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When 'awesome' becomes 'stupid'?
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<blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 6498902" data-attributes="member: 63"><p>It's the classic spy thriller trope. Everything has gone to sh*t, one of the baddies has the hero cornered with a gun pointed at his back, it looks like there's no way out. We zoom in on the face of the despairing hero and then <strong>BANG!</strong></p><p></p><p>What, it wasn't me that was shot? The hero spins around and sees a Soviet officer with a smoking pistol, having just gunned down his own man. He nods to the hero, says, "God bless America. Now get out of here!"</p><p></p><p>(You're in Moscow. Just swap the countries and you'll be fine.)</p><p></p><p>So you could throw the party a bone -- one of the 'Danoran Intelligence' agents is actually an RHC spy. He discreetly releases the eladrin PC, warns him to expect Elanor and her goons to come for their ship, and tells them that trying to stow Isobel away on the <em>boat</em> won't work, but he knows a guy at the railyard who can help them out. (This lets you cram Isobel and Mister Mapple into the same freight car for a while. You might even keep her there through the trip, with their plan being to reach Vendricce then flee into Elfaivar.)</p><p></p><p>Once the PC prisoner escapes, the spy will claim to his superiors, "But sir, you yourself showed up and ordered him released." The spy has a solid work record so far, so he'll be believed, and the Danoran intelligence guys will have a wild goose chase looking for an illusionist or changeling.</p><p></p><p>Elanor and the authorities go to the party's ship and find no escaped eladrin. However, the ship's crew is found out and arrested, but they clam up and give the PCs a chance to escape. Your goal is to keep the adventure going while still having consequences for the party screw up.</p><p></p><p>Then the next morning, as the party is getting back on the train to leave Cherage, an exhausted and frantic Elanor pulls in her favors with the rail enclave security and demands people be searched as they board the train. Queues are formed, guards start to search people, the conductor keeps looking at his watch, . . . give the party a chance to try something. If they're subtle and clever and succeed, great, they win. If they screw up and are about to get caught, . . .</p><p></p><p>irony is at peak level here, . . .</p><p></p><p>it's <em>Luc Jierre</em> who pulls rank and calls a stop to it. Elanor's rich and has friends, but he's a <em>Jierre</em>, and his train cannot be late. The enclave security apologizes to Elanor, then escorts her away. The party's cover is still safe, and the adventure can continue.</p><p></p><p>(Also, <em>sending</em> won't work into or out of Danor, so no Delft.)</p><p></p><p>It's possible that this just nixes most of the drama in Nalaam. The Family stills gives Damata Griento a hard time, but maybe you just skip the arena. Or maybe you give the party a chance to finish off Elanor. A possible timeline is that while the PCs ride the train to the Malice Lands, Elanor fumes in Cherage. She's convinced Isobel is still on the train, and so she takes the next day's train. In Orithea she risks a sending to call ahead to Nalaam. Mages there do some divinations, determine that Isobel is shacked up with Mr. Mapple, and make arrangements to capture them both as soon as the train arrives in Nalaam. </p><p></p><p>The next day the party rides from Trekhom to Nalaam, and Elanor rides from Orithea to Trekhom, then buys teleportation passage to Nalaam. With style she has sending'ed ahead to invite Luc, Ottavia, and the PCs to the arena, mostly so she can show-up Luc. The PCs might arrive, see that Elanor is going through with the sale of Isobel, and that Mr. Mapple's in the arena. Elanor can even monologue a bit, explaining what she had to go through to hold onto Isobel - except Isobel isn't as docile and drugged up. </p><p></p><p>Of course, there's the risk that bringing Elanor back in makes the party feel like their earlier efforts were wasted, and on the railroad adventure, I'm nervous about making things seem too rail-roaded. But if you think your players would like a chance to thoroughly thwomp Elanor, it's an option. Otherwise, you might have her show up later, unaware of the PCs' identities. Or maybe they come across her in Adventure 8 when she's gone to Elfaivar to look for Isobel.</p><p></p><p>Good luck.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RangerWickett, post: 6498902, member: 63"] It's the classic spy thriller trope. Everything has gone to sh*t, one of the baddies has the hero cornered with a gun pointed at his back, it looks like there's no way out. We zoom in on the face of the despairing hero and then [b]BANG![/b] What, it wasn't me that was shot? The hero spins around and sees a Soviet officer with a smoking pistol, having just gunned down his own man. He nods to the hero, says, "God bless America. Now get out of here!" (You're in Moscow. Just swap the countries and you'll be fine.) So you could throw the party a bone -- one of the 'Danoran Intelligence' agents is actually an RHC spy. He discreetly releases the eladrin PC, warns him to expect Elanor and her goons to come for their ship, and tells them that trying to stow Isobel away on the [i]boat[/i] won't work, but he knows a guy at the railyard who can help them out. (This lets you cram Isobel and Mister Mapple into the same freight car for a while. You might even keep her there through the trip, with their plan being to reach Vendricce then flee into Elfaivar.) Once the PC prisoner escapes, the spy will claim to his superiors, "But sir, you yourself showed up and ordered him released." The spy has a solid work record so far, so he'll be believed, and the Danoran intelligence guys will have a wild goose chase looking for an illusionist or changeling. Elanor and the authorities go to the party's ship and find no escaped eladrin. However, the ship's crew is found out and arrested, but they clam up and give the PCs a chance to escape. Your goal is to keep the adventure going while still having consequences for the party screw up. Then the next morning, as the party is getting back on the train to leave Cherage, an exhausted and frantic Elanor pulls in her favors with the rail enclave security and demands people be searched as they board the train. Queues are formed, guards start to search people, the conductor keeps looking at his watch, . . . give the party a chance to try something. If they're subtle and clever and succeed, great, they win. If they screw up and are about to get caught, . . . irony is at peak level here, . . . it's [i]Luc Jierre[/i] who pulls rank and calls a stop to it. Elanor's rich and has friends, but he's a [i]Jierre[/i], and his train cannot be late. The enclave security apologizes to Elanor, then escorts her away. The party's cover is still safe, and the adventure can continue. (Also, [I]sending[/I] won't work into or out of Danor, so no Delft.) It's possible that this just nixes most of the drama in Nalaam. The Family stills gives Damata Griento a hard time, but maybe you just skip the arena. Or maybe you give the party a chance to finish off Elanor. A possible timeline is that while the PCs ride the train to the Malice Lands, Elanor fumes in Cherage. She's convinced Isobel is still on the train, and so she takes the next day's train. In Orithea she risks a sending to call ahead to Nalaam. Mages there do some divinations, determine that Isobel is shacked up with Mr. Mapple, and make arrangements to capture them both as soon as the train arrives in Nalaam. The next day the party rides from Trekhom to Nalaam, and Elanor rides from Orithea to Trekhom, then buys teleportation passage to Nalaam. With style she has sending'ed ahead to invite Luc, Ottavia, and the PCs to the arena, mostly so she can show-up Luc. The PCs might arrive, see that Elanor is going through with the sale of Isobel, and that Mr. Mapple's in the arena. Elanor can even monologue a bit, explaining what she had to go through to hold onto Isobel - except Isobel isn't as docile and drugged up. Of course, there's the risk that bringing Elanor back in makes the party feel like their earlier efforts were wasted, and on the railroad adventure, I'm nervous about making things seem too rail-roaded. But if you think your players would like a chance to thoroughly thwomp Elanor, it's an option. Otherwise, you might have her show up later, unaware of the PCs' identities. Or maybe they come across her in Adventure 8 when she's gone to Elfaivar to look for Isobel. Good luck. [/QUOTE]
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