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

Quickleaf said:

I haven't had to adjudicate scrying saving throws in 5e yet. As DM, do I just call for a Wisdom save from the player in question, without explaining what's going on?

Click to expand...

In my personal opinion? Yes. Even if they make the save, it can be a nice tension builder.

[MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION] I was thinking scrying would be a good way for her to find out about the doppleganger. There are items you can give her to allow her to scry.

Maybe she scrys on the PCs and then sees Artus and thinks but that’s impossible....unless he’s either lost the ring or if it’s an imposter. She has both ray of frost and ice storm, so she could appear and reveal the doppleganger as an imposter, and then if the PCs use zone of truth on her, she can simply act insulted. Especially after revealing an imposter in their midst.

But what I just suggested would mean she’d have some reason to confront the PCs if she didn’t think that they had the ring.

Or you could play it that she doesn’t know all the properties of the ring so she thinks Artus is there with them, and makes her move to get the ring, only to find out that it’s not Artus and not the ring. Then decide how to proceed based on what happens and how the PCs react.

hawkeyefan said:

[MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION] I was thinking scrying would be a good way for her to find out about the doppleganger. There are items you can give her to allow her to scry.

Maybe she scrys on the PCs and then sees Artus and thinks but that’s impossible....unless he’s either lost the ring or if it’s an imposter. She has both ray of frost and ice storm, so she could appear and reveal the doppleganger as an imposter, and then if the PCs use zone of truth on her, she can simply act insulted. Especially after revealing an imposter in their midst.

But what I just suggested would mean she’d have some reason to confront the PCs if she didn’t think that they had the ring.

Or you could play it that she doesn’t know all the properties of the ring so she thinks Artus is there with them, and makes her move to get the ring, only to find out that it’s not Artus and not the ring. Then decide how to proceed based on what happens and how the PCs react.

Click to expand...

Nice, yeah, she seems like the kind of villain who'd employ scrying. I actually was reading how another DM ran Xandala and he gave her a crystal ball and homebrewed sending stone which allowed her to communicate with various teams hunting for the missing NPC (Artus).

I'm guessing that she knows quite a bit about Artus & the Ring, and that she suspects it makes him undetectable to divinations. Perceiving him through a scrying sensor (which targeted a PC) would puzzle her, certainly, but there are many ways she could interpret that – maybe it's only directly scrying on him that's prevented, which (from Xandala's point of view) might explain why Artus avoids attachments. It's an incorrect assumption, but one that a Neutral Evil NPC would be likely to make. I imagine she'd be wary but want to confirm his identity.

And she can't rely on underlings to do that. She either needs goblins to steal the ring for her OR she needs to do as you say and cast ray of frost on "Artus." Maybe both! Since she doesn't yet know the truth, she needs to be prepared for (a) if it is the real Artus, and (b) if it's an imposter. In the case of (a), she'd probably commit to a fight, withdrawing if badly hurt. In the case of (b) maybe she exposes the doppelganger, turns against her erstwhile goblin allies, and thus worms her way into the PCs' trust?

I also need to figure out how this arrogant selfish sorceress Xandala interacts with the vainglorious Medusa Queen. They're both vain strong personalities.

In her hanging garden lair, the Medusa Queen is more powerful, but Xandala is more intelligent, more skilled at deception/flattery, and a better judge of character (she'd quickly realize that the Medusa Queen's grasp on reality is tenuous).

Might Xandala sweet talk the Medusa Queen somehow?

My interpretation of the Medusa Queen Zalkoré varies a bit from ToA, probably elevating her from CR 6 to CR 8 or 9:

• she is a 7th-level wild magic sorcerer with chaos bolt, fog cloud, shield, alter self, hold person, blink, enemies abound, and confusion
• her hanging gardens are a limited wild magic zone where every spell she casts triggers a wild magic surge (from a custom table adapting the one in the PHB)
• she has Otherworldly Perception (letting her see invisible/ethereal creatures)
• she is fused with a yellow musk creeper and has its Touch and Yellow Musk 3/day (making her a monstrosity/plant hybrid)
• she has lair actions including Absorb Plant Creature, Conjure 6 Yellow Musk Zombies, Tides of Chaos, and Zombie Eruption

Quickleaf said:

I also need to figure out how this arrogant selfish sorceress Xandala interacts with the vainglorious Medusa Queen. They're both vain strong personalities.

In her hanging garden lair, the Medusa Queen is more powerful, but Xandala is more intelligent, more skilled at deception/flattery, and a better judge of character (she'd quickly realize that the Medusa Queen's grasp on reality is tenuous).

Might Xandala sweet talk the Medusa Queen somehow?

My interpretation of the Medusa Queen Zalkoré varies a bit from ToA, probably elevating her from CR 6 to CR 8 or 9:

• she is a 7th-level wild magic sorcerer with chaos bolt, fog cloud, shield, alter self, hold person, blink, enemies abound, and confusion
• her hanging gardens are a limited wild magic zone where every spell she casts triggers a wild magic surge (from a custom table adapting the one in the PHB)
• she has Otherworldly Perception (letting her see invisible/ethereal creatures)
• she is fused with a yellow musk creeper and has its Touch and Yellow Musk 3/day (making her a monstrosity/plant hybrid)
• she has lair actions including Absorb Plant Creature, Conjure 6 Yellow Musk Zombies, Tides of Chaos, and Zombie Eruption

Click to expand...

How true are you going to stay to Zalkore's history that is written on wiki?

Xandala may very well simply lie, sweetly of course, to Zalkore. A lie that would engender sympathy and offers of support for Xandala from Zalkore. The better information on Zalkore that Xandala has, the more convincing the lie.

Draegn said:

How true are you going to stay to Zalkore's history that is written on wiki?

Xandala may very well simply lie, sweetly of course, to Zalkore. A lie that would engender sympathy and offers of support for Xandala from Zalkore. The better information on Zalkore that Xandala has, the more convincing the lie.

Click to expand...

I'm staying true to Zalkoré's backstory. I think it is terrific. I'm just giving her a power boost and making her a sort of "queen of yellow musk creepers/yellow musk zombies" on top of that.

As an aside, I'm having the erinyes who cursed/rewarded her with medusa-hood take the place of the bone devil "Grand Master" in Lost Laboratory of Kwalish, which I'm having be the same erinyes that appears in the Tomb, Area 67. I'm also implying it was this erinyes who led the hero Ch'gakare to his doom (kind of like Samson and Delilah).

I'm struggling to come up with a lie Xandala could spin which would be convincing/moving enough to win her the Medusa Queen Zalkoré's support.

[MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION] If I were playing Xandala... my lie would be "Your grace, my name is Xandala, I am a student of the arcane arts, within the library were I studied my true love created a wondrous garden for us to enjoy. In this garden time stood still and he a human would not age like an annual flower but instead would age slowly like a great tree, not unlike I do. We would have been together for many years. Alas the cruel archmage of the library declared that my love used forbidden magics and banished him and our garden to a pocket prison, he then threw me out. How can magic which allows two lovers to be together be forbidden, it is cruel and unfair. The only hope I have to free my love is to return with a great treasure to sate the appetite of the the archmage. Please I humbly beseech you to aid me."

Quickleaf said:

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.

Click to expand...

I should have explained better. The magical artifacts are not the McGuffin per se' but rather meant to supplement 'forged alliances, consensus-building, establishing an army (or henchmen to start), and other aspects of "domain management"'. I just haven't thought through all the details yet. I may start a new thread on that when the time comes.