Advice on Buildilng Drow Prison Break

[Trit One-Ear]

Hey everyone,

My group had a fantastic last session that ended with a great cliff hanger. While exploring a drow city in disguise, the group's barbarian (an escaped slave) was recognized by her previous owner. After a brief chat, the very last moment of the session was the barbarian rolling a surprise crit against her former owner, while surrounded by the city guard and countless drow nobles.

All braced up for a big melee the next session and I was just told our barbarian can't make the next session. She and her boyfriend (another player in the group, their wizard) are both out due to life stuff. Feels lame to have the big fight without her, so my brain has started working.

My new idea for next session: The party is immediately surrounded by the city guard, who try quickly to subdue as many of them as possible. The barbarian and the wizard will be captured, while the rest of the party will fight to escape. While the drow nobles decide how to torture and kill the captured heroes, those who escaped can plan a daring prison break.

Now I just need to prep for a prison break. Any exciting thoughts, advice or ideas you feel like sharing would be helpful! I tend to sketch an outline of ideas for my sessions and then improvise around those as the group moves forward. So far the one aspect of the city I know I want to use is the giant stalactite that serves as headquarters for much of the city's elite. I can see a prison in the stalactite being pretty secure, and breaking in would be more dynamic than in just a normal prison.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Trit

 

[TheSword]

If you’ve read the War of the Spider Queen the whole House Melarn scene would be very interesting. Can they instigate a third party to attack the stalactite and break their friends out while the fight is happening. Can events show the Stalctite will fall at some point - putting a time deadline on the break out (ideally you want to end your next session with the door to the Barbo’s cell opening.

 

[Quickleaf]

Hey everyone,

My group had a fantastic last session that ended with a great cliff hanger. While exploring a drow city in disguise, the group's barbarian (an escaped slave) was recognized by her previous owner. After a brief chat, the very last moment of the session was the barbarian rolling a surprise crit against her former owner, while surrounded by the city guard and countless drow nobles.

All braced up for a big melee the next session and I was just told our barbarian can't make the next session. She and her boyfriend (another player in the group, their wizard) are both out due to life stuff. Feels lame to have the big fight without her, so my brain has started working.

My new idea for next session: The party is immediately surrounded by the city guard, who try quickly to subdue as many of them as possible. The barbarian and the wizard will be captured, while the rest of the party will fight to escape. While the drow nobles decide how to torture and kill the captured heroes, those who escaped can plan a daring prison break.

Now I just need to prep for a prison break. Any exciting thoughts, advice or ideas you feel like sharing would be helpful! I tend to sketch an outline of ideas for my sessions and then improvise around those as the group moves forward. So far the one aspect of the city I know I want to use is the giant stalactite that serves as headquarters for much of the city's elite. I can see a prison in the stalactite being pretty secure, and breaking in would be more dynamic than in just a normal prison.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Trit

[MENTION=6678017]Trit One-Ear[/MENTION] The best laid plans, huh? Well, your adaptation sounds great!

Prisons (not talking temporary jails) of any substantial size are almost never in the heart of population centers. So perhaps this drow prison is built into a separate stalactite or cavern, and is usually accessed via a magical "spinaret shuttle"...this might be a hollow spider golem, a retriever who only responds to high priestess of Lloth (or those who know secret password), or an inanimate construct made of lodestone fused onto backs of giant spiders. It's "the only way in" as far as most drow are concerned.

 

[Oofta]

I like the idea of trying to get someone else to lead the attack, at least as a distraction. The whole session could revolve around finding someone that might assist, doing a favor in return for a favor, etc. I don't know what the politics are in your city, but there's always one house trying to get the upper hand over another house in most drow campaigns. There's probably an "underground" as well. Did the barbarian's backstory give any info on how he escaped? Perhaps someone who aided him in the past could be of assistance again.

As [MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION] mentioned, the actual prison would probably not be in the center of the city. But that may mean that the prisoners need to be shuttled back and forth if the patron wanted to have a "special session" with her property. So the next session could pick up with the group ambushing the prisoner transport, the barbarian and wizard in chains being marched to their doom.

 

[Odysseus]

I actually did this scenario about 10 years ago. Party got captured by Drow, and I dumped them in a prison and took all their equipment.
I had the prison in a pocket dimension,with gates to get in and out. i had the party arrive during the middle of a prison break. So there were potential allies among the prisoners. I also gave part of the prison a political wing.
Running it went pretty well, players struggled until they found some equipment. And they enjoyed negotiating with the other prisoners , trying to play them off against each other and the guards.

 

[Trit One-Ear]

Thanks everyone for the input.

Since I need to play the focus no the party members outside the prison, some of the fun of the break-down tactics will have to wait till the group manages their way in to the captured members.

I think it makes sense to have the prison outside the city, but not far. I would like to add some immediacy to the threat (what's stopping the drow from simply killing a murderous slave? They want to play with her first), so the prison can't be too far away. My current vision is of a series of stalactites connected by thin walk-ways, each one housing a cell or two, and all only accessible via the prison headquarters, in a central larger stalactite.
I've already introduced the idea of one prisoner who might be of service to the group, and I'll think up some more characters that might come into play.
But what other fun/exciting defenses might a drow prison put in place? Giant spiders are a must (webs between the various stalactites just make sense). Maybe they've trained ropers and piercers to guard certain chambers? I'd love to throw at least one cool magic trap in there as well...

Trit

 

[Motorskills]

Out Of The Abyss actually starts with a break from a Drow prison.

As written, it's actually rather good, if potentially deadly, and very hard work for the DM due to the number of interactive NPCs.

But you could definitely steal most of it for your needs.

 

[aco175]

I have had success with using one-shot adventures when the whole group cannot play. I would run a prison break gone bad and have most of the PCs get killed or recaptured. The main group gets a glimpse of how the prison works and some of the NPC. It is fun when the main group runs into some of the other PCs that were played in the one-shot when run by the DM. It is better when the main group gets to see the BBEG who runs the prison and how he killed all the one-shot characters easily so the main group knows ho bad he is.

 

[Trit One-Ear]

Just an update for those interested:

Welp! After doing some prison prep, I found out that all my players were actually able to make it after all. So after a short scramble, I pulled together a largely improvised session that didn't end with the party going to prison.
They actually managed to get out of the heavily guarded tower, despite having just killed a powerful noble, mainly due to a highly-successful Calm Emotions spell and some clever bluffs.
They escaped the city and are now being pursued through the Underdark.
[MENTION=15921]Motorskills[/MENTION] - Thanks for directing me to Out of the Abyss. While I didn't get to run any of the prison material in there , the rest of the module is super helpful for general Underdark exploration. The party is currently about to enter the Silken Paths from section two...

Trit

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

For next time, just remember - the only prep you need for any prison adventures is working on your best Morgan Freeman impression.

I have no idea to this day what those two goblin ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can't be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful stirges flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Deathskull Prison felt free.