We returned home with our grim cargo of 6 guardsmen bodies in tow. Brian hadn’t had a chance to come up with any sort of reaction from the town so there wasn’t much of one. He rolled randomly to see how Derric Longsaddle’s father would react and rolled very low. However, he forgot to declare whether low was good or bad. Having declared, he rolled again and got very middle so there wasn’t much. The town gave them a Viking funeral and we prepared to return to the Gauntlight. We were assumed to have healed up after a couple of days. DG suggested we buy a human drawn cart and load it with construction items for use at the dungeon. So, we could repair the drawbridge, fix wooden shields without searching for timber scraps and sift through the debris for loot. That was met with enthusiasm although it took surprising long to agree on a price and a cart. That sort of cart wasn’t on the list in the books and we ended up on a sled with wheels and spent 1 silver ring worth 5 gp for the package. We attempted to get to there several times but got derailed by Darkvision discussions, encumbrance discussions, Dave’s detailed discussion on the spells he had access to that wouldn’t summon something to pull the cart, etc. Eventually, we got there.
We repaired the drawbridge and stashed the raft under it. We parked the cart in the entry tower so that it was at least out of sight. Brian exposed the map so that we could remember the areas we have explored. Other than going down a level or searching for more scraps, the only part we hadn’t done was a small outer building on a small island to the northwest. Through the castle, the only way there was past the pool of blood so we elected to avoid that and go around the castle to the east. (Retroactive play. Paul said he wanted to ask Xeelie’s mother and the town Cleric about that pool of blood. After being interrupted by Xeelie and Brisco wanting to make knowledge rolls, Brian said they said it sounded like a Haunt. That usually required it to be put to rest. But to put such a powerful Haunt to rest would take a significant event. I.e. the end of the adventure.) There was also discussion on where that alleged Swamp Dragon lived. Over by the boat house and not here. The doors were unlocked but jammed or blocked. TerStegan made a critical Athletics check and managed to open them without destroying them.
The first room appeared to be a study with books tossed about on the floor. We heard a disembodied voice claiming to be a Wisp. It offered information if we’d retrieve “the shiny” from the next room. That required a lot of discussion. We then saw a light fly through the closed door. Xeelie made an Arcana roll and said that was a Dancing Light spell. We searched and gathered and talked. This was the lab of Belcora’s apprentice. The voice urged immediate action but we were growing suspicious. It seemed like the books were tossed “recently”. We searched a door to the south and found some construction supplies. The next was a mold filled room with stairs down. Brian said it looked like no one had been in there for 100s of years. Brisco used his Talk with Plants ability to talk to the mold and determined that no one had been in there for 100s of years. TerStegan suggested that perhaps there was an invisible something in the book room so a more thorough search was made. He found a tiny Brownie hidden under a table. We talked and bargained and threatened and failed to coerce and kept coming back to the same spot. Open the last door and face the monster. Eventually, Oakwood opened the door into the hallway but it didn’t work. The rest of the group couldn’t leave the Brownie. He’s hiding something. Of course he is. He wants us to fight a monster for him. Of course he is. Where did he come from? It’s as if he just exists so that we can encounter him. Of course he is.
Eventually, we opened that last door with TerStegan begrudgingly leaving the Brownie behind. A tiny bird like construct was in a lab that made lenses for an immense lighthouse. It asked what we were up to, didn’t like Oakwood’s answer and charged in a rage. What followed was a night of extremely poor rolling on our part. It had a beak attack that did persistent bleed damage and since this was Pathfinder, it could do up to 3 attacks a round of decreasing bonuses. All of its stats (initiative, AC, attack bonuses, damage reduction, etc.) were scaled up to be a medium challenge. Oakwood got battered. TerStegan missed a lot. Classira cast cantrips that usually missed and since they took 2 actions, she only got 1 shot a round. Xeelie tried to get flanking for her sneak attack bonus and then couldn’t decide what to do when she couldn’t. Brisco couldn’t decide what to do every round. The floor was uneven and required an easy Acrobatics check or fall prone. Luckily, it seemed everyone had that skill except for TerStegan who spent most of the fight crawling on the floor. After a round or two, the Brownie danced past us to grab the spyglass on the other side. We envisioned him stealing it away as we fought. Xeeile tried a Lightning Arc from her sword and targeted the spy glass as the second target in hope of dissuading him from taking it. For that, the Brownie “attacked” her with a confusion effect that caused her to attack someone at random. At that, TerStegn charge crawled over to it, crit and killed it with one mighty blow.
Towards the end, 3 of us were taking persistent bleed damage. Brisco got critted and then got attacked by Xeelie who thankfully missed twice. With a couple of us down half, a couple untouched, it finally fell. Brisco started reading the First Aid rules for alleviating persistent bleed damage and the chronicler went to bed as it was after 1 AM. I assume we spent time healing and searching and identifying the spyglass and then stopped. Or stopped with that to do first thing next time. We’re still doing 1 room a night. At this rate, it’ll take years. But maybe next time we can at least go down a level?
