Correcting a major plot problem

[weckar]

Last session, my players were meant to overhear a conversation between the perceived BBEGs. They got their super-stealthy-always-invisible into the room at exactly the right time, when she realized exactly who it was she was even in the room with.

They all noped out. Hard.

As it is, however, the group is on an artificial timeline (which they know about) until a major event: one week. Overhearing this conversation was meant to give them information of what Team Bad was doing in that time so they could act on it.

Now, I am not sure how else to get them that information.

Important facts:
* Team Bad WANTS the party to know of their surface plans. Even if they had been caught, they would not have been pursued with more than a token "No, wait, come back...".
* There is, without that information, little to no chance they would just accidentally encounter Team Bad before the week is up.
* Not having this information effectively means they lose the campaign; major rewrites not accounted for (which there would have to be).

How can I still give them this information without just making it a blatant "And here is what you missed"?

[Allanimal]

Maybe one of the BBEGs had a minion/lackey that was in the room.
Said lackey is discovered by the PCs, and interrogated. Or said minion is a klutz and leaves the meeting minutes in the tavern somewhere for the PCs to discover.

[tiercel]

Presumably if Team Bad wants The Heroes to know their surface machinations, they certainly weren't necessarily counting on the PCs to happen to invisibly spy on them at the right time. Team Bad must have a plan for how they wanted it to go down, and it might be as simple as sending a Minion Squad to "stop those pesky meddling PCs," which is merely a simple Xanatos Gambit by Team Bad; if the Minion Squad actually wins, then presumably yay Team Bad, while if the Minion Squad loses, they can be carrying written orders which have just enough information so that the PCs can play straight into Team Bad's Nice-Job-Breaking-It-Hero scenario (or whatever it is that Team Bad is trying to manipulate those gullible heroes into doing for them).

[pabelfly]

Have a member of the evil team defect to the good guys.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Presumably if Team Bad wants The Heroes to know their surface machinations, they certainly weren't necessarily counting on the PCs to happen to invisibly spy on them at the right time. Team Bad must have a plan for how they wanted it to go down, and it might be as simple as sending a Minion Squad to "stop those pesky meddling PCs," which is merely a simple Xanatos Gambit by Team Bad; if the Minion Squad actually wins, then presumably yay Team Bad, while if the Minion Squad loses, they can be carrying written orders which have just enough information so that the PCs can play straight into Team Bad's Nice-Job-Breaking-It-Hero scenario (or whatever it is that Team Bad is trying to manipulate those gullible heroes into doing for them).

+1 to this as one option.

Alternately

They screwed up their spying, so give 'em a tit for their tat. Have one of team bad's spies screw up near enough to them that he can be easily captured. Either have written orders on him or have him be coward enough to squeal with minimal presssure. Heck, have him know he was -supposed- to be captured and hand the info over as a deliberate sowing of information. I'll leave it to you to decide how expendable a spy he actaully is.

[weckar]

They screwed up their spying, so give 'em a tit for their tat. Have one of team bad's spies screw up near enough to them that he can be easily captured. Either have written orders on him or have him be coward enough to squeal with minimal presssure. Heck, have him know he was -supposed- to be captured and hand the info over as a deliberate sowing of information. I'll leave it to you to decide how expendable a spy he actaully is.

Hmmm, honestly this would not be the worst idea. I already have a faction that THINKS it has full control over Team Bad, while in fact it is the reverse. Having one of them badly fail to stalk them and drop a whole bundle of eaves seems like a reasonable solution.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Hmmm, honestly this would not be the worst idea. I already have a faction that THINKS it has full control over Team Bad, while in fact it is the reverse. Having one of them badly fail to stalk them and drop a whole bundle of eaves seems like a reasonable solution.

This is probably just the evil DM in me talking but if any of your players knows anything about playing the intelligence game, just have the guy come to them, say he is/was with team bad and just flat give them the information for his own reasons. That player will drive himself bonkers trying to decide whether it's legit info or a piece of deliberate disinformation. If you're lucky, he'll share his concerns with the rest of the players and you can enjoy watching them all get twisted over it.

[Sutr]

Could team bad have a minion unconcious on the road that the pcs save. Could they have almost eliminated a different group of adventurers and have that person tell them.

They dont need to get all the information from one source. You could even theoretically animal messenger it to them from a mysterious source if they frequent a certain area.

[farothel]

And if you don't want to do a lot of work, have two drunk minions talk about it to one-another in the tavern the players are. You can also use one of the other methods and use this as confirmation, or to slip another part of the information (if you split it up into different parts for the players to piece together).

[weckar]

Hmmm I like the way everyone thinks, but it really makes me realize my villains are quire atypical in a way I had not thought around it before.

They don't have any direct minions, really.

[False God]

This is probably just the evil DM in me talking but if any of your players knows anything about playing the intelligence game, just have the guy come to them, say he is/was with team bad and just flat give them the information for his own reasons. That player will drive himself bonkers trying to decide whether it's legit info or a piece of deliberate disinformation. If you're lucky, he'll share his concerns with the rest of the players and you can enjoy watching them all get twisted over it.

+1 to this. Really for all it matters they could receive a mysterious message in the night (either by paper or via illusion or a carrier bird etc...). No minion required. To double down on the intelligence game, the message could be directly from one of the BBEGs. They want the party to know after all don't they? A couple words here or there to make the party second-guess the evil intentions of the BBEG (or at least one of them) will drive them crazy.

I mean, imagine "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!" recorded by one of the BBEGs, carefully constructed to look like a real plea for assistance. (assuming you have anyone in your party with a "G" in their alignment....)

Which calls into a second point: what sort of players/characters do you have? The way they receive the information needs to be tailored in a way that will actually get them to engage.

[weckar]

Which calls into a second point: what sort of players/characters do you have? The way they receive the information needs to be tailored in a way that will actually get them to engage.

Currently I have 5 players:

1. An RKV that is going more than slightly mad [LG].
2. A Beguiler->Shadowcraft mage who had their body deconstructed and reconstructed against their will, and is still dealing with the physical and psychological fallout [LN]
3. A Buff Wizard who, all things considered, is surprisingly well adjusted other than having a superman complex. [CG]
4. An archer (I forget the exact class makeup) that also functions as the invisible scout for the group. They were the one in the BBEGs room. They are dealing with a powerful Geas to kill people and creatures much stronger than themselves [TN?]
5. Newest addition, who has not had much time yet: a Druid from another world who specializes in healing and summoning, with a panther companion. They have been reading some ominous signs in their divinations, but otherwise have not really been developed yet [NG]

[False God]

Currently I have 5 players:

1. An RKV that is going more than slightly mad [LG].
2. A Beguiler->Shadowcraft mage who had their body deconstructed and reconstructed against their will, and is still dealing with the physical and psychological fallout [LN]
3. A Buff Wizard who, all things considered, is surprisingly well adjusted other than having a superman complex. [CG]
4. An archer (I forget the exact class makeup) that also functions as the invisible scout for the group. They were the one in the BBEGs room. They are dealing with a powerful Geas to kill people and creatures much stronger than themselves [TN?]
5. Newest addition, who has not had much time yet: a Druid from another world who specializes in healing and summoning, with a panther companion. They have been reading some ominous signs in their divinations, but otherwise have not really been developed yet [NG]

Okay. I was mostly wondering if you had a party of CN cats. Since they mostly seem to have some element of "L" or "G" any sort of cry for help should be able to get them moving.

Even better if you can stack it so they go "We know this is probably a trap, but dangit we're going anyway!"

[weckar]

It worked. Thanks again y'all.