My favorite battle of my campaign
My favorite battle I've run in the campaign has been the boss encounter at the end of the second arc of my campaign. Arc Two, which had run about fifteen sessions, investigated why sahuagin were attacking coastal villages. They discovered the sahuagin were worshipping a forgotten being from the depths, and had taken on its madness.
The players eventually sought out the protector spirit of the ocean - a nature spirit in the shape of a massive whale, who turned out to be the mother of the forgotten being - another whale spirit that was cursed with apocalyptic rage. The party agreed to help the mother whale by protecting some of her orca followers, who needed to sing a lullaby to put the whale-son to rest.
When the battle was met, the son was accompanied by a horde of sahuagin worshippers and attack sharks. The setting was a sunken ship over a deep black chasm.
The mother whale engaged her son in melee, which raged all around the battlefield. This was just a distraction: the true goal was to get the orcas into position to sing. They had to form a square that was at least 80 feet by 80 feet to capture the whale-son within. The orcas had their own spot in the initiative, and would move to their places on their turns unless they were attacked by sahuagin or sharks.
But the sahuagin weren't going to let that pass. Most of the sahuagin were two levels below the party, making them perfect to field in high numbers. The party also had to consider a chanter sahuagin priest in the center who would counter the chanting, and summoned sharks every round if there were fewer than three alive. The sharks prioritized attacking the orcas. The chanter was two levels higher, and had some spellcasting, making her a high priority threat. The martials turned the flunky sahuagin into sashimi while the casters assisted the orcas or engaged with the chanter.
Debris from the veritable kaiju battle around them acted as telegraphed hazards. I would indicate where debris would go, giving the players a round to relocate before the area was showered for high damage. Remember, they are swimming during this, so movement is quite costly. Some of the players started tossing enemies into the danger zones to clear the field. The debris and the terrain hazards were varied. The mother whale was also taking damage, and she was the only thing keeping her child distracted.
So, to review
- The goal is for the orcas to sing the whale-son to sleep.
- The Orcas need to be protected to some degree. They’re full-blown whales, so they aren’t push overs, but they won’t hold up under sustained damage, and there are lots of fodder sahuagin on the field
- Said orcas need to be located at all the points of a pentagram at the same time
- The sahuagin chanter is infinitely calling more sharks, and the lullaby can’t be completed until she is dead
- There are constant terrain hazards
- There is a hard timer in the form of the mother whale’s health
Like I mentioned in my blog post about FE7’s Battle Before Dawn, I think important story battles should have many variables to consider.
I didn’t actually track the kaiju battle. The Mother Whale could only survive 10 rounds, but a sufficiently high heal from the party could give her back an extra round. Their ‘fight’ and the environmental hazard happened at initiative count 10.
My party is pretty clever, so I figured (correctly) they would be okay with a battle that was considered ‘Extreme’ difficulty. There were some close near-deaths, and one of the orcas died, but the party bard was able to mirror the whale’s song in almost the right position, and sing the enraged spirit back into slumber, victorious.
Thanks for reading, if you made it this far~