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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LightPhoenix" data-source="post: 1159404" data-attributes="member: 115"><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=64518" target="_blank">http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=64518</a> <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  Well, off the top of my head... Have things react around the players.  Maybe Valmuuresh is a little too successful at storming the ziggurat.  Suddenly lightning bolts go flying through the walls, or Valmuuresh ends up being able to take the Needle.  Watch as the Forces of Darkness assault the fort and the Tleyans need to respond, and have the players caught in the crossfire.  Tleyans are taking pot shots at anyone who moves outside... maybe Valmuuresh is going to fall, and suddenly there's no distraction. Play up the sense of urgency.  Running through the ethreal takes time too, and maybe there are ethereal guardians as well as material ones.  Have Material forces run past them up to where the Needle is.  Also, according to MotP, movement in the Ethereal is halved... so while it may be safer, it'll slow them down (MotP, p. 54). You can counter etherealness (and likewise invisibility) a number of ways.  A Dimensional Anchor around the Needle would prevent ethereal folks from jumping in, meaning they have to go back out and switch to Material form.  There's going to be dedicated defenders around the Needle - maybe they even are prepared to jump to the ethereal themselves with it to prevent its capture.  The possibility of invisible or ethereal (or astral) invasion is certainly a possibility at this level, and the enemy may be prepared for it.  Maybe the Tleyans don't know about the invisile keep, but they know the Witch-Queens' servants favor stealth and and invisibility. Or, you could let the plan work.  After all, they're using their abilities well, and should be rewarded.  But jumping back into the Material may sound an Alarm, so even if the party can get to the Needle, suddenly they have to get through all the Tleyan forces, plus the FoD, plus even possibly a dragon betrayer!  Now they're running for their lives, which can be just as tense.  And still lots of explosions. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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