Help me avoid slaughtering my party

[Gilladian]

I have a problem! My PCs have worked themselves (with a bit of help from me!) into a very tight corner. This is a 3.5 game, PCs are 4th level. There's a rogue, a ranger and a sorcerer, a wizard and a cleric (the fighter is absent).

The PCs were ambushed by an ogre mage and 2 ogres. They took out the ogres, but could not much hurt the ogre mage. He took two PCs down to below 0 HP and swiped some magic items from them. He then left the scene.

The PCs rested for 24 hours, then followed the ogres' trail back to their lair, which is a sea cave. The cave has a waterfall over the entrance, and the main cave is water-filled with several small islands. Behind and slightly to one side are a series of "living caves" for the ogres.

The PCs found the "chimney" into the cave. The rogue climbed down this cleft (fairly wide and long, intentionally). He saw two female ogres in the cave, and decided that he could "take" them. He dropped to the floor of the cave, and tried to hide, but was seen. The sorcerer followed him into the chimney, and saw what was happening, and cast sleep.

To cut a long story short, the rogue, ranger and sorcerer are now in the cave, having killed 4 or 5 ogres, and are slightly injured. The wizard and cleric will NOT follow them into the cave. They are now on one of the islands in the sea-cave.

They don't know it, but the ogre mage is flying, invisible, in the cave above them. He's about to use his cone of cold on them. But I'm afraid it will kill all three of them. Really, because of the mix of PCs and players, I don't mind killing the rogue or ranger, but I really don't want to kill the sorcerer - his player is an 11 year-old, and he just followed the bad example of the other two players!

I'm trying to figure out a way to have SOME ally of the Ogre Mage interfere and ask to be "given" one or more of the PCs as a prisoner/toy, instead of watching them get killed. Any ideas? I have a week to decide, as we're not playing this Sunday.

Hopefully, if one or more of them are captured, the wizard, cleric (and fighter when he gets back) will be able to rescue them...

 

[JackSmithIV]

Hmmm... well, being the DM, you can do whatever you want. I would simply get your players out of that situation and justify it using... well, again whatever you want. The ogre could not use cone of cold. That might save them. I'm sorry, I'm probably not being very helpful.

Let them die. If you really need them not to die, don't kill them.

 

[billd91]

Simple answer is don't use the cone of cold, or at least not until he gets desperate if they start getting the better of him in a fight. Maybe the ogre mage wants to capture the PCs as a way to lure in the PCs lingering out in the sea cave. Maybe he wants to let the ogres directly affected by the other ogre deaths (next of kin, children, and all) to have the honor of pulling the PCs limb from limb for their crimes. Maybe he just wants to toy with them for a while. Maybe one or more of the PCs are from particularly tasty races as far as ogres are concerned and he doesn't want to affect the quality of the meat with freezer burn.

 

[roguerouge]

The ogre mage doesn't know where the cleric and the wizard are. He could wait until he has them all within his clutches before tackling them again. Or he could subdue these three in the hopes of luring the other two in.

 

[Quartz]

If the PCs don't know the ogre mage is there then the ogre mage isn't there. He's been out elsewhere. They know the ogre mage is too tough for them, right? So have them hear him bellow for his ladies, giving the PCs sufficient time to scarper.

 

[Mercurius]

Remember that you are the Master of your Domain.

DM Fiat is your friend.

 

[apollogj]

Obviously in a 3.5 game an orge mage is too powerful for 4th level characters. I would suggest you have the ogre mage leave the scene for a few levels and return later for a revenge type situation against the party.

Give the characters some magic items from the ogre horde to replace the ones stolen by the ogre mage and hint to them throughout further adventures that someone is stalking them and to later find out it is the ogre mage they couldn't defeat would be an exciting suprise.

 

[Loonook]

There's no reason for the Ogre Mage to use the spell right now... nor does the Ogre Mage always have to use his abilities perfectly.

Sometimes enemies are allowed to blow it, and be poorly-acted. Perhaps the Ogre Mage doesn't have a cone effect, but rather a different ability (magic missiles? burning hands? Lightning Bolt?) than the norm. Not all creatures need to have the same abilities, and spell-likes are such a plug-and-play enterprise (same level or lower? check... and done) that it can be corrected readily.

Slainte,

-Loonook.

 

[travathian]

The PCs were ambushed by an ogre mage and 2 ogres. They took out the ogres, but could not much hurt the ogre mage. He took two PCs down to below 0 HP and swiped some magic items from them. He then left the scene.

That's a pretty wicked ambush for a group that level, but they survived.

The PCs rested for 24 hours, then followed the ogres' trail back to their lair, which is a sea cave.

They had the chance to escape from a clearly superior foe. They chose not to. Instead they engaged a clearly superior foe, on its home turf, who also had 24 hours to rest. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Have the Ogre Magi capture all of them and knock them out. Players wake up in shackles aboard a slave ship wearing nothing but their loin cloths. PCs live, get punished for their stupidity, and your next adventure can deal with how are they going to escape the slave traders and some day in the long distant future (and many levels higher), hunt down that ogre magi and kick its arse.

Do NOT let the players just escape from the Ogre Magi, and especially don't let them take down a clearly superior foe. They already had an out that they didn't take, give them an incentive to take it next time they come up against nearly impossible odds. Its not running away, its making a strategic withdrawal from an unfavorable situation.

 

[der_kluge]

The Ogre Mage - suitably impressed that they got this far, and managed to kill a few ogres in the process, attempts to bargain with them - "I'll spare your life, and give you your gear back, if you do a little something for me. Refuse, and I kill you all."