We started with some Foundry bookkeeping. Paul was back from his cruise so he was able to adjust Brian’s transfer of TerStegan. Dan was asked to choose some signature spells as per his Sorcerer class. We were all reminded of the concept of Exploration Activities in Pathfinder. Brian said we had missed secret doors and treasure because we didn’t have all the possible roles filled. Although, like most things, people were better at some activities than others based on their stats, classes and skills. We all agreed to do a better job with it. With that behind us, we went back into downtime activities. We had done some of that last time but Brian wanted to give people another chance. We had two days before the upgraded magic weapons were ready. By the way, our Arcana investigations were supposed to have told us that it would take a month for the Gauntlight to recharge for the next attack. So, we had that long, allowing some time for side quests. TerStegan was eager to use his Bard-like skills and feats to Earn a Living. However, Brian needed to establish who in the town had jobs to fill and wasn’t yet prepared. Paul had to settle for some free improv to grease the skids towards future employment. Xeelie borrowed a bunch of money from Clarissa to finish her sleeves of holding dress. As a caster, Clarissa couldn’t really afford anything that could help her. Brisco stayed out of town, as per his new Druid wild shape subclass, and continued his work on the grounds around the clubhouse. Clarissa did research in the library. Oakwood attempted to follow up on the magical sabotage of the Otari Lumber plume, looking for additional runes. He didn’t really find anything new.
With that done, Oakwood and TerStegan went to the blacksmith to pick up their weapons. Xeelie came along, given her interest in magical crafting. The blacksmith’s daughter was the one that did the actual work and Oakwood’s sister was hanging out with her. They were acting a bit mysterious but they were friends so it wasn’t that weird. I think Xeelie made a “girl to girl” Society roll and suspected the crafter was sweet on TerStegan. They both are big and strong. Xeelie tried to buy the formula from her but she deferred to her father who actually owned them. The two boys sparred a bit and their weapons seemed to be working. And then all of a sudden, the blacksmith’s daughter started yelling at Oakwood. “I thought you were trying to be a town hero!” “How could you do this to Derreck?” “He’s missing because of you!” Um, what? Evidently the head guard sent a half squad led by his son, Derreck Longsaddle, back to the Gauntlight to gather evidence on Boss Skrug. Taking the Boss along. She blamed us and Oakwood in particular, because Derreck was trying to compete with the heroes of Otari. It was getting dark and they hadn’t returned. Oakwood said we’d get out there ASAP. So much for downtime. Two days off and someone is in danger.
We gathered, picking up Brisco on the way, and headed to the Gauntlight. The drawbridge in had collapsed. It was in bad shape last time so we had crossed it carefully. We suspected Derreck et al did not. We moved the raft we took last time to aid in the crossing. That worked pretty well but it was still a 10 Athletics check down to the moat level and then another to get back up. TerStegan had no troubles and Oakwood used the Follow the Leader rules to aid Xeelie. At this point, 3 giant toads with tusks attacked. Brisco went first and threw out an Entangle. That stopped one from moving the whole fight. We attacked and did pretty well. TerStegan did a ton of damage. Clarissa had more luck with her Intimidating Glare than damaging cantrips. Oakwood managed to Stunning Fist and Trip a couple of times. Both of those allowed Xeelie to get her sneak attack die most every round. We still had problems with the mechanics of Foundry which took some time. About the only damage was to Oakwood who got slimed. -10 movement and Clumsy 1. However, they were taken out soon enough. Oakwood was cleaned up and we pressed on. We could see muddy footprints heading to the throne room. In the entryway, we saw two guard bodies and the fact that the skeleton scarecrow had been knocked apart. Through the doors, we could see the body of Boss Skrug.
Brisco positioned himself and TerStegan charged in. Once inside, two giant maggots emerged from bodies. One got a reaction, attacked and grappled, then attacked and attacked again. In one round TerStegan was hurting. Xeelie took some shots. Oakwood charged in as well in hopes of getting flanking. And then a couple more emerged. Plus, a giant fly. Their AC was low but we kept being one short of crits, especially TerStegan. Oakwood critically failed a Fort save and was Sickened 2. It was a fight. Brisco used up more spells to heal TerStegan and empower Xeelie’s bow. TerStegan never went out and there wasn’t much damage otherwise. We took them out although both giant files fled. Brisco and Oakwood tried to heal Derrick. He brought him around for a few seconds but the damage of a giant maggot ripping through his guts was too much. I guess next time we’ll have to gather up the bodies and take them home. Although they’re not going to get any more dead so maybe we can do some more fighting first. (Remember that Xeelie said the Fly Pox might need Treat Disease attention.) It didn’t feel like we made much progress but I guess we killed 4 maggots that we were going to have to kill eventually. We’re certainly no closer to going down a level and no richer.
