Quick! Githzerai Lich Queen Needed Urgently!

[Morrus]

Well, I'm back - and that was a fun evening!

The battle took place in a giant crystal clocktower - lots of revolving cogs, people getting pinned between them and taking lots of damage, other people revolving on other cogs being taken into combat with opponents and then out again. The paladin got stuck between two cogs after falling 40 feet into them, and was taking lots of damage each round; he didn't have the skill to make the escape artist check to escape and stop taking damage, so one of the wizards flew to him and polymorphed him into an ooze so that he could slither out.

The lich herself did some hefty damage and scared the hell out of the players, but was defeated with a combination of dimensional anchor and force cage. She was then beaten down with an enchanted mace with a sunburst embedded in it. No characters died, but there were a couple of close calls!

In the end, I decided (just before the session) that this wasn't the Queen herself, because I didn't feel she was powerful enough. That proved right - she and her five bodyguards (15th level githzerai fighters) were well and truly beaten, although they put up a decent fight. The revolving spot of grease on one of the cogs provided some entertainment!

So, next week, they'll fight the REAL Queen, not just one of her handmaidens. Not sure what I'm going to do yet, except that I want another epic set-piece battle in an unusual, interactive location. Should be fun!

 

[EricNoah]

Cool, thanks for reporting in.

So what is the real queen going to be? A demon? A dragon? Something incorporeal?

 

[Morrus]

Oooh, dunno yet. I want to come up with something really, really cool. She's not the main villain of the plot or anything, but it's certainly one of the bigger combats. Ideally, I'd also like to scare the heck out of the players when they interrogate the surviving githzerai bodyguard and find out who/what she really is.

My players are too good! Their buff combinations and other stuff make them really, really hard to scare, and some of them are far better at that sort of thing than I am. I'm usually able to even the odds by using strange situations or terrain.

I missed something today, actually. They entered the clocktower from above (fly spells, naturally) and I described a low, barely audible hum filling the interior. I meant to go somewhere with that on a frequency/vibration theme (either combining with the crystal for something, or affecting incorporeality and other spells/abilities) but somehow forgot all about it as they snuck their way down through the upper balconies of the tower offing random mooks. A shame - I think i could have had some fun with that hum!

So, for next week I need a) a super cool villain who is the real githzerai queen (she runs an organised crime thingy on an outer plane, rivals to the Slaadi crime organisation), and b) an interesting setup/situation that's even more fun than the revolving crystal cogs were. Oh, and did I mention the glowing, spiky, crystal pendulum that swung across the room every round this evening? That was fun, too!

Any ideas welcomed!

 

[EricNoah]

In our 20th level game, the thing that keeps us on our toes is creatures that can cast Greater Dispel over and over. Deathbringers (MMII) have really put fear into our hearts because our buffs go "poof". Ditto with the Nightcrawler, Nightwalker, and Nightwing (MM). If the queen is undead, these would all make good minions.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

A superpowerful Modron....not as a minion, of course, but as the real power! Though it could work as a minion...

 

[BobROE]

b) an interesting setup/situation that's even more fun than the revolving crystal cogs were. Oh, and did I mention the glowing, spiky, crystal pendulum that swung across the room every round this evening? That was fun, too!

Any ideas welcomed!

Something that involves a hoard of undead or flesh golem babies, cause it should creap out just about anyone.

 

[Navar]

How about a shaper leveled death knight mind flayer. It would be the "our greatest enemy is actually controling us" kind of hollywood stick that is memorable. They could fight in some place where the cold or electrical environmental damage was flying around (as he would be immune.)