help me kill my party!

[SlyFlourish]

Ok, not really, but I want to give my PCs a real good run for their money. They've gotten cocky since hitting the Paragon and I've had trouble really threatening them with the encounters in Trollhaunt. I'm looking for some ideas for a set of two or three encounters that will remind them how dangerous the world is.

The party are currently level 12 but will likely be 13 when I can run this. There are six PCs: invoker, fighter (glave), paladin, warlock, ranger, and cleric. They have lots of anti-undead, and the fighter is tactically smarter than I am.

I'm looking for three encounters, one at the PC level, PC level +1 , and one at PC level +3.

Right now my idea is to have a drow hunting party hunting the PCs down. They start by dropping a Goristro in the middle of Moonstair. Once the PCs have taken care of the Goristro, a pack of spiders (blade spiders, phase spiders, and a Demonweb terror). Finally, the drow hunting party themselves hit with a pair of Blademasters, some spiderguards, a draegoloth, and some snipers.

Advice welcome!

 

[LostSoul]

Kuo-Toa from the underdark make a raid on the Moonstair.

An earthquake presages their arrival. Shortly after that, people go missing and come back "strange".

Encounter 1: Kuo-Toa Kidnappers

At night, near the ferry landings, the PCs hear some muffled screams for help. They spot a group of shadowy figures making off with something struggling in a large bag.

Goal: They are trying to escape to the deep water where they can retreat back to their underdark lair, turning their prisoner into a "deep one". (The prisoner has a fishy thing shoved down its throat so it can breathe. This also keeps it quiet.)

Level 13 * XP 4800

2 Kuo-toa Harpooners
4 Kuo-toa Marauders

One of the Marauders holds a big sack; this reduces his speed, AC, and Reflex defense by 2. He can drop it to get rid of these penalties as a free action.

Tactics: The kuo-toa try to make it to the edge of the water where they have the advantage (+2 to attacks from their aquatic ability). The Harpooners will try to pull PCs into the water.

Features: There's a rip tide along the shore that can drag characters (including the kuo-toa) further out to sea.
The shore is shallow (just difficult terrain), but deepens out after a while.
There's a small boat the PCs can use.
Long gaff hooks on the docks can be picked up and used: Two-handed; no proficiency; 1d8 damage; polearm, spear group; reach property; on a hit, the target is pulled 1.


Encounter 2: Assault from the Deep

Kuo-Toa pour into Moonstair and wreak havoc.

Level 14 * XP 6800
1 Kuo-Toa Monitor
4 Kuo-Toa Harpooners
4 Kuo-Toa Guards

The Guards are the villagers who have been returned, though all fishy-like. They come out of different buildings at different times and attack the PCs.


Encounter 3: In the Deeps

The PCs hunt down the kuo-toa.

Level 17 * XP 10400
1 Kuo-Toa Whip
2 Kuo-Toa Monitors
6 Kuo-Toa Marauders
2 Kuo-Toa Harpooners

 

[MarauderX]

Gobs of Foulspawn Manglers, perhaps upped in level, with a few baddies that can daze.

 

[Aeolius]

"It is the rabbit."

 

[Leatherhead]

I'm not going to give an earthshaking plot, it's your campaign you should fit them in as you see fit.

At first, my thought was to bust out some devils. They should be able to take the fighter down a peg or two.

5000 exp (so I went a bit over)
Bone Devil
Bearded Devil X2
Chain Devil X2
Legion Devil Hellguard x4 (unless you think minions should be 1/2 exp, then double that)

Situation: They are devils, someone probably summoned them to go take the party out. This encounter works best in an environment that has a bottleneck or two, and the PC's spread out a bit.
Tactics: Teleport and shift around to single out a soft target (possibly the Invoker), then have everyone unleash hell. The devils like being near each other for the defensive bonuses, teleportation and reach makes this very easy to set this up. Between the bone devil and the chain devils it should be very easy to lockdown someone and rip even heavily armored targets to shreds

Then I noticed that the party has the potential for lots and lots of radiant damage. So naturally this leads me to use Angels, as they are going to be resistant to such attacks.

8800 xp
Angel of Battle
Angel of Protection x2
Eliodon
Alter of Zealotry (trap)
Yaun-ti Malison incanter.
Yaun-ti Malison Disciple of Zhir
Yaun-ti Malison Sharp-eye

Situation: The PC's stumble upon a temple of Zhir, after a "friend" gives them a tip about who summoned the devils.This fight is going to be horrible for the PC's, three different ways to get dominated, and the fight is going to drag on for a very long time.
Tactics: The angels protect the Disciple while they rush into melee, and back up to protect the incanter if they party slips by. The eliodon uses its stance back by the alter out of reach of the PC's. The Incanter stays near the eliodon, and the sharp-eye stays as far away from the PC's as possible.

And because I am pressed for time here is a solo encounter:

6000 xp (more or less)
Adult Blue dragon
Electrified Floor (trap) x2
Shifting Sands (Hazard)

The shifting sands is a level 13 obstacle hazard in an area approximately 40 squares big, which counts as difficult terrain and has the following attack:
Trigger: Whenever a creature ends their turn in a square that has the hazard.
Opportunity Action, Melee 1
Target: Creature triggering the hazard.
Attack +16 Vs reflex
Hit: The target is slid two squares in a random direction.
Special: This trap does not trigger in a square occupied by the Electrified Floor trap.
Additionally, the shifting sands have the following power
Standard action, Recharge
Target: Every square that has an Electrified floor trap in it
Special: The square cannot be occupied by a creature
Effect: The electrified floor trap slides one square in a random direction, this effect cannot place the trap in a square occupied by a creature or another trap.

The Dragon has a crystal amulet that allows the dragon (or anyone else who has the crystal) to calm the sand they are standing on, so that the hazard does not effect them.

If you want, you can cut the area down to 30 squares and then use the Elite Electrified Floor trap, but be careful as the dragon is not resistant to stuns, unless you further alter the trap to ignore dragons...

Situation: The friend that tipped them off is actually a blue dragon, the one that sent the devils after them, the PC's go to confront the dragon in her layer.
Tactics: The dragon flies around and blasts the party while chaos ensues.

 

[LostSoul]

If you want, you can cut the area down to 30 squares and then use the Elite Electrified Floor trap, but be careful as the dragon is not resistant to stuns, unless you further alter the trap to ignore dragons...

Dragons can fly.

It's cool in that it makes dropping him Prone a cool tactic.

 

[Leatherhead]

Dragons can fly.

It's cool in that it makes dropping him Prone a cool tactic.

Well yes, the encounter assumes that the dragon is flying around. The crystal is there for an attentive PC to snatch in combat. The problem is stun. Stun is extremely powerful against solos, dropping the dragon prone and stunning it would probably make the encounter far to easy. The normal traps work better in a situation where you want to reward the players for knocking the dragon without trivializing the encounter.

 

[Quartz]

Just make the dragon immune to electricity. Note that this doesn't stop the trap from going off, just stops it from affecting the dragon.