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Were-Sandwich
2008-03-30, 10:44 AM
My party seems to be in a bit of a predicament. (For reference, we're 3rd level Gestalt. I'm playing a Skarn Warblade//Egoist focused on spine-fighting, my brother's playing a Soulknife//Fighter, my friend is playing a Druid//Monk, and the DM's brother, who shows up later, is playing a Cleric of Nerull//Fighter)

After waking up in an abandoned underground research facility with no memory at all and no gear, we fought our way out through Darkmantles, Teiflings and giant robot spiders. We breached the surface andfound our way to a city. Its really big, run by guilds and has lots of tall buildings. In essence, its Ravnica. We met up with a late-joining party member (played by the DM's annoying little brother) and found an inn. We aren't allowed into the main part of the city, we're restricted to the outskirts, due to not having any guild membership, except for the DM's brother's character, who doesn't seem to know much about anything at all. An important point is that no arcane spell casting is allowed inside the city, or the Mage Police 'port in and kick your ass.

Halfway through the night, soem tieflings break into our inn. They ask us to come along quietly back to the facility, and as the Illithid in charge of them could just mind blast us and drag us off, we aquiesced. The Illithid said that our psychic abilities were implanted in the facility, and that any memory we had of our friends, family or homelands, or life before the facility were false and implanted. My character doesn't take this well, and descends into a slow spiral of madness, but that doesn't become relevant until later. He also says that if we don't go back to the facility and let him remove some things in our head we would die (This whole conversation had some great banter "Oh, let me guess, you just happen to need to remove them with your mouth?")

We get to the facility, he doubles crosses us, it all hits the fan, we make some discoveries, kill the Illithid (by using our brains) and make good our escape back to the surface, whilst all the facility workers are trapped down there.

The gist of the plot so far (I wasn't really paying much attention. The DM thinks he's JJ Abrams and had been slowly feeding us info on a very convoluted and wierd plot, and I was starting to zone out) was that the Teiflings leader was wandering around in the snow one day, and found an old man lying comatose in the snow. He took him back into the definetly-not-the-underdark, and somehow discovered he was the most powerful psion ever, and hooked him up to a big machine and used him as a massive psychic battery to power the facility, the ultimate goal of which was to use their big reality-altering machine (which randomly spits out beasties form time to time. thats where the spiders came from) to create a Grand Teifling Empire.

We foiled this plan by busting up their machinery and freeing the psion, who's still unconscious. We escaped by levitating up the giant lift that is the only entrance to the facility, but the teiflings are trapped due to the lack of power to the lift and no way up. We then went back to town, and tried to see if we could claim a bounty on the Illithid at the Adventurer's Guild. We tried, the clerk (who had been a total prat every other time we had visited) tried to get us booked for Adventuring Without A Permit, my slowly-maddening character lost his temper and tried to Psionic Fist + Emerald Razor him with his arm spine. I missed, embarassingly, but my brother's soulknife jumped the counter and turned the guy's lungs into confetti before he could hit me back.

Then the Mage Police teleported in with a bunch of buffs up (despite the fact no one had used an arcane spell. I also question how they could have buffed up and teleported in so accurately in the time between me throwing a punch and the soulknife killing the clerk) and Hold Personed my character and my brother's, then knocked us out.

We woke up in seperate cells. Three walls are stone, one is traditional iron bars, but with a primsatic wall over them as well, that can be dismissed and created at will (not by us, unfortunately). The whole area is dampened against magic (still unclear about whether this applies to psionics, but my gut says it does). We're definetly not on the ground floor, and we havne't yet seen the guards, or how they deliver food.

The mature thing to do would be to accept the consequences of my actions. The immature, and much more fun thing to do, is to break out of jail and either high-tail it or burn the stupid beaucratic nightmare of a city to the ground, as the situation allows.

Resources

The other two party members have refused to help us, out of spite (DMs borther) or confused ideas of how alignment works (Monk//Druid). They have the (still comatose) Psion, and a guild badge, but I'm unclear how much authority that gives them.

I have significant combat ability, but no psychoportation powers other than levitate, along with a few psychokinesis powers and buffs. My maneuvers include nothing that can help (no Stone Dragon strikes). My feats are: Psycarnum Infusion and Azure Talent (which can be comnined to slowly refill my PP reserve), Psionic Fist and Rapid Assault. I have no gear, but I don't need it to fight.

My brother's character also has good combat ability, and can use Inertial Armour (Hidden Talent). He has a bunch of TWF and general combat feats, plus Up The Walls. No way to break through walls.

The other two have pretty crap combat ability due to either being a monk or not knowing the rules too well.

Ideas
Our best chance is if the two free characters can spring us loose, either by force or using the Fighter//Clerics guild connections. Problem is, they aren't willing to help.

Fighting our way out is going to be difficult, because we have no way out of the damn cell. We can handle any guard mooks we encounter, but those lvl 13-14 mages are going to be an issue.

Our hopes don't look good if we go to trial. We might be able to get out of the Unauthorised Magic Use charge by stating that technically, we didn't use any arcane spells, or even manifest any powers. Unfortuneately, the only thing I could ge out of the DM on their legal system is "numbers dont [[Get out on insanity pleas]]. numbers that dont fit into the equation get subtracted." so we can't throw ourselves on the mercy of the court.

If the others can wake up The Worlds Most Powerful Psion he might be able to bust us out out of gratitude, but thats not likely.

Whilst it looks like we're screwed, I'd appreciate any ideas anyone has on how we can get out of this scrape.

DementedFellow
2008-03-30, 10:56 AM
Maybe you could try to escape during your public execution. Wizards aren't as likely to fireball it up if everyone in town is in the square.

MorkaisChosen
2008-03-30, 11:04 AM
Antimagic cells, yes? That means they can't use magic in the celss either. You've got a perfect stronghold- knock out anyone who comes in or near (the Soulknife should be able to use Concentration to manifest even in null-psionics) and you can still use your maneuvers, so just sit tight and take hostages in their own cells.

When they send people in, threaten to gut the hostages.

Counterpower
2008-03-30, 11:12 AM
Demented has a good point. What will happen if you are ruled guilty? Will you be thrown in jail for a very long time, or will you be executed? Does either of those options present a better chance of escaping?

As for resistance at the trial, you missed a possible plan there. Namely, how good is courthouse security? I bet it'll be easier to bust out of the courtroom than the prison cell, especially when neither of you really can be disarmed. If you're going to fight with legalisms, the "it wasn't arcane magic" is your best bet, but I would have thought that your DM would have realized that before he sent in the mage police. That suggests that you broke the law anyway.

I don't really see any other good plans. Unless you can break out of jail somehow when the guards lower the prismatic wall, and even then, those cells seem pretty solid.

May I suggest the idea that the first thing you do when you do escape is hunt down and slay your fellow party members? If you guys are adventuring together, you'd think that they'd want to help you guys out.

Flickerdart
2008-03-30, 11:13 AM
Unless your DM has specifically said that Psionics Are Different (and therefore, your powers would go right through the Police's defences), an anti-magic field would still affect manifesting. The Soulknife would, however, be able to create his blade in such a field as long as he does a Concentration each round, as was already said.

Doing the trial is a bad idea, since even though you may not have technically manifested or cast anything, you still killed a guy.

Adumbration
2008-03-30, 11:23 AM
The thing is, if you have somehow managed to foil some part of the DM's elaborate plot, and he is vindictive, there's practically nothing you can do. I'm getting that hunch from how the wizards teleported already buffed up, although I can't say you're completely blameless either.

Unless the DM feels merciful - which I doubt - he's just going to hang your characters out to dry, and make you make new ones. I don't know, it depends on what kind of DM he is.

DementedFellow
2008-03-30, 11:24 AM
The thing is, if you have somehow managed to foil some part of the DM's elaborate plot, and he is vindictive, there's practically nothing you can do. I'm getting that hunch from how the wizards teleported already buffed up, although I can't say you're completely blameless either.

Unless the DM feels merciful - which I doubt - he's just going to hang your characters out to dry, and make you make new ones. I don't know, it depends on what kind of DM he is.
One of my friends had a character who died, so he introduced the character's "brother" who looked exactly like the first character, had the same abilities, equipment and even the same name.

Just a thought.

Mewtarthio
2008-03-30, 11:54 AM
May I suggest the idea that the first thing you do when you do escape is hunt down and slay your fellow party members? If you guys are adventuring together, you'd think that they'd want to help you guys out.

In their defense, Were-Sandwich and his brother did just kill a guy for threatening them with red tape. Any "betrayal" issues would be strictly OOC.

Jayngfet
2008-03-30, 12:20 PM
We get to the facility, he doubles crosses us, it all hits the fan, we make some discoveries, kill the Illithid (by using our brains)

heartburn?

Were-Sandwich
2008-03-30, 01:26 PM
In their defense, Were-Sandwich and his brother did just kill a guy for threatening them with red tape. Any "betrayal" issues would be strictly OOC.

To be fair, it was capital punishment red tape.

Just had an MSN conversation with the DM. Apparently, the dampening field doesn't affect psionics as they're exceedingly rare in humanoids, so aren't warded against. This makes destroying the guards that coem to feed us very easy. Or, I could just use concussion blast over and over again to smash through the floor/walls.

puppyavenger
2008-03-30, 02:28 PM
Can the soulblade get past the stones hardness?

Were-Sandwich
2008-03-30, 02:35 PM
Unforunately, no. The funny thing is, when we levelled up, I thought about picking up a stone dragon strike "unless we need to break a wall down or something". I decided against it and picked up Emerald Razor instead. Oh, the irony.

Nohwl
2008-03-30, 03:18 PM
wait for the trial. how are they going to get you to the courthouse? i would guess they would have guards, who you said you said you could beat easily, escort you. wait for them to lower the wall, kill them and take their stuff. the mages shouldnt have any way of knowing whats going on (just use melee attacks, no psionic powers, no magic, just punch them to death) so they probably wont teleport to you. if they do, run away. dont even try fighting them.

if its one mage that is going to take you to trial, its going to be a bit harder. it would depend on how the mage got into the room to start. if they teleport in, bull rush them into that prismatic wall. if the mage loweres it, great. kill him and leave. if not, the mage probably wont bother you anymore.if there are two, you might be able to get away with bull rushing one in, and then doing the same to the other, but you would have to get lucky. any more than two (its possible, but i dont think its likely) , and you wont have a chance.

if one mage walks in, try grappling them. low hit points will make it easier to kill them, and the mage wont be anywhere near as effective when being grappled. if two or more walk in, just run.

if anyone can walk in, they have keys to the cell. you want those to free your brother with. make sure you get them.

Funkyodor
2008-03-30, 05:36 PM
You mentioned your character was slipping over into a maddened state? If this was obvious, you have some actions. This works better if your compadre in crime can hear you. But if the others that don't want to help can too, then stay quiet. If you have mental communication even better.

Fake a suicide attempt. Hang yourself with your belt/nick yourself and let blood drip out your mouth while prone on the floor dead. When the guards come, your friend can scream out with the standard movie phrases "Oh My, Guard! Guard! Help him Quickly! He's Dead! Oh, Why! Why!"

Objective one is to get them to lower your sheild. Objective two is to take them out (however you want). Objective three is to keep one alive and concious so he can lower the fields of your friends. Then, once you let everyone out, you can give them the ultimatum "Come with us or not. I don't think the police will believe you had no hand in this."

If the DM has some sort of objectitivity, then you might come out ok. If not, then just say that it was a real suicide, give him the finger, and grab some Taco Bell on the way home.

FlyMolo
2008-03-30, 08:07 PM
Okay, so you're in a cell. The cell is null-magic, but you have an ace up your sleeve. Psionic win buttons. Make your cell your fortress, or ambush the guards when they feed you.

streakster
2008-03-30, 08:51 PM
Hmm. Tough. What are your other maneuvers? Sometimes they can be useful in odd ways...

But yes, blast the walls. When the guards come, take one hostage. Hopefully, this should work - ie, they don't just kill you and said guard. Demand they drop the fields and their weapons. Now blast them, slice them, etc. Tell the others they can stay or not, but you're not going to let such an *abuse* of law stand (thus giving them the excuse they need to act). Proceed with burnination.

Were-Sandwich
2008-03-31, 04:22 AM
Okay, so you're in a cell. The cell is null-magic, but you have an ace up your sleeve. Psionic win buttons. Make your cell your fortress, or ambush the guards when they feed you.

'Psionic Win Buttons' hardly describes my power selection. I have no 'batman' type spells, no save-or-dies, just some buffs, direct damage (crystal shard, concussion blast, mind thrust) and levitate.

nuttyninja
2008-03-31, 05:54 AM
hi all, im the monk//druid character.

The other two party members have refused to help us, out of spite (DMs borther) or confused ideas of how alignment works (Monk//Druid). They have the (still comatose) Psion, and a guild badge, but I'm unclear how much authority that gives them.
At no point did i refuse to help, all i said was i cant see a way of helping, i know nothing of the legal system, i cant see a way of getting in, and i have limited knowledge of dnd.
i know how alignment works and that it means practically nothing!

if anyone out there has any ideas how my character (and even the cleric) can help i, (and im sure my friends), would appriciate them.

David

PS: Were-Sandwich, i hope u realise how much you have exaggerated some points.

Shademan
2008-03-31, 07:27 AM
dont forget to tatoo the map of the prison on your body.

Oeryn
2008-03-31, 11:17 AM
The gist of the plot so far (I wasn't really paying much attention. The DM thinks he's JJ Abrams and had been slowly feeding us info on a very convoluted and wierd plot, and I was starting to zone out) was that the Teiflings...

Reading this, it seems fairly likely to me that you've probably missed something. DMs that focus heavily on plot like that don't often tend to put the party up against unbeatable odds, in my experience. I'm guessin' that he's got lots more for y'all to do, and wants the game to continue.

I'd bet that if you talked it over with your party, and asked the DM some questions, he's left a few loopholes in there somewhere. Chances are there's some non-traditional way to go that you haven't considered yet.

Burley
2008-03-31, 12:53 PM
if anyone out there has any ideas how my character (and even the cleric) can help i, (and im sure my friends), would appriciate them.

Let's see...what can a druid do? What can a Druid do? Hmm...:smallconfused: Oh, that's right: Stomp on the faces of anything and everything that is of equal or lower CR!:smallamused:
You're playing a druid, man! A druid/monk, no less. Your casting stat is your AC bonus. Your character should be nigh untouchable. Use your animal companion, buff him with every spell you can and tear that prison a new one!
Just saying: "Imma doin' it!" should rewrite the laws of the universe to conform to your ways. :smallbiggrin:


PS: Were-Sandwich, i hope u realise how much you have exaggerated some points. Everybody exaggerates to make themselves look better when they're looking for help. But, you shouldn't try to make your teammates and friends look bad in public, just so you look better.
Shame, Were-Sandwich. Shame on you for telling your side of the story. :smalltongue:

(So many smilies!)

The_Werebear
2008-03-31, 01:08 PM
You said you had Levitate, right?

Blast/Bash a hole in the wall and levitate down the side of the building. I wouldn't even bother to fix the hole in the wall, just run like hell.

nobodylovesyou4
2008-03-31, 01:27 PM
dont forget to tatoo the map of the prison on your body.

if that fails, you could always try your hearthstone...

Kiren
2008-03-31, 02:19 PM
hi all, im the monk//druid character.

At no point did i refuse to help, all i said was i cant see a way of helping, i know nothing of the legal system, i cant see a way of getting in, and i have limited knowledge of dnd.
i know how alignment works and that it means practically nothing!

if anyone out there has any ideas how my character (and even the cleric) can help i, (and im sure my friends), would appriciate them.

David

PS: Were-Sandwich, i hope u realise how much you have exaggerated some points.

Being a druid makes this easy, wildshape into a burrowing creature, and burrow into the main floor, depending on your level you could knock out a guard before hand and take his stuff and change your face to look like him, if you cant then burrow in and wildshape into a harmless cat, sneak around as a cat until you find the jailed party members, then wait for a lone guard and take him hostage until he opens up the cells, now, the escape, well level dependant, if you can change your appearence, then stay as a guard then walk them out, bluff that they are for trial today, maybe forgery before hand for the documents. They are home free, now if not, you must break throught the wall, by a grappling hook beforehand, break through the wall with a wildshape or monk fists+ combined weapons, slide down the grappling hooks rope and never come back to that city again,the guard disguise will help fool the mages, with the + bonus to the disguise, hiring someone to break them out if you got the gold in another option, the mages, thats the tough part, try to stay clear of them,

Aquillion
2008-03-31, 03:07 PM
My guess from the description of what's happened so far: The DM wanted to railroad you into prison anyway (hence, 'adventuring without a permit'). When you attacked the guy, he simply changed his excuse. That (and the fact that the field doesn't dampen your psionics) does suggest that you're supposed to escape somehow.

Also, if the DM annoys you and you can't find any other out, murder the unconscious super-psionic guy. Say you're insane or that you've decided he's too dangerous or whatever. NOTE: Your character will die if you do this, but at least you'll die knowing you completely screwed up whatever the DM was planning.

MorkaisChosen
2008-03-31, 04:50 PM
You have three decent melee combatants with some buffs there. I repeat the antimagic fortress idea- use your psionics to buff everyone into insensibility, capture the guy that comes to bring you food (if they don't come in, send the Druid with some AC buffs out to get him, while the Soulknife stands ready to throw and you watch out with your direct-damage for other guards). You have your hostage. Start delivering ultimatums. They can't just hit you with Hold Person or summat, because of the antimagic, so you're in a very strong position...

InkEyes
2008-03-31, 06:32 PM
@ Druid/Monk

He's a level 3 Druid, and Druids don't get wildshape till level 5, sadly. What he could do is use Summon Nature's Ally (#).

A Summon Nature's Ally I (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/summonNaturesAllyI.htm) can be used to summon a monkey to filch the keys for you, or a viper to bite the guards, or a wolf to maul them.

A Summon Nature's Ally II (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/summonNaturesAllyII.htm) can be used to summon a large assortment of animals to kill guards (Black Bear, Crocodile, Hippogriff, Wolverine), or to fly away on a Dire Bat, or tunnel under the prison with an Earth Elemental.

Other spells of use:

Entangle (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/entangle.htm): Use liberally on guards

Magic Fang (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magicFang.htm): Use on your Animal Companion/summoned creature.

Obscuring Mist (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/obscuringMist.htm): The perfect way to cover your escape

Pass without Trace (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/passWithoutTrace.htm): Good to use if they have any scent hounds on your trail (sadly you'd have to cast on each party member)

Produce Flame (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/produceFlame.htm): Good damage spell

Shillelagh (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/shillelagh.htm): Nice way to buff your club

Barkskin (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/barkskin.htm): Increases target's AC; a must for armor-less fights

Any (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/bearsEndurance.htm) of (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/bullsStrength.htm) these (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/catsGrace.htm) spells (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/owlsWisdom.htm): They all boost attributes for a small amount of time. Physical attributes should be increased on main fighter-types. Wisdom should be boosted on you, it' will boost your AC.

Flame Blade (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/flameBlade.htm): Another good damaging spell

Flaming Sphere (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/flamingSphere.htm): Damage spell

Fog Cloud (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/fogCloud.htm): Another good way to hide your escape

Soften Earth and Stone (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/softenEarthAndStone.htm): Dig yourself out

Spider Climb (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/spiderClimb.htm): Climb around on a wall or ceiling

Summon Swarm (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/summonSwarm.htm): Nasty spell; use on guards

Warp Wood (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/warpWood.htm): Take out any wooden objects in your way.

Remember: You can cast Summon Nature's Ally spontaneously, like a cleric can cast cure/inflict spells