Fork in the road - Character disagreement

[tk32]

So, I'm the D&D of a Forgotten Realms Campaing of my own brew. My group of 5 players and me went through all of Rise of Tiamat. And are now playing 500 years after the failed rise of Tiamat that gave Thay the opportunity to rise in economic power over many lands. Part of it was creating powerful magic items made of undead. Arcane covered patches of fleshy skin stripped off of undead. They are powered by a drug called Synth powder, or in some lands red dust, which is actually ground up Undead. (Leave no part of the undead behind). Highly addictive and provides short term boosts to stats.

The entire party refuses to use synth so, they wanted to find a way to reactivate the arcan patches. The Chaotic neutral Warlock of the party beseeched his Patron whom he's asked for the power of vengeance upon those that killed his sister. His Patron is Orcus, ruler of the land of dead and has a vested interest in stopping the spread of synth powder to stop the production of undead on Faerun.. His land should be the only undead kingdom... Not Faerun... (Unless of course he becomes ruler.. then he'd be o.k with it.)

He sought an answer to finding an alternative source to power these patchworks of arcane runes, so the party could use them without synth powder. Some provided +1 AC, an extra up to level 2 spell slot, and as powerful as activating Regen on the character. I thought some were pretty cool and it opened the door to additional options. For each person could have multiple patches. E.g. they could potentially have 3 patches of a 2nd level spell storing. That's 3 extra magic missiles! In some cases maybe even Over powering.. The downside was that one had to be addicted to synth powder in their current form.. So, they wanted to find a way to use them without using synth powder. The Patron provided them an answer. Said that they would find their answers and provided a Blanket of skin that had an ancient language on it to seek out someone that would have all of their answers.... I gave multiple clues that this may not be the best idea.. e.g. it came from an evil Demon for one.... 2.. It was a blanket made of humanoid flesh... With an ancient writing they needed a powerful necromancer to read for them to open the portal.. ...

They said, sure, let's do it...

Well, they ended up seeking out an Elder Brain and Mind Flayer Colony for their answers.. (What other allies would Orcus have right? ) In exchange for helping them migrate to more civilized areas full of undead, the Brain would provide Elder Ichor as a psionic fuel source for the patchworks of skin. It wouldn't last as long, the patches once sewn into the body would only remain charged the day the ichor was applied, but it enabled them to use the patchworks and recharge them without synth powder. The only cost is assisting them in migrating East to a more civilized area to establish a new small mind flayer colony... Now the party is divided. The two chaotic characters want to do it.. Think it's worth it. Two lawful characters say absolutely not. 1 neutral neutral character is more or less. No. So, it's 3 against two, but now they're all afraid of becoming slaves to Mind Flayers and an Elder Brain. Which, in all reality... They would gladly take them on as slaves to do their bidding without any costs....

So, now, I'm presented with not so good options... Do, I have them all attempt to be mind controlled by the elder brain? Basically. Initiative and battle ensues which would kill them. They're level 5. Mind Flayers (multiples) are all CR 9 or above and an elder Brain I don't remember for sure but think it alone is around CR 15. They would be demolished.

Option 1: An agreement amiable to the Mind Flayer colony is not reached, fighting ensues. (what should probably happen.)

Option 2: An amiable agreement cannot be reached, and I do some finangling, provide each of the characters 2 intelligent saves. Upon two failures, they were now secret servants to the Elder Brain and if they fail both checks, they are unaware of their servitude they just are simply more open to suggestions from the Elder Brain on what to do.. (could be fun to have some of them know they are secret servants and afraid someone would find out, and one or two others have no idea in-game that their characters are being controlled.)

Option 3: Continue allowing negotiations to continue for their lives. I provided them the option of giving all arcane patchworks they have to the elder brain, in exchange for their lives, which the characters said no to.... Who says no to an Elder brain?

Option 4: End the negotiations and place them in a Mind Flayer prison of some type. Most likely an intellectual prison where they spend the next few years in their own minds battling horrors upon horror, until one day, 1D20 years later, they wake up for some unknown reason. Kinda like a Matrix thing where their minds are enslaved in an intellectual prison until something happens with the colony and no one is left to maintain the prison. Or until the characters are released. Could be an interesting way to see how things evolve in their home lands as 20 years just goes by and everyone forgets the characters, thinks they've died, etc. It would change some of the other plots and stuff, but would still be interesting. I'd have to make some adjustments to the world..

Any other suggestions to offer them a way out, that's realistic to the situation, and /or not just a cheese out to allow the characters to live?

 

[Jester David]

1) They don't have to kill. When you drop someone to 0 you can knock them out. You can have the Mind Flayers attempting to take prisoners. Which might allow the party to escape with their unconscious friends. Or break out if captured.

2) Deus ex machina. Right before the Illithids attack, someone else does, giving the PCs the opportunity of escaping.

 

[tk32]

1) They don't have to kill. When you drop someone to 0 you can knock them out. You can have the Mind Flayers attempting to take prisoners. Which might allow the party to escape with their unconscious friends. Or break out if captured.

2) Deus ex machina. Right before the Illithids attack, someone else does, giving the PCs the opportunity of escaping.

Very true, except, The elder Brain can cast Wall of force innately. There's one exit. It would be walled off before the PCs could turn around.... Which makes them fillet mignon...

But, yes, I completely agree, if they had a need to keep them alive for some reason. They could easily be incapacitated and imprisoned then be allowed to escape. Which is probably a good alternative. I also like the mental prison. In that case, it would be a daily check or weekly intelligence check to see if they realize what they're imagining isn't real. And the Mind Flayers wouldn't think of them as a danger. Maybe put them in some old rusty cells just to keep other mind flayers from eating them, but, they'd be a chronic source of psionic energy. After 2 failed saves, they get disadvantage on the roll as they start to believe their mental prison is real. After 5 consecutive fails, they're imprisoned indefinitely by the brain until someone is able to drag them out and save them from the mental prison.

I'm not sure why I like the mental prison idea. Other than it adds some additional role playing for the characters to build on. . . Plus, as they continue, they may never know how much what they do is real or imagined.

The ending could be simply they're still stuck in the mind flayer prison. And everything they did was just a part of their mental energy feeding the elder brain. The alternative would be that Orcus doesn't like the idea it's emissary becoming a slave to Illithids... So, he sends someone to free them making them further indebted to Orcus. Having a third party come in and blow up a well established Mind Flayer Colony could be worth something to the party.

 

[abirdcall]

For the future this is something that should be worked out during character creation.

Everyone should be making characters that work well with each other and the party as a whole. This enables the players to say 'yes, and' when another character does something.

 

[tk32]

For the most part everyone has been in sync up to this point. A couple characters had a couple things hidden in their past. When the Warlock first started out, he didn't have a patron. He chose to seek revenge but hadn't let it consume him By third level he was confront by a sketchy represenative promising him great power to get revent for his sister. His character, thought this would be a great idea to fight against the system and establish purpose in his life... The more he went down this path the darker it became. We all realize now that the gifts... Come with a price. His character may have to be killed by the party at some point, or the party will need to try to "rescue" him from the clutches of Orcus.

Right now all of their goals are the same. Find a solution the production of undead across the land. Find items to purge the undead, and in doing so, eliminate the source of Drugs that have destroyed so many people.

They're all neutral - allowed to do some questionable things to accomplish their goals balanced by doing some really good things to accomplish their goals. The issue is some are chaotic some are lawful... They blur the lines a bit on which path to follow... Heh.

However, now they're at an impasse, I will have to solve the impasse for them for even a patient Elder brain would not sit around waiting for bickering to end for long.

 

[Jester David]

Very true, except, The elder Brain can cast Wall of force innately. There's one exit. It would be walled off before the PCs could turn around.... Which makes them fillet mignon...

If another force is attacking (githyanki or the aforementioned undead) then using wall of force would prevent the illithids in the chamber running to the defence of the city. And also mean the Elder Brain is unable to wall itself off for protection if the worst happens. Both seem like poor strategies.

 

[tk32]

If another force is attacking (githyanki or the aforementioned undead) then using wall of force would prevent the illithids in the chamber running to the defence of the city. And also mean the Elder Brain is unable to wall itself off for protection if the worst happens. Both seem like poor strategies.

I see what you're saying, more like a sizable attack on the Mind Flayer city. May be the reason for the urgency of the Brain for finding a new location to reside, it realizes it's place of peacefulness and harmony is in jeopardy and it saw an opportunity of the characters being able to sneak it it out or at least save the Ulithid that could form a new brain and a new colony even if the brain is lost. Interesting idea.