A Rather Odd Shovel [Judge: Bront]

Trouvere · Mar 26, 2010

[sblock=OOC]We seem to have hardly scratched the surface. Turket was one of our first and most obvious lines of inquiry (I can't imagine what would have happened if we'd attacked him when we first met him, at 4th level, with no wand). The Shovel has been nothing more than the macguffin to bring us to Fallon. We've not followed up on the other leads we have (the strange magic item Fingers was tasked to steal, the burned wizard's apprentice, the assassinated priest, the noble houses). It seems there is something huge out there, and we've not come anywhere near close to putting it together.

The trouble is all our possible continuations seem rather less than pressing now that we know Turket is a devil.

Tommy knows even more of an erinyes' capabilities than he's just mentioned. We really don't have the means to interrogate Turket, not without extraordinarily unrealistic precautions, or tens of thousands of gp to spend on a wand of Dimensional Anchor for spamming and still somewhat convoluted precautions.

Despite Keldar's nonsense above, I'm in full agreement with Tommy that our heroes were outclassed and extremely fortunate to survive. IG, Turket hoped to win without unambiguously revealing his true nature, just in case someone escaped, and so he left his big reveal too late. OOG, Rae was going easy. I agree there's also no reason for us not to expect more devil involvement.

So I can't see what else we can do except eliminate Turket and flee (ignobly leaving Fallon unwarned), or expose Turket first, which turns proceedings over to the far more qualified clerics and wizards of Fallon. What can we then do except leave, or tag along uselessly with some higher level NPCs?

By the way, thanks to Keldar, we need to convince the Gimmons family to lie low for a time too. The Archaeologists know Keldar's name, which can be found written down alongside everyone else's, including Fimbus Gimmons III, in the city's ship owners' register. With only a little digging, the bad guys will be led to Fimble's father.

I agree that - narratively - this seems like a strange ending. If we'd done a bit more investigation, raided the tunnels a couple of times, then had a final showdown with Turket, it would have felt conclusive.

As it is, our characters know there's still a big organisation out there, and can't help but think they're going to get themselves killed if they keep messing with it.[/sblock]

Boddynock · Mar 27, 2010

OOC: Tarag's going to be quite happy to get back to the Forge, so I'm afraid I'd have to add my voice to yours ... I think it's time to hand Turket over to the authorities (accidentally stepping on his head in the process

) and get out of town.

Rae ArdGaoth · Mar 27, 2010

Without giving it all away, let me try to address some of your concerns.

Turket is a powerful devil and you only defeated him thanks to lots of luck and a little planning. And now, you have no way of interrogating him without involving the big dogs.

But is he a devil? Just putting together information you already have, he doesn't have the full hitpoints of an Erinyes, he didn't just fly over Tommy's grease, he didn't summon other devils, nor did he use Charm Monster on anybody. It could be that I was going easy on you, or it could be that, for some as yet undiscovered reason, he doesn't have those powers.

As for the powerful part, I didn't expect you guys to fight him so early. I was expecting plenty of tunnel exploration, which would have resulted in treasure troves of stolen goods and many minor encounters with low-level thugs in interesting terrain. In my overarching plan, by the time the Archaeologists realize you're actually a threat, you've gained a couple of levels.

You guys went straight for the BBEG. You caught him by surprise, and so I thought it in character for him to smack you around a bit and flee, so he could fight on his terms. You would have been obliterated had you simply fought him head on, but he underestimated your group tactics, and by the time he realized he was in trouble, it was too late.

As for interrogating him, nonlethal damage will obviously (as evidenced by Keldar's somewhat successful kick) keep him down indefinitely. Fimble's father has plenty of money and contacts to keep him under control, and you can keep Turket out of the picture without turning him over to the authorities.

I do have a plan. There is a reason the thieves were at the Thyrin's, why they sent Fingers to the wizard's tower, and why they stole Fimble I's treasure. You guys surprised me by ignoring the "dungeon" (the passages) and going straight for the climax, but like covaithe said, I wanted this to be like a sandbox, so there was no "wrong way" to go about investigating things.

I hope that clears things up. You have many options on the table. Here are a few:

1) Involve a) the Wizard's Guild b) any good aligned temple or c) the city guard and either a) stick around and help or b) consider your work finished and head back to the RDI (which is dead, by the way).

2) Return to Fimble II with your new prize (Turket) and ask for help. He'll be overjoyed at your progress, and his resources could help you a) perform a discreet interrogation or b) at least keep Turket under control.

3) Kill Turket, rest up, and dive into the tunnels before anybody realizes anything is up. Take advantage of your inevitable level gain, trash those clowns, and take everything they stole a) for yourselves, b) back to the original owners, or c) both a and b. Then do option 1 or 2.

What say you?

Trouvere · Mar 29, 2010

"Think, Warbray, think think think," says Keldar furiously.

"We... we can't just kill him now, or Fallon will someday want to know who murdered Vlad Turket, and I suppose his body will bubble and melt or vanish into a cloud of smoke or a pile of maggots or something, and we'll have no way to prove we didn't just drop an innocent man into the lake with rocks tied around his feet and come up with a wild story."

"So we have to expose him in front of reliable witnesses, and then kill him. Or we have to hand him over to the authorities and let them deal with him. No, no! I know I said it, but I don't like it."

"It's no good just handing things over and running away. We'd be relying on Fallon to see it through and do whatever it took to defeat them, without any idea of how they were doing. We'd be expecting to be attacked at any moment, and where the Archaeologists don't already know our names, they can learn them. Tarag, when you're not keeping me out of trouble, you spend all your time in a workshop with your name over the door! I can't think of a worse way to hide. I'm not going to spend my life running, like Fingers. Shields."

"I didn't get where I am now..." Keldar pauses and looks about the ruined room uncomfortably. "...where I am now by relying on the competence of other people."

"So, put that big brain and that shiny headband of yours to good use, Atomerasu Worthallingham, and tell me how we can keep Turket prisoner, and get him to talk, and find out exactly what we - and Fallon - are up against."

"Er, other people doesn't include you, obviously."

Trouvere · Mar 29, 2010

"I have Charm Person prepared," says Fimble. "No, I know that he's not a person, of course. What I mean is, I must be able to see, or at least touch, my v- target in order to cast the spell. The same will apply to him. We could easily prevent him from charming us, if he even has this ability."

"And just as Tarag's silence emanating from your arrow, Keldar, was contained within a simple lightweight box, so I believe his unholy blight would be unable to pass through walls, even with an opening, if it were sufficiently small."

"Moreover, he cannot teleport himself away from within a Rope Trick, because the space inside is an entirely self-contained reality."

"Gnomes are scary," says Keldar.

Rae ArdGaoth · Apr 1, 2010

Waiting on Tommy and Tarag to chime in on the plan, or covaithe and Boddynock to chime in on OOC desires.

covaithe · Apr 4, 2010

"Er, well, maybe," Tommy says, a bit miserably. "That might contain him and not let him kill us. At least until we make a mistake. But how do we get him to talk?"

[sblock=ooc]For whatever reason, I just can't seem to bring myself to take an interest in the mechanics of interrogating a devil. That's not to say that I'm unwilling to continue; I like playing Tommy, and I'm willing to risk tunnel-clearing if you guys are, provided we rest up first and pick more combat-appropriate spells.

Another viable route to continuing the adventure in a productive way would be to outsource the interrogation of Turket to NPCs, and carry on with investigating the other leads:

Trouvere said:
We've not followed up on the other leads we have (the strange magic item Fingers was tasked to steal, the burned wizard's apprentice, the assassinated priest, the noble houses). It seems there is something huge out there, and we've not come anywhere near close to putting it together.

The thing is, I agree with Trouvere that we don't have a clear IC path to that route. We don't know, in-character, that Fimble II has the resources to deal with Turket. If Fimble were to suddenly pipe up and tell us that maybe his dad knows a guy who owes him a favor who can handle Turket, I think we'd fall all over ourselves taking him up on it.

Anyway, I'm perfectly willing, even eager, to carry on with this, I just don't know quite how to get over the immediate hump of dealing with Turket.
[/sblock]

Rae ArdGaoth · Apr 5, 2010

Fimble blushes a bit before he pipes up: "Ah, yes. Well, my father, as a one-time adventurer and a now-renowned gemcutter has, um, quite a bit of money. And more than a few friends. If we could get Turket back to my house without him waking up, I'm absolutely positive my father would be able to take care of him for us, discreetly and effectively."

Boddynock · Apr 7, 2010

Tarag, who has been rather worried at the thought of trying to interrogate Turket, jumps at the chance to offload the difficult prisoner onto Fimble Snr.

"Right," he says, "let's work out how we're going to get him back there ... discretely."

covaithe · Apr 7, 2010

Fimble pipes up, "Well, I can still make us invisible for a while. If you can carry him, maybe we can get him there that way?"

Tommy, relief plain on his face at having Turket be somebody else's problem, chimes in as well. "I still have a pair of flying spells, as well. I think you could make it maybe three quarters of a mile, carrying Turket, before the spell expired. If that's not enough to get to your dad, Fimble, we'll have to hide him somehow. A box, maybe?"

[sblock=Transporting the body]Shouldn't be too hard. Fimble still has an invisibility sphere, and a spare invisibility to boot.

Tarag carries Turket over his shoulder, probably putting him into a heavy load. Tommy casts Fly on Tarag and Fimble. Fimble casts invisibility on Tommy, and Inv. Sphere on himself or Tarag, or perhaps on Turket.

Keldar disguises himself as Turket using his hat of disguise. He opens the front door. Tommy, Tarag, and Fimble leave invisibly, making for Fimble II's place at top flying speed -- probably 40', if Tarag is in heavy load from carrying Turket, else 60'. At 80'/round, Tarag can fly 4000 ft before the spell expires; about 3/4 of a mile. If they can't get to Fimble II in 5 minutes of flying, they stop and Tarag uses Wood Shape to make a crate, into which he stuffs Turket. Hmm, maybe he should do that first, using wood from Turket's house. Anyway, Keldar walks down the street the other way, whistling and waving to the neighbors and making himself conspicuous. Tommy walks invisibly to a quiet, out-of-the-way corner where no one will observe him suddenly appear when the invisibility spell wears off. He then makes his way to Fimble II's. Keldar wanders for a while, then ducks into an alley, changes his appearance, and makes his way to Fimble II as well.

I'm sure Trouvere would poke a hundred holes in the plan, but he's not on the internet this week.
[/sblock]