(Eberron) Running a Prison Break encounter

[Wik]

Alright. So, we kicked off our first Eberron adventure in the new campaign tonight, and things went more or less as planned. Basically, here's our group (and how they tie to the main NPC, a Master Inquisitive named Cicera):

1) Shield 906, Female Warforged Fighter (4): Was in Cyre during the recent unpleasantness, along with some other 'forged. She's currently searching for Shield 214, a friend of hers who has gone missing in Karlakton. Cicera told her he could help find Shield 214, if 906 helped Cicera (what for hasn't been named yet).
2) Kel, Elven Ninja (4): An assassin that has the mark of Shadow. He's hiding out after a bad encounter with Aundair's Arcane Congress. Thuranni has told Kel to help out Cicera in Karlakton, and lay low for a while.
3) Dezmond, Changeling Beguiler (4): A war-profiteer who knows Cicera loosely, and came to Karlakton in the hopes of making money.
4) Sique, Changeling Rogue (4): a journalist for the Korranberg chronicle (he works for them a lot - in three different forms!) who wishes to discover what "actually" happened in the Mournland, and was contacted by Cicera in the hopes that the two would unearth a conspiracy Cicera is neck-deep in.
5) Jai, Shifter Spirit Shaman (4): A shifter who fought in the Eldeen Reaches, and hates abberations (he's a gatekeeper) and undead. He despises the mournland, and wants to keep it under a close eye. He's built around a huge spot check modifier, and can see the invisible. He's the only one who doesn't have a contact to Cicera.

Anyways, in the 1st session, the PCs got to Karlakton (see below) and were soon attacked by a group of revolutionaries who hope to overthrow the city and expel the undead and form a "pure" nation. The revolutionaries were actually assaulting a necromancer working for the Blood of Vol who the PCs decided to defend (since, while Evil, he was really doing nothing wrong when he was attacked).

Then some house Orien guards got zealous, Cicera was konked on the head, and Denieth has a contract to hold on to him. So, the PCs have to break Cicera out of "The Iron Maw", a Denith holding facility. They have four days before a Karnnathi interrogater arrives and "asks" Cicera some important questions. With hot pokers.

So, I'm trying to make a "Prison Break" adventure, and I want the Iron Maw to be a good prison. Here's what I was thinking would defend it:

1) The place has huge walls. BEhind the walls is a magical mist that blocks vision beyond five feet, making shooting inside the building impossible (shooting out is fine, though, since the mist is pretty much one-way only).
2) Place is patrolled by invisible construct gargoyles or something similar.
3) There is a trap that consists of a room with two doors; if both doors are ever open at the same time, the room locks itself, and fills with a sleeping gas.
4) The guards are kept in a seperate Deneith compound, and have little contact with the city. They rotate out of the city every four months.

So, what features would also make this adventure cool? I want to throw in some stuff that challenges each PC, as well as allow them to use their strengths. So, I have invisible creatures that the Spirit Shaman can see, and I want to use mooks that deal out low amounts of damage so the Warforged can use her DR. And there will be plenty of opportunities for the rogues...

 

[Wik]

some info on the city:

1) there are a lot of cults, mostly doomsday, but a few are more "communist" in a revolutionary sense.
2) Denieth controls the city, but is fighting to hold on to the contract; the mayor wants to put the city under control of the Army (undead, of course).
3) Blood of Vol was more or less forced out of Karnn two years ago, but now they're sneaking into Karlakton. The proximity of the Mournland is always nice. While Evil, the Blood could be useful allies.
4) All of the marked houses maintain enclaves (except Vadalis). Everyone knows something's about to happen here.

The main campaign plot:

1) an offshoot of Cannith and some rogue Jorasco healers are in the process of making "Soulforged" - warforged in human bodies. The bodies would be the bodies of children (since they're necessary for certain artifacts to be used) that were magically aged twenty years in the coruse of a week. Warforged are needed for these first generation Soul-forged, and some have been abducted and used in the new research program. (the Soulforged have many of hte characteristics of Warforged, but can heal as normal, and need to eat. But they're immune to poison, and have a huge amount of control over their bodies... they're supermen).
2) Eventually, a creation forge is necessary, and the Cannith bad guys (who are, I should mention, opposed by both the revolutionaries and the blood of Vol - Karrnath military would remain neutral, here - even though all factions hate each other) enter the mournland to get it.
3) Cicera has an idea of what's going on, but isn't sure how to follow it, which is why he got the PCs involved.

 

[utopia27]

sometimes people are in jail for a reason...

I had some low-level characters re-enact the escape from Star Wars (they were too young to realize it though - but I had fun

Minor twist - they decided to open _all_ the cells. Some good, some bad. Good - they got some directions on how to get "out". Bad - someone scuttled off to report the jail break (currying favor). Neutral - three fist fights, 1 knifing (well.. shiv'ing), and lots of property redistribution.

You might want to have 4-6 cells in the middle of the prison - away from everything else there in the prison - very spooky and spoken of only in hushed tones - where they keep the _really_ bad guys. Now me, I'm cruel. I'm thinking either rakshassa, or the most annoying lepprechaun in the world (CR18...) - or maybe both kept in cells side by side. These can be a reason not to "power down" the whole complex (or a punishment for taking the easy road), they can be a source of information (think Hannibal Lecter) - or they can just be an excuse to have some good flavorful voice-over with spooky sound effects.

Some people are political prisoners. Some people are oppressed. Some people are in jail for a reason.

Remember logistics and practicalities. Prisoners have to get watered, fed, and changed. They're less expensive to manage in groups. Prisoners need to be retrieved and moved about for interrogation, redistribution, trial, disposition, feeding, possibly freeing - eventual burying. Someone/thing needs to do the retrieving and escort the prisoner - killing escort or prisoner en route is not cricket.

Conclusion - much of the "super science" (and/or magic) used to pacify and/or limit prisoners is probably either 1) focused on cells or small areas (anti-magic field anyone? hallucinatory terrain? a zero-grav field?), or 2) portable and personal ("power-down cuffs", "hobbles of entangling"). Having effects focused on cells or other small areas gives a great reason to have wild and woolly side effects going on during combat - particularly as folks transition from zone to zone. Portable/personal inhibitors are great for guards/guardians ("good for the goose is good for the gander). There's always a problem with looting them - make a power source for all of this that's in the prison (powered by the relic of a dead god? a fragment of the sun stolen by a halfling racial hero?). Mostly, you'll want to keep the "power source" stationary (otherwise you're back to them having lots and lots of interesting stuff...). If you're a really generous GM, make the "core" of the power source portable, and send them on a quest for how to build beamed power for their own lairs/strongholds...

Logistics are easier to manage with groups of folks, until those groups get dangerous. If efficiency/cost are any concern whatever, cells will be grouped together, there will be a cafeteria, there will be a communal bathing area (and soap to drop). These areas afford opportunities (independent of character whims) to introduce herds and mobs of prisoners - with or without guards, with or without a bad mood.

I think I'm pushing low-end-theory more than you're looking for. But I hope there're some ideas in there you can use. Enjoy the prison break!