PCs Defending Menador Keep

[roguerouge]

So my players invested a good deal of effort in rebuilding Menador Keep, to the point of drawing an all-new map. (Basically the same as Menador Keep, but with more rooms underground. Naturally, I want to reward those efforts by putting it back in the narrative where they have to defend it. (I mean, books 5 and 6 revisit a lot of stuff from earlier books, right?)

So, my question to you is: how would a 15th level necromancer with a zombie army and a few high-level intelligent undead with class levels from Create Undead (juju zombie anti-paladin, guardian phantom armor Hellknight, shadow assassin, and Allip inquisitor) attack this joint in a way that would be manageable and exciting at the table? The necromancer is a returning villain out for revenge, if that helps.

[Kasoh]

I suppose it will depend on the nature of the enemy, but I find that if you're going to the trouble to raise an army of undead, then you like the Zerg rush strats. Pile them up at the gates and break it down.

But, this also depends on if you need the keep to hold out until the PCs arrive in which case, a zombie siege with undead terrors keeping the soldiers pinned inside would suit the adventure better.

If the PCs happen to be there already and the villain attacks, then you probably send one of the more mobile undead to open the gates and let the zombies in.

Given how fragile zombies are going to be, they're only really good for fighting NPC soldiers, but giving them all a casting of resist fire or a known favored element of the party keeps them relevant after AoE spam and shows that the villain was paying attention.

I assume that the Necromancer would attack the keep while the PCs are away and lure them back so that he can kill them in a showy and grandiose manner.

So, then how would the defenders fare? If there's not at least a 10th level character, the necromancer would be able to solo the keep, but he also has some fairly potent sounding undead. Likely, in this scenario, all the defenders will die and be raised as zombies/undead. If there is a warning system or message to the PCs, then great. The PCs get rewarded for their forethought. If there isn't you take the most recognizable of the NPC defenders, turn them into an exploding zombie with an artfully crafted invitation and teleport it into Kintargo's market square. When the guards or Silver Ravens put it down and it explodes (hopefully killing bystanders) they get an invitation and the PCs come back to the keep as a charnel house.

If there is a warning system and the PCs teleport quickly to the location, they might be able to save some people and its largely a sweep and clear with a big fight with a necromancer in the courtyard. If possible, I'd also add undead Lucian Thrune and his drake/wyvern for lols.

[roguerouge]

There is a warning system, along with about 5 troops there. The PCs should be able to teleport to the keep in time.

My thought was to have the undead horde feasible under the rules by having various troops under the command of the intelligent undead, with the idea being kill the intelligent ones and the zombies become uncontrolled mindless non-threats.

But my concern is that the choke point is so narrow that it will be a turkey shoot. Maybe I can mix things up by having the shadow assassin with a group of shadows?

[Kasoh]

roguerouge wrote:

There is a warning system, along with about 5 troops there. The PCs should be able to teleport to the keep in time.

My thought was to have the undead horde feasible under the rules by having various troops under the command of the intelligent undead, with the idea being kill the intelligent ones and the zombies become uncontrolled mindless non-threats.

But my concern is that the choke point is so narrow that it will be a turkey shoot. Maybe I can mix things up by having the shadow assassin with a group of shadows?

It might be best to avoid the turkey shoot altogether and have the PCs arrive to the keep with the enemy already spread out in inconvenient places. Rules wise, a single disintegrate against the keep's door opens it and invisibility sphere lets the guys in without being targeted.

Its not unreasonable to have the necromancer wait till the middle of the night where the defenders will be weakened by lack of darkvision and the Silver Ravens will be resting. Unless its a contingency teleport then the villain will probably have at least 10 minutes (Based on my own run through where the Silver Ravens didn't live nearby one another) to place his troops.

All that to say is that I don't see it as unreasonable to have the Silver Ravens arrive with the enemies in a superior position. But, if you think their early warning system and transport is that on key then I'd see if you could add more incorporeal undead instead of zombies to bypass the walls entirely.

The downside of that is that it will play like taking the keep all over again, which they already did once. But, since the real threat of the encounter are the special undead and the necromancer, having them be inside the keep while a horde of zombies claw at the walls might be a good visual.

Since the chokepoint offers an advantage, you might want to play into it instead. I'd be willing to cheat the number of undead the Necromancer has (maybe give a special item to raise the cap on HD the necromancer can raise) to have a scenario where there is in fact, an endless supply of zombie troops and the fight won't end until the special undead and the necromancer fall. Only by utilizing the defensives of the keep can they hold back the horde. I tried to design a similar mini game in Wrath of the Righteous where the PCs defended Drezen by placing NPCs at various locations while they played firefighters on the heavy fighting. Menador keep is probably a bit small for that, but its a notion.