We decided to press forward with minimal mass. A Monk, Sorcerer, and Rogue. We started outside our new house which lay where the forest becomes the marsh. The message of the day had a vague haiku which led us to the practice dummy in the front yard. In the head of the scarecrow attached to it, was a ring with two keys. Oakwood unlocked the front doors with his Mage Hand but could not open them. Some investigation by Xeelie led us to conclude that they were webbed shut from the inside. We proceeded north along the wrap-around porch and found some mushrooms. A Nature roll revealed nothing of interest however we suspected the wood would be weaker on that corner. Sure enough, it gave way under Xeelie. She missed her Reflex save and took a die of piercing and a die of falling. However, Brian decided that our suspicions and her plan to grab onto the house if there was trouble was worth the +1 she needed to save with a 15. In the hole, she did spot what turned out to be a +1 dagger. We proceeded around but all the doors were similarly stuck and all the windows were boarded up. It was slow going. As is usually the case with these modules, with traps and ambushes around every corner, every step had to be precisely described so that Brian would know exactly where everyone was when the trigger was triggered.
The back of the house had an enclosed porch with a cocooned body lying on a bench. With Mage Hand and Precipitation from Clarissa, we managed to clear enough webs away to discover that it was just gardening tools. This door was again blocked. We were getting to the point of just busting in somewhere but there was one more door on this side. Off the porch, by a well and a laundry tub was another door. This one also stuck but it felt different. Like it was running into something. This time, Oakwood forced it open and entered the kitchen. It was the door to the pantry that was the problem. The window over the stone stove was ajar and it appeared that anything resembling food was long gone. At least there were fewer webs in there. There was a hatch to we presume the basement. The door from here lead to a hallway with stairs going up. They needed a lot of clearing so we went into what turned out to be the living room.
The furniture was pushed to the center and covered. On the opposite side was what we thought was the front door. To the south, the office. Oakwood started to clear webs with his Mage Hand when two spiders attacked. They had a pounce attack and he took 4 points. But they were weaker than the spider we fought in the dungeon and were dispatched in a round. We cleared a path to the front door although Oakwood switched to using his staff as the Mage Hand was taking too long. The office was a shambles but mostly web-free. The two windows were broken. The books were tossed although there was a 3-volume set about local trade taxes still on the shelves. We didn’t do much searching since we were in “clearing out monsters” mode. Back to the main hallway, we cleared the door to the outside on the north side. And then opened the door into the dining room. This had the most webs. The chandelier had fallen and collapsed the table. Once again, Oakwood was the Christen while the other two hid in the shadows. (It feels like Call of Cthulhu, taking turns risking instant death at each door.) And once again, 2 spiders and 1 spider-like humanoid leaped out.
Brian rolled a 19 to web him to the door, a 20 for a 2d8+8=13 fang crit, and then a 19 for a 1d8+6=11 claw with its 3rd attack. And our hit point buffer was at 4 hit points. Thankfully he did save against the venomous fang. Xeeli shot from surprise at the two small spiders. Clarisa did her Electric Arc cantrip on the boss and the other. On Oakwood’s turn, it turned out that he was only immobilized which meant no move actions like Stride or Step but could do Manipulate or Attack. He tried a Combat Medic roll on himself and failed. He then attacked and hit for minimum damage and missed. Miraculously he was missed the next round as was Xeelie. Oakwood got one more minimum damage hit in before going out. Xeelie got stuck to a door as well but they managed to finish it off. Oakwood rolled a 1 on his death save and went from Dying 1 to Dying 3, 4 being dead. But Clarissa used her Stabilize cantrip to save him. (Before he could use his Hero Point since being saved was more heroic.) Xeelie got free and they peeled Oakwood off the door and took him to the front yard.
Xeelie managed a Treat Wounds for 9 and we discussed. Neither of them were touched. Since we were short two players, we didn’t want to continue with a wounded front-line guy. It would take 3-5 hours to get him back up by which point, it would be evening. We decided to just head home. We re-locked the doors. Xeelie wanted to board up the windows into the office but when Brian went into precision mode, we decided we didn’t want to risk another encounter and just left it. We made it home without issue. After asking a dozen times, Brian finally let Xeelie roll his magical crafting and she successfully transferred the +1 dagger into Oakwood’s Bo Staff. It cost him 3.5 gp in materials. But it took a day. The festival is getting closer but we stopped there. Sadly, when Brian calculated the experience, we were 35 short of 3rd. If we had only did that one more fight…
