We leveled up however the GM would not let us start the selling and buying until an upcoming encounter was resolved. The sun was setting and we could see smoke at the front of the house as we approached. Xeelie elsewhere since she exited the dungeon a different way. The GM put us in initiative order to keep things, well, orderly. We moved up and around the house as we could. It turned out it was the rival gang including Oakwood’s sister and Xeelie’s half-sister. Periwinkle and her riding raptor were there as well as our house dragonette Ollie. They were sitting around a big fire in front of our house. Evidently, they had been adventuring in the Gauntlight in their spare time. (Except Ollie.) And had stopped by on their way. The GM then proceeded to mock us about treasures they picked up that we missed. Evidently, they had gotten as far as the undead library level and were planning on heading back in this evening. We warned them about the dangers but couldn’t really stop them. They left.
That night… A deep blue light started shinning in the late night. Brisco noticed but pretty much ignored it as he went about his early morning day. The Gauntlight was lit and it was pointed directly at our house. I guess something had noticed our efforts. Since we rescued the dwarf that powered the burst last time, we concluded it must have a new power source. It wasn’t a big leap to think it could be some recent lower-level adventurers, in over their heads. TerStegan also woke up. As he pissed over his balcony, he noticed Skeleton and Mummy hordes approaching. They rolled initiative and Brisco went first. He tried to wake up the rest by banging around in the kitchen. Oakwood and Xeelie missed a perception check to notice but Clarisa heard them. TerStegan used his new spell to don his armor with a snap. Somehow, he pissed with one hand on his battle axe. He entered his stance and cast Bless. Clarisa awoke, got up and headed towards TerStegan but the doors slowed her down. Oakwood missed a 15 flat roll to wake up but Xeelie made it. Luckily, she rolled poorly for initiative and got to go this round. But the skeletons went first.
The house was being approached on 3 sides. Xeelie grabbed her lantern and stood up. She crossed over and opened Oakwood’s door. He barely made a 10 flat check. He rolled low and went. He stood up, opened the door to the balcony and used Cat Fall to get down to the skeletons. He was hoping to stop them from entering the front door but there were way too many of them. Brisco ran out the back door and found mummy hordes advancing. And large mummies behind them. He decided fire was the way to go and cast Blazing Bolt on two of them. He crit them both for 28 and killed them. TerStegan took 5 points of damage from jumping down as well. He then crit one for 39 points and killed it. And then killed another one. He could see more coming. Clarisa used Arc on Lightning on the two remaining on TerStegan. Both took double damage and killed them despite 5 of it bouncing. More skeletons moved up. Two of the ones on Oakwood headed into the house but two attacked him. He critically saved for none. Xeelie was still upstairs but could target some of the ones on Oakwood. Neither dropped from an AOE. Oakwood channeled on his elements, turned on the Thermal Nimbus and hit 4 with the Flying Flame. They all missed their saves but he only rolled 8 (on 4d6) for damage and some of that was resisted. So, none of them dropped. He was quickly falling behind. Those in front saw 4 Skeleton Champions on horseback behind the horde. The zombies and mummies moved up. There were two large mummies at the back there as well.
Brisco used his 4th level Heal to blast 11 mummies and skeletons. But rolled 11 on 4d8. Only the 4 that crit failed were destroyed. He was the only one at the back of the house (west) and they were up on him. A Skeleton Champion charged TerStegan on his horse but crit missed twice. TerStegan ran through the gate, jumped a fence with crit Athletics roll and talked his way into using a Sudden Charge. He crit one for 48 and killed another one with the collateral damage on the west side to support Brisco. A big zombie moved up to engage him. Clarisa did a heightened level 4 Fireball on the skeletons at the front (east). 45 points and most crit failed the save. She killed 8 of them plus the champion and his horse. 800 points but most was overkill. She then moved back into the house to help at the back. Two of the skeletons on Oakwood died from his fire aura but two that were heading for the north door came back to him. Two from the north (and there were more where they came from) went into the house via the unguarded north door, ran upstairs and engaged Clarisa. She took a few. Xeelie ran over to help her since she was still upstairs as well. She dropped one after doing a Recall. A Champion rode up and used its banner to unleash a burst of void energy. But Oakwood made his Fort save which became a crit save for none. It then used a lance for 18. Oakwood hit it twice with vitality damage. And still more monsters got added to the tracker. And they seemed to becoming tougher. Of concern was a Bog Mummy that looked scary. Plus, a Skelton Mage, Skeleton Knight and Zombie Lord. 4 horde types, 4 tough guy types and 4 bosses.
Brisco did another AOE heal on 15 of them plus TerStegan and himself. But he only rolled 9. Four skeletons that were wounded and crit failed were dropped. A large mummy went next. He missed with a reach fist and then missed again. The Skeleton Mage fired a burst, centered on Brisco. He saved but TerStegan did not. He took all of 13. The undead took none since it was void damage. The Champion to the north ran into the house and ran up the stairs. He had one action left and attacked Clarisa and missed. TerStegan attacked the large mummy and crit. But 46 points wasn’t enough. He had to use a second swing to finish it off. And then moved up. Clarisa tried to move to the north door but took a Reactive Swing. But it missed. She moved and opened a door. A Champion ran in and up. A couple of skeleton damage took aura damage and then missed Oakwood. A couple more ran past him and into the house. Some more attacked Xeelie upstairs. She crit missed the save for 30 points and 2d6 bleed. Xeelie blasted two hordes and one champion with an acid blast. The Champion saved for half and the others took all 15 and were dropped. She did Recall on the Champion with her last action.
The skeleton horse missed Oakwood. The Champion missed and missed and missed. Nothing above a 5. The Bog Mummy charged TerStegan and punched him. He missed with a 2. It had a cloud of cold spirits around him and a glowing choker. A Zombie Brute moved up slowly. The Skeleton Mage somehow targeted TerStegan from across the battlefield. With +2 for cover he crit for 42. Oakwood used Flying Flame to hit the 4 around him, dropping all but the horse. And then hit the horse. However, the Skeleton Knight then charged him. It hit with his lance for 19. And hit again for another 13. A Zombie Brute moved somewhere. A Mummy Horde hit Brisco for 7 and gave him Frighten 1. Two Mummy Hordes attack TerStegan. He crit saved for none and failed for 5. The zombies mostly stormed into the house through the unprotected north door. We stopped there. Everyone was surrounded and the house was invaded. Most were down to half hit points and we were split into 3 groups so Brisco’s super Battlefield Medicine isn’t going to save most of us. Bosses were attacking and we haven’t cleared out the hordes or minions yet. Maybe the bosses are controlling the hordes so if we drop them, hordes will drop? It’s not looking good for our heroes, not to mention the house which was taking a beating as well. And even if we survive, we’ll have to go save the junior adventurers without a rest.
