[4e] Need help planning an epic boss fight (2 dragons)

[kakita]

Hi guys, I need some help in planning an epic boss fight for the end of my first arc campaign.

What's just happened is that the plane of dragons has just 'synched' up with the the PC's world, whch has resulted in a lot of drakes and dragons spilling over to the city they're currently defending. They've fought their way through the city into the city keep, where the majority of the city forces are fighting against two dragons (adult-ish? 1 white 1 black).

So... the question is, does anyone have any idea how I should keep the battle mobile and interesting? My party is kind of lop sided, with 3 leaders and 3 defenders (although 2 defenders are dps paladins). They tend to play with what they want to play rather than party optimisation, but well, I'm afraid that without the DPS paladins (1 might not join in the mid/end fight), they don't have the damage output required. They're all level 9 currently.

So yeah... suggestions on a dangerous but interesting fight would be nice... =x

[Brendan]

Have both of the dragons have some sort of magic item that animates dead 4/day as a standard action. You must kill both in the same round to win, otherwise, they will animate each other as high power undead dragons.
Cast a permanancied halucinatory terrain or some illusions to add in more strategy.
The plane of dragons could mess with reality and every few rounds turn one of them into a random dragon
Plane shift the room every few rounds and make them adjust.

[Shalist]

If the party doesn't have the damage output, you use the NPC's for raw damage, and let the PC's take the role of trying to lock the wyrms down-- clip their wings (read up on 'trip,' various nets, and 'stalled'), bind their jaws (*shrug*), casting 'magic weapon' on ammunition so that NPCs can damage them (DR 5or 10/magic), and have fleeing NPCs (DC 20ish fear auras) rally around your paladins. There's tons of ways they can have an incredible impact, without personally carving the wyrms up.

Alternately, the white wyrm probably won't like alchemist fire much (fire + touch attack), so if your players passed an alchemy shop on the way to the fight, they could arm a buncha npc's that way, though burning down half the city may become a concern.

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Please, please, please don't just play them as piles of fangs and claws...ie, every time the black uses its breath, describe structures and people melting away. Don't discount their incredible mobility or keen minds. Look in the dragonomicon for interesting feats or items they might have, and perhaps even have them try to chat with your PC's (though given the pallies...*shrug*)

Remember to have the black dragon use 'darkness' a few times (Both of the wyrms have blindsense anyways), and perhaps even a spiteful 'corrupt water' on the towns water supply if it has to flee.

The white has 'fog cloud,' which dovetails nicely with draconic blindsense and AoE breath weapons, so it'd be absolutely insane for it to avoid using it. It might also employ 'gust of wind' to dramatic, and deadly effect once your PCs find a way to counter it (ie, pally's might use detect evil to track the dragons through the fog, and order the NPC's to fill those squares with their enchanted arrows/bolts...after a couple rounds of getting zinged in spite of the fog, the wyrm uses a gust of wind to dispel it, knocking everyone flat for a bit).

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Why are they fighting though? Why not cut and run the moment they came through? Perhaps the players could strike a solid blow against the wyrms just by figuring that out--ie, get rid of their reason for staying, and they'll stop fighting and run, saving the city the destruction of a prolonged fight.

[kakita]

Sorry guys, forgot to mention the current level and ed of this campaign. They're all at lev 9, 4th ed.

The fog cloud/darkness sounds pretty interesting.

TBH now, the dragons are actually bizarre yin/yang type siblings, and why the white and black decided to attack was because they just saw a moment of opportunity; a city that wasn't very well defended. They are kind of damaged now, after having fought of the city guards/captain of the guard etc.

Once the players come in and start killing stuff (ie both at 1/4 hp, or 1 is killed), they might be liable to cut and run, turning into a possible recurring villain.

I'm thinking of making the environment part of the story as well, maybe they'll need to find a quick way up the city gates first, or once they're up there the city wall (which has cracked from the cold stres fractures) starts to buckle and fall....

[Darcand]

I would start the fight in the courtyard with the dragons perched on the wall, breathing down on defenders. Use NPCs to encourage the PCs to ascend one or two of the towers and use the keep's ballistas against the beasts. Heavy seige weapons will give your mostly melee and less effective characters a chance to shine against flying targets.