Hello all! As the end of my campaign approaches, so does the final climatic battle. The players have been chasing after an incredibly powerful magical artifact (and so have the bad guys) that can essentially grant wish spells. (Hence why the end). Essentially, I'm going to ask for some pointers about managing a large scale conflict, how to direct player goals, and some other generic tips. I want this to be as epic as possible!
NOTE:
1.) The artifact is going to spawn in the capital of the largest country in the world, which is also the largest city in my continent.
2.) There are three factions vying for this artifact. Each faction hates each other for their own reasons.
i.) The Demon Lord Droselgaul and his army of rascally demons.
ii.) A small but crazy powerful group of ancient Elves lead by Eladrin. EDIT: Fun note, Eladrin is the one responsible for bringing Droselgaul into this world. Biiiig screw up on his part.
iii.) The PC's and their band of trusty NPC's and misc. allies.
3.) In terms of raw power of each faction, it goes Demons, Elves, Players.
4.) This artifact is VERY unstable and needs time to use. You can't just run up to it and shout "PUT 50,000 GRAPES IN EACH OF MY ENEMIES" and expect it to work.
5.) I use the Mass Combat quite frequently, so I will be using that again.
CURRENT PLANS SO FAR:
1.) The demons are going to get to the city first and pretty much wreck the s@*% out of it.
2.) The players get there next from one side and the Elves hit from the other.
3.) The players will have to do certain objectives, mini encounters/tasks in order to get to the final boss fight. My current ideas are..
i.) Get through the main gate
ii.) Fight and destroy Droselgauls most powerful warrior
iii.) Find a magic item in the Mages College to use the artifact safely
iv.) Get to the artifact and fight Droselgaul AND Eladrin at the same time.
LASTLY:
So as I mentioned, I want the players to fight both Droselgaul and Eladrin at the same time. A triple threat match, if you will. I have been thinking of some ways of making this final fight really interesting so I'd love some general ideas of just anything to make this triple fight awesome.
Sorry for the long post, but the party and I are getting really pumped about this. Any tips about anything for this would be very much appreciated :D