RangerWickett
Legend
A coworker's sick, so I'm stuck working until just before tonight's game, which means I won't get a chance to sit down with my books and plot out a fight that's probably coming up. If you could provide some help, I'd greatly appreciate it.
The PCs' village was recently attacked by ogres, led by a demon whom the PCs killed. Without their leader, the ogres fled, and the PCs are following to try to eliminate the threat once and for all. I've got some basic ideas about the ogre society figured out, detailed in sblock below. The main thing I could use help with, though, is coming up with a tough fight against an ogre champion and his allies - a sort of winner-take-all battle for control of the tribe.
[sblock]The ogres live in the ruins of a city called Hastruar. A hundred years ago a cataclysm stuck, and the only ones who survived were those who accepted the aid of the demon Ferruus (recently killed by the PCs). Ferruus turned the men into ogres, the women into enchanting sirens. The ogres developed a culture based on a hierarchy of slavery, so everyone was owned by somebody else, all the way up to the high priest, the warrior champion, and demon's high concubine, who were owned by Ferruus himself.
In order to be summoned physically into this world, Ferruus needed sacrificial offerings. Over the century the ogres basically ran the remains of the city into the ground, and they roamed far to capture slaves from the human villages that once relied on the city. Every day they would slaughter men or beasts and toss their bodies into the lake upon whose banks Hastruar once lay.
Slowly these sacrifices shifted the city and brought it into partial connection with the fires of hell. This boiled away the lake and opened a rift in the ground which the ogres call 'The Howling Well.' They believe the well leads to what 'the Maelstrom' (basically, the elemental chaos/the abyss/hell/etc). Steam still sizzles up from where a river feeds into the dry lake bed, which is now covered with a layer of bones from a century of sacrifices.
Finally last month Ferruus arose from the Howling Well, and he set out on conquest, but the PCs killed him. Quite awesome for the PCs, but rather anticlimactic for the ogres and their demon god.
Now the high priest of Ferruus, named Drar, is scrambling to maintain order. His faith is gone, he's afraid of the PCs and their village, and he wants to avoid their wrath. Meanwhile the warrior champion wants to rally the warriors and burn down the PCs' village, which they probably could do; the only reason they fled was shock at the death of their 'god.'
The PCs took an ogre hostage, Oliag, and he will guide them back to his city, where I figure they'll bully Drar into a surrender, but they'll have to take out the warrior champion, and avoid being tricked by Ferruus's old concubine. [/sblock]
I want to have stats ready in case they get into a fight with the champion and his posse. If it happens, I imagine it starting at the ogres' temple, and then spilling off the balcony into the steamy bone field that used to be the lake bed.
The party is 6th level, 4th edition but with some custom powers. We have an earth mage, a necromancer, a demon-friendly rogue, a psychic monk, and a good old fashioned braggart swordfighter.
Could you help me come up with a good fight for these guys? Reskinning is perfectly acceptable, because I'd like to keep the opponents as 'ogres' as far as the PCs know.
The PCs' village was recently attacked by ogres, led by a demon whom the PCs killed. Without their leader, the ogres fled, and the PCs are following to try to eliminate the threat once and for all. I've got some basic ideas about the ogre society figured out, detailed in sblock below. The main thing I could use help with, though, is coming up with a tough fight against an ogre champion and his allies - a sort of winner-take-all battle for control of the tribe.
[sblock]The ogres live in the ruins of a city called Hastruar. A hundred years ago a cataclysm stuck, and the only ones who survived were those who accepted the aid of the demon Ferruus (recently killed by the PCs). Ferruus turned the men into ogres, the women into enchanting sirens. The ogres developed a culture based on a hierarchy of slavery, so everyone was owned by somebody else, all the way up to the high priest, the warrior champion, and demon's high concubine, who were owned by Ferruus himself.
In order to be summoned physically into this world, Ferruus needed sacrificial offerings. Over the century the ogres basically ran the remains of the city into the ground, and they roamed far to capture slaves from the human villages that once relied on the city. Every day they would slaughter men or beasts and toss their bodies into the lake upon whose banks Hastruar once lay.
Slowly these sacrifices shifted the city and brought it into partial connection with the fires of hell. This boiled away the lake and opened a rift in the ground which the ogres call 'The Howling Well.' They believe the well leads to what 'the Maelstrom' (basically, the elemental chaos/the abyss/hell/etc). Steam still sizzles up from where a river feeds into the dry lake bed, which is now covered with a layer of bones from a century of sacrifices.
Finally last month Ferruus arose from the Howling Well, and he set out on conquest, but the PCs killed him. Quite awesome for the PCs, but rather anticlimactic for the ogres and their demon god.
Now the high priest of Ferruus, named Drar, is scrambling to maintain order. His faith is gone, he's afraid of the PCs and their village, and he wants to avoid their wrath. Meanwhile the warrior champion wants to rally the warriors and burn down the PCs' village, which they probably could do; the only reason they fled was shock at the death of their 'god.'
The PCs took an ogre hostage, Oliag, and he will guide them back to his city, where I figure they'll bully Drar into a surrender, but they'll have to take out the warrior champion, and avoid being tricked by Ferruus's old concubine. [/sblock]
I want to have stats ready in case they get into a fight with the champion and his posse. If it happens, I imagine it starting at the ogres' temple, and then spilling off the balcony into the steamy bone field that used to be the lake bed.
The party is 6th level, 4th edition but with some custom powers. We have an earth mage, a necromancer, a demon-friendly rogue, a psychic monk, and a good old fashioned braggart swordfighter.
Could you help me come up with a good fight for these guys? Reskinning is perfectly acceptable, because I'd like to keep the opponents as 'ogres' as far as the PCs know.
