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hi,
I'm facing a scheduled session with some absences vital to the story and don't like to "NPC" the party more than I absolutely need. I have come up with a different idea how to fill this one. Let me know what you think (or better yet: expand with some ideas):
The Rat Pack had just followed up on Merthan's call for help and stormed the Brass Trumpet, taking a shortcut (dimension door) up and killed Jil without much talking. On the way out, they happened to meet the leftover mooks and fought them, but some got away. Word has spread within the LL that Jil, a high-ranking LL member and accomplished assassin has been overpowered and probably killed by *the* group of adventurers in town.
At the same time a few LL agents aren't fully convinced that it is a good idea to play puppets for one fat eyeball named Orbius. Hearing about the group of adventurers that easily defeated Jil makes them believe that the Rat Pack could be capable of taking on (and getting rid of) said eye-tyrant. Now, the problem remains, how to get the existing info on his whereabouts across to that group without them failing to ignore or outright killing the messengers. And all that against the opposition of some LL superiors that happen to find the beholder arrangement attractive.
Now, the players are given the chance to build 7th level rogue-type characters (monks, sorcerers, assassins, etc.) and give it a go. The possibilities are endless, but I need a concise list by next Wednesday.
If the whole thing succeeds there will definitely be a write-up at the rpgenius.com site. So if you're looking forward to something like that, keep some ideas coming...
Event 1 - Breaking news
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Rumors about a high-ranking assassin in the guild being dead solidify to fact that Jil, who was one of the few LL members with direct contact to Orbius has been killed.
Event 2 - Intelligence
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Players are to find information on Orbius' hiding place or schedules. They can try to gain access to "speak with dead" and interrogate Jil's body. They can just do regular gather info to find out that Orbius has recently changed his schedules. Eventually, they will have a piece of parchment with enough text to point to house Vhalantru.
Event 3 - Opposition
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Depending on their secrecy or bluntness while searching for information they have attracted some suspicion from superiors and they are sending ambush parties to observe them. Successful "perception" rolls will make those obvious and, unless dealt with covertly, those groups will report to their employers and higher level spies will follow.
Event ? - give me ideas ;-)
Event X - Spilling the guts
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The players need to track down the adventuring group (aka themselves) and play the gathered intelligence into their hands. However they try to do this is up to them, but if not done successfully (success as determined by the DM, of course), the information will be useless or assumed to be fake.
Possible ways could be:
- prepare a murder scene with traces of a beholder (disintegrated body, stone statue, etc.) and leave a forged note about the connection to be found by the party.
- play the information into the hands of a trusted ally (e.g. Jenya or Merthan), which requires to ascertain first, who those trusted allies are.
- confront them (risky) and surrender to them. On being interrogated (using a potion of glibness or something) indicate that a certain eyeball has ordered them to liquidate the group. When they press on, admit where he's supposed to be found.
- ... ???