You can run. But you cannot hide! About DMing, ideas?...Münster guys: STAY OUT!!!

[Dark Dragon]

You can run. But you cannot hide! About DMing, ideas?...Münster guys: STAY OUT!!!

Hi everybody,

I have some questions about strategy and tactics versus a group of 5 to 7 adventurers.

A short background:
The party owns a large house in the town of Two Stars in Thesk (Faerûn). After about four months of a peaceful summer time, the party was repeatedly attacked by rogues and assassins of the Shadow Masters of Telflamm.

The reasons: 1) One member of the party, a young female thief, escaped the Shadow Masters' grasp in Telflamm. She tried to work as a 'free' rogue, but the guild was not amused...
2) The party is the most powerful group (level 18) in town and in good friendship with Lady Gallidy, the ruler of Two Stars. The Shadow Masters intend to build their own network and try to occupy important positions within the town. The adventurers are a nasty opposition...

The first two attacks were launched against party members when they were wandering alone in the city. With luck the attacked adventurers survived.

The next assault was directed at the party's house: all servants were killed. On the next day, when the party was talking with Lady Gallidy, the Shadow Masters sneaked again into the house, looted everything, and took the captain of the guard and the high priest's student (who were investigating the murder of the group's servants) as hostages. They left the unconcious captain bound in the cellar, the ropes enchanted with a Greater Glyph...

The party freed the captain but he was not able to tell much since the Shadow Masters were disguised as the adventurers. In the evening, the party sorcerer cast a Magnificent Mansion within the house...During the night, the Shadow Masters attacked again and burned down the house (because the party slept within the Magnificent Mansion, no one noticed the fire...).

Frustrated, the party left town, heading for a landhouse some 25 miles away. The house, stables for several horses and a herd of 25 horses was a gift of Lady Gallidy to the party.


Now I'm planning my next step:
The Shadow Masters are very good at 'urban warfare' and the adventurers understood that. As a consequence they moved to the landhouse. The open plains around it allow a better surveillance and no innocent people are in danger (hmm, execpt for the stable boys and an animal trainer...). The adventurers hope that they can lure the Shadow Masters into an open attack.

The landhouse is a simple rectangular wooden house with a veranda. It has four rooms which are connected via an entrance hall. The space under the roof is divided into two rooms. A small cellar with a door leading to the stables is under the house. The cellar is accessible also via the kitchen. Every room has a window, even the two rooms under the roof and the cellar. A well is located ca. 150 ft. away from the house. Three mighty oaks provide some shadow, they are grouped about 30 ft. away from one corner of the house. The stables are attached to the house. They form a L-shaped building and are made of wood.

The weather was dry and hot for about three weeks (it is the end of Flamerule). The well is almost dry, the animal trainer suggested that the horses should be brought to the Lake Ashane within the next days.

Oh, the party has no divine pure caster at the moment, only a ranger 18. The cleric, a hathran, will join the group in about five to ten days. The Shadow Masters know that.

The Shadow Masters want to make sure that the group is no further 'problem'. They want to capture the party thief alive because a mysterious guy has offered a very high reward for bringing her alive to Kront.

The Shadow Masters have at their disposal:
1 rog 4/ftr 10
1 rog 11/asn 6, leader of the group
1 rog 8
1 clr 1/rgr 1/rog 13 doppelganger, second in command
1 brd 8/rog 3/arcane trickster 4
1 wiz 15
1 clr 5/rog 5

Generally, this group of rogues is good in deception, scouting and infiltrating. They are not very good in melee combat unless they can attack by surprise or single out foes. House rule note: Only one sneak attack per round is allowed!

EDIT: Forgot to mention: I changed the wizard into a wiz 13/acm 2 (arcana: reach spell, spell power +1) before the attack, and the leader of the group is a rog 11/asn 7 (typo corrected).

The adventurers:
1 rgr 18
1 dwarven ftr 1/wiz 5/eldritch knight 10/spellsword 1
1 mnk 12/tattooed monk 6
1 rog 7/ftr 6/tempest 5, must survive!
1 sor 6/alienist 10/wild mage 2
Later, within a week, may join in: 1 clr 4/sor 3/hathran 10/mystic theurge 1 and her bodyguard, a ftr 12/bbn 4. These two are played by the DM (me).


Ok, that's the info. Any ideas for a good tactic/assault on the landhouse?

 

[Quartz]

A bouncing ball with a Symbol of Insanity?

Soften them up. The mage could cast Greater Invisibility and Fly then Teleport / Dimension Door in, read a scroll of Disjunction then Teleport / Dimension Door out. Do this at night and people won't be wearing all their items. If you don't like Disjunction, try Summon Monster. This is a Thieves Guild, they won't fight honourably.

 

[Dark Dragon]

A bouncing ball with a Symbol of Insanity?

LOL, yes, I had that idea. The party used that tactic once (with a Symbol of Sleep cast on a pot). But it is quite dangerous (the party may use the ball against the attackers), and most party members have quite good will saves (except for the thief).

Soften them up. The mage could cast Greater Invisibility and Fly then Teleport / Dimension Door in, read a scroll of Disjunction then Teleport / Dimension Door out. Do this at night and people won't be wearing all their items. If you don't like Disjunction, try Summon Monster. This is a Thieves Guild, they won't fight honourably.

Hit-and-run, hmm...At least it may force the party to leave the house.
Disjunction is banned in our group, so I can't use this spell.

I should mention that the sorcerer/alienist (native outsider) is capable of casting Time Stop and rapid Summon Monster VII and VIII. The monsters could easily deal with the attackers, and the Shadow Masters are well aware of that! They want to avoid a melee fight at all costs.
As the alienist is extremely paranoid, he'll probably cast Alarm on every possible entrance. He and the monk need only two hours of sleep per night (amulet, tattoo).

EDIT: Teleporting causes a loud noise and a flash of light. It is another house rule.

 

[Quartz]

How about Cloudkill or Death Fog, cast at night while everyone's asleep?

A nasty one would be to Summon or Conjure a large number of Vrocks and have them do a Dance of Ruin.

And have them attacked by bulettes from below.

How about giving them something which controls a Devastation Beetle?

 

[Dark Dragon]

How about Cloudkill or Death Fog, cast at night while everyone's asleep?

Hm, that would be a nice return for the dwarven eldritch knight who casts Cloudkill on nearly every opportunity. Nice idea!

A nasty one would be to Summon or Conjure a large number of Vrocks and have them do a Dance of Ruin.

The vrocks won't survive the needed 3 rounds to complete the dance...

And have them attacked by bulettes from below.

Can they be summoned or called? Afraid not (or I missed something, wait, checking the srd, no), but a centipede may do the trick to dig a tunnel

How about giving them something which controls a Devastation Beetle?

Err, no...The party is not epic

 

[The Edge]

Since burning the house sounds like an obvious way to disperse and disorganise the defenders, I'll go totaly first level here and sugest some primitive old flameing arrows. One turn, even a pair of level one mooks (the shadows must have plently of low rank foot pads) can hit a house from a nice distance. The party will have bigger fish to worry about, so the mooks would likely get off free of harm.

On the other (ridiculous) side of the scale, use a network of portable holes to drop the sea on them from flying high above.

 

[Dark Dragon]

Since burning the house sounds like an obvious way to disperse and disorganise the defenders, I'll go totaly first level here and sugest some primitive old flameing arrows. One turn, even a pair of level one mooks (the shadows must have plently of low rank foot pads) can hit a house from a nice distance. The party will have bigger fish to worry about, so the mooks would likely get off free of harm.

Yep, burning down the house was my first thought, too. But there are some reasons why the Shadow Masters don't want that.
1) The party would likely retreat into the wilderness (something especially the ranger would like to do). There, the group is more difficult to track and laying an ambush is also not that easy. The Shadow Masters know the rules of the city but not those of the jungle.
2) The house is a fix point. It 'keeps' the group together and at a well known location. In dire needs, the Shadow Masters could bring in reinforcements more easily without being hindered by city guards.
3) The party cannot call for help (guards, clerics, friends).

However, setting the house afire would at least force the group to deal with the flames, i.e. they have to leave the building and extinguish the flames, making the adventurers vulnerable to an ambush....

On the other (ridiculous) side of the scale, use a network of portable holes to drop the sea on them from flying high above.

That would at least end the drought. But seriously, I'm no fan of Portable Holes. Too many opportunities of misuse...

Hm, using poisons came to my mind. Also a risky and expensive task. All PCs have quite good Fortitude saves (the monk is immune to poison). The cheaper poisons work only on a 1...

Something subtle would be nice.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

What if you break away from the idea that you need to attack them in the Landhouse at all?

After all, the PCs have retreated to a defensive position, the last thing a limited group of thieves wants to do is assault them on ground they have not chosen. So, try to draw them out.

Start off by depositing the body of a different commoner from the village on the grounds of the Landhouse each day. The longer the PCs keep their heads down, the more commoners die.

That's pretty typical bad guy stuff, no surprises there. The PCs will probably plan an ambush for the next time a body is delivered -- but the thieves are expecting that, too, and have just paid a couple of beggars to deliver the body, so killing them just means that the PCs are contributing to the growing body count.

Another idea I used once -- a herd of dead cattle, raised as zombies, and sent after the house to try to batter it down. The PCs may be able to handle the assault of cows without much difficulty, but the midnight march of the zombie cows is a fun image, and after the thieves do that you're going to have a bunch of aggravated farmers, who have just lost their entire herd, calling for the PCs to take their trouble somewhere else.

Basically, the PCs are hiding out while the thieves are refusing to attack, but continuing to damage property in the town and kill locals. The PCs will HAVE to come out, eventually.

Also, make sure that the thieves are using everything they know about the PCs and their spells and tactics. If they know the one guy always uses cloudkill, make sure they're protected.

-rg

 

[Ze]

So, try to draw them out.

Start off by depositing the body of a different commoner from the village on the grounds of the Landhouse each day.

What I would definitely do here is:

1) the Shadow Masters wait for the Hathran, kidnap her and kill the bodyguard
2) the PCs receive the head of the bodyguard.

This would possibly force the PCs to make the first move, which, in my experience, does not lead usually to good results for the PCs, especially if the Shadow Masters are prepared, as they are now.

Bye,
Ze

 

[Dark Dragon]

Thanks for everyone's input so far. Last night, the story continued.

I abandoned the idea using poison which was good luck for the party because no one checked for poisoned water (in the well) or poisoned door knobs within the house. Hmm, I expected them to be more cautious. Well, maybe next time. I'd used the idea with the zombie horses, but the party was frustrated already after the FIRST night in the landhouse...

Here it goes:
The alienist used a few alarm spells, but at about 1 mile away from the house on the road. The Shadow Masters used the shadow walk spell to get to the house to avoid noisy teleportation.

On of the rogues, the doppleganger, sneaked up to the house and checked the situation (he was made invisible). The party had gathered within one room for defense but only one person was awake (the dwarf with only moderate spot and listen checks). The doppelganger checked silently for magic auras and found out that the sleeping alienist was not protected by any abjuration spell. He informed the Shadow Master's wizard about that. The wizard cast a hightened nightmare and succeeded (i.e. the alienist failed the save!). The party was quite nervous about that but they stayed in the room.

Then the wizard placed silently three alarm spells (silent alarm) close to the two entrances of the house and the stable. Then he hid in the trees. The assassin, the bard and the doppelganger climbed the roof of the stable and waited for eventual patrollling persons.
To their joy, the monk (invisible due to a ring) left the house at about midnight to check the area - alone! One alarm went off, the wizard cast silent quickened see invisbility followed by a silent whispering wind to the doppelganger's hide to notice the rest of the group. Then the assassin drank an invisibility potion, then cast a quickened silent see invisibility (scroll), he used also goggles of the night (the bard as well). The bard drank an invisibilty potion followed by a silent silence (cast from a scroll) on an arrow. He took up a position ca. 30 ft. away from the stable. The doppelganger waited to strike. He wears goggles with a see invisibilty effect, usable 3/day (use-activated). He should point to the target of the bard's ranged attack.
The monk walked right into the trap and was knocked out before being able to react (he lost the initiative to the attackers...) The bard fired the silent arrow, then the doppelganger and the assassin attacked. They didn't kill the monk but placed him in the cellar of the ruins of an old farm house a few miles away.
EDIT: I have added some equipment the attackers used.

There the attackers stayed the night. Shortly before dawn, the wizard cast a demand on the party rogue, suggesting her to destroy secretly all food and water supplies within the house. She failed her save and tried to do her best, starting with sabotaging the water tank (the party had brought the tank the day before to the landhouse). The alienist got quite upset about the damaged tank (he was angry about the nightmare and unable to get some sleep) so he tried to use a wand with hold monster on the rogue who tried to hinder the alienist's tries to repair the tank. This was noticed by the dwarf and the ranger. A big discussion follwed, about 100 litres of water were lost and no one trusted the rogue and the alienist. It was very funny, because the rogue has a very high bluff skill, she was able to fool the alienist, but not the ranger...

In the meantime, three of the Shadow Masters (the wizard, the cleric/rogue and the doppelganger) secretly returned to the landhouse stables. They noticed that three of the stable boys were about to return to house with 12 horses (they intended to gather all 25 horses to move them to the lake Ashane because the well was almost dry). The attackers hid in the stable, then the wizard used a magic jar on the approaching stable boys. He buffed himself with false life, bear's endurance, resist acid, stoneskin, shield, mage armor, protection from chaos and vampiric touch (poor horse, but he used a low CL to avoid a kill, it is a house rule). One of the rogues delivered the stone skin component secretly.

The party had decided to leave and return to Two Stars (bad idea!). The stable boys should bring the horses to the lake. They were packing their stuff on a cart when the dominated stable boy had moved into position. The wizard decided to use his remaining spell energy to do as much damage as possible. He opened combat with a sunburst and blinded the dwarf and the alienist (who were thus almost out of battle). The ranger immediatly returned fire but he was not able to kill the stable boy. The alienist used a potion of remove blindness. The stable boy cast a second sunburst but everybody made the save (bad luck here), so he followed with a quickened confusion. This affected the dwarf and the rogue. The ranger finally killed the stable boy, thus forcing the wizard's mind back into his body. The three attackers then left the area via Plane Shift instead of pressing the attack. The wizard was low on energy and a melee fight was too risky for them (they misjudged the party here, the alienist was also very low on spells and the ranger is bad in melee).
The confusion run out without too much damage, the dwarf then received another potion of remove blindness from the alienist. The party returned to Two Stars. The people there are not happy about the return, earlier incidents led to the assumption that the group is a magnet for trouble.

However, the Shadow Masters now have an important hostage (the monk). They are thinking of a) attacking the party further or b) forcing the group to leave Thesk before they set the monk free (who will receive a geas before that!).

Ideas? Next session will be on thursday...