My players have fought their way up into the head of the Griffon statue of Waterdeep. In my version, it's a massive Statue of Liberty-esque sized construct. The obvious epic direction would be to somehow wrest control of the statue and bring it to life, but I'm thinking that wouldn't end well.
Anyway, they've fought their way up into the head of the statue and barricaded themselves in. They've accomplished their mission and are in need of escape. This is how the session ended! For the next session, they've exhausted many of their resources (spell slots, etc.). I'm thinking some sort of convenient glider or teleportation sigil (that's how all these bad guys got here afterall) but don't want it to seem cheap or out of place. Any ideas?
I would suggest having a large bell at the top and when they ring it it teleports them out. It’s still simple but they’d at least be surprised and wouldn’t seem as obvious and it’d seem like they discovered or figured something out instead of just seeing a teleportation circle on the ground.
but I’m assuming you’ve already described their surroundings and if next time they start and there is something there that wasn’t before that’d be weird. You could do the same with a brazier, or any other sorts of objects/structures you have up there that can be interacted with. I am unfamiliar with the source content so no idea.
you could have them attacked by Griffon riders or something else riding a flying mount and hope they figure out on their own to steal their mounts to get out of there, but if they’re pretty beat up that might be too much.
i think bringing it to life is a dandy idea. Or perhaps they discover some controls and it is more of like a machine that can be driven or controlled.
im just throwing darts at the wall here.....maybe, if they are in need of escape I’m assuming they are still surrounded by danger, similar to what I mentioned before maybe Griffon riders come in as back up and start assailing their foes but do not see them, they’ll have to get their attention and even escaping via the back of a Griffon while being assaulted by enemies could make a fun skill challenge
They are level 7. They've barricaded themselves in with enemies outside. It's a long way back down to backtrack, with many enemies that they sneaked past or otherwise alerted but got away from. Those outside the barricade are alerted. They haven't explored the entire statue yet, so there could be things to help them out. This whole encounter was not something that I planned ahead of time, so I'm kinda making it up as I go. :)
Thanks, Cozmo, those are great ideas! They rushed into the "skull" of the statue and fought off the bbg here, so they haven't really explored it yet or had too detailed of a description given.
There's always the possibility that the enemies outside will just leave, either because it's no longer useful for them to stay, or because staying around will invite trouble (the government of Waterdeep isn't terribly fast to react, but likely takes a dim view of private armies in its street).
It was a spur of the moment thing. I remembered the PAX 2013 Acquisitions Inc. session where they took control of a large statue and thought I'd confer that to all of the statues in Waterdeep (potentially, anyway).
Perhaps part of the statue is under construction / being remodeled and there is some scaffolding and equipment that they can creatively use to scale the statue or maybe make it to the top of another building. Admittedly I'm new to DMing but I've found that if I give my players a bunch of tools they'll come up with ideas I'd have never thought of. With some rope, cloth, maybe a scaffold (like window washers use) and I'm sure they could find a way out... probably.
Maybe some Griffons make their nest on top and the players manage to rope them and ride them out of Waterdeep before they get bucked off into the ocean and have to swim back to the coast.
In case anyone might be interested in knowing how this went down a few weeks ago:
When the session started, they had ended up in the head of the Griffon statue of Waterdeep atop Mt. Waterdeep overlooking the city, but they had no windows or other exit aside from the door they had barricaded at the end of their previous session.
They searched the room and found a set of levers. After solving a simple lever puzzle, they managed to open the wall to the "beak" of the griffon which held a Skysail. (https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/131877-skysail) They found another lever within the beak that opened it to the open air. The druid polymorphed the sorcerer into an eagle and changed himself into a giant eagle as well. The paladin got in the driver's position on the Skysail. The rogue... hung on tightly, since it was only built for one rider.
At that point, they launched from the head of the statue, several hundred feet above the city and began a series of strength and dexterity checks (some with disadvantage since he had to compensate with the extra weight of the 2nd rider) to gain control over the Skysail (they hadn't had time to attune to it in order to gain its magic ability, so it was just a normal glider to them).
Through some successful rolls and close calls they managed to land on the streets of Waterdeep with just some bumps and bruises, escaping from the Zhentarim who were in the statue and had rescued their kidnapped rogue. They also now had the Skysail, which they utilized through the rest of the adventure.
It ended up being quite an awesome session. Thanks everyone!
My players have fought their way up into the head of the Griffon statue of Waterdeep. In my version, it's a massive Statue of Liberty-esque sized construct. The obvious epic direction would be to somehow wrest control of the statue and bring it to life, but I'm thinking that wouldn't end well.
Anyway, they've fought their way up into the head of the statue and barricaded themselves in. They've accomplished their mission and are in need of escape. This is how the session ended! For the next session, they've exhausted many of their resources (spell slots, etc.). I'm thinking some sort of convenient glider or teleportation sigil (that's how all these bad guys got here afterall) but don't want it to seem cheap or out of place. Any ideas?
Well, what's actually preventing them from leaving? And what level?
I would suggest having a large bell at the top and when they ring it it teleports them out. It’s still simple but they’d at least be surprised and wouldn’t seem as obvious and it’d seem like they discovered or figured something out instead of just seeing a teleportation circle on the ground.
but I’m assuming you’ve already described their surroundings and if next time they start and there is something there that wasn’t before that’d be weird. You could do the same with a brazier, or any other sorts of objects/structures you have up there that can be interacted with. I am unfamiliar with the source content so no idea.
you could have them attacked by Griffon riders or something else riding a flying mount and hope they figure out on their own to steal their mounts to get out of there, but if they’re pretty beat up that might be too much.
i think bringing it to life is a dandy idea. Or perhaps they discover some controls and it is more of like a machine that can be driven or controlled.
im just throwing darts at the wall here.....maybe, if they are in need of escape I’m assuming they are still surrounded by danger, similar to what I mentioned before maybe Griffon riders come in as back up and start assailing their foes but do not see them, they’ll have to get their attention and even escaping via the back of a Griffon while being assaulted by enemies could make a fun skill challenge
They are level 7. They've barricaded themselves in with enemies outside. It's a long way back down to backtrack, with many enemies that they sneaked past or otherwise alerted but got away from. Those outside the barricade are alerted. They haven't explored the entire statue yet, so there could be things to help them out. This whole encounter was not something that I planned ahead of time, so I'm kinda making it up as I go. :)
Thanks, Cozmo, those are great ideas! They rushed into the "skull" of the statue and fought off the bbg here, so they haven't really explored it yet or had too detailed of a description given.
There's always the possibility that the enemies outside will just leave, either because it's no longer useful for them to stay, or because staying around will invite trouble (the government of Waterdeep isn't terribly fast to react, but likely takes a dim view of private armies in its street).
How did they get inside of it? WDH doesn't say anything about them being hollow.
DM: Dragon of Icespire Peak PbP
It was a spur of the moment thing. I remembered the PAX 2013 Acquisitions Inc. session where they took control of a large statue and thought I'd confer that to all of the statues in Waterdeep (potentially, anyway).
Perhaps part of the statue is under construction / being remodeled and there is some scaffolding and equipment that they can creatively use to scale the statue or maybe make it to the top of another building. Admittedly I'm new to DMing but I've found that if I give my players a bunch of tools they'll come up with ideas I'd have never thought of. With some rope, cloth, maybe a scaffold (like window washers use) and I'm sure they could find a way out... probably.
Maybe some Griffons make their nest on top and the players manage to rope them and ride them out of Waterdeep before they get bucked off into the ocean and have to swim back to the coast.
In case anyone might be interested in knowing how this went down a few weeks ago:
When the session started, they had ended up in the head of the Griffon statue of Waterdeep atop Mt. Waterdeep overlooking the city, but they had no windows or other exit aside from the door they had barricaded at the end of their previous session.
They searched the room and found a set of levers. After solving a simple lever puzzle, they managed to open the wall to the "beak" of the griffon which held a Skysail. (https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/131877-skysail) They found another lever within the beak that opened it to the open air. The druid polymorphed the sorcerer into an eagle and changed himself into a giant eagle as well. The paladin got in the driver's position on the Skysail. The rogue... hung on tightly, since it was only built for one rider.
At that point, they launched from the head of the statue, several hundred feet above the city and began a series of strength and dexterity checks (some with disadvantage since he had to compensate with the extra weight of the 2nd rider) to gain control over the Skysail (they hadn't had time to attune to it in order to gain its magic ability, so it was just a normal glider to them).
Through some successful rolls and close calls they managed to land on the streets of Waterdeep with just some bumps and bruises, escaping from the Zhentarim who were in the statue and had rescued their kidnapped rogue. They also now had the Skysail, which they utilized through the rest of the adventure.
It ended up being quite an awesome session. Thanks everyone!
There’s always the Griffon Cavalry of Waterdeep. They could spot one of them flying about and put out some sort of distress signal to get rescued.