D&D 5E What is this villain's next step?

In my ToA campaign, the villainous sorceress Xandala has been deep undercover as the apprentice of my party's archmage patron & posing as the daughter of a missing NPC (in order to get his artifact). After being in the background for many sessions, she is about to make her move... but what is that move?

Villain's Character & Capabilities. She's very deceitful (Cha 18, Deception +10), very cunning (Int 18), a keen judge of character (Wis 16, Insight +6), and views most others as expendable fools to be manipulated to her own ends. A Neutral Evil CR 7 (roughly 9th level) half-elven sorceress with ties to the Red Wizards, she was imbued with black dragon blood by hags during her infancy (to save her life from disease, but really to provide the hag coven with a "backup" should one of the hag sisters be slain). She knows these spells:

Cantrips (at will): acid splash, fire bolt, light, mage hand, ray of frost
1st level (4 slots): chromatic orb, feather fall, shield
2nd level (4 slots): invisibility, misty step
3rd level (3 slots): fireball, fly
4th level (3 slots):polymorph, vitriolic sphere
5th level (1 slot): dominate person, teleportation circle

Recent Events. Recently, Xandala learned the party found the missing NPC (and his artifact) she's been searching for. The party were corresponding with the archmage via intermittent project image spells that the archmage casts using a magic map blood-linked to one PC. This magic map, in the archmage's possession, locates that linked PC kinda like a blip on radar. However, the NPC in question is very canny and this could be one of the false trails he set up to throw others off his scent; therefore, Xandala needs to confirm it is indeed him before she risks tipping her hand to the PCs.

Possible Monstrous "Allies". Xandala learned the sigil sequence of a teleportation circle at a location very close to where the PCs reported their location to be. She researched the teleportation circle spell and cast it, arriving in the ruins of an overgrown hanging garden inhabited by a mad medusa queen commanding plant monsters. She has reached some kind of understanding with the medusa queen that I need to define. Nearby, she also encountered a goblin hunting party tracking one of the PCs (an exile of the goblin tribe), and Xandala made some kind of tentative alliance with the goblins that I also need to define. From a past encounter with party, the goblins know PCs can call down lightning & summon quetzalcoatlus (actually an illusion), include a deadly archer in their ranks.

This leads to my question: What should Xandala's next step be?

This sounds a lot like a Mastermind NPC I have infiltrating my party traversing the Underdark. He is an Air Genasi whose mother happens to be from an obscenely rich noble family so he has near unlimited resources as she coddled her only close blood relative as he grew up. Knowing his origins to be part Djinn, he wants to create a nation state for all Genasi (who have none and he feels they are unjustly by all).

With his family resources and his adventuring skills, he has been secretly gathering magical artifacts to help him achieve his goal of creating a Genasi Nation of Power which he will lead. He supplements these skills with deceit, cunning, and perception such as described with your own Xandala. Like you I am also contemplating the next step for this character.

It seems to me that Xandala's next step is to make her move and find out if the map ping leads to the true location or not. Perhaps she can also find a way to scry on the PC through hired means to confirm that location. If she can't perhaps she can find another way to lure the PC to a location of her choosing and control setting up a major encounter for her and the party? If the "Allies" you describe can't be made to work for this scheme, perhaps she has other "allies" that are more suitable for this encounter. I would be thinking lair type actions with terrain/effects she can control.

Quickleaf said:

This leads to my question: What should Xandala's next step be?

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Unless she's got a Teleportation Circle to get back to the Archmage, she's already committed to her move here. If the blip was wrong, she's screwed.

It would be easy for her to bully the medusa queen by threatening to burn the garden down with fireballs. In exchange for leaving her garden alone, if the medusa helps with her plant monsters, she can keep all the PCs she petrifies (the artifact should be unaffected by lesser magics). She gets the goblins to sneak into their camp at night to steal something (IME, it doesn't matter WHAT they steal, the players will go berserk and chase them to the ends of the earth). When the party gives chase, they lead them into the garden (and likely flee beyond, since goblins are not much of a threat at the PCs likely level). In the garden they face the medusa queen and her plant allies, including the sorceress polymorphed into a Treant (as she's 9th level). If the sorceress "dies" she can act confused to the party, claiming to have been kidnapped & cursed (using Deception), then Dominate Person either the NPC or the most powerful PC, both with the goal of getting the artifact to her. If the Dominate fails, Invisibility plus Stealth, followed by Misty Step should allow her to pilfer the artifact (unless it's used in combat). Once she has the artifact, the Fly spell should allow her to escape with her prize. Note this involves using and dropping a lot of concentration spells, so don't forget that once you switch, the old spell is gone.

She will be exposed as a villainess, but with luck, she'll never see the party again.

Are the PCs currently on their way to meet this NPC after learning his location? If Xandala still needs to confirm his identity, her best bet would be to set up her "allies" to ambush the PCs as they leave that location, in possession of the NPC and artifact. Meanwhile she follows the party invisibly, and witnesses their encounter with the NPC to determine his legitimacy.

If the NPC is real, she follows the PCs back out and stands ready to intervene if the fight doesn't go well for her associates. If not, she stays invisible, leaves the situation to play out, and goes off to cast Teleportation Circle back to base, cover still intact.

The beautiful Xandala might have suitors that wish to win her heart. She could pit one or more against the party in conjunction with the other plans. This gives her a back up plan and if the party overcomes the suitors it removes a problem from her life.

MarkB said:

Are the PCs currently on their way to meet this NPC after learning his location? If Xandala still needs to confirm his identity, her best bet would be to set up her "allies" to ambush the PCs as they leave that location, in possession of the NPC and artifact. Meanwhile she follows the party invisibly, and witnesses their encounter with the NPC to determine his legitimacy.

If the NPC is real, she follows the PCs back out and stands ready to intervene if the fight doesn't go well for her associates. If not, she stays invisible, leaves the situation to play out, and goes off to cast Teleportation Circle back to base, cover still intact.

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The PCs just met the Missing NPC while exploring and he's accompanied them to another site, approximately 50 miles north east of the Medusa's Hanging Garden. It's not actually the Missing NPC, but a very convincing doppelganger.

Xandala uses teleportation circle to reach the Medusa's Hanging Gardens, knowing that the PCs' last known position was 50 miles north east. She knows the PCs will eventually be heading in this direction, as their objective lies much further to the south. She needs to confirm the Missing NPC's identity. As far as she knows, the PCs still believe that she is the Missing NPC's daughter (in truth, the party has split opinions).

She has a pseudodragon familiar she can use to scout short distances, but normally doesn't let the pseudodragon too far out of her sight (both to keep him safe & because his good nature sometimes has him muck up her plans).

The goblin hunting party have been pursuing the PCs for roughly 80 miles south along a river, but after a resounding defeat during which their rafts were wrecked, the goblins have lagged behind the PCs. The goblins found evidence of the carnage left in the PCs' wake. They're able to catch up to the PCs because the PCs are doing a side quest that takes a couple days.

However, the goblins were outclassed by the PCs in their last encounter in which the goblins tried to abduct the exiled goblin PC. The goblin shaman leading them knows they'll need help if they hope to overcome the mighty PCs. They make allies of convenience for Xandala – she has no problem letting the goblins die if she gets what she wants, but she also knows the cowardly goblins won't attack unless they have her support.

Shiroiken said:

Unless she's got a Teleportation Circle to get back to the Archmage, she's already committed to her move here. If the blip was wrong, she's screwed.

It would be easy for her to bully the medusa queen by threatening to burn the garden down with fireballs. In exchange for leaving her garden alone, if the medusa helps with her plant monsters, she can keep all the PCs she petrifies (the artifact should be unaffected by lesser magics). She gets the goblins to sneak into their camp at night to steal something (IME, it doesn't matter WHAT they steal, the players will go berserk and chase them to the ends of the earth). When the party gives chase, they lead them into the garden (and likely flee beyond, since goblins are not much of a threat at the PCs likely level). In the garden they face the medusa queen and her plant allies, including the sorceress polymorphed into a Treant (as she's 9th level). If the sorceress "dies" she can act confused to the party, claiming to have been kidnapped & cursed (using Deception), then Dominate Person either the NPC or the most powerful PC, both with the goal of getting the artifact to her. If the Dominate fails, Invisibility plus Stealth, followed by Misty Step should allow her to pilfer the artifact (unless it's used in combat). Once she has the artifact, the Fly spell should allow her to escape with her prize. Note this involves using and dropping a lot of concentration spells, so don't forget that once you switch, the old spell is gone.

She will be exposed as a villainess, but with luck, she'll never see the party again.

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Teleportation Circles. Yes, she is committed. This is the first promising lead Xandala has found since I introduced her ~17 sessions ago. She doesn't have a sigil sequence to reach the archmage, but she does know a sigil sequence to a distant teleportation circle (probably at a Red Wizard enclave) far from the adventure's region. However, because she's kind of going renegade from the Red Wizards, she would prefer not to use that circle as she wants the artifact's power for herself.

Medusa Queen. The Medusa Queen has magic of her own, control over the plant creatures, and a group of loyal eblis (subjects that shared her cursed and were transformed into evil flying magical stork-men). Thinking herself a queen still (she was cursed), she'd probably respond aggressively to threats/bullying. The PCs haven't done anything to piss off the Medusa Queen yet, and her motives seem to be less "gather a garden of statues", and more "bask in lotus-fueled dreams of grandeur that once was."

Incentivizing Goblin Thievery. That sounds like a very goblin-y tactic, but exposes them to quite a bit of risk upfront. They know this party has a deadly archer (i.e. with Sharpshooter feat) and a spellcaster who can call lightning, and there's no guarantee the goblins win the chase & reach the ambush site before being caught. Goblins are as smart as humans and more cowardly...seems like Xandala would need to offer something more to sell this strategy to them?

Polymorph & Zone of Truth. Totally, I expect polymorph to work into her overall strategy somehow. Stretching the rules to have her transformed into a treant is a creative twist! And spinning a convincing lie is just Xandala's style. However, the goblin PC is a paladin who very likely intends to use zone of truth to figure out if Xandala is actually the Missing NPC's daughter or not; therefor, any such deception would be quickly seen through.

CydKnight said:

This sounds a lot like a Mastermind NPC I have infiltrating my party traversing the Underdark. He is an Air Genasi whose mother happens to be from an obscenely rich noble family so he has near unlimited resources as she coddled her only close blood relative as he grew up. Knowing his origins to be part Djinn, he wants to create a nation state for all Genasi (who have none and he feels they are unjustly by all).

With his family resources and his adventuring skills, he has been secretly gathering magical artifacts to help him achieve his goal of creating a Genasi Nation of Power which he will lead. He supplements these skills with deceit, cunning, and perception such as described with your own Xandala. Like you I am also contemplating the next step for this character.

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Interesting NPC motivation! As far as building a nation from the ground up, magical artifacts are an unusual McGuffin. I'd imagine forging alliances, consensus-building, establishing an army, and other aspects of "domain management" would be foremost among his methods.

It seems to me that Xandala's next step is to make her move and find out if the map ping leads to the true location or not. Perhaps she can also find a way to scry on the PC through hired means to confirm that location. If she can't perhaps she can find another way to lure the PC to a location of her choosing and control setting up a major encounter for her and the party? If the "Allies" you describe can't be made to work for this scheme, perhaps she has other "allies" that are more suitable for this encounter. I would be thinking lair type actions with terrain/effects she can control.

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The map ping is 50 miles Northeast of the Medusa's Hanging Garden (where Xandala emerges from a teleportation circle). The goblins have a general sense of where the PCs went. And Xandala knows their general direction of travel – far to the south – will very likely take them by the Medusa's Hanging Garden in a few days. Setting up some kind of a trick/ambush/encounter there makes the most sense.

Xandala is not on her home turf, and will not have lair actions / terrain effects she can control. The Hanging Gardens are the Medusa Queen's lair. All Xandala has is her magic, her cunning, and manipulation of any monsters she meets (such as the goblin hunting party and – potentially – the Medusa Queen & her "subjects").

Draegn said:

The beautiful Xandala might have suitors that wish to win her heart. She could pit one or more against the party in conjunction with the other plans. This gives her a back up plan and if the party overcomes the suitors it removes a problem from her life.

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That's a great twist! Unfortunately, while I did mention Xandala's beauty, I didn't foreshadow any suitors.

The only thing that springs to mind is the NPC Brother-in-Law (gladiator) of the ranger PC... the PCs parted ways with the NPC Brother-in-Law a week ago on bad terms, as the party decided to use a consumable magic item for other reasons rather than helping the Brother-in-Law find the one responsible for turning his sister (the ranger PC's wife) into a zombie. Essentially they choose a "greater good" rather than the Brother-in-Law's "personal vendetta."

It's possible the goblin hunting party ran into him along the river... though it would be out-of-character for the Brother-in-Law to ally with goblins, maybe despite the disagreement with the PCs he still views the ranger PC as family... so he could "join" the goblins as a guide, the goblins think they're press-ganging him, when his real intention is to keep an eye on them. But then when the Brother-in-Law meets Xandala he is smitten by her. Maybe she is the first ray of light he has seen in a long time? A chance at a new beginning? Not realizing he is being thoroughly manipulated.

I’m familiar with the adventure and the NPCs involved, but I don’t know if you’ve made significant changes to things or not, so this idea may or may not work.

Can Xandala possibly convince the party that the NPC has come under the sway of the artifact, and is no longer in control of his own actions? Perhaps she can convince them to subdue the NPC, and transport him to a location that holds the key to breaking the curse....a garden that contains the “Summer Bloom”, a rare flower that can restore the NPC’s right mind.

Of course, instead she leads the PCs to the medusa’s garden where they’re ambushed by both the goblins and the medusa.

Maybe that could work? Although, since the NPC is actually a doppleganger dsiguised as the NPC, I don’t know how long that would remain a secret from her....

Does the doppleganger have the artifact in question? I don’t know if this was explicitly stated in your descriptions above.