Too Rat Bastard?

[the_mighty_agrippa]

My PCs have thrown themselves against a Githyanki citadel on the Prime. The fortress is set atop a razor sharp peak in a volcanic region, where ash is the dominant substance for 20+ miles in any direction.

The PCs triggered an Alarm spell on the way in - a PC jumped the gun and said "I'm going in" - and I gave the Giths 30 seconds to start getting their crap together. Within 30 seconds, the cut the main stairway in two with a single-use Wall of Stone spell, which the PC monk battered down in a single round. The Gith & Duthka'gith used that time to destroy their battlemaps and war plans using breath weapons and alchemical fire.

Note: the PCs entered at a lower level than the War Room, so it took longer to get to than if they came in from the top.

Here's where it gets hairy. The PCs have bypassed or ignored over 20 Gith soldiers (not very powerful). Those Gith are trying to organize a withdrawal of the nearly 100 Gith children before the enemy wises up. After a full minute, a modified Guards & Wards spell went up in the areas BELOW the main tower. The entire point of the spell is to slow intruders to a crawl or get them to commit resources while the remaining Gith prepare for a fight.

The Gith leader is a necromancer. Her resources are pretty considerable; she has a number of scrolls at her disposal and is luring the PCs into a trap where a bound demon waits in a fog-bound room inside of a Stinking Cloud (G&W). The room has been sealed with a Wall of Stone. The demon has been instructed to use Con damaging attacks on living foes to either kill them outright, weaken them severely or force the enemy to commit more resources.

In the meantime, the PCs have announced their arrival by filling a vertical shaft with Fireball spells to clear the webs caused by the Guards & Wards. As soon as the PCs engage the demon, the necromancer is going to seal off the PCs exit with two Wall of Stone spells and then fall back behind her mummy guardians, fully expecting Con drained PCs to be coming after her. Her plan is to cast several spells from scrolls, down a potion or three and then hit the PCs with a Quickened Web spell, followed up with a Cloudkill. From there on, her remaining undead minions are going to close in and kill the PCs.

Is this too much? I've already removed a number of low-ECL encounters (ECL 7) and one (ECL 11) powerful mummy. The party is effectively 11th level with 5 characters and lots of gear, scrolls, etc.

Thanks!

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Seems pretty reasonable. Those who disdain subtlety in favor of the head-on approach get what they deserve. Besides, if the monk can batter down a Wall of Stone in a round, they go from being a death-trap to an inconvenience.

 

[Desdichado]

No way, that rocks! I had fun just reading about it. I have to wonder, though -- what kind of players do you have? Do they enjoy just kicking back and kicking butt, or do they really enjoy these kinds of tactical challenges?

 

[Henry]

Just remember that the Gith should only react on things they could reasonably know about; I don't know about 3.5, but ALL 3.0 Githyanki had clairvoyance/clairaudience at 16th level of spell ability! In other words, they'd KNOW. Of course, these same Githyanki had telekinesis and dimension hop, so yeah, they'd have some fun with the attackers, too.

 

[the_mighty_agrippa]

On one hand, I have no problem killing characters. The Gith necromancer intends to ambush them in the catacombs, using her 4 mummies to assault them. If that fails, she has the ability to trade over 1000 feet of winding passages before has to fight them again. Her last stand is in the magically subdued lava flow where she is heating her Duthka'gith eggs.

On the other hand, I originally had more monsters in there and took them out because I know my PCs will fall apart after 1-2 combats. They have a lot of power but do not suport each other in combat. I had two young red dragons in there, invisible, waiting to pounce and grapple PCs and dunk them into the lava pits (from Dungeoncraft, 10d6 per round).

*sigh*

I took out the additional monsters - the reds, the wraith and a mummy monk - because they're already getting a beating and they are trapped in the place now. The Githyanki built the place to withstand an assualt from the Githerzai and/or the Illithids, so you cannot teleport in or out or use plane-hopping magic. The PCs do not know this, because it never came up in Commune and I gave them extra XP just to finish crafting items or use Commune-like magic.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Sounds great to me, but remember that if your group is anything like mine, all those plans you made will not survive contact with the party. They will do something unexpected and mess the whole thing up. The only way to be too RB, in my opinion, is if you change things that were "prepared" midstream to counter their unexpected moves.

 

[the_mighty_agrippa]

The monk broke down the Wall using a once-per-day Righteous Might item. Also, the Wall was a much lower caster level than the necromancer.

The barbarian fighter used his only rage attempt during the 1st battle. They've used up many of their most powerful spells and the clock is ticking on their minute/level ones.

The demon is a Blade Demon from Creature Collection 2. It knows the PCs makeup and has given itself +1 wounding dwarf-bane spell storing scythe-hands. The spell storing is for Vampiric Touch spells cast by the Necromancer from scrolls (3d6 each, no save). It is standing in the middle of a Stinking Cloud because it is immune to poison. An enchantment allows it to see through magical and non-magical haze, fog and mist. Finally, the Necromancer cast Superior Darkvision on it and herself from scrolls.

At this stage, the PCs have used up close to 4 minutes of game time, giving the necromancer over 3 minutes to begin her preparations, some of which were automatic.

 

[the_mighty_agrippa]

My bad - +1 Spell Storing, Wounding scythe-hands. The dwarf bane is what she will use to replace the Spell Storing ability once she uses them up.

 

[robberbaron]

Sounds like you've got a well thought-out scenario there.

If the players can't stop themselves from running in without forethought it's their problem. And if they continue in the same way it's their funeral.

 

[the_mighty_agrippa]

Thanks for all your input.

I play the Githyanki as military commanders first. I based the necromancer loosely on a military surgeon gone mad, given a command she doesn't want and surrounding herself with her most trusted lieutenants, her own undead and called creatures.

The Githyanki have very set responses to predictable actions and I give notable NPCs given roles in combat. Any real leadership in combat tends to come from the Sarths, being the Gith NCOs.