A Zombie Apocalypse in Menzoberranzan: Encounter Suggestions Wanted!

[Hawk7915]

Hello!

My long-running campaign of plucky hobos versus the Cult of Vecna is currently in Menzoberranzan, the Drow Capital. We're in a homebrew setting, but I'm generally sticking to the "canon" layout of Menzoberranzan and a pretty similar Drow culture (less slavery, more arrogance). The thing my party encountered last session is that because the Eye of Vecna they need is bound to a Beholder, the once-great city has basically fallen to a zombie apocalypse. Our first fight was a Corpse Mound (TOB) which was fun, but now I'm coming up blank on what else they might encounter here. I want a few more challenges for them on their way to the Sorcere, where they know an Alhoon (Illithid Lich) has set up shop as a potential ally against the Beholder.

If it helps, my party has recently asked for deadlier encounters. They're kitted out with magic items, and most are fairly optimized. If the comp matters to you all, the squad is (all level 11):

- Aaracokra Bard, College of Glamour (used her secrets for a Pegasus from Find Greater Steed; has a magic lute that raises her spell DC)
- Green Dragonborn Monk (TCoE Stat Alignment), Way of the Kensei (has a magic Longsword and Longbow as his primary weapons)
- Half-orc Druid 9 (Circle of Spores) / Fighter 2 (Has a magic axe and a magic hammer she swaps between)
- Human Cleric, Order Domain (Has a magic longsword and a +1 shield for 21 AC. Usually rides the Pegasus)
- Dhampir Fighter, Battlemaster (a total monster with Piercer + maneuvers to heal a lot with bites. Has a super-charged magic spear for reach and an Eldritch Claw tattoo for his unarmed attacks and even more reach. Mercifully doesn't have PAM or Sentinel...yet)

As you might intuit, I've got Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, the OG Monster Manual, and Tome of Beasts and I'm very happy to homebrew/modify/up-gun encounters out of those books or toss some homebrew at them. Thanks in advance!

[Dualight]

Zombie everything as mooks in massive numbers. Give the cleric a chance for their Turn/Destroy Undead Channel Divinity to truly shine.
Undead versions of Higher CR Drow (with Turn Resistance/Immunity if meant as mini-bosses)
Beholder zombies.
These are some suggestions that may be able to get you started.

[Sorinth]

If you don't mind homebrewing things then there's plenty of stuff to zombify such as Driders. For a high level party boosting the Undead Fortitude so that it happens most of the time would be a good idea, you want to force the radiant damage/critical hit clause to be almost the only thing that actually takes them out of the fight.

Another thing to consider is scavenger type creatures that are taking advantage of the fall. Anything that would eat zombies might find the city as a nice food source, so perhaps a pack of umber hulks have taken up residence near Sorcere which the residents have encouraged since it helps keep the hordes of Melee-Magthere zombies from swarming them.

The Lich in Sorcere might have setup a bunch of Flameskulls to defend the place and/or to be a scouting force. If the party doesn't have a lot of holy water on hand a group of them can be quite problematic. And one thing to consider is for big flashy spells to attract swarms of regular zombies, if a fireball going off means that in 2-3 rounds hundreds of zombies start to show up then it can force the a tactics change for the party.

[J-H]

Ghouls.
Greater ghouls.
Ghoul priests.
Zombie Driders.
Zombie giant spiders... not the little CR 1 ones, but BIG purpose-bred battle spiders. Sword Spider and up.

[Mastikator]

2 deathlock masterminds (CR 8) (warlocks of the undead, vecna is their patron) and their two flameskull minions (CR 4). Throw in 1d6 ghouls every round after round 2 if the party is not sufficiently challenged.

6 or 8 regular deathlocks could also work, the lesser warlocks cult of vecna.

Action economy favoring the enemies makes combats more deadly and makes the combat feel more strategic and hard, so challenges the party and rewards clever play. But having more complex enemies can be more difficult for the DM.

[Dungeon-noob]

You remember Aragog from Harry Potter? Yeah, it's a zombie now. Gargantuan spider, zombie durability, massive HP, long range webs, and looooots of less gargantuan zombie spiders.

Zombie. Hydra. Add in some flying critters it's chasing that tangle with the party flyers, and watch them walk up against a regenerating zombie with enough actions to match them.

In Menzobarranzan, Demons are always in fashion. Walking in on a small portal to the Abyss where two groups of mid-CR demons are fighting each other for control of it might make them appreciate the scale of a single high level encounter. If not contained, that becomes an Out-of-the-Abyss scale problem!

The Devourer and the Bodak are interesting undead that are underutilised, in my opinion. Though a city with few living left might not be the most villianous place for them, they work best with a lower level population to threaten to zombify.

[Hawk7915]

Thanks all! Loving these suggestions. Half my party has a serious fear of spiders so I won't make every encounter a spider one, but a massive spider + a horde of spiderlings, all zombified, is too sick to pass up. Also liking the idea of a legion of Zombie-Driders, a flameskull battery at the Alhoon's lair, and a "hellmouth" that's ripped open with demons and devils fighting each other in an endless battle that the party has to navigate somehow.

Will probably also take the Deathlok idea, since I want to keep Vecna's threat level high. And I'm banking a small army of beholder zombies as a plan for the Beholder's lair itself, since that sounds awesome and makes sense that a super-charged Beholder would make "find, kill, and raise all other beholders" step 1 on his plan of Underdark Domination.

[J-H]

There have got to be a lot of Houses with warded and trapped treasuries. A quest or series of quests to track down the wardstones and enable massive looting seem to be in order. I'm sure a few living folks (thieves; escaped slaves; rival Houses; etc.) know where to go but don't have the disposable firepower to do it.

It's a great time to eliminate foes deniably.

[Hawk7915]

There have got to be a lot of Houses with warded and trapped treasuries. A quest or series of quests to track down the wardstones and enable massive looting seem to be in order. I'm sure a few living folks (thieves; escaped slaves; rival Houses; etc.) know where to go but don't have the disposable firepower to do it.

It's a great time to eliminate foes deniably.

I like this idea - my party seems sort of tired of having to partner with "Lesser Evils" after their stay-over in a Dueregar city down here, and in their brief communication with the Alhoon so far have found him to be the most vile and punchable villain in a campaign that's been full of necromancers, slavers, and demon-worshipping criminals. Given that I'm steering my Drow away from slavery and more towards "if you end up here, you'll be a second class citizen - but if you're useful, you can stay, and if you can't, we'll kill or banish you to die in the Underdark", I think finding a pocket of Drow nobility that can help them in exchange for busting into other Houses for treasure and artifacts will be more palatable for them if they decide they'd rather just kill the Alhoon.

[Monster Manuel]

my party seems sort of tired of having to partner with "Lesser Evils"

Well, there goes my main thought: a team-up encounter with a Drow necromancer, whose magic can hold off/dominate the horde for long enough for the players to fulfill some objective (probably, something to do with their Vecna-hunting). It might be fun, in the sense that the Necromancer is almost always the antagonist, and in this case could literally be the lesser of two evils. Pro, the party is able to achieve something they need to without wading through an unending sea of zombies. Con, at the end of it you have a necromancer who's just amassed a ridiculously large horde of zombies, and will almost certainly betray his new "allies".

But if there's already some fatigue around the lesser-of-two-evils story beat, maybe not the way you want to go.