My Mythic Kingmaker group was down its face this weekend, so I took what would be a short encounter (first bloom,modified to include a first encounter with the Wriggling Man and a jubjub bird) and expanded it into a wizard tower (based on A9: Rogue Wizard) with Wriggles and a froghemoth on top, and the Jubjub to visit soon after. I planned for Wriggles to toss off a few mythic spells (just so my players can get a taste of what's coming), then teleport out.
So, my players worked their way up through the tower mini-dungeon. They metagamed a little, but in a good way -- rather than burn through their spells and mythic abilities, they conserved resources because they anticipated meeting something big and nasty at the top.
The fight at the top took a while. First, my players had to deal with Wriggles and his Froghemoth companion, which took some doing. Lots of spells flying back and forth, and the party alchemist and barbarian mildly frustrated because Wriggles had a Displacement spell on him. The froghemoth fell fairly quickly under the onslaught of all the players. Meanwhile, Wriggles trapped the druid and barbarian inside a Wall of Ice (hemisphere) and temporarily Power Word Killed the Alchemist. (Breath of Life brought him back). The barbarian broke out of the wall and administered the killing blow to the froghemoth, just as they heard a bird cawing pecking at the tower roof, and a loud screeching. Wriggles said, "Jubjub!" and plane shifted back to the Fable. And ... BOOM. In comes the bird's beak. This was a pretty epic fight.
The bird started by targeting the group's alchemist, who was the nearest target. In the beak!! Then ... the Barbarian charges up the ice hemisphere to get at the bird. I allowed it on an Acrobatics roll because it's so damn cinematic. And the barbarian SERIOUSLY hurt the bird as the wizard and druid tried their spells on it. Jubjub dropped the alchemist and turned his attention to the barbarian. Bite, talon, talon. Shit-ton of damage ... and the barbarian was grappled!!
The druid was out of direct-damage spells, and the wizard couldn't find a good spell that would hurt the bird without hitting the barbarian.
Next round ... GULP!! The bird swallowed the barbarian!!
The alchemist (who was out of bombs) pelted the bird with Alchemist's fire, to no real effect. The wizard flipped through his spells, and unleashed a little bit.
But the barbarian was not to be stymied. I read the player his options for Swallow Whole -- that he could use a light piercing or slashing weapon.
So he started punching with his spiked gauntlet. Boom. Boom. Boom.
I described for the other players the bird shaking with the barbarian's fist.
BOOM!! BOOM!! The barbarian punched through with his spiked guantlet, and the bird exploded in gore!!!
And that ... that is a hell of a way to end a session.
