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Author
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Comment
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JeffQ UK
Pie
(11/15/02 9:17:23 am)
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Oh, this is TOO precious!!
Having returned from the moathouse relatively beaten up but now knowing that there is a cult in Hommlet and that Chatrilon is not a very nice man I've just had this from one of my PC's..
"As there is going to be some downtime in Hommlet whilst everyone else rests etc I wouuld like to take some time to visit the druids grove on my own to discuss with him the vision I had of my Druid tutor being killed by himself"
My question is, as Chatrilon has reported back re the party, should I let Jaroo loose on him?
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Andorax
Orc
(11/15/02 9:35:09 am)
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Re: Oh, this is TOO precious!!
Oh dear, oh dear.
We lost a druid nearly the same way. He went to talk with Jaroo, showed him the note (from a pre-adventure flunky) with Dunrat's NAME on it, told him about his worries, and then asked if he could spend the night sleeping in the grove, since he didn't care much for the inn.
Dang, but I do so hate killing PCs off when they're doing such a lovely job of playing IC. The party never found their friend, simply assumed he found something else to do.
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
Thrommel
The DM
(11/15/02 10:49:25 am)
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Re: Oh, this is TOO precious!!
Heh. Killing him is the EASY way out.
No, what you want to do is use the party.
They were relatively successful, eh? Well, then "Jaroo" is going to be VERY concerned about these cultists. He'll insist that the party clean out every corner of the dungeons and turn the items over to him for safe-keeping. Try to curry favor with the party by handing out some potions or a wand.
He may also plant seeds that Elmo and Y'Dey have been 'corrupted' by the cult. Sow some healthy suspicion. He doesn't want the party talking to anyone else.
Another tactic would be to 'inform' the party of Chat's whereabouts and have them capture him and bring him out to the grove. "Jaroo" and the party could interrogate him and learn the 'real' story. <insert some crackerjack scheme involving Iuz here>
He'll tell them that he's in contact with his druidic superiors and that they will dispose of the artifacts. That's when the wagon arrives, and Dunrat & company (properly disguised) take off with the goods.
A couple days later, "Jaroo" is nowhere to be found, and Yundi's body is found floating in the river.
Evil enough for you?
-Thrommel, putting the 'evil' back into chaotic evil.
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 Infiniti2000
Pie
(11/15/02 11:46:56 am)
Reply
ezSupporter
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Re: Oh, this is TOO precious!!
Devious, yes. Evil, not really. I really like the plan though. Another option, more evil IMO, kill the druid and take his place! It worked once, why not again? Then, having Chatrilon wait in ambush at the grove, lure another party member using the new form. Continue until the party is completely eliminated. This way, not only does Master Dunrat & Co. remove the thorn in their side, they recover the artifacts and get whatever magical items the party has. Then, bury all the bodies in the grove (with Yundi's) and move on to Rastor.
Btw, how could you use Telna in this? I'm thinking that Dunrat et al do not know about her. If she catches wind about that story involving Iuz...
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Siobharek 
Orc
(11/15/02 12:23:01 pm)
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Re: Oh, this is TOO precious!!
I'd go for Thrommel's. It suckering the party rather than killing one unfortunate player.
And I can't wait to hear about the look on the players' faces once they discover that Jaroo was the doppel all along.
Siobharek
...it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. |
Roland Delacroix
Pie
(11/15/02 2:31:46 pm)
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Love infiniti's idea
Definitly have Jaroo kill the PC druid and replace him. Take the player aside and give him a new character sheet of Jaroo the shapechanger, explain his short term goals (kill the party) and let em rip! I have done similar before (in different games) and offered a level or so for their next PC if they do a good job, a sort of RP bonus. Usually the players aren't to broken up over dying since they get to kill their friends for a few sessions 
You might be able to whack a few more PC's before they figure out their old buddy the druid has 'been turned' and is working with Dunrat now. Tough, but nobody said RttToEE was gonna be a bed of roses.
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morbiczer
Pie
(11/15/02 3:44:45 pm)
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Druid story
In my aborted  campaign we had the following funny story with Jaroo and a single player visiting him.
There was a halfling Clr3 of Fharlagn/Rog1 in the party. He played his character as very curious. After finshing off the moathouse they went into the rooms with the cockatrices. They killed the first two and then were in combat with the third one which was already injured. Then the halfling said to the astonishment of all, that he will try to capture the beast. I said that he will have to try to knock him out (-4 penalty to deal subdual). He succeeded since the cockatrice had only about 2 hp left. So they bound up the knocked out cockatrice. The others asked him to kill it because they were pretty sure that it could turn people into stone somehow (because of the rats), but he couldn't be forced. He said taht he wants to keep it as a pet because it looked very funny.
Okay they went back to Hommlet with to bound up cockatrice I roled some Fort savingthrows for it and decided that it would survive. He was feeding it etc. When they arrived in town all of them went up in the castle to tell the big guys what they found, but the halfling went ALONE to the druid, so that he would identify this strange animal. So he went to Jaroo, told him EVERYTHING (killed dragon, killed strange evil cultists, found this funny beast).
Jaroo: "Oh, this is only a forestchicken. It is not dangerous at all."
Halfling: "Can I cut the ropes then?"
Jaroo: "Sure, it is no nice thing to bind up the animals of the forest".
So the poor little hlafling released the cockatrice which immediatly went into attack against its tormentor. He made his first save, but the second bite turned him into stone. He didn't even try to flee or to fight it, since after all it was his new pet and the druid said it wasn't dangerous.
The other partymembers searched him for about 3 hours IRL all over the town (since Jaroo of course said that he hadn't met him) and only found him because Spugnoir cast a scry for them. They were pretty pissed off when they found out the truth. Needless to say that after this incident they expected about everyone in town to be a doppelganger-cultist.
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Infiniti2000
Pie
(11/15/02 3:48:48 pm)
Reply
ezSupporter
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Re: Druid story
ROTFLMAO! Woohoo! Absolutely hilarious! Thanks for posting that! Forestchicken! hee hee...I'm gonna laugh all weekend...
Your players must be laughing about this now though...
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madfox
Orc
(11/18/02 1:44:41 am)
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Re: Druid story
There are several reasons why it would not be smart to replace the PC. First of all, it would mean that there would be nobody replacing Jaroo. With a bit of work that could be explained. The second reason why it is a bad idea is because chances are rather big he will be found out by the other PCs very quickly. Remember, Jaroo has been interogated before being replaced and Jaroo does not have the luxery to do so with the PC. If he is caught, the whole village knows about his pressence, making his work and that of his fellow cultists that more difficult. Finally, on his own Jaroo might well fail in killing the PC (of course, a sleeping PC is a too tempting target to resist, that would be another story). I agree with Thrommel's tactic, they are devious and that is more what I associate with a doppleganger then the tactics of a psychotic mass murderer. Besides, those tactics help the cultists more under most circumstances.
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Tribal28
Pie
(11/18/02 7:42:32 am)
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Re: Druid story
I agree with Thrommels tactics. They sound devious enough.
I'd also be tempted to add in another twist. Let the PC's keep a few of the holy symbols or some other cult like item and spread word around the town and with the town officials that the PC's are worshiping some evil god and have come to the town in search for the old Temple and any items from it. Set up the 2 sides against one another and while they delaying one another the real cultists escape.
Tribal
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JeffQ UK
Pie
(11/19/02 8:38:25 am)
Reply
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Here's how it went
As this character is one of the decent RPers in the group I went with killing him and giving him a new charcter sheet, given that I got him to kneel down, close his eyes and recount his experiences from the time he joined the party to his trip to the grove I couldn't really let the opportunity pass by..
However....
The player has passed all of my expectations, he went with the party to the mill where they were ambushed by Dunrat, Vacra and the two fighters.
At an opportune moment the PC takes an AoO on a party member who tries to move past him and proceeds to beat on one of the mages. All well and good you say, but he's blown his cover now....
When he sees that the battle is lost he falls to the ground gibbering for a round, then gets up a round later and asks everyone what happened! Wait, it gets better!!
The party believe him!!
Party return to town, only for Elmo to arrest them for aiding and abetting the murder of Jaroo the Druid, who, of course, was last seen talking to the PC!!!!
I love this module!
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Thrommel
The DM
(11/19/02 9:23:03 am)
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Re: Here's how it went
Cool. As long as your other players aren't going to be too p-o'ed with getting stabbed in the back, it sounds like a lot of fun.
Sometimes players get upset when one player breaks the meta-game understanding of "PC's don't mess with other PC's".
How are you going to get them out of jail?
Or, ARE you?
-Thrommel, who doesn't mind getting stabbed in the back because he's immune to criticals and sneak attack damage.
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JeffQ UK
Pie
(11/19/02 10:06:45 am)
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Re: Here's how it went
I've allowed them to post bail equivalent to 10% total party wealth with 50% deferred pending an appearance in 1 months time at which they must prove their innocence.
You should have seen their faces when I told them that IMC the use of magic is prohibited in criminal cases, they had assumed that they could just get a Cleric to cast the relevant spells and get them off!
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madfox
Orc
(11/19/02 11:35:06 am)
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Re: Here's how it went
Dopplegangers of course do not know everything their victims knew in life. Even their detect thought powers cannot help them to act like he should in all circumstances. Somehow I always think of a certain Nodwick comic in which Yeagar is replaced by a doppleganger when the doppleganger discussion comes up. How are you or the player of the doppleganger handling these things? Is the player intentionally feeding the other players small hints as to he is not the person is looks like? It might be easier though to use a bluff roll now and then to represent the little things we all take granted in RL, but which are real difficult to act upon.
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JeffQ UK
Pie
(11/20/02 4:20:52 am)
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Re: Here's how it went
We made sure there were plenty of hints, his familiar has disappeared, he didn't even pretend to cast any spells, when he attacked I described how (when one of the PC's got a DC25 spot roll) the "Mage" seemed to have another creature superimposed on him whose fists were big and grey.
I have now told the PC that the Doppel is too valauable an agent in Hommlet and knows that he would be found out before too long, therefore he is to disappear and the PC will roll up a new char.
As a side note, he e-mailed me to thank him for one of the most enjoyable RP sessions he'd ever had, don't ya just love it when that happens!
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madfox
Orc
(11/20/02 4:22:28 am)
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Re: Here's how it went
Your players are not paranoid enough 
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JeffQ UK
Pie
(11/20/02 7:03:41 am)
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Re: Here's how it went
You think they're not paranoid yet?
Just wait 'til "Jaroo" starts bumping people off whilst looking like the party leader!
My plan is for Elmo to run them out of town until their trial date, this gives them a month to find someone who will admit to the existence of the cult, so far Elmo has dismissed the journal as the scribblings of a madman and pointed out that Chatrilon has been around for a lot longer than the party without causing any trouble so far.
If only they'd bothered to ask Y'Dey for help, rather than demanding to know why she had done nothing!
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Thraugh
Pie
(11/20/02 3:20:32 pm)
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Re: Here's how it went
Great stuff.
The doppelganger infiltrated my party, too. Killed and replaced the 8 int fighter, so it was really easy to fool them.
I decided that the dopp is actually an agent of the fire temple, and his ultimate mission was to make sure that Tessimon got ALL the goods from Hommlet. When the party thrashed the bad buys there, he took steps to insure his own survival.
Now the party are in the CRM, and he has new orders. Lead them on a rampage against everyone else, and steer them away from the fire temple and D'Gran's bridge as best as he can.
The player is loving every minute of it. He hasn't had to kill any other pcs yet, and no one suspects a thing. When the betrayal ultimately comes, it's gonna be beautiful.
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Infiniti2000
Pie
(11/20/02 7:48:33 pm)
Reply
ezSupporter
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Re: Here's how it went
That sounds like a lot of fun. The player might be missing out on a lot of XP when he finally has to make a new character, but who cares? It's just a game, Fokker! 
What would help Tessimon a whole lot is if the dopp "scouted ahead" near the fire temple, then called the party in. They then see TWO Tessimons on the floating platform...
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JeffQ UK
Pie
(11/21/02 4:07:29 am)
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Re: Here's how it went
Re the players XP, I have given him a bonus equivalent to the parties XP for the fight at the mill so he hasn't missed out. I firmly believe in encouraging role play so waived my normal "return at the bottom of lowest party level rule".
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Taxman66
Pie
(11/21/02 6:52:32 am)
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Re: Here's how it went
I would be very very carefull. This could easily destroy the campaign and perhaps the group.
At the very least there should be opportunitites for the PCs to uncover the imposter. If no clues (particularly since the doppleganger didn't have much time to get to know the fighter's personality before taking over his role) are given the players will have a justifiable gripe about being rail-roaded.
Taxman
"It takes an uncommon mind to think of these things, Hobbes." - Calvin
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