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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 6071722" data-attributes="member: 63">My party cued into Xambria being off, and so when they got to the sunken ziggurat they locked her up and told the guards SHOOT HER if she does anything. Then they went underwater, captured Finona, and then swam up from below and captured Il Dracon de Mer.I know my players. They're kinda paranoid, and they weren't going to give Xambria enough space to escape, so my only real option to have her get away was while they were busy. So during the fight on the other ship, Sijhen broke out, dazed and killed the guards, and then set a fire to distract people while it prepared the Linked Portal ritual. The party eventually heard gunshots and saw smoke, so as soon as they subdued the mercenary crew they ordered them to sail over to The Impossible.By the time they got there, Xambria/Sijhen were gone. But they could tell by the ritual where it had gone. And while none of them could teleport, they went and grabbed Finona and told her they'd cut her a deal if she could cast linked portal. I figured it'd be fine to have them get back to Flint just on the heels of the villain, and it made sense Finona could teleport, so I said sure.The party gets back to Flint half an hour behind Xambria. And that's when the Vekeshi Mystic PC reminds me that his 5th level ability lets him track people, and that he had explicitly said that he was tracking Xambria when they arrested her, because -- like I said -- my players are paranoid and figured she was possessed.So since I could concoct no scenario in which Xambria would shake the pursuit since she didn't think she could be followed, I have the party track her down to the sewers. I mock up a battle with the various Gidim warbeasts that she'd previously managed to summon, and figure that if the party manages to win early, good on them. They'll have avoided the assault on the RHC HQ, and spared a few lives. So the lack of a massive set-piece battle was fine, especially since instead we had a haggard group of heroes refusing to rest as they run down the villain to a lair.And it's raining, in the sewers, which are a bit labyrinthine. Lots of potential for Sijhen's mobility to come into play.Then I am reminded of certain elements of the game that aren't quite balanced. Like the fact that between a knight, a wizard, and a hexblade, the party has six uses of Encounter powers that daze. Plus the seeker and druid each had a dazing daily handy. So even though Sijhen kind of ignores the first 'daze' effect that hits him, he ended up being dazed most of the fight until Xambria went down. Combined with various defender and controller powers, Sijhen really didn't get to do much.Admittedly, the other monsters did nicely screw the party up, especially when the eye of madness made the pixie hexblade attack the knight, and he critted, dealing just enough damage to KILL the knight. But the knight loves reminding me that he has adamantine plate, which reduces damage by 1 point per hit. So he was alive at, like, negative 32 or something. And the party pulled it out.So the party was happy with their victory, even if I felt like my villain fell a bit flat. It never really got a chance to pull off any of its plans, and in combat it was a dud. I think my party believes Lorcan Kell is the main villain of the adventure, so we'll have fun when that happens.I might have to give him two hats, though.</blockquote>

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