D&D 4E The Final Arc of my Epic 4e Campaign

[Scrivener of Doom]

I can see why you're drunk: that's rather Epic!

 

[the Jester]

There was a request for Charon's stats- I am pretty sure that the pcs won't be engaging him in combat at this point, so here you go.


Charon, Boatman of the Lower Planes --- Level 30 Solo Soldier
Medium elemental humanoid (demon) --- XP 95,000
HP 1176; Bloodied 588 --- Initiative +24
AC 46; Fortitude 44; Reflex 42; Will 44 --- Perception +31
Speed 6, swim 8, teleport 10 Darksight
Immune necrotic, poison
Saving Throws +5; Action Points 2

TRAITS

Death's Embrace (necrotic) * Aura 3
A living creature not in service to Charon that starts its turn in the aura takes 30 necrotic damage. While Charon is bloodied, this increases to 50 necrotic damage.

Aquatic
Charon can breathe underwater. In aquatic combat, it gains a +2 bonus to attack rolls against nonaquatic creatures.

STANDARD ACTIONS

(mbasic) Pole (weapon) * At Will
Attack: Melee 2 (one creature); +35 vs. AC.
Hit: 4d10+16 damage, and the target is immobilized (save ends).
First Failed Save: The target is instead stunned (save ends).

(melee) Memory Loss (psychic, weapon) * Recharges when Charon is hit by an encounter or daily power
Attack: Melee 2 (one creature); +33 vs. Will.
Hit: 4d10+16 psychic damage, and the target cannot use encounter or daily powers (save ends).
Double Attack * At Will
Effect: Charon uses pole twice, or uses pole once and memory loss once if it is charged.

(close) Fearful Gaze (fear) * Recharges when first bloodied
Attack: Close blast 10 (each enemy in blast); +33 vs. Will.
Hit: The target is stunned (save ends).
Miss: The target is dazed and immobilized (save ends).

(area) Raise the Styx * Recharges when first bloodied
Requirement: Charon must be within one mile of the River Styx.
Attack: Area burst 2 within 20 (each creature in burst); +33 vs. Reflex.
Hit: 8d8+7 damage, Charon slides the target 4 squares and knocks it prone, and the target cannot use encounter or daily powers (save ends).
Miss: Half damage, and the target cannot use daily powers (save ends).

TRIGGERED ACTIONS

Variable Resistance * 4/Encounter
Trigger: Charon takes acid, cold, fire, lightning or thunder damage.
Effect (Free Interrupt): Charon gains resist 30 against the triggering damage type until the end of the encounter, or until it uses variable resistance again.

Power of Memory * Recharges when Charon is hit by an encounter or daily power
Trigger: Charon is dazed, dominated or stunned.
Effect (Free Reaction): The triggering effect ends.
---
Skills Arcana +24, Endurance +23, Heal +26, Religion +24
Str 24 Dex 22 Wis 32
Con 26 Int 29 Cha 28
Alignment evil Languages all
Equipment pole, skiff

 

[the Jester]

After a couple of weeks of scheduling issues (and a week of Mage instead of D&D) we are playing this game again tonight. I can't wait!

 

[TarionzCousin]

First, Charon is a certified bad-ass. Whoa.

Second, let us know how it turns out.*








*Bonus points for killing everyone in the entire multiverse!

 

[the Jester]

Okay, so tonight's game was AWESOME.

The party basically traveled up the curdled bywater of the Styx and dealt with the Far Realm corruption point, then finally learned the Dreadful Truth.

When the pcs approach the corrupted bywater, they find that the water becomes a snake of yellow wider than they can see, but more and more of it floats like little flumphs in the air. Soon, they have their first encounter with 3d6 farspawn invaders. Every few minutes, there is a 1 in 10 chance that 3d6 more attack the pcs. After 10 checks, the pcs can see a sudden brightness ahead, a pinprick of coruscating wrongness. Strange feelings begin to assail them- bursts of anger, gloom, terror and desire all compete. The corruption grows thick, as if they are sailing on a sea of fat. One more attack of 3d6 farspawn invaders occurs, then the ship grinds to a halt, held by the corrupt Styx. By now, it is thick enough to walk on, and no longer bears the Styx' normal memory- stealing effects. The pcs should go onto 'battlemat mode' at this time, starting at one end of the map.

The battle for the gateway itself was interesting and very challenging. By the end of it, the pcs had slain 3 uvuudaum (one haiku, one yellow and one friend) and 92 foulspawn invaders. (!) (Foulspawn invaders are level 23 minion controllers with a teleport speed, an aura that lets them teleport you if you teleport within it and a basic attack that teleports you.)

Basically, when we got to the 'battlemat mode' point descirbed above, there were eight of the foulspawn invaders and the three uvuudaum, but every round, more foulspawn arrived (one per pc).

Far Realm Gate: The gate itself is a 2 x 2 square area of brilliant, ever-shifting light and color. Any non-aberrant within 3 squares of it is blinded and dazed. See Closing the Gate, below, for details on the skill challenge involved. Each round, one more farspawn invader appears in the gate for every non-aberrant creature on the battlemat; new arrivals appear at the start of the farspawn invaders' turn and act immediately.

...snip...

Monsters: 8 farspawn invaders
1 uvuudaum friend (level 25 elite controller)
1 uvuudaum yellow (level 25 elite soldier)
1 uvuudaum haiku (level 27 controller)
Note that each round, one more farspawn invader appears in the gate for every non-aberrant creature on the battlemat; new arrivals appear at the start of the farspawn invaders' turn and act immediately.

So the pcs had to fight their way through an ever-growing mass of enemies and succeed at a skill challenge to close the gate while being attacked!

CLOSING THE GATE TO THE FAR REALM (Skill Challenge; XP 44,000)

Closing the gate is no mean feat. As more farspawn invaders pour out, the pcs must manage to both fight them off and close the gate simultaneously. To make any kind of attempt to close the gate, a creature must be within 5 squares of it. Note that non-aberrant creatures within 3 squares of it are blinded and dazed, but can still work on closing it with their only action.

Closing the gate is a complexity 4 skill challenge (requiring 10 successes). Once the characters have achieved 5 successes, the gate only summons one more farspawn per two non-aberrant creatures on the map each turn. Once the characters have achieved 8 successes, it only summons one more farspawn each turn. It is impossible to “fail out” of the challenge, but each failed check causes the gate to spew forth 2 more farspawn invaders in random spaces within 3 squares of the gate. The following methods of closing the gate are effective:

Arcana: A character may attempt to use arcane power to close the gate. This is very difficult and requires a successful DC 39 Arcana check.

Athletics: An especially bold character that moves adjacent to the gate can attempt to force it closed physically. If the character succeeds at a DC 30 Athletics check, it earns one success; if it succeeds at a DC 39 Athletics check, it instead earns two successes. In either case, it suffers 10d6 points of acid and psychic damage from contacting the gate.

Nature: A character can try to use its own connection to nature to close the gate. A successful DC 30 Nature check results in a success.

Religion: A character can try to use its faith and knowledge of religion to close the gate by making a DC 35 Religion check against it.

Success: When the gate closes, each aberrant creatures on the battlemat suffers 10d10 force damage (this automatically destroys all the farspawn invaders), and each non-aberrant creature on the battlemat regains 1 healing surge, recharges an encounter power and gains 1 Wyrd.

After closing the gate and slaying the uvuudaum and foulspawn, the pcs returned to Charon to hear the Dreadful Truth at last.

“The entity you call Tenebrous was once something else entirely: a demon prince, worshiped as a god on several worlds. He was known as Orcus, Prince of the Undead. Long ago he was tricked and murdered by the Drow goddess of thieves, Kiaransalee. She stole not only his life, but his portfolio, thereby becoming the goddess of undeath as well as theivery. She took a powerful artifact, the Wand of Orcus, and used it to cast the Stygian oblivion ritual that erased all memory of it. Then she cast the wand itself into the River Styx to be forgotten forever.

“But though a god may die, some spark, some vestige, often remains. This vestige was awoken by the fervent prayers of a mad half-ogre, who you knew as Quah-Nomag. The power of Quah-Nomag's faith was such that this shade, calling itself Tenebrous, returned from the furthest reaches of oblivion. Yet, in its journey to the edge of existence, it had learned something, a terrible secret from the earliest days of the multiverse, when even the planes had not settled into a stable configuration: the Final Word.

“Tenebrous knew that to return to life, it must regain its wand, yet even it could not remember the lost artifact's nature, so great was the power of Kiaransalee's ritual. It knew also that it could not survive long with the power of the Final Word eating it away from within. Tenebrous had to move quickly, on the scale of the powers, or be destroyed.

“Move quickly it did. First it stole into the Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus. Like a shadow it slipped unseen through the modron watchers, until it found Primus, the One and the Prime, in the chamber in which the energy pool from which all modrons are born lay. Pronouncing the Final Word, Tenebrous destroyed Primus and corrupted the pool, then assumed the identity of Primus and set the Great Modron March off early, demanding that the modrons scour the planes for what he had lost.

“Meanwhile, Quah-Nomag and his cabal hatched a plot to find the identity of Tenebrous' lost artifact via the Mountain of Ultimate Winter, but your group intercepted and destroyed him first, causing the frozen memory of the Wand of Orcus to fall in a great avalanche, lost beyond recovery.

“But Quah-Nomag's fellow worshipers of Tenebrous eventually deduced that he had failed, and came up with another plan. They would seek out the Ferryman, the only being who might recall what was lost. And so they did. They, too, bargained with me, and offered payment in larvae and souls of rare quality. I agreed to their request and told them where to find what they sought. So they did, and departed to join those of their fellows already at the corpse of Tenebrous, petrified in the Astral Sea.

“The body lies not far from the realm of Shom. Reach Shom, and search from there, and you shall find the corpse. But beware. It is well-defended, and until nigh unto the moment of completion of the dread ritual that will restore Orcus to life, there will be too many guardians and defenders for you to possibly defeat. Only when the Final Word unlocks the power of the Wand of Orcus, slaying all nearby, will your enemy reveal herself, to gather the unleashed energies for her own purpose.”

I think we are down to about 1d3 sessions. I am super stoked that I was able to throw such a challenging encounter at the pcs- I actually tapped out the warlord's healing resources for the first time!- and that the pcs finally learned exactly who they are really facing. Now they've realized that they probably will have to let Orcus return and fight Orcus and Fray together.

 

[Kannik]

Okay, so tonight's game was AWESOME.

And how! Thank you for the writeup -- that sounds like it was a tonne of fun, challenging and satisfying. Looking forward to hearing how the party fares against Orcus!

gamingly,

Kannik
(If my take on the Bloodstone series of modules does successfully complete, the party will also have to take on Orcus... muahahahaha, er, achem... )

 

[the Jester]

Looks like not only are we on for tonight and tomorrow day- hopefully we can finish this campaign up!- but one of our old players who relocated a few months ago will be back for the finale. Awesome!

 

[the Jester]

Well then!

We played last night, and are playing again today. This should be it. Last night's game ended after the completion of the ritual to resurrect Orcus, with the pronouncement of the Final Word slaying hundreds of cultists and followers of Fray.

Now the pcs are rushing in at the corpse of Tenebrous on their spelljammer, hoping to stop Fray from taking over the power of Coila before she adjusts to her new powers.

I'll give a much deeper, more complete write up before long- in a day or so- but yeah, today the pcs confront Fray, Orcus and their remaining lackeys. We're supposed to assemble in an hour or two. CAN'T WAIT.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

I must admit, while I don't know you or your group personally, even I am excited knowing that your campaign is about to conclude.

 

[the Jester]

And it's over.

I'll post a much more detailed write up in a few days, but we concluded the game tonight after a marathon 10-hour session that saw the final showdown with Fray, the return of Orcus and a massive battle, pitting the pcs and as much of their army as they could manage against Fray, her personal guard, her lackys and a demon prince.

Holy cow was that awesome!