Confronting Sanabel - strategy discussion

Any day now, we are bound to run into Sanabel. I think that we've all assumed we will end up fighting him. But as we're putting more and more pieces of the puzzle together, it seems this is just the beginning of the story! So I would like to discuss how we should handle the meeting with Sanabel. If we can get him to talk, we could get information that will be very useful later on when dealing with the Lizardmen. It could be that Sanabel is already aware of everything that has happened so far, but I doubt it. All the illusions we've encountered so far seem to be prepared in advance. My best guess is that Sanabel has been at sea, and we might still be able to trick him. We know some names of other involved characters, most certainly Vessik. Is there any angle we can use to convince Sanabel that Vessik sent us? Torvald and I have been sent by Vessik, but Sanabel wouldn't know it was just us. Or that we have a different goal now. So we are sent by Vessik. But why? Should we just say we had to report to Sanabel, and if necessary we could mention we ran into some trouble with the pirates but that wasn't OUR fault... they wouldn't believe we had been sent to help them. Or we could say they were dead when we found them. We've killed a good number of the pirate crew. I think we killed about twenty of them, including the dog men and such, so Sanabel will need reinforcements. Maybe we could go 'undercover', infiltrate the pirates. It would be dangerous but we could learn the secrets of the operation from the inside out. Sanabel will probably only inform us on a 'need to know' basis, but maybe we can do a little bit of reconnaissance ourselves. Fergul might be useful in that respect, and Sandoval can be a little sneaky as well (as long as the floors hold).

Additionally, it would be good to know which characters have certain useful strengths. High charisma would probably help a lot, so would charm. Any thieving skills would come in handy, etc. I do not have that many useful skills, but I am dumb enough to be a convincing pirate, and my rope skills will also make me a useful one. Additionally my high dex can be helpful with a bit of sneaking I suppose. And I'm already wearing pirate gear!

This is a valid and thoughtful point of discussion and strategy. As a DM viewpoint, I'll confirm to help make this easier to discuss: You are in a position to parlay, trick, negotiate... or attack outright, once you uncover your target. Sanabel probably has some information, at least a bit of new information that you could get out of him instead of (or before) killing. You are correct that Sanabel would recognize the name of Vessik the lizardman, and he could believe that Vessik hired the Dwarf & Elf. I like the idea of attempting to trick Sanabel / fool him, as something different compared to "barge in, capture, tie him up, intimidate" which we have already used twice (on Ned and against a pirate). Maybe we can plan an approach of stealth / disguise / verbal trickery this time. Of course, you might still have to fight him after you talk and get the information, but we'll see how that goes in-game. Can't wait to show you guys the picture of Sanabel in the game table. Kind of like Ned. Free Candy creeper. You'll take one look at this guy and say "Naw, man."

Well Hans, Sandoval's head injury can open up possible avenues for you; with GM approval. Maybe San recovers and discovers he's a thief instead of a warrior... Like someone with amnesia who suddenly recalls who they really are. Or you slowly regain thief abilities you didn't know you had. Just some ideas...

Playing a Fighter as stealthy, dexterous, hiding, quick-footed, ambushing, disguised, and so on, is encouraged and a welcome variation. I recommend thinking along these lines, and be flexible so that you can do Fighting as well as occasional stealth. There are other options and approaches. I'll send you a PM, Hans.

Do I get it right that Sanabel is our enemy? What has he done? What have you/we done to him? But for now I am in with my charisma and my wisdom. Note : My character won't lie except Sanabel has done something terrible!

Sanabel's name was first mentioned by Vessik, a lizardman trader that lives in the swamps north of the mansion the party is in. Vessik sent Sandoval and Torvald on a mission to guard the mansion against intruders. Then Vessik specifically mentioned we shouldn't try to stop Ned and Sanabel, they were supposed to be at the mansion. We found Ned outside working as a gardener, and he doesn't seem very friendly. Especially when he tried to murder me. Then we found all the pirates inside, and learned about an illusionist mage that was supposedly with them. After a bunch of fights with the pirates, we found out Sanabel is the illusionist that's leading the pirates, who seem to be smugglers of some sorts. We expect to run into Sanabel at any moment now, possibly he's coming from a ship (that might currently be disguised as a fog cloud). We have figured out the pirates are probably smuggling weapons to the Lizardmen, who are at war with the Bullywug. Since one of ours is a Bullywug, we have an incentive to stop all this from happening. That, and we can probably expect Sanabel to kill us if we don't lie to or kill him first. Still, if your character wouldn't do it, then we'll just have to solve that ingame somehow :) I told you pretty much all I know, and it's up to your character to decide how to respond.

Oh, Sanabel. Part of the fun right now is building-up this first boss-level opponent. Look at this guy! Hans - That is an astute summary of current-events and general politics / war maneuvering forces in the broad Portlandio area. Chris S - You can go on what Hans wrote there, and take it as Sandoval Elf and Torvald Dwarf have been explaining this to Beartram Druid in the downtime, with confirmations from Airen Bullywug . Sanabel Tuesday May 5 On this coming Tuesday game session, we should finally encounter Sanabel the Illusionist (seems to be leader of these pirates). 1. Perhaps the Sanabel scenario will begin with some verbal parlay, trickery from our Trickster-Kit Elf, negotiation could occur, but in the end Sanabel will probably not back down with talking alone. 2. Depending on how quickly Sanabel is dealt with, there may be time to go back through the caves & house to "clear out" any rooms you missed. 3. Or proceed directly into Portlandio Town to buy-sell treasures, gear up, report your findings to someone, recruit appropriate help, and gather information for the next step. 4. The party will eventually want to solve the ship-on-the-sea and the bank of rolling fog.... 5. Look for Thoma the absentee landowner who lives in Portlandio.... 6. and return to Airen's swamp of the Cold Marsh to confront Vessik the lizardman about his association with Sanabel and Ned. Those scenarios 4-5-6 would be in future sessions / weeks. Hopefully 1-2 this week and #3 in between sessions. PICTURE OF SANABEL THE ILLUSIONIST -- Your first look at this creeper.

Isn't this the answer to everything? ... Unless it's fire immune.

Lol, that's an interesting point of view for a Dwarf fighter :) Haha Gold you just couldn't wait any longer with the picture, could you? Very pretty! Reminds me of a character of some kids movie, probably Alladdin or something similar. Can't wait to chop this guy up! But I'll make sure to leave the limbs attached as to not make the dwarf angry. Wouldn't want that to happen! Even though we probably have to kill this ugly illusionist (seriously, couldn't he Alter Self or something to get a little prettier?!) I think it can still be useful to talk to him first, see if we can get some intel. I'll try to come up with an angle but help would still be greatly appreciated.

Responding to original post, eg, "Torvald and I have been sent by Vessik, but Sanabel wouldn't know it was just us. Or that we have a different goal now. So we are sent by Vessik. But why? Should we just say we had to report to Sanabel, and if necessary we could mention we ran into some trouble with the pirates but that wasn't OUR fault... they wouldn't believe we had been sent to help them. Or we could say they were dead when we found them." If we approach him claiming to be friends I can try Charm Person on him. Other spells I have which might be useful: Audible Glamer, Alter Self, Hypnotic Pattern, Invisibility, Sleep. I also have Disguise ability/proficiency. Perhaps we could do the old Star Wars trick and pretend that some of us have been sent by Vessik, while the rest are prisoners. (I could possibly use my disguise ability to look like a Lizardman.) Perhaps we say that the ones sent by Vessik captured the others, who had killed the pirates. I drop the Charm Person and see what we can get him to tell us. If the Charm doesn't work we just fight. I could also cast Invisibility on one or two of us before all this, and the Invisible ones could first of all scout ahead and do reconaissance, and secondly get in place to ambush.

I could do the Vessik idea, and say that he sent me from The " Tanzania Minotaur Clan" or something on that line. I would just have to hide my symbol in the backpack and do melee battle. and would give my scroll to the druid or other cleric?

You beat Sanabel! At least a little information was wrung out of Sanabel after some heavy questioning. You found out the Pirates unloaded weapons for payment from Vessik the lizardman. They import the weapons on their pirate ship, and deliver them to shore using a small rowboat / sailboat that docks inside a sea cave. It's a real pirate cave. Then they carry the cargo upstairs and sell it to the lizardman buyer. Also you found out Sanabel implicated Thoma's step-sister (no name given), saying she knows about the operation and may have a higher position in the operation, or at least some culpability. The trickster tactic (or Star Wars fake-prisoner scene idea) was somewhat thrown astray because Sanabel successfully hypnotized most of the party with Hypnotic Pattern illusion spell. But you still won-out in the end. The adventure continues next week. Who was the "step-sister" Sanabel mentioned? Are there more pirates waiting on that ship? Can you signal them? What signal should you send? Do they have more of the cargo (weapons, war supplies)? Who is the lizardman buyer and why do they want so many weapons for the lizard clans?