Wizardly Tactical Advice Wanted - My players keep out

[Wraithdrit]

Eccles,

I have a huge list of encounters my players have by passed! But then, they are a real get to the point type of group. They see a sealed door and most of them think, 'Well, our bad guys aren't coming from there, lets move on.' Etc.

So you think I should bring the archmage into chat first? Interesting.

Tarchon and Xavim,

Fighting outside the tower is really not an option. It is not really a tower, but a tower shaped chamber (called the inverted tower... looks like a hollow tower). There is no outside, unless they try to draw the players to the main chasm, which wouldn't be easy (the entire outpost is built along one side of an emense chasm into the underdark).

The problem with trying to contact the Archmage is that none of these guys have communication spells. So the end result would be teleporting or dimension dooring into the tower room. The tower room is the only way to get up and down the various floors, the students being on the 2nd floor, the archmage being on the 4th.

I LIKE the idea of the backstabber making it hard to see where the attack is coming from. With his fire protection up, I'm thinking he can dimension door (improved invisibility) to where he wants the fireball centered, then drop it point blank, making it hard to detect where it came from. Boom, fireball goes off, hothead dies, party gets more hurt. Backstabber then skulks off to try and get to the archmage, and warn him.

Also I gotta check what shadows the shadow weave user can conjure up. See if he has the ability to summon up some shadows or wraiths or some such to go after the party. I definately like that idea.

And I think the shadow mage will probably be one to retreat to his master quickly if given the chance, and hurt bad enough.

Also, I'm taking a few liberties with spell lists. Mainly just adding a permenancy to the minor mages, so they have permenant see invisible and detect magic (what mage would not?) and a contigency to the archmage. I still can't believe they designed him without one!

Ashy,

Email me from the link on my site. I'm not looking for players at the very moment, but that tends to change with little notice.

- Wraith

 

[Eccles]

I think I brought the Archmage in for a chat early out of cowardice to a certain extent. I'm trying to use all the drow as intelligent, tactical bad guys. OK, they're chaotic, but they follow the one with the most power, and they're cunning as heck.

Anyway, I gave my players a chance to back down on the Archmage, as otherwise I know damn well that he (with the help of his senior apprentices) would have had them for breakfast...

Besides, when he was talking to them, I pre-rolled a few concentration checks for him, and mentally declared that he had a prepared action of "cast Empowered Chain Lightning as soon as they do anything aggressive; so it's not like he was going in there totally defenceless. That and a teleport, and he was away safe.

My lot are totally aggro, but they didn't get beyond "I am *** ***, Archmage of Szith Morcane" before thinking hard about backing down. They even left without looting the bodies of the guards they'd killed on the way in; they were practically running!

NB - The Archmage gave the name of his senior apprentice as his own. He is a drow, after all...

And now I'm in a similar situation to you with the clerical casters 2 levels down! Blade Barrier is fast becoming their least favourite spell...

 

[Limper]

Strategy?


Cloud Kill from scroll on the party and surround them with Walls of Force.

 

[Wraithdrit]

Well, the game went well. The long version will be in the story hour, but the short version went:

Hothead casts a few prep spells and summoned up 3 fiendish dire wolves.
The backstabber cast a few prep spells and crept into place.
The head student cast a defense spell or two and hid out.
The archmage cast a scry and watched things from his study.

The hothead did not last a single round. He never got another spell off after teleporting himself and his wolves into place. The thrikreen in the party (with favored enemy elves at +4) hosed him down. His wolves got a couple of AoOs and tripped him up, but he was able to finish off the mage. The wolves chewed on a few party members, but a lightning bolt, holy smite, and attacks brought them down.

The party broke into the second floor, where the backstabber was hiding and holding his action. He used scorching ray on the paladin then fled into his room, slamming the door. They moved up, kicked in the door (fire trapped, whoops) to find him hiding in the back of the room with another readied spell (magic missile, soaked by the paladin's brooch of shielding). The moved in after him, and he dimension doored to the other end of the hall. One of the characters with see invisible saw him and the party went after him again. He decided that discretion was the better part of valor and teleported to the archmage's side.

The party milled around the second story, busting in doors (fire trap) and stealing spell books (fire trap). Luckily the elemental savant (fire) of the group was snagging the books, so he rarely took much damage from the spells.

When they got to the head student's room, they investigated the illusions and the dungeon delver's blindsight detected the hidden mage. He cast Mass Suggestion and sent the ranger and elemental savant wandering off mumbling "We should leave." until they entered the cleric's magic circle vs evil. There the compulsion was supressed.

He followed the Mass Suggestion up with a Phantasmal Killer on the dungeon delver. When that did not work (and the paladin and delver closed in on him) he teleported to his master's side.

The archmage had finally seen enough. He teleported to the top of the tower and used his best impressive voice (or my best impressive voice) to announce his name, title, and intention. The party hovered on the edge, then decided that they should not attack.

Solom (the archmage) is now the leader of Szith Morcane, a newly formed magocracy. The party is free to kill all the cultists of Kiaransalee they can find. They were asked to return the spell book of the student that lived, and were allowed to keep the one spellbook of the student they killed. They did not loot either bodies. They are allowed passage through Szith Morcane, they can rest in Szith Morcane, but he made it obvious that they were expected to move on as soon as possible.

The party moved on to the temple, but thats the probably best left for the story hour as its unrelated to this post. Thanks to all for your help with tactics and personalities. It was a fun series of encounters to run. I'm just upset that the Ice Devil never came into play. He was heard bellowing out something in infernal now and then, generally whenever he heard the party fighting.