So, I postponed the Vyre dinner scene to Book 5. (I felt it fit better with that book's theme of uniting Ravounel.) If my PCs are successful, I'd like her to make the offer of guaranteeing Vyre's participation in the new nation in exchange for liberating Vyre from the cult of Norgorber. The Queen of Delights will handle the Queen of Whispers, but the party has to stop the King of Keys. (She doesn't know that this city is so important to the god!)
I'm just having some trouble putting together this subplot and I need your advice.
What I'm looking for inspiration on:
Where should the party find the King of Keys, Delaraius Solzakarr?
What support should the King have?
What has he been up to? Some ritual to gain power? Some plot to take over Ravounel?
I'd love either a Belial cult or a Calistrian sect to be a complication or involved somehow, but I'm not sure how. Both groups are in the tiefling PC's backstory whose storyline this is.
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I can't recall his stats, but a sorcerer and a cleric in his entourage will at least make a good fight.
He's a cleric 17/rogue 3 himself, any more cleric is just overkill. Give him some called creatures, though, by all means.
Man has two subordinate organizations: the Masks of Keys and the Dunrock Turnkeys. The latter apparently kill prisoners on the regular for some sort of ritual.
I think for a lair, I'm going to go with something that was recommended elsewhere on the boards: the new dungeon crawl that ends book 4 of the updated
It's modular enough that if there are CR 12-14 monsters that are particularly Norgorber-flavored, you can just slot them in. What are they?
The Dunrock Turnkeys can be Jorogumos.
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I suppose the King of Keys could REALLY be The Stabbing Beast.
What if Manticce Kaleeki is also a Norgorber agent? My table's PCs have no way of detecting alignment. A double cross sounds more like a Norgorber stratagem...
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What if Manticce Kaleeki is also a Norgorber agent?
It'd clash fairly badly with her character as written, since she's a staunch atheist and takes offense at the implication she's a Norgoberite. It'd also make Vyre more politically unified than it is, since it would mean the majority of the Kings and Queens would be Norgorberites.
True. I'd be worried about that.
Okay--maybe this is a solution: They recently captured and replaced her. They have her in Dunrock Prison awaiting whatever horrific thing they usually do there, which will make it impossible for her to be raised. Meanwhile, they've got someone pretending to be Manticce Kaleeki, while they have an internal fight about which faction gets to take over her spot on the court. (Maybe it's a disguise. Maybe it's a doppelganger. Maybe it's polymorph or another spell. Maybe it's the ritual you reminded me they do at Dunrock Prison.) They periodically interrogate her when they don't have the knowledge they need for a key bit of impersonation.
Then the Silver Ravens show up.
At my table, it's in book 5. So the NE cult gets a little ambitious and has the party "pass" a silly-fun etiquette test and get info on the "secret" entrance to facilitate attacking the King of Keys in Dunrock Prison. The Silver Ravens could never actually beat them and rescue the real Queen of Delights, they believe. And this makes it convenient for them to body switch them. That way they can take over Kintargo by doing to them whatever they did to Manticce Kaleeki. It even resolves their faction war--there's four more bodies to take over and enough shadowy political power for everyone.
As much as I love the dinner party set piece, it doesn't make for a good rationale for political authority over Vyre in book 5.
roguerouge: this plot is too complicated IMHO.
Suggestion: don't change anything in the NPCs described in the AP. Whatever extra dungeon crawl you add for this 'prequel to dinner' quest, make self-imploding upon its termination, with no loose ends remaining. By the time Book 6 occurs, there are already an abundance of unresolved subplots, by virtue of every high level critter 'having its own backstory'. As much as us GMs like to close all the loopholes out there, it sometimes flies 30,000 miles above the players' heads, and Scooby-Doo reveals don't really happen in APs, which means they don't get to always learn all the juicy extra bits generated by our brains during late hours. :)
Don't worry there's no loose ends if the party survives the mission. The sequence: dinner, dungeon crawl, defeat King of Keys, save Manticce Kaleeki, get Vyre into Kintargo Contract, move on to next thing. It may help to know that I've cut a bunch of book 5, so there is room for this sort of thing.
One of my PCs got 'involved' with Manticce... sigh. :P
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I'm in book 6 now, in the second part. The group is about to meet the lady in that weird cave that has overstayed her mortal due date. The book says she won't fight the group necessarily. Any suggestions on how to handle her? how helpful would she be to the group? I honestly prefer to avoid fights, especially when doing so at this level would further confuse the players by denying them crucial plot elements that this villain/NPC could provide them... but... that's my preference, and I'm actually hoping to seek guidance from you all on whether this is just a speed bump they should be fighting through or someone they should converse with.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated! :)
Addendum: also, that mirror on the ceiling confuses me to no end... I think I might skip it. Thoughts?
Well, I can report that that could have worked but did not, in fact, work at my table. My wife smelled something was up when Fake-Manticce did not complement her gift of 500 gp gloves and the other players thought it might be as well.
On the plus side, I got to reveal the cabal devil taking her place, who was previously behind the plan for the Dance of the Damned and had intimated that he was behind the "tragic" birth of tieflings in Ravounel. It was a good reveal of an old enemy. She died laughing, saying that they would have to follow her plan anyway to save the real Manticce and bring Vyre into the alliance. It was a good plan B for the DM.
Addendum: also, that mirror on the ceiling confuses me to no end... I think I might skip it. Thoughts?
What mirror on the ceiling?
In context Manticce, I'd probably skip it :p
Update!
So, my table decided to NOT follow the planted secret route into Dunrock Prison and instead use high-level divination magic to ID a quiet place to teleport into, use their mastery of disguise and stealth, and quietly search the prison. Fortunately, this took long enough that I had a week before the next session. I gave them info on how heists work in the game, built a "prison of the mind" without a map (see below), and altered where Manticce Kaleeki was being held. I used
I kept the Crimson Throne piece I mentioned above as the secret entrance, as the derro references worked well with my prior use of No Response from Deepmar and the veiled chapel worked really well for this kind of cult. After stealthily navigating the prison, they ended up setting off the alarm when they bust in to the secret area to absolutely butcher the Norgorites there. They were quite surprised when there was no Manticce Kaleeki being held on this level. The secret about the secret entrance was that it wasn't a secret prison level at all! It was a secret chapel! They were able to wall off the entrance effectively, rested there, and prepared to march through the prison slaughtering everyone until they found Kaleeki.
I was not prepared for THAT kind of crawl, so I ruled that the prison guards were given the order during the night to transfer the prisoners to Norgorber's realm through the gate, then to scatter into the city and lie low. The King of Keys in the extra-planar prison in Norgorber's realm would handle the intruders, at which point everything would return to the status quo. The players were REALLY surprised to find nobody but a few dead prisoners when they went to clear the prison.
Prison of the mind! Heist notes!
Dunrock Prison: stark, gothic edifice, squats atop steep-walled spire of stone
• Land approaches limited to two stairways build into steep sea walls
• Rumors: ~300 inmates in cells carved into stone under admin floors
o Rumors: lost control of deep levels, prisoners sent there never return
• Turnkeys: humans, half-orcs, disguised jorogumos
• Warden
Areas:
Exterior:
• four towers providing dim light to courtyard with continual light rods and search lights using mirrors,
• wall with crenellations patrolled by Turnkeys,
• sea wall connects to land, dock facing sea for deliveries
Top floor:
• Entry desk: jorogumo.
• Museum of prisoners in one-way glass-steel cells built with Saw-style traps
• (entrance password: “The Words” spoken by anyone wearing a skinsaw mask or teleport trap into an empty cell with key hidden in box bolted to ground filled with sharp objects slathered with a variety of contact poisons and diseases),
• patrol: Vulnudaemon (CR 4, aura of dread)
First floor:
• ramp up to entrance through greater dispel magic wall (Perception 20, DD 30, CL 12 targets all active spell effects),
• reception area with checkpoints and a sangoi (mistaken for vampire that somehow fades from view in peripheral vision and doesn’t die in sunlight),
• searches and papers needed;
• bathrooms and showers,
• guard room,
• patrols: Turnkeys.
Ground floor:
• typical cells near the prison yard only built into floors with ladder or rope exits,
• guard rooms,
• kitchen and dining hall,
• sweatshop (Nixudaemon CR 7),
• loading dock off a literal dock (forbiddance CL 12 for those who are not Norgorber worshippers: password “I Wait for a Fair Price”),
• Patrols: Turnkeys.
First sub-level:
• armory (silent alarm on door, weapon rack is failed-apotheosis mimic),
• interrogation chambers (inquisitors),
• abattoir (Sangudaemon CR 9),
• fake file room,
• guard quarters,
• Patrols: Turnkeys and disguised jorogumo with detect thoughts.
Mysterious sub-level:
• execution chamber (lit by Will-o-wisps),
• second records room (Venedaemon CR 5),
• indoctrination chamber (Zenobia Zenderholm cleric 9, p. 250-1),
• torture chamber,
• guard quarters (inquisitors),
• officer quarters (hyakume, Kordaitra Destaid cavalier 11 p. 251),
• VIP planar portal to Axis;
• Patrols: inquisitors with jorogumo.
Mysterious basement:
• Tunnel (catoblepas)
• greater dispel magic wall (Perception 20, DD 30, CL 12 targets all active spell effects),
• fake but real chapel (cleric 13, p. 242),
• lab (Karumzek alchemists CR 11 each in War for the Crown p. 47),
• crypts,
• secret passages out
Failures = “Success but”
• Be forgiving on the details and loose on the rules
Outline of player tactics:
• Communication between split groups
• Disguise, Impersonation, and Infiltration
• Finesse, Stealth, and Diversions
• Direct Force and Force as a Diversion
• Persuasion and Bribery:
• Spying, Observation, and Research
Goal:
• The top goal is to rescue Manticce Kaleeki without them knowing, then get a surprise win the vote to join Kintargo in the new nation: fast, legal, and will weaken their prestige
• An assassination will cause turmoil and other consequences, but will give us the votes we need to win if we can replace the King of Keys or rescue the Queen of Delights and can’t replace the King of Keys
• An assassination without rescuing the Queen of Delights would lead to a lengthy internecine battle to fill two seats before any votes get taken
Stages:
• Find out what you need
• Get what you need: spells, keys, uniforms, masks made of humanoid skin, badges, paperwork, equipment, escape vehicle
• Get to the prison undetected: underground tunnel, row (avoid lighthouse) and stairs, teleport, swim
• Get past the walls: climb stealthily, teleport, create a hole in the wall
• Get through the prison: get arrested, impersonate a guard, knock out guards, bribery, know a guy, prison transfer, get floor plans, passwords (With One Hand I Give)
• Locate the Queen of Delights: clear directions given to the cell she’s supposed to have, but...
• Get her out of her cell: TWIST! Not there.
• Find her cell and get her out of the prison
Challenge types: 3-4 per player
Complications:
Surveillance: alarm spell, patrols, checkpoints,
RP: Recognition that PC not who they are, you’re not where you’re supposed to be
Guardians: Need to take out a guard silently
Papers!: need documents for that, I didn’t get the memo about that
Diversions and temptations:
Saw/Hellraiser style traps (not all used)
• Trapped in a teleport loop
• Key is in a box with broken glass/sharp pieces, rusty, strange colorations
• A pedestal lock that requires to urns be filled with exactly 3 and 5 pints of blood before opening.
• Sentient voodoo doll in a room with traps where the goal is to stop it from damaging itself because you take their damage
• A prisoner with a glass box filled with water on his head, breathing through a hole stuck in his throat
• A narrowing corridor with air/magic/water to extinguish light sources, there’s a save at the beginning, which is for the reduce person spell for guards to easily traverse it
• Disabling the fire rune trap sets off the frost and poison traps. Disabling the frost trap sets off the first poison traps. Disabling the poison trap sets off fire and frost, which cancel each other out.
• Split the "manual" (the clues that tell you what to do) into many languages only one party member can manipulate (so, the mage with magehand, or the dwarf since it's stonework, or the elf because Elven Blood required). They're also the only ones that can fully see the puzzle. Each other member can only read a portion of the solution - and they need to read it all to get the right answer.