Kidnapping an NPC (that the PCs are guarding)

[Douglas Muir 406]

Setup: 4 PCs, APL 5, are bodyguards for a 5th level wizard. Urban environment, wizard is moving around; she will cooperate with PCs tactically but insists on going about her business, even to the point of going into shops, crowded marketplaces, and other locales that are asking for an ambush.

Bad guys have the following: 4 x low level cultists (cleric 1 / rogue 1), a single boss cultist (cleric 1 / rog 5), and a hired mercenary wizard (illusionist 5). Much weaker than the PCs -- but the bad guys have the advantage of surprise; they can set up an ambush, should be able to prebuff and have a reasonable shot at a surprise round. Also, they're not trying to "win" -- they just want to get at the NPC wizard that the PCs are guarding. Ideally they want to kidnap her, but they'll be content with killing her.

So what plausible tactics should the bad guys deploy? Again, the goal is to get the target away from the PCs (noting that the target is careless and easily distracted), subdue, and break contact; failing that, to kill her.

Thoughts?

Doug M.

[VRMH]

Cutting the party off from their mark is probably the way to go about it.

• Simply slam a thick shop door shut just behind the wizard and then keep the party busy enough not to break through it.
• Obtrusive sales pitches by decoys might distract the party long enough to replace the mark with an illusionary double.
• The villains could disguise themselves as the PCs and cause enough mayhem to have the party arrested by the local militia. Then, they try to extract the wizard from the local holding pen before the party gets matters sorted out.

[Shah Jahan the King of Kings]

Here's one that could work- Have the illusionist cast a Minor Illusion of the woman in question bound and gagged, and have the sound be muffled cries. Have the illusion rush the party after she goes on one of her walks. Meanwhile, the rogues tie up the real one.

If the party allows her to go alone, this will be easy to execute as they players don't know the switch has been made, and the enemy is hopefully smart enough to figure out the mark's usual habits.

If they are attentive, it could include a silent image of a mook chasing her, or cause a distraction in general and set up the above. Essentially, this would cause the party to chase the fake mark and try to help her, while the real one is being carried off.

If the party puts her on lockdown, the enemy could try power in numbers and intimidation, have the illusionist use mirror image to make their numbers seem greater and use distracting illusions as a sort of "flashbang" long enough to grapple, pin and tie up the mark and remove her. The goal here is to keep the PC's either blinded, stunned or distracted with swinging at shadows. You could even include perception checks to see if they can notice the real goal of the kidnapping in the fight. To them, they will be suddenly assailed by smoke, explosions and possibly "demons and dragons and ghosts" (illusions), and may not notice the mooks sneaking in from behind to nab the mark.

[psionichamster]

Light the building she enters on fire.

Illusionist blinds target, boss rogue & 2 others sap her, remaining moons hold doors against pcs long enough to spirit her out the back.

Illusionist then casts regular invisible on target, vanish (if possible) on boss rogue, and kidnappers scatter.

[Poncho-Ninja]

Have a rogue pickpocket a guard and place the stolen item on a PC. While they're busy explaining that the illusionist can work a minor image while everyone else saps your wizard and head out.

[Tinalles]

1) Buy some poison that renders the target unconscious. Blue Whinnis would be good; DC 14 Fort save or fall unconscious for 1d3 hours.

2) Scope out the NPC wizard's habits. What does she do? Figure out a venue she visits often. I'll assume it's at a restaurant or similar.

3) When the wizard heads to the bathroom, the low-level rogues cause a distraction -- perhaps they stage a fight with each other, or one spills a drink down a PC's front, or one runs in and starts eating food off of other people's plates. Anything to cause a lot of racket and attract the PC's attention.

4) Inside the bathroom, the boss grabs the wizard and holds a hand over her mouth while the illusionist repeatedly jabs her with a blue-whinnis laden needle.

5) Once the target is unconscious, the illusionist assumes the target's form with Alter Self/Disguise Self/Vocal Alteration. If there's time, the illusionist might even swap clothes with the abductee. Then the illusionist goes outside, collects the PCs, and announces that she's feeling poorly and wants to go home. They leave.

6) The boss rogue and his minions tie up the wizard and take her out the back.

7) The illusionist ditches the PCs. Invisibility, illusion spells, fly, a scroll of dimension door -- lots of ways for this to happen.

Voila. One kidnapped NPC wizard.

[BigNorseWolf]

One person burns down the orphanage , Boss cleric and 3 mooks attack the mark from invisibility once the party is busy, invisible wizard grabs the mark.

[SterlingEdge]

Expiditious retreat, truestrike, nets, fog cloud, grease, webs, caltrops.

Love Potion the girl.

Nausea gas.

Kidnap the partys benefactor/parents/girlfriend and hold them hostage to trade for the girl.

If it is a plot point and needs to happen for the story to progress, the love potion is the easiest, if you want it to be a flat out failure on the partys side to protect her, pre buffing the baddys with expiditious retreat, truestrike, nets, and caltrops can make for a nearly overwelming snatch and grab and escape.

[Wriggle Wyrm]

Lure the Wizard around a corner with discounted arcane items. When she leaves the line of sight of the PCs, the Illusionist impersonates her and has the PCs follow "her" in a random direction.

From there, the cultists kidnap the real wizard and the Illusionist ditches the PCs by turning invisible.

[Douglas Muir 406]

I like the Illusionist impersonating and/or casting an illusion.

Rendering her unconscious definitely seems the way to go. A sneak-attacking rogue with a cosh could maybe knock her out if he got a surprise round and won initiative. It's not the way to bet, though -- she has 26 hp, and the highest level rogue only gets +3d6 sneak attack. Blue whinnis looks more promising; her Fort save is +3, though, so you'd want to use a double or triple dose.

Maybe a Major Image of the victim, a rogue disguised as her (well enough to fool a quick glance), and fog cloud and grease for the getaway. Caltrops look promising too, yes.

Doug M.