Alright, we played a couple days late, and life has sucked up my free time, so no chance for a write-up yet. So, getting to it! We played for about four hours again, and a good time was had by most (but I'll get to that).
[sblock]So, we left off with the PCs stepping into Votan's (the death knight) blackflame, which would take them to his fortress, where they would attempt to rescue Dawn (the former gnome Monk PC that he'd captured back at level 4... we've just hit level 11).
Alright, so the PCs step through the blackflame, appearing at the other side. They saw a large black fortress looming over them. The sky was grey, the road leading to the fortress was old and broken, the fields surrounding the fortress were barren, and the trees were bare and/or dead. I had them roll some checks, and they were able to determine that they were on the Shadowfell. Additionally, the Warpriest (who hit a Hard Religion) knew that this meant that the death knight had some amount of autonomy, since he was not confined to the Nine Hells (except when summoned), like many other high servants of Asmodeus.
The PCs decided to approach the doors, expecting them to open for them, but they didn't. So, after a short debate, the dwarven Knight decided to pull them up, which he was able to do with a Strength check. There was a small entryway inside, with a hallway ahead leading to double doors, and a single door to the right. They stopped to open the door, but various checks failed to get passed the lock (failed Strength checks, Thievery, etc.). With that, they moved down the hallway, opened the door, and saw a large room (about 100 feet deep by 50 feet wide).
At the back of the room stood Votan, the death knight. Between him and the party, however, stretching from one side to other, was a block of skeletal warriors (4 rows deep), putting the number at about 80. Votan commended them on their bravery, and said that if they wanted Dawn, they'd have to get through his guardians first. He said he would be in his throne room, gave them a time limit of twenty minutes before he called for more reinforcements, and exited through a door at the back of the room.
The PCs debated what to do, but I let them know that after their trials and training (leading up to Paragon), they knew that they could probably win this fight (as long as the other PCs had advanced as much as they had). They talked themselves into it, and rushed in. I ran the fight as five large (modified) swarms of skeletal warriors (16 skeletons each), which threw off some plans the players had discussed prior to rushing in (they were banking on it being them and their AoEs vs. 80 minions, as they hadn't encountered the swarm mechanic yet, really). I also had each swarm drop two minions once they were defeated, so they had to fight them, too, periodically throughout the fight (though they've historically been good at minion clearing, especially the Cleaving Knight).
The fight was fun. Each swarm dealt automatic damage to a PC if they PC started its turn next to the swarm. This means that the PCs were often trying to position themselves (or move one another with powers) between turns to mitigate the damage, which made for a surprising mobile combat. By the end, the Knight, Scout, and Elementalist had retreated back into the hallway, trying to limit the number of swarms that could fight them (or move into their squares), while the Warpriest kept retreating farther into the room (or getting pushed farther in by the Elementalist, who would slide him out of harm's way while attacking swarms). Even though the combat was engaging and tense, it wasn't too hard on the PCs; no dailies were used, and the Scout dropped once before being brought back to consciousness.
The PCs won the day, happy that the four of them were able to defeat 80 skeletal warriors in a pretty straight head to head combat. The PCs knew that they had twenty minutes (and had used less than one while dispatching 80 foes), so they decided to take a few short rests back to back (something I've let them do since level 1). Fifteen minutes later, full healed with healing surges rearranged (due to the Elementalist's ritual), they went to the door and opened it.
Unfortunately, they didn't find the throne room, instead seeing a smaller room (maybe 30 feet wide by 40 feet long) with an altar of Asmodeus in the center-back portion. They moved in with the plans to destroy it (the Warpriest wanted to convert it to The Raven Queen, but he estimated that it would take longer than they had). When they did, the door behind them closed, and the ceiling began to tremble.
This was a trap room, something I haven't really used much against them. The altar and two portions of the ceiling each had initiative. On the altar's turn, it could try to dominate (save ends) two different PCs, while the two portions of ceilings dropped rocks down in a close burst 1 (and I randomly rolled for the location of the close burst square from one of nine squares each attack). All the PCs had to do was destroy the altar, and the doors would open. The Warpriest realized this with a Religion and told the others immediately, and used Dungeoneering to estimate the altar's HP (it only had 125 hit points, but he estimated it at 115).
This room was brutal. Just completely brutal. The players have always rolled well when attacking each other, and this encounter was no exception. They beat one each other while the rocks rained down from above. Things started getting bad when someone finally dropped, and then someone failed their save and stayed dominated (they also clustered around the Warpriest, since he gives a +1 bonus on saves to adjacent allies). They had the altar almost destroyed after it finally failed an attack vs Will against one of the PCs, but the falling rocks finally knocked the Warpriest to negative bloodied, killing him. The Knight was able to destroy the altar, and the PCs pulled the Warpriest's body away and to safety (as the rocks continued to fall).
The doors were open, and they could see that the next room was a small throne room, and that Votan sat on the throne, waiting. They moved out of eyesight in the altar room, talking about what they should do now that the Warpriest was dead. They talked about leaving, but knew they were stranded on the Shadowfell, and weren't sure how their survival looked without his healing. They considered going in and fighting the death knight (they'd healed quite a bit with the copious amount of potions they have), but thought they had about a 10% chance of success without the Warpriest. Since they only had about a minute left before they hit the death knight's 20 minute mark, they had to make a decision.
They opted for moving in, and having the Elementalist trying to ask for mercy, more or less. They walked in as a group, with the owl bear (the wilden Scout's fey beast companion from his theme) carrying the Warpriest's body. Votan stood as soon as they entered, and asked if they were ready for him. The Elementalist then thanked him for coming to them initially and offering the challenge, but explained that they did not think they could win in their current state. She asked if they could have ten minutes to compose themselves (and hit a Hard Diplomacy), and he agreed.
They turned away, talking amongst themselves. They decided that it wasn't worth trying to defeat the death knight like this. They rolled a Wisdom to see if they knew what the deceased Warpriest would want them to do, and succeeded. I let the player communicate his wishes: he wanted Dawn saved, but since he was responsible for the lives of the other PCs (they were marked to live by The Raven Queen), he wanted them to live. So, they had the Elementalist ask if they could withdraw from the challenge (she hit another Hard Diplomacy). The death knight said that they were good, honorable warriors for coming this far, and had no issue with them withdrawing. They turned back to each other for more discussion, and had the Elementalist ask if he would transport them back to the mortal world. He said he would, and offered to send them back to their castle.
The talked some more. While talking (it looked like they would go back), Votan added that he had no problem sending them, he just wanted one thing... the corpse of the Warpriest. The PCs decided that they couldn't leave his corpse, and considered combat once again. The Scout player asked me if the owlbear disappeared, if it would take its possessions with it. I said that on a Moderate Nature check, he could send it with them (including the Warpriest's body), but it would take a Hard DC to send the Warpriest's new artifact with it. The players assumed that if they did that, though, the death knight wouldn't send them home.
Thus, a plan was born! They would agree with the death knight (with a Bluff from the Elementalist). They would have him conjure the blackflame, and send the Knight through first (to "test it" and make sure it's safe and wouldn't damage them). Then, just before the PCs went through the blackflame, the Elementalist would use her icy blast on the owlbear (since the Scout couldn't dismiss him), attempting to get him to retreat to the Feywild, while the Scout rolled his Nature check. Then, they would attempt to dive through the blackflame before the death knight dismissed it or changed its transport-like nature to damaging, instead. Even if the Scout and Elementalist were trapped and killed, the Knight could try to retrieve the Warpriest's body (somehow), and mount a rescue for them. They decided that they would rather risk all of their lives than give the Warpriest's up.
So, how did it play out? The Elementalist made her Bluff, and hit a Hard DC. The Knight traveled through the blackflame to the castle without incident. And then the Elementalist blasted the owlbear... bringing him to 1 HP, not enough to send him scurrying away to the Feywild. The Scout asked if he could stab the owlbear, and I allowed it (with an attack roll), and he hit it, sending him through. The Scout proceeded to hit his Hard Nature check, so the artifact traveled with the Warpriest's corpse. The PCs tried diving into the fire, but I called for initiative. Natural 19 for the Elementalist, but a natural 4 for the Scout (though he's Dex-based, and has a good bonus). I rolled for the death knight... natural 1. The PCs dived through, their plan a success! They'd failed in rescuing Dawn, but had escaped with their lives! Everything was going to be okay!
But the blackflame didn't die down, and they realized that there was nothing stopping the death knight from following them. They began to run, and sure enough, the death knight followed after them, walking after them as they ran. The Elementalist yelled out commands in primordial as they ran (ordering the earth and winter elemental servants to escape), and the PCs made a beeline for the teleportation circle to the dwarven city.
They made it through, and immediately alerted the guards that a death knight was chasing them. The teleportation room was vacated and blockaded, with the greatest dwarven heroes showing up to defend the city. After twenty minutes, the high priest of Moradin (who they'd worked with before, and had resurrected the Warpriest once already after a party wipe, if I recall correctly) said that the death knight wasn't going to show up. He explained that blackflame was a uniquely rare ability, and that teleporting and plane-hopping without conditions (like a teleportation circle) was hard to do, and that he was limited to a couple of times per day. Since the PCs had explained what had happened, the high priest of Moradin assumed that he'd retreated back to his blackflame and traveled to his fortress on the Shadowfell, rather than pursue them.
He also asked if they wanted him to resurrect the Warpriest, and the PCs nodded vigorously. The Scout recalled his owlbear (another Hard Nature brought the artifact with it), and the high priest started about bringing him back to life. The Scout took the time to talk to his owlbear and explained what happened (since he can talk to owlbears with his level 10 ability), and though the owlbear understood, his objection was "but... sharp."
The Warpriest was brought back to life (he has a -1 to most rolls until 3 extended rests or 3 milestones), and the other PCs healed up fully. The high priest informed them that if they let him, he might be able to check for traces of the Shadowfell on them. If he could do it successfully, he might be able to plane shift them back to the fortress, where they could confront the death knight, possibly leading to his defeat. They decided to go for it. They asked the high priest about protecting against teleportation (like the blackflame showing up in their castle against their will), and the priest once again explained that as a uniquely rare ability, it's hard to block against. However, the best way to stop it was at the source; kill the death knight, and you won't have to worry about it anymore.[/sblock]
So, that was the plan. The high priest checked them for traces, and is preparing to send them out next session. This was a fun session, and the failures were dealt with in a really fun way. The plan against the death knight was vintage RPG stuff, and distinctly D&D flavored. Good stuff in our little four hour session
