There's gonna be a Jailbreak

[corwyn]

So my last session ended with the party either unconscious or surrendering after a fight went bad. Deep in a complex run by a group of mercenaries who have been raiding the countryside, mostly humans and half-orcs with a few wizards. Access into and out of the fort are strictly portals. The fort contains a smithy, a lot of stables for various animals, a winched-up drawbridge leading to an exit of sorts - a sheer 60 foot drop (no one has flight or levitate).

I'm looking for some cool ideas for their escape. Two players were missing and I'm going to let them decide whether they were split up and can stage an escape or just abstract them being caught with the others.

[Dalin]

Fun!

By "portals" do you mean magical gateways? (Plus the drawbridge cliff?)

One place I might start is by looking at PC skills and advantages. Anything unusual there that hasn't been featured recently? If so, it could be the seed to something. Unusual skills would be things that the denizens wouldn't expect. They'll be prepared for lockpickers and spellcasters and warriors. But they might not be prepared for someone who can talk to bugs or summon spirits. Maybe one character has an unusual Hidden Lore specialty that could be featured (wait, are these elder runes in the back of our cell?). Or someone is a Connoisseur of luxuries and recognizes something interesting among the kegs of stolen ale. It might just be that a PC has a skill that is incredibly useful that the folks in the dungeon don't have. That's a reason to keep them alive and could provide openings.

Without knowing more details, it's hard to come up with a plan, but I'll brainstorm a few other ideas:

• PCs can subvert the servants/slaves/underclass elements in the fortress. Befriend Dobby. Start a revolution.
• There are other interesting prisoners, whether friendly (potential allies) or dangerous (release their tortured dragon...)
• Another event occurs while they are being held that changes the nature of the game. They finally open the portal to hell and the Doomchildren pour forth (yes, I read the most recent adventure seeds). An earthquake nearly destroys the place. They are attacked by a rival (but even worse) group of mercenaries.
• You mentioned animals. Any druids in the party? Any options there for mayhem?
• Maybe, of course, they are simply ransomed and end up leaving with their tails between their legs, owing someone a lot of favors (or money). There may be options for revenge later, but it would sting in the meantime.
• If you've ever played up any rival bands of adventurers (à la, Mirror of the Fire Demon), now would be the time to bring them back into play to rescue this group and rub their noses in it.
• Any clerics who might be able to Pray their way into a miracle (Exploits, p. 90)?
• Any chance the captors might mistake the PCs for someone else? Or think they're from so-and-so? Could provide some exploitable role-playing options.

[Anthony]

My experience is that splitting the party like that won't go well unless you give the players not present in a zone something else to do (if there's some henchmen who players like, playing the henchmen can be fun).

[corwyn]

Originally Posted by Anthony

My experience is that splitting the party like that won't go well unless you give the players not present in a zone something else to do (if there's some henchmen who players like, playing the henchmen can be fun).

There are, sort of, but mostly they're characters in cells as well. Like I said, I'll leave it up to all the players to decide, whichever works best for the plan they come up with.

[corwyn]

Originally Posted by Dalin

Fun!

By "portals" do you mean magical gateways? (Plus th drawbridge cliff?)

Yes, a number of one-way gateways; one leading to the fort (which go them here) and a number of them leading out (which they know about but have not found yet).

One place I might start is by looking at PC skills and advantages. Anything unusual there that hasn't been featured recently? If so, it could be the seed to something. Unusual skills would be things that the denizens wouldn't expect. They'll be prepared for lockpickers and spellcasters and warriors. But they might not be prepared for someone who can talk to bugs or summon spirits. Maybe one character has an unusual Hidden Lore specialty that could be featured (wait, are these elder runes in the back of our cell?). Or someone is a Connoisseur of luxuries and recognizes something interesting among the kegs of stolen ale. It might just be that a PC has a skill that is incredibly useful that the folks in the dungeon don't have. That's a reason to keep them alive and could provide openings.

Without knowing more details, it's hard to come up with a plan, but I'll brainstorm a few other ideas:

• PCs can subvert the servants/slaves/underclass elements in the fortress. Befriend Dobby. Start a revolution.
• There are other interesting prisoners, whether friendly (potential allies) or dangerous (release their tortured dragon...)
  

Funny you should say that - I neglected to mention that one of the npc prisoners is a shapechanged (very young) dragon pretending to be a Holy Warrior. They do make sacrifices so I'm thinking of having the whole kit and kaboodle dragged off to be sacrificed and have the dragon change back. That should cause a bit of a distraction.

One other prisoner is a dark elf (the game is a pseudo Forgotten Realms setting).

[Kromm]

I know how we'll infiltrate the Impenetrable Fortress: We'll let The Enemy take us prisoner!

– Every underdog rebel in every adventure story ever

It's a tried-and-true trope of adventure fiction. The classic reasons for why this works are:

1. Out in the world, The Enemy is overwhelmingly well armed/armored/buffed, or rides around on scary mounts, or is otherwise too formidable to take on. In their lair, they let down their guard a bit. (What's the point of conquering the world if you have no safe place to wear your pajamas and bunny slippers?)
   
   
2. Out in the world, The Enemy has legions of fodder, packs of monsters, war wagons, artillery, or whatever. But to extort tribute, take ground, or conquer kingdoms, those forces have to be out there – not in their lair. That lair might also be too small for an army. The lair's garrison looks outward and is optimized to repulse attackers; inside, there are just a few B-list guards and a couple of hungry lions as prison guards.
   
   
3. Out in the world, The Enemy practically has the Eye of Sauron. They have scouts on every border, spies in every rival camp, powerful divination magic, the works. All of that is directed greedily (or paranoiacally) at future conquests. In their lair, though, The Enemy is prone to thinking, "We know where the prisoners are: In their cells."

If The Enemy is canny, they know the heroes will try to get taken prisoner in order to attack from within, and will deliberately let the protagonists "escape" (but not truly escape) in order to see what they try to abscond with (usually some sort of MacGuffin), who comes to their rescue, and/or where they go after they leave. And classically, The Enemy is overconfident to a fault in this, and the heroes manage to turn the tables.

All of the above works equally well if the heroes are taken prisoner as a consequence of an unanticipated defeat rather than because they let themselves be captured. Indeed, letting themselves be captured might require that they put up a real fight and be defeated, in order to convince The Enemy it isn't a ploy. So from The Enemy's point of view, it looks like "we defeated these people and took them prisoner" whether the protagonists planned that outcome or had it forced upon them. It's a "get into the fortress nobody can get inside of" story either way, and you can use all of the usual devices:

• The Enemy feels safe in their lair and lets down their guard.
• The Enemy is less numerous in their lair.
• The Enemy's garrison forces aren't as capable.
• The Enemy's intelligence assets are mostly outward-looking.
• The Enemy believes the heroes to be defeated, weakened by injury and incapable without equipment.
• The Enemy wants to see what happens if the heroes escape.
• The Enemy is overconfident re: any or all of the above.

This lets the heroes show off their abilities at stealth, deception, and unarmed combat, which can be a fun change if 95% of the campaign consists of traipsing around in heavy gear, smashing down doors and murdering enemies with fine, magical weapons. It's especially fun for artificers with Gizmos, bards with high Acting and Disguise, martial artists with awesome unarmed-combat skills, mentalists who are misidentified as casters and locked "safely" in cells with no mana or sanctity, ninjas with the Lethal Weapon ability, and of course thieves. These character types don't usually get to show off as readily as pure casters and warriors.

PS: There's no need for the Big Bad to be caught off-guard and assassinated. It's a better story if the Big Bad isn't even home, and returns after the heroes have murdered the garrison, stolen the MacGuffin, reclaimed their gear, and left the lair in flames. Now it's personal, and the damage the protagonists did to the Big Bad's powerbase shifts the contest from unwinnable to potentially winnable for the heroes.

[Rhino]

Have someone in the enemies' camp with an agenda secretly arrange for their escape in exchange for recovering some item or taking the leader down.