| nib |
Hi,
I'm facing a problem of player absences during chapter 8, where i don't want to "npc" the party more than absolutely necessary. I came up with an alternative session idea:
The party had just killed Jil, but some of the mooks got away to spread word within the LL about the dethroning of one of their most accomplished assassins. At the same time a few other 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 group 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.
The players get to create fresh 7th level rogue-type characters (or DM can supply pre-made ones) and are to find a way to transfer intelligence about Orbius to the PCs.
Event 1: Breaking news
Rumors about a dead assassin spread in the guild until they solidify and it becomes a fact that Jil, high-ranking assassin and one of the direct contacts of Lord Orbius, is dead. Highly suspected are "your heroes" (TM). Ideas about using them as pawns to rid the guild of the eye-tyrant influence are spawning.
Event 2: Intelligence
Players are supposed to find ways to find Orbius hiding place or certain daily schedules, in short: information suitable to set an ambush for the beast, which is what the players want the adventuring party to do.
Event 3: Opposition
The investigations don't go unnoticed and spies are sent to observe the suspicion faction of the guild. If those are not dealt with swiftly and covertly, better spies will follow. At some point, another assassin of Jil's class will attack them with a few mooks for distraction.
Event 4: Break in
Some of the paperwork dealing with orders from Orbius personally are within one of the Jester's offices, where no one has access to. However, as it happens, Jester Velior Thazo is out of office (guess, why :-) ) and his subordinate is desperate for drugs (the good stuff from Sasserine), so there is a chance to get in unnoticed. However, it should require superior team work to make this happen. Extra info: Thazo's current whereabouts.
Event ... : Help out with ideas, I'm about to run out.
Event X-1: Finding the "tools"
Track down and gather intelligence on the party. Contact them or have them observed. Maybe find already available information on them in the LL archives ;-)
Event X: Spilling the guts
The players are to transfer their gathered intelligence in suitable form to the group of adventurers they want to use. Some ideas on how to achieve this:
- stage a murder scene with evidence that a beholder was taking part (get a statue, get some dust from a disintegration, etc.) and put a forged note with directions to house Vhalantru.
- confront the party and risk capture or outright surrender to them, then giving information about the employer directly, hopefully under pressure or using potion of glibness to make it believable.
- play the information into hands of a trusted ally. Requires finding out who actually are trusted allies of the party.
Any other ideas ?
PS: Of course, this will become a write-up for therpgenius.com, if successful, so please advise.
| Intrepid |
Maybe an escapade gaining good will of the heroes, or finding some leverage? The rogue LL rogues need to find out what would get them either on the good side of the party or what would motivate them just in case the heroes wouldn't particularly WANT to take on a rampaging beholder. Maybe they get something the party needs or get the goods on something one PC would rather keep secret.
Early in my game, Jil gained the good will of the party by capturing the one escaped were-rat from Orak's bathhouse and leaving it sliced and diced in a bag behind a PC's aunt's house as a "gift" to the highest CHA PC. He promptly fell for her, though the rest of the party thought it a very odd and disgusting present. It was gross, but memorable.
| nib |
Thanks Intrepid, maybe I can use that.
Here's the story so far:
Event 1: Breaking news
Rumors about a dead assassin spread in the guild until they solidify and it becomes a fact that Jil, high-ranking assassin and one of the direct contacts of Lord Orbius, is dead. Highly suspected are "your heroes" (TM). Ideas about using them as pawns to rid the guild of the eye-tyrant influence are spawning.
„The news have finally been spread. Although some minor doubts remain, most, if not all, members of the Last Laugh have been convinced that the <insert local band of heroes> have succeeded in ambushing (and possibly killing) three harlequins at the Brass Trumpet, a relatively unknown safe house of the guild. Lord Orbius wishes to see those pesky adventurers liquidated at once. He has threatened to convince one Last Laugh agent per day to stand guard (as a statue) at his hidey hole in Cauldron until the shame has been rectified. Rumors are spreading that the Jesters are about to meet in an extraordinary council and competencies have started to shift within the once rigid framework of the guild. A big circular shadow hangs over the once proud and well-in-command thieves guild. Just when it had seemed that the Last Laugh, after extinguishing the Alleybashers with a little help from the now slightly too successful adventuring party, was going to take the control over the shady parts of the city to higher levels than ever before.“
Successful gather information will lead to additional information:
DC 15 – The Jesters are indeed meeting under the slippery eel to discuss further action.
DC 20 – The safe house in question had belonged to a 5th division (secret-ops), unbeknownst to most members of the other factions.
DC 25 – Currently, that division has no active harlequins (if Jil or one of the other Harlequins is alive in your campaign, they went into hiding).
The second and third part of that information can also be gained by sneaking up or in to the secret gathering of the Jesters, which requires to come up with a reason for being in the guildhouse in the first place (Bluff or Diplomacy check DC 15), sneak past a harlequin who's on guard duty (opposed hide/move silently against weak spot/listen, diversions can generate up to +8 in circumstance boni) and finally listen through the door (DC 20 listen check for everthing, DC 15 for parts only) or enter the room unnoticed (4 out of 5 Jesters, Velior is missing, are in the room and are allowed spot checks against the hide modifier and listen checks against the move silent, all at -4 for being distracted by their discussion). If they detect an intruder they move to attack, but will accept surrender as they ecpect to get names of conspirators. The guard will (if still alive) have recognized the other party members and soon level-appropriate squads will go hunting for the players (see Event 3). If the remaining party can successfully avoid recognition (by good disguise or swift killing of the guard) the first hunting party will be much less capable of handling the situation and only slowly increase in power.
In case they don't dare to spy on their superiors, they can find harlequins of different groups for a chat about recent events. Only Revus Twindaggers who is in the espionage division knows anything of value at this point. He will only part with this information if tricked into revealing it (Bluff or Diplomacy DC 30) or if intimidated (DC 11+d20). He was aware of the 5th division and knows that Orbius was usually contacting the guild only either via that faction or a Jester. Jil was his main contact and he rarely had to use any other means to make his will known. If Jil is dead, Revus (rightfully) suspects that the voiced threat of taking last laugh members as statues, is a ruse by the Jesters to generate a stronger antipathy against the heroes, who have some loyal fans even in the Last Laugh. If Jil is still alive, he can tell the group that divining and finding Jil will likely lead directly to Orbius. He also admits that all intelligence about Orbius that his department acquired was confiscated by the secret ops Jester. If pressed really hard, he might let slip the name Velior Thazo. He doesn't know, however, that Velior is a fiend. He only knows him by his alternate form.
Event 2: Intelligence
The players are supposed to find ways to find Orbius hiding place or certain daily schedules, in short: information suitable to set an ambush for the beast, which is what the players should eventually lead the adventuring party to do for them.
The information that can be found on Orbius' regular schedule hint at certain times of the day where noone knew his whereabouts. If someone with INT greater than 16 makes an enquiry about a pattern, (s)he may notice (INT DC 21, 5 attempts allowed) that the times, where Orbius was nowhere to be found on his typical tours through town, coincide with important bi-weekly meetings of the city council, usually connected to tax decisions or other highly important town business. The players either know (or can learn with DC 15 gather information) that Vhalantru is known to be a strong supporter of many debatable tax rises of the recent past.
One of the rogues in the party hasn't even been aware of a beholder running the guild but once he realizes this, he also has a chance to make the connection (Sense motive DC 12) to the crazy stone statue trade that the Last Laugh seems to run. The statues are of extremely high quality, very life-like and are typically bought by Lord Vhalantru. The fact that Vhalantru is involved comes at a premium of a DC 25 Gather Information or Knowledge (local) check.
General search for information outside the guild also has a (relatively small) chance of success. The Bluecrater Academy has books on beholders (Knowledge (arcana) DC 30 with a +6 circumstance bonus if the academy's stacks are used) associating them with vast, often circular excavations under the grounds of a benefactor, who they either charmed or killed while moving in.
Another possibility involves meeting someone from Sasserine, who knows about a recent finding in a long deserted mansion. A creature thought to be some specialized beholder-assassin has been found in the basement of the old Vhalantru mansion in Sasserine. The last time, that Lord Vhalantru had been seen in Sasserine is about 16 years ago, at about the same time when a certain Vhalantru made an appearance in Cauldron. (Gather information: DC 32, this info can be found by taking 20 if 2 full days are spent searching through taverns and talking to anyone).
Further information should all somehow point towards Vhalantru without completely blowing his cover just yet. That should be reserved for the break in (Event 4).
Event 3: Opposition
The investigations don't go unnoticed and spies are sent to observe the suspicious sub-faction of the guild. If those are not spotted and then dealt with swiftly and covertly, level-appropriate spies will very soon show up. If a scouting team is detected and dealt with, the party gains a full day of undisturbed investigations before a new, slightly better equipped scouting team will show up.
Teams in slow ascending order (if party fails to dispatch them completely, for each 2 agents that get away, one group will be skipped, until they are shadowed by the final group, who will act on suspicious behavior, possibly at the time, when they try to contact the adventurers directly.
Group 1: 3 Last Laugh Mooks (EL 5)
Group 2: 2 Last Laugh Thugs, 1 Last Laugh Mook (EL 6)
Group 3: 4 Last Laugh Thugs (EL 7)
Group 4: 1 Last Laugh Assassin, 2 Last Laugh Thugs (EL 7)
Group 5: 2 Last Laugh Assassins
Group 6: 1 Harlequin (typically Revus, but other harlequins are also ok), 4 Mooks (EL 11 => deadly, unless assisted by adventurers)
For the last laugh organization I've borrowed from the material on these messageboards, but tried to stick as close as possible to the hardcover.
Last Laugh guild structure:
The guild is run by 5 Jesters, one of them being Velior Thazo. The five Jesters have different main areas of expertise. Minting/forgery, thievery/burglary, espionage, slavery and secret operations (including assassinations). Each Jester has between 1 and 3 harlequins for running things as the Jesters very rarely directly give orders let alone appear in public operations themselves. The different sections are spread over the whole town and have one or two safe houses each. It is quite possible that they do not interact with each other for weeks, but the Jesters have an understanding that – in case of intersecting duties or competencies – they will send word through appropriate channels and meet in private, usually under the Slippery Eel. Despite being the guildhouse, it is not the Jesters' primary residence location. However, about half a dozen of Harlequins can be found there at any time.
Minting/Forgery
Jester Francis Benidor (LE, Human Male Ari 2nd/ Rogue 13th)
Subordinate: Harlequin Rhant Tarragona (NE, Human Male, Ari 8th)
Agenda/Background: belonging to the Cauldron nobility, Francis Benidor, a minor noble, is known for his greed. It was an idea of him to mint the jester coins, an idea that led him to be appointed to jester status. He is charged with running the Coinage Branch. When his second in command, Rhant Tarragona (Lords of Oblivion), gets arrested, he hides in his fortified estate between Lava and Magma Avenue (south of Cauldron, octagonal building near Ghelve’s Locks), planning to leave the city as soon as possible.
Thievery
Jester Julian Nunn (NE, Half-elf Male Rogue 5th/Assassin 5th/Wizard 1st/Arcane Trickster 4th)
Subordinate: Kahell Kormill (NE, Human Male, Rogue 11th)
Subordinate: Alpen Knott (CE Human Male, Rogue 8th/Shadowdancer 3rd)
Agenda/Background: former adventurer, Julian managed to secure a great amount of resources and thus was chosen to run the Thievery Division. This part of the guild is the main provider of money to the guild. Therefore, they are usually a more powerful faction within the otherwise equally important sections of the Last Laugh. Their safe houses are located in Ash Avenue (the two black buildings just below the “Ash” entry). They are also the biggest group in sheer members. Most are 3rd to 5th level thieves. Most are reassigned into a different section after they pass level 6 according to their talents. Being the most heterogeneous group as well, there are ample possibilities for finding less obedient members and convincing them to follow a slightly different agenda given some proper incentives (like a lot of money).
Espionage
Jester Wadrax (NE, Half-elf Male Rogue 7th/Monk 2nd/Assassin 6th)
Subordinate: Revus Twindaggers (NE, Human Rogue 8th/Shadowdancer 3rd)
Agenda/Background: The espionage division of the Last Laugh is rather small. They have a safe house near the Bluecrater Academy, where they have a small library of specialized literature as well as names of important contacts or people worthy of being shadowed by agents. This is where some concise information on Orbius could be found. Artus Shemwick also used to be a Harlequin under Wadrax until Twindaggers (rightly) started to suspect him of leaking information out and after being confronted, Artus denied everything and went into hiding after the Last Laugh cut all ties with him (which happens sometime during chapter 6). Artus, if contacted, still knows where the safe house is located and has information (for a price) about secret entrances, which only very few members know about.
Slavery
Jester Valkin Kennar Ilhar Malraedior (CE, Drow Male, Rogue 5th/Sorcerer 10th)
Subordinate: Thandor Lox (CE Human Vampire Male, former Paladin of Pelor, now a Blackguard)
Subordinate: Pyllrak Shyraat (LE male durzagon, Medium outsider, first appearance Life's Bazaar)
Agenda/Background: the dark elf is responsible for the Slavers Division. His department was only recently installed as a response to the rise of profits attainable in the slave market, in no small part owing to strong participation of Vervil Ashmantle and Kazmojen in the Malachite Fortress. Since Vhalantru wanted to maximize his profits from the slave trade and didn't want in-house competition (from the LL), he opposed this faction of the guild until he realized that it was better to howl with the wolves and saw to it that Pyllrak Shyraat, the informant of Kazmojen and thus known also to Vervil Ashmantle, who is friends with Vhalantru, became a harlequin in the slavery division and kept the information flow to Vhalantru intact as well as the successes of this division at a minimum. Valin Kennar may be found in a large cavern located in the Underdark, one day hike from the Malachite Fortress, where he is currently the main responsible one of the slave trade that afflicts Cauldron and environments. In the cave, he is building a subterranean fortress on initiation by Lord Orbius (perhaps for a backup plan of the CW's activities), exploiting to death the slaves he does not sell away. When the slave trade was exposed in Cauldron, the fortress construction slows down and when the earthquakes stir Cauldron (Foundation of Flame), part of it collapses, compelling the drow to push the slave abductions to the highest recruit ever. When this occurs, slaves are taken from nearby lands and possibly someone investigates. Thrandor Lox, his second in command, has a strong desire to see Pelor's Shrine in Cauldron forever destroyed.
Secret operations/Assassination
Jester Velior Thazo, see SCAP
Subordinates: Jil, Mokaius, Xendro, see SCAP
Agenda/Background: SecretOps is the special forces of the Last Laugh, seldom the driving force behind particular goals, but often the crucial tool to their successful conclusion. They are the only faction which is fully obedient to Orbius. Velior is one of the few LL members who knows of Orbius' second life as Lord Vhalantru. Jil has only met the beholder and is not aware of him being the same as the noble. Mokaius and Xendro typically stay at the safe house (as they do/did during the beginning of chapter 8). If the adventurers managed to kill all harlequins, there's a strong power vacuum which should drive some ambitions. Considering the possibility that Vhelior Thazo (unknown to most low-level mooks) has to reassert control by advancing some members to trustworthy harlequins. If he happens to fail to do that quickly, he might even lose the whole group and the result may be that the 5 divisions shrink to 4. Other options include potential promotions of harlequins of other sections to a post of Jester, especially if Velior were to be killed.