Total (real world) mind blank 24 hours before final session

[Albions_Angel]

So we are at my final session. And I know how I want it to end. And I know where it begins. It starts at 2:00 pm GMT tomorrow. And I cant think of a single thing to throw at my party. Not one thing. I NEED you, Giants. I need you to build me a session, or at least an encounter table. Can we do this? Please?

My party is level 6. There are 5 of them (usually 6 but one is away).


Druid
Cleric - undead controlling
Rogue
Barb/Fighter - Frenzy, can take down anything (150 damage a round) with pounce
Monk/Swordsage - Tripping and decisive strike.



More or less any book is open for the DM, but only to expand on monsters and the occasional class. Books the party can use (and the main theme for the world):


Core (no psionics)
Complete (no psionics)
Races (non adventure)
Frost
Sand
Storm
UA
ToB


World is standard high medieval era, but with a viking theme.

The party is camped in a besieged city, protected by a dome shield powered by about 200 arcane casters performing a ritual. THe enemy is camped outside, and have their own ritual hurling exotic magics about a mile to the west.

City is built in a swamp land area and the area surrounding the city is littered with old tombs. The enemy casting is taking place in one of those tombs of undisclosed size. All they have to do is disrupt the ritual.

The ritual is protected by the enemy army.

Getting out isnt an issue.

The enemy army is mostly mundane.

The high level of magic is twisting the plants and animals around the battlefield, and I am more than happy to bring in wild magic and null zones.

Help.

[Caudex Capite]

So, a lot of this will be depending on what sort of spellcasting the opposing army has access to. It seems reasonable enough to assume that the players won't be encountering anyone above about level 11, probably more like 9. But that doesn't necessarily mean the army can't have a higher level caster, who for whatever reason isn't present. But in the interests of not assuming too much, I'm going to limit myself to 6th level spells as far as creating defenses goes.

A rough timeline of what you expect the players to want to do might also help, but I'm going to give some ideas below predicated on assumptions about their general route.

First opportunity for an encounter is in the city - some sort of infiltrators or assassins or even a rebel group. Trying to take down the PC's before they go after the ritual is a smart thing to do, if possible. If there's a moment you can get the PC's separated from one another before they leave, a few daggers in the squishier ones (none of them seem especially vulnerable) might be prudent. Start by lacing their food (if possible) with Dark Reaver Powder (or if your assassins are cheap, Taxine, from a WotC online article). Then go after them with Drow Knockout Poison on the weapons, see if you can disable at least one early on. A well played, careful rogue or factotum of ~8th level can pose a credible threat to the party if they can be smart about how they approach the situation.

Second opportunity is leaving the city. I'm not sure how the bubble works, but presumably there are at least watch posts for the opposing force reasonably close outside of it. Give some reason for them to want/need to go through one of these. This can be them steamrolling low level mundanes, but you can always include complications of some sort - maybe a higher level officer is inspecting at the time they pass through, one strong enough to at least slow them down.

Then you've got the mile long journey into the swamp. Instead of simply random encounters, try throwing swamp-like monsters with the Spellwarped or similar templates at them. A chuul which uses the water to its advantage could probably be pretty scary. A crack squad of archers who use the terrain to their advantage may also work here. A Lernean Hydra might be interesting for requiring something more than just damage to the face. Will'o'wisps are classic, and if you feel it's prudent, you can give it a more dangerous ranged attack as well - or have it work with a Medusa. Be sure to have some way to reverse petrification available in the tomb if you go that route, though. A Mature Adult Black dragon they have to negotiate (read: bribe) their way past might also be fun, but be careful not to let them kill it - if they attack it, it can leave and go after the city. You wouldn't want all of these thing to attack them, but a sprinkling of them can make the swamp seem seriously dangerous.

Once they reach the tomb, mortal defenders outside of it would be reasonable. A caster, some archers, and a lot of expendable meatshields seems pretty workable here. No need to get fancy - just enough to make it hurt.

Inside is where things get interesting. I said earlier that I'd assume they had access to 6th-level spells, and this is where that matters. There can be two routes into the tomb - one down the steps, and a secret underwater tunnel only the mage leading the defenders knows about. The underwater route is minimally defended, and the main way the ritual chamber is accessed. The main way in is a red herring and hostile to all life. Go crazy on undead here - enough of them and high enough level that the Cleric can't handle them all. All the Create Undead options are good, along with huge masses of zombies and skeletons to blunt the party's onslaught. A handful of traps (maybe one summons monsters, so there's some variation in creature type), right in the middle of combat, because the undead are all expendable. There should be two last rooms before the ritual chamber. One should involve a large number of Gravetouched Ghouls, raised from those who were buried in the tomb. If this is the tomb of an ancient king, he can be the "boss," so to speak. The room after this should be sealed off or hidden somehow, and be a guard chamber, the last trial before the ritual. Fill it with weak mundanes, Fighter 2 at the strongest. When the fight starts, have them start dropping one per round for no apparent reason. There is also a Spectre in the floor, which is killing them off to raise them as spawn. This spells huge trouble if the party takes too long to deal with the warriors, because it gets another spawn every round. Once all the warriors are dead, it should start attacking the PC's through the floor, very difficult to harm. For the sake of making things easier, the spawn should stay above the ground and be visible the whole time, and should attack with little purpose.

After this comes the ritual room, and I assume you have that planned out at least to some extent already. If you want wild magic zones, though, this is the place for them, as the ritual starts to go wrong.

Hopefully some of this was at least a little useful for you! I wish you luck with your campaign.

[Crake]

Find a copy of heros of horror. Find the taint mechanics. Say that the ritual corrupting the surrounding area has infused it with taint. Watch your player's horrified expressions as they slowly become tainted while spending time in the region, and various manifestations of the taint begin to appear, like bleeding gums or scaly skin.