Mistwell
Crusty Old Meatwad
My group is composed of 5 sixth level players. We're playing through Savage Tides, at least the Sasserine part of it. Players were trapped in a mini-dungeon on Parrot Island.
Of course, this is a 3e adventure, and for different level PCs, so I switched things up. I hit them with a single Banshee and 10 zombies. Should be a hard but doable combat. Which it was.
But, wow, Banshee is NASTY. Her wail is a straight-up save or die! You miss your save, you go to zero hit points. Miss another unrelated save, you're frightened. Those two powers combined provides a decent chance someone will die, bleeding out as the Banshee scares away those it doesn't kill with the wail!
The zombies were a mere nuisance, which the paladin turned. But that banshee...had there been two, I don't doubt there would have been some PC death.
My post-game write-up of the encounter:
[sblock]Bear and Pavel in the lead, the door was burst down. There they saw a large room, full of pirate zombies!
But leading the gruesome crew floated the grotesquely beautiful visage of an elvish maid. Hinting at deep beauty now long gone, the creature floated through it's allied zombies as it charged towards pavel, it's face a maddening horror now to behold. It let out a mournful wail, so earsplitting and excruciatingly gruesome that Slink immediately convulsed as if his heart were seized in the grip of Beelzebub himself, and he fell to the damp ground with blood trickling from his mouth, ears, and eyes. Others, some thanks to the protective aura of Pavel, were merely rocked with terrifying pain on hearing the wail.
The group, disturbed by the fall of their comrade, rallied and charged to the attack. Bear and Hollin swiped at the banshee and zombies, as Pavel stepped forward gripping the symbol of his God and commanding the foul creatures to return from whence they came.
Most of the zombies began to flee, and even the banshee tried to back off. However, Hollin could not resist taking a swipe at the thing that had blasted his friend, and that slice connected with a ring as his magic sword sunk into the creatures semi-ethereal form. It stopped retreating, and tried to attack back, barely missing.
Milo, fearing for his friend who had not stopped convulsing on the ground and who looked even worse than moments ago, quickly grabbed a healing potion from his satchel, and poured the red liquid down his friends throat (Slink had missed his death save so badly, rolling a natural 1, that he truly was on deaths door now). Slink's wounds slowly closed, and he opened his bloodshot eyes, and began to breath normally again.
Meanwhile the attack was pressed by Bear and Hollin, the later of whom finally took down the banshee as Bear dropped first one, then a second zombie. But once the banshee went down it was apparent that the tide had indeed turned, and the party was victorious. They moped up the remaining zombies, most of whom were fleeing, and took a breath.[/sblock]
Of course, this is a 3e adventure, and for different level PCs, so I switched things up. I hit them with a single Banshee and 10 zombies. Should be a hard but doable combat. Which it was.
But, wow, Banshee is NASTY. Her wail is a straight-up save or die! You miss your save, you go to zero hit points. Miss another unrelated save, you're frightened. Those two powers combined provides a decent chance someone will die, bleeding out as the Banshee scares away those it doesn't kill with the wail!
The zombies were a mere nuisance, which the paladin turned. But that banshee...had there been two, I don't doubt there would have been some PC death.
My post-game write-up of the encounter:
[sblock]Bear and Pavel in the lead, the door was burst down. There they saw a large room, full of pirate zombies!
But leading the gruesome crew floated the grotesquely beautiful visage of an elvish maid. Hinting at deep beauty now long gone, the creature floated through it's allied zombies as it charged towards pavel, it's face a maddening horror now to behold. It let out a mournful wail, so earsplitting and excruciatingly gruesome that Slink immediately convulsed as if his heart were seized in the grip of Beelzebub himself, and he fell to the damp ground with blood trickling from his mouth, ears, and eyes. Others, some thanks to the protective aura of Pavel, were merely rocked with terrifying pain on hearing the wail.
The group, disturbed by the fall of their comrade, rallied and charged to the attack. Bear and Hollin swiped at the banshee and zombies, as Pavel stepped forward gripping the symbol of his God and commanding the foul creatures to return from whence they came.
Most of the zombies began to flee, and even the banshee tried to back off. However, Hollin could not resist taking a swipe at the thing that had blasted his friend, and that slice connected with a ring as his magic sword sunk into the creatures semi-ethereal form. It stopped retreating, and tried to attack back, barely missing.
Milo, fearing for his friend who had not stopped convulsing on the ground and who looked even worse than moments ago, quickly grabbed a healing potion from his satchel, and poured the red liquid down his friends throat (Slink had missed his death save so badly, rolling a natural 1, that he truly was on deaths door now). Slink's wounds slowly closed, and he opened his bloodshot eyes, and began to breath normally again.
Meanwhile the attack was pressed by Bear and Hollin, the later of whom finally took down the banshee as Bear dropped first one, then a second zombie. But once the banshee went down it was apparent that the tide had indeed turned, and the party was victorious. They moped up the remaining zombies, most of whom were fleeing, and took a breath.[/sblock]
Last edited:
