*Help!* DM Forsees Party Conflict - How to nip it in the bud? (Banewarrens Spoilers)

[reveal]

Here's the situation - The Paladin was kidnapped by Vo-nul and the ransom note was left telling the party to leave the Banewarrens. Well, the monk in the party said "Laucian's probably already dead. Let's move on." (They still thought Nicolan was in the Banewarrens with the key).

So, after searching as much as they could, they left. A little while later, they were approached by a human bard. Of course, this was the Paladin in a new body. The party didn't trust him (at this point they had been screwed over royally by Nicolan/Navanna and were a little paranoid and a little while later would learn that Brother Heth also was not to be trusted).

He tried to tell them he was Laucian, but the monk wouldn't believe it at all. The monk went to Jevicca and asked her to scry for Laucian. Jevicca was able to see Laucian's body strapped to a machine and noticed the King's River Gorge in the background.

So the Paladin/Bard was following the party, trying to convince them he was the Paladin in a different body. Not sure to trust him, the cleric cast a divination spell and heard "Trust him and the way will be made clear" from his god.

So the cleric and rogue decided to trust him. However, the monk, knowing nothing of magic and not believing that the mind and body can be separated, took the gods words as too vague. The monk decided the words could either mean trust him and he will help or trust him and he will stab you in the back.

The party then received the second note to leave the leather pouch bear the Bull and Bear Armory. They decided to do it and the monk would take a potion of invisibility and follow the group. (The monk just started following at the end of last session)

At this point the Paladin/Bard tried to convince them, again, but the monk would have none of it and, basically, it became a yelling match.

I know the two people, who are good role players, were doing just that but I have a feeling that they both took it a little personally. AND after they do rescue the Paladin, I have a feeling the Paladin will no longer trust the monk.

How do I resolve this? I have an idea of Jevicca sending her a message telling her that, upon further scrying, she noticed that Laucian's mind did not seem to be within the body. But I'm not sure if it would work. Any suggestions?

 

[Frostmarrow]

Simple- have the monk be affected in the same way. I don't know much about Banewarrens but I'm sure you can engineer something if this suggestion doesn't seem to fit at first notice.

 

[Kaji]

I might suggest that the party's idea of Scrying for the Paladin was a good one, and that you could/maybe should have played that differently. Because the soul is the essence here, if you Scry for the Paladin while in another body, I think you should see the other body. That would normally be confusing and amusing. Here, of course, all will be clear to your Monk.

 

[reveal]

I might suggest that the party's idea of Scrying for the Paladin was a good one, and that you could/maybe should have played that differently. Because the soul is the essence here, if you Scry for the Paladin while in another body, I think you should see the other body. That would normally be confusing and amusing. Here, of course, all will be clear to your Monk.

I thought about that afterwards. I could have played it differently, but that didn't happen. But I have thought that following message be delivered to the Monk:

"This is Jevicca. Sorry about the sudden message, but this is important. I told you before that Laucian was in a high place overlooking the King’s River Gorge. The person who scried told me of something odd they saw during the session. After further scrying, in which we saw nothing new of his surroundings, we noticed that he did not have an aura of consciousness normally associated with a sleeping person.

My point is, I believe that Laucian’s consciousness is no longer within his body. I’m not saying he’s dead, as the person on that table is very much alive. I’m saying that, for reasons unknown at this time, Laucian’s mind may not be inside that body. This is most peculiar and we will continue to look into it further.

I will contact you again, through less abrupt means, when I have more information."

Does this sound like a "cop-out" or is this something that could actually work?

 

[Kaji]

There's nothing wrong with stretching things a little to fix what you perceive as an error and to get things back on track. I recently had similar party conflict with our party's cleric formally and openly declaring he no longer trusted the party rogue. While he had some good reasons for this, it got a little out of hand, and required several "counseling" sessiosn to get things squared away. Your idea sounds fine to me, and even if you are not 100% happy with it, it should solve a load of potehtial headache for you in the end.