D&D General Unique Maze created, what would you decide as DM?

[AnotherGuy]

Too Long, Did Not Read = go straight to f
Otherwise, the rest of it is below

a. Backstory of Haradne, Lady of Pain and the Maze

Haradne, a Netherese wizard, who had become a follower of Aoskar* found the deity's astral corpse and using mythal magic cast Dream to enter whatever vestiges of consciousness/memories still existed in Aoskar. Once within the dream-landscape he quickly set to task summoning up portals and gates in an attempt and hope to ignite some spark of awakening into the Astral corpse. It was during this process when the Lady of Pain showed up, slew most of the wizard's Bedine assistants, except 1 which escaped her notice, and Mazed (see e) the unfortunate Haradne. Haradne found himself within a Dream-demiplane where he could create anything he wanted, but was unable to escape it. His only point of contact to the outside cosmos - is when he speaks (telepathically) to Kavah, the lone Bedine which survived.

b. Background on Kavah and the Maze (timeloop reset)

Kavah is the Bedine assistant that survived the Lady of Pain. He appears to be a possible catalyst for the release of Haradne from this eternal Maze as the time-reset for the wizard's imprisonment is linked to start again upon the Bedine's death, so presumably Kavah must survive in order for Haradne to escape this prison-Maze. Around a year ago (in game time), the PCs saved Kavah inadvertently from his eternal imprisonment to a devil, strangely enough through another Dream spell (even longer story and not pertinent for this discussion).

c. Haradne’s Beliefs in Escaping the Maze

Haradne believes the secret to his release lies with finding his original body which, at the time of casting his Astral Projection spell, when seeking out Aoskar’s-corpse for the Dream spell, was in the depths of a fortress hiding within the mountainous Azirrhat* which area has become dangerous. Kavah is unable to brave the dangers that lurk within. He has tried numerous times and died even with hired help.
Given that the PCs saved Kavah and their current successes in the normal campaign (ToD/SKT mashup) are well known and relayed to him by Kavah, he has used every time-loop to steer/manipulate these accomplished heroes towards this fortress. In his last attempt he succeeded, but the PCs discovered something was out of the ordinary as every time they made a move to leave or not go into the depths of the fortress, a memory would spring into existence that would make them second-guess themselves. Many of these memories included Kavah. Believing to be ever so close to discovering how to escape his prison, Haradne over-played his hand and the characters started to question these memories.

d. Current Situation

Having grown suspicious of the memories received, the PCs captured Kavah who appeared to know nothing and was madly-obssessed with resurrecting his deity At'tar*. This informed them that whoever was directing the hapless Kavah was the true threat. They left an unconscious Kavah in the custody of an NPC friend, and using Kavah’s “divine holy symbol” and the spell Dream of the Blue Veil transported themselves to the Dream demiplane that imprisoned Haradne. It was through the obligatory BBEG pre-fight dialogue, that the Netherese wizard revealed much of the above backstory. Haradne’s plan is to kill the PCs and wait for Kavah to die, to reset the timeline, so that he can better steer (manipulate) the PCs into the depths of the fortress to recover his body without them realising something is afoot.

After some dialogue and failed negotiations, one of the PCs Blighted the Haradne which initiated the fight. And that is where we paused it until the next session.

e. Revelation from Logic, Arcana and Religion Lore

What your Arcana knowledge has informed you is that the std Maze spell is not permanent.

So one can safely assume the elements of

• The latent magic from the portals and gates Haradne had opened at the time he was confronted by the Lady of Pain;
• the mythal magic he'd used in the Dream spell in an attempt to awaken Aoskar;
• the latent divine energies within Astral corpse; and/or
• the potent magic from the Lady of Pain

has created a rather unique Maze spell where all previous understandings of the spell may not apply.

What you know
(1) It has existed far longer than your average Maze spell;
(2) It resets upon Kavah's death; and
(3) It has created a timeline anomaly:
(4) Haradne appears to be the only one whose memories within the timeline-loop are unaffected. He remembers each and every reset and uses it to his advantage to steer people;
(5) Kavah may have remembered, may have not, in any event his mind now is a shattered mess. His primary goal is to assist the voice inside his head which he believes is that of At'tar (but is in fact Haradne);
(6) At'tar is likely a derivative of the name Amanataur which the Bedine then took to worshipping. Historically there have been no Bedine clerics of At'tar who have exhibited actual divine power;
(7) Like any Maze - there has to be a solution. Solving it presumably would unravel the spell.

f. My Dilemma
The party have entered the prison-Maze of the BBEG that exists within a Dream demi-plane. The PC cleric has a Word of Recall setup. He may opt to use it. I know as DM I have an option to say how this Maze works and the fact that Haradne (wizard BBEG) has been unable to escape this prison-Maze is a tell. How would you rule if the cleric attempted to Word of Recall?
Does this entire time-loop backstory (which is meant to close the story-arcs of 2 NPCs) get undone with one spell?
Not dealing with this issue means they have to put Kavah on ice, otherwise they would always be under threat of being roped back into it. Kavah's death resets the time-loop which they become a part of.
My concern is, disallowing the Word of Recall might be viewed as a hard railroad (for the combat) and taking away player agency, even though I have justification in the spell not working, in that Haradne has not been able to escape said Maze with his spells. Hence I'm looking for ideas, justification etc.


* Some of the Lore Pages used
1. At'tar
2. At'Tar's Looking Glass and especially This (as it connects with Haradne's backstory into being a follower of Aoskar and his fascination with Portals)
3. Aoskar (scroll to the bottom of the page)
As well as the Bedine, Netherese, Phaerim, Sharn and the like wiki-pages.

 

[iserith]

For situations like this, telegraphing what isn't going to work is useful. The Lady of Pain controls who goes and who comes out of the mazes, you might say (early and often). Then, even if the players haven't been thinking about it while you mention it, when the word of recall doesn't work, they'll then remember the clues were already there. If you haven't been telegraphing it, have them run into an NPC that's lost in the mazes - a high level cleric who tried that tact, found it didn't work, and has since gone barmy.

 

[kolya]

No, I think you're good to have the spell fizzle. There is solid in-narrative reason for Word of Recall to not work as indented, you're not just pulling this out at the last minute as an excuse to force the combat.

 

[AnotherGuy]

For situations like this, telegraphing what isn't going to work is useful. The Lady of Pain controls who goes and who comes out of the mazes, you might say (early and often). Then, even if the players haven't been thinking about it while you mention it, when the word of recall doesn't work, they'll then remember the clues were already there. If you haven't been telegraphing it, have them run into an NPC that's lost in the mazes - a high level cleric who tried that tact, found it didn't work, and has since gone barmy.

I like this idea. Thank you!

EDIT: Regarding the telegraphing - they are aware of the complications that may exist and this issue of will-it won't-it work has been discussed by the PCs. So they wouldn't be surprised if it fails. But I do like the idea of telegraphing the thought that perhaps the Lady of Pain controls who comes in and out of the maze along with the idea to the cleric that perhaps his divine magic may have the power to supersede the trappings of this spell.

 

[Lanefan]

f. My Dilemma
The party have entered the prison-Maze of the BBEG that exists within a Dream demi-plane. The PC cleric has a Word of Recall setup. He may opt to use it. I know as DM I have an option to say how this Maze works and the fact that Haradne (wizard BBEG) has been unable to escape this prison-Maze is a tell. How would you rule if the cleric attempted to Word of Recall?
Does this entire time-loop backstory (which is meant to close the story-arcs of 2 NPCs) get undone with one spell?
Not dealing with this issue means they have to put Kavah on ice, otherwise they would always be under threat of being roped back into it. Kavah's death resets the time-loop which they become a part of.
My concern is, disallowing the Word of Recall might be viewed as a hard railroad (for the combat) and taking away player agency, even though I have justification in the spell not working, in that Haradne has not been able to escape said Maze with his spells. Hence I'm looking for ideas, justification etc.

You could have it not work at all, as has been suggested; but were it me I'd probably have it resolve OK but malfunction, putting them somewhere randomly else in the Maze instead of where they really want to be, under the rationale "the spell can't get you out of the Maze, this is the best it could do".

This outcome could work both for and against the PCs; for in that if they found themselves in a quiet place in the Maze they could rest and reload, and against in that so could their opponent(s).

 

[AnotherGuy]

You could have it not work at all, as has been suggested; but were it me I'd probably have it resolve OK but malfunction, putting them somewhere randomly else in the Maze instead of where they really want to be, under the rationale "the spell can't get you out of the Maze, this is the best it could do".

This outcome could work both for and against the PCs; for in that if they found themselves in a quiet place in the Maze they could rest and reload, and against in that so could their opponent(s).

Oh, this works too, very creative Lanefan! They have depleted MANY of their resources, I could see them using the Word of Recall, believing that they have returned to Waterdeep, only to eventually find out its more of the Maze within the dream demiplane. When I let that cat out of the bag, that will be interesting.
I could let them recharge, get some short-rest powers and 1-2 HD (which in our game can fuel certain abilities).
Only to eventually have Haradne find them.
I decided to treat the demi-plane as his Lair since he has been in it so long. After spending so much time in the plane he is no longer a wizard but a sorcerer with the ability to alter the environment (as you do in a dream). He will likely be Shapechanging into various beasts from the MM in an effort to defeat them.

Thank you.

 

[LordEntrails]

There are lots of precedence for locations that do not allow teleport type spells into and/or out of them. Such is practically mandatory for mazes in a magical realm. A maze is not a challenge if teleport and phasing (ethereal etc) is possible. Same thing with spells like Find Path etc

 

[Quickleaf]

You're playing with themes of time and memory in this dungeon.

The spell is called "Word of Recall."

"Yes, but" is a GM's best friend.

Why not say "yes, you can use Word of Recall... but given what you know about the Maze and the memory magic involved in binding Haradne, it's likely where you believe the Word of Recall will teleport you is not quite true."

 

[aco175]

"Yes, But."
"Instead of teleporting you to your bed in the Inn of Last Rest, you end up in another location, you think you are still in the maze."

You can have a central place where all teleports arrive to. It can be a cage in the castle where the lady toys with them, or can be in some sort of arena in the middle of the maze where you just say, "Roll initiative." Let the players figure out once they try things a few times. Would something like dim door or misty step have the same effects?