Looking for betrayal ideas

[Album Cover X]

So I know NPC's betraying the party isn't a new concept but can be used every once in awhile. And I've been careful not to do so as of yet in my campaign.

So here's the cliff notes version:

The party of 5 PCs (bard, fighter, cleric, sorcerer, rogue) all 4th level have joined forces with Organization A. A's stated goal is stop Organization B at all costs. The bard in the group has become fast friends with Organization A's leader. The bard is considering even joining said organization. So anyway they will be traveling together when they see leaders of Organization B conducting business with yet another entity labeled C for our purposes. What I'd like to have happen is for the party to think A will help them break up this little meeting but instead betray the party. For actually A is nothing but a part of B and would like to obtain some info and items the party holds.

Sorry if that makes no sense but hopefully a few of you out there have some creative ideas for me.

 

[William Ronald]

I would recommend that the leaders of group A have some non-detection or misdirection magic at their disposal, as well as a few ranks in Bluff and Sense Motive. The party should have some chance of figuring out something is wrong, if they do their homework (and have a few decent die rolls.) This may help players from feeling that they were railroaded, and might have their own planes. (Possibly organization D might have an interest in organizations A, B, and C -- as well as the PCs.)

You might also want to make sure that the leaders of group A are a good match for the party in terms of ability and resources. Suffice it to say that the party wil likely want to seek revenge on their would be allies.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

OK ...

A - party has allied with them, hates B (false!), leader is friends with bard, is really part of B
B- doing buisness with C, owns A
C- doing buisness with B

Hmmm. Well, on the surface it seems to me like you're 90% of the way there. The assistant of Leader-A (but not Leader-A himself) tells the bard that he's acting on behalf of Leader-A and to disrupt a meeting between B & C. The assistant-A has told his cohorts in B that the party has a couple of nice magic items -- though assistant-A keeps the knowlege of the best ones to himself -- and that he'll turn over the party to B for interrogation after assitant A is done with them. The "meeting" with B & C will be faked and will simply consist of members from B with half of them dressed in the clothes of C while the guys from A who are pretending to back up the party will turn on the party when the poo hits the fan.

Where does this leave things?

The leader-A may or may not be behind assistant-A's plans. But he keeps his hands clean if the assistant is able to manipulate the party before the bard has time to check with his "buddy".

assistant-A' prestige is raised in the eyes of B. Assistant-A keeps a nice item for himself. Assistant A gets the party's intel. Assistant A may or may not keep this to himself depending on how innocent you want leader-A to be. In the meantime, you have an excuse to keep the party alive because they'll be transferred to B which gives them an opportunity to esacpe.

just a thought.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I did a betrayal scenario last week, but I don`t know if anything I did then will be possible for your scenario.

It is a AU/Diamond Throne campaign.
The groups Giant, an inspector of the Diamond Throne, received a letter that inspectors are requested to investigate in a village called Riverstone, in the Jasanpadur mountains. The rumor is that a local cult kills a innocent kid every 5 years that is supposed to be soulless.

Well, when the humans arrive, they will meet another inspector (who arrives a bit later). This inspector does help them in finding some clues they oversaw the first time. But her real background is that she is part of another cult, that wants the child for its own devious schemes. She is able to find the kid (which was entirely randomly deterimined by me - there could have been several different outcomes), while the characters are investigating the attack on a nearby village. She tells members of the cult who the kid is, but the Giant inspector recognices something wrong with her, and begins to investigate. They don`t find anything, until their enemies move and try to get to the kid. (And directly wander into the trap that was originally made for the traitor )
(The characters were unaware to prove the inspectors betrayal, but she will be judged - and the plans of her cult were foiled, at least this time.)

So basic idea is: Find a way that the group might find the help of the traitor useful, and than he must call his evil allies to move. Maybe the characters must retrieve a certain item (or steal it) from one of the 2 organizations. Right after they did so, the traitor calls his allies and they attack to get the item. Or the traitor steals it in the night.

I think the scenario is the best if the party knows the traitor, and though it has no proof, the traitors plans are foiled. (This gives the oppertunity for a recurring villain, without letting the player feel they failed...)

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[Album Cover X]

Thanks for the quick responses and keep em coming... Sometimes it just helps to talk it thru... er um... type it thru and get some feedback

I know for dramatic purposes the betrayal should involve Leader A and the bard because of their friendship and mutual desire to fight B even if that proves false. I was thinking I could even have leader A make an offer to the bard to join... 'Join the Dark side' kind of thing. 'You don't know the power... and yada yada.'

This all came about because my group threw me a curveball and took the story in a different direction. But that's cool and makes DMing fun.

 

[DiFier]

I have a few questions.

why is A (witch is actually B) trying to disrupt their own meeting? why is the stated goal of A to destriy B if B owns A? Are they doing this just to screw over the PCs? seems a little too much like game solution to me. if the leader of A was trying to get rid of someone in B or C that might work but still seems a little thrown together.

if the PC had never met A would the plan still go into effect? would they still pretend that their goal was to stop B?

 

[Album Cover X]

I probably could explain my intentions so much better in person... Let's see if I can make more sense of it. All of this group A this and group B that has me confused and I wrote it I didn't want to bore people with details of my game but what the heck maybe this will explain things better and thus gain wisdom from the posters of enworld

So Group A is a group of elves who are dedicated to combat the religion of Lloth which is just nothing more than a sprouting religion at this point IMC. The leader of A uses his position to funnel info to Lloth supporters while enjoying token victories every so often to keep appearances up. There are plenty within Group A who really believe in their cause and have no idea of their leaders' treason.

Group B are the supporters of Lloth which is nothing more than a collection of individuals who believe in this growing entity; much of which is undefined.

The PCs have had a previous run in with Group B (lloth supporters) and the bard is committed to their destruction. He's an elven ambassador of sorts and thus targeted for recruitment. But now since they know his intentions they seek some knowledge he holds and then plan to eliminate him. My idea was for Leader A to offer him one last chance much like Vader kept trying to do with Luke.

Group C is a third party looking for items the party holds. The Lloth supporters figured they could kill a few birds with one stone. Gain respect and influence with Group C which is very powerful and either gain an ally in the elven ambassador or eliminate him as a threat. The other PCs are kinda stuck in the middle but they decided to make the elf's fight their own for now.

Any better as an explanation???