Help! I trapped my players and can't get them out!

[Eccles]

Taking your last post as a springboard...

Why are the orcs there? Their clerics are likely to have lost their own connections to their gods. Presumably the orcs have done the only 'orcy' thing available and prepared to wipe out the nearest possible thing that would have made their gods start to ignore them; ie the dwarfhold on 'their' lands.

Therefore a three stage escape plan suggests itself:

1. A small group (ie. the PCs) sally forth to capture an orc cleric. This could be quite a cool plan for one session.

2. Interrogating the orc and persuading him that they have something in common.

3. The orcs could then allow the group to leave the dwarfhold to repair the "real" cause of the curse. They'd probably give the party an 'escort' that would need to be defeated, and would almost certainly stay surrouding the dwarfhold on a "make gods come back in 5 day or we smash dwarfses" sort of deal.

(Just make sure that the party have got long enough to get out, defeat their orcish entourage, get through the Forge of Fury and then return to the dwarfhold before the ultimatum runs out. Then feel free to have a small war...)

 

[Gundark]

what I think

well it sounds like you DM on the fly. That kind of style isn't for me, but hey to each his own . A lot of the ideas persented sound good. The weapons in the cave could be gunpower weapons (like a really big cannon), if your worriedabout the PCs getting their hands on that sort of thing then just have the dwarves stop them. I like the idea about capturing the orc cleric. You have a whole new adventure hook there. Or you could have them lead the dwarves though the caves, thus they have to kill the monsters and protect the villiagers as well. anyhow hope this helps

 

[Bihor]

they could find in thhe forge a horn of fog to help the dwarf escape unseen.

 

[wighair]

Maybe they find a host of terracota-army style dwarves.

golems or elementals. Foretold in prophecy to defend/rescue the dwarves in times of need. Maybe some special action is required to activate them - could be a good side quest.

also these "guards" would stay here for ever on, so preventing the PCs having a too powerful item in their possession.

 

[Taloras]

1 wand of fireball 10th level caster. That is, if theres a wizard/sorceror/rogue around, its useful. otherwise....i dont know.

 

[KingCroMag]

(This may be a little too extreme)
You could turn this into the whole campaign (Next 5-7 levels). The area under the forge of fury past the black dragon leads to an ancient cave system. Inside the space between the planes is thin, especially between this world and the far realm. The area is very difficult for the gods to interact with their followers. Divination magic is also weak due to the "radiation" seeping from the far realm. Perhaps a higher level alienist is attempting to open a portal. What could be fun is having a "fellowship of the ring" type game with the party plus a group of orcs and dwarves to end this menace to the area.
I know its a wacky idea, but I am suffering from a little insomnia, hence the post at four in the morning.
-KCM

 

[thullgrim]

portal to original mine descendents, ie, the original inhabitants fled via portal of somesort. The invaders and current inhabitants don't know its there. The PCs have to convince the descendents its in their best inerest to rejoin the world. Perhaps they took a relic with them or some such. In any case a possible hook to get the descendents to come out might be that the cusrrently trapped town is a clan or blood relation to the descendents who took refuge. They may feel they besmirched their own honor by not dying with the minehold and will come out to help the settlement as a way to redeem themselves. This allows you to introduce a nice RP aspect to the whole scenario, and allows the problem to be solved by adding more troops rather than resorting to heavy magic.

 

[Darklone]

What would be in the Forge of Fury that could help the dwarves to get out? Add to that orc slaying crossbow bolts some enchanted repeating crossbows with haste enchantment or Rapid shot...

Or you could put a dwarven warhorn there that summons a bunch of 20 dwarven battleragers...

 

[Tenma Hunter]

Have them team up with the dwarves underground(forgot what kind). There is a tribe of them in the forge. Either that or have a tunnel that leads outside the orcs area.