Unfortunate Plot Hole needs fixing

[Omegaxicor]

I ran the first half of an adventure last week and thankfully we only got halfway through it because I noticed an small plot hole (based on the fact that my party are a**holes)

The enemy is a human wizard planning to summon daemons to destroy raiders attacking the town, the town is blessed by Heironeous and will be safe. I have contingencies for everything except the party agreeing with the Wizard and letting him summon the daemons.

I don't want to just say "Heironeous won't let you" but I don't know what else to do and we play Thursday, any solutions would be appreciated...

 

[Lwaxy]

Clarification - the town would be safe already because of the god's protection? So it wouldn't be needed to summon anything?

 

[Omegaxicor]

Protection from Daemons, not other Humans (well we haven't identified the raiders yet some may be elves, dwarves, etc)

 

[kinem]

Outlying farms and homes.

 

[ahayford]

Have the demons get lose and slaughter outlying farms and villages. Make the "heroes" feel the consequences of their actions. Give them an opportunity to redeem themselves, but make it cost them something personal. If they are playing "good" characters, this will allow them to realize their mistake and make a heroic sacrifice to fix it. If they are going to be evil characters, it allows them to fully embrace the dark side. Maybe the adventure, instead of stopping the wizard, would be to steal his power, taking control of the demons for themselves.

 

[Lwaxy]

Yes, plus, summoned demons do the summoner's bidding, so they could be summoned and sent against the attackers as long as they do not threaten the city. I do not see much of a conflict here.

If they decide to take on farms and villages in the process, even as collateral damage, that'll sure get the heroes' attention.

 

[Omegaxicor]

Yea, I like those ideas

I didn't even think about other nearby farms and homes outside of the city, my party love to find ingenious solutions to solving easy-to-solve problems but they like to be heroes rather than villains so dominating the daemons isn't an option

 

[James the Newbie]

Dont punish players for doing a smart thing, yes its not what you expected, and as DM's we can all appreciate it irritates the F*** out of us. But this is the bit of D&D that seperates it from a computer game.

Let the demons slay the enemies, the Pc's arnt wrong there. However, in a short while, let the demons grow in strength from their battles (Make sure to hint to the players that this is happening) and let them eventualy overwhelm the wizard who summoned them and loose havoc.

Then the PC's wont be punished for not following the plot, but they will understand the very existent risk of working with demons.

 

[Omegaxicor]

Yes, that's how most adventures are, but the daemons are too powerful for the party to fight/control so they need an incentive to realise that if they agree to the Wizard's plan then the campaign will end with "their bloody deaths at the hands of an out-of-control former ally"...

like I said it is a plot hole I hadn't expected mostly when I design the adventures I have several possible endings, good, bad and neutral but I have already completed our next adventure which requires they are good/neutral...

 

[the Jester]

Have the demons get lose and slaughter outlying farms and villages. Make the "heroes" feel the consequences of their actions. Give them an opportunity to redeem themselves, but make it cost them something personal. If they are playing "good" characters, this will allow them to realize their mistake and make a heroic sacrifice to fix it. If they are going to be evil characters, it allows them to fully embrace the dark side. Maybe the adventure, instead of stopping the wizard, would be to steal his power, taking control of the demons for themselves.

Yup. Unexpected but obvious (in retrospect) consequences are a great way to build the players' emotional investment in the campaign and a reputation as a RBDM.

Dont punish players for doing a smart thing, yes its not what you expected, and as DM's we can all appreciate it irritates the F*** out of us. But this is the bit of D&D that seperates it from a computer game.

Sure- the daemons avoid the city. But there's no reason to give them a free ride either; logically, the daemons would probably be all about showing their ire by attacking the outlying farms and houses. Also, many of those outlying farms and houses would be empty, with their families fled to the city- but not all of them.

Let the demons slay the enemies, the Pc's arnt wrong there. However, in a short while, let the demons grow in strength from their battles (Make sure to hint to the players that this is happening) and let them eventualy overwhelm the wizard who summoned them and loose havoc.

Then the PC's wont be punished for not following the plot, but they will understand the very existent risk of working with demons.

Good, good! [/Palpatine voice]