Game Report: Crapload of zombies

The party retreats from the dracolich’s lair, escaping to a nearby outpost and spending their time stocking up on supplies and changing equipment, realizing that this was going to be more difficult than they imagined. As they finished resting, a pair of teeth suddenly appeared in the air and started taunting them. A quick check found it to be a Leomund’s Magic Mouth ritual, and the voice said it was the Margrave, expecting further intrusion into his manor.

The PCs weren’t discouraged, however, and headed back to the mansion, looking for a way in. The front was crawling with zombies, the back with skeletons. They decided that it would be easier just to charge through the front door, and walk up to the front door, only to see something they didn’t really expect. Every inch of the courtyard directly in front of the graveyard was crawling with zombies. Over 400 zombie minions. The only safe ground was a fountain in the middle of the courtyard.

Not at all discouraged, they let loose a few area-of-effect abilities and charged forward, trying to get to the center before pushing forward to the door. The plan was good, but their timing was off and soon the melee combatants found themselves surrounded by minions. It was bait-and-switch for a number of turns, creating an opening only to have the zombies close in and attack. Teleportation and other effects allowed them to move around, and in under a minute (game time) they managed to destroy nearly half of the horde and push through the front door.

What greeted them on the other side wasn’t very friendly, however. They found themselves staring at zombies of a different sort, both flying creatures and zombie dogs, being led by a drow sharpshooter. They felt secure until a pair of blade spiders came out from underneath a set of stairs, and with a three-fold front the PCs found their interests split, and themselves unrested.

The fighter and doppelganger stood toe-to-toe with the dogs and the drow, while the cleric and the arcane casters tried to keep the spiders off of them and freeze the rotwings in place. The fighter had little problem mopping up the zombie dogs and keeping the drow from getting combat advantage, but the backrow was struggling with the spiders, and only through cautious movement did they get away from the mess while the doppelganger took some aggro.

Once the drow fell, the party was able to reconvene and take down the spiders. They had a difficult time, however, with many running out of encounter powers and unwilling to use their dailies so soon in the adventure. They eventually took down the last creature and sighed in relief, only to realize that there was way too much standing between them and their final objective.

Lessons learned: The zombie horde was very fun, although logistically it could have been handled better. I was concerned with clean-up, and instead decided to make every spot that didn’t have a zombie instead of using a crapload of pennies for the encounter. Unfortunately this got confusing, and twice I mismarked where the zombies went because I forgot the system. The players did handle themselves well when they jumped into the next encounter, and can probably handle more than I’ve been throwing at them as long as they have enough prep time. Also, after seeing potions work in combat both in this session and a Living Forgotten Realms session the day before…I understand why they work the way they do. I’m hesitant to switch back now, however, after so many months of resisting. It doesn’t seem fair.