Advice on final showdown for my players?

[Sir_Chivalry]

Okay, I'm planning to ask several key fights, but I'm starting with this one.

I have two villains who are working in tandem to kill the party's Jade Phoenix Mage near the end of the campaign.

Pyrus and ReinaPyrus (ur-sublime lyrist) and Reina (ebon phoenix mage) are both survivors of the destruction of the elven homelands. They formed a party together and have been adventuring for ten years now. Their party recently broke up because of a massive political upheaval that killed most of their benefactors, as well as at least three members of their nine person group are missing. Anyways, he used to act as the bodyguard and advisor to the city's lich ruler until he was overthrown by an order of paladins, so now he's out of a job. While he was the bodyguard, he began a relationship with the lich's apprentice, a jade phoenix mage, manipulating her with his charisma and skills in deception. Though she is in a relationship with another person, and she attempted to call it off with Pyrus multiple times, he has always succeeded in manipulating her into bed again. It was only when she became pregnant with the other man's child that she found the courage to break it off for real, and Pyrus now intends to break her, get rid of the child and make her his once more.

Reina is quite simply a monster. Her nature was never good to begin with, but when she awakened the ages old fiendish spirit inside to continue it's cycle of reincarnation, she became a beast simply concerned with killing and bloodlust. Unbeknownst to Pyrus, she has a string of lovers to satisfy her lusts, and she is by all means the evil side of love, lust and pain, to mirror the jade phoenix mage's positive traits (she's a crusader devoted to love, it's corny, but meh) She has even seduced the jade phoenix mage's fiance, as well as revealing to him the JPM's infidelites with Pyrus.

So how should I lead up to this fight? Where would you put a fight like this?

Questions appreciated.

If it matters, it's a mainly urban campaign.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

It will help to know the game system, level of bad guys, level of party, other members of party, and so on.

Dramatically, I'd say you need to start out by making an attempt against the child. Use minions or hireling of your main villains, not the villains themselves. Leave a fairly clear clue with the minions to show who sent them to do the deed.

You don't need to succeed, you just need to show that the bad guys are trying to kill the child. That will make the players want to fight the villains more, and make for a more satisfying showdown.

[FelixG]

For the where: At the highest point in the city :smallbiggrin:

Could lead to some fun tactics if they only have a limited area to work in and getting knocked off the roof is a real possibility

[Sir_Chivalry]

It will help to know the game system, level of bad guys, level of party, other members of party, and so on.

Dramatically, I'd say you need to start out by making an attempt against the child. Use minions or hireling of your main villains, not the villains themselves. Leave a fairly clear clue with the minions to show who sent them to do the deed.

You don't need to succeed, you just need to show that the bad guys are trying to kill the child. That will make the players want to fight the villains more, and make for a more satisfying showdown.

Okay, DnD 3.5, world I'd compare it to is Eberron, sort of mage-tech in certain areas, lots of gray and politics. To break down the builds:

Pyrus: ECL 20- NE male changeling bard 6/mindbender 1/spelldancer 2/ur-priest 1/sublime chord 1/fochlucan lyrist 9

notes: Spends most of his time looking like a shifter, which in my world I've integrated in as a subrace of elves. Uses a build so wrong, I feel dirty just typing it:smalltongue:. Spells in the spoiler below.

Reina: ECL 20- CE female winged lich gray elf elven paragon 3/wizard 2/warblade 1/spellsword 1/ebon phoenix mage 10

Notes: Wheres a suit of fullplate made from glassteel, a material from Forgotten Realms that acts like both Adamantine and Mithral. The JPM player is planning to take said armour as her loot after this fight. Also wields a spiked chain optimized for tripping (+1 disarming grasping sweeping spiked chain). Spells in spoiler below.

Pyrus
Bard Spells Known (CL 14)
3rd(4/day)- charm monster (DC 20), confusion (DC 20), glibness, scrying (DC 20)
2nd(5/day)- glitterdust (DC 19), heroism, invisibility, silence (DC 19)
1st(5/day)- cure light wounds, featherfall, grease (DC 18), nystul’s magic aura
0(3/day)- detect magic, lullaby, mage hand, prestidigitation, read magic, summon instrument
Sublime Chord Spells Known (CL 20)
9th(2/day)- invoke magic, wail of the banshee (DC 26)
8th(3/day)- mind blank, polymorph any object (DC 25), superior invisibility
7th(4/day)- finger of death (DC 24), project image (DC 24), 2
6th(5/day)- contingency, greater dispel magic, mass suggestion (DC 23), 1
5th(5/day)- contact other plane, magic jar (DC 22), teleport, 1
4th(6/day)- anticipate teleportation, detect scrying, dominate person (DC 21), 1
Ur-Priest Spells Prepared (CL 19)
9th(1/day)- miracle
8th(2/day)- greater spell immunity, 1
7th(3/day)- greater consumptive field (DC 22), greater plane shift, holy star
6th(4/day)- energy immunity (2) (both cast), heal, heroes feast
5th(5/day)- commune, greater command (DC 23), plane shift, spell resistance, surge of fortune
4th(5/day)- death ward, greater magic weapon (cast), restoration (3)
3rd(5/day)- delay death, magic circle against good, magic vestment (2) (both cast), wind wall
2nd(6/day)- body wards, darkbolt, divine insight, lesser restoration, living undeath, zone of truth (DC 20)
1st(7/day)- conviction, protection from good, protection from law, sign, 3
0(6/day)- detect poison, guidance, light, mending, purify food and drink, resistance

Reina
Spells per Day (CL 13)
7th(2/day)- mass hold person (DC 22), prismatic spray (DC 22)
6th(3/day)- chain lightning (DC 21), greater dispel magic, Tenser’s transformation
5th(4/day)- bigby’s interposing hand, dominate person (DC 20), transmute rock to mud, teleport
4th(5/day)- phantasmal killer (DC 19) (2), scrying (DC 19), wrack (DC 19) (2)
3rd(6/day)- blink, displacement, hold person (DC 18), suggestion (DC 18)
2nd(6/day)- blindness/deafness (DC 17), glitterdust (DC 17), rope trick, web (DC 17), whirling blade (2)
1st(6/day)- chill touch (DC 16), enlarge person, grease (DC 16), shield, spirit worm (DC 16), true strike
0(4/day)- chalkboard, mage hand, mending, prestidigitation


The PCs would be 18th level (this is a projection of their chosen paths, as they are not this level yet), there are 7 of them, so they could handle this fight and a few small ones in that day. Beauty of a city game is that control of encounters is easy.

Freya- CG female raptoran (reflavoured to be winged human) human paragon 3/sorcerer 3/crusader 1/spellsword 1/ebon phoenix mage 10

Cale (Freya's bodyguard)- CG male human VOP unarmed swordsage 8/shadow sun ninja 10

Montie- TN male human wizard 5/incantrix 10/archmage 3

Aranel- LG female dragonborn (formerly raptoran (here reflavoured to be winged elf)) paladin 7/Sneak attack fighter 1/Shadowbane Inquisitor 10

Don- LG male human rogue 1/cleric 7/shadowbane stalker 10

Tib- NG male changeling swashbuckler 3/factotum 5/chameleon 10

Aegir (Freya's brother)- CN feral mineral warrior lolth-touched half-minotaur half-orc barbarian 3/warlock 1/tainted (PrC from Dragon mag that binds a demon to your soul) 10

I think that everything you asked for. Let me know if you need anything else.