On the Edge of the Shadowfell – Part 3

Encounter Level 12 (3500xp)

Rather than repeat all of the relevant information you can read the plot outline for this delve here: On the Edge of the Shadowfell – Part 1, and you can find the second part here.

After I went all sissy DM on them last session, and they escaped with the corpse of the NPC Cleric we had 2 new players join (so the Raise Dead ritual transformed 1 laser cleric into a battle cleric and a bow ranger) and the party moved back into the ruins with the gloom of the Shadowfell spreading out from it. They had two encounters, 1 with 2 ogres and a hill giant tied to the campaign specifically, and one with 2 skeletal cyclopses and a catoblepas harbinger to show the bleed over from the Shadowfell. Then they hurried forward to reach this final confrontation.

Here I learnt a valuable lesson: don’t make huge maps unless you have huge creatures to use them. In the setup below I’ve included both the original map I used and what I now recomend as the map for this encounter. In essence because things were so spread out the enemies were less effective they they could have otherwise been and this encounter was probably to easy for the party (though when I was critting the victims didn’t feel so “lucky”). This encounter also showed me that the new party is much more capable than the prior 3 PC + NPC party. Though they were mostly bereft of daily powers by the time this third encounter ended so had I hit them with another encounter of level 10 or 11 they would have been in trouble most likely, so perhaps this was ok in reality.

Read or Paraphrase the Following:

Entering room your eyes are drawn to the roiling cloud of shadows that bubbles from the floor in the center of the room, towards which a faint wind blows! Before you stands a squat column its top glowing faintly blue, near it are piles of rubble, and on the far side of the cloud of shadow a dias flanked by stairs rises up 10 feet above the floor and is surmounted by a great throne on which sits a man cloaked in blood red. He points to you calmly and calls to his two guards, “Destroy these interlopers!”

Setup:

2 Deathpriest of Orcus (DDI)
1 Kazatel, Bishop of Orcus
2 Bone Mongrel Dracolich (Level 10)
4 Forge Wisp Wraith (DDI)
1 Shadowfell Cloud (Hazzard)

• For 4 Players: Remove the Forge Wisp Wraiths
• For 6 Players: Add 1 or 2 Deathpriests of Orcus.
• Kazatel is Kalarel from Keep on the Shadowfell leveled to 10 with boosted damage output.
• The Shadowfell Cloud is described below in features of the area.
• The wooden area with the adjacent stairs is 10′ above the surrounding areas, if you have Harrowing Halls you can use the 4x4x2 3D tile for this area. Likewise the symbol near the door is on the 2x2x2 3d tile. (See picture of setup used to explain.)
• The Dracolich starts behind the throne dias, so do not place it on the map when the encounter starts. Likewise the Forge Wisps should start off the map and emerge from the braizers. (When I ran the encounter the Wraiths acted before the Dracolich so through the round I added more monsters raising the stakes each time.)

Features of the Area:

Shadowfell Cloud (Hazzard 400xp): A massive cloud of necrotic energy swirls about the middle of the room and you feel a slight breeze that tugs you towards it.

• Initiative: +6
• Attack: Burst 2 +12 vs Reflex
  Targets: All creatures that are not undead or bearing a holy symbol of a Death God or Orcus.
  Hit: Pull the target 1 square (towards the cloud, or into the cloud).
  Effect: Creatures that enter or start their turn in the cloud take 10 necrotic and are dazed. Light sources that enter the cloud provide no illumination.

Illumination: Due to the high amounts of necrotic energy in the room all lights sources are reduced to providing only dim light. They still illuminate their full radius, but never provide more than dim light.
Necrotic Energies: The necrotic energies empower attacks with the necrotic keyword, increasing their range by 5 and their area of effect by 1. (eg a Area Burst 1 within 10, would become Area burst 2 within 15).
Braziers: The braziers present an obstacle that can be bypassed with a DC 12 Athletics or Acrobatics check. Failure to do so results in an attack (+10 vs Reflex Hit: 1d6+4 Fire Damage and 5 ongoing fire (save ends)). If the PCs lack a light source the Braziers provide sufficient light that the room is dimly illuminated.
Symbol on 2x2x2 Column: This symbol is a fake symbol and is only tied to the health of the ritual.
Symbol Before the Throne: This is the symbol that must be destroyed.
Throne: This large throne is dificult terrain for creatures crossing it or trying to move around it.
Stairs: both sets of stairs are narrow and difficult, so it is difficult terrain moving up and down them.

Tactics:

The Deathpriests attempt to use Ray of Black Fire to boost the Dracolich or Kazatel’s attacks by targeting key characters, favouring characters that demonstrate a high damage out put or those that are apply marks. At least one should use Dark Blessing while adjacent to the dracolich and with as many PCs in the burst as possible (remember it is burst 3 in this room).

The Dracolich will simply charge into the fray seeking to catch as many foes as possible in its breath weapon and using the breath weapon immediately on it recharging. This monster is the main reason for using the smaller room, with the larger room it cannot effectively reach the party to attack without using its AP in the first round. With the smaller room it can easily engage the party and still have its AP to be able to use with Horrid Presence in conjunction with either a Breath or a Flensing Teeth attack.

Kazatel hangs back to support his allies, but is also happy to enter melee combat with any PCs that try to get around to engage him.

The Forge Wisps simply attack the closest PC, and are ignored by their allies (so the Dracolich might well kill 1 or more of them).

Ending the Encounter:

All the monsters fight to the death except Kazatel, who will try and escape into the cloud and through it into the Shadowfell. (This wasn’t an option when I ran it thanks to Bigby’s Icy Grasp).
Once all enemies are defeated the party can spend time Disabling the Symbol.

• Disabling the Symbol (Complexity 1 Skill Challenge 400xp)
  Primary Skills: Arcana (Easy), Religion (Moderate), Endurance (Moderate), Athletics (Hard) or Melee attack (AC15)
  Special: If the PCs have Dispel Magic available (and you are using it as an encounter power) it grants an automatic success, replacing the Endurance check.
  Arcana: Allows the PC to learn that the symbol is part of a number of symbols being used to perform some ritual, and that it can be physically destroyed once positive energy is channelled into it. (1 Success Maximum)
  Religion: Allows a PC to channel positive energy into the symbol making it possible to destroy it. (1 Success Maximum)
  Endurance: When the PCs attempt to destroy it the Symbol seeks to drain their life force away. Each time a PC attempts to destroy the symbol with an athletics check or melee attack they must make the Endurance check or loose a healing surge.
  Athletics or Melee Attack: The PC uses force to break the stones the symbol is inscribed into, thus disrupting its power. If the PCs choose to simply attack the rune they will require a weapon from the Hammer or Pick groups to gain a success with the attack. (1 Success Required)

If the PCs successfully disable the rune award additional XP for the skill challenge as well as the encounter xp listed above.

If the PCs retreated two times for an extended rest they are too late and the portal remains open slowly spreading until all of the ruin is in the Shadowfell and the Middle World and creatures can cross freely between the two here! The PCs must now find another way to undo the ritual before it expands further (seeing how they destroyed the anchors on the way here…)

If the PCs retreated one time for an extended rest they are also too late, but only in the throne room is the effect significant. While in the Throne Room the Shadowfell Crossing ritual can be cast without cost to bring you to a parallel place in the Shadowfell. Of course this effect may spread and worsen over time, but it will be much slower giving the PCs a much longer to find a solution.

If the PCs destroy all the rituals and defeat Kazatel and his henchmen then the threat is ended and the Shadowfell Cloud fades soon after the last symbol is destroyed.