Vordakai’s Showdown - ...and then they teleported (possible spoilers)

[arnon]

After facing all that Vordakai’s tomb had to offer, they finally came to him. They walled of the water elemental outside his door with a Wall of Force (i’m using the 6 player conversion so it was actually a second elemental that appeared right after the first was destroyed), and rushed into Vordakai’s room, where they finally came face to face with big V and his champion.

The champion managed to to take out half the Paladins hp before the wizard sealed him off with his second Wall of Force (leaving the graveknight to pound with his axe at the Wall while power attacking (thus almost automatically passing the 30 hardness).

They closed in on V, starting with a Silence spell on his throne, which he of course recognized and stepped away from. They continued the fight and having incredible good luck with all saves on the spells V was casting at them... then the Wizard failed and went blind, and they were already low on spells, and then V Diminssioned Door away to “heal” and re-group... these guys are a bigger threat than anticipated.

Now some of the fight took place in the dungeon of souls and the party recognized those Jars for what they are, and as soon as V vanished they started gathering Soul Jars into the bag of holding (i ruled one soul jar per person per turn). Two rounds after they started the Graveknight breaks free from the wall of force and heads towards them...and they teleport away!

Now.... i don’t know how long they’ll regroup before returning to try and save the rest of the soul jars and kill Vordakai, it might be the next day it might be more than that, but i’m pretty sure they will not tarry long. I’m trying to think of how Vordakai will react/prepare for them. They are obviously a greater threat than he thought, he will not “hold back”, so to speak.

V’s prep:

• He already has two Soul Eater wandering around searching for the PCs in his dungeon, and he’ll summon another this night. He’ll keep them around him for extra protection.
  
• If he’ll have time he’ll send a Nightmare to the Wizard
  
• He’ll assume they’ll come again by teleporting into his sanctum, so he won’t necessarily be there, or he might prepare some surprises?
  
• I’ve given V a scroll of summon monster V to summon a Babau. He didn’t use it before because he thought the party will be push-overs.. i was planning on having him come back with it after healing himself when he dimension doored it away during the fight. He’ll summon it quicker this time.
  
• He noticed having some trouble with mind-effecting spells during the fight (whether due to high saves on PC part or a spell such as protection from evil he couldn’t figure out at the time) so maybe switch around his spells for the next couple of days?
  

Here is Vordakais spell book in my campaign (took it from somewhere on these boards and changed spells i do not use; mainly a house rule limit on divination spells, not all are allowed)

Vordakai's Spell Book:

Level 0- All CRB except evocation and transmutation.
Level 1- Shield, Charm Person, Chill Touch, Comprehend Languages, Ray of Enfeeblement, Mage Armor, Grease, Alarm, Obscuring Mist, Sleep, Magic Aura, Cause Fear, Ray of Sickening
Level 2- Blindness/Deafness, False Life, Ghoul Touch, Resist Energy, Acid Arrow, Glitterdust, Touch of Idiocy, Invisibility, Spectral Hand, Mirror Image, Steal Voice
Level 3- Dispel Magic, Displacement, Suggestion, Tongues, Vampiric Touch, Protection from Energy, Stinking Cloud, Deep Slumber, Hold Person, Ray of Exhaustion, Halt Undead
Level 4- Bestow Curse, Dimension Door, Phantasmal Killer, Lesser Globe of Invulnerability, Black Tentacles, Scrying, Crushing Despair, Greater Invisibility, Fear
Level 5- Dominate Person, Waves of Fatigue, Teleport, Sending, Nightmare, Blight, Magic Jar, Hold Monster
Level 6- Guards and Wards, Acid Fog, Legend Lore, Mislead, Eyebite, Circle of Death
Level 7- Spell Turning, Greater Teleport, Summon Monster VII, Power Word Blind, Finger of Death, Waves of Exhaustion
Level 8- Protection from Spells, Maze, Moment of Prescience, Demand, Clone, Create Greater Undead
Level 9- Imprisonment, Gate, Foresight, Energy Drain, Soul Bind, Wail of the Banshee

How else would he prepare to a re-confrontation with these pesky do-gooders? Any nasty, delicious ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
-arnon

[pennywit]

Hmmm ...

The PCs invaded Vordekai's home, humiliated him, and stole his precious soul jars. I think the Big V's going to teach them a lesson. And he's doing to do it proactively. How about this?

Using legend Legend Lore (and perhaps other divination magic at his disposal), Vordekai educates himself about the PCs' kingdom and their families. He then creates a two-pronged plan:

1) He sends undead minions to ravage the countryside and perhaps some of the PCs' smaller towns. His minions are likely no match for a party of PCs, but those minions would be quite enough to wreck farmland, shred wineries, and create more trouble than the Warden's men can handle. This minions ought to be something creative. Maybe Vordakai has found a use for those linnorm bones? One possibility: If the PCs didn't bury their bodies, then Vordakai might animate the bodies of Maegar Varn and his companions, and use them to attack the PCs' land.

2) When the PCs move to fight off his undead minions, Vordakai himself teleports into the PCs' capital. He generally lays to all and sundry, but he kidnaps some folks. Maybe the ruler's heir. Maybe the ruler's consort. Maybe the PCs' favorite NPC. Maybe several of these individuals. He teleports back out and leaves behind a taunting message.

3) Vordakai takes his victim(s) back to his tomb. There, he begins a ritual that will turn his victim(s) into undead monstrosity(ies) that he will unleash on the PCs. (This ritual, I think, would be a plot device rather than a spell)

Not sure where to go from here. Do the PCs try to charge in to rescue their loved one? You can make this really desperate for your players by setting a countdown die in front of them. They have, say, 6 days to stop Vordakai. If they can't get to his tomb and stop the ritual ... then they must face blasphemous undead versions of their own friends and allies.

Another (and somewhat more intriguing) possibility (if your players have the temperament for this kind of thing) might be for Vordakai to gain a great number of minions through, say, his rituals to Charon. If the PCs attempt to invade his island home again, they find it's guarded by very, very nasty undead monstrosities. Now effectively protected from the PCs, Vordakai moves to build his own kingdom in the Stolen Lands, perhaps something modeled on Geb in the Inner Sea World Guide.

[arnon]

Thanks pennywit, these are all good ideas, and for the long term (and by long term i mean maybe two nights and up) this will probably be what he does.

But i'm rather sure my PCs will not wait too long with dealing with him. They only managed to steal about a dozen Soulg Jars before teleporting away, and they know they should return for the rest since they saw what he does to the people all over the dungeon (feasthall scence, and the four dead in his chamber).

One of the players even suggested they use Nap Stack since he got it memorized, to rest 2 hours and return to finish the job (of course one of them is blinded but the cleric just learns remove blindness and is done with it). V will still be a few spells short and they will be full of energy.

But even with the spells he still has, he can make this fight play out more on his terms.

[arnon]

Some more ways to make the PCs return to "finish the job" difficult, especially if they do it very quickly:

• Not be in his throne room, but leave a Soul Eater to watch the room and report to him once they arrive
  
• Lure them away, have them wonder arround and waste their buffing time... possibly lure them into the Hell Pool room
  
• Cast invisibility on his Champion and have him attack the Wizard (with his pesky wall of force) the moment the he comes into range. Although the wizard will probably be invisible...
  
• He could have them chasing him around, by making them search for him, he'll be able to teleport form Oculus Focus room to Oculus chamber and wait for them to return...
  

[BigCoffee]

I noticed that your Vordekai doesn't have a lot of direct attack spells but he has a lot of touch spells and some lower level control and debuffs (would ray of enfeeblement even work?). It might be cliché but maybe giving him 1 big blast attack there that he could use to set off hostilities when they come crashing in again?

[arnon]

I decided to leave V as per the adventure, replacing only those divination spells not in use in my campaign.

[pennywit]

Doesn't Vordakai have Guards and Wards? The spell is more nuisance than anything else for a high-level group ... but it's still a nuisance.

[tonyz]

Vordakai's degenerate status limits him to 5th level spells. Guards and wards is 6th level.

[pennywit]

Forgot that little detail.

Maybe he can gain a couple levels by eating a few souls? They taste like chicken.

[Stephen Ede]

Hmm, my party are working their way to V now. They came in the backdoor but turned the wrong way at the Tarpit and went all the way down to the Water trap before coming back to the Tarpit. Rested back on the outside ledge and came back to find the destroyed Wizard Dread Zombie is now a Wizard Shadow. Teach them for taking a time out. :-)

My party is 4 players (monsters - 1 Silver Dragon Wyrmling Sorcerer, 1 Silver Dragon Monk/Cleric/Sorcerer, 1 Blodwyd Druid, 1 Half-Celestial Slyph Ninja) 2 levels higher than standard with a Animal Companion/Cohort. So I've boosted V with 2 levels of Monk - Many Styles (all 3 Snake Style feats)+ Advanced Template. I'm looking forward to hitting with a critical empowered Vampiric Touch as part of a unarmed Strike. :-)
I figured the Monk levels make him harder to drop but don't seriously enhance his ability to TPK the party.

Where do you find this 6 player conversion?

[arnon]

6 Player conversion is stickyed

[Stephen Ede]

Thanks. Got it.

The 2 levels of Monk + Advanced Template will be enough for the moment. I'm expecting the combat to go for a long time with most of the big hits on both side neutralised.

But will check it for further encounters.