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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 8014863" data-attributes="member: 1210">Just finished up and it was awesome. Ran my Delta group; last game, we ended mid-combat with a death knight king who couldn't be defeated in normal combat (when he started his turn at 0 hps, he regained half his hps and rose up at the start of his turn). He was a villain who could only be defeated if the pcs solved his 'puzzle' first (they had to destroy his crown). Last session, they'd figured out that (probably) his crown was the source of his "can't be killed" power, and that the chill touch clause that prevents regaining hps would delay, but not entirely stop, his regaining hps. They had a pc who had fallen under an 8-hour long charm that made him fanatically devoted to the king. And oh yeah, this was all in an underwater dungeon, which added all kinds of shenanigans to the tactical situation. This game, they knocked out the charmed pc (who still contributed to the game by giving away his inspiration to another pc at a crucial moment, since I view inspiration as a meta level mechanic), destroyed the death knight's remaining minions, and slew him again- and this time they got his crown off, stone shaped him into a wall, and started to flee. But he had an item that let him word of recall to an area near their flight path....Even an adamantine dagger couldn't harm his crown. They tried to get out of the dungeon, but King Lopindor was in hot and angry pursuit. The pcs fled up a spiral stair and shattered in behind themselves, hoping to slow Lopindor's vengeance. At the top they encountered a rejuvenated ghost who had previously tried to stop them from descending to confront the king. It was a soundless ghost, but a pc with Observant and Keen Mind had cast comprehend languages and read his lips as he told them (in an extinct tongue) that the king couldn't be slain "unless....." (trailing off). This time, they had the crown, and the ghost led most of them away while two pcs, the tiefling fighter and goliath barbarian, set themselves as a rear guard. Lopindor rose and defeated the rear guard, leaving them dying, while the ghost took the others to a hidden shrine (that they had to blast their way into) with three altars. A magical message from the king's long lost wife gave them the clues they needed to destroy the crown, which finally let them take down Lopindor. And they barely managed to save their dying rear guard, thanks largely to the charmed pc's inspiration. Without it, one of them would have had a natural 1 on a death save and would have died.As the pyramid began to collapse around them, they fled. Again, that Keen Mind feat saved the day, allowing the party wizard to lead them out before it all came down. A few potions of flying and a fly spell completed their escape, although the pirate ship that they had allied with capsized and sank; but from the pcs' airship, they managed to rescue about half of the crew. Then Discord took a crap and started getting very laggy, and we called it a night. But the long and short of it is, a party of 7th to 9th level pcs managed to defeat a CR 20 bad guy, and though they had to leave most of the treasure behind, they definitely earned their victory.</blockquote>

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