Things got more complicated since last time.  We still had 3 wisps that half of us could not affect and an undead hand.  Plus, the Witch and her menacing puppy familiar was creeping towards us.  And now the Laughing Man had appeared on a throne at the north end of the chamber.  He started to give a running commentary on our struggles.  The fact that Oakwood was confused, he thought this was a significant event.  Especially since “more were coming”.  Out of an alcove we had innocently walked past, came an undead Wight sort of thing.  Its first action was to do a scary wail.  It was a tough Will save for all against fear.  Most failed and took -1 on most everything.  We kept swinging however when confused Oakwood went, he attacked the Witch.  She put up an earthen barrier and took no damage.  And then two misses however it got her involved.  She appeared to be another one of these “way too powerful, don’t mess with them” NPC/monsters.  She unleashed a Poison Cloud.  The save was big and so was the damage.  Plus, low visibility.  However, because Clarisa was already near death from the Wight, she went out.  And since the spell had the Death trait, she was dead.  Brian declared retroactive play.  The Witch was smart enough to know that the attack on her was probably a mistake and wouldn’t have wanted to kill anyone over it.  She, instead, hit Oakwood with a spell that did damage, moved him towards her like a puppet and put him on his knees.  A more fitting display of her power over us.

Another Wight appeared but it was the confusing wisps that were the real problem.  Near death Clarisa got confused next and she randomly attacked the puppy.  She elected to punch it but with an action to stand and a double move to get there, she didn’t actually get to attack.  In reaction, the puppy grew to large size and the Witch stole her shadow.  (Enfeebled 1?)  Oakwood ran after her and hit her with a heal.  Late arriving Brisco used his last AOE heal to heal multiple characters and damage the undead Wights.  As is often the case, this turned the tide and soon enough the last Wisp faded away.  The Laughing man commanded the Witch to come with him and they both teleported away.  Xeeile and Brisco and her magic lantern started searching.  Oakwood did the Ocean’s Balm on TerStegan and Xeelie.  However, the room was still disturbing.  Most missed a Fear save and those minuses would not go away until we got out of there.  We decided to head for home to recharge the Druid’s healing spells.  We grabbed the body of the Werewolf Druid and started the usual game of trying to find our way back out by the most direct path.

However, this time we had an encounter along the way.  In the Morlock’s altar room, we came upon a Swarm of Bone Flies feasting on a body.  Initiative.  It had a 33.  Yes, another superpowered foe, designed to challenge the whole group by itself.  Its AC and Saves were super high.  In one round, it nearly took out Xeeile with 3 attacks.  She managed to move forward, out of the room.  (Once again, we were fighting in tight quarters with doorway bottlenecks.)  Being a Swarm, it was resistant to most of our attacks.  The second round, it nearly took out 3 more of us.  Basically, when it attacked, it attacked everyone in its area (4 squares).  We spread out as we could.  We got smarter about what would affect it.  AOEs were good but its Reflex saves were monstrous.  It was less resistant to bludgeoning although TerStegan blew through that resistance.  Brisco did Battlefield Medicine on TerStegan and himself and Oakwood did it on himself so that hopefully they could survive the next round.  Clarisa went last.  She had an AOE cone on a Fort save but she’d hit Brisco and Oakwood as well.  The damage was low but the hope was that the flies would take double so she took the shot.  And took it out.  A 3-round fight of panic, TPK fears and victory.

We left.  Everyone that was hit by the flies was assumed to have been diseased.  That was everyone but Clarisa.  Brian sent us to our cabin and rather grind our way through the Treat Disease rules, assumed we all got better after 3-4 days.  We sold some stuff and distributed some stuff.  Brisco’s Returning Trident was upgraded with a striking rune.  The body was returned to the general store owner along with his wife’s necklace.  That got us some gold and discounts at his store.  Next time, I guess we’ll try to navigate the acquisition of the town artifacts Otari said we needed to move down a level.  Although, there were still unexplored areas of the current level so maybe we should wait until the next trip.