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Message: <blockquote data-quote="NewJeffCT" data-source="post: 5052261" data-attributes="member: 10784">Sorry this is a bit long, but I figured it would be best to get the important info into one post to start.I thought maybe we could finish up my almost 2 ½ year old 3.5 campaign last session, which was the Friday before Christmas.  But, that was a pipe dream.  However, the final session should be this coming Friday, January 15.The PCs elected not to surrender to the bad guys and the final combat has been pretty good and the PCs have wiped out most of the minor bad guys on the board and just killed the vicious paladin of tyranny and her nightmare/cauchmar mount.Here is the situation – at the start of the combat, the Evil High Priest (EHP)of slavery and tyranny saw the PCs enter what seemed to be a huge auditorium.  He calmly walked off the stage & disappeared while his minions engaged the PCs.  The players are all level 18 and they have 7 PCs and 3 major NPC allies (including one mounted on a young adult copper dragon)   Most of the royal bodyguard stayed on the stage, apparently to cover his apparent retreat.  (The stage was protected by Forbiddance.)The minions were a couple of ice devils, a pit fiend, the aforementioned paladin of tyranny and several dozen elite warriors (though, many were conveniently kill-able with Holy Word…they were just there to hopefully grapple a few casters, trip some chargers, etc), a couple of low teen level clerics of slavery & tyranny and a wizard.The EHP was actually going to check on his “special” slave, who is pregnant with his dark child, while casting a few buffing spells on himself.  (He already has the 3 Pact spells, which are permanent until needed, plus Shield Other cast on him by a subordinate, Superior Resistance and Contingency (cast through Miracle))While the EHP was offstage, the party took some serious damage, but the party cleric managed to get off a Mass Heal with her last action and most of the party is near full hit points.  However, they have used several level 9 slots between the cleric and the party sorcerer.So, the cliffhanger ending to the last session was the EHP appearing in the middle of the battlefield, flanked by 2 royal bodyguards in front of him, a subordinate priest behind him and two slave girls right on either side of him.  (I toyed with the idea of one of the slave girls being a girl the party rogue had met earlier in the campaign…but, figured that might be too big a coincidence)My question is, what would the high priest do with his action to start?1)    Cast Implosion at the PC cleric and take her down for the evening, then use Extraordinary Concentration to try it again in round 2?2)    Cast the 5,000XP version of Miracle to get his paladin of tyranny back into action (the party had done that in a previous combat when the dwarf fighter got imploded, so we have precedent at the table)3)    Cast a Chain Dispel and get rid of as many buffs on the PCs as possible – however, with the large battle grid, I think he can only get 2-3 PCs at most?4)    Something else?Thanks for any suggestions.</blockquote>

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