Ideas for a challenging quest

[Ravilah]

Okay, I usually wouldn't need a lot of help in coming up with something like this but I think my DM imagination is broken.

So here's the situation. The characters (lvl 8ish) had a run in with a lady lich, but she let them go after geasing one of them into getting a book for her. Even without the geas they really need to get on this lich's good side because she has the secret info they need to fulfill their bigger quest. Well, the geas thing was something I had to improvise, and off the top of my head I said that the book was located in the personal collection of Nord, High Priest of Boccob, in the Temple of Magic in Calthan's Point (the largest metropolis in the world).

This party is made up of a monk, fighter, ranger, wizard, and a cleric of pelor. (only the cleric is good; the others are nuetral). They have no rogue, and quite frankly, I can't imagine how a level 8 party could dream of stealing a personal possesion from a level 17 high priest, who lives in a Temple full of paranoid diviners. So here's my question: What can I do to make this quest at all feasible for my players--without being super cheezy and inconsistant? ("Hey, we managed to sneak into Nord's library and only had to fight our way through 6 clerics. yeh!"). For instance, what favor could a level 8 party do for him that he or his cronies couldn't legitimatly do for themselves?

All ideas welcome. Thanks!
R

 

[Chupacabra]

Maybe the book is currently located in the High Priest's library, but that doesn't mean that it has to stay there. By the time the PC's arrive in the city, perhaps the book is being lent out to someone else for research. That person may be less guarded than the High Priest.

Maybe the book has been stolen by another party (presumably, a party with a rogue ) and your PC's must intercept them and re-steal it.

Somehow the PC's would have to do some gather info or divination to figure this out.

Good luck!

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

Is asking for the book totally out of the question? Perhaps they could simply pay for a scribe to copy it, no? Or role-play the dealings with Nord?

Perhaps Nord would exchange the book for a more valuable item, that is hidden somewhere else?

AR

 

[Stormborn]

A couple of possibilites
- the cleric of boccob promised not to go to X or do Y, but now finds he must have something and is looking for some unwitting dupes to help him keep his promise and get what he wants.
- he has promised something would be done, but he considers it not worth the effort, or too dangerous for his loyal followers, so he welcomes the PCs to do it for him.
-he has a grudge against the lich and will give them the book if they also take her a certain bauble of his design.
- could he owe the Head of the Temple of Pelor a favor, which said head would do for the cleric PC in exchange for some personal and very private favor?

 

[RuminDange]

How important is the book to Nord?
What is the books purpose?
What is the PC's greater quest and how does it relate to the lich and/or Nord?
Would the PC's be agaisnt asking for the book? Or are they more likely to go busting in, killing and looting to get it? I know you said one is good, but how good?

Ideas are little bit easier when you have all the information concerning the situation.

Ideas to come.

RD

 

[Ravilah]

Loving the replies so far. Here's a few more requested details; I rather grossly oversimplified in the first message.

A green dragon is attempting to reassemble Ashzargot, The Cup of Tentacles (an evil artifact which will allow him to become the avatar of Krarch, lesser god of abburations). In the process, lesser copies of this artifact are in use by the dragon's lackeys to spread a terrible disease that bleaches men, plants, and animals into desicated white husks. The party thought that their part in this quest was over when they freed a lammasu and reunited him with his golden dragon ally. But then the party's druid was sent an urgent distress call from his druid circle. The party hasten's to the woods of the druid's home, only to find that all of the wood has been twisted and transformed into horrible aburrational forms (poison trees, gibbering mouthers with wolf mouths, four headed fish ogres, etc). Eventually, the party finds a black obelisk far below ground, with writting on it detailing the making of (and method to destroy) Ashzargot. Apparently, the disease is now entering a second phase, and all the creatures that die from the blight, eventually rise again as aburrations. The obelisk spreads the disease just as the Cup of Tentacles does (though the green dragon apparently has no knowledge of its existance.
Anyway, it seems that the obelisk happens to lie in the midst of the lair of a Lich Queen (level 12 wizard). They were caught trying to translate the obelisk's writting, and then promised free access to all of its secrets (long since translated by her) if they will bring back the true copy of The Book of the Red Witch, a tome containing a mysterious ritual which the lich desires to add to her collection of rituals. The problem is that three copies exist the world and only one of them is genuine. Only she has the secret to divining which, so the party is going to have to acquire all three (or take a 1 in 3 gamble that they will return with the right one).
One is in a Crypted Vault of a Vecna Cult, Another in the wandering lair of Xenophinion, the Mad Dragon, and another in the personal collection of Nord. the PCs don't know this, but the Lich has already tried to get the book from Nord, using a band of teleporting vampires. So Nord knows of this lich, and will not be inclined to let her have it. The book is not particularly vital to Nord, but he is proud of his collection of unique books, and is loathe to hand it over to anyone.
The party tends to act a bit towards the good (the sorcerer used to be NG), but all of them are rejects from their society in some way (except the cleric), and so they have begun to veer from an active interest in defending the good of selfish and prejudiced people. They will steal when they can, but typically do not like hurting people who don't attack them first. They seem to follow the principle of karma: whatever we dish out, we will eventually receive.
So they are "nice" people, but not "good" people.

Whew! Is that enough detail? I got more if you want it, but be forewarned that I'm a terrible windbag.

 

[Henry]

If it were me, I'd pay or Bargain with the High Priest to remove the damned Geas.

However, if they wish to take the other route, they should be able to bargain with the priest - Boccob is a pragmatic god, if not an Uncaring one, so there's no reason they shouldn't be able to approach him and explain the deal and offer services rendered in return. However, it'll be MUCH harder to remove a Quest from a High Priest than a Middling Lich.

 

[RuminDange]

I'd say their best bet is talking with Nord, either getting the geas removed and moving on with the greater quest, or using the knowledge they have the disease and artifact and dragon wanting to be an avatar as a way of making a deal with Nord to get the book and do something in return for him. Maybe acquire another copy of the book for him from one of the other places.

On the other hand a couple of quick ideas:
1:Maybe there is a priest of Boccob that they could bribe to help them get the book.
2:Maybe Nord and Lich were once friends/lovers/family and this is all part of their falling out because she became a lich. Maybe he will only give up the book if she is restored to life.
3: Maybe Nord has a son/daughter that went off adventuring and disappeared, he hasn't heard from them in weeks. He will give them the book if they can find what happened to his kid and return them to him. Maybe his divination has not revealed very clear answers and he needs to send someone in to investigate the clues he was given. If they find his offspring and return them they get the book, if they don't, they don't get the book.

I would definitely make sure the party knows that the temple has a lot of divination potential and that if the book were stolen they would be found out sooner or later and caught and brought to justice. Maybe some of form of punishment be carried out when they arrive in the city for someone who tired to steal from the temple, succeeded and was caught afterward.

More questions however:
1: Do you know which book is the true book?
2: Is there some other book or item that Nord might want in exchange?
3: How defended is his personal library? Could they access it without too much difficulty? I take it he lives at the temple.
4: do other members of the temple like Nord? Or is there someone there that the party can learn about and exploit to help them get the book?

RD