An unstoppable foe [Archive] - Wizards Community

An unstoppable foe [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
The_Apathetic_Despot
03-25-06, 06:19 PM I am currently planning an adventure, to be the grand opening for my very first campaign, and I could use some help from more experienced DMs. What I am trying to do is create a nigh-unstoppable monster (or at least unstoppable to people who only try hitting him with pointy things) that will chase the pc's through the dungeon (think Nemesis from Resident Evil 3), but I don't know how to strike the right balance. I want the PC's to realize that running is the best choice, but I don't want him to simply feast on their delicous level 1 flesh in the first rounds, before ther decide to flee. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to do this? Thanks in advance for the help!
Dungeons & Donuts
03-25-06, 06:25 PM I had no idea what you meant, until you used Nemesis as an example. I think you should make a monster that the PCs can at least bring down to 25-50 health, after which the creature flees. After fleeing, the creature will plan to attack later on. Continue until you make a point where the creature is weakened to the point where PCs can bring it down.

Theres my :twocents:
RK)13
03-25-06, 06:42 PM Hmm, an Unstoppable foe that will chase the PCs through the dungeon while not killing them immediately?

I think I'm going to go on the metaphysical tip and say instead of using a "creature", use an incarnation.I am thinking of norse mythology, when Thor is visiting the court of a Giant King, and is given chllenges. One is that he must wrestle an old woman. the old woman trounces him, and, in the end, it turns out the old woman is time. Make a physical manifestation of time. Time never stops (unless subjected to a time stop spell), it is implacable, and unavoidable.

I would say create a knight like figure that is impossible for the PCs to damage. Make it use grappling and subdual damage as opposed to physical damage, and make it so that the PCs wake later unharmed. The only way to defeat the foe is to name it, or give it its proper title. You can decorate the dungeon with a clock motif, and have other challenges be aged orcs, goblins, kobolds, (insert generic low level creature here).

But of course, thats me, and I am a little insane.
The_Apathetic_Despot
03-25-06, 07:52 PM Forgive me, I should have made my question more clear. My problem is more mechanical than narrative. I fully agree with your ( RK)13's ) idea of the beast being a physical manifestation of a concept, in fact that was my plan all along (in this case the physical manifestation of the suppressed anguish of a 6 year old girl, I think that wins me the insane contest btw) what I need help with (and again I should have explained more clearly, this was my error) is giving the distinct inpression that this beast will grind the pc's into dust given the chance, without ACTUALLY giving it the chance. My problem, in a nutshell, is that I am worried my PC's are simply too fragile as wide eyed level 1 newbies to withstand it's attacks long enough for me to drive home the fact that this is not something they can go toe to toe with. so What I am asking is what you more experienced DM's think I should tell/show/inflict upon my players to get them to accept this thing as too dangerous, preferably without doing anything so crass as telling them outright "RUN FOR YOUR PUNY LIVES! THE DESTROYER IS MANEFEST!"(much fun as that sounds...). I appologise again for the confusion, and thanks four your responces!
zodiki
03-25-06, 08:16 PM Kill off a red-shirt. Perhaps the monster kills the guide who has been hired to lead them through the first part of the dungeon - in a way that makes it readily apparent that they should run for it.
FriendoftheDork
03-25-06, 08:27 PM Forgive me, I should have made my question more clear. My problem is more mechanical than narrative. I fully agree with your ( RK)13's ) idea of the beast being a physical manifestation of a concept, in fact that was my plan all along (in this case the physical manifestation of the suppressed anguish of a 6 year old girl, I think that wins me the insane contest btw) what I need help with (and again I should have explained more clearly, this was my error) is giving the distinct inpression that this beast will grind the pc's into dust given the chance, without ACTUALLY giving it the chance. My problem, in a nutshell, is that I am worried my PC's are simply too fragile as wide eyed level 1 newbies to withstand it's attacks long enough for me to drive home the fact that this is not something they can go toe to toe with. so What I am asking is what you more experienced DM's think I should tell/show/inflict upon my players to get them to accept this thing as too dangerous, preferably without doing anything so crass as telling them outright "RUN FOR YOUR PUNY LIVES! THE DESTROYER IS MANEFEST!"(much fun as that sounds...). I appologise again for the confusion, and thanks four your responces!

I'd use some sort of heavy golem - slow, extremely powerful and nigh indestructible. Nothing like DR 15/adamantine to ruin a 1st level PCs day. Since it is slow and noisy, and very recognisable, the PCs should be able to flee from it.

Then later, as they explore the rest of the dungeon they can hear the thundering sounds again... time to run!

BTW have you been playing too much F.E.A.R.? Anger of a young girl being manfested...
ashcat_lt
03-25-06, 08:31 PM that's what I was going to say. Have the PCs witness the thing ripping its way through somebody else first. Maybe have the party encounter a group of critters that are just a tiny bit too powerful for them to take. Let them fight it out for a little while. Just as the PCs are starting to realize that they are losing this fight, have the big bad thing come and cut through the folks that were beating them like a hot knife through water (easier than butter). That had ought to give them the hint.
Board_Rider
03-25-06, 08:34 PM Heroes of Horror covers something similar to what you want to do which is similar to what RK)13 suggested. Try to look there if you can. If not I will look into this more when I am around my books.
Morwen
03-25-06, 08:36 PM You could simply give the monster the "you're not a challenge for me, so I'll let you live for now" personality. Subdual damage can do the trick for you in this case, if you're afraid regular damage will be too lethal too fast.

I distinctly remember a certain Fang Dragon that put my lowly self over its scaly knee and proceeded to whop my behind once some years ago :)
Molitor
03-25-06, 08:41 PM Give the creature a fear special ability. Once half the party fails the DC and runs, trust me the others will follow.
RK)13
03-25-06, 09:10 PM A young Girl's anguish? Have her play with them. Make her the master of her domain. Have her able to manifest herself and invite them to play a game that is made up of entirely her rules. Have her able to manifest objects flying through the air, make the environment morphic so that she can open and close doors at will.

Basically, I would start out by introing her to the party through manifesting. Have her ask the party something along the lines of "would you like to play a game?" (or tea party or somthing along those lines). If they agree, she takes them to a room that has dolls, tea sets and everything in it. they sit and have a lovely tea party, but when the playetrs try to leave, she won't let them.

You can use illusion a lot here. Make her make them think their feet are glued to the floor. Have her make the doors close and lock. Objects flying through the room. Have the illusion of the toys fall away to reveal what the party thought were toys to be the bones of dead people.

Basically play her like she is... a child.

After a while, one of them will make their saves and see through everything, helping the others out. From then on out, they will be scared of this seemingly innocent being, that is until they can either a) leave and come back when they can defeat her or b) put her spirit to rest.

As far as mechanics goes, make her a ghost, only nerf her posession and aging qualities and exchange them with poltergeist like qualitites. The incorporeal subtype will make it so the PCs can't hit her, the d12 hit dice will help protect against magic missle damage (it will make her very upset though), and the rejuvination feature will mean that she will always come back.
SilentOne
03-25-06, 09:19 PM I wouldn't go so far as to make the fear be panic. That's just forcing the characters to be scared, without making the players be scared as well. Of the top of my head...

Regeneration - be sure to describe how every wound closes up without any permanent damage. When they know they can't actually hurt it, panic sets in as all they could possibly do is knock it down and run.

Lesser Fear Ability - make them shaken, or frightened. Mechanical penalties do alot to scare the player, as they can see their capabilities go down.

Subdual Power Attacks - seriously, rolling a little d4 in plain sight, coming up with a 1, and then telling the player they took in the realm of 20 some damage [subdual of course] is a major "Eek!"

As previously stated, have them run through some non-important NPC allies of the players, or a large number of their enemies. Other things to consider would just be evidence of power, such as a room completely filled with skeletons of orcs, ogres, maybe even a dragonling. Think about the Rancor's lair from SW.
wrecan
03-25-06, 09:27 PM Don't be subtle. Have an NPC that the party trusts tell the party up front, "This here dungeon's got a [insert name of unstoppable foe]. Trust me, you don't want to mess with it. It's eaten more experienced folks than you. If you're unlucky enough to see it, just run."

Then when they encounter it, have it munching on several monsters that they know they can only barely handle one of. That should let them know that running is the only option.

The thing about heroes is they often think (and rightly so) that they can handle most things thrown at them, either through wit, or good planning. Often they don't realize they are in over their heads until they are really in over their heads.
The_Apathetic_Despot
03-25-06, 09:47 PM So many wonderful responces! To start with RK)13, were you born with immence psychic power or did you develop it over years of studying ancient tomes of forbidden knowledge? 'cause thats the second time you suggested EXACTLY what I was planning. (GET OUT OF MY HEAD! :D ) She was actually already goind yo be a ghost, though I didn't mention it beacuse the then I would have had to go into the whole story, which is long, sad and really REALLY(!) creepy(horror themed campaign, Heroes of Horror rocks!). I love the idea of having it kill a redshirt (they're cheap, I've got plenty :D ) and it could be perfect for the campaign Ive got planned, so lots of thanks to those who suggested it. And while she is not based on ther girl from FEAR (more of a scared, confused little girl rather than an "I am going to force feed you your children" little girl) that IS an incredible game. Thanks for all your suggestions everyone, they are very helpful!
Dungeons & Donuts
03-25-06, 09:54 PM Forgive me, I should have made my question more clear. My problem is more mechanical than narrative. I fully agree with your ( RK)13's ) idea of the beast being a physical manifestation of a concept, in fact that was my plan all along (in this case the physical manifestation of the suppressed anguish of a 6 year old girl, I think that wins me the insane contest btw) what I need help with (and again I should have explained more clearly, this was my error) is giving the distinct inpression that this beast will grind the pc's into dust given the chance, without ACTUALLY giving it the chance. My problem, in a nutshell, is that I am worried my PC's are simply too fragile as wide eyed level 1 newbies to withstand it's attacks long enough for me to drive home the fact that this is not something they can go toe to toe with. so What I am asking is what you more experienced DM's think I should tell/show/inflict upon my players to get them to accept this thing as too dangerous, preferably without doing anything so crass as telling them outright "RUN FOR YOUR PUNY LIVES! THE DESTROYER IS MANEFEST!"(much fun as that sounds...). I appologise again for the confusion, and thanks four your responces!

In that case, I suggest you make it so that said 6-year old girl manifestation always nearly gets a chance to grind said PCs into said dust, but theres always something preventing it. (i.e. she is blocked by one of the dungeon's portcullis doors, and nearly beats it down to get to the PCs before scurrying away to come back later)

In which case, you can also follow ashcat's idea, and have another person/party unintentionally act as a shield for the PCs so they can run and the person/party can get destroyed right in front of the players.
RK)13
03-25-06, 10:30 PM So many wonderful responces! To start with RK)13, were you born with immence psychic power or did you develop it over years of studying ancient tomes of forbidden knowledge? 'cause thats the second time you suggested EXACTLY what I was planning. (GET OUT OF MY HEAD! :D ) She was actually already goind yo be a ghost, though I didn't mention it beacuse the then I would have had to go into the whole story, which is long, sad and really REALLY(!) creepy(horror themed campaign, Heroes of Horror rocks!). I love the idea of having it kill a redshirt (they're cheap, I've got plenty :D ) and it could be perfect for the campaign Ive got planned, so lots of thanks to those who suggested it. And while she is not based on ther girl from FEAR (more of a scared, confused little girl rather than an "I am going to force feed you your children" little girl) that IS an incredible game. Thanks for all your suggestions everyone, they are very helpful!

I find that I am getting more psychic the longer I am engaged... it helps keep me out of too much trouble.
Tristan
03-25-06, 11:07 PM Well, a "There have been rumors of a great beast asleep in this realm" followed by a quake about 2 minutes after the BBEG gets kilt, which is the result of a red dragon waking up, after giving an intimidating roar, it quickly gets its head bitten off by a DC10 local knowledge check (DCknowledge checks of 10 or less can be taken untrained) to know its the tarasque, and the party runs away like crazy in a monster movie, slurm futurama, eight legged freaks style with the hallways collapsing because of the rampaging monster.

BUT its looks like you already got it covered
Crash01234567890
03-25-06, 11:53 PM Have them meet a group of knights the day before, that are going to check on a disturbance, but won't say where.

When they arrive they find the remains of the Knights (make sure they realized the knights were very experienced, this can be done with an encounter with bandits or something where the knights slaughter the bandits as the heroes help out(read as get in the way)), have one of the knights closer to the exit than the rest with a blood written message that describes the creature in some way such as "run away from the little girl" or "the little b**** slaughtered us." This should tell the characters that they should run. Also have the first attack or two completely seem pointless. Such as when the fighter hits the creature, explain it as "your swords slices into its flesh gracing through its ribcage and splattering blood against the wall, and it actually chuckles, smiling as it snaps it's jaws at you, and the memory of the rended guards blurs into you vision as terror wells into your heart."

That was a pretty crappy example, but I'm tired so my standards are thus failing.
KirkBb
03-25-06, 11:58 PM I figured somebody would have said this alreay, but just make the monster the tarrasque.
Andorxor
03-26-06, 01:16 AM Let the monster enter throught the wall,every 1 level who think that he can defeat something that can punch thought massive stone deserves to die.
darth_borehd
03-26-06, 01:51 AM I did something similar with a low-level party and an iron golem. Nobody had weapons that cuold hurt the thing. They ran until they saw a tunnel opening that wasn't big enough for the golem. It was trapped on the other side, but the players couldn't go back the way they came so had to press on. Later, the PCs stumble across a rust monster nest. Still later, they found a scroll of Hold Monster and a net. They went back to the rust monsters, captured one, and set it loose after the iron golem. Problem solved.
feartheinvinceblehamster
03-26-06, 11:03 AM Or you can just fudge it and have this monster knock the PC with the most hit points down to 1 hit point(no higher, no lower) in it's first attack.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
The_Apathetic_Despot 03-25-06, 06:19 PM	I am currently planning an adventure, to be the grand opening for my very first campaign, and I could use some help from more experienced DMs. What I am trying to do is create a nigh-unstoppable monster (or at least unstoppable to people who only try hitting him with pointy things) that will chase the pc's through the dungeon (think Nemesis from Resident Evil 3), but I don't know how to strike the right balance. I want the PC's to realize that running is the best choice, but I don't want him to simply feast on their delicous level 1 flesh in the first rounds, before ther decide to flee. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to do this? Thanks in advance for the help!
Dungeons & Donuts 03-25-06, 06:25 PM	I had no idea what you meant, until you used Nemesis as an example. I think you should make a monster that the PCs can at least bring down to 25-50 health, after which the creature flees. After fleeing, the creature will plan to attack later on. Continue until you make a point where the creature is weakened to the point where PCs can bring it down. Theres my :twocents:
RK)13 03-25-06, 06:42 PM	Hmm, an Unstoppable foe that will chase the PCs through the dungeon while not killing them immediately? I think I'm going to go on the metaphysical tip and say instead of using a "creature", use an incarnation.I am thinking of norse mythology, when Thor is visiting the court of a Giant King, and is given chllenges. One is that he must wrestle an old woman. the old woman trounces him, and, in the end, it turns out the old woman is time. Make a physical manifestation of time. Time never stops (unless subjected to a time stop spell), it is implacable, and unavoidable. I would say create a knight like figure that is impossible for the PCs to damage. Make it use grappling and subdual damage as opposed to physical damage, and make it so that the PCs wake later unharmed. The only way to defeat the foe is to name it, or give it its proper title. You can decorate the dungeon with a clock motif, and have other challenges be aged orcs, goblins, kobolds, (insert generic low level creature here). But of course, thats me, and I am a little insane.
The_Apathetic_Despot 03-25-06, 07:52 PM	Forgive me, I should have made my question more clear. My problem is more mechanical than narrative. I fully agree with your ( RK)13's ) idea of the beast being a physical manifestation of a concept, in fact that was my plan all along (in this case the physical manifestation of the suppressed anguish of a 6 year old girl, I think that wins me the insane contest btw) what I need help with (and again I should have explained more clearly, this was my error) is giving the distinct inpression that this beast will grind the pc's into dust given the chance, without ACTUALLY giving it the chance. My problem, in a nutshell, is that I am worried my PC's are simply too fragile as wide eyed level 1 newbies to withstand it's attacks long enough for me to drive home the fact that this is not something they can go toe to toe with. so What I am asking is what you more experienced DM's think I should tell/show/inflict upon my players to get them to accept this thing as too dangerous, preferably without doing anything so crass as telling them outright "RUN FOR YOUR PUNY LIVES! THE DESTROYER IS MANEFEST!"(much fun as that sounds...). I appologise again for the confusion, and thanks four your responces!
zodiki 03-25-06, 08:16 PM	Kill off a red-shirt. Perhaps the monster kills the guide who has been hired to lead them through the first part of the dungeon - in a way that makes it readily apparent that they should run for it.
FriendoftheDork 03-25-06, 08:27 PM	Forgive me, I should have made my question more clear. My problem is more mechanical than narrative. I fully agree with your ( RK)13's ) idea of the beast being a physical manifestation of a concept, in fact that was my plan all along (in this case the physical manifestation of the suppressed anguish of a 6 year old girl, I think that wins me the insane contest btw) what I need help with (and again I should have explained more clearly, this was my error) is giving the distinct inpression that this beast will grind the pc's into dust given the chance, without ACTUALLY giving it the chance. My problem, in a nutshell, is that I am worried my PC's are simply too fragile as wide eyed level 1 newbies to withstand it's attacks long enough for me to drive home the fact that this is not something they can go toe to toe with. so What I am asking is what you more experienced DM's think I should tell/show/inflict upon my players to get them to accept this thing as too dangerous, preferably without doing anything so crass as telling them outright "RUN FOR YOUR PUNY LIVES! THE DESTROYER IS MANEFEST!"(much fun as that sounds...). I appologise again for the confusion, and thanks four your responces! I'd use some sort of heavy golem - slow, extremely powerful and nigh indestructible. Nothing like DR 15/adamantine to ruin a 1st level PCs day. Since it is slow and noisy, and very recognisable, the PCs should be able to flee from it. Then later, as they explore the rest of the dungeon they can hear the thundering sounds again... time to run! BTW have you been playing too much F.E.A.R.? Anger of a young girl being manfested...
ashcat_lt 03-25-06, 08:31 PM	that's what I was going to say. Have the PCs witness the thing ripping its way through somebody else first. Maybe have the party encounter a group of critters that are just a tiny bit too powerful for them to take. Let them fight it out for a little while. Just as the PCs are starting to realize that they are losing this fight, have the big bad thing come and cut through the folks that were beating them like a hot knife through water (easier than butter). That had ought to give them the hint.
Board_Rider 03-25-06, 08:34 PM	Heroes of Horror covers something similar to what you want to do which is similar to what RK)13 suggested. Try to look there if you can. If not I will look into this more when I am around my books.
Morwen 03-25-06, 08:36 PM	You could simply give the monster the "you're not a challenge for me, so I'll let you live for now" personality. Subdual damage can do the trick for you in this case, if you're afraid regular damage will be too lethal too fast. I distinctly remember a certain Fang Dragon that put my lowly self over its scaly knee and proceeded to whop my behind once some years ago :)
Molitor 03-25-06, 08:41 PM	Give the creature a fear special ability. Once half the party fails the DC and runs, trust me the others will follow.
RK)13 03-25-06, 09:10 PM	A young Girl's anguish? Have her play with them. Make her the master of her domain. Have her able to manifest herself and invite them to play a game that is made up of entirely her rules. Have her able to manifest objects flying through the air, make the environment morphic so that she can open and close doors at will. Basically, I would start out by introing her to the party through manifesting. Have her ask the party something along the lines of "would you like to play a game?" (or tea party or somthing along those lines). If they agree, she takes them to a room that has dolls, tea sets and everything in it. they sit and have a lovely tea party, but when the playetrs try to leave, she won't let them. You can use illusion a lot here. Make her make them think their feet are glued to the floor. Have her make the doors close and lock. Objects flying through the room. Have the illusion of the toys fall away to reveal what the party thought were toys to be the bones of dead people. Basically play her like she is... a child. After a while, one of them will make their saves and see through everything, helping the others out. From then on out, they will be scared of this seemingly innocent being, that is until they can either a) leave and come back when they can defeat her or b) put her spirit to rest. As far as mechanics goes, make her a ghost, only nerf her posession and aging qualities and exchange them with poltergeist like qualitites. The incorporeal subtype will make it so the PCs can't hit her, the d12 hit dice will help protect against magic missle damage (it will make her very upset though), and the rejuvination feature will mean that she will always come back.
SilentOne 03-25-06, 09:19 PM	I wouldn't go so far as to make the fear be panic. That's just forcing the characters to be scared, without making the players be scared as well. Of the top of my head... Regeneration - be sure to describe how every wound closes up without any permanent damage. When they know they can't actually hurt it, panic sets in as all they could possibly do is knock it down and run. Lesser Fear Ability - make them shaken, or frightened. Mechanical penalties do alot to scare the player, as they can see their capabilities go down. Subdual Power Attacks - seriously, rolling a little d4 in plain sight, coming up with a 1, and then telling the player they took in the realm of 20 some damage [subdual of course] is a major "Eek!" As previously stated, have them run through some non-important NPC allies of the players, or a large number of their enemies. Other things to consider would just be evidence of power, such as a room completely filled with skeletons of orcs, ogres, maybe even a dragonling. Think about the Rancor's lair from SW.
wrecan 03-25-06, 09:27 PM	Don't be subtle. Have an NPC that the party trusts tell the party up front, "This here dungeon's got a [insert name of unstoppable foe]. Trust me, you don't want to mess with it. It's eaten more experienced folks than you. If you're unlucky enough to see it, just run." Then when they encounter it, have it munching on several monsters that they know they can only barely handle one of. That should let them know that running is the only option. The thing about heroes is they often think (and rightly so) that they can handle most things thrown at them, either through wit, or good planning. Often they don't realize they are in over their heads until they are really in over their heads.
The_Apathetic_Despot 03-25-06, 09:47 PM	So many wonderful responces! To start with RK)13, were you born with immence psychic power or did you develop it over years of studying ancient tomes of forbidden knowledge? 'cause thats the second time you suggested EXACTLY what I was planning. (GET OUT OF MY HEAD! :D ) She was actually already goind yo be a ghost, though I didn't mention it beacuse the then I would have had to go into the whole story, which is long, sad and really REALLY(!) creepy(horror themed campaign, Heroes of Horror rocks!). I love the idea of having it kill a redshirt (they're cheap, I've got plenty :D ) and it could be perfect for the campaign Ive got planned, so lots of thanks to those who suggested it. And while she is not based on ther girl from FEAR (more of a scared, confused little girl rather than an "I am going to force feed you your children" little girl) that IS an incredible game. Thanks for all your suggestions everyone, they are very helpful!
Dungeons & Donuts 03-25-06, 09:54 PM	Forgive me, I should have made my question more clear. My problem is more mechanical than narrative. I fully agree with your ( RK)13's ) idea of the beast being a physical manifestation of a concept, in fact that was my plan all along (in this case the physical manifestation of the suppressed anguish of a 6 year old girl, I think that wins me the insane contest btw) what I need help with (and again I should have explained more clearly, this was my error) is giving the distinct inpression that this beast will grind the pc's into dust given the chance, without ACTUALLY giving it the chance. My problem, in a nutshell, is that I am worried my PC's are simply too fragile as wide eyed level 1 newbies to withstand it's attacks long enough for me to drive home the fact that this is not something they can go toe to toe with. so What I am asking is what you more experienced DM's think I should tell/show/inflict upon my players to get them to accept this thing as too dangerous, preferably without doing anything so crass as telling them outright "RUN FOR YOUR PUNY LIVES! THE DESTROYER IS MANEFEST!"(much fun as that sounds...). I appologise again for the confusion, and thanks four your responces! In that case, I suggest you make it so that said 6-year old girl manifestation always nearly gets a chance to grind said PCs into said dust, but theres always something preventing it. (i.e. she is blocked by one of the dungeon's portcullis doors, and nearly beats it down to get to the PCs before scurrying away to come back later) In which case, you can also follow ashcat's idea, and have another person/party unintentionally act as a shield for the PCs so they can run and the person/party can get destroyed right in front of the players.
RK)13 03-25-06, 10:30 PM	So many wonderful responces! To start with RK)13, were you born with immence psychic power or did you develop it over years of studying ancient tomes of forbidden knowledge? 'cause thats the second time you suggested EXACTLY what I was planning. (GET OUT OF MY HEAD! :D ) She was actually already goind yo be a ghost, though I didn't mention it beacuse the then I would have had to go into the whole story, which is long, sad and really REALLY(!) creepy(horror themed campaign, Heroes of Horror rocks!). I love the idea of having it kill a redshirt (they're cheap, I've got plenty :D ) and it could be perfect for the campaign Ive got planned, so lots of thanks to those who suggested it. And while she is not based on ther girl from FEAR (more of a scared, confused little girl rather than an "I am going to force feed you your children" little girl) that IS an incredible game. Thanks for all your suggestions everyone, they are very helpful! I find that I am getting more psychic the longer I am engaged... it helps keep me out of too much trouble.
Tristan 03-25-06, 11:07 PM	Well, a "There have been rumors of a great beast asleep in this realm" followed by a quake about 2 minutes after the BBEG gets kilt, which is the result of a red dragon waking up, after giving an intimidating roar, it quickly gets its head bitten off by a DC10 local knowledge check (DCknowledge checks of 10 or less can be taken untrained) to know its the tarasque, and the party runs away like crazy in a monster movie, slurm futurama, eight legged freaks style with the hallways collapsing because of the rampaging monster. BUT its looks like you already got it covered
Crash01234567890 03-25-06, 11:53 PM	Have them meet a group of knights the day before, that are going to check on a disturbance, but won't say where. When they arrive they find the remains of the Knights (make sure they realized the knights were very experienced, this can be done with an encounter with bandits or something where the knights slaughter the bandits as the heroes help out(read as get in the way)), have one of the knights closer to the exit than the rest with a blood written message that describes the creature in some way such as "run away from the little girl" or "the little b**** slaughtered us." This should tell the characters that they should run. Also have the first attack or two completely seem pointless. Such as when the fighter hits the creature, explain it as "your swords slices into its flesh gracing through its ribcage and splattering blood against the wall, and it actually chuckles, smiling as it snaps it's jaws at you, and the memory of the rended guards blurs into you vision as terror wells into your heart." That was a pretty crappy example, but I'm tired so my standards are thus failing.
KirkBb 03-25-06, 11:58 PM	I figured somebody would have said this alreay, but just make the monster the tarrasque.
Andorxor 03-26-06, 01:16 AM	Let the monster enter throught the wall,every 1 level who think that he can defeat something that can punch thought massive stone deserves to die.
darth_borehd 03-26-06, 01:51 AM	I did something similar with a low-level party and an iron golem. Nobody had weapons that cuold hurt the thing. They ran until they saw a tunnel opening that wasn't big enough for the golem. It was trapped on the other side, but the players couldn't go back the way they came so had to press on. Later, the PCs stumble across a rust monster nest. Still later, they found a scroll of Hold Monster and a net. They went back to the rust monsters, captured one, and set it loose after the iron golem. Problem solved.
feartheinvinceblehamster 03-26-06, 11:03 AM	Or you can just fudge it and have this monster knock the PC with the most hit points down to 1 hit point(no higher, no lower) in it's first attack.