Tips on running the assault on Torfeld Palace?

[Samuel Cole]

So the constables have escaped The Dreaming by framing Thrisaldion for murder and having one of the PCs offer his personality fealty to the Voice of Rot. (No way that this can go badly...) They're now racing to the palace to try to prevent the assassination of King Aodhan.

Looking over the large and complex fight at the palace, I'm left confused. The book says that they won't face all the different encounters at once, yet it seems that they do:

• Catherine Romana and her entourage start in the main room. (First round threat)
• Undead Hordes pour through the holes (Third round threat)
• Dengar is in the north field, but is firing into the main room starting at the beginning of the fight. (First round threat and every ten rounds thereafter, but can be dealt with at PC's convenience if they don't mind being bombed.)
• Amielle is shooting the PCs every round, albeit intentionally winging them. (Threat can be handled at PC's convenience.)
• Bugge is a first round threat, although I'm not sure where he and his posse are supposed to be.
• Venkio is in the entrance foyer, but only one move action away from the main room and is described as heading that way immediately. (First round threat.)
• Shadow Men (Round 20 threat)

I don't understand how these are meant to be a gauntlet-like run of six back-to-back encounters - it seems like from the very beginning, the party will be facing Catherine Romana and her undead entourage, two undead hordes, a dragon, Bugge and his undead entourage, and regular artillery fire. I like the idea of running through the palace, choosing who and how to engage the enemy, but as written it seems like the party starts in the main room and stands there as 4-5 encounters worth of opponents descend on them simultaneously.

Can ya'll tell me how you ran this scene? Did you stagger the entrances of the various opponents? Did you start the PCs in a different part of the palace and make them fight their way to the king? Is there a key aspect of the encounter design that I'm misreading?

I'll be running this combat next weekend, and would really appreciate your advice!

 

[RangerWickett]

My view of this is that there are other defenders in the castle, and NPCs tend not to be as *fast* as PCs in combat. So no, no one rushes the party. All the various NPC groups are busy with their own part of the palace, and won't go hunting for the party for at least a minute or two.

Imagine, you're an old wizard, and you roll up on a palace's entrance foyer with your minions, waiting for the signal. There's a bit of tinny dwarven opera on a phonograph, and that goes for a minute, and then you hear a faint clap. That's the signal. Cannons fire, blasting holes in the wall, and you point for your wights to go in. And it's just a glorious slaughter. Tons of people dying, nobody can touch you. You hear shots from a few doors down and figure your teammates are being equally successful. There are more explosions outside, spooky moans of undead, and all and all it's a good time.

You take a moment to admire the decorations in the palace while your minions rip some guards to shreds, and you glance up at the dragon skeleton hanging as a trophy. You perform a little ritual to awaken it and give it the power to consume souls, then gesture to your undead wight students to lead the way into another chamber. Before you leave you tell the dragon, "Go find the king and take your revenge on the nation that slew you."

So really, if the PCs stay in the throne room, it's more like:

Round 1 (which is whenever the party initiates hostilities, or once Aodhan orders them to kill Romana): Romana and the ghost council attack.

Round 3: 2 wraith assassination hordes enter the throne room.

Round 5: Bugge finishes clearing the first defenders in the foyer. He starts his ritual to animate Venkio.

Round 15-ish: Venkio animates and heads for the throne room. Bugge and his group head through the west wing. (I assume the party takes some time to discuss things, get a sense of the forces arrayed against them, and heal a bit after the initial rush. If the party heads to the foyer right after the throne room battle, they might spot Bugge and his wights leaving, but the dragon drops down in front of them and attacks.)

Round 20+: The bleak gate killers pin point the party's location and wait for them to be distracted before they strike.

 

[Samuel Cole]

This is super useful, thanks! I missed the fact that the dragon wasn't ready to go from round one, and I like the idea of scattering NPC defenders throughout the castle so that the PCs can stumble on the various groups of enemies mid-slaughter.

Thanks for the quick response!