Help me kill off a wizard. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Help me kill off a wizard. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Tait Ransom
07-30-06, 11:21 PM My group (warforged fighter, dwarf artificer, changling rogue, human wizard) are all about 10th level and have just finished a major quest in the village of Wolf's Paw which is in the Eldeen Reaches. The party has learned of an impending invasion of Khorvaire by an army of giants and aberrations from Khyber. They also learned that only if the Five Nations stand united (ie: the Galifar Kingdom is re-established) can the people of Khorvaire defeat the horde.

The party was in Wolf's Paw to find a map to the lost monastery that is the only known site with the true identity of the true heir to the Galifar throne, and have succeeded. They will now follow the map to the monastery, in the northern part of Thrane.

The problem is that the player of the human wizard had to leave the area. He will not be returning. I need to think of a way to write the wizard out in such a way that the character has a dramatic death. The party has made enemies of a chaos cult in Sharn, Githyanki from Riedra (especially the brother of one who they recently killed ... Githyanki essentially replace the Quori in my campaign) and a small group of young dragons unrelated to the Chamber.

Any suggestions? I plan to write out what happens on the group's trip to Thrane and describe the encounter in which the wizard is killed. I'm trying to come up with a scenario in which a) the rest of the party's abilities would be neutralized or severely hampered, b) the wizard's abilities would be unaffected, and c) the wizard would be in a position to sacrifice himself to kill their opponent or delay him enough to save the party or let them escape.

Any suggestions?
ekomega
07-31-06, 12:27 AM When some people left my group, I took a page from the show "Dead Like Me":

A gigantic, toilet shaped Siberys dragonshard fell out of the Ring and struck the person, killing him in a fiery inferno. The shard also disintegrated from the impact.
Raziel_Brokodar
07-31-06, 01:22 AM When some people left my group, I took a page from the show "Dead Like Me":

A gigantic, toilet shaped Siberys dragonshard fell out of the Ring and struck the person, killing him in a fiery inferno. The shard also disintegrated from the impact.
hahahaha!
Cutlass
07-31-06, 01:22 AM Another option is to simply have the group being ambushed with the wizard directly targeted by a high level rogue or assassin. Have a bunch of relatively low level bad guys tie up the other members of the party and then have one or two of the lesser bad guys set up the wizard for a flank attack by the main bad guy.
DragonWatcher
07-31-06, 09:04 AM Or... the group is attacked, and the wizard is captured, not killed. The rest of the group can be KO'd or just distracted. Later it can be revealed that the wizard was only along to achieve his own ends, which involved something else that was discovered in Wolf's Paw (without the knowledge of the rest of the party). Now they could have to try to stop their former friend before he does something that will unleash a great evil... or, he might become a future sponsor to the group, having firsthand experienced their competence at solving problems.

Though you could also just go with the toilet-seat-shaped syberies dragonshard idea. ;)
Darth_Dread
07-31-06, 03:36 PM I like the idea of having the wizard playing the rest of the party for fools and dupes, before finally betraying them. It plays well with the "noir" aspects of Eberron story telling "that just when the PC's think everything is going well and it's all under control the rug get pulled out from under them."
Discovering this, then they will have to face their "freind" either killing him if that be your choice as DM or letting him escape to show up later as a reoccurring NPC nemesis to the party.

Now the party has to re-evaluate each other and their relationships, there is that fine line of trust that has been violated and it might cause all to question each individual in the groupand themselves.

That's what I'd do. ;)
Dragonmann
08-01-06, 02:02 PM In a word, Mindseed
bromleylaerchenheim
08-04-06, 10:39 AM My group (warforged fighter, dwarf artificer, changling rogue, human wizard) are all about 10th level and have just finished a major quest in the village of Wolf's Paw which is in the Eldeen Reaches. The party has learned of an impending invasion of Khorvaire by an army of giants and aberrations from Khyber. They also learned that only if the Five Nations stand united (ie: the Galifar Kingdom is re-established) can the people of Khorvaire defeat the horde.

The party was in Wolf's Paw to find a map to the lost monastery that is the only known site with the true identity of the true heir to the Galifar throne, and have succeeded. They will now follow the map to the monastery, in the northern part of Thrane.

Any suggestions?

When they finally reach the lost monastry they found the monks secretly corrupted by a strange sect that is in fact puppeteered by an agent of the Lords of the Dust. Just beneath the monastry lies a gate to Khyber wich in fact leads to a vault where one of the dalkyr is sealed away. The sect is about to open the seals and to release the fiend.
Meanwhile also a group of gatekeeper druids is about to enter Khyber to prevent the sect from freeing the dalkyr.
So the group at some point will be in the position to help the druids battling the sect and the Lords of the Dust agent. In the climatic battle - just before the final seal could be prevented from being opend - the magic of the gatekeepers portal sucks away the live force of some setiers, the lords agent and the wizard, effectivly trapping them all together behind the portal. This will leave poor wizard in eternal company of a dalkyr and his player definitly in awe and horror...
Edymnion
08-04-06, 10:52 AM Another viewpoint, why does the wizard have to die just because he won't be played anymore? If the goal is to prepare Khovaire for invasion, and this is a 10th level wizard (which is extremely powerful for Eberron), why not have the character be invited to join one of the elite wizarding circles of Eberron, like the Arcane Congress? Or maybe he gets a position as a professor at Arcanix. Something that he can use his influence to help further the goal even if he isn't actively adventuring anymore. Make a good NPC out of him while giving the party access to some influencial people.
poisondusk
08-04-06, 02:24 PM my thoughts...why kill him.

1) have him break off from the party to complete a mission of his own which will, eventually, get the party some information or service they need. This way, if your friend comes back to the area sometime, ne could still play that character.

2) the wizard breaks off fromt he rest of the party to complete a mission, and fails. He is captured, subverted and now is a pawn of the daelkyr planning the invasion int he first place.

3) The wizard, being an amazingly high level wizard, for Eberron, is 'asked' by some wizard circle to act as an advisor to the regency council which will rule Galifar while the new Galifarian king grows up to an age where he can rule properly.

Or just have him be possessed by a quori and have the party kill him for you...
yrogerg
08-04-06, 08:55 PM If your player's working with you to find a way to go out in a blaze of glory, and you have a couple of sessions in which to set it up, may I suggest dropping one of the various explodey staves in his lap?

A Staff of Power's retributive strike sounds kinda ideal for this situation. You could even aim to neutralize (or at least severely weaken) the entire party's ability to fight-including the wizard, and set up a moment-of-despiration where the staff's retributive strike is the only option left. Plus, if there's any chance that the player might come back into the area at a later date, or you might want to use an NPC based on the character, you can have him get transported to a different plane, as per the retributive strike description.

The only problem, is the staff's a bit pricey for a 10th level party, so having it show up in the loot might come across as a bit of a railroad. I dunno.
igotsmeakabob!!
08-04-06, 09:18 PM I say that Mr. 10th Level Wizard with no NPC classes should go and do one of the things Edy suggested. He could be a contact for the PCs later, and everyone likes seeing old friends.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Tait Ransom 07-30-06, 11:21 PM	My group (warforged fighter, dwarf artificer, changling rogue, human wizard) are all about 10th level and have just finished a major quest in the village of Wolf's Paw which is in the Eldeen Reaches. The party has learned of an impending invasion of Khorvaire by an army of giants and aberrations from Khyber. They also learned that only if the Five Nations stand united (ie: the Galifar Kingdom is re-established) can the people of Khorvaire defeat the horde. The party was in Wolf's Paw to find a map to the lost monastery that is the only known site with the true identity of the true heir to the Galifar throne, and have succeeded. They will now follow the map to the monastery, in the northern part of Thrane. The problem is that the player of the human wizard had to leave the area. He will not be returning. I need to think of a way to write the wizard out in such a way that the character has a dramatic death. The party has made enemies of a chaos cult in Sharn, Githyanki from Riedra (especially the brother of one who they recently killed ... Githyanki essentially replace the Quori in my campaign) and a small group of young dragons unrelated to the Chamber. Any suggestions? I plan to write out what happens on the group's trip to Thrane and describe the encounter in which the wizard is killed. I'm trying to come up with a scenario in which a) the rest of the party's abilities would be neutralized or severely hampered, b) the wizard's abilities would be unaffected, and c) the wizard would be in a position to sacrifice himself to kill their opponent or delay him enough to save the party or let them escape. Any suggestions?
ekomega 07-31-06, 12:27 AM	When some people left my group, I took a page from the show "Dead Like Me": A gigantic, toilet shaped Siberys dragonshard fell out of the Ring and struck the person, killing him in a fiery inferno. The shard also disintegrated from the impact.
Raziel_Brokodar 07-31-06, 01:22 AM	When some people left my group, I took a page from the show "Dead Like Me": A gigantic, toilet shaped Siberys dragonshard fell out of the Ring and struck the person, killing him in a fiery inferno. The shard also disintegrated from the impact. hahahaha!
Cutlass 07-31-06, 01:22 AM	Another option is to simply have the group being ambushed with the wizard directly targeted by a high level rogue or assassin. Have a bunch of relatively low level bad guys tie up the other members of the party and then have one or two of the lesser bad guys set up the wizard for a flank attack by the main bad guy.
DragonWatcher 07-31-06, 09:04 AM	Or... the group is attacked, and the wizard is captured, not killed. The rest of the group can be KO'd or just distracted. Later it can be revealed that the wizard was only along to achieve his own ends, which involved something else that was discovered in Wolf's Paw (without the knowledge of the rest of the party). Now they could have to try to stop their former friend before he does something that will unleash a great evil... or, he might become a future sponsor to the group, having firsthand experienced their competence at solving problems. Though you could also just go with the toilet-seat-shaped syberies dragonshard idea. ;)
Darth_Dread 07-31-06, 03:36 PM	I like the idea of having the wizard playing the rest of the party for fools and dupes, before finally betraying them. It plays well with the "noir" aspects of Eberron story telling "that just when the PC's think everything is going well and it's all under control the rug get pulled out from under them." Discovering this, then they will have to face their "freind" either killing him if that be your choice as DM or letting him escape to show up later as a reoccurring NPC nemesis to the party. Now the party has to re-evaluate each other and their relationships, there is that fine line of trust that has been violated and it might cause all to question each individual in the groupand themselves. That's what I'd do. ;)
Dragonmann 08-01-06, 02:02 PM	In a word, Mindseed
bromleylaerchenheim 08-04-06, 10:39 AM	My group (warforged fighter, dwarf artificer, changling rogue, human wizard) are all about 10th level and have just finished a major quest in the village of Wolf's Paw which is in the Eldeen Reaches. The party has learned of an impending invasion of Khorvaire by an army of giants and aberrations from Khyber. They also learned that only if the Five Nations stand united (ie: the Galifar Kingdom is re-established) can the people of Khorvaire defeat the horde. The party was in Wolf's Paw to find a map to the lost monastery that is the only known site with the true identity of the true heir to the Galifar throne, and have succeeded. They will now follow the map to the monastery, in the northern part of Thrane. Any suggestions? When they finally reach the lost monastry they found the monks secretly corrupted by a strange sect that is in fact puppeteered by an agent of the Lords of the Dust. Just beneath the monastry lies a gate to Khyber wich in fact leads to a vault where one of the dalkyr is sealed away. The sect is about to open the seals and to release the fiend. Meanwhile also a group of gatekeeper druids is about to enter Khyber to prevent the sect from freeing the dalkyr. So the group at some point will be in the position to help the druids battling the sect and the Lords of the Dust agent. In the climatic battle - just before the final seal could be prevented from being opend - the magic of the gatekeepers portal sucks away the live force of some setiers, the lords agent and the wizard, effectivly trapping them all together behind the portal. This will leave poor wizard in eternal company of a dalkyr and his player definitly in awe and horror...
Edymnion 08-04-06, 10:52 AM	Another viewpoint, why does the wizard have to die just because he won't be played anymore? If the goal is to prepare Khovaire for invasion, and this is a 10th level wizard (which is extremely powerful for Eberron), why not have the character be invited to join one of the elite wizarding circles of Eberron, like the Arcane Congress? Or maybe he gets a position as a professor at Arcanix. Something that he can use his influence to help further the goal even if he isn't actively adventuring anymore. Make a good NPC out of him while giving the party access to some influencial people.
poisondusk 08-04-06, 02:24 PM	my thoughts...why kill him. 1) have him break off from the party to complete a mission of his own which will, eventually, get the party some information or service they need. This way, if your friend comes back to the area sometime, ne could still play that character. 2) the wizard breaks off fromt he rest of the party to complete a mission, and fails. He is captured, subverted and now is a pawn of the daelkyr planning the invasion int he first place. 3) The wizard, being an amazingly high level wizard, for Eberron, is 'asked' by some wizard circle to act as an advisor to the regency council which will rule Galifar while the new Galifarian king grows up to an age where he can rule properly. Or just have him be possessed by a quori and have the party kill him for you...
yrogerg 08-04-06, 08:55 PM	If your player's working with you to find a way to go out in a blaze of glory, and you have a couple of sessions in which to set it up, may I suggest dropping one of the various explodey staves in his lap? A Staff of Power's retributive strike sounds kinda ideal for this situation. You could even aim to neutralize (or at least severely weaken) the entire party's ability to fight-including the wizard, and set up a moment-of-despiration where the staff's retributive strike is the only option left. Plus, if there's any chance that the player might come back into the area at a later date, or you might want to use an NPC based on the character, you can have him get transported to a different plane, as per the retributive strike description. The only problem, is the staff's a bit pricey for a 10th level party, so having it show up in the loot might come across as a bit of a railroad. I dunno.
igotsmeakabob!! 08-04-06, 09:18 PM	I say that Mr. 10th Level Wizard with no NPC classes should go and do one of the things Edy suggested. He could be a contact for the PCs later, and everyone likes seeing old friends.