|
My party has tried guile and charm on the good doctor (you know who I mean) and it has backfired. Now I need some help. Background:
1. Party finds papers on the Direption that incriminate the Dr., and they speak with dead and determine that the Dr. is involved with the Red Mantis.
2. They ask Kroft to summon the Dr. (his nurse/receptionist at the Hospice claims he's terribly busy and can't be bothered) and the next day they visit the Hospice to "compel" the Dr.'s presence at the Citadel.
3. The party uses no magic on the Dr. while talking to him in Kroft's office (!) but they ask him about the ship. He admits that the boat is his, but claims it was supposed to be anchored about a half-mile off-shore and about 4-5 miles along the coast to the west. He claims that he came upon blood veil (it didn't have a name at the time) and he quarantined those afflicted upon his boat, allowing only supply dingies to approach. (A very reasonable story.)
3. The party says they've used speak with dead on a body they found on the boat and it claims he contracted the RMs to make the disease! He says that speak with dead is notoriously unreliable and considers their claim ludicrous. He takes the Grey Maiden escort with him and leaves in a huff!
4. The party tries to get Sabina to join with them against the Dr (an earlier interview indicated she didn't like the doctor). She does, but when they meet with the Dr. at F8 and use zone of truth, he makes his Will save! And the spellcaster's attempt to charm him (twice!) both fail. He makes his Spellcraft and knows what spells are cast, so he knows what's going on.
5. He gets VERY upset and orders the party out of his office, saying that he'll have their heads for their interruption of his work!
That's where we left off. My problem is how is the party going to suspect him again? They don't know that the temple is below the Hospice, and the Dr.'s mask hides his alignment. They've run out of clues! And they've now lost the confidence of both Kroft AND Sabina!
I need something to lead them back to the Hospice ... something that will cause them to think the Urgathoan cult (which they DO know about) is hiding out below the hospital.
They killed Jolistina and their speak with dead (two questions only!) didn't reveal much, so they're thinking of using another such spell on her (3 day delay due to the once-per-week restriction on the spell). They might use speak with dead on the drowned body as well, but that would require a 5-day delay. And they are already at the 50% chance of contracting blood veil each day!
If they would show the unholy symbol around, Ishani could recognize it and maybe give some advice, but they've kept that under wraps so far. And if they would stakeout the Hospice, they might learn something. The party rogue has asked his thieve's guild handler to make contact with the RMs, but the only RM contact has been, "We have an existing contract and providing you with information would break that contract. We will not do that. However, you could (perhaps) arrange a separate contract for us to create a _cure_ for the blood veil. We will inform you of our price and our estimate of the required amount of time within 12-24 hours." Of course, without Korft or Sabina, they have little hope of procuring the required funds...
Any ideas to get them back to the Hospice?
(Sorry, I realize this is vague and rambling. But I'm looking for any ideas on possible approaches. Thanks in advance for your help!)
Something I've set up for when my party gets to the right point, to make sure they don't miss the underground area, is that the Arkonas are going to send a letter "anonymously" to the party's rogue with the following information:
I write to you, as someone who, along with your compatriots, might be able to do some good with the information that I have to impart.
Several months ago, a band of criminals forced House Arkona to sell to them one of their warehouses in West Dock. How they accomplished this is not important, but what is important is the reason that they wanted that particular warehouse ... there are secret rooms below the building that they desired for their own use. What that use is, I know not, but I fear it has something to do with the disease that is ravaging our beloved city.
You can reach the lower levels by accessing a lift that is in the room next to the stairs that go to the upper floor. To cause the lift to lower, you must place a button into the slot on the lever - I was able to procure a copy of this button, and include it in the hopes that you will be able to bring these devils to justice.
Why have I not brought this information to the attention of the Guard or the Company you may ask ... I have, and all that I have attempted to contact have died as a result. But I have faith that you, with all I have heard of your deeds, will succeed where others have failed.
Good luck, may the gods watch over you!
In the background of the paper, I used a faint watermark of the House Arkona emblem and will be telling them the paper is of particularly fine quality :) My players, especially the one that will receive this, can be particularly paranoid -- I can't wait for her reaction :)
They've been through the Hospice a couple times and aren't alarmed with the conditions inside? The "patients go in but don't come out"?
Have a beloved NPC get sick and be taken to the Hospice.
Two ideas:
- I agree, are you saying they went through the room of half dead Varisians into the Doctor's office and that didn't set off too many alarms? But, if it didn't...
- I actually had the same problem in that the party had no idea that there would be a basement, so I had Vimanda pay them a visit (she'd been spying on the all along via the raktavarna) and let them know that there is a basement accessible by the elevator.
|
|
They've been through the Hospice a couple times and aren't alarmed with the conditions inside? The "patients go in but don't come out"?
Well, that's what happens to people with an incurable disease, doesn't it? (And they've only been into F7 personally once; see below.)
Have a beloved NPC get sick and be taken to the Hospice.
Now that's a great idea! Especially if said individual doesn't come back out!
- I agree, are you saying they went through the room of half dead Varisians into the Doctor's office and that didn't set off too many alarms? But, if it didn't...
Well, most of the people in the Hospice are "half-dead". However, the initial recon was done by the wizard's familiar (a snake) with it slithering along the floor and its view of the patients wouldn't have been good. However, now that they've been through area F7 themselves, I can describe the room again and be a bit more dramatic about it.
- I actually had the same problem in that the party had no idea that there would be a basement, so I had Vimanda pay them a visit (she'd been spying on the all along via the raktavarna) and let them know that there is a basement accessible by the elevator.
I sort of like the "letter from the Arkona's" post above, but that just stinks of GM fiat to give the players information they need. :( And having an NPC tap them on the shoulder and hand over the info seems the same to me.
What I'd rather do is give them a reason to investigate it in more detail on their own. And Todd's suggestion just gave me an idea: they could "notice" how many people go into the Hospice and how few of them are on the beds! They could ask some of the dead carters (see Racker's Alley) and find out that the Hospice rarely has any bodies for the carters to pick up. Yet people don't walk out on their own...
I'm going to try to work that up into for insertion into the game next Tuesday, but if there are any other ideas floating out there, I'd love to hear them. Thanks to those of you who've answered!
|
I am wondering what your players are doing. They know that the doctor is up to something, but he has thwarted them so far in their attempts to confront him. Have they thrown their hands up in despair and are waiting for you to bail them out or have they started to come up with other plans of their own? If they give up and wait for you, then I would follow through with the letter from the arkona plan. If they are busy working on solutions, then I would hold the letter, in case they didn't find a solution, and see what they came up with. If they begin to contact the underworld it wouldn't be hard for them to "discover" that the building has a secret basement, after all the arkona's had employees someone is bound to let slip that that new fancy Hospice is built on top of a secret base.
If they continue to pester Cressida she may have them go in and search the place again. Also she may be able to summon up enough courage and conviction to bring the good doctor in for questioning again, though if she does I would make sure the Party hears how the queen reprimanded her in public over it (consequences aren't always combat or death). If Cressida has the doctor brought in she may have a higher level cleric of Abadar with her to do the Zone of truth.
My bet is your best solution is to give the party some time and roll with what they come up with. Sooner or later it will work, and don't underestimate the good doctor's ability to just plain incriminate himself by mistake. While he is a charismatic and smart opponent, he is also human and sooner or later will make an error. And if all else fails, hit your party upside the head with a mallet (aka a note from the Arkona's) :)
Good luck to you.
|
|
They have seen the error of their ways. :)
The wizard left behind an invisible familiar when the party retreated from the Dr.'s office. Said familiar overheard the doctor's instructions to his staff and watched (and rode along) when he went down the lift. The invisibility was about to wear out, so the familiar (a Tiny snake) climbed back up to the surface and reported to the wizard what he'd seen and heard.
Of course, when the party got there the cultists were waiting for them. The clerics and rogues were pushovers, being as they're only 2nd level and my party is mostly 5th level (I think out of 6 PCs, only the pally is 4th level). However, a well-placed invisibility sphere did a great job of hiding the PCs. I even rolled Spot checks as described in the section on Invisibility (in the Glossary) but they weren't detected until they got to area 8. They have caught Rolth -- I think they were planning a coup de grace while hold person lasted, but we had to cut off the encounter due to time constraints.
I want to thank everyone for their suggestions. The module is back on path. :)