Creamsteak
Explorer
Last night (well... up until this morning really) we ran what, I believe, was our longest combat ever. The battle was the final encounter in what was, initially, a very easy dungeon crawl. We were using the Eberron adventure in Dungeon 117, modified for a 7.5 level party. The final encounter was with the fallen angel Sytherael, and his minor host of servants.
After being harrassed multiple times by the blink dogs (enhanced to challenge the party) in the maze level of the tower, they arrived at the room where the final ritual was being performed to wake the fallen angel. The party (to their own dismay later) didn't give any time for discussion, they went in swords swinging, and within 4 or 5 rounds managed to destroy the cultists. The last remaining cultist (the memelith child, enhanced to match the party) cowered for a few rounds. When the memelith switched over to the fallen priest personality, he saw his dead comrades around him and started the final effects to complete Sytherael --the angel would be awakened with or without his eye. All that was left was for his own blood to be spilled on this "holy" ground. The party rogue did just that (sneak attack for massive damage save).
There was a 5 round delay in-between where the statue of the fallen angel slowly turned to flesh. The party was convinced that they would fight this battle. They started attacking the stone early, trying to break off his main hand. They didn't inflict enough damage, however, and so the angel awakened with his hands (though he was missing an eye, which was in the druid's posession). The druid tried to shatter the eye with his axe, but another party member took the eye (thinking he would barter with it). The attempts at barter didn't get very far, the pretentious rogue called the angels claims at "godhood" to be lies. The priest dropped the eye to the ground and struck it with everything he had. It was, however, just short of enough. Sytherael charged for the eye and grabbed it up (taking some seriously nasty attacks of opportunity on the way) but managed to palce it into his socket. Still, the eye was very much damaged, and wouldn't function perfectly.
The fight went back and forth numerous times. At one point, they almost had him, until (I used the animal domain for Sytherael, related to the druid's backstory) Sythrael manifested anti-life shell. I allowed the warforged in the group to be unnaffected by the shell (two reasons, one being that I thought it would be fun, the other being that Sytherael should have never seen a warforged, having been stone for 80 years). It turned from a 6 vs. 1 fight to a 1 on 1. Eventually the angel managed to recover part of his hit points, and then fled through a hole in the roof of the room. All in all, this battle that went back and forth a number of times was roughly 60-70 rounds counting a number of intermediate "breaks" where both sides were not attacking.
The final "scene" of the battle took place on the rooftop. The dire ape he summoned to attack the wizard from behind was taken down in the 1st round by a single phantasmal killer. Sythrael fought adamantly against the party, while trying to flee (cannot ever fly, and cannot realistically be flown away by a summoned flying creature, so he had to rely on normal movement). He dropped 2 of the party members with his dire flail before they finally took him down (though both members did stabilize). The Monk's stunning fist really saved the day (I hope I adjudicated it correctly though). The final stage of the battle was another 40-50 rounds itself, with a great deal of "changing the lines" in combat. There was even a degree of rooftop jumping involved, and fighting from building to building with destruction everywhere.
Great fun, but damn if that wasn't way too long and exhausting. It was interesting to say the least, and amounted to a good culmination to a 3 session story. It also allowed me to introduce some new players.
Sytherael was CR 12.5 roughly, against 3 8th level characters and 3 7th level characters. I built him mostly defensively (partially to my own dismay). Sadly, I had intended for him to get away if I could, but the party really dogged him (jumping form building to building, flying overhead and bombarding with what spells they could).
After being harrassed multiple times by the blink dogs (enhanced to challenge the party) in the maze level of the tower, they arrived at the room where the final ritual was being performed to wake the fallen angel. The party (to their own dismay later) didn't give any time for discussion, they went in swords swinging, and within 4 or 5 rounds managed to destroy the cultists. The last remaining cultist (the memelith child, enhanced to match the party) cowered for a few rounds. When the memelith switched over to the fallen priest personality, he saw his dead comrades around him and started the final effects to complete Sytherael --the angel would be awakened with or without his eye. All that was left was for his own blood to be spilled on this "holy" ground. The party rogue did just that (sneak attack for massive damage save).
There was a 5 round delay in-between where the statue of the fallen angel slowly turned to flesh. The party was convinced that they would fight this battle. They started attacking the stone early, trying to break off his main hand. They didn't inflict enough damage, however, and so the angel awakened with his hands (though he was missing an eye, which was in the druid's posession). The druid tried to shatter the eye with his axe, but another party member took the eye (thinking he would barter with it). The attempts at barter didn't get very far, the pretentious rogue called the angels claims at "godhood" to be lies. The priest dropped the eye to the ground and struck it with everything he had. It was, however, just short of enough. Sytherael charged for the eye and grabbed it up (taking some seriously nasty attacks of opportunity on the way) but managed to palce it into his socket. Still, the eye was very much damaged, and wouldn't function perfectly.
The fight went back and forth numerous times. At one point, they almost had him, until (I used the animal domain for Sytherael, related to the druid's backstory) Sythrael manifested anti-life shell. I allowed the warforged in the group to be unnaffected by the shell (two reasons, one being that I thought it would be fun, the other being that Sytherael should have never seen a warforged, having been stone for 80 years). It turned from a 6 vs. 1 fight to a 1 on 1. Eventually the angel managed to recover part of his hit points, and then fled through a hole in the roof of the room. All in all, this battle that went back and forth a number of times was roughly 60-70 rounds counting a number of intermediate "breaks" where both sides were not attacking.
The final "scene" of the battle took place on the rooftop. The dire ape he summoned to attack the wizard from behind was taken down in the 1st round by a single phantasmal killer. Sythrael fought adamantly against the party, while trying to flee (cannot ever fly, and cannot realistically be flown away by a summoned flying creature, so he had to rely on normal movement). He dropped 2 of the party members with his dire flail before they finally took him down (though both members did stabilize). The Monk's stunning fist really saved the day (I hope I adjudicated it correctly though). The final stage of the battle was another 40-50 rounds itself, with a great deal of "changing the lines" in combat. There was even a degree of rooftop jumping involved, and fighting from building to building with destruction everywhere.
Great fun, but damn if that wasn't way too long and exhausting. It was interesting to say the least, and amounted to a good culmination to a 3 session story. It also allowed me to introduce some new players.
Sytherael was CR 12.5 roughly, against 3 8th level characters and 3 7th level characters. I built him mostly defensively (partially to my own dismay). Sadly, I had intended for him to get away if I could, but the party really dogged him (jumping form building to building, flying overhead and bombarding with what spells they could).
