Drow Resurrecting a player: compensation? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Drow Resurrecting a player: compensation? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
cancerousmango
05-29-06, 03:53 AM I just had a very fun session where my poor players went to Xen'drik. At level 4. Anyways, the elemental on the airship they were geting passage on got loose, people abandoned ship, the elemental just killed itself (returning to its home plane) after killing as many people as it could. The players rigged an ingenious (and complicated; we needed all this complicated geometry and physics, thank god one of the guys is a math major) rigging system up so that they could get up to the dead-in-the-water airship, and they used a lyre of building -perhaps the most nebulous and irritating item in the game for the DM- to rig up a system of sails (which I've never considered...does that work?) to pilot the airship under its own power.

Then they noticed the cloud ray. It's a monster from the MMII, imagine a whale/skate the size of a boat that can fly. Needless to say, this jerry-rigged airship was no match for such a creature, and it took a big enough chunk out to make it start falling. A typically Eberronian race to the ground with a falling airship plummeting down at the characters ended with everyone except the two unimportant nobles (NPCs: 1st level aristocrats) surviving.

They ran up the beach, toward their goal, Tharguun Drak. Things were going fine until a pair of Girallons (4 armed gorillas on PCP) set upon the group, and one managed to rip the party artificer's ribcage open (he was reduced to -23 hp).

So the hired guide (a thunder guide) said that he would track down a method of restoring him to life. He stumbled upon a village of Xen'drik drow, and he said that he would go in by himself and negotiate. "If I'm not back in 12 hours...I'm dead. Make camp on the outskirts."

The remaining party members, the rogue and my NPC forged monk, waited for some stressful hours in a clearing. They were ambushed by a pair of Forest Trolls (weak little trolls from the MMIII) which I had pre-weakened to make it easier on the poor souls. "They show signs of having just emerged from a fight elsewhere, with burn marks all over their bodies."

They easily dispatched the trolls and noticed that the one was using a very ornate rod as a cudgel. This was because I rolled some nice rolls on the treasure table an apparently he was using a Rod of Flailing as a club, not knowing how to use it. So that's some nice treasure.

The Thunder Guide emerged from the jungle, a little roughed up, and spewing vitriol against the dark elves. He said, "yeah, they'll resurrect your friend, but for an enormous price. Also, when we go into the village, don't say a single word or they'll kill us. It's a custom of theirs: no outlanders may speak inside their village."

And then the players had to go.

My problem is: what might I have the "enormous price" be?

I was thinking 20,000 gp or an equivalent amount of gold, just because they have him by the balls. I might make it something more creative, but I'd like you guys to contribute some nice ideas. Also, as an aside, I used a lot of the little ambient things that some of you guys suggested for terrifying players in Xen'drik. The thing where I say, "you hear an enormous bellow, obviously coming from some gargantuan creature marking its territory...and then you hear an analagous call...from the opposite side of the jungle." They got so paranoid.

Anyway, thought I'd share what is to become a much-muttered-about night of gaming and ask for some input.
Leonidus
05-29-06, 04:15 AM Wow, very interesting.

In my game, my players usually do small missions to impress the new npcs. Which then lead to further missions, and so on, and so forth.

Which I guess is how my group of Argon dragon hatchlings ended up storming a Rakshasa harem inside an Umbragen base, sent by Qaltiar drow tribals, by way of a trip through Fernia, which they got to invesitgating some draconic ruins found in a tunnel in Argonessen, which belonged to some Thri-Kreen who had laid territorial claim to a craggy canyon and were raiding a caravan of Saurian Shifters as they made one of their stops on the way to the dragon-city of Wyrmsgraspe, which the hatchlings were supposed to befriend as early-level communication contacts.
Ellorin
05-29-06, 04:31 AM I think that the enormous price shouldn't be monetary. A tough quest is what you need-clearing out a giant lair for example, or recovering an artifact.
nemovadit
05-29-06, 05:16 AM What about this lyre of building that irritates you so much ;) It's a nice and ellegant way of geting rid of it!
DarkWarriorKarg
05-29-06, 05:56 AM Where are 4th level characters going to get 20000 gp worth of anything? (Depends how you run your game, but, still...)

Usual thing is to trade for a service. From your description, it does seem, that you tend towards one lethal encounter after another...

Giants? At 4th level? :eek: The only giant that should be encountered is an ogre or a dire halfling...

It also has to be something that a 9th level cleric can't handle (Raise dead)

maybe it's trouble cause by a rival group of drow. In order to avoid an all-out war, this tribe sees the PCs as Vulkoor-furnished catspaws. The proof being when Vulkoor agrees to return the deceased party member.

Then, as they bring him back, he weakly asks... "what happened?" and promptly get killed again for speaking in the village. :D

I know! Depending on the group morality, this other group of drow could control a small diamond mine... and they need to raid it to get the component...
Ellorin
05-30-06, 04:03 AM Giants? At 4th level? :eek: The only giant that should be encountered is an ogre or a dire halfling...

You're right of course...I forgot about the intended level. Anyway, you covered it very well. May I alternatively suggest a Siberys dragonshard site instead of diamonds?
Kreistor1
05-30-06, 10:34 AM If it's worth something and the drow want it, but they don't have it, then it's something they don't know how to get.

Drow are smart and talented, but not great at interspecies communication. I would suggest a non-combat encounter. The creature they must get the item from should be excessively powered compared to the drow and the party. The party needs to negotiate with it in orer to get the item off it. Of course, it wants the party to do something for it. At this point, it's easier. The "it" can be large and incapable of going to a certain place. The party being small and willing to negotiate can get into that place, where the drow are too proud to deal like this. So, the party does this deed for the big guy, the big guy gives over what the drow want, and the drow raise the friend. Details of what they are getting don't ever need to be determined. The items just need physical descriptions since the party isn't going to keep them.
maollelujah
05-30-06, 11:22 AM Make it something unusual, like one-year servitude to the Drow tribe. The Drow can place a tattoo on PC's face which tells of his/her servitude that will let any drow that see the PC's status. After a year the Drow will make an addition to the tattoo that changes the meaning of it (instead of servitude to free man or oathkeeper.) If the PC runs away before the end of his servitude then he will bear the mark for ever, which will effect any future dealings he/she has with Drow (all Drow will be indifferent at best to the PC.)

This would be effective if the campaign stays in Xen'drik.
cancerousmango
05-30-06, 02:57 PM Make it something unusual, like one-year servitude to the Drow tribe. The Drow can place a tattoo on PC's face which tells of his/her servitude that will let any drow that see the PC's status. After a year the Drow will make an addition to the tattoo that changes the meaning of it (instead of servitude to free man or oathkeeper.) If the PC runs away before the end of his servitude then he will bear the mark for ever, which will effect any future dealings he/she has with Drow (all Drow will be indifferent at best to the PC.)

This would be effective if the campaign stays in Xen'drik.
Nah, the player would be like, "so I get a cool tattoo, I get ressurrected, and it's free as long as I stay the hell away from Xen'drik cause there are no drow in khorvaire? Awesome."
Thrincold
05-30-06, 03:51 PM Nah, the player would be like, "so I get a cool tattoo, I get ressurrected, and it's free as long as I stay the hell away from Xen'drik cause there are no drow in khorvaire? Awesome."

A Geas tied to that tatoo, or just to the resurrection can go a long way towards fostering the good faith that the player will do as told.
cancerousmango
05-30-06, 09:14 PM these ave all been lovely suggestions. game is in t-mius 30 minutes, and i've settled on and equitable solution:the rod that the players got: it was stolen from the drow by the forest trolls, explaining why the trolls were burnt a bit when the players encountered them. Wraps things up nicely. And get a too-powerful item off their hands. Soroy bout the bad typoing, feeding the baby with my typin hand! :)
kelvinaw273
05-30-06, 09:26 PM One thing that should be certain is that the cost should not be monetary. They will want an item, a quest or some such. :D
DracoPhoenix
05-31-06, 05:27 AM Ok, I know it's probably too late, but the whole we got the ressurection on loan, our deity want's payment of X in Y weeks and X is only available at Z.

Makes for a good plot hook / side quest.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
cancerousmango 05-29-06, 03:53 AM	I just had a very fun session where my poor players went to Xen'drik. At level 4. Anyways, the elemental on the airship they were geting passage on got loose, people abandoned ship, the elemental just killed itself (returning to its home plane) after killing as many people as it could. The players rigged an ingenious (and complicated; we needed all this complicated geometry and physics, thank god one of the guys is a math major) rigging system up so that they could get up to the dead-in-the-water airship, and they used a lyre of building -perhaps the most nebulous and irritating item in the game for the DM- to rig up a system of sails (which I've never considered...does that work?) to pilot the airship under its own power. Then they noticed the cloud ray. It's a monster from the MMII, imagine a whale/skate the size of a boat that can fly. Needless to say, this jerry-rigged airship was no match for such a creature, and it took a big enough chunk out to make it start falling. A typically Eberronian race to the ground with a falling airship plummeting down at the characters ended with everyone except the two unimportant nobles (NPCs: 1st level aristocrats) surviving. They ran up the beach, toward their goal, Tharguun Drak. Things were going fine until a pair of Girallons (4 armed gorillas on PCP) set upon the group, and one managed to rip the party artificer's ribcage open (he was reduced to -23 hp). So the hired guide (a thunder guide) said that he would track down a method of restoring him to life. He stumbled upon a village of Xen'drik drow, and he said that he would go in by himself and negotiate. "If I'm not back in 12 hours...I'm dead. Make camp on the outskirts." The remaining party members, the rogue and my NPC forged monk, waited for some stressful hours in a clearing. They were ambushed by a pair of Forest Trolls (weak little trolls from the MMIII) which I had pre-weakened to make it easier on the poor souls. "They show signs of having just emerged from a fight elsewhere, with burn marks all over their bodies." They easily dispatched the trolls and noticed that the one was using a very ornate rod as a cudgel. This was because I rolled some nice rolls on the treasure table an apparently he was using a Rod of Flailing as a club, not knowing how to use it. So that's some nice treasure. The Thunder Guide emerged from the jungle, a little roughed up, and spewing vitriol against the dark elves. He said, "yeah, they'll resurrect your friend, but for an enormous price. Also, when we go into the village, don't say a single word or they'll kill us. It's a custom of theirs: no outlanders may speak inside their village." And then the players had to go. My problem is: what might I have the "enormous price" be? I was thinking 20,000 gp or an equivalent amount of gold, just because they have him by the balls. I might make it something more creative, but I'd like you guys to contribute some nice ideas. Also, as an aside, I used a lot of the little ambient things that some of you guys suggested for terrifying players in Xen'drik. The thing where I say, "you hear an enormous bellow, obviously coming from some gargantuan creature marking its territory...and then you hear an analagous call...from the opposite side of the jungle." They got so paranoid. Anyway, thought I'd share what is to become a much-muttered-about night of gaming and ask for some input.
Leonidus 05-29-06, 04:15 AM	Wow, very interesting. In my game, my players usually do small missions to impress the new npcs. Which then lead to further missions, and so on, and so forth. Which I guess is how my group of Argon dragon hatchlings ended up storming a Rakshasa harem inside an Umbragen base, sent by Qaltiar drow tribals, by way of a trip through Fernia, which they got to invesitgating some draconic ruins found in a tunnel in Argonessen, which belonged to some Thri-Kreen who had laid territorial claim to a craggy canyon and were raiding a caravan of Saurian Shifters as they made one of their stops on the way to the dragon-city of Wyrmsgraspe, which the hatchlings were supposed to befriend as early-level communication contacts.
Ellorin 05-29-06, 04:31 AM	I think that the enormous price shouldn't be monetary. A tough quest is what you need-clearing out a giant lair for example, or recovering an artifact.
nemovadit 05-29-06, 05:16 AM	What about this lyre of building that irritates you so much ;) It's a nice and ellegant way of geting rid of it!
DarkWarriorKarg 05-29-06, 05:56 AM	Where are 4th level characters going to get 20000 gp worth of anything? (Depends how you run your game, but, still...) Usual thing is to trade for a service. From your description, it does seem, that you tend towards one lethal encounter after another... Giants? At 4th level? :eek: The only giant that should be encountered is an ogre or a dire halfling... It also has to be something that a 9th level cleric can't handle (Raise dead) maybe it's trouble cause by a rival group of drow. In order to avoid an all-out war, this tribe sees the PCs as Vulkoor-furnished catspaws. The proof being when Vulkoor agrees to return the deceased party member. Then, as they bring him back, he weakly asks... "what happened?" and promptly get killed again for speaking in the village. :D I know! Depending on the group morality, this other group of drow could control a small diamond mine... and they need to raid it to get the component...
Ellorin 05-30-06, 04:03 AM	Giants? At 4th level? :eek: The only giant that should be encountered is an ogre or a dire halfling... You're right of course...I forgot about the intended level. Anyway, you covered it very well. May I alternatively suggest a Siberys dragonshard site instead of diamonds?
Kreistor1 05-30-06, 10:34 AM	If it's worth something and the drow want it, but they don't have it, then it's something they don't know how to get. Drow are smart and talented, but not great at interspecies communication. I would suggest a non-combat encounter. The creature they must get the item from should be excessively powered compared to the drow and the party. The party needs to negotiate with it in orer to get the item off it. Of course, it wants the party to do something for it. At this point, it's easier. The "it" can be large and incapable of going to a certain place. The party being small and willing to negotiate can get into that place, where the drow are too proud to deal like this. So, the party does this deed for the big guy, the big guy gives over what the drow want, and the drow raise the friend. Details of what they are getting don't ever need to be determined. The items just need physical descriptions since the party isn't going to keep them.
maollelujah 05-30-06, 11:22 AM	Make it something unusual, like one-year servitude to the Drow tribe. The Drow can place a tattoo on PC's face which tells of his/her servitude that will let any drow that see the PC's status. After a year the Drow will make an addition to the tattoo that changes the meaning of it (instead of servitude to free man or oathkeeper.) If the PC runs away before the end of his servitude then he will bear the mark for ever, which will effect any future dealings he/she has with Drow (all Drow will be indifferent at best to the PC.) This would be effective if the campaign stays in Xen'drik.
cancerousmango 05-30-06, 02:57 PM	Make it something unusual, like one-year servitude to the Drow tribe. The Drow can place a tattoo on PC's face which tells of his/her servitude that will let any drow that see the PC's status. After a year the Drow will make an addition to the tattoo that changes the meaning of it (instead of servitude to free man or oathkeeper.) If the PC runs away before the end of his servitude then he will bear the mark for ever, which will effect any future dealings he/she has with Drow (all Drow will be indifferent at best to the PC.) This would be effective if the campaign stays in Xen'drik. Nah, the player would be like, "so I get a cool tattoo, I get ressurrected, and it's free as long as I stay the hell away from Xen'drik cause there are no drow in khorvaire? Awesome."
Thrincold 05-30-06, 03:51 PM	Nah, the player would be like, "so I get a cool tattoo, I get ressurrected, and it's free as long as I stay the hell away from Xen'drik cause there are no drow in khorvaire? Awesome." A Geas tied to that tatoo, or just to the resurrection can go a long way towards fostering the good faith that the player will do as told.
cancerousmango 05-30-06, 09:14 PM	these ave all been lovely suggestions. game is in t-mius 30 minutes, and i've settled on and equitable solution:the rod that the players got: it was stolen from the drow by the forest trolls, explaining why the trolls were burnt a bit when the players encountered them. Wraps things up nicely. And get a too-powerful item off their hands. Soroy bout the bad typoing, feeding the baby with my typin hand! :)
kelvinaw273 05-30-06, 09:26 PM	One thing that should be certain is that the cost should not be monetary. They will want an item, a quest or some such. :D
DracoPhoenix 05-31-06, 05:27 AM	Ok, I know it's probably too late, but the whole we got the ressurection on loan, our deity want's payment of X in Y weeks and X is only available at Z. Makes for a good plot hook / side quest.