So, in my (currently level 13) campaign, I accidentally split the party when one of the PCs decided, in the middle of combat, to blindly scoop a bunch of stuff out of a treasure chest and dump it in a bag of holding. Stuff in that treasure chest included... a bag of holding, so queue 10' diameter portal to the astral plane. Which caught two PCs, and one monster, and most of the contents of the treasure vault, including an important MacGuffin (that they didn't actually know was there) which had been in a lead-lined chest in a scry proof area, and now isn't.
The problem I have is... the PCs in the astral are a fighter and a rogue/ranger, neither of whom have anything resembling an ability to get themselves out of the astral plane. They did eventually get themselves rescued by a Giff spelljammer which was poking around trying to find out what a mindflayer ship also in the area was looking for, all of which is fine from a story perspective... but the other two PCs (warlock and cleric) are off in a city in the Shadowfell, and I don't want to run major adventure progression with the party split. Problem is, they don't have any particularly good ways to link up, and I don't have any previously established plot devices that would do the job. Also, I think my players are now expecting a battle against illithid pirates in the astral sea, so preferred to get the PCs in the city to the ship, rather than vice versa.
Any suggestions for plausible sounding plot devices? The PCs in the astral do have a scroll of plane shift (which neither of them can read) and a bunch of weird and unidentified items that I could redefine, but Idon't have anything currently that sounds particularly good to me.
A scroll of Plane Shift and no way to read it is a good hook for a quest to find a cleric which can use the scroll, in exchange for a favor to be completed in advance. You may need to have the other half of the party sit out the session, though.
You probably could have saved yourself this headache by deciding to 'redefine' the contents of the chest so that actually, no there wasn't a bag of holding in that chest after all, it's in a different one, over there. The players would never have known the difference.
Plane shift was the first thing I thought of, maybe someone on the giff ship can read it for them?
Or maybe someone on the giff ship has a second scroll of their own, or just knows the spell. If the fighter and rogue have mentioned they have friends in the shadowfell, the giff could be willing to send fighter and rogue there, with the understanding they’ll bring their friends back to help fight these mind flayer pirates — assuming that the PCs are the type to keep their word. It’s a little contrived, but gets everyone together where they want to be. Then afterwards you could say the giff are out of plane shift scrolls, which sets you up for spelljammer arc, if you like, as they try to find a way home. Or the grateful giff can send the whole party back to wherever they need to go — either by yet another plane shift, or just flying there in their spelljammer, or the giff know of some mystic that can send people across planes. Also, the 2014 banishment could send them all home. Even if you’re using the ‘24 rules, NPCs don’t have to follow PC rules.
1) have the warlock and cleric contact their Patron/god and ask for a favor. The Patron makes it know that people (warlock/fighter-Rgr) owe him a "big" favor. Deity can be the same way. That Favor is one of your future quests/campaigns etc. Make it "distasteful" so the PCs know they must go do it.
2) have the warlock and cleric find a wish ring with just a single wish. Hint that will get the party together. If they decide to not use it to get the party together, make sure they get "cursed" Then see plan 1.
The warlock's patron could do something like talking to them in their sleep, offering to bring the cleric and warlock to the astral plane and back with the rest of the party after retrieving something it wants there.
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So, in my (currently level 13) campaign, I accidentally split the party when one of the PCs decided, in the middle of combat, to blindly scoop a bunch of stuff out of a treasure chest and dump it in a bag of holding. Stuff in that treasure chest included... a bag of holding, so queue 10' diameter portal to the astral plane. Which caught two PCs, and one monster, and most of the contents of the treasure vault, including an important MacGuffin (that they didn't actually know was there) which had been in a lead-lined chest in a scry proof area, and now isn't.
The problem I have is... the PCs in the astral are a fighter and a rogue/ranger, neither of whom have anything resembling an ability to get themselves out of the astral plane. They did eventually get themselves rescued by a Giff spelljammer which was poking around trying to find out what a mindflayer ship also in the area was looking for, all of which is fine from a story perspective... but the other two PCs (warlock and cleric) are off in a city in the Shadowfell, and I don't want to run major adventure progression with the party split. Problem is, they don't have any particularly good ways to link up, and I don't have any previously established plot devices that would do the job. Also, I think my players are now expecting a battle against illithid pirates in the astral sea, so preferred to get the PCs in the city to the ship, rather than vice versa.
Any suggestions for plausible sounding plot devices? The PCs in the astral do have a scroll of plane shift (which neither of them can read) and a bunch of weird and unidentified items that I could redefine, but I don't have anything currently that sounds particularly good to me.
A scroll of Plane Shift and no way to read it is a good hook for a quest to find a cleric which can use the scroll, in exchange for a favor to be completed in advance. You may need to have the other half of the party sit out the session, though.
You probably could have saved yourself this headache by deciding to 'redefine' the contents of the chest so that actually, no there wasn't a bag of holding in that chest after all, it's in a different one, over there. The players would never have known the difference.
Plane shift was the first thing I thought of, maybe someone on the giff ship can read it for them?
Or maybe someone on the giff ship has a second scroll of their own, or just knows the spell. If the fighter and rogue have mentioned they have friends in the shadowfell, the giff could be willing to send fighter and rogue there, with the understanding they’ll bring their friends back to help fight these mind flayer pirates — assuming that the PCs are the type to keep their word. It’s a little contrived, but gets everyone together where they want to be.
Then afterwards you could say the giff are out of plane shift scrolls, which sets you up for spelljammer arc, if you like, as they try to find a way home. Or the grateful giff can send the whole party back to wherever they need to go — either by yet another plane shift, or just flying there in their spelljammer, or the giff know of some mystic that can send people across planes.
Also, the 2014 banishment could send them all home. Even if you’re using the ‘24 rules, NPCs don’t have to follow PC rules.
1) have the warlock and cleric contact their Patron/god and ask for a favor. The Patron makes it know that people (warlock/fighter-Rgr) owe him a "big" favor. Deity can be the same way. That Favor is one of your future quests/campaigns etc. Make it "distasteful" so the PCs know they must go do it.
2) have the warlock and cleric find a wish ring with just a single wish. Hint that will get the party together. If they decide to not use it to get the party together, make sure they get "cursed" Then see plan 1.
The warlock's patron could do something like talking to them in their sleep, offering to bring the cleric and warlock to the astral plane and back with the rest of the party after retrieving something it wants there.