Dealing with Shealis (spoilers)

[sfedi]

I wonder how did other groups handle dealing with Shealis.

In the groups I ran this is what happened when Buron told them they had to delay Shealis:

Group 1:
"No way! We can do nothing about it, the only thing we can do is go and confront her (talk to her)" (with Diogenes bubble up)
They made the Skill Challenge: Win

Group 2:
"Ok, let's do that"
They stalled a bit trying to figure out how to delay her until they gave up and feeling they had no choice, they confronted her (with Diogenes bubble up)
They made the Skill Challenge: Win

Group 3:
"Ok, let's do that"
They analyzed ways to delay her, and finally they made the crows in front of Gabal's School go mad and having them block the exit of any Gabal student or teacher.
They previously talked to Erdran and managed to get his support and called on the City Guard.
Shealis escaped through the back of the school by levitating and having another professor from the school creating a wind to blow her to the other side (I ruled that she couldn't teleport through the fence because of Gabal's protections)
The party managed to see her and followed her steps through the city undetected.
Once in the Spy's Headquarters they saw her getting in.
They rushed in and tried to take her down.
They failed.
She collected the papers, escaped and they managed to follow her a second time.
Followed her to a house where the tunnel was dug on the basement.
Encounter at the house.
Followed her through the Singing Chasm.
Followed her out of the Chasm, into the mountains, into Shahalesti territory.
Finally she met some Shahalesti soldiers and they abandoned the pursuit.

I'm not sure I handled the last group correctly, since I don't know if something in the next modules would come in conflict with this.

 

[sfedi]

Anyone wants to share their experience?

 

[EugeneZ]

The group I ran, they followed instructions. They entered the school, convinced Diogenes to talk to Shealis, and walked in and started talking with her. It was a pretty big RP event and I threw the skill challenge out the window. They made a reasonable case, especially considering the dwarf was smart enough to stay outside and the eladrin and elf did most of the talking. They convinced Shealis that for the time being, they were on the same side.

This is where things get interesting. Due to a bit of good luck, they had killed her pet Solon in the Depository encounter. While Shealis was walking them to the Eladrin Ghetto to retrieve the case, they made small talk, and in discussing the past day's events, let slip that they were the ones who fought Larion. This tipped Shealis off to the fact that they killed her beloved pet solon. She flew off the handle and cast a wall of fire right there on the street and they had to put her down.

Due to the sudden nature of the combat and the unforseen ally becoming a dangerous enemy, the minotaur went into a mindless rage and laid the final blow, killing Shealis despite everyone telling him not to. Luckily things happened very quickly and because they were just within the Eladrin Ghetto, the authorities didn't much care. The PCs brought her body to the hideout and dumped it on the floor in front of the spies.

I actually had Larion be the spy leader in the hideout, and there was a nice fight, but the Shahalesti spies ended up giving in honorably, regetting Shealis's loss.

 

[sfedi]

Cool.

So despite knowing Shealis was the Shahalesti spy leader of Gate Pass they thought they had a chance at talking her out or delaying her? Or did they go to talk "just in case we make it"?

 

[EugeneZ]

Well, I don't think anyone quite put it that way. Buron told them she had the case and was going to escape soon and needed to be delayed. I think some part of them suspected they would need to kill her, but they tried talking things through first. I didn't play her too roughly, either -- it's not hard to see what both parties have to gain in this case.

 

[SteveC]

Both groups I ran through the game managed to stop Larion and then either defeat him or agree with the Wisp that the battle should stop.

Once that happened, one group managed to get the location of the Spy's Hideout out of Larion and proceeded to go there immediately. This was some excellent roleplay and also set them up for a bad fight as they went over to catch the spies all in the same night. That group was captured by the Eladrin and then work up to do the skill challenge with Shealis tied up and arguing for their lives. They managed to convince her, but only because one member of the group was a Changeling spy that was working for the Eladrin all along.

The second group said "okay, you have the MacGuffin, we'll let you go if you give us your word we can meet with your boss and discuss what to do. You are an Eladrin knight, right? Honor means something to you, doesn't it? Oh, and you certainly wouldn't want us to inform the guard of what you're up to, now would you?" This group ran the negotiation with her in neutral ground and managed to win her over to their cause.

In both cases there was a tremendous amount of good roleplay involved, and the situations were (mostly) solved without a fight.

--Steve