Council at the Cathedral Conundrum
My party are currently allied with the Hooded Lanterns and about to liberate the Cathedral of St. Vitruvio, so naturally I am planning for the "Council at the Cathedral" very soon.
Originally I had planned for the Queen of Thieves to rig the building to explode with explosives hidden in the sewers. The idea being she would use them to extort the faction heads as much as possible, and obtain more seals of Drakkenheim from whoever has them (basically Brutal Betrayl in the book, as the party and QoT are very much enemies). However, my players have pre-emtped some kind of action from the Queens Men, and sent the Rat Prince & his men into the sewers with the sole intent of alerting them if he notices people trying to break into the catacombs before the Cathedral is fully liberated by the Party/Hooded Lanterns.
Therefore the Rat Prince would probably notice a heap of explosives, and tell the party to GTFO before the council can properly take place. Should I scrap the Brutal Betryal idea entirely, or is there a better place to hide explosives/extort the factions and party members?
I'm trying to balance rewarding the players for coming up with a good idea vs. the Queen of Thieves feeling like she's always one-step ahead (at least, for now).
Another idea I've had is for the Rat Prince to notice the explosives, but then 'go rogue' and transport them under the Garrison to destroy the Hooded Lanterns who have been trying to exterminate the rats.
Any suggestions/advice welcome.