Our heroes raced up the path to the library on their way to the graveyard.  We were short Xeelie and Clarisa.  We met an acolyte coming the other way.  He said the library was under attack but they were holding their own there.  However, Corgaide was trapped in a shed in the graveyard and needed saving.  When we got up there, we found 12 skeletons and 12 zombies climbing out of their graves.  But they were spread over a large area.  The skeletons were resistant to piercing and had a decent AC but not many hit points.  The zombies only got 2 actions and had a low AC but more hit points.  Brisco supercharged TerStegan’s axe who then started cleaving them.  Oakwood managed to crit miss twice and miss on his first round.  From there, TerStegan kicked ass, destroying them 2 a round.  Oakwood ran across the map with his 35’ move and engaged the ones around the shed before the door gave way.  Brisco supported TerStegan and Corgaide managed a couple shots through the keyhole.  They were very weak opponents but with 2-3 attacks a round, some landed.  And did low damage but it added up.  We managed to defeat the ones in the immediate area in 4-5 rounds but they bled off some hit points, especially from TerStegan.  At the end, Wrin Sivinxi came up from the library to help us.

<By the way, Brian is planning to implement critical hit and critical fumble tables.  But only on a nat 20 or nat 1.  We had a lot of nat 1s and he rolled up the first couple to see what it would be like.  Seemed harsh.  Crits too.  More afflictions, I think.>

And then there was another green flash and a spiney green spider thing appeared in the middle.  Brisco did Risky Battlefield Medicine on TerStegan and TerStegan charged it.  It was another extremely challenging boss with high scores all around.  2d8+8 attacks, 23 AC, high saves, poison, AOE, etc.  On its first round, it hit TerStegan for 15 plus poison and then another 15 and just like that, our best fighter was on the ropes.  I think Brisco healed him again.  Meanwhile, Oakwood raced across the graveyard and at least got close enough to give TerStegan flanking.  With that +2, he did manage to crit it for a bunch of damage.  And save against the poison before taking another dose of damage.  However, the next round it hit him twice and dropped him and hit Oakwood as well.  49 points in one round with 3 attacks that all hit.  Oakwood did his flurry but didn’t have flanking anymore.  He was unsure what to do with his last two actions.  Its AC was much too high for a -10 attack and reflex save too high for a trip.  Wrin asked that if he could move TerStegan a bit, she could get all of us in a heightened AOC heal.  Brian let him move and then drag TerStegan around him to get him 10 feet closer with those two actions.  She did that heal which also damaged the undead that were still wandering in from the north.  Basically, it was three healers trying to keep TerStegan up with his Runic Weapon and one Monk trying to give him flanking.  Plus everyone pitching in on damage where they could.  And then suddenly, he dropped it.       

In order to speed things along, Brian said that the remaining undead stopped when the spider stopped.  Now that we had an action to spare, Brisco’s Recall Knowledge said it was an abomination.  We were concerned that more may be on their way but Brian said that the tower had stopped glowing.  We searched around a bit to see if the grave it arrived at had any significance but it didn’t.  Basically, it was a big mess with bodies scrambled all over the place.  We were glad it wasn't our job to clean this up.  Same with the library.  Clarisa’s mom, Lux, was overseeing the cleanup of that.  No treasure, of course.  We talked about sleeping up there since it was late evening by this point or maybe charging off to the Lighthouse but Wrin’s portents said that the immediate danger had passed.  We should head home, get a good night’s sleep, and start fresh in the morning.  We finished the night with some side quest/backstory progressions back at our homes.  To go with the bandits with guns, missing person, werewolf on the loose and, oh yeah, saving the whole world plotlines we already had.  

When Brisco arrived home, he found an Aarakocra and a Dwarf taking measurements outside of Clarisa and Lux’s home.  They were well dressed and communicating in some sort of sign language.  He was hesitant to get involved since he was alone and out of spells.  In case there was trouble.  And then he decided to cause trouble.  He pretty much assumed/accused them of being up to no good.  Refused to provide any useful information, etc.   They were aware that they rented from Lady Someoneorother and asked if he knew if they were up to date on their rent.  Eventually they left.  Brisco then went back to the library to talk to Lux.  She had no ideas.  As far as she knew, she was in good standing with her landlord and was even doing side work for her to get a break on her rent.  Maybe the Lady was in financial trouble.  If they were casing the place, they were at the wrong place because she had nothing of value.  The next morning, when we all hooked up again, Oakwood suggested it might have something to do with the school the Lady was building.  Their house was near the site but not that near.  Nothing as fearsome as well-dressed accountants.   

Back at Oakwood’s place, he overheard discussion about pirates attacking lumber barges.  (No talk of blue beams and the dead rising?)  They were just taking any cash and dumping the wood.  Their efficiency also indicated that they were getting insider help.  It’s bad for business.  In the middle of the night, he heard a noise.  Wood scraping on wood.  He got up to investigate and found his sister at the breakfast table.  She was still having headaches and not sleeping.  She’d been hearing voices but couldn’t make out what they were saying.  When Oakwood mentioned the scraping sound, she thought it was her moving a chair.  She was dressed for sleep so it was unlikely she had snuck in a window or anything.  DS was convinced it was thieves guild sneaking into the house via secret trapdoors.  But it’s a big house with lots of comings and goings so maybe it was nothing.  Oakwood suggested she put pen and paper near her bed and try to write down what they were saying while it was fresh in her mind.

TerStegan found his father pondering a piece of wood with strange runes carved into it.  He found them on the loading plume of the Menedes family.  He was planning to ask one of the magically trained folks in town about it.  They discussed.  Maybe it was an act of sabotage or protest from his friend, Brisco? TerStegan didn’t think that was likely, given how busy we had been.  And then they bonded over tales of the night’s fight.  The next morning, they took it to Wrin who said it was a warming rune but generally used to warm a room, not burn down a building.  It would take many of them to start a fire plus more spells as such.  But that’s a lot of work.  There are easier ways to start a fire.  Oakwood pointed out that it was a high stress structure so maybe a little damage might cause more damage than she thought.  There was then talk about who had a motive to ruin a lumber business, town economy, etc.  She was asked who in town could create it. It was a short list of the arcane casters.  Not primal magic.

We stopped there.  Brian needed to add up the experience earned to see if we made 4^th.  It’ll be close.  His expectation was that we’d be heading to the Lighthouse next time.  Hopefully we’ll find pirates, bandits, and arcane saboteurs there because suddenly we’ve got a full list.  I.e. there’s no sense in saving the town if the town destroys itself while we’re gone.