Help me get revenge

[Mad Maudlin]

So, here's the story in all its tragic inevitability.

Our party (Playing the Shackled City adventure path) came across a group of bandits who had taken over a particular tavern, in which we knew there were friendly NPCs hiding trapped. My character, a beguiler/sorcerer, was uneasy with the idea of killing these people out of hand, so she went a little crazy with the subdural damage and sleep spells. Unfortunately the rest of the party disagreed with her, and started slaughtering the bandits while they slept.

My beguiler manages to secure the safety of one of the prisoners and starts up with the diplomacy - we get a map of the tavern, and directions to the stairs down to the cellar where we know the NPCs are hiding. Instead of killing him, she advocates paying him off to forget our faces, etc. and manages to convince the party bard that this is better (No one else has figured out how to say 'no' to the bard). So, we let him go with twenty gold.

Then the party rogue excuses himself - he has to answer the call of nature, and disappears outside. Everyone else fails their sense motive. He comes back without comment. Then we see a problem with the map the bandit drew us, and my beguiler trots outside to see if she can catch up with him. I make my search check to find the late lamented prisoner's remains. She returns to the rest of the party, claims she couldn’t find the bandit, bluff check successful.

So. This is one of those things where I need to figure out how to act in character without messing up the game. Given my beguiler's personality, the obvious solution would be to quit the party, skip town and never look back. But then that would leave the party sadly in need of an arcane spellcaster, since they don’t even carry magic weapons yet.

So I've put 'revenge against the bloodthirsty rogue' on my beguiler's to do list. She has two levels of beguiler at her service, and three levels of sorcerer (spells as follows: Caltrops, ray of frost, detect poison, mage hand, flare, corrosive grasp, magic missile, ray of flame) She also has a necklace of fireballs, a wand of sleep, a potion of invisibility and a jug with something like a create water spell on it. Other resources are: good modifiers to bluff, diplomacy and sense motive, and a friendly relationship with a local noble/adventurer with political clout.

One other thing - the DM is somewhat inexperienced, especially with magic (some battles are more than 50% looking up the effects of spells and arguing how to make a ranged touch attack) so I don’t want to do anything to make her job too difficult.

Any ideas?

[Quietus]

Um. Let's say, for a moment, your Beguiler is Good-aligned, since if you mentioned that I failed to see it. Let's also assume that even if they're chaotic, they're more or less okay with the legal system.

... Turn the rogue over to the law?

[leperkhaun]

well, it is possible that instead of wanting to leave, your character could realize that maybe that bandit was giving you false info so they could escape.

anyway, in the intreast of party stuff, your character might want to mention that he wasnt as slick as he thought he was and that you will be watching him.

[SoD]

First idea that presents itself: whenever he's asleep: mage hand. So that when he wakes up, everything he owns that's five pounds or less is gone. Other options do present themselves, however, I beleive you want one that doesn't actually hurt the rogue, am I right?

[Nero24200]

Mage hand his weapon out of his hand, and corrisve grasp it.

If the party asks "Why did you do that?"
You simply respond with "So he doesn't murder anyone -else- we have agreeded to spare"

[Tempest Fennac]

I'd say turning himover to the town guard would be the best idea (alternatively, I'd say that telling the rest of the party (in character) would be wise.

[Kioran]

How patient are you? I´d, for one, either wait till you have "suggestion", or command this guy into fessing up in front of the party, or force him into public humiliation. God knows he´d have deserved it.

[Tempest Fennac]

That is a really good one (if you decide to humilliate him, just make sure it isn't likely to offend anyone unless you want rocks falling on your head out of thin air).

[Shademan]

revenge? START by getting the spell arcane mark. when the rogue sleeps sneak up and cast it on his forehead. imagine him walking around with MURDERER in his forehead?

[Mad Maudlin]

Oh, hey, that was quick!

Oops, I did forget my alignment - Both the rogue and the beguiler are CN, and most of the rest of the party are chaotic good (We also have a LN monk). I'd kinda prefer to avoid the watch - my beguiler's come to the conclusion that they're all slack-jawed incompetents. Also, turning the rogue in kinda defeats the purpose of trying to keep the party together...


First idea that presents itself: whenever he's asleep: mage hand. So that when he wakes up, everything he owns that's five pounds or less is gone. Other options do present themselves, however, I beleive you want one that doesn't actually hurt the rogue, am I right?

I like this idea, though... I could always try 'haunting' him with silent images of the dead guy, and beguiler spells like ghost sound/dancing lights/obscuring mist could help with that... Although I'm now drawn towards Kioran/ Shademan's 'public humiliation' idea. I could get a scroll of arcane mark? (We're miles away from the next level... not to mention that suggestion is four levels off :smallfrown: )

Thing is, I don't want to tip my hand too soon - the player knows that revenge is on the slow-boil, but the character is blissfully unaware.

[kamikasei]

revenge? START by getting the spell arcane mark. when the rogue sleeps sneak up and cast it on his forehead. imagine him walking around with MURDERER in his forehead?

"Your personal rune or mark" is MURDERER? Not to mention that it's too long for the spell (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/arcaneMark.htm).

[Tempest Fennac]

I'd say you would be doing the right thing by waiting. What were you thinking of doing regarding public humilliation? Prestigitation ould be useful you wanted to get him drunk due to how it would disguise the taste of alcohol.

[Shademan]

"Your personal rune or mark" is MURDERER? Not to mention that it's too long for the spell.


nonsense, watson. our good sir just need to cast the spell eight times!
if he can change his "rune" that is...


but yeah, i suppose you got point

[Roderick_BR]

How about using illusions when the group is resting, the rogue is sleeping, etc, to mess with the rogue. Spread his (blood covered) daggers around, with the words "murderer" written in the sand, or with blood (if there's enough).
In others parts, spread his gold around, and let a piece of paper with shiny paint (ask if your DM allows alchemy checks to make it) written "divine justice is nigh".
Make it look like something is out to get him for his crimes, and see if he gets nervous.
If there is a cleric or paladin that is wiling to help, ask tips on justice deity names or clerical texts to add. They are allowed to fib a bit when they say they don't know who is writting the messages.

[Mad Maudlin]

How about using illusions when the group is resting, the rogue is sleeping, etc, to mess with the rogue. Spread his (blood covered) daggers around, with the words "murderer" written in the sand, or with blood (if there's enough).
In others parts, spread his gold around, and let a piece of paper with shiny paint (ask if your DM allows alchemy checks to make it) written "divine justice is nigh".
Make it look like something is out to get him for his crimes, and see if he gets nervous.
If there is a cleric or paladin that is wiling to help, ask tips on justice deity names or clerical texts to add. They are allowed to fib a bit when they say they don't know who is writting the messages.

These ideas rock out loud :smallbiggrin: Maybe the DM would allow an alchemy check for indelible paint too - solves my problem with arcane mark... Although I still like the connotations of placing my 'personal' mark on his backside.

I wouldn't need prestidigitation to get the rogue drunk - just offer to buy the fighter's first round if he challenges the rogue to a drinking contest. They drink each other into a stupor on a semi regular basis.

[The_Werebear]

One thing to consider- Is the rogue a talkative drunk? If he tends to flap his lips overmuch while intoxicated, you might be able to get a public confession out of him with a few skillful bluff checks.

[Draemr]

You only need two Arcane Marks to write MURDERER on his forehead (or backside if thats your thing :smallbiggrin: ) One arcane mark allows you to place MURDER on him which would work the same way.

One problem, the spell requires you to inscribe your mark on the rogue so a sleep spell may be in order.

[Mad Maudlin]

You only need two Arcane Marks to write MURDERER on his forehead (or backside if thats your thing :smallbiggrin: ) One arcane mark allows you to place MURDER on him which would work the same way.

One problem, the spell requires you to inscribe your mark on the rogue so a sleep spell may be in order.

I could get KILLER... but I would expect to still trip over the whole 'your personal rune or mark' thing. The DM has no reason to believe that 'killer' has been my personal mark all along...

[holywhippet]

Can you afford some scrolls of animate dead? Use one to animate the dead body and order it to follow the rogue around. If it gets "killed", come back an animate it later. You could also hire a low level cleric to trail the party and keep reviving the corpse each time.

[SpiderMew]

One word
prestidigitation.

You can use that to make him think he's being haunted by those he's murded senselessly

Blood on his hands constantly
His food always tasting rotten
his water salty
blood randomly flowing from his eyes

Just use that for all your 0 levels
every day
Untill he freaks out and confesses.

[...Eh?]

I'm all for the "haunting" ideas, especially since between prestidigiatation, mage hand, and ghost sounds, you've got everything you need to do it. I'm not familiar with the caltrops spells, but assuming you can remember where the bandit was stabbed, trying using it to lant caltrops in the rogue's bed at about wherever the bandit was stabbed; this works best if you can dismiss the caltrops once they've pricked him. Phantom knives are pretty hard to ignore.

[Irreverent Fool]

Hold a grudge. My CN sorcerer held a grudge against the psionicist halfling in our party for nearly 12 levels before he finally got his revenge (the plotting and success of which shifted his alignment to NE).

Brood on it. Plot. Let the hate grow in your character's heart until his every effort toward advancement is to do Bad Things to the rogue for the slaughter of an innocent. Take this time to come up with some one-liner for when you finally reveal yourself as the source of all his misfortunes.

Edit: Ranks in UMD and a scroll of Ice Assassin. He'll never know who did it!

[Tempest Fennac]

What exactly did you do to get revenge, Irreverent Fool? It may be a bad idea to do anything that would shift your alingment (especially if there's a Paladin in the group).

[Mad Maudlin]

Can you afford some scrolls of animate dead? Use one to animate the dead body and order it to follow the rogue around. If it gets "killed", come back an animate it later. You could also hire a low level cleric to trail the party and keep reviving the corpse each time.

This idea I like! Oh, but animate dead is so expensive... and a silent image of a zombie just wouldn't cut it... I have some loot I could sell when no one's looking - I don't have much use for a decanter of endless water, really... This would be SO good!

[MorkaisChosen]

There's a big debate about this, but Animate Object on the corpse could work just as well (it counts as an object, as far as I know).

Other than that? Keep him awake, Silent Image of a bloody dagger, whenever he's eating do a Silent Image of the dead guyat the end of the table staring at him with soulless eyes, maybe get some trees to attack him.

Thanks to Mr W. Shakespeare for those.

[Draemr]

Other than that? Keep him awake, Silent Image of a bloody dagger, whenever he's eating do a Silent Image of the dead guy at the end of the table staring at him with soulless eyes, maybe get some trees to attack him.

Thanks to Mr W. Shakespeare for those.


:smallbiggrin: :smallbiggrin: :smallbiggrin:

I'm studying Macbeth at the moment!
These are great ideas, especially if they get the reference.

A question, you said there was a problem with the map/instructions that the dead guy gave you. Do you know if that was intentional or accidental?

Also, say now you drive the rogue to repentence, where will it end? An apology? Or do you want more?

[Shademan]

promise us you tell us how it turned out, mkay?

:smallbiggrin: :smallbiggrin: :smallbiggrin: :smallbiggrin:

[Mad Maudlin]

Of course, with the dagger, I don't even need silent image - mage hand would do:

"Is this a dagger I see before me?"
"Yeah, it is." *Stabs the rogue in the face*


A question, you said there was a problem with the map/instructions that the dead guy gave you. Do you know if that was intentional or accidental?

Also, say now you drive the rogue to repentence, where will it end? An apology? Or do you want more?

Accidental on the NPCs part, on purpose by the DM. She didn't want us to know everything about the place, and hadn't counted on diplomacy.

I think I'll let him go with repentance - I don't even need a public apology (Although a confession would be nice)


promise us you tell us how it turned out, mkay?

:smallbiggrin: :smallbiggrin: :smallbiggrin: :smallbiggrin:

Well, we only game on sundays, and our group has a habit of moving really slowly, so it could be weeks before I get a result... but I'll post when I can :smallbiggrin:

[Tempest Fennac]

Thanks (I'm curious about how this will unfold as well).