The PC's have found out about a smuggler's vault that has its entrance hundreds of feet below a major city (125,000 citizens) in the sewers below. This city has been built on top of itself several times over the last thousand years so there's plenty of layers to this sewer system. The PC's want to get into this smuggler's vault because they killed one of the smuggler captains and got his access tattoo and they want to get whatever this captain was hiding in his vault. Anywho, this sewer is inhabited by a militant serpent-folk called the Sin'yuasa and they've been driven from their home deep in the sewers up closer to the surface in recent months and they're now running raids for food/supplies on the homeless people living in the first layer under the surface, even being so brash/desperate as to raid the surface with Alter Self spells as to not raise suspicion of their presence.
So these 6 PC's are lvl 13 and they're Gestalts. What are some challenging encounters I could throw at these guys? I plan on sending swarms of incorporeal ghost rats at them and of course the Sin'yuasa scouts and raiding parties. There's also a witch's coven down here who have set all kinds of Curse traps outside their hovel.
This is a Homebrew Gestalt campaign, so anything goes.
There is a Votavi Psion who has accessed a Ley Line deep within the earth, and she has used it to embolden her forces, but she's cash-poor and wants to raid the smuggler's vault from underneath. (A Votavi is like a dark-blue/purple elf that is similar to a drow, but they're not religious, yet they use the Souls of their enemies like a resource). This Votavi Psion has "acquired" the services of twin Beholders, one is Psionic, the other is Magical. She has sent the Beholder twins and a host of her Votavi forces to raid the smuggler's vault from underneath and her forces have soundly defeated the Sin'yuasa. So the remaining Sin'yuasa have retreated upwards towards the city.
When the PC's eventually arrive at the Smuggler's Vault, they're going to catch the Beholder twins and the host of Votavi in the middle of their heist on the vault trying to haul all the cash and valuable items away. It's going to be a timed encounter, because the Votavi are going to set off a timed explosive for 30 seconds when they realize the PC's are there to stop them. This is basically going to be a frantic 5-round fight with the Beholder twins while they also try to kill/subdue as many Votavi from getting away with loot before the bomb goes off. The PC's and Beholders/Votavi all have access to teleport spells, so I'm already anticipating that this will be their exit plan.
I would add in a couple of arcane casters from a seaside area showing up and taking out the beholders due to copyright violations.
It's homebrew, not PFS :P
I think having one of the lower levels be a more intact portion of the old city, full of a ghostly manifestation of bustling daily life would be a good addition. Throw a Danse Macabre into the city streets, but leave the remaining haunts as a benign backdrop.
I'd also leave signs of the beholders' passage on their way down, as the beholders disintegrate some obstacles and floors to speed their travel. Use those disintegrated patches as a means of adding vertical dynamic to the lizard people fights and create the impression that the area is becoming increasingly unstable.
You may want to include an encounter with a phase spider group to explain how the ghost rats were kept away from the surface.
I think having one of the lower levels be a more intact portion of the old city, full of a ghostly manifestation of bustling daily life would be a good addition. Throw a Danse Macabre into the city streets, but leave the remaining haunts as a benign backdrop.
I'd also leave signs of the beholders' passage on their way down, as the beholders disintegrate some obstacles and floors to speed their travel. Use those disintegrated patches as a means of adding vertical dynamic to the lizard people fights and create the impression that the area is becoming increasingly unstable.
You may want to include an encounter with a phase spider group to explain how the ghost rats were kept away from the surface.
Great ideas, especially the phase spider, love it. Thank you ;)