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Ssendam
Pie
(11/6/02 10:44:29 pm)
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Hedrack - The Final Showdown
Ok, after two previous attempts, the third attempt proved to be the charm for my players. But good lord, what a knock down, drag out battle this was - even moreso than the first time they faced him.
Ok, the party had previously been forced to leave the Outter Fanes when the rogue of the party was struck dead by the Slay Living glyph on the chest in Hedrack's suite. This was after they had nearly killed him and forced him to flee, afterwhich they went snooping around for him.
So the rogue dies and he wants a True Res. This is possible, but it takes over a week to find one. During this downtime, Hecrack is scrying upon the group - 14 hours a day of surveilance, thanks to Greater Scry. Very much to his advantage, Hedrack discovers after the first few days that the party is separated. You see, only half of the group took the dead rogue to be ress'd and the other half stayed in a safe locale near the Crater Ridge Mines.
He knows that they have the Orb of Silvery Death. He cannot Scry upon the possessor, but he has more than enough clues that lead him to believe just exactly where the orb is. He uses Planar Ally, summons a Glabrezu and sends it on its mission to retrieve the orb. Through Scrying, Hedrack is able to show the Glabrezu just where he has to go. The Glabrezu sees the room the PC's are in and bam - T-Port No Error, right into the room!
It's just the cleric, the sorcerer and the bard, kicking back. The cleric is resting on her bed, getting some rest after a hard 8 hours put in for scribing scrolls. The rogue is not even ress'd yet. These three group memebers offer a bit of resistance, but the Glabrezu is able to obtain the orb relatively easy. He P-Word Stuns the Cleric the first round. The next round, he is being harrassed by the bard and the sorcerer as he is trying to discern the location of the orb. The orb is not out in plain sight, but it is sitting in a Heward's Handy Haversack, on the bed, next to the cleric.
The cleric was only stunned for a couple of rounds. When she snaps out of her stupor, she casts a spell on herself and the grabs the bag. The Glabrezu had already detected magic on the bag the previous round and was about to take it anyway, but now he really wants the bag after seeing the cleric pick it up. On his initiative, he P-Word Stuns the cleric again and then promptly picks up the bag. Next round, he T-ports out, back to Hedrack - Mission Accomplished. As it turns out, there is more in the Haversack than just the orb! What a score for the Glabrezu! He gets to keep all of the clerical scrolls and wands that were also in the bag! He collects his reward from Hedrack and takes the rest of his recovered booty back to the Abyss with him.
Ok, Hedrack now has the Orb of Silvery Death back in his possession. He stashes it away in the chest in his private room for safe keeping.
The rogue is finally ress'd. After being brought back, the PC's regroup, discuss, plan and then a day or two later they head back to the Outter Fanes. Hedrack was unable to completely learn their tactics through scrying, but he was very much ready and aware of the attack forthcoming and could tell where the PC's were going to strike from.
The PC's chose to use the Fire Door as their point of entry. Chymon is dead, so she is of no concern, but Hedrack places his remaining forces within the room. The welcoming committee consists of: 4 Barb Minotaurs, 2 Dark Naga, and Satau the Mindflayer.
Ok, so the battle begins. The welcoming committee is holding the PC's at bay, all the while Hedrack is getting himself properly prepared. He has a haste potion which he imbibes and this allows him to errect his magical defenses much quicker. After buffing himself up, he then summons a Bebilith and proceeds to move down the hall and into the large chamber (Chymon's lair) where the battle is taking place.
From here, it gets very ugly. Hedrack arrives on the scene and one of the first things he does is cast a Greater Dispel, followed up by a Destruction spell on the group's main cleric. The cleric saves but she is wounded badly - near death. The following round, Hedrack beats the group's cleric on initiative and casts Destruction on her yet again, this time killing her, but not destroying her. She saves again, but the damage rolled is more than she can take and she drops dead.
The battle continues on. The rest of the group have not reached Hedrack yet as he has positioned his summoned bebilith nicely between himself and the melee's. The bard of the group is out of commission after being Mind Blasted by Satau and failing his save. He is stunned...for a long time. Another round goes by, Hedrack drops consecutive empowered Flame Strikes on the group's Paladin, Fighter and back up cleric (a henchman, actually). This kills the paladin and fighter and puts the backup cleric at -8 HP. Hedrack then shouts at the top of his lungs "THARIZDUN! I AM YOUR CHAMPION!"
Ok, at this point things are looking grim. I think to myself, "Lord, what have I done? The party is doomed now. Gah!" Paladin - dead, Fighter - dead, Main healer - dead, backup healer - near dead, Bard - stunned for 9 rounds. The only members left: The rogue, the sorcerer and the fighter/cleric. The fighter/cleric ends up having her armor destroyed by the bebilith and at this point, she is the only member that can even damage it with melee attacks. Instead she uses her boots of speed to buy some time and moves around the room, evading the bebilith as best she can. The bebilith tries to web her, but she manages to evade and get herself away from the webs.
Things look bleak, but they get better. The sorcerer, who has been playing possum with Hedrack for most of the fight by casting spells from around the corner and doing his best to keep out of Hedrack's sight, encases the bebilith in a sphere of force (Wall of Force spell). This buys the group a bit of time until Hedrack disintegrates the sphere bubble with his Disintegate spell (destruction domain). The sorcerer ends up just disintegrating the Bebilith on the following round and then attempts a Greater Dispel on Hedrack (sorcerer is hasted). He is able to get rid of a few of Hedrack's defenses, but Hedrack's Spell Resistance remains intact; he does, however, get rid of Hedrack's haste. This slows things down for Hedrack big time.
On the following round, the improbable happens - the sorcerer of the group is able to breach Hedrack's SR with a hold spell. Hedrack fails his save! He becomes held. After that, the sorcerer pretty much just finnishes him off with the Ball of Lightning spell. Hedrack is held motionless while balls of lightning are centered upon him, burning him away until he is dead.
So the sorcerer pretty much saves the day for the group. Let's just say that his ego is swelling now. 
Edited by: Ssendam at: 11/6/02 11:05:52 pm
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Zagig
Pie
(11/6/02 11:20:33 pm)
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Re: Hedrack - The Final Showdown
Congratulations on a great battle!! Both you and your players should be very proud of yourselves. Don't be disappointed that Hedrack is dead, he died giving the group probably it's biggest victory to date and definately it's most memorable. Hope your group got extra xp for some inventive tactics as well. Again, congratulations!!
Zag ig
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Ssendam
Pie
(11/7/02 12:35:08 am)
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Re: Hedrack - The Final Showdown
Hey, Zag. Thanks.
I am not disappointed that Hedrack died. Hedrack died in an epic battle. The party earned it. He put them through hell - sheer torment. I love the way he developed as the group's nemesis. In the end, I think I played Hedrack to the best of his capabilities and I feel like I roleplayed him correctly. I think it all worked out well for storyline too. I created a memorable villain for my players. He won't be a reoccuring villain, but what the heck. There's plenty of other NPC's the party will face for opportunites such as those.
Edited by: Ssendam at: 11/7/02 1:26:53 am
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Siobharek 
Orc
(11/7/02 2:53:33 am)
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Re: Hedrack - The Final Showdown
The week's coming to an end and I haven't used so many Me Toos - and this deserves one. Congratulations, Ssendam. Hedrack gave them a run for their money and the sorcerer deserves all the accolades he can handle. Getting the Orb the way you did was sheer genius. I enjoyed that one a lot.
Siobharek
...it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. |
Ssendam
Pie
(11/7/02 5:06:18 am)
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Re: Hedrack - The Final Showdown
Hehehe. Thanks, Sio
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 Infiniti2000
Pie
(11/7/02 2:19:21 pm)
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ezSupporter
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Re: Hedrack - The Final Showdown
That was awesome, Ssendam! I especially like the plea to Big T that Hedrack is the champion! Something about famous last words.... That must be one happy glabrezu...LOL!
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