Defending against an 'army' of shadows

[ViciousPenguin]

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:

1. Created "fortified" locations with Hallow and Death Ward - check
2. Established R.I.P. squads of NPC clerics to turn/destroy - check
3. 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?

Thanks for reading. I'm looking forward to your ideas. And so are all my NPC's.


Note: 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, so keep in mind the resources they have available. (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.)

 

[GMVictory]

If possible, Feather Fall wands. The urns won't shatter when they hit the ground.

Summon air elementals and other flyers to catch the urns mid-air and take them someplace to be disposed.

All clerics should have multiple Spiritual Weapons prepared.

 

[ViciousPenguin]

If possible, Feather Fall wands. The urns won't shatter when they hit the ground.

That would be a great idea . . . if arcane casters weren't so shunned in this land.

Summon air elementals and other flyers to catch the urns mid-air and take them someplace to be disposed.

Novel idea. It could stop a few of them.

All clerics should have multiple Spiritual Weapons prepared.

How did I overlook that one. They can even sit within their Hallowed / Death Warded zones and pick them off. "I'm calling primary," says the high priest.

Thanks for the thoughts. You just saved dozens, if not hundreds of NPC lives.

...

 

[monboesen]

Ditch the Shadows spawn ability. It's stretching credibility as it stands. If Shadows are created that easily they would have overrun most campaign worlds already.

 

[Enkhidu]

I agree with the "ditch shadowspan" comment above - its simply a side effect of being urned.

 

[ViciousPenguin]

Ditch the Shadows spawn ability. It's stretching credibility as it stands. If Shadows are created that easily they would have overrun most campaign worlds already.

Well, the spawning is really integral to the BBEG's plan. You can't conquer a religious nation with only 100 shadows. Recruiting new 'soldiers' is important to him. I have seriously considered nerfing the ability though. Maybe you should only spawn if your CON is under X, or you get a dying saving throw, etc., etc. I may wind up doing just that.

 

[ViciousPenguin]

A wise reader on another board (yes, I'm cross posting) pointed out that I should:

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.

I always overlook divination spells.

Evacuations would prove to be difficult, as there are known to be spies for the enemy floating about, plus it's winter time. Tough breaks. But divining time and place* should save lots of NPC lives.


* - In so far as this is possible. There are semi-divine powers involved that will prevent 100% accurate answers, but a better idea of time and place should be attainable.

...

 

[Nifft]

What's a Shadow's range of free mobility? Most other incorporeal undead are tethered to a restricted area. Perhaps each Shadow can only move up to 30 ft. from where it was spawned, or must stay in whatever structure it was in if it was killed indoors.

That's still frightening, especially if people gather in one location -- e.g. it's a terrifying weapon during a siege -- but it's also something that a typical distributed village can mostly survive.

The higher the population density, the higher the damage, but also the higher the defenses. Balance is beautiful.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Slapzilla]

The attack will come at night (I assume) and if every single light were off, both the zombie dragon and the lich (assuming an appropriate howdah is readied) will have to come in low for their darkvision to work. So light the area. Provide a target for them to easily see from on high. When the urns are dropped, they are caught in nets strung up all over the town. The evil bombers will be too far up to see the nets even with their darkvision...60'. A few will get through but the contingency is in place for that. This will work once.

Is it too late for hubris to jump in here. Could the falling urns damage the Shadows inside to the point of death? Has BBEG's Lt. tested the drop or is he just so arrogant that failure just isn't conceivable?

Walls of force channeling the rampaging shadows into sunlight spell ambushes?

Keep us posted.

 

[Slife]

Well, the spawning is really integral to the BBEG's plan. You can't conquer a religious nation with only 100 shadows. Recruiting new 'soldiers' is important to him. I have seriously considered nerfing the ability though. Maybe you should only spawn if your CON is under X, or you get a dying saving throw, etc., etc. I may wind up doing just that.

How about second generation shadows being unable to spawn new ones? Or killing the parent shadow kills all of its spawnees?