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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 1365342" data-attributes="member: 63">I've got a potentially high-powered battle coming up in the next one or two sessions, and I want to prepare for it well.  I'm really hoping to make it a memorable battle, not just because of who they'll be confronting, but because of where it is and how the battle ends.See, the thing is, the party is going after a shadowdancer/assassin who killed the Emperor and took his Big Magic Doodad.  The party was friends with him, because the Emperor sorta had it coming, but now they need the Doodad to stop another nasty badguy, a badguy our shadowdancer/assassin is friends with.  At the end of the fight, I'm thinking I'll try to make sure the party can't get the Doodad, and that instead the badguy will get it (perhaps by teleporting the dead/dying assassin to him).  The badguy's pretty smart, so the party will have to both outfight the assassin and outwit the badguy in order to get what they need.My problem is to make the fight satisfying enough that, even if they don't get what they want, the players will still have a great time.  Also, I want to make it sufficiently hard to get the Doodad, without being a railroading-type problem.Cast of Characters - Player Characters<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Lord Rantle of Innenotdar, wielder of the sword of dreams (he likes his titles), Fighter 9/Rogue 3.  Fights with a big magical wooden greatsword, sings occasionally.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fayne Rawnbeck, Ranger 11/Barbarian 1.  Dual-wielding damage dealer.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Guthwulf, Minister of Pain (he also likes his titles), Cleric 12.  A lawful evil cleric fond of defending himself with magic until he gets a chance to get in a powerful killing spell.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Quill Kainen, Wizard 12.  Classic everymage, who likes transmutations and evocations.  He takes the direct approach.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">new PC, Druid 5/Shifter 7.  This is to replace a dead PC; the player is a supreme power-gamer, but a nice one.  He's giving me a list of all the forms he can turn into (like ethereal filcher) so I'll be prepared.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">new PC, Sorcerer 12.  This is to replace a dead PC; she'll have bizarre wild magic and psionic powers.</li> </ul>The party in general doesn't use advanced tactics.  They like to swarm at the biggest threat, or send in Fayne to cut through lesser foes while the rest of the group goes after whoever they like least.Cast of Characters - Non-Player Characters<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Rhuarc Knightsbane, Rogue 7/Ranger 1/Assassin 10/Shadowdancer 3.  This is our main target.  He uses a lot of poison, and is self-serving.  However, he used to kinda like some people in this party, so he'd prefer to drive them off first, only killing if that doesn't work.  Rhuarc's sword can steal souls, and he actually has trapped inside the souls of a free of his old friends, whom he can call forth to fight for him (it's an assassin-ish twist on the Leadership feat).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Quillathe Nailo, Fighter 10/Assassin 3.  She dual-wields rapier and whip, with lasher-esque feats to let her use them in close combat.  She's an ally of Rhuarc's, given to exotic fighting styles that unbalance foes.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Yvonnel Oblodra, Fighter 7/Rogue 3/Assassin 3.  Wielding just a quarterstaff, Yvonnel is actually more of a direct fighter than Quillathe.  She'll usually team up with Quillathe, keeping foes occupied and taking the hits while Quillathe dea deals damage from distance.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Pilus, big bad evil guy.  He's not going to be here, but he'll probably be scrying rather often, and can send in air elementals and other air-based critters.  Pilus is a high-level wizard, currently off destroying cities.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Shalosha, Fighter 7/Sorcerer 8.  She's an ally of the party, and Rantle's betrothed.  She uses a lot of buff spells and enhancements, with only the occasional direct damage spell.  Shalosha is the daughter of Shaaladel, an Elvish general whom the party only half trusts.</li> </ul>The Magical Doodad is a torch that, when activated, can teleport anyone who sees the flame to any part of the world where the sun is shining.  The torch doesn't work now, though, because Rhuarc's sword, which can steal souls, stole the torch's soul.The location will be in the Ycengled forest, a cold, snowy forest haunted with the ghosts of thousands of dead Elves.  Over a century ago, Shaaladel (Shalosha's dad) lived in this forest as a general, and he killed many Elves that he thought were conspiring against the rest of their people.  Rhuarc is hiding here because the ghosts disrupt divinations, and because this was his homeland long ago.  I'm trying to think of some sort of nifty Elvish ruin that would make for a good fight location, with lots of dynamism.  I also want some tactics that these three assassins could use against the party I described.  The assassins know they'll eventually get tracked down by somebody who wants the torch (the danged thing is an artifact, and they can't figure out how to destroy it), so they'll likely have some defenses planned.Any ideas?</blockquote>

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