A paladin and his warhorse
Roy Baijens
The PHB states that a paladin must find his warhorse by a special,
memorable quest. IMC I now have a paladin who has reached the
appropriate level and has called for his WH. My question: any ideas for
the quest to find his horse?
Thanks,
Roy Baijens
hbai...@wxs.nl
Who is General Failure and why is he reading my disk?
Sir Clarence
Roy Baijens wrote...
>'llo all,
>
>The PHB states that a paladin must find his warhorse by a special,
>memorable quest. IMC I now have a paladin who has reached the
>appropriate level and has called for his WH. My question: any ideas for
>the quest to find his horse?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Roy Baijens
There is a wonderful solo adventure called "Tomb it may concern" in Dungeon
issue # 22 that I would recommend, if you have access to it.
Clarence
Academy of Warfare
Anyway, my suggestion is. . . . one night during an off adventure. (it'll soon
be turned into an adventure!) But on that off adventure take the Paladin away
from the group and tell him in his sleep he had a vision. Maybe some plains. A
lot of wild horses running. And what the stood out,catching his eye. So when he
returns to the group he has his quest to find his horse. He tells the party of
his dream and how they should go about searching for his warhorse.
Here's an interesting twist.
1) The Paladin has his vision of some local plains.
2) When the party reaches their destination they find the land savaged. Dead
steeds everywhere.
3) A trail of blood and gore en masse leads the party to an encampment.
4) There the Paladin finds his horse within the ranks of. . . .(Goblins, Orcs,
Human bandits). "His" horse is now in need of rescuing! Also, after the death
of many valiant horses the Paladin should have to do *something*. Especially
against this army of some kind of evil.
5) Sneak into camp. Raid the camp. Kill some bad guys. Take the horse.
Something along those lines.
If you dislike this idea alright! I just made it up five minutes ago. Tell me
how things work out when you figure something out for the Paladin and his
Horse.
- Academy of Warfare
It's not like I'm trying to make enemies. It just comes naturally. Like the
stupidity
Dragonscroll
I've always felt that the quest for the War Horse and "calling" your War
Horse were the silliest aspect of the Paladin. If you want a war horse,
just find it, or get the Church to find you one.
That aside, here's an interesting idea for those GMs who live to make
their players' life hard. The Paladin "calls" his war horse and finds
it on a nearby plain ... with a rider on it. The horse already belongs
to someone, and that someone doesn't want to sell.
Of course, this could backfire. I think about 22% of all
Paladin/players would be trying to come up with reasons why the owner is
"evil" at this point.
James
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Andy Baker
Roy Baijens wrote:
> 'llo all,
>
> The PHB states that a paladin must find his warhorse by a special,
> memorable quest. IMC I now have a paladin who has reached the
> appropriate level and has called for his WH. My question: any ideas for
> the quest to find his horse?
An issue of Dragon (somewhere in the high 240's, I think) had "101 Paladin
Quests" which included about 30-35 possible quests for warhorses. The
remainder were either quests of atonement or quests for holy swords, if I
remember right. Ever since then, I've been looking to play a paladin :)
Mydian
>Quests" which included about 30-35 possible quests for warhorses. The
>remainder were either quests of atonement or quests for holy swords, if I
>remember right. Ever since then, I've been looking to play a paladin :)
it's issue 257
heres a few...a couple from the magazine, a couple I made up...
1) the warhorse is the unwilling mount of an evil knight, beaten and abused.
The paladin must defeat the knight and his minions to free the mount. (mine)
2) the paladin sense he has found his mount but something is wrong, it is sick
and dying...and pregnant. In fact, the paladins warhorse is actually the
steed's unborn child. The paladin must raise the warhorse from birth...really
builds a bond with the horse. (magazine)
3) the paladin can, when he concentrates or is hurt etc., can see through the
horses eyes and must, from the visions, determine where the steed is.
(magazine)
4) the mount he is bonded to is already in the possession of another paladin
that is destined to die and relinquish the horse to the new owner...however,
the current owner doesn't know this. Test the paladin character to see if he
starts hoping that the other paladin die soon. (mine)
Regardless of how he gets the mount...I would suggest you give the mount its
own personality. Make it beligerent or stubborn...make it come to life for the
character.
Mark Kunkle
Hi!
I actually had the opportunity to run such a quest for a paladin (we call'em
knights in my campaign). Firstly: My milieu is somewhat complex with politics
being very important to the church. A good portion of the campaign's thrust
was about the redemption of a church that had grown distant from the people it
was supposed to guide and protect.
The knight in question had to complete a test to determine not only his
worthiness to be partnered with a magnificent steed but also to maintain his
paladinhood!
At the behest of his church and king he travelled to a tournament of knights
being held in the far western marches of the kingdom. Only belted knights were
allowed to compete. He was a commoner and came from a modest household while
most of his competitors were arrogant nobles. He had no squire to tend to his
warhorse and weapons and so he was assigned a dreamy eyed youth (the youngest
daughter of another competitor) as a kind of joke by the others.
Rather than being insulted he accepted youth as squire treating her with
respect. Thus he passed the first of his tests (humility).
Later during the tournament he was visited by a lad who told him about his
sister who had news crucial to the kingdom's safety but now languished within
the dungeons of another knight. (His new squire's father's castle in fact.)
Using his influence as a knight of the realm the paladin went to the dungeons
and questioned the girl. She told him that the knight was being blackmailed by
an unfriendly nation to allow troops and spies safe passage through his lands.
The blackmailers were holding the knight's daughter as hostage! He asked some
penetrating questions and decided that the prisoners claims might be valid.
The Paladin privately confronted the knight in an effort to spare the
compromised knight's reputation only to be publically challenged to a duel of
honour. The compromised knight denied the paladin's charges and announced that
the 'thief' within his dungeons would be bound for the gallows after he had
won the challenge.
The paladin knew that if he didn't face the challenge his honour would be
besmirched in the eyes of his peers and quite likely the preists would
excommunicate him from his church (politics).
[ In my campaign these losses would be far from trivial.]
His decision and how he handled this quandary were another test!
He made his choice. He convinced his new squire to see beyond the bounds of
familial loyalty and taught her to see that right and wrong are more than
mere concepts. That a true paladin has to live through "deeds not merely
words."
Then with her help and knowledge of her father's lands and castle the two
freed the 'thief' from her prison and together with their new ally they
carried out a daring night-time raid into the enemy kingdom and rescued the
compromised knight's daughter. It was during the escape that he chanced upon
the destrier who instantly recognized the paladin and came to his aid.
The daughter was safely returned and the compromised knight then confessed to
the lords of the land the truth. The paladin had completed his trials and
gained the respect of his peers as well as a loyal squire and a warhorse who
became his staunchest ally and closest friend.
I know that this probably won't work per se in your campaign but maybe it'll
give you some ideas.
Respects,
Mark
>'llo all,
>
>The PHB states that a paladin must find his warhorse by a special,
>memorable quest. IMC I now have a paladin who has reached the
>appropriate level and has called for his WH. My question: any ideas for
>the quest to find his horse?
>
Patrick M. Berry
> I've always felt that the quest for the War Horse and "calling" your War
> Horse were the silliest aspect of the Paladin. If you want a war horse,
> just find it, or get the Church to find you one.
A paladin's war horse is not *a* war horse. It's the one horse in all the
world that he's destined to ride, chosen for him by his god. The relationship
between paladin and war horse is far more that just ownership. It's a
bond that lasts until death (unless the paladin strays from his faith and
loses his status). The relationship between a Dragonrider and his/her
dragon in Anne McCaffrey's novels, or between a member of the K9 Corps and
his neodog in Heinlein's "Starship Troopers", are similar.
A paladin's war horse is a gift from his deity, and seeking it out is a holy
quest. It's also a test for the paladin, a chance to prove his worthiness to
*be* a paladin and to ride a god-given steed. Successful completion of the
quest is far more than just the acquisition of an animal; it's a validation
of the paladin's faith, courage, and determination.
Strolling down to the local hostler and plunking down the price of a horse on
the counter is no substitute for this. Any paladin who would do this instead
of Calling his war horse is not worthy of being a paladin.
Patrick M. Berry
>
> The PHB states that a paladin must find his warhorse by a special,
> memorable quest. IMC I now have a paladin who has reached the
> appropriate level and has called for his WH. My question: any ideas for
> the quest to find his horse?
Here's my favorite, from a campaign I once played in. The good news: the
war horse was already equipped with Horseshoes of the Zephyr, the sort that
enable a horse to walk or run on water. The bad news: the horse was petrified
and lying at the bottom of a lake. It seems that the horse's previous owner
had been an evil character who was found out, and tried to escape by riding
across the lake. A wizard fired off a Flesh to Stone spell at the villain,
missed, and hit the horse instead. The horse sank and the villain drowned.
The paladin and his friends had to:
1. Journey to the location of the lake, which was not close.
2. Locate the horse.
3. Raise it from the bottom of the lake.
4. Find some way to get it de-stoned.
You could build an entire campaign around something like this.
Larry Mead
: 'llo all,
: The PHB states that a paladin must find his warhorse by a special,
: memorable quest. IMC I now have a paladin who has reached the
: appropriate level and has called for his WH. My question: any ideas for
: the quest to find his horse?
The horse is in possession of an evil warlord (of about the same level
as the paladin). The horse is on an island guarded by a seaserpent and sea
travel is needed.
The horse is actually in the form of a Figuring of Wonderous power
in the possession of a gypsy who must somehow be convinced to give it up.
The horse is part of a herd owned by a hill giant who must be defeated.
The horse in possessed by the spirit of <insert something> which must
be exorcised. The horse is a denizen of an outer plane and must be
rescued (for high-level paladins).
Anything usable?
DMgorgon
--
Lawrence R. Mead Ph.D. (Lawren...@usm.edu)
Eschew Obfuscation! Espouse Elucidation!
www-dept.usm.edu/~physics/mead.html
Matt Devney
First off a bit of history. My paladin had progressed to level 8 wothout
gaining a warhorse (in RL - I just forgot about the ability as the
adventures we were doing were all either dungeon or town based - neither
of which required horses).
I then became a priest of Heironeous and got (finally) to 9th level.
Then came the time when I thought I might want a mount - but I didn't
say to the Dm "I want a mount", I just asked what the process was in his
campaign. He said he'd think about it and get back to me - as we were in
the middle of a hard adventure at the time (the giants and drow stuff) I
didn't think about it much after that, seeing as (a) I was underground,
and (b) I was getting my ass kicked.
Then after that was all resolved I was on another adventure of sorts (I
say that coz everything intertwines in this campaign - pretty much zero
down time, and one thing flows logically into another), and I started
getting these wierd dreams of flames and elven women (nudge-nudge
wink-wink) and forests and fighting. I interpreted these as a mission
sent to me from Heiro' and proceeded to find these things. To cut a long
story short (full of demi-artifact recovery, defending forest
settlements, trying to defeat a orcish army and its dragon
allies/masters) I finally found the elf maid of the vision - who turned
out to be a very young silver dragon (not much of a surprise there
really) who had also had visions: of being in the underdark fighting
dark skinned elves and giants, with a huge black globe covering the
earth in the background. I realised then that we were meant to be
together - and this was confirmed by diviniation and the fact we felt
really close (I even feel her emotions when we are nearby), and so I got
my "paladin's mount" although it's in NO WAY standard. But then again -
which mount should be? (btw: power levels were maintained by role
playing reasons against her being a dragon at all times,and I don't
abuse this status)
I guess this is pretty unique, but you get the idea? Paladins mounts are
REALLY special - not just a bonus on getting to 4th level.
MATTD
Roy Baijens wrote:
>
> 'llo all,
>
> The PHB states that a paladin must find his warhorse by a special,
> memorable quest. IMC I now have a paladin who has reached the
> appropriate level and has called for his WH. My question: any ideas for
> the quest to find his horse?
>
Tuatha Danaan
>A paladin's war horse is a gift from his deity, and seeking it out is a holy
>quest. It's also a test for the paladin, a chance to prove his worthiness to
>*be* a paladin and to ride a god-given steed. Successful completion of the
>quest is far more than just the acquisition of an animal; it's a validation
>of the paladin's faith, courage, and determination.
every read Mercedes Lackey?? I always figured a paladin's horse was
more like one of the mounts the Herald's use...the 'horse' choosing
*them*, and becoming unseperable until either one dies (if rider,
horse follows, if horse, rider tends to go suicidal once he get's out
of his depression) or the rider goes evil (upon which the mount leaves
or attacks trying to kill them both)
Engel Nobbe
"Patrick M. Berry" wrote:
> In article <37C018AB...@wxs.nl>, Roy Baijens <hbai...@wxs.nl> writes:
> >
> > The PHB states that a paladin must find his warhorse by a special,
> > memorable quest. IMC I now have a paladin who has reached the
> > appropriate level and has called for his WH. My question: any ideas for
> > the quest to find his horse?
>
> Here's my favorite, from a campaign I once played in. The good news: the
> war horse was already equipped with Horseshoes of the Zephyr, the sort that
> enable a horse to walk or run on water. The bad news: the horse was petrified
> and lying at the bottom of a lake. It seems that the horse's previous owner
> had been an evil character who was found out, and tried to escape by riding
> across the lake. A wizard fired off a Flesh to Stone spell at the villain,
> missed, and hit the horse instead. The horse sank and the villain drowned.
>
> The paladin and his friends had to:
>
> 1. Journey to the location of the lake, which was not close.
> 2. Locate the horse.
> 3. Raise it from the bottom of the lake.
> 4. Find some way to get it de-stoned.
>
> You could build an entire campaign around something like this.
--
... I'm in for an intelligent solution: let's fireball it! (c)1993 JMEE
Varsil
catch the horse using only his wits... :).
Varsil
compulsions, when I played it, the paladin sleep-rode into the valley,
and the rest of the PC's tracked him to find the place) to a valley
filled with all manner of beasts, all of which are behaving oddly. The
truth is, every single animal WAS a horse, but has been polymorphed. No
two animals are of the same type... Now, the animals cannot be
transformed back without powerful magic (read, out of reach of the
PC's), until the curse on them is broken. How to break the curse? By
finding which of them is the finest horse... But how do you identify
which of the frogs, rats, crows, gerbils, and so forth makes the best
horse? Let the fun begin :).
Roy Baijens wrote:
>
> 'llo all,
>
> The PHB states that a paladin must find his warhorse by a special,
> memorable quest. IMC I now have a paladin who has reached the
> appropriate level and has called for his WH. My question: any ideas for
> the quest to find his horse?
>
JarlWolf
>I actually had the opportunity to run such a quest for a paladin (we call'em
>knights in my campaign). Firstly:
I just read the little synopsis of your paladin's quest for his warhorse.
Dude, that has got to be one of the best ides i've ever read.
You took the abstract presentations of the rules and made them into something
real and memorable.
JarlWolf
Jon Sadler
Why should the paladin 'demand' for his warhorse to appear. A noble warrior
would not do this, in my opinion. Instead, have the warhorse call for
him/her. After all, the paladin serves his god, not the other way around.
Just my take on the situation.
Engel Nobbe wrote in message <37CF6C30...@celestial.demon.nl>...
>This one I like! Stolen... (sorry)
>
>"Patrick M. Berry" wrote:
>
>> In article <37C018AB...@wxs.nl>, Roy Baijens <hbai...@wxs.nl>
writes:
>> >
>> > The PHB states that a paladin must find his warhorse by a special,
>> > memorable quest. IMC I now have a paladin who has reached the
>> > appropriate level and has called for his WH. My question: any ideas for
>> > the quest to find his horse?
>>
>> Here's my favorite, from a campaign I once played in. The good news: the
>> war horse was already equipped with Horseshoes of the Zephyr, the sort
that
>> enable a horse to walk or run on water. The bad news: the horse was
petrified
>> and lying at the bottom of a lake. It seems that the horse's previous
owner
>> had been an evil character who was found out, and tried to escape by
riding
>> across the lake. A wizard fired off a Flesh to Stone spell at the
villain,
>> missed, and hit the horse instead. The horse sank and the villain
drowned.
>>
>> The paladin and his friends had to:
>>
>> 1. Journey to the location of the lake, which was not close.
>> 2. Locate the horse.
>> 3. Raise it from the bottom of the lake.
>> 4. Find some way to get it de-stoned.
>>
>> You could build an entire campaign around something like this.
>
LARE
<shali...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> You might want to try to take a twist on the whole paladin thing....
>
> Why should the paladin 'demand' for his warhorse to appear. A noble warrior
> would not do this, in my opinion. Instead, have the warhorse call for
> him/her. After all, the paladin serves his god, not the other way around.
>
Elizabeth Moon's "The Deed of Paksenarrion" uses this twist for giving
paladin's their special mounts. No one knows where they come from. They
just show up looking for their paladin. (if that sentence implies reverse
ownership - good! it was intended too)
LARE
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In short, lots of stuff. (over 600 html pages & growing)
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Lycurgus
LARE wrote in message ...
>In article <7qvhmo$fcb$1...@birch.prod.itd.earthlink.net>, "Jon Sadler"
><shali...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>> You might want to try to take a twist on the whole paladin thing....
>>
>> Why should the paladin 'demand' for his warhorse to appear. A noble
warrior
>> would not do this, in my opinion. Instead, have the warhorse call for
>> him/her. After all, the paladin serves his god, not the other way
around.
>>
>
>
>Elizabeth Moon's "The Deed of Paksenarrion" uses this twist for giving
>paladin's their special mounts. No one knows where they come from. They
>just show up looking for their paladin. (if that sentence implies reverse
>ownership - good! it was intended too)
Yes, those were great books - essential reading for any player of a D&D
paladin. I especially liked the fact that the mount's exact capabilities
and intelligence weren't revealed - it just had a connection with Paks, and
was smarter and better than your average horse. That kind of mystery is
often hard to maintain in RPGs, at least with things central to the core
rules, and most especially direct character class abilities.
Lycurgus. E-Mail: Ric...@Lycurgus.freeserve.co.uk
"There's nary an animal alive that can outrun a greased Scotsman."
Groundskeeper Willie, in The Simpsons.
Lucius Chiaraviglio
>The PHB states that a paladin must find his warhorse by a special,
>memorable quest. IMC I now have a paladin who has reached the
>appropriate level and has called for his WH. My question: any ideas for
>the quest to find his horse?
Sounds like it is time to dredge up an old posting (and fix
some editing goofs from the previous go-around). Note: I DIDN'T MAKE
THIS UP. If I recall correctly, I even read it on this newsgroup a
long time ago. (Would the real inventor of this idea like to stand
up and be recognized?) I have embellished the original idea in an
attempt to give some details of a plausible implementation. Note:
since I only have 1st Edition and its Service Packs, you may have to
convert a few things to make them work right technically.
The paladin is given a vision of where to get the war horse:
the stronghold of an evil mage. Unbeknownst to the paladin, however,
the evil mage's deities are looking out for him/her, and the evil mage
has not so much hubris as to ignore a vision. The evil mage has a
vision, too, which warns that the paladin is fated to get the war
horse and that anyone who stands in the way will be killed, and that
furthermore this mage cannot get out of being a pawn in the divine
test through which the paladin will be put!
Time for a really evil, twisted plan . . . .
When the paladin shows up at the mage's stronghold and makes
it through the (secretly below full strength, but appearing very
dangerous) defenses, the welcome is unexpectedly warm. "You have
passed all but one final test." The mage then proceeds to relate
the vision to the paladin, with no deviation from the truth (though
perhaps omitting a few details). Preferably, the paladin should have
some way of determining with good assurance that the evil mage is
indeed speaking the truth. "I have no wish to be consumed as a pawn
in your test, for this is a thing that I did not choose, but which is
the will of powers far greater than either of us. For me to oppose
divine will would be as futile as it would be for you. Therefore, I
will not engage in battle against you, but rather act my part in
putting you through the last of your tests, after which you will have
truly earned your mount."
"This will be a test which will exercise your ability to deal
with unexpected turns of events. It does carry a risk of death, but
for one as obviously hardy as yourself the risk should be fairly
small. You will need to perform this test alone, or your comrades
might -- wittingly or unwittingly -- give you information which would
unfairly bias the results. You will not need your comrades for
defense against the opponents who will face you on the floor of the
arena. I give you my word."
Again, the paladin (and comrades, if any) should have a way of
determining with good assurance that despite having evil alignment,
the mage is telling the truth. The mage has a well-known reputation
for being cruel, but adhering to a strict code of honor, although in a
somewhat diabolical way (definitely Lawful Evil); the players should
have enough knowledge from beforehand to give the mage a chance to get
the paladin out of their sight. If the player characters insist, they
will be permitted to view the test from seats around the arena, which
must be accessed through a separate passage from those needed to
access the arena floor, but they must promise not to make any noise
which could be heard from the arena floor, nor make any gestures or
other visual signals to anyone on the arena floor, and in any event
the party must leave the stronghold immediately upon rejoining after
the conclusion of combat (they will be given a promise of safe passage
out of the stronghold and its area of influence, as long as they obey
the rules mentioned heretofore).
Now the really fun part begins. The paladin is indeed
subjected to a trial by combat (signaled to begin with a modest-sized
gong) with opponents who are not greatly damaging, but definitely have
the air of the unexpected about them. To alleviate any concerns the
player characters might have about having the paladin fight hapless
slaves, have some of the opponents appear to be (better yet, actually
be) some real scumbags that the paladin and party have met before and
would really like to kill, or if not enough such characters who are
still living are available, ones that they killed before, but not in
such a way as to preclude resurrection. Fake scumbags will not be
resurrected ones, however, but in fact hapless slaves polymorphed into
the form of the party's enemies (former or current) that the mage
knows about. None of the enemies should be too tough, however. Their
real purpose is to provide a distraction so that the mage can do
nefarious things from a passageway around the arena above the level of
the spectator seats.
The mage will be in said passageway with scrolls (prepared
for just this purpose) full of Polymorph Other spells (-: at least one
for each level of Hell :-) which will be cast at the paladin more or
less from behind (note: unless things have changed since 1st Edition,
a Wand of Polymorph isn't good enough for this task). The passageway
will have arrow slits facing the arena through which the mage can cast
the spell with minimal risk of being seen. With the mage (presumably
looking through the next arrow slit over) will be one of the mage's
servants, an illusionist whose job it will be to cast a Phantasmal
Force (Phantasmal Image would do fine if you use that spell in your
house rules). The sole purpose of the Phantasmal Force/Image will be
to hide the Polymorph Other spell beam by making it appear to the
watching party members that they are seeing the normal arena walls and
floor and opponents of the paladin in the area of their field of
vision occupied by the spell beam, and -- once a Polymorph Other spell
actually gets through the paladin's saving throw (and magic
resistance, if applicable) -- the normal (that is, apparently
unaltered) paladin. Since Phantasmal Image/Force is not designed for
making something appear to be not there, it will be necessary to have
it project images of the said objects in front of where they actually
are, said images being scaled to make them appear to be at their
proper distance. This will result in a noticeable distortion effect,
but the paladin and opponents will simply appear to be closer than
they are -- not too implausible; the floor will have been cleaned and
painted a bloody color beforehand to make it appear featureless and to
hide bloodstains -- thus making it easier to project an image of
things being in the wrong place without being noticed; and other parts
of the arena (seats, walls, and perhaps doors and arrow slits on the
other side) need only be projected intermittently to obscure the
Polymorph Other spell beam. Thus, characters may well notice that
something strange is going on, but are fairly likely not to be able to
figure it out (and disbelieve) right away. The idea is, of course,
that they won't figure it out before a Polymorph Other spell takes
effect and the paladin is ushered out of the arena. The paladin will
notice having to save against magic, but the Polymorph Other spells
should be cast when the paladin is in combat with opponents for whom
it would be at least somewhat plausible that they could be using
magical powers or devices which would cause effects needing to be
saved against. To reduce the precious time and number of Polymorph
Other spells needed, the evil mage will be casting the spell while
wearing a Robe of the Archmagi (-4 for the paladin's saving throw, and
-20% for the paladin's magic resistance, if any -- Polymorph Other is
one of the handful of spells specifically listed as being aided by
this item).
As soon as a Polymorph Other spell takes effect, a really
honking big gong (somewhere out of sight) sounds the end to combat
(the purpose of this is to make everyone, who is probably on the edge
of their seats, jump out of their skins so as to reduce their
probability of noticing things like distortion effects, and also,
if necessary, to hide sound from anything like an intelligent sword
which might yell about treachery). Then the evil mage will announce
from above: "Combat is complete. Please proceed out of the arena
through the exits through which you entered." The paladin will notice
feeling kind of funny, but preferably one of the opponents will have
inflicted some kind of hit or effect to make this seem plausible as
being a result of combat. If necessary, an evil cleric servant of the
evil mage will cast a Silence 15' Radius spell on the floor area next
to the paladin to prevent sound of warning from an intelligent sword
or the paladin's altered voice from reaching anyone else, but since
this might interfere with ushering the paladin out of the arena, this
will be avoided if possible. When the paladin and party rejoin at the
place where they split up to go to the arena, no illusion magic should
be needed to hide anything (see below).
During passage from the arena to rejoining the rest of the
party, the paladin will learn the really diabolical part of what has
happened, which will be very difficult for him to communicate to the
rest of the party: he will hear "you may now meet your horse"; he
will then see "himself" come in, who will then proceed to mount him
or her (in either case, this could be really embarassing)! The
paladin has been polymorphed into the form of the warhorse, and the
warhorse has been polymorphed into the form of the paladin! The
polymorphed warhorse will have been given a Suggestion to refrain from
speaking until the party has left the stronghold, and to make use of
gestures to indicate that it is necessary to refrain from speaking.
The polymorphed warhorse will have also been equipped with excellent
facsimiles of the paladin's equipment -- facsimiles of magic weapons
and armor -- and anything else which would reasonably be detected as
magic by the evil mage's spy which was previously following the
party to get information about them -- will have had Nystul's Magic
Aura cast upon them to make them appear to be magical, although small
or otherwise non-obvious items are likely to have been missed in this
replication effort unless the spy actually got a chance to go through
the paladin's stuff (under orders not to actually steal anything)
before the party arrived at the evil mage's stronghold. Actual items
dropped by the paladin upon being polymorphed in the arena will either
be quietly confiscated if not too dangerous to the mage and company,
or spirited away to a guarded secondary treasure hoard somewhere away
from the stronghold if too dangerous (such as an intelligent sword).
If the party seems a good candidate for making a quick return trip to
recover stolen items, and actually seems strong enough to have a
chance of succeeding, the items will be sent to the guarded remote
secondary treasure hoard and/or sold to some other evil power,
depending upon how quickly each action can be performed, while the
evil but cautious mage (and, if practical, any comrades seen by the
party) will quickly embark upon a well-earned vacation to yet another
location (preferably NOT mixing this with the business of selling the
stolen items).
If the paladin and warhorse manage to make it through the
(undoubtedly quite bizarre) experience which follows, some
representative of the paladin's deity -- possibly the paladin's mentor
cleric -- should tell the paladin that "you have indeed passed the
final test for earning your warhorse."
Have fun with this.