This encounter is set in the towers of the city of Moil as described in the Tomb of Horrors super module, and is specifically designed to experiment with the Endless Hordes mechanic introduced by the Save Versus Death blog.
| Encounter | 3500 XP | |
| Level 12 | ||
| Opponents | 7 | |
| Dark Stalker | x2 | |
| Dark Stalker Minion | x4 | |
| Shadar-Kai Blacksoul | ||
| Traps / Hazards | 1 | |
| Dark Stalker Minion Endless Horde | ||
At the moment the characters are level 9 and have been stretched. They are short on healing surges, and have expended a bunch of daily powers. Since this is +3 levels, my hope is that this challenges them appropriately, though it should be noted that they synergize well with each other, and tend to make good tactical choices.I've gone with Dark Stalkers and Shadar-Kai Blacksouls as well as a minion version of Dark Stalkers, who are the meat of the Endless Horde. I've modified the core mechanic of the Endless Horde for two reasons. First, I don't want this to devolve into a scenario where the players are set up to each kill off a minion a round with the 5th player as there to mop up if an attack misses, and we have an infinite stand off. Second, I don't want to end up having to deal with too many opponents, especially as the encounter area is not too large.
Setup: The characters start at the bottom of the stairs, in the blue shaded area. The Dark Stalker Minions start on the stairs. The Shadar-Kai Blacksoul starts out of sight on the other side of the stairs. One Dark Stalker starts on the stairs behind the characters, the other atop the iron bulkhead.
Illumination: Dim. The inside of the tower is dark with the only light coming from the dim sky outside. Characters who have normal vision can’t see well in dim light: Creatures in the area have concealment. Characters who have low-light vision or darkvision see normally. The tower is in the shadowfell, so light sources only shed half the light they normally would.
Stairs: The stair squares block line of sight, count as difficult terrain for anyone going up them, and can only be entered from the upper left corner.
Iron Bulkhead: The iron bulkhead provides cover to small creatures and prone creatures in adjacent squares. The ladder in the bulkhead leads down to a lower level of the tower.
| Dark Stalker Minion Endless Horde Level 10 Elite Warder (L) hazard | 1000 XP | |
| Standard Action | ||
| Effect: Four Dark Stalker Minions appear. One on the stairs, one on top of the iron bulkhead, and one on each bridge. If no Dark Stalkers and no Dark Stalker Minions remain, the Endless Horde produces a Shadar-Kai Blacksoul, rather than four Dark Stalker Minions. If eight or more Dark Stalker Minions remain the Endless Horde produces two Dark Stalkers, rather than four Dark Stalker Minions. In either case, on its next turn the Endless Horde will always produce four Dark Stalker Minions. | ||
| Countermeasures | ||
| The only countermeasure is to negotiate with the Dark Stalkers or the Shadar-Kai, by convincing them that the characters quest aligns with the goals of the Raven Queen. | ||
Outcome: As it happened, the players took up my hints to negotiate (despite virtually never doing so) and so the encounter didn't get to play out as I planned.
