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driordan
Sneak
52 Posts
    
 | | 10/13/2007 1:10 AM |
| | Defending against an 'army' of shadows
I may have painted myself into a corner in my own campaign by giving the BBEG an "I win!" button, and I'm trying to figure out how to control the amount of damage I'm doing while still raining a little death and destruction in my campaign world.
The BBEG's lieutenant, a lich necromancer, has figured out how to stuff a shadow into an urn, and has been active doing this for a couple of years of campaign time. He's made a lot of urns. The urns are intended to be used as 'shadow bombs' - dropped on some unfortunate comunity from a great height (he has a zombie dragon to help with this). Right now we're looking at 100 or so bombs ready for deployment.
The PC's are aware of the 'bombs'; I can't unmake them and continue campaign continuity. So now, I have to figure out how does a community defend against an 'army' of incorporeal undead?
The communities know the attack is coming - in fact, its overdue. (The PC's have supplied them with this intelligence.) But they don't know from where it will come. The BBEG has done a good job if keeping his secret base a secret. Preemptive strikes are out of the question at this time.
So far, the defending communities have:
* Created "fortified" locations with Hallow and Death Ward - check
* Established R.I.P. squads of NPC clerics to turn/destroy - check
* Prepared to summon celestial reinforcements for the heavy fighting - check
There's even a foreign envoy of special undead hunters who are coming to the rescue, though they're currently slated to be a little late to the party.
Finally, these communities have got one more thing in their favor. The 'shadow bombs' will release uncontrolled, free willed shadows. That's why I've been quoting the word 'army' - there's no general to lead them. But, even with the above measures in place, the shadows are going to multiply from that initial 100 or so to some astronomical figure within minuets of the attack.
So if you were J.Q. Lordling or Mr. High Cleric, and you had this impending doom hanging over your head, and your word was law and you'd been given 110% of the communities resources to use, how would you use them? How do you defend a town against an 'army' of shadows?
Thanks for reading. I'm looking forward to your ideas. And so are all my NPC's. :-P
Note: To give you an idea of what resources they have available, the NPC's in the target community top out at 10th level, with most of the heavy lifters leveling out in the high single digits. (I've guesstimated that 460+ of 8400 people in the town are 5th level or higher and, if I'm feeling generous, maybe 1 in 4 of those are clerics or paladins.) I generally run a lower magic campaign, but go crazy and don't worry about that - they must have some toys stashed away. | |
Once the game is over, the King and the pawn go back in the same box. | |
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Most Edumacated
zenthrus
Warlord
5132 Posts
SLC, UT
| | 10/13/2007 1:53 AM |
| If there are already properly placed cleric turn squads (containing at least one 6th-level cleric each), Hallowed shrines, and preparations for bringing in outsider aid (via Lesser Planar Ally/Lesser Planar Binding/Summon Monster spells) there really shouldn't be that much to do.
The town head should have been/still be evacuating as many townspeople as possible. Especially if there is forewarning of an attack. Clearing out as many noncombatants from the town as possible should seriously limit the effectiveness of the shadow bombs. Have the highest-level cleric in the town (High priest or whatever) cast Commune to gain a better timetable for the attack, evac all non-essential personnel, and turtle around the fortifies areas and the shadow bomb 'army' shouldn't actually be that great a threat. | |
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driordan
Sneak
52 Posts
| | 10/13/2007 3:36 AM |
| I always overlook divinations.
So the clerics should be able to narrow down the time and place - there are semi-divine forces involved, so I'm inclined to suggest that divinations won't be 100% accurate, but they'll still be very helpful.
There are some additional complications:
It's winter, making evacuations somewhat tricky.
The attack will be carried out on the night of the new moon - the flyer and his 'bombs' will be nearly impossible to see.
The enemy has spies scattered about, who may be able to alert the BBEG to troop/cleric movements and attempted evacuations.
None the less, with properly divined information, they shold be able to limit their losses.
My NPC's thank you. | |
Once the game is over, the King and the pawn go back in the same box. | |
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Shottglazz
Underboss
1184 Posts
Quinte West, Ontario, Canada
| | 10/13/2007 5:47 AM |
| | In addition, (and this depends on your campaign) have the clerics use their divinations and undead lore to find weaknesses of the Shadows. Are shadows in your world affected by cold iron, fire or silver? If so, have the militia/city guard/posse equipped with the weapons that work. Have the acolytes working around the clock to make holy water, etc... | |
Shottglazz
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B
Underboss
1189 Posts
| | 10/14/2007 10:25 AM |
| | Hmm...winter eh? If you have the time, resources, and enough low level priests and wizards you could make holy ice fortifications. Coat buildings in a thin sheen of holy water and freeze it with magic. If it's winter it shouldn't melt all that fast. You could even set up holy water icicle "traps". If you have a ballista you could even make holy water ammunition for it so you can shoot down the zombie dragon. All you need is to get a few friendly druids to fly patrols the night of the new moon and throw a faerie fire on the dragon if they spot it. | |
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.--Dylan Thomas
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nyjastul69
Commander
2731 Posts
Rhode Island
| | 10/15/2007 6:16 AM |
| Consecrate will be a useful tool.
Consecrate
Evocation [Good]
Level: Clr 2
Components: V, S, M, DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Area: 20-ft.-radius emanation
Duration: 2 hours/level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
This spell blesses an area with positive energy. Each Charisma check made to turn undead within this area gains a +3 sacred bonus. Every undead creature entering a consecrated area suffers minor disruption, giving it a –1 penalty on attack rolls, damage rolls, and saves. Undead cannot be created within or summoned into a consecrated area.
If the consecrated area contains an altar, shrine, or other permanent fixture dedicated to your deity, pantheon, or aligned higher power, the modifiers given above are doubled (+6 sacred bonus on turning checks, –2 penalties for undead in the area). You cannot consecrate an area with a similar fixture of a deity other than your own patron.
If the area does contain an altar, shrine, or other permanent fixture of a deity, pantheon, or higher power other than your patron, the consecrate spell instead curses the area, cutting off its connection with the associated deity or power. This secondary function, if used, does not also grant the bonuses and penalties relating to undead, as given above.
Consecrate counters and dispels desecrate.
Material Component: A vial of holy water and 25 gp worth (5 pounds) of silver dust, all of which must be sprinkled around the area.
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lingster
Sergeant
778 Posts
| | 10/16/2007 8:19 AM |
| Ok... The Zombie Dragon can only hold a few bombs at a time...
Howa re the shadows Multiplying? Howabout they just NOT multiply unless they kill NPCs...
You can run an adventure where they are to locate said Zombie dragon. Find out it's color (if they don't know it already) and then go get help from a live dragon of an opposing color that can defeat it in the air.
Perhaps the BBEG has a zombie white. You find a gold that is willing to help defend. The PC's get the gold to help (after much deliberation and such), they are bringing the gold to the town to show him the area, and that's when they come across the zombie white flying in with his payload. They fight the ZWD and force him down on the out lying areas of the town. During the fight, the ZWD drops a few bombs here and there, making his whole payload cover a bigger area. Yea, the dragon died upon imact, but the rest of the bombs all exploded at once, releaseing the "army". Since they've no where to cause major devestation, they can spead to the 4 winds.... thus causing another eries of adventures in defeating them before all the lands are covered in darkness, Prophecys are a good thing for this.
This saves the town from utter devistation.... for now. AND the party gets to "foil" the BBEG's plans to conquer the town, yet still create a bigger threat.
Yea, I love putting my Players into evil's grip and making them do a lesser evil act to stop another greater evil act. Unwitting pawns of the darkside says I.... Muhahahahaa
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Lord_rock
Underboss
2045 Posts
Portland OR
| | 10/16/2007 9:12 PM |
| good ol' circles of protection stop evil creatures from making physical contact to those inside... even the non-combatants can be easily protected this way...
Round up some not so evil necro's and have them command the undead for the PC's!!! Afterwards the PC's may have to hunt down the necro's that helped them if they do not release and/or destroy the undead.
Scroll after scroll after scroll of MW for townsmen if you've got any time and any wizards...
Lots of little things that can drastically alter the battle in PC's favor even against the shadow bombs... Cool idea by the way.
Also, with no leader, 1/3 shadows just don't participate... | |
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Skyscraper
Sergeant
659 Posts
Montreal
| | 10/18/2007 8:18 AM |
| 100 shadows arrive in town, against the PCs plus about 500 NPCs of level 5+, with about 100 or more of these being clerics and paladins? They shoudl be able to handle them rather easily. As noted above i think the only threat is that the shadows attack the townsfolk unaware, thus increasing their numbers suddenly.
In addition to the above suggestions, with that many clerics and paladins you can have them memorize magic weapon spells (even the 1st level clerics can each have at least one of those); and also have the mages do the same. When the attack does come, everyone capable of bearing a weapon should have it magicked to be able to hit the shadows.
From my standpoint the greater challenge lies in being able to hide the townfolk from the shadows (i.e. from the necromancer who'll direct the bombing). If you move 10 000 people out of town, it's likely the necromancer will notice this movement unless he has no spies (which appears like an elementary mistake for a BBEG who plans to attack a sizable town). So IMO the challenge lies in the townsfolk being able to lure the necromancer into dropping the shadows at a specific location where the hundreds of clerics, fighters, palandins and mages will be waiting. As soon as the shadows hit the ground, consecrate, protection from evil, magic weapon and the other useful spells (including, of course, lesser restorations) are cast and with the clerics and their supporters outnumbering the shadows it should go well.
If the PCs can identify a spy of the necromanver and convey false information that the townfolk will be moved to this or that area when the attack comes, and that the attack is able to be anticipated with divinations, then i think they should manage well. Can they cast large illusions of townsfolk marching towards an area while in fact they are all remaining hidden in their homes? No need to create the illusion of thousands, spies won't be able to see everything anyway.
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The wise man doubts often. The ignorant, sometimes. The fool, never. | |
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