of necromancy and conjuration.
2) A fire giant named Dugobras built the cages for them to enchant. His craftsmanship is amazing.
3) They made a total of 14 cages (you can adjust this number if you think that the Cagewrights made some themselves before subcontracting the work)
4) Grehlia left to join the group that contracted them for the job. (maybe, just maybe drop the name)
5) Have her say that the plans for the cages enchantment included a birdcage symbol on every page.
6) Perhaps have Triel have viewed one of the cagewrights meeting with Grehlia. My choice the Drow (with minotaur body guard), just to drop a random red-herring on the players.
6b) As alternate contact point, you can use Rhiavaldi, Beholder Vhalantru, Ike or Embril. All of which can be hinted at as bad guys still. Remember that Ike and Embril have the extra soul cage in their church tower. You could alternately have all four characters make the pickup, or have been seen. (Granted, I wouldn't reveal Ike or Embril at this point, just hint at them.) This crew could also be in charge of pickup/delivery of soulcages.
Just remember, Triel is only the "boss" because Grehlia left and Tarkilar blew himself (and his mind) up.
Use her information like the Thug she is, and not as a genius ringleader. Let the players see that she is just not that smart or in the know.
Good luck, I hope my players pull off something this neat.
The buffed Tarkilar nearly killed them all after the Wiz/Clr failed his save on Cause Fear.
-c
I agree with Clint for the most part. The key is that if they do interogate her, look at it as a bonus not a penalty. You can give the party any info they should have so far but havent figured out. Focus on the ebon triad (give them the speil for aow, but must of all her revenge on cauldron, like Clint said they made some items for another organization to make money to figure there own way to destroy cauldron. In my game she was the love interest of Skylar, this may offer some lines. Overall, Triel doesnt have any real damning information, she does have clues that can lead the PC's to some unproven conclusions and that is the funs of SCAP. It also allows you to foreshadow Durgobas and perhaps a few others.
Hope this helps
Thanks guys. I really appreciate your input.
- FM