Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Banana_Fingers May 14, 2015 23:18:07	Sooooooo..... one of my players consistently does things the hard way and he just got the group in a ... "situation"   We are playing the Hoard of the Dragon Queen module and we are at the "On the Road" episode.   We have 3 people that like to take things slow and one person that just acts on his own, without discussion.   So the 3 characters were trying to play it cool and do a little investigation work to see what they could find out from various NPC's etc (all good)... The 4th dude, starts walking up to the cultists on the first day saying things like, "Hail Tiamat" and "What's in the wagon?" (Being as conspicuous as possible)... By the 4th day of 40 (15 minutes into the episode/session), he decides this isn’t going fast enough so he attempts to charm one of the confirmed cultists. He charms the guy, finds out that they are taking the wagons to Water Deep to rendezvous with one of the leaders before it starts the next leg of the journey (he doesn’t know where). When the spell wears off, the cultist obviously knows that he was charmed, arranges for the death of that character from a couple of the traveling guards in the night. After the attempt was foiled and the morning comes, the merchant (who was charmed), said he had no idea why his guard attempted to murder the character to the caravan leader (Great deception check). In response, the PC witch bolts the guy in the face, causing him to explode. So then all the characters get in a fight with 24 cultists (6 wagons at 4 cultists a piece), they end up killing all of them.   So now I have 4 characters with 6 wagons full of loot and a caravan full of frightened commoners and dead guards/cultists.   To recap - 1. They have no idea who/what/where/when (which was the entire mission) 2. I now have to figure out 6 wagons full of treasure 3. The odds of them running into the Red Wizard and the Gnome are pretty small   I know this isn’t the end of the campaign (this might be more of a vent than anything), Im curious though what you guys do in this situation? If they decide to rummage through or sell the loot, what should I give them? Should I attempt to get this campaign back on track or should I just run it randomly from here?   Thanks
#2 CFK May 15, 2015 0:27:25	Oef... Almost had the same thing. The party squired off against the cultists. But at the last moment the party backed off. That'll have a kickback in one of tha later episodes! (The one they are in right now)     You could try to steer them in the right direction. Let someone (or something) convince them that they need to disguise themselfs as the cultists. They know most of the plans so why not? It's a great option to continue with the campaign from there.   If they try to sell the stuff, let "A word" of that go to the rest of the cult or the raided towns. Then they have 2 groups wanting to kill them. They can then redeem themselves by finding out what the cult wants and stopping them.
#3 CCS May 15, 2015 7:02:48	Awesome! Wether I'm DMing or playing, this is always my favorite moment in an adventure. When the action takes a random turn & the whole thing goes off script. I'd wing it! --------- Now I'm not really familiar with the adventure, so; 1) Why are there commoners in the cults treasure caravan? Were they taking prisoners? Or were the cult just mixing into an existing caravan? Either way, assuming the PCs are "good guys" it looks like they've got a potential job in escorting the now unprotected commoners to at least the nearest town etc. What happens en-route? 2) What's the importance of the Gnome & Red Wizard? 3) After a while won't the cult wonder where it's loot went? I'd have them eventually send out search squads or start scrying....
#4 Coredump00 May 15, 2015 8:15:21	What do your other players feel about how it went down.   If they have no problem, then cool.  But if it were me, I would be pissed that one PC basically sabatoged the entire mission for the rest of us.  If that is the case, your table may need a 'session 0' to work out what everyone is hoping to get out of the game.  I would not want to play with someone that is going to be so selfish as to do whatever they want, regardless of the goals the group is trying to achieve.   But like I said, if the rest of the players don't care... or think it was cool....thats a different situation.   In that case, as DM I would probably not put much effort into planning, since that player may just do any random thing which may invalidate the planning.  Keep it simple and wing it from now on.
#5 Banana_Fingers May 15, 2015 9:03:23	Yea I figured winging it from here would be the best course of action - the cult is obviously going to know that the "merchants" and wagon gaurds are missing eventually.   My current plan was to have the cult scry in a few days to see the progress of the caravan. When they see that the person they are scrying is dead, send out a search team. As I understand scrying, they can only scry a person, after that they would need locate object to descern the general direction of a specific object in the loot. Technically, the cult should have no idea who killed the entire caravan if they leave the scene quickly - and if they get rid of the loot quickly, they shouldnt even be traceable.   Question though, if they decide to sell the loot, what should i give them for 6 wagons full of treasure? 1,500 gp per wagon? should I throw any magic items in it?   @Coredump - The guy is "mostly" just playing his character traits - "Act first - never think about the consequences"
#6 Banana_Fingers May 15, 2015 10:51:07	As a second question - the group only knew that two of the 24 people they killed were cultists - if they end up selling the wagons full of loot (which is essentially blood money from peasents of the surrounding area), does this officailly make them Chaotic Neutral?    I ask because two of the people worship Torm and Chauntea which are Good gods.   These two people were sent by their gods for different reasons to stop Tiamat. In light of this, would their gods punish them or turn their back on them? possibly take away a spell slot or two?   Even the killing of 22 people would seem to tip the scales towards CN, I figure taking the blood money would put it over the top.   Edit: Reading the RAW of 3.5, it says that all spells would be forfeited until the character re-proves his loyalty and gains an attonement spell from the church. Interesting.
#7 Siruther May 15, 2015 13:14:37	Did they outright kill them or only after being attacked or verbally backed into a wall? Also look up the rites and regulations of thier deity there isnt much stuff out right now but for earlier editions they have some pretty detailed work on the gods and thier customs. I would like to add that your characters aren't regular people in the world , they are adventurers. Most people in my games dislike adventurers because of thier brash and most often disrepectful attitudes. So maybe play off that, this is supposed to be a medival type world where you word is your bond when someone disregards that because they are suspicious of people, normal people aka. caravners get real upset or downright hostile. yes they may have been able to prove that a couple of them were cultist but all of them? Also , it says in the book that the cult has all these operations put in place so when they show up to waterdeep with these caravans of goods have the guards ask for their travelling papers that were signed at the last check in point. These were actual methods used in medival europe , its how the lords kept track of the taxes owed to them. Maybe the goods ( which are stolen from people by the cult) are regonized by the guard as stolen goods cause them to be arrested. Don't wanna go to jail? Well maybe if you check out this mysterious area we have been having trouble with we might let you off.
#8 Banana_Fingers May 15, 2015 14:42:20	No, definitely not backed into a wall - the PC walked up to one of the NPC's and witch bolted him in the face - from there, no diplomacy checks from the good characters.   Any thoughts to loot in the wagons if they choose to sell?
#9 pukunui May 15, 2015 16:16:31	CFK wrote:
#10 BRJN May 15, 2015 17:56:35	Chauntea is all about farming and the peasantry.  She will be VERY interested in people getting their stolen stuff back, to the extent reasonably possible.  How DO you track down the owner(s) of $50 in pennies? Torm is called "the True God", not in the sense of monotheism but of honesty and accuracy and truth-telling.  He won't buy into "I stole it from that thief so it's mine."  (Torm-worshipping adventurers should plunder dead guys' stuff instead, there is no problem with returning the loot to its rightful owners.)   Send a former lieutenant to Cyanwrath out to track down the party.  He can invoke Grudge Match Round Three when he catches up to them. Or re-skin a Red Wizard as a Wearer of Purple.  (The noble's bodyguard one-hit-bloodied my Paladin with a Fireball, and impressed us greatly.  Even in Ep8 our party is afraid of spellcasters.) Rezmir will give them a tough fight, and she may be aware of Talis' personal "victory conditions" in Ep7.  Losing the plunder of the Greenest area would probably count as "an embarrassing failure". Your Cult leadership could Locate Object the wagon seat and Scry on that.  They'll know soon enough if the wagon is not moving according to schedule.   Away from table, you need to talk with the hothead's player.  Remind him that stomping all over the rest of the group's plans ruins their night.
#11 BRJN May 15, 2015 18:01:48	Banana_Fingers wrote:
(Reply to #5) Coredump00	Banana_Fingers wrote:
#13 Banana_Fingers May 16, 2015 18:26:14	All good stuff, thanks guys, this helps a lot. I will probably use a combination of just about everything.   The last question that is still looming though - if they do try to sell the loot, what should I give them for it?   Thanks again
#14 pukunui May 16, 2015 18:54:58	Banana_Fingers wrote:
#15 BRJN May 16, 2015 18:57:24	http://community.wizards.com/forum/whats-dm-do/threads/947276 "Art Objects - Pimp My Lair" from the "What's a DM to Do" section of the forums.   Check out the above thread for ideas of what to put in the wagons.  The Cult is not necessarily going to get piles of Gold Coins, they are going to get peoples' stuff.  Some of it is valuable - Amish quilts, Ming vases, sets of silver silverware, great-grandpa's heirloom sword, fancy clothes for important events - and can be fenced for cash when they get to Waterdeep (or some other big city far away from the scene of the crime).   OTOH, it may be easier for you and them to just find a wagon full of GP.  Because some players (such as my Paladin of Civilization) may feel a moral obligation to take obviously-valuable, uniquely identifiable plunder back to its rightful owners.
(Reply to #15) Coredump00	BRJN wrote: