Merrix d'Cannith Kidnapping [Archive] - Wizards Community

Merrix d'Cannith Kidnapping [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
sizzlan
07-26-06, 05:52 AM Aloha everyone,

my players need to kidnap the Eberron celebrity mentioned in the title above. They are all Lvl 13 (incl. an artificer) and have access to a huge variety of magic items and spells. Any ideas how to setup an interesting adventure?

Thx,

Sizzlan
Purple Yin
07-26-06, 07:41 AM he'd be least guarded when on an airship.

if your chars act fast, they could pull it off-
teleport in, charm him, dispell the elemental bindings, and teleport out with him.

all other times he'd be deep within the cannith buildings and labs (apart from the secret lab in the cogs...)

speaking of which- if your chars know there's a secret lab in the cogs they might be able to grab him there.
Grymar
07-26-06, 08:13 AM Cannith Forgehold in the Cogs of Sharn is exceptionally defended. Dimensional anchors, Wand Adepts, warforged, plus at least one iron golem...it isn't an easy task.

They would be better served striking in public...Merrix goes to a ball or is invited to a city council meeting. Strike while he is in route, then teleport or plane shift away to throw off pursuit. Make sure you take into account that divination will be used to find the kidnappers.
Thanqol
07-26-06, 08:29 AM Merrix d'Cannith is a slightly mad and possibly quite paranoid person. I'd play this up. Perhaps he regularly visits a scryer and has been warned that people are "out to get him" - or perhaps he decided this on his own - and lives in constant paranoia. Imagine the American gun-nut who thinks that the only way to protect his home is to fortify it with concrete walls, video cameras, and over sixty loaded and armed rifles. Make the players wonder how one frail man can contain such paranoia - and have him constantly thwart schemes to kidnap him with sheer layers of defences.
A good result is having a team of exhausted and angry players gnashing their teeth as they look for holes in defences in a map. When one comes up with a 'Eureka' moment - let them have it! By that point, they'll have earned it.
TeediousPrime
07-26-06, 12:28 PM Why do the players need to pull this off, for one thing? Is there a time frame in which they need to achieve it? That could affect the entire pulse of the adventure. The players will have to resort to extreme and desperate methods if there is a ticking clock over their heads.
Merrix is a magical prodigy, so the huge amount of magical items and spells shouldn't be relied on too heavily. If your players are the types to think things out, mundane methods might prove to be "so simple it just might work."
The artificer in the party might be seeking an audience with the celebrity. Perhaps the party could befriend him. If you're taking the paranoid "Dale Gribble from King of the Hill" road with him, they might find their way into his
good graces, but it would take quite some time. They might decide to set up a few false incidents in which they appear to save his life; the only way to get into the confidence of an advanced paranoiac is to put yourself into numerous situations where you could kill or abduct him and not do it. That will make it more unexpected when they move. They might even go as far as to set up a false "traitor" in the group and expel that character when the "plot" is discovered. Willingness to turn on one's own is also a good indicator to a paranoiac that they are safe. Of course this begs the question of what to do with said character; if they go so far as to have him imprisoned for his "treason," then they will have to break him free somehow in addition to absconding with their target.
Are their any Warforged in the party? They might prove to be suitably disarming and intriguing to Merrix's imagination. If their is a Warforged, the rest of the party might play it off as a "we're only here because of him" kind of way. The 'Forged could adopt the attitude of "they don't understand, but you can trust me. He might be able to get some good information.
As DM, don't make it easy. This sounds like a long-term mission, taking a string of sessions to pull off. Make it exciting; if they succeed in snagging the guy, their escape should be highly pursued and accompanied by arrows, bolts, spells, and explosions. Come up with a rigid system of behavior for Mennix and any guards he may have, and put in some none-too-obvious holes for your players to discover. Present various NPCs to give the characters information; a guard that can be bribed to surrender information about Merrix's whereabouts and routines; perhaps a guard who cannot be bribed but is susceptible to blackmail or threats. If the character's are already kidnapping Merrix, they may not object to kidnapping the wife or child of someone they want to work on in order to get more information. Present an NPC with ulterior motives who has the info they need but will only hand it over for a high price. Maybe he/she is even in love with one of the PCs. ;)
Above all, if it's fun for you to plan, it should be fun for them to play.
DarkWarriorKarg
07-26-06, 12:58 PM Isn't there a relatively low-level spell in the Spell Compendium that lets one person switch places with another?

Replace Merrix with an expendable invisible goon... or the party mage, invisible, ready to teleport out...
Purple Yin
07-26-06, 01:35 PM the minitures handbook (i think) has Baleful Transposition- which does exactly that. Swaps an enemy with a friend.
A_Wizard_for_Breakfast
07-28-06, 03:02 PM I like running Eberron, but I've stayed away from Sharn and let the PCs explore the world a bit more. As such, I'm not certain on how exactly Merrix is portrayed in the books.

I've always thought of him as something akin to the classic "Wizard in the Tower". He just sits about, studies and perfects his magic and lets his magical defenses and minions take care of things. Maybe not extremely paranoid, but definitely enjoying his seclusion. He may deal with the other House Cannith members, but I've never really seen him as interacting directly with many others. Again, this is probably not how the books portray him, just how I think of him.

That said, he's a genius! There are constructs "living" within his secret lab in the Cogs that no one has ever seen before. He's perfected magic items that no one has ever heard of; he's probably researched spells to be put into wands and staffs that are totally unique.

I would never provide an opportunity for the players to attack him in transit. With his resources, he can pay for teleports or make his own. He has ways of making mundane travel unnecessary.

I may surprise the PCs by having it not be completely impossible to get to him, but very very difficult to actually kidnap him. He knows they're coming, and puts up a fight. Or doesn't...another possible surprise. He could be a bit insane, after all.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
sizzlan 07-26-06, 05:52 AM	Aloha everyone, my players need to kidnap the Eberron celebrity mentioned in the title above. They are all Lvl 13 (incl. an artificer) and have access to a huge variety of magic items and spells. Any ideas how to setup an interesting adventure? Thx, Sizzlan
Purple Yin 07-26-06, 07:41 AM	he'd be least guarded when on an airship. if your chars act fast, they could pull it off- teleport in, charm him, dispell the elemental bindings, and teleport out with him. all other times he'd be deep within the cannith buildings and labs (apart from the secret lab in the cogs...) speaking of which- if your chars know there's a secret lab in the cogs they might be able to grab him there.
Grymar 07-26-06, 08:13 AM	Cannith Forgehold in the Cogs of Sharn is exceptionally defended. Dimensional anchors, Wand Adepts, warforged, plus at least one iron golem...it isn't an easy task. They would be better served striking in public...Merrix goes to a ball or is invited to a city council meeting. Strike while he is in route, then teleport or plane shift away to throw off pursuit. Make sure you take into account that divination will be used to find the kidnappers.
Thanqol 07-26-06, 08:29 AM	Merrix d'Cannith is a slightly mad and possibly quite paranoid person. I'd play this up. Perhaps he regularly visits a scryer and has been warned that people are "out to get him" - or perhaps he decided this on his own - and lives in constant paranoia. Imagine the American gun-nut who thinks that the only way to protect his home is to fortify it with concrete walls, video cameras, and over sixty loaded and armed rifles. Make the players wonder how one frail man can contain such paranoia - and have him constantly thwart schemes to kidnap him with sheer layers of defences. A good result is having a team of exhausted and angry players gnashing their teeth as they look for holes in defences in a map. When one comes up with a 'Eureka' moment - let them have it! By that point, they'll have earned it.
TeediousPrime 07-26-06, 12:28 PM	Why do the players need to pull this off, for one thing? Is there a time frame in which they need to achieve it? That could affect the entire pulse of the adventure. The players will have to resort to extreme and desperate methods if there is a ticking clock over their heads. Merrix is a magical prodigy, so the huge amount of magical items and spells shouldn't be relied on too heavily. If your players are the types to think things out, mundane methods might prove to be "so simple it just might work." The artificer in the party might be seeking an audience with the celebrity. Perhaps the party could befriend him. If you're taking the paranoid "Dale Gribble from King of the Hill" road with him, they might find their way into his good graces, but it would take quite some time. They might decide to set up a few false incidents in which they appear to save his life; the only way to get into the confidence of an advanced paranoiac is to put yourself into numerous situations where you could kill or abduct him and not do it. That will make it more unexpected when they move. They might even go as far as to set up a false "traitor" in the group and expel that character when the "plot" is discovered. Willingness to turn on one's own is also a good indicator to a paranoiac that they are safe. Of course this begs the question of what to do with said character; if they go so far as to have him imprisoned for his "treason," then they will have to break him free somehow in addition to absconding with their target. Are their any Warforged in the party? They might prove to be suitably disarming and intriguing to Merrix's imagination. If their is a Warforged, the rest of the party might play it off as a "we're only here because of him" kind of way. The 'Forged could adopt the attitude of "they don't understand, but you can trust me. He might be able to get some good information. As DM, don't make it easy. This sounds like a long-term mission, taking a string of sessions to pull off. Make it exciting; if they succeed in snagging the guy, their escape should be highly pursued and accompanied by arrows, bolts, spells, and explosions. Come up with a rigid system of behavior for Mennix and any guards he may have, and put in some none-too-obvious holes for your players to discover. Present various NPCs to give the characters information; a guard that can be bribed to surrender information about Merrix's whereabouts and routines; perhaps a guard who cannot be bribed but is susceptible to blackmail or threats. If the character's are already kidnapping Merrix, they may not object to kidnapping the wife or child of someone they want to work on in order to get more information. Present an NPC with ulterior motives who has the info they need but will only hand it over for a high price. Maybe he/she is even in love with one of the PCs. ;) Above all, if it's fun for you to plan, it should be fun for them to play.
DarkWarriorKarg 07-26-06, 12:58 PM	Isn't there a relatively low-level spell in the Spell Compendium that lets one person switch places with another? Replace Merrix with an expendable invisible goon... or the party mage, invisible, ready to teleport out...
Purple Yin 07-26-06, 01:35 PM	the minitures handbook (i think) has Baleful Transposition- which does exactly that. Swaps an enemy with a friend.
A_Wizard_for_Breakfast 07-28-06, 03:02 PM	I like running Eberron, but I've stayed away from Sharn and let the PCs explore the world a bit more. As such, I'm not certain on how exactly Merrix is portrayed in the books. I've always thought of him as something akin to the classic "Wizard in the Tower". He just sits about, studies and perfects his magic and lets his magical defenses and minions take care of things. Maybe not extremely paranoid, but definitely enjoying his seclusion. He may deal with the other House Cannith members, but I've never really seen him as interacting directly with many others. Again, this is probably not how the books portray him, just how I think of him. That said, he's a genius! There are constructs "living" within his secret lab in the Cogs that no one has ever seen before. He's perfected magic items that no one has ever heard of; he's probably researched spells to be put into wands and staffs that are totally unique. I would never provide an opportunity for the players to attack him in transit. With his resources, he can pay for teleports or make his own. He has ways of making mundane travel unnecessary. I may surprise the PCs by having it not be completely impossible to get to him, but very very difficult to actually kidnap him. He knows they're coming, and puts up a fight. Or doesn't...another possible surprise. He could be a bit insane, after all.