Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Need_A_Life 10-29-07, 11:13 AM	Players in the PbP game "Fall of the Broken" on ENWorld are asked to stay the heck away from this thread. Thank you, very much. --- So, I'm running a game where the players are going to enter a Kundarak facility in Sharn and I'm using the Aundairian Job for inspiration, however I'd like for the wise members of this board to help me with ideas of how to secure this bank. I want security to be tight indeed, but not impenetrable. Now, being level 3 they are higher level than the people in the complex (who'll be mostly dwarven warrior1), but their magical resources should seem inadequate to face House Kundarak. The main concerns I have are: - How to prevent the PCs from just hijacking a skycoach and flying in on the right floor? - What equipment should the PCs utilize to enter and escape without being detained by "House Security" (preferrably with a minimum of bloodshed)? So, any thoughts or inspiration for me?
CannibalSmith 10-29-07, 03:09 PM	Kundarak's reputation depends on impenetrability. Something you know, something you have, and something you are - a rule of thumb in modern security procedures. In Eberren that would be: magical wards against all who don't carry Kundarak dragonmark, arcane lock, and a password. What equipment should the PCs utilize to enter and escape without being detained by "House Security" (preferrably with a minimum of bloodshed)? Lots of specialized magic. Disguise Self, Charm Person... but it all depends on their plan. I'd kidnap a dragonamrked guy and impersonate him to get in. How to prevent the PCs from just hijacking a skycoach and flying in on the right floor? Let them. It would be a suicide, anyway. Is there an ace skycoach pilot in the party? And how are they going to deal with all the angry dwarves who definitely noticed their arrival?
Toloran 10-29-07, 03:37 PM	I copied this from the series of excellent posts by Fireballed Mage. It is a good example to use. Example of a Banking Guild station This is an idea for a medium-sized Kundarak banking establishment. It can either be a secondary branch in a major city, or else the main one in a smaller town. For sake of convenience, I’m going to assume that when you enter the bank through the main doors, you are heading north. I have covered what I consider to be most of the common methods of infiltration. I make no claims at being able to outthink everybody, so add whatever defences you feel appropriate. I have left some holes that clever PCs or DMs can exploit. Any level of security can be removed to make the bank easier to infiltrate if necessary for your story. I haven’t listed DCs for items or how hard it is to sneak past people or open locks or what it requires to get through doors. I leave that information for individual DMs to design as per the DMG. (I’m not getting paid for this, so I’m not going into the same level of detail as an adventure would.) Note: All dwarves take pride in their appearance, so describe the staff as flashy dressers. There will be lots of jewellery and fine clothes wore by the members inside. Armour and weapons will be polished and well kept. Outside Appearance: The building is a long, low structure, built very much like a brick. Made of dark stone, the place seems synonymous with the terms squat, thick, and sturdy. There appears to be no windows that you can see. Above the front gate is the Kundarak crest, with the identification of the Banking Guild just beneath it. The main gate is metal reinforced wood, and an armed and armoured dwarf stands to each side of the open entry way. More Info: The two dwarves are both LN, warrior 1, wearing chain mail, large shields, and carrying dwarven waraxes. Each has a whistle that they can sound if they see trouble, and maxed out Spot and Sense Motive skills. If any kind of serious trouble occurs they will use a move action to retreat inside the doors and one will use standard action to throw a switch to release the door clasps while the other shields him. (Counterweights force the doors closed. It is only the clasps which hold the doors open.) After the switch is thrown the doors take 1 full round to grind close and lock. There is a portcullis inside the doors, and the guards will retreat to this and close it behind them. Once past the first set of doors a short tunnel leads past the portcullis and to set of normal double doors. The bank has many small air holes in its structure for ventilation, but these are too small for anything but a Fine creature to move through. The walls have gorgon blood mixed in with them, making ethereal movement through them impossible. There is a secret door along one side of the bank, but it is located five feet off the ground and is alarmed, fire trapped, and arcane locked. The only people who know about it are the bank employees and the leader of the local militia. All areas inside are lit by everbright lanterns. Room A: Main Room: Appearance: The double doors open into this large, squat chamber. First thing to catch your attention is the large statue of an axe-wielding dwarf carved out of stone that stands beside a desk in the middle of the room. Its armoured head brushes against the ceiling. A single female dwarf is sitting behind the desk, filling out forms. There is movement behind her. She looks up as you enter. (More thorough look around) There is a sign beside the stone statue. Two common doors stand closed on the west wall, and two similar ones on the east. Behind the desk on the north wall is a passageway. Two armed dwarves are slowly patrolling in the space behind the desk. More Info: If anyone looks, in both common and dwarven the sign reads, “The duty of protection brings life to a warrior.” If someone really looks closely, they will notice some rust coloured flakes along the stone axe blade that looks suspiciously like dried blood. This is NOT a stone golem, but the dwarves here have done everything to suggest it is. (Paranoid PCs who read the Monster Manual should feel the same.) Upon entry, a detect magic Dragonshard mounted above the door will cause all magic items brought in to glow (even through clothing). The dwarf behind the counter will greet the players and ask them to please leave all magic items with her during their time in the bank, as well as explaining that spell casting is not permitted on site. She will direct people wanting banking services to Rooms B. The dwarf behind the counter is Nevilla Ollorgo d’Kundarak, LG, an expert 2. She is young and slightly overeager in this, her first position. She will keep a close eye on the party while they are in sight, and if the party tries anything even remotely suspicious, roll her Spot check. If she makes it (or just rolls a 1), she will cry out an alarm, bringing the whole armed contingent of the bank down on the party. If the party was doing something wrong they will be caught. If (more likely) it is a false alarm, the branch manager will apologize to the party and berate Nevilla. If it was a false alarm, Nevilla will locate the party in a tavern or other neutral establishment later and apologize herself. If the party accepts her apology she will become a good friend, but if they blow her off or berate her, they will make a powerful enemy for life. She’s young, but the Prophecy has great things in store for her as she will develop her Least Mark within 6 months. Once it manifests her rise in the House hierarchy will be swift. The guards behind the counter will be one of three different groups: 1) 2 LN Warrior 2. Both served in the Last War and are veterans. They both wear half plate and carry masterwork waraxes. As well, each carries two tanglefoot bags, and will use them before moving in. 2) A LE Warrior 2 and a LN Warrior 1/Magewright 1. The first is armed as above (no tanglefoot bags), the other carries a battleaxe, scale mail, and an eternal wand of hold person. 3) A N Warrior 1 (greatsword), a NG Warrior 1/expert 1 (focusing on animal handling), and a magebred wolf (thick skin). Both wear half-plate. During the night when the bank is closed, Nevilla puts out a sealed letter on her desk that has “Unlocking Codes” written on it in Dwarven. Those who open it will read explosive runes for their stupidity. Rooms B: Offices: Each of these four rooms (2 to the west, 2 to the east), off of Room A are the places where business is conducted. Each is identical for all practical purposes. In each room there is a bench for customers, a desk, a chair and a LN dwarf expert 3. They will provide all regular banking services. One is a N expert 5, the assistant branch manager. Hidden from sight behind each desk are three strings. The strings run through channels carved under the floor to rings bells in certain rooms. The first will ring at the main desk in Room A. One will summon a gnome from Room D. The last will summon the guards from Room C. The dwarf can make a Sleight to Hand check (with a +5 bonus for the desk blocking line of sight) to pull a string without being noticed. Note: Rooms A and B are the public section of the bank. The passageway heading north is the private section, and anyone not accompanied by a staff member will be stopped. Room C: Duty Room: Appearance: The corridor heading north from the main chamber opens up first to the east. Several armed dwarves can be seen inside. More Info: Any of the dwarf guards mentioned in Room A that were not patrolling Room A are to be found here, on relaxed duty. Anyone passing this point but not escorted by a banking dwarf or gnome will be escorted out of the bank unless they can sneak by. The ring of a bell from Room B or the sound of trouble from Room A will bring them running. Room D: Room of Records: Appearance: This low, long room is filled with tables and piles of papers. Along the walls many cabinets are filled with scraps of parchment. Several gnomes are seated at tables, working on sheets of something or another. More Info: Five gnomes work here, organizing the bank information for the dwarves and for other Banking enclaves. Four of the gnomes are experts level 2 or 3, NG or LN. The fifth, Pagous Illso, is a LE expert 2/rogue 4/assassin 1. He’s actually a member of the Trust, assigned to do some spying on Kundarak. A definitely nasty piece of work, he’s found the companionship of the Banking Guild to appeal to him more than the backstabbing nature of gnomish covert operations. He’s abandoned his duty to the Trust and they might one day do something about that. However he is loyal to the bank, and anyone who injures staff members will earn his undying hatred. Room E: Pantry and Lunch room. The only notable feature of this room is that hidden behind one shelving unit (Search check needed to find) is a short tunnel leading to the secret exit mentioned in the outside section. Room F: Bathrooms. For employees only. Room G: Branch Manager’s Office: Outside Appearance: This is the end of the hall. To the west is a locked metal door. To the north the corridor ends in a solid wooden door. Something is written on it in dwarven. (Branch Manager) More Info: Lesedr Shallivos d’Kundarak (LN expert 5/warrior 2) leads the bank from this office. He alternates his time between paperwork (the small amount he doesn’t foster off on the gnomes) and walking around the facility, checking up on how things are working. He wears 8 copper rings, and just became a member of the Aurum last year. He is slowly accepting the view of the Aurum, and will slide into Lawful Evil over the next few years. His desk has strings that can ring bells in Room A, C, D, J and K. A simple code transmits either “Come here,” or “Lock down.” In one drawer he has a single-shot command activated rod that will trigger a Mord. Faithful Hound spell just outside his door. It can not be recharged once triggered and must be replaced by someone with the Greater Mark of Warding (Mord. Faithful Hound) and Craft Rod feat. It also requires a whole lot of paperwork explaining things to his superiors. Any entry to the vaults requires his permission. For a customer to gain access to the vault, they must be accompanied by the dwarf from Room B who talked to them, along with a gnome who is filing the paperwork. These two employees present themselves to Lesedr together (so that a changeling can’t just copy one). Lesedr uses another wall mounted detect magic Dragonshard to check for illusion or enchantment magic. If all checks out, he leads the people to the metal door outside his office and unlocks it. The door is arcane locked and has a glyph of warding with a blindness spell in it. A set of stairs led down to the west. Note: All lower levels of the bank are protected by Dimensional Lock and Mord. private sanctum spells powered by Dragonshards set into the ceilings. Room H: Vault Entry: At the bottom of the stairs, a 5ft wide, 10ft long corridor turns north. At the north end another metal door reinforced with adamantine is there. The branch manager will knock, and a small vision slit will open. The Warding Guild Guardian inside (NE Warrior 1; breastplate, heavy crossbow and battleaxe), looks out and asks for the password (changed daily). If the password is not given, he throws a switch, causing the floor of the Vault Entry to fall away into a 20ft pit. The guard can also open and close a small arrow slit in the door, allowing him to fire at who ever is in Room H. The door is bolted and locked from the inside. There are metal bars driven into the stones that surround the door, so if a Stone Shape spell is used the caster will still have to cut their way through the bars. A second Stone Shape will allow enough stone to be moved to bypass the bars. The walls and ceilings are worked stone, so Soften Earth and Stone is ineffective. Room I: Vault Main Room: This 10 by 10 room has doors on each wall. The one to the south leads to Room H. The one to the north leads to Room L: the Vault. The west door leads to Room K: Artificer Lab. The east door is Room J: Viewing Room. A chair placed in a corner is used by the Guardian in this room. Room J: Viewing Room: This 5 by 10 room has two chairs and a table. It is here to provide some privacy for those who wish to examine what their ‘box’ possessed. Room K: Artificer Lab: This is the room where the arcane contraption that teleports small packages between Kundarak enclaves is maintained. The room is messy, with the device itself occupying a corner (it looks like a 1ft by 2ft by 1ft stone basin, marked with arcane symbols, Dragonshards, and groves for the alchemical fluids that keep it working). The rest of the room has a table and a number of arcane items and materials scattered about. In the room, Falsis Steelring (CN Artificer 7) and his homunculus oversee the magical defences of the facility. A dwarf approaching venerable age, Falsis was a member of Lord Boroman ir’Dayne’s famous expedition to Frostfell. He’s never really recovered from that and always wears heavy furs, no matter the weather. Room L: Vault: The door to this room is also reinforced with adamantine. It too is Arcane Locked and Fire Trapped. A line of lead sheeting encloses the entire room. Inside is a 5 by 15 room, with small ‘boxes’ dug into the walls. Here the final level of security occurs. When someone places something in a box, they are given a small slip of parchment to write on. The customer writes a password on the letter, seals it, and places it in the box. The guards do not know what’s written in the letter. When the customer returns to take something out of the box, the guard opens the box, takes out the piece of parchment, and asks for the password. The customer says the password, and only then does the guard open the letter. If the password matches, the customer gets to handle what was stored in the box. If the passwords don’t match, the customer is marched back upstairs and an investigation is undertaken. A new password is requested each time a customer accesses their box.
Need_A_Life 10-31-07, 03:19 PM	Domo arigatou gozaimasu! I really appreciate someone helpin' me! Should've remembered "Fireballed Mage"s work.... :embarrass
The Fireballed Mage 10-31-07, 11:37 PM	Should've remembered "Fireballed Mage"s work.... :embarrass Forget the burned one not... for he, after recovering from his current fireballing, shall lead you to knowledge.