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Message: <blockquote data-quote="legiondevil" data-source="post: 4483238" data-attributes="member: 66784">Well, it wasn't a TPK. First Note: I decided to change the surviving Barbarian into a third skeletal warrior.  Also I was replacing a player last night, as he is no longer able to make game.  The cleric was eliminated halfway through the fight (Through fair rolls and tactics mind you, agreed upon by the party) and a wizard was freed from the bindings that held him to the alter as Kalarel's final necessary sacrifice to open the rift to the Shadowfell. The group used rope to get down into the main chamber, giving those inside more than enough warning that something was going on (As if bull rushing the barbarian into it wasn't enough).  The Fighter and Cleric hit the ground first (I allowed them a DC 15 Athletics/Acrobatics check to swing their section of the rope over the floor itself, so they wouldn't land in the blood.  In the first round the wight immobilized the Paladin as he was climbing down the rope, and the Fighter and Cleric moved to try and fight through the skeletal warriors protecting Big K (I placed the third skeletal warrior over by the wight, to provide assistance for him). It took several rounds for the group to finally get to Kalarel, when he teleported to the magic circle of evil the rogue (who was at the alter at the time) freed the poor bound wizard and the fighter and Paladin moved to intercept Big K.  The ranger started ranged combat with the wight, and eventually Fey Stepped on top of the large statue of Orcus, to provide him with a better position to fire from. Note: I think the largest damage dealer in the combat was Kalarel's ongoing necrotic damage from his rod.  That it's 2d6+5 isn't near bad enough. but they tack on the ongoing 5 necrotic and that's just icing. As the wight realized it was losing in the war of attrition with the Ranger, it moved to the circle to regain some hit points (The ranger was using Twin Strike almost exclusivly, and the regen from the circle would equal his average damage), and tried to scare a trio of the adventurers into the portal. Sadly, he only hit one of them.  Which was the Dwarf, and he reduced the shift by 1 putting him right at the portals edge.  The Thing didn't do much in the encounter, succeeding on only 1 OA and 1 normal attack.  I think if the dice were rolling better for him the fight would have ended in a TPK. The Skeletal Warriors, no longer temporarily stopped by the clerics Turn Undead, proceeded to quickly and viciously tag team bull rush him through the portal.  At that moment, the players understood what I was trying to do witht he wight, and good natured name-calling ensued.  A round after this point, thankfully for the group, the wizard had recovered his wand from the stash under the alter and joined in. After playing "Mark Swap" with the Paladin and the Fighter for a little bit, Big K decided to take a pithy amount of radiant damage and get the fighter out of the way.  As he was finally bloodied by the Paladin's mark, he slammed into the Fighter and drove him to negatives (He's already used both his Dwarven Chain and his Second Wind).  The Thing in the Portal finished him off, and that combined with the evil circle pushed Kalarel back into unBloodied territory. The group was looking pretty grim at this point.  Two bloodied Skeletal Warriors and a wounded-but-not-yet-Bloodied Kalarel remained.  The Wight was finished off by the Ranger, and the third Skeletal Warrior dropped due to combined fire from the Rogue and earlier hits from the Fighter. Then, Flaming Sphere decided to join the party. And, much like a squad of drunken frat boys, it began to demolish everything in its sight. The ongoing damage always exceeded the every round healing provided by the circle, and the attacks with it were brutal (2 crits against Kalarel, I believe.  And 20+1d6 isn't nice at all!).  When the sphere dropped, it made quick work of the remaining Skeletal Warriors, and then the Wizard switched to only sustaining it, and firing in artillery style at Kalarel with his At-Will's.  The Rogue and the Paladin (who had his unconscious second wind activated at this point) moved to flank on Kalarel, always keeping him between them and the sphere on one of his other corners.  The Ranger wasn't really adding anything to the fight at this point, as every attack from him then was a miss. Kalarel dropped the Paladin, again (Negative Almost Bloodied) and the Rogue killed Kalarel, and used an action point to stabalize but not reive the Paladin, who thankfully saved against the ongoing necrotic damage. And that was how my running of the combat went.  Two PC's died, one was introduced fresh and full (had he not been, it would have been a TPK).  The Dwarf's player is currently statting up a Cleric as we speak.</blockquote>

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