Short version: Players insulted the queen in her court. They we being restrained when they decided to make a run for it and sought refuge in a church within the city walls. Now they plan to escape the town as enemies of the queen.
Long Version: A long while back in my campaign one player found an amulet they believed to be magical. And so the wizard of the group made up stats for the item, since it wasn't magical at all. He called it the "Whoopsie Doodle" and instructed the monk that if you attuned to the amulet, you can take back any conversation you just held in the past 6 seconds by saying the command phrase "hang on a minute" after what you wished to erase from existence.
Fast forward 5 levels and the party has been tasked by the land's queen, who had deemed the party her champions (with marks of the queen), to seek out the source of the undead threat in the wild wastes (uninhabited desert). Well, the party went to the desert and only displaced the threat, not defeating the source of it. They figured, good enough, and went back to the queen to claim their reward. When they return the queen states she needs a day to hear back from her scouts to verify the threat was thwarted, so the party goes shopping with loot found in the desert dungeon. Two players leave their weapons and armor with the smith and enchanter to be upgraded on a 3 day time frame. They return to the queen the next day and she has found out that not only has the party lied about defeating the threat but also released a whole slew of new fiends in the desert.
As she argues reasons for not rewarding the group the monk takes her opportunity to use her Woopsie Doodle. An item I had completely forgotten about. She says, "I didn't think you'd be such a stingy b****. Hang on a minute." At this point the whole table goes silent. And I face palm.
The queen strips the group of their titles as her champions, takes back their marks of champions of the queen. She then banishes them to the desert as punishment (in this game the worst criminals are stripped of possessions and left in a remote part of the desert to fend for themselves as punishment for their crimes.) but as the guards approach to bind the players in chains they successfully escape, succeeding on a difficult skill challenge to escape her court, and find refuge in a temple. Guards are now on the look out for the group and posters are being hung naming them as exiles and enemies of the queen.
Unknown to the party is the fact the queen is actually a high level sorcerer and has the ability to scry and locate objects.
I need direction here guys. Badly. Please I beg for any ideas as to where to go from here. Half the party is currently in the mind set that they have lost their characters and have already rolled new ones. The other half is in it for the long run, and want to try and live through this. They still think they can go back to the smith and reclaim their items before they leave the city.
Where would you go from here? Please, any and all input is highly appreciated. I need a lot of help, its the first time a group I have DMd for has done anything this out of left field to me so I'm struggling for how to move forward without seeming unfair.
NOTE: Party is 5 level 9 characters. Sorcerer, Barbarian, Monk, Fighter, and Paladin. (The wizard who originally 'created' the magic item has moved and had to stop playing.)
1. Why are the people who run the temple harboring fugitives?
2. I take it that your Sorcerer didn't learn Teleportation Circle?
Things to think about:
If the keepers of the temple have a reason that they're willing to defy the Queen and harbor fugitives, flesh it out. Maybe they have disagreements with the Queen/ruling class, or maybe they have interests in regime change. Who knows, that's up to you. Whatever you come up with, they could offer the party the hard choice of betraying their loyalty to the Empire to align themselves with this new faction. Following from this, it stands to reason that they might help the party get out of the city in exchange for aiding in their Empire-subverting pursuits.
Possible Escape:
Maybe the keepers of the temple can acquire a spell scroll with Teleportation Circle from somewhere within the city, or maybe they just have a permanent circle. As it states in the spell: "Many major temples, guilds, and other important places have permanent teleportation circles inscribed somewhere within their confines."
They could show the Sorcerer the runes for a circle at an allied temple somewhere far away or just cast Teleportation Circle themselves, solving your immediate danger problem. Long term, now you have a new campaign in which your party are outlaws/explorers confined to the wild edges of civilization/secretly working with clandestine factions within the empire.
It's a little Deus ex Machina, sure, but it's a way to keep things going.
1. The temple/church is harbouring them, currently unaware of their status as fugitives. The paladin is pious to the same god of the temple they are in. He used that to ask the priest for harbor. The temple will learn of their status within the next in game day.
2. No, the sorcerer knows no teleportation magic.
There is one more thing of note that I should have mentioned. The queen is the BBEG. She is the one funding the researchers who are creating the undead threat. She wanted the party to eliminate the last researcher, a way of dealing with the final threat left to expose her of her crimes. The researcher is a warlock who has a patron that wants to claim the queen's soul. So either the party successfully dealt with the warlock or the party was felled by the warlock. Either way it was a win-win for the queen. In the current state of affairs she is now in the best position to legally rid herself of the hero threat since they did what they did in such a public way.
I just spoke with a fellow DM friend and he has suggested creating a totally separate faction in the world that has been investigating the s true source of these undead threats that have sprouted everywhere. And having that faction discover the parties' location before the queen and help them escape. They would then be against the queen, who is constantly on their tail, until they finally come back to deal with the BBEG.
It seems like a working solution, I don't know why I never thought of an opposing faction. A network of spies, like using the thieves' guild or something. I have a feeling this is what I will go for that way the group keeps their characters but they have to abandon the belongings they left in the city.
Tayn of Darkwood. Lvl 10 human Life Cleric of Lathander. Retired.
Ikram Sahir ibn Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad, Second Son of the House of Ra'ad, Defender of the Burning Sands. Lvl 9 Brass Dragonborn Sorcerer + Greater Fire Elemental Devil.
Viktor Gavriil. Lvl 20 White Dragonborn Grave Cleric, of Kurgan the God of Death.
Who is the warlocks Patron and why do they want the Queens Soul?
Yep, a secondary faction is definitely the easiest way out of all of this. They make contact with the party in the temple and spirit them away. Preferably disguised as dirty pilgrims, covered in filth, passing through the city on the way to some holy site to cure them of their leprosy. Once safely hidden, they get offered the chance to overthrow the queen. This is where you need to come up with a next viable option for the head of state. Is it a bastard heir? Sibling? Puppet child monarch? General of the army? All things you'll need to start sorting out.
OR. The Queen catches them and their punishment is to complete the original task, no payment, no reward, just get it done.
That gear they left at the smith's shop? It is now a trap. If the character's sneak over there, they spot that things are slightly off. The normal smith is not in the shop and there are lots of new staff, some of whom are obviously well-trained warriors. All the locals have cleared out, leaving the normally-busy street deserted.
GM: OK, so having noticed that, what is your characters doing?
She says, "I didn't think you'd be such a stingy b****. Hang on a minute."
At that point she never said that based on the amulet. I forget about the amulet. My mistake. A big one at that though my players know to remind me of things since there's a ton of stuff to remember anyways.
So now to fix everything. The amulet is actually showing the players what would have happened if the player actually said that. Kill them. Wipe them out and when they die they end up back in the chamber speaking with the queen.
From that point on use the amulet in the same fashion. Have it show what would have happened if The person actually did say that and didn't have the amulet.
Go through with the exile. Have the guard show up at the temple with overwhelming force, enough so it’s clear the party can’t fight their way out of it. Take them and drop them naked in the desert.
It might be fatal to most people, but these are heroes, they’re tougher than that. Then they find new gear as they trek back to civilization. Or the faction finds them out there and provides them with some basic supplies. The campaign turns into a Dark Sun/Dune mashup for a while as they gather their strength. Maybe they are forced into an enemy of my enemy alliance with the guy making the undead.
@MajorPuddles It is a homebrew campaign, the warlock patron is actually a evil deity i the domain of trickery and deceit. Love the idea for getting them out of town.
@Greenstone_Walker Love that addition. I know for sure they will try to get their equipment back. They are a very stubborn group. They are either going to try to get their gold back (the gold they spent on the items being made/enchanted) or their gear back. I'll add an encounter where they will have to fight the queen's goons to get anything back at the risk of alerting the queen of their location and possibly getting caught.
@Avohei The party all knows the amulet had no magical abilities at all, only the monk who used it thought it was an actual magic item.
@Xalthu If the party stays stagnant for too long (waiting the full 3 days for their gear to be ready) for sure I will throw that option in. They have to realize the real weight of their actions right now.
Guys, thanks so much for your input, it has helped a great deal! I'll be using many of these options on game night.
The temple they are hiding in is actually a smugglers/cult/rebel/mafia hideout (you can pick whatever) and the party stumbles upon it or is let in by someone. Let the players pay a hefty sum of money to the smuggler/cultist/rebel/mobster and lead them trough the vast sewer system. Along the way make a pit stop at the BS (of course there is a sewer entrance near the BS, what are we animals :D ) and make some one sneak in and get their stuff and let them on their merry way out of the city.
To add a twist: make sure there is a bounty on their heads and sir Boba of Fatt (actually a very slender man) is hunting them down later on, setting a number of encounters first with his henchmen and then with the Sir.
I know it is a very simple solution to the problem but you can add a number of stuff for them to do. Like there is a big rain storm and the parts of the sewers are getting flooded (time limit /jump through hoops scenario) and/or random guard/rat/whatever encounters and so on.
@dedobled Oh my, Boba of Fatt is pretty good hahaha. I may steal that npc! It would give the tense situation some comedy relief at the very least. Sewers would be a great addition to explain an easier route out of town or to the blacksmith.
You could use this to launch an A-Team/The Loosers style adventure where they have to run around as fugitives and try to fix everything before they get caught.
You've already given yourself an out. There doesn't have to be a TPK. They can still be stripped of their gear and exiled, can still be imprisoned, etc. Of course, if you want to be completely evil about it, have one of the party killed and turned into a zombie in front of the rest of the party. Slightly less evil would be to have them imprisoned where the zombies are made, witness several creations, build tension as their turn nears, etc.
Oh... and if captured, "your gear is impressive. I thank you for your generous contribution to my cause."
Short version: Players insulted the queen in her court. They we being restrained when they decided to make a run for it and sought refuge in a church within the city walls. Now they plan to escape the town as enemies of the queen.
Long Version: A long while back in my campaign one player found an amulet they believed to be magical. And so the wizard of the group made up stats for the item, since it wasn't magical at all. He called it the "Whoopsie Doodle" and instructed the monk that if you attuned to the amulet, you can take back any conversation you just held in the past 6 seconds by saying the command phrase "hang on a minute" after what you wished to erase from existence.
Fast forward 5 levels and the party has been tasked by the land's queen, who had deemed the party her champions (with marks of the queen), to seek out the source of the undead threat in the wild wastes (uninhabited desert). Well, the party went to the desert and only displaced the threat, not defeating the source of it. They figured, good enough, and went back to the queen to claim their reward. When they return the queen states she needs a day to hear back from her scouts to verify the threat was thwarted, so the party goes shopping with loot found in the desert dungeon. Two players leave their weapons and armor with the smith and enchanter to be upgraded on a 3 day time frame. They return to the queen the next day and she has found out that not only has the party lied about defeating the threat but also released a whole slew of new fiends in the desert.
As she argues reasons for not rewarding the group the monk takes her opportunity to use her Woopsie Doodle. An item I had completely forgotten about. She says, "I didn't think you'd be such a stingy b****. Hang on a minute." At this point the whole table goes silent. And I face palm.
The queen strips the group of their titles as her champions, takes back their marks of champions of the queen. She then banishes them to the desert as punishment (in this game the worst criminals are stripped of possessions and left in a remote part of the desert to fend for themselves as punishment for their crimes.) but as the guards approach to bind the players in chains they successfully escape, succeeding on a difficult skill challenge to escape her court, and find refuge in a temple. Guards are now on the look out for the group and posters are being hung naming them as exiles and enemies of the queen.
Unknown to the party is the fact the queen is actually a high level sorcerer and has the ability to scry and locate objects.
I need direction here guys. Badly. Please I beg for any ideas as to where to go from here. Half the party is currently in the mind set that they have lost their characters and have already rolled new ones. The other half is in it for the long run, and want to try and live through this. They still think they can go back to the smith and reclaim their items before they leave the city.
Where would you go from here? Please, any and all input is highly appreciated. I need a lot of help, its the first time a group I have DMd for has done anything this out of left field to me so I'm struggling for how to move forward without seeming unfair.
NOTE: Party is 5 level 9 characters. Sorcerer, Barbarian, Monk, Fighter, and Paladin. (The wizard who originally 'created' the magic item has moved and had to stop playing.)
Thanks!
Two questions:
1. Why are the people who run the temple harboring fugitives?
2. I take it that your Sorcerer didn't learn Teleportation Circle?
Things to think about:
If the keepers of the temple have a reason that they're willing to defy the Queen and harbor fugitives, flesh it out. Maybe they have disagreements with the Queen/ruling class, or maybe they have interests in regime change. Who knows, that's up to you. Whatever you come up with, they could offer the party the hard choice of betraying their loyalty to the Empire to align themselves with this new faction. Following from this, it stands to reason that they might help the party get out of the city in exchange for aiding in their Empire-subverting pursuits.
Possible Escape:
Maybe the keepers of the temple can acquire a spell scroll with Teleportation Circle from somewhere within the city, or maybe they just have a permanent circle. As it states in the spell: "Many major temples, guilds, and other important places have permanent teleportation circles inscribed somewhere within their confines."
They could show the Sorcerer the runes for a circle at an allied temple somewhere far away or just cast Teleportation Circle themselves, solving your immediate danger problem. Long term, now you have a new campaign in which your party are outlaws/explorers confined to the wild edges of civilization/secretly working with clandestine factions within the empire.
It's a little Deus ex Machina, sure, but it's a way to keep things going.
"To die would be an awfully big adventure"
1. The temple/church is harbouring them, currently unaware of their status as fugitives. The paladin is pious to the same god of the temple they are in. He used that to ask the priest for harbor. The temple will learn of their status within the next in game day.
2. No, the sorcerer knows no teleportation magic.
There is one more thing of note that I should have mentioned. The queen is the BBEG. She is the one funding the researchers who are creating the undead threat. She wanted the party to eliminate the last researcher, a way of dealing with the final threat left to expose her of her crimes. The researcher is a warlock who has a patron that wants to claim the queen's soul. So either the party successfully dealt with the warlock or the party was felled by the warlock. Either way it was a win-win for the queen. In the current state of affairs she is now in the best position to legally rid herself of the hero threat since they did what they did in such a public way.
I just spoke with a fellow DM friend and he has suggested creating a totally separate faction in the world that has been investigating the s true source of these undead threats that have sprouted everywhere. And having that faction discover the parties' location before the queen and help them escape. They would then be against the queen, who is constantly on their tail, until they finally come back to deal with the BBEG.
It seems like a working solution, I don't know why I never thought of an opposing faction. A network of spies, like using the thieves' guild or something. I have a feeling this is what I will go for that way the group keeps their characters but they have to abandon the belongings they left in the city.
"Bust a deal, face the wheel!" - Auntie Entity
Tayn of Darkwood. Lvl 10 human Life Cleric of Lathander. Retired.
Ikram Sahir ibn Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad, Second Son of the House of Ra'ad, Defender of the Burning Sands. Lvl 9 Brass Dragonborn Sorcerer + Greater Fire Elemental Devil.
Viktor Gavriil. Lvl 20 White Dragonborn Grave Cleric, of Kurgan the God of Death.
Anzio Faro. Lvl 5 Prot. Aasimar Light Cleric.
Who is the warlocks Patron and why do they want the Queens Soul?
Yep, a secondary faction is definitely the easiest way out of all of this. They make contact with the party in the temple and spirit them away. Preferably disguised as dirty pilgrims, covered in filth, passing through the city on the way to some holy site to cure them of their leprosy. Once safely hidden, they get offered the chance to overthrow the queen. This is where you need to come up with a next viable option for the head of state. Is it a bastard heir? Sibling? Puppet child monarch? General of the army? All things you'll need to start sorting out.
OR. The Queen catches them and their punishment is to complete the original task, no payment, no reward, just get it done.
That gear they left at the smith's shop? It is now a trap. If the character's sneak over there, they spot that things are slightly off. The normal smith is not in the shop and there are lots of new staff, some of whom are obviously well-trained warriors. All the locals have cleared out, leaving the normally-busy street deserted.
GM: OK, so having noticed that, what is your characters doing?
Here's what I'd do in this situation.
She says, "I didn't think you'd be such a stingy b****. Hang on a minute."
At that point she never said that based on the amulet. I forget about the amulet. My mistake. A big one at that though my players know to remind me of things since there's a ton of stuff to remember anyways.
So now to fix everything. The amulet is actually showing the players what would have happened if the player actually said that. Kill them. Wipe them out and when they die they end up back in the chamber speaking with the queen.
From that point on use the amulet in the same fashion. Have it show what would have happened if The person actually did say that and didn't have the amulet.
Go through with the exile. Have the guard show up at the temple with overwhelming force, enough so it’s clear the party can’t fight their way out of it. Take them and drop them naked in the desert.
It might be fatal to most people, but these are heroes, they’re tougher than that. Then they find new gear as they trek back to civilization. Or the faction finds them out there and provides them with some basic supplies. The campaign turns into a Dark Sun/Dune mashup for a while as they gather their strength. Maybe they are forced into an enemy of my enemy alliance with the guy making the undead.
@MajorPuddles It is a homebrew campaign, the warlock patron is actually a evil deity i the domain of trickery and deceit. Love the idea for getting them out of town.
@Greenstone_Walker Love that addition. I know for sure they will try to get their equipment back. They are a very stubborn group. They are either going to try to get their gold back (the gold they spent on the items being made/enchanted) or their gear back. I'll add an encounter where they will have to fight the queen's goons to get anything back at the risk of alerting the queen of their location and possibly getting caught.
@Avohei The party all knows the amulet had no magical abilities at all, only the monk who used it thought it was an actual magic item.
@Xalthu If the party stays stagnant for too long (waiting the full 3 days for their gear to be ready) for sure I will throw that option in. They have to realize the real weight of their actions right now.
Guys, thanks so much for your input, it has helped a great deal! I'll be using many of these options on game night.
The temple they are hiding in is actually a smugglers/cult/rebel/mafia hideout (you can pick whatever) and the party stumbles upon it or is let in by someone. Let the players pay a hefty sum of money to the smuggler/cultist/rebel/mobster and lead them trough the vast sewer system. Along the way make a pit stop at the BS (of course there is a sewer entrance near the BS, what are we animals :D ) and make some one sneak in and get their stuff and let them on their merry way out of the city.
To add a twist: make sure there is a bounty on their heads and sir Boba of Fatt (actually a very slender man) is hunting them down later on, setting a number of encounters first with his henchmen and then with the Sir.
I know it is a very simple solution to the problem but you can add a number of stuff for them to do. Like there is a big rain storm and the parts of the sewers are getting flooded (time limit /jump through hoops scenario) and/or random guard/rat/whatever encounters and so on.
I hope this helps
@dedobled Oh my, Boba of Fatt is pretty good hahaha. I may steal that npc! It would give the tense situation some comedy relief at the very least. Sewers would be a great addition to explain an easier route out of town or to the blacksmith.
You could use this to launch an A-Team/The Loosers style adventure where they have to run around as fugitives and try to fix everything before they get caught.
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The best part is there's actually a spell for this situation now. Gift of Gab
My wizard is totally going to Nystul's Magic Aura an amulet like in the OP and give it to our rogue.
You've already given yourself an out. There doesn't have to be a TPK. They can still be stripped of their gear and exiled, can still be imprisoned, etc. Of course, if you want to be completely evil about it, have one of the party killed and turned into a zombie in front of the rest of the party. Slightly less evil would be to have them imprisoned where the zombies are made, witness several creations, build tension as their turn nears, etc.
Oh... and if captured, "your gear is impressive. I thank you for your generous contribution to my cause."