D&D General Intelligent BBEG captured PCs, now what?

[Baldurs_Underdark]

In our previous session, the BBEG (Drow mage, INT 24, WIS 20, lawful evil, homebrew) captured the PCs (party of 4, all level 14, two spell-casters). They ran out of spells/HP and surrendered after they correctly didn't see an escape.

The BBEG could just kill them, but I don't want to end the campaign here. The campaign is too much fun, and also it feels wrong to kill the PCs after they surrender (even though they did the same to some of my NPCs ). So, the logical next step is that the BBEG will lock up the PCs in a jail... to be dealt with (or experimented on?) later.

We ended the session in a large room in the upper levels of the lair. The players haven't seen the jail/dungeons yet, so I have a lot of freedom to design the jail before next session (in 3 weeks). In my opinion this BBEG should be able to build a jail that they cannot escape from. But I want to give the players something to play for, so the PCs should have a chance to escape.

So, what could be a critical mistake in a jail where a very intelligent mage would lock up dangerous high level characters? I don't want it to look like this mage made a huge blunder.

All ideas are welcome. Feel like I cornered myself a little as DM here.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Can you provide more detail on "Intelligent"? Specifically, is the BBEG smarter than a typical Bond Villain, or not?

If less intelligent than a Bond Villain, the BBEG should brag about its plans, devise an elaborate but time consuming way to kill them, set that plan in motion, then walk away to attend to other business, giving the heroes a chance to escape.

If more intelligent than a Bond Villain, it should just kill them and be done with it. No farting around.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I would say one thing to focus on is whatever items, abilities, allies, etc. the players have that the villain doesn't yet know about as the means for possible escape.

When I had a comparable situation the party warlock got a visitation from his patron in a dream, granting him a special ability to revive his dead chain pact familiar with a d4 of his own HP. Obviously the deus ex machina with the patron is less than ideal, but at the core this was about the fact that the enemy had never known one of them had a familiar as it did not survive to the final battle, and the familiar was special as it was an actual living cat the group had adopted through a high animal handling check and then magically transformed into a baby flumph with the perserved mucus of an elder aboleth. Naturally a familiar on the loose could swipe a key from a sleeping guard and, with patience and the dice on their side they made an escape.

The point being, focus on whatever resources the particular characters have that the enemy might have plausibly missed or otherwise be unaware of, and design things so that those resources might be useful. Resources that they went to particular efforts to acquire make the escape extra satisfying.

 

[Ace]

In our previous session, the BBEG (Drow mage, INT 24, WIS 20, lawful evil, homebrew) captured the PCs (party of 4, all level 14, two spell-casters). They ran out of spells/HP and surrendered after they correctly didn't see an escape.

The BBEG could just kill them, but I don't want to end the campaign here. The campaign is too much fun, and also it feels wrong to kill the PCs after they surrender (even though they did the same to some of my NPCs ). So, the logical next step is that the BBEG will lock up the PCs in a jail... to be dealt with (or experimented on?) later.

We ended the session in a large room in the upper levels of the lair. The players haven't seen the jail/dungeons yet, so I have a lot of freedom to design the jail before next session (in 3 weeks). In my opinion this BBEG should be able to build a jail that they cannot escape from. But I want to give the players something to play for, so the PCs should have a chance to escape.

So, what could be a critical mistake in a jail where a very intelligent mage would lock up dangerous high level characters? I don't want it to look like this mage made a huge blunder.

All ideas are welcome. Feel like I cornered myself a little as DM here.

The BBEG will be able to decide how much of a threat they are. With INT 24 this should be childplay

If they are manageable and can be ransomed to family, friends or just sold as slaves you can do that, If not some Matriarch can always order they be sacrificed to Lloth at some near future point (if you are doing that kind of Drow) giving them time to plan an escape.

Alternately you can have them sweat for a while while the BBEG looks into who they are and again give them a chance to escape. If they fail, have him announce that "I've heard about what you do to captives, you'd have made a good Drow and than execute them .

The players will remember that I think and maybe be nicer next game.

 

[Eltab]

BBEG has created a cell with enormously thick walls (not hard when you are underground) and only small ventilation gaps to enter/exit. He moves the PCs in via a Potion of Gaseous Form and putting their gas cloud into a beaker. A shrunken Unseen Servant carries the beaker. It also carries their food in. Eventually he will want them out, so he sends another Potion in. But he has no way to oversee travel through the vent system, and it connects to fresh air somehow.

 

[Flamestrike]

In our previous session, the BBEG (Drow mage, INT 24, WIS 20, lawful evil, homebrew) captured the PCs (party of 4, all level 14, two spell-casters). They ran out of spells/HP and surrendered after they correctly didn't see an escape.

The BBEG could just kill them, but I don't want to end the campaign here. The campaign is too much fun, and also it feels wrong to kill the PCs after they surrender (even though they did the same to some of my NPCs ). So, the logical next step is that the BBEG will lock up the PCs in a jail... to be dealt with (or experimented on?) later.

We ended the session in a large room in the upper levels of the lair. The players haven't seen the jail/dungeons yet, so I have a lot of freedom to design the jail before next session (in 3 weeks). In my opinion this BBEG should be able to build a jail that they cannot escape from. But I want to give the players something to play for, so the PCs should have a chance to escape.

So, what could be a critical mistake in a jail where a very intelligent mage would lock up dangerous high level characters? I don't want it to look like this mage made a huge blunder.

All ideas are welcome. Feel like I cornered myself a little as DM here.

Even the smartest of people suffer from hubris.

In fact, they're more likely to suffer from it.

 

[Morrus]

In fact, they're more likely to suffer from it.

I dunno. Dunning-Kruger and all that.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

1. He doubtlessly has most of his lair warded against teleportation and planar travel, somewhere, secured deep in the dungeon, is the big pentagram room he uses for devil and demon summoning, which naturally is the one part that is not so warded. So they might have to fight their way deeper into his dungeon to teleport out. Likely whatever anti-escape measures he has beyond their cells are about keeping them from heading up, not further down.

2. Between the fact that he comes from a slaver race and the fact that he probably binds unwilling interplanar being to serve him, somewhere in this complex there are probably malcontent unwilling servants of some variety. Somewhere in the process of being jailed, tortured, and/or experimented on the players will have the opportunity to interact with and try to sway such beings. If there are no malcontents on his staff then it must be filled out with mindless automotons (constructed, summoned, reanimated, or mindcontrolled beings) who likely perform their functions in a very literal and unthinking way with minimal situational awareness or he has a bunch of cruel enthusiasts for evil, in which case they may be easy to fool or may get carried away with their torturing duties. In any case, however smart he is everyone on his team is not equally smart. The fact that their boss is brilliant may well mean they are not really delegated authority to think for themselves and adapt to whatever the PCs throw at his organization.

3. You don't get to being 24 Intelligence without being curious. Level 14 adventurer's don't come along every day, these are presumably interesting people with interesting stories to tell. He may take a liking to one or more of them. He may become convinced he has turned one or more of them and wish to make use of their skills. He may find one less impressive and think he can safely let them go in exchange for a ransome or revealing some secret or other. He may kill one and dispose of the body, little knowing that the party has some ally capable of finding the body and raising it from the dead.

4. Out there idea if you're really stuck. Play a one shot with new characters where at the end of the dungeon the characters accidentally trigger a group greater restoration, and discover that they are the same characters from your current campaign who have had their memories and perceptions extensively altered and been sent on a quest by your big bad to get something for his nefarious plans.

 

[Omand]

Lots of good ideas already given to you.

One thought for consideration, might the BBEG be curious on who pointed the PCs in his direction? If he has many plans in motion and was not previously aware of the PCs until they invaded the complex he might be paranoid and think that one of his rivals (or worse, some unknown power) knows more about his operation. He wants/needs to keep the PCs alive to find out what they know and who sent them. All of the protests from the PCs that they do not know what he is talking about only fuel his paranoia as it is proof that they must be lying and holding out on him.

Drow are often spun as slightly paranoid due to the highly chaotic nature of their society and the huge amount of backstabbing and betrayal that takes place.

With a smart wizard, but paranoid drow, he might even figure that zone of truth used on the PCs does not reveal the truth because someone even more powerful is trying to knock him off and conferred a special protection on the PCs.

If your PCs clue in on this paranoia they may create their own avenue of escape with no errors at all in the prison design.

Just a few thoughts for you.

Cheers

 

[Voadam]

Escape from Drow Prison, isn't that the plot start for Out of the Abyss?

Instead of him making a mistake you can have outside forces attack him. Drow are notoriously prone to surprise betrayal by other powerful drow, mind flayers make a move, duergar bring a grudge payback, hordes of ghous who cannot paralyze drow but can cannibalize them into new ghouls. In the confusion a disintegrate from a retriever ray destroys a prison wall and prisoners riot while the guards are distracted by a full military attack.

 

[nevin]

In our previous session, the BBEG (Drow mage, INT 24, WIS 20, lawful evil, homebrew) captured the PCs (party of 4, all level 14, two spell-casters). They ran out of spells/HP and surrendered after they correctly didn't see an escape.

The BBEG could just kill them, but I don't want to end the campaign here. The campaign is too much fun, and also it feels wrong to kill the PCs after they surrender (even though they did the same to some of my NPCs ). So, the logical next step is that the BBEG will lock up the PCs in a jail... to be dealt with (or experimented on?) later.

We ended the session in a large room in the upper levels of the lair. The players haven't seen the jail/dungeons yet, so I have a lot of freedom to design the jail before next session (in 3 weeks). In my opinion this BBEG should be able to build a jail that they cannot escape from. But I want to give the players something to play for, so the PCs should have a chance to escape.

So, what could be a critical mistake in a jail where a very intelligent mage would lock up dangerous high level characters? I don't want it to look like this mage made a huge blunder.

All ideas are welcome. Feel like I cornered myself a little as DM here.

Magical, Collars keyed to a task that if not completed in a certain amount of time will strangle them as per necklace of strangulation. I'm sure a mage of that intelligence would rather kill an enemy or deal with a problem using the high level PC's instead of risking himself. Something like assasinating a drow noble, or priestess who's crossed him. Or if he's hiding in the surface world a task that if they get caught doing it would make them criminals of the highest order. Killing a noble, stealing one of the crown jewels etc. then when they are done they have every reason to leave him alone and he'll still have leverage on them in the future.