Perhaps you could have them transform into undead that don't possess the create spawn ability. Ghouls maybe? The biggest threat isn't 20,000 undead, it's 20,000 undead that can create 100,000 more within a couple days time.
This whole thing need not derail the Age of Worms. A ritual of Kyuss brought these undead into being, so it's no stretch of the imagination to say they are all loyal to Kyuss. Say that his divine energy is supporting them as he prepares to bring forth the Age of Worms, and then let the party know, somehow, that proceeding to stop Kyuss's plot will undo this tragedy. Well, not technically undo it, but have the wights suddenly destroyed when Kyuss is. That is, if you feel like ending this. The more I think of it, the more interesting a ruined city of the dead would be to have in the campaign- and not just something the players have heard about, but one that they were in during its unholy transformation.
Oh, and as someone else already pointed out, the citizens rise as wights in 1d4 rounds, not the next night. Further, a spawn made by a wight rises in 1d4 rounds as well. In fact, I can't think of any "spawn", other than a vampire's, that doesn't rise up withing a relatively short number of rounds.
This would be awesome in Sharn. The PCS are running down a street when a fat merc hants body drops in front of them. Going to examine it, they see claw and teeth marks on his face. He dies, then his eyes reopen several seconds later filled with unholy light. They fight him off, but then they here a scream. A young girl runs down a side alley, pursed by a pack of wights missing arms or other body parts. The PCs reconize one of the wights as there favorite inns innkeeper. On the horizon, a tower cumbles. Several around it follow. Then the rogue heres a sound on the balcony above. He looks up just in time to see to more undead creatures drop on the party from above. He screams and...
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This is exactly where my campaign is at currently. The party failed to stop Bozal Zohal. The Ulgurstasta swalowed and transformed Auric into a Spawn of Kyuss. Loris became a Death Knight and the city is in chaos.
Right now the major temples are consolidating their priestly powers in order to make pockets of Sactuary for their parishoners. The party is trying to figure out how to get out of the city alive. Wights are travelling in MOBS (hint, hint) everywhere and the situation is grim as they have yet to find a place to hide and heal and each of them has 4 negative levels.
I'm curious to see how they get through it...
BTW - My six-year old son wants to say, "Hi" to everyone out there:
Good job by Daddy!
Harrison
Checking the adventure text...
First, regarding the requirement of swallowing the Champion to complete the ritual, the text says the Ulgurstasta must "swallow Auric (or any other character with at least one level in fighter) and transform him into a spawn of Kyuss." This means the character must be swallowed, and bathed in the necromantic acid in the critter's stomach (suffering 1d8 CON damage per round), and must die of this CON damage, at which point they animate as a spawn of Kyuss. My interpretation of the above is that the ritual is complete the moment that the swallowed fighter takes enough CON damage to die. "Undead created in this manner remain dormant until the ulgurstasta vomits them up." So the newly-healed ulgurstasta can use its breath weapon the moment the ritual is complete, but MUST NOT use the breath weapon until then, or it won't have enough necromantic acid in its stomach to convert the swallowed fighter into a spawn of Kyuss.
Okay, now for the question of how fast everything happens after that. In that moment:
"The spirits of the myriad dead that have died in the Free City Arena rise up, a wailing, writhing blanket of rage and necromantic ruin. All creatures still within the arena immediately suffer 1d4 negative levels before the spirits fade away. Creatures drained to zero levels by this burst of necromantic power die, only to rise as wights 1d4 rounds later."
Personally, I can imagine that a small number of people within the Arena might not be in the bowl of the arena itself at the moment the ritual completes. I can imagine that as the ulgurstasta first bursts forth, people in the stands start screaming and fleeing - those few who make it out of the main circle (plus some guards and maybe some concessions folks) might be shielded from the level drain, only to be set upon immediately by the wights that were closest to those same exits.
As the innocent arenagoers flee, screaming as they rush towards the doors, a few more rational-minded in the crowd stop. A murmur of horror passes through them as you battle the ulgurstasta.
The exits have been sealed.
C'mon, Raknian's not gonna let all these tasty offerings get away so easy, is he? I figure he would probably have some disposable quietly bar the exits. With such an exciting battle, not enough people will notice for it to matter—most of the poorly-disciplined Pouncers have deserted their posts to watch the great match between Auric's Warband and the PCs.
And by the time people realize, will there be time left to find someone with keys/a counterspell before the ulgurstasta strikes? Getting the front gates open may be the PCs' most important task if they fail—otherwise, those few who survived the initial wave will soon perish regardless.
Incidentally, I'm thinking about sticking a member of the Circle of Eight in the stands. One of the lower-level members, such as Theodain Eriason. Theodain gets hit particularly hard by the negative levels (max on the 1d4, bringing him to 13th level) and is caught right in the middle of the wights. Recognizing the fairly famous archmage, the wights tackle him before he can recover (unfortunately not triggering his contingency, readied against being damaged) and, quite possibly, kill him.
This drives home to the PCs, very harshly, the seriousness of the threat they failed to avert.
About a minute later (or just when the PCs and their allies are starting to lose), Eligos and Celeste teleport in. They're terrified, but not of the wights. They demand that the PCs flee with them, now.
The PCs might object. They still have friends that could be saved. The wights are fleeing the area and will spread into the sewers and surrounding regions. There's more to be done.
It doesn't matter, Eligos and Celeste say. If they do not leave right now, they will be dead in seconds.
Mordenkainen is here.
Moments after the PCs clear the arena, a wished "nuke" drops down, burning away an apocalyptic number of both living and undead creatures instantaneously. Mordenkainen isn't doing this on the City's behalf so much as on Theodain's, of course (undead can't be resurrected), and he leaves soon after—leaving those undead that had escaped the arena to the City to manage.
This drives home to the PCs that the "Circle of Eight", powerful as it is, is not exactly a reliable ally. In fact, its being involved may signal a catastrophe even worse than the alternative.