We approached the bridge across the river at the falls when suddenly 4 of Stradanya’s vampire minions appeared. A couple, we had fought in Valaki. One was the girl we were unable to save from Stradanya. The wizard one in charge reminded them that they had an order of preference or some such. Ambrus went first and hid in the trees. Loki started firing. Two of them charged at Patrina and Ezra. Evidently, they were the most dangerous. No surprise there. Unfortunately for Petrina, by the time she went at the bottom of the order, they were fully engaged so no AOE’s this time. Save or die spells were exchanged. They got several reaction powers which made up for their lack of numbers. We used several inspiration points to keep from turning on our friends.
Kharn showed up in round two. We battled. Lord Q hit with a Banishing Strike and put one away in a pocket dimension for 10 rounds. Meanwhile, Ambrus snuck under the bridge to get behind the leader. He spotted a hunter with a crossbow aimed at her but he did not blow his cover. He then used his Mage Hand to pluck the wizard’s component pouch from her belt and toss it down the cliff. Not all of her spells had components but it did limit her options. (That earned him an inspiration for original thinking.) However, at round three, one of them tried to put a ruby bracelet on Kharn. When she failed, the wizard yelled “3” and they teleported away. Evidently, they had a plan or a time limit. We were poised for when the Banish Smite ended, but she did not reappear. Yet another unsatisfactory vampire fight. Doubly so, since I think we were winning.
The hunter was looking for his son. He had tracked him as far as the bridge. Loki helped track him from there and his footprints seemed to just end as if he teleported or was grabbed by something flying. Some took a short rest while some others searched around. We found nothing conclusive. A dragon or an Ogre Magi? Someone spotted a ledge or cave behind the waterfall about 100 feet down. After some debate, we got over there to take a good look. It would be possible to climb down the cliff and get behind the water. But not easy. Flying Kaladin secured 100 feet of rope and we went down. The skilled helping the unskilled. We left the hunter with the wagon but he followed anyway. Ambrus tried to sneak ahead but with all the light sources for the humans, there wasn’t much point. At least we were quiet. We saw boneless corpses lying about. Ambrus triggered a cage trap at a choke point but managed to jump back in time. At which point, the Flesh Corpses animated and their shadows became Shadows. This time Patrina was near the top of the order and unleashed a radiant Fireball with minimal friendly fire. With that softening up, they were all dispatched. Ezra taking out the last on our last initiative. The bars of the cage could not be bested by Kharn but with he and Ezra working together, they managed to get past.
The path to the left lead to some sort of torcher room. The path to the right went unexplored but it looked like they lead to the same third chamber. There were all kinds of body parts and butchery tools hanging about. Tied to the table was Mad Mary, the mother of the same girl we just fought. And failed to save. While she was rescued, Loki guarded the doorway to the next room. That triggered another cage trap. He bravely chose to leap in, figuring time was of the essence if we were to save the missing son. Loki started to search, hoping his invisible to darkvision power would protect him. A Flesh Mound fell from the ceiling. (It didn’t have eyes so evidently used tremor sense.) He was hit twice, then engulfed. Grappled and restrained. Some of the others went down the right path only to encounter another cage trap. Ambrus picked the lock of the second cage and then Kharn and Ezra bent the bars to get back out. Meanwhile, Loki successfully argued that he could escape the engulf (after taking more damage on a missed Con save) with an athletics check on his action. He got out, disengaged with a bonus action and then ran to the other side of the room. Where another Flesh Mound fell from the ceiling. He was hit twice and engulfed. At this point, he had a handful of hit points. There were a total of 3 of those large things in the room plus two flying skulls. And when they moved, they left goo behind which attacked as well. It was chaos.
Meanwhile, as others rushed into the room, the cackling hunter turned into the Ogre Magi we had half expected. (He had a nifty staff which we assumed was the Staff of Power we were seeking.) He and Patrina exchanged Force Walls and counter spells. Kharn was also engulfed. He decided to stay in and fight at disadvantage. (He fights recklessly anyway so there wasn’t much difference. At least he was proficient in Con saves.) Loki tried to escape once but then came to the same conclusion. People fought. Patrina managed to Radiant Fireball the whole room. However, Kharn and Loki were “safe” in the Flesh Mounds and Kaladin, Ezra and Amburs had Evasion. I.e. minimal friendly fire. That did some good. It was looking dicey and once again, the main villain was mostly untouched. By then it was 2 AM so we called it a night. We let Patrina have one last turn since Brian will not make the next game. Another Fireball. Will we survive next time? Patrina will cease to exist and Loki will be out on the next failed Con save. As for the others, damage varies but it ain’t good. And the Ogre Magi is still at large. Tune in next time for the exciting conclusion.
