Piratecat said:
I haven't read the last few posts yet, but I just wanted to throw this out there before I went to bed. Let's say that you're a powerful wizard with very powerful epic magic items, and that your name might happen to rhyme with Bemperor Mongenio Pioun. Ahem. Now, let's say that you were beaten by the giant-plot-hook-the-players-were-ignoring and defeated. Would said plot hook kill you and steal your magic items, or infect you with worms that eat your brainstem and turn you into their evil puppet?
For bonus points, how would you prepare knowing that powerful adventurers would want to do something about it?
Well now, that really depends on the nature of the Plot Hook, now doesn't it?
Let's pretend that Io...I mean, Pioun were taken unawares. Last time I heard (and I admit it's been a while) he wasn't the real Enchilada, but a jumped-up backup copy pretending to the throne, yes? What if your the Evil Plot Hook (we'll call him EPH for short) was ignorant of the truth as well, right up until the moment he ate the poor...Bemperor? What if he'd been counting on stealing that power? Sure, he's got these nifty magical gimgaws...but he wanted the Real Deal for some reason, and now he's got a puppet that can't do what he needed.
Worse, the EPH KNOWS that the Defenders are going to peg his puppet within moments of seeing him, no matter how sophisticated a disguise he has. So what do you do? When given lemons, make worm-infested highly-acidic lemonade. The EPH has a couple of options, here.
1) Old Reliable: Lay a trap for the heroes. And by trap, I mean blitzkreig ambush, since any such trap would really not last for more than a round. Knowing that the Defenders won't be fooled, set it up so that you lure them to a location where they won't actually have much time to figure it out until it actually happens.
2) Don't even pretend: Grab some old enemies with a grudge, tell them what you're up to (or kill them and violate their corpses) and 'call' the Defenders and double-dog dare them to come and stop you or merely proceed with the assumption that they'll figure it out soon and just expect to be attacked an any time.
3) Take your ball and go home: Have the Bemperor grab something of important value, perform some 'scorched earth' tactics and then leave to join up with other underlings of the EPH. Perhaps set a magical battery under the city to build up to critical levels of power (and thus threaten to explode, requiring the heroes to 'defuse' it or evacuate the city) or have the Beph bypass security somewhere and open a gate allowing the EPHs underlings to enter and wreak havoc.
4) Spend him like wine: Instead of having to fight him, the Defenders need to save him, as the EPH uses him as a powerful pawn to do something that will almost certainly end in his self-destruction. Perhaps even to the extent of stopping his action that will have DIRE consquences. Alternately, the Defenders face the moral choice of saving him or stopping his action, which will do BAD THINGS, like kill or jeapordize innocents or threaten the peace or the like. Perhaps the EPH uses Pioun to destablize an alliance or break apart the potential opponents to his plan.