Note tomb of annihilation spoiler below.................
So I am a 5th level player in Tomb of Annihilation. We were traveling through the Aldani basin and came across the heart of Ubtao. We have Artus Cimber in the party and he dimension doors up into the heart and drops a rope for the rest of us. I climb first and as I am halfway up I see him talking to an elf, Artis seemed to be having a gay old time talking to her. Ok, I get to the top and join the conversation. She introduces herself as Valindra Shadowmantle ,......
.... danger Will Robinson danger .....
I think the DM intended her to be treated as just an elf that wanted to join our search for the soulmonger. Of course I (the player) have read Salvatore and other FR lore and I know Shadowmantle was head of part of the Hostower in Luskan, ally to a lich Gleek or Greek or something like that, eventually joined Sazz Tam and became a lich herself. Not sure about the order of all that but I (the player) am pretty sure that is what happened. I of course announced that at the table (she is a lich!) .... so the less FR-savy players know it now as well. The question is what do we do with that? It really suprised the DM that I knew that name and I think I ruined a little part of the module. I would argue that my character, a fighter-ranger with a 13 wisdom, 18 intelligence, proficient in history and arcana would have probably, maybe heard that name as well?
The DM intended her to be treated as a simple elf that joined the party and I guess there is a story later (no spoilers please), but now the whole party .... and it is an entirely good and leaning lawful party .... knows this companion is a lich. We can't live with that but we are honestly probably no match for her unless she is some nerfed version of a lich. We are working on a strategy to surprise attack her involving acid, grappling, silence .... although even with all that and these awesome spells Artis can cast I still don't like our odds. Worse still I am terrified she is going to ESP us or something and figure out the party is plotting to kill her. She is a lich after all and we have no protections against scrying.
So two questions:
1. Do you think I did anything wrong and how am I supposed to play this? I can't like forget that she is an evil lich.
2. What do you think of our strategy to eliminate her? The party is me (fighter2/ranger3), Cleric 4, wizard 5, rogue3/warlock2, two tabaxi hunters, Artis Cimber and a shield guardian (bonded to the cleric). We have a jug of alchemy so we are going to spend the next week or so making acid, since none of us other than Artis have a magic weapon. The cleric could use magic weapon spell, but we need her concentration for silence. So here is the plan so far:
Attack her when she is not expecting it. Hex with disadvantage on dex checks, have the shield guardian cast spiritual weapon (guessing this will be counterspelled) and grapple her with his action. The cleric lays down silence (from over 60feet away). Haste Artis and have him go in and stab her then disengage every round to keep from getting hit by her legendary actions (he might have some awesome spell he can use too???). Have the cleric pound her with guiding bolt while maintaining silence, have the wizard pound her with magic missile and fireball (evoker with sculp to not damage shield guardian), both from outside counterspell range and moving to cantrips when they run dry. Have everyone else throw acid at her. If she breaks the grapple and moves out of the silence shove her back into it and regrapple.
The silence should mean she has virtually no useful spells, but she is still a force due to legendary actions and a pretty good attack. I figure the shield guardian can last about 7 or 8 rounds if she attacks it, more if she trys to break the grapple. After she kills the shield guardian (which seems inevitable), I can have the fighter or rogue grapple her in the silence. They won't last very long though. Probably 3 rounds if they are unscathed until that point.
What are my odds and do you have a better idea?
So I am a 5th level player in Tomb of Annihilation. We were traveling through the Aldani basin and came across the heart of Ubtao. We have Artus Cimber in the party and he dimension doors up into the heart and drops a rope for the rest of us. I climb first and as I am halfway up I see him talking to an elf, Artis seemed to be having a gay old time talking to her. Ok, I get to the top and join the conversation. She introduces herself as Valindra Shadowmantle ,......
.... danger Will Robinson danger .....I think the DM intended her to be treated as just an elf that wanted to join our search for the soulmonger. Of course I (the player) have read Salvatore and other FR lore and I know Shadowmantle was head of part of the Hostower in Luskan, ally to a lich Gleek or Greek or something like that, eventually joined Sazz Tam and became a lich herself. Not sure about the order of all that but I (the player) am pretty sure that is what happened. I of course announced that at the table (she is a lich!) .... so the less FR-savy players know it now as well. The question is what do we do with that? It really suprised the DM that I knew that name and I think I ruined a little part of the module. I would argue that my character, a fighter-ranger with a 13 wisdom, 18 intelligence, proficient in history and arcana would have probably, maybe heard that name as well?
The DM intended her to be treated as a simple elf that joined the party and I guess there is a story later (no spoilers please), but now the whole party .... and it is an entirely good and leaning lawful party .... knows this companion is a lich. We can't live with that but we are honestly probably no match for her unless she is some nerfed version of a lich. We are working on a strategy to surprise attack her involving acid, grappling, silence .... although even with all that and these awesome spells Artis can cast I still don't like our odds. Worse still I am terrified she is going to ESP us or something and figure out the party is plotting to kill her. She is a lich after all and we have no protections against scrying.
So two questions:
1. Do you think I did anything wrong and how am I supposed to play this? I can't like forget that she is an evil lich.
2. What do you think of our strategy to eliminate her? The party is me (fighter2/ranger3), Cleric 4, wizard 5, rogue3/warlock2, two tabaxi hunters, Artis Cimber and a shield guardian (bonded to the cleric). We have a jug of alchemy so we are going to spend the next week or so making acid, since none of us other than Artis have a magic weapon. The cleric could use magic weapon spell, but we need her concentration for silence. So here is the plan so far:
Attack her when she is not expecting it. Hex with disadvantage on dex checks, have the shield guardian cast spiritual weapon (guessing this will be counterspelled) and grapple her with his action. The cleric lays down silence (from over 60feet away). Haste Artis and have him go in and stab her then disengage every round to keep from getting hit by her legendary actions (he might have some awesome spell he can use too???). Have the cleric pound her with guiding bolt while maintaining silence, have the wizard pound her with magic missile and fireball (evoker with sculp to not damage shield guardian), both from outside counterspell range and moving to cantrips when they run dry. Have everyone else throw acid at her. If she breaks the grapple and moves out of the silence shove her back into it and regrapple.
The silence should mean she has virtually no useful spells, but she is still a force due to legendary actions and a pretty good attack. I figure the shield guardian can last about 7 or 8 rounds if she attacks it, more if she trys to break the grapple. After she kills the shield guardian (which seems inevitable), I can have the fighter or rogue grapple her in the silence. They won't last very long though. Probably 3 rounds if they are unscathed until that point.
What are my odds and do you have a better idea?
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