Credence tumbled through Oakwood’s square making him flat-footed and hit him for 35. Plus, bleed damage but he already had double bleed damage from the crit last round so this one didn’t count. Oakwood then crit missed him, made the caster his Hunted Prey and raised his shield in hopes he could survive another hit. And took 7 bleed damage. TerStegan ran back down the stairs and attacked Credence on top of the cage. And missed. The GM had Brisco draw his wand of healing and heal Oakwood for 20. Xeelie cast fast healing on Oakwood and critically failed his recall knowledge on Credence. Evidently, as a unique creature, his target was rolling a 20. Without that recall, her damage is much reduced so she pulled out a scroll instead of attacking. Clarisa was still outside but not fleeing. She spotted a guard squadron, preparing to help? The GM was jokingly vague about what they were and confused Dan to no end. She moved into the room and cast Arc of Lightning on both accountants but rolled crap damage. We then heard Longsaddle ordering guards to guard the entrances.
Cryde cast Darkness but it had the manipulate action so TerStegan got a free swing. And missed with a 4. She got some cover from the bars but it didn’t matter. That spell easily overcame Xeelie’s lantern light and knocked it out. Evidently TerStegan’s darkvision can see through it with a flat check. Her dragon had darkvision as well but missed its flat check. A goon squad appeared upstairs but couldn’t see anything. They tried a group Seek and failed. Credence didn’t have darkvision so he jumped off the cage blindly. And then blindly ran out of darkness with ease. And crit Clarisa for 46 points. 14d6+12. And double bleed. Two more goon squads moved. The one by the door attacked Credence. They critically missed their reflex attack and did nothing. Oakwood made his flat check and then missed his attack on Cryde. He used a hero point and rolled a 4 which became a 14 which hit. A two-action fire blast plus his fire weakness and the hunted prey damage and the dread marshal. TerStegan hit Cryde for some after casting Bless. Longsaddle charged into the room.
And then Dave showed up and everything came to a halt while we tried to get him up to speed. The situation was complicated. After much deliberation, he chose to avoid the uncertainty of the darkness, shot Credence and missed with a 2. And then climbed down into a lit square. Xeelie turned on her lantern as a free action and thankfully canceled the darkness. She cast Benediction. (10 foot aura for +1 AC for her and her allies, sustained) And then jumped down. The downstairs goons moved into the room and attacked Cryde. And she saved for half. Clarisa tried to unloaded a full barrage of magic missiles on Credence but it had a manipulate trait so he dropped her instead with a reaction. Another crit, of course. Cryde took the fire damage but healed 5 from something else. She took a step back and cast Enthrall. TerStegan used his Counter Performance reaction. He rolled a 2, used a hero point and rolled a 14. So that gave everyone a 29 save, making us save against its effects. And since it was save or die, it did nothing. (A turning point, to be sure.) Her dragon spit ink on TerStegan and Xeelie, covering them in ink. TerStegan was blinded for missing the save but Xeelie was simply annoyed. Credence flew over and strategized on Oakwood. He did 30 from a “mere” hit without the sneak attack dice. And then he hit Xeelie for 18. And now she was bleeding too.
The upstairs goons shot at Credence but it was AOE volley that included Brisco. But he crit saved for none. The bolts bounced off Credence. The outside goons targeted Credence and did enough to squeak some damage in. Oakwood hit Cryde with a reach fire spear and dropped her. He then raised his shield, took more bleed damage and finally saved against it. Blind TerStegan missed his flat check against Credence. He rolled a 1 on a survival for spatial awareness and lost two actions bumping into furniture. Longsaddle had to maneuver around the traffic and the counter and got one attack on him. And hit for 20 and he took 15. Brisco cast a ranged heightened heal on down Clarisa and did 39. And then used doctor’s visitation to move and do BFM on Oakwood for 26. Xeelie did her knowledge thing and missed but that’s as good as success for her. She hit for 8 and did a 5-foot step away from Credence. The downstairs goons moved to reach range and attacked. He critically saved and took nothing.
Prone but conscious Clarisa stood up and cast Daze on him. He failed his save and took 8. He took some fire damage and took a 5-foot step. And flew out the upstairs window, leaving us in the dust. The two goon squads did nothing much. Oakwood moved twice to get outside and tried to spot him. He rolled another 1 and used a hero point for a decent 21. He did not see him but was thinking he must have done something tricky. Invisible, on the roof, doubled back. With two moves to get out of the building, he had to be close. TerStegan ran upstairs and didn’t see him near the window he exited. Longsaddle ran out the back door. Brisco used his Root Reading cantrip to Seek him? He rolled a good perception and got the trees telling him he’s on the building. Probably better than he should have expected. Meanwhile Xeelie unlocked the cell door with the intent of relocking it once she got inside. The faking Cryde cast Time Jump as a prepared reaction that gave her two extra actions. So, she flew through Xeelie and was gone as well. So sad.
Everyone was disappointed with that conclusion. After all that planning, having them on the ropes, etc. The GM wasn’t that happy either so he threw us a bone and started a skill challenge. Can we “catch them” in a skill-based chase? Clarisa used her Revealing Light spell and made an Arcana roll. Oakwood used his Burning Jet to get on the roof. He surprised them with a 20 on the die for two successes. TerStegan climbed up as well and used Intimidation. He rolled a 33 and succeeded. Brisco couldn’t come up with a plausible way to get up there so he went with Xeelie. Xeelie used her Otari Lore to go where she thought they would be based on her knowledge of the town. And Clarisa went with them. Xeelie rolled poorly and used a hero point and rolled a 20. So, we kicked ass on the skill challenge. 6 successes with no failures and one hero point used. We decided that TerStegan’s taunting caused them to come back around to finish us off. Or perhaps they were momentarily regrouping on the roof, figuring they had a round or two.
We re-rolled initiative. Ironically, the two characters that actually got on the roof, went last. But more importantly, some of us went before them. Xeelie tried to do her recall thing and crit failed again. Her target was 36. They discussed and Brian let him get his bonus damage without gaining any actual knowledge at a lower DC. Xeelie missed by one, use a hero point and hit by four. And did 12 to Cryde. That took her out again. And then cast Shield. Brisco used his Tempest Surge and took out Credence. Our luck certainly turned from all those early misses. We stripped them down to their under clothes, tied them up and kept them tethered until their fly ended. A search got Brisco a crap Medicine check. Another heroic skill point was used and got us the realization that Cryde was a “recent” “day walker” vampire. Which explained how she recovered in the cell. We turned them over to Longsaddle. I think the vampire was staked but we’re not sure what happens to the other. Not our problem any more, I guess. Yea! We were given the fancy sword cane as our reward. +1 striking and wounding. The wounding is a 10th level effect so we can’t transfer it but could use it. It’s an agile and finesse weapon but the two martials liked what they currently had better. So, we sold it for 50 gold each when the miscellaneous loot was included. We stopped there. After a week off it’ll be back to the dungeon to pick our poison. Seems like we’ve got several “unbeatable foes” to choose from. Good thing we’re 6th now.
