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Post by Dell on Nov 22, 2004 13:48:36 GMT -5
Assuming we all make it through nap-time, what are we going to do?
Dell has a plan to interrogate the priest - he'll put on his Nerull Robe and Amulet, cast a charm spell on him, and make like he's the guy's buddy. This should allow us to get a lot of good information out of him. Everyone else he saw attacking him, except for Winthrop - and Winthrop is too Good to pass for a Nerull worshipper.
With any luck, we'll find out where the good treasure is, and where more bad guys might be.
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Post by Ginger on Nov 22, 2004 15:17:46 GMT -5
Will charm work on an unconscious person? If charm and detect charm will work on him before we bring him back to consciousness, Dell can pretend that he is from another temple of Nerull and saved the day.
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Post by Dell on Nov 22, 2004 15:56:17 GMT -5
When we were captured the orcs, it was ruled that charm doesn't work on the unconscious. So someone will have to heal the guy first. Then I can cast charm on him and pitch him my story. Even if the charm doesn't work, he still might believe me.
Is there anyone else in the party that the prisoner might not recognize? The only ones I can think of that he didn't see are Winthrop and the paladin, and I don't trust either of them to lie effectively.
I remember now... he didn't see Al, so me and Al can handle the interrogation, and hopefully he'll show us to the treasures, secret doors, blah blah blah.
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Post by Ginger on Nov 23, 2004 9:31:33 GMT -5
Do Nerullites accept demi-humans? They might dislike half-elves or dwarves.
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Post by Mr. Trommer on Nov 23, 2004 9:55:36 GMT -5
They at least deal with Demi-humans. There were goblins in the previous temple and the orcs delivered supplies.
Dell could pull it off. I'm sure he is a master of disguise such that he could transform himself into a believable Nerullite. The with the Ring of Human Influence and Charm Person he will have a new buddy. He orc retainers make hime more beleivable.
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Post by Dell on Nov 23, 2004 10:07:58 GMT -5
Everyone loves half-elves.
Al doesn't really need to be there, I just figured that no one would trust Dell to do anything by himself. Also, if I can get him to lead us further into the temple, I'd want to have a fighter with me. He'd probably remember Raven stabbing him while he was held, otherwise he'd be the best pick - he's a former Nerullite himself.
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liato
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Post by liato on Nov 23, 2004 10:48:29 GMT -5
My only concern is that the first thing a charmed peson does is ask us to untie them. Are we going to untie this guy?
I don't think we should be walking around with this guy. If we want to charm him and ask him questions about what kind of opposition we can expect and what type of treasure or doors to look for that's one thing, but if he wants to show us around I think we need to kill him. This is a guy who helps create items that are so evil we're afraid to touch them. And even if he's really injured he can still command undead, lead us into traps, perform a sacrafice, ask his god for help, etc...
We are in a major temple to his god. I'm just not sure that a first level spell is going to be powerful enough for us to really trust him. I mean he gets a saving throw every time he comes into conflict, right?
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Post by Ginger on Nov 23, 2004 11:47:37 GMT -5
Being brought down to -7 hitpoints has very severe consequences. I believe that he'll be unable to cast spells (even if he had any left to cast). If he's stripped of his armor and brought up to 1 HP, he's exceptionally weakened.
Additionally, how would he recognize me? I'm wearing full-plate armor. Just cast a cantrip on my equipment to make it black, and I can become a crusading champion on Nerull.
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Post by Dell on Nov 23, 2004 11:50:04 GMT -5
You're clearly not grasping the beauty of the plan. Let me go into more depth, see if we can find any flaws in it. Dell charms the dude. Maybe Al or an orc comes along with him, maybe not.
Dell says that he's from another temple, and he helped drive the Pelorites away for now - but they'll be back soon. So he needs to know:
* if there are more undead or other reinforcements that can help defend the temple
* if there's a back way out
* if there are any holy relics that they need to save
* how to get past the traps to get deeper into the temple
* what's up with all the people turned to stone
See, asking "where is your treasure" might get the evil cleric another saving throw - and the request would almost definitely be refused. But asking him "how we can best protect the temple and save its treasure from the infidel Pelorites" - that's in his own interest. Asking "is there a back way out of here" - also in his interest. He might not even need to be charmed to give out that information, if the reaction roll is good enough.
After Dell gets enough information from him, he'll send word to the rest of the party. Then the party comes, and Dell will follow the guy back into the temple, leaving a trail of lightstones or something so you can follow him. This way, the priest gets us by all the traps, and leads us to the good stuff.
Alternate plan: after questioning him, Dell can turn invisible, and then let him go - he'll run away, and Dell can follow invisibly. Of course, if it looks like he's setting loose some bad-assed monster, Dell will backstab the guy.
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Post by Ginger on Nov 23, 2004 11:55:08 GMT -5
That plan sounds like a good one.
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liato
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Post by liato on Nov 23, 2004 13:45:00 GMT -5
I like the questioning part. I just don't like the letting him go part.
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Post by Dell on Nov 23, 2004 14:01:15 GMT -5
You're right, there's no telling what kind of devastation a guy with no armor, no weapon, no spells, and one hitpoint can wreak on our party.
Worst case scenario - he opens up a gate and lets some horrible creatures out... creatures that we would have had to fight anyway.
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liato
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Post by liato on Nov 23, 2004 14:41:57 GMT -5
Weren't you the one who explained to us how great an idea it was to let phil lead us into the pirate lair? That worked out great. If we see him trying to make a getaway it's too late to do anything. You enter combat and then if he wins initiative he's gone. That's a 50/50 chance of him getting away.
Who knows what he could let out? What if there are more items of possession around like the one Raven touched?
If Dell is walking with him alone then all he has to do is to possess Dell.
The worst case scenerio isn't that he lets out nasty monsters it's that he alerts a higher level priest/commander that we are coming and tells him how many of us there are and how dangerous we are. Even if we don't get killed, the priest could just scoop up all the good stuff and leave.
What exactly is the benefit of having him lead us around anyway?
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Post by Mr. Trommer on Nov 23, 2004 14:45:06 GMT -5
You can be more cryptic than asking 'Where your treasure.' You could say that you have arrived to verify that the medusa's 'specail items' have been recovered. It just depends on whether or not they know the other temple has been destroyed. I would assume that they know already.
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Post by Ginger on Nov 23, 2004 14:47:56 GMT -5
Considering all of the mind-altering things we saw in the last temple (the bowls and the evil wall), I think that he could do a decent amount of damage. However, I do think that charming him is a good idea.
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Post by Ginger on Nov 23, 2004 14:53:33 GMT -5
You can be more cryptic than asking 'Where your treasure.' You could say that you have arrived to verify that the medusa's 'specail items' have been recovered. It just depends on whether or not they know the other temple has been destroyed. I would assume that they know already. I thought that we've decided that those things are statues. A medusa only turns flesh to stone. Otherwise, she'd just turn the dirt to stone, and the air to stone. The statues have all of their items made of stone, which means that there isn't a medusa. |
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Post by Dell on Nov 23, 2004 15:57:11 GMT -5
I think that letting the priest go - even if he runs away - will give us valuable information. It's not like they won't be waiting for us... and if they've run, he'll probably know where they're running to.
And the wizard spell "Flesh to Stone" does affect the target's equipment - I don't know if it works the same for gaze attacks like the basilisk, cockatrice, or medusa have. Given the option, I'd prefer facing any of those creatures to facing a 12th level wizard... so let's hope it's just a medusa.
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