defeated..or: how to get a comrade back (RttoEE spoilers)

[Dark Dragon]

Hi all,

we had a, uhmmm, difficult, desastrous, harsh...whatsoever session last night, attacking the fire temple in the CRM (yes, we're still there after over a year of playing the module, our DM did some work to flesh out the campaign on Faerun).

The party:
Human paladin 14 / cleric 1 of Helm, important items: Holy Avenger, large shield +3 (fire resistance 10), ring of friend shield (player was absent, so another player took over...)

Half-elf fighter 4 / cleric 12 of Kelemvor, items: bastard sword +3, periapt of wisdom +6, ring of friend shield

Elf wizard 15, items: headband of intellect +6, lots of wands, scrolls, some protective items

Centaur druid 15, items: nothing important (losses by disintegrate)

The options: We got some informations from a captured fire cleric about an important ritual in the fire temple and the forge of a powerful magic item. We knew that most of the clerics and guards would be there and perhaps there would be a sacrifice...The DM made clear that time is running out and the Main Temple has victory within its grasp.

So we decided to attack the fire temple directly. All PCs were protected against fire and hasted (plus some other protections)...
At the main gate, two clerics attacked to group, and dispelled some protections in a short fight before being killed. The wizard disintegrated the gate and the other PCs took up combat positions. The high priestess was removed from the altar by a Maze, two Horrid Wiltings killed two lesser priests and a fighter. The druid killed nearly all elementals, burning skeletons and the salamander with two Quenches. The cleric (low on offensive spells) and the paladin attacked the fighters and the remaining three elementals. The enemy priests and an invisible flying wizard took up positions and made heavy use of Greater Dispelling, Fireball, Quick Lightning bolt, Chain Lightning and, of course, Harm (house ruled with save for 1d8+1 / level...). The cleric was knocked unconcious after being harmed (172 to 3 HP...), and one of the fighters ordered the druid to surrender or the cleric will die. The druid and the paladin (both also harmed and on their last HPs) retreated to the wizard and all three teleported out. The fight in the altar chamber lasted four rounds (three hours in real time...).

So, we're only three persons left from five (the ranger died in the Earth temple and never returned), the fate of the cleric uncertain.

We don't intend to leave our cleric to the temple (the priests of the Inner Fane have plans with him and won't kill him outright, hopefully). We need a good plan to get him back, even if Scrying is blocked and Antimagic Field is not available...We have two keys to the fane but don't know how to use them.

Or is another attack useless with this group?

Any idea (spell combos, tactics) would be great, but: no spoilers please .

The Dark Dragon, running out of ideas...*sigh*

Edit: typos.

 

[Zenon]

Well, from what I know of the module (since I'm running it) your DM has made substantial changes to it.

So any advice I might have to offer would be either incorrect or too spoiler ridden to be of any current help.

However I will offer this as future advice (kind of like closing the barn door after the horse is gone):

From the SRD:

Bracelet of Friends
This charm bracelet has seven charms upon it. The owner may designate one person known to him or her to be keyed to one charm. (This designation takes a standard action, but once done it lasts forever or until changed.) When a charm is grasped and the name of the keyed individual is spoken, that person is called to the spot (another standard action) along with his or her gear. Unwilling characters are allowed a Will saving throw (DC 19). Once a charm is activated, it disappears, so such bracelets discovered as treasure may have fewer than a full complement of charms when found.
Caster Level: 15th; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, refuge; Market Price: 4,550 gp; Weight: -.

Get yourself one of these little beauties. Have someone associated with your group (NPC church member, etc) have this item. Attune your group to the charms. Before any assault, tell the NPC that you are going and how long you will be. If you are not back by the appointed time, have him summon you back with the braclet (using it up in the process).

With any who are held captive, this should get them out of prision unless that are dimensionally anchored. With prisioners, you may not get their stuff, but having them back and out of temple clutches should be worth the cost of it.

It doesn't state that it only works on living creatures, so it's a good method of body retrieval also (if you can ok it with your DM).

Sorry I can't offer any more help. Hope whatever plan you work up works, I like to see the PC's win.

 

[Dark Dragon]

Wow, THAT's a REALLY cool item. Together with the two Amulets of Communication (self-made items similar to a walkie-talkie with a monitor) it would be great. We just need the spell or a cleric casting it... The church of Helm has send a few knights (unfortunately quite weak and too late) to assault the CRM, perhaps they'll offer a bit more help by giving the spell.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[Seravin]

2cp and change

Speaking also as someone who's running the module...

Information seems to be important right now. With two 15th level casters you certainly have some options available. The important thing is how much time do you really have left, because that's what you need.

Ask your DM if you can Analyze Dweomer or Legend Lore/Vision the keys to see how to use them. The Legend Lore should take under an hour with the keys in hand. AD will take 8. This presumes your wizard has access to them or can purchase a scroll.

For that matter, at your levels, just go through the entire Divination list to find out what you can about anybody whose name you know.

Get a Commune (or Limited Wish a Commune) to find out the status of your buddy. With 15 possible questions for the caster, write them down before hand to determine what you want to ask. Keep in mind additional questions you will want to ask if the answer is yes or no. Discern Location if you can. Heck, if you know the names of any of the bad guys use Discern Location on him and ask the DM what that counts as for purposes of Teleport.

If you have the spell, try a Planar Binding on something that might be willing to help. There will be a price, but it will provide two things. Additional help on the assault and potentially a character for the cleric to play in the meantime. Two Avorals could be potentially useful.

Does anyone use the doors at any particular time? Druids get Wind Walk. A 60mph raid into the temple when the doors are down might be viable. It would alert creatures and there's that time element to re-materialize, but it might be available. Do you know if you can fly over?

The wizard should also have the possibility to cast Etherealness - walk through the doors with the expectation of teleporting out. An augury on whether this tactic will be useful should help out.

Another possible tactic is to get some Silence Bombs created to shut down enemy spellcasters. Cast silence on a rock, put rock in a box. Teleport to enemy. Have your Paladin use rocks. Better yet if your DM will allow you to find someone willing to make things, make a permanent silent rock. It should be relatively cheap. Or sling bullets that cast a silence spell when they hit a target.

Of course the big deal with all of these suggestions would be:
A) How much time do you really have left?
B) Do you have the spells available to use and if not, can you get them and have time to learn them?
C) Is the player of the cleric sitting things out now or is he bringing someone new in, and if so, what kind of character.
D) Can you access to a helpful cleric?

The last bits of advice is whatever you do, keep it simple and get as much information as possible from each encounter.

 

[Dark Dragon]

Re: 2cp and change

Okay, I'll try to handle each point as good as I can (limiting factor is the language, of course )

Speaking also as someone who's running the module...

Information seems to be important right now. With two 15th level casters you certainly have some options available. The important thing is how much time do you really have left, because that's what you need.

Ask your DM if you can Analyze Dweomer or Legend Lore/Vision the keys to see how to use them. The Legend Lore should take under an hour with the keys in hand. AD will take 8. This presumes your wizard has access to them or can purchase a scroll.

We used Legend Lore...and got NO clues. Obviously, the key is nothing unique, legendary or otherwise worthy to be noticed. /end of rant. The DM is quite stingy about informations...

For that matter, at your levels, just go through the entire Divination list to find out what you can about anybody whose name you know.

Get a Commune (or Limited Wish a Commune) to find out the status of your buddy. With 15 possible questions for the caster, write them down before hand to determine what you want to ask. Keep in mind additional questions you will want to ask if the answer is yes or no. Discern Location if you can. Heck, if you know the names of any of the bad guys use Discern Location on him and ask the DM what that counts as for purposes of Teleport.

Hmm, not sure about Commune if it's banned by the DM. IIRC, there was some discussion. Otherwise, it could be an option. But finding a cleric within a day will be difficult. Commune with Nature is certainly banned for this adventure.

If you have the spell, try a Planar Binding on something that might be willing to help. There will be a price, but it will provide two things. Additional help on the assault and potentially a character for the cleric to play in the meantime. Two Avorals could be potentially useful.

The cleric already used this spell to summon an air elemental to help in one combat. This combat was in the mines between Earth and Fire Temple...Not sure about our wizard, but IIRC, he hasn't the spell in the books.

Does anyone use the doors at any particular time? Druids get Wind Walk. A 60mph raid into the temple when the doors are down might be viable. It would alert creatures and there's that time element to re-materialize, but it might be available. Do you know if you can fly over?

We used that tactic and were nearly killed by two VERY powerful wizards instantly showing up and using Greater Dispelling, Quick Fireball.. and the Lightning Towers...The doors are secured by Forbiddances...

The wizard should also have the possibility to cast Etherealness - walk through the doors with the expectation of teleporting out. An augury on whether this tactic will be useful should help out.

AFAIK, this spell was available only to our cleric...And we used that tactic for an assault on the Fire Bridge Complex. All went well, until a blinded, feebleminded enemy priest directly ran into the demon circle and thus called the bebilith...*sigh* That was a frustrating session.

Another possible tactic is to get some Silence Bombs created to shut down enemy spellcasters. Cast silence on a rock, put rock in a box. Teleport to enemy. Have your Paladin use rocks. Better yet if your DM will allow you to find someone willing to make things, make a permanent silent rock. It should be relatively cheap. Or sling bullets that cast a silence spell when they hit a target.

That was what our cleric planned to do during the fight in the altar chamber. But with Haste dispelled, surrounded by fighters and a priest staying out of range to cast Harm, he wasn't able to finish his plan...Get someone to create the Silence Bombs would take too much time. The group recieved a message from some priest from the Inner Fane who provided (very little) information: "They've found the Earth Prince..." (or something like that). Hm, one found, three to go, I guess.

Of course the big deal with all of these suggestions would be:
A) How much time do you really have left?
B) Do you have the spells available to use and if not, can you get them and have time to learn them?
C) Is the player of the cleric sitting things out now or is he bringing someone new in, and if so, what kind of character.
D) Can you access to a helpful cleric?

The last bits of advice is whatever you do, keep it simple and get as much information as possible from each encounter.

A) To free the cleric: one day, if we're lucky. For the rest: I don't know...perhaps two weeks.
B) I'll ask the player of the wizard to send me his spell list. But it seems he's low on different high level spells...
C) The player of the cleric will miss the next session (he's on a visit), should it take place next week-end. He asked the DM about making a new PC, but he got no clear answer (perhaps because the rest of the group would have listened).
D) We've visited all possible helpful clerics we knew of to get fallen PCs ressurrected (which were the wizard, the paladin and the druid...). Perhaps, they'll help out, but I don't expect any further help.

Captured guards and priests were of little to no help. Even a successful Charm Monster on a powerful priest provided no infos about the keys (the priest still mistrusted the wizard, his new "friend"). An other captured priest from the Earth Temple was killed by a demonic wizard a few hours after he was knocked unconcious and brought to the PC's base...The base was totally destroyed and our mage killed, BTW.

 

[Seravin]

Ranged Harm spells? Huh.
Did your DM rule-0 that? Or is something else going on? I'm aware of a feat that would let you give Harm a 30 foot reach.

For what it is worth it sounds like you guys are playing reasonably smart. Do you know the names of any of the bad guys? Did you recover any items of surviving bad guys? Anyone that can cast Harm should certainly be worthy of a Legend Lore at least.

Just out of curiosity, are you aware if you're being scried upon? If so, do you have access to Non Detection, Screen, or False Vision?

Can you interact with anyone in the temples (besides kill them all)? ie: Can you use diplomacy or bluff or use bribes to get information out of the bad guys?

If the cleric hasn't been taken into the Forbidded areas you might be able to do a quick assault. You're low on spells but so are they. It would be a desperate act but they sometimes pay off.

Beyond the above I don't think I can be anymore helpful - your DM has made some obvious changes and I would have to ask questions that would either obviously be spoilers or be completely wrong given the changes he has made.

Good Luck.