Thinking we might need a hasty exit, we attempted to repair the teleportation circle on level 7.  That failed, facing a DC of 31.  Evidently each level, the DC went up by 3, outpacing our advancement.  As we moved on to the elevator, we could tell the next level was much more humid.  And we could hear water sounds.   

Arcana and Occult rolls were attempted to “understand” the elevator.  It was learned that despite some recent repairs, the whole thing was in a poor state.  Xeelie’s better roll added the realization that the 4 levers would currently feed the chain at different rates.  She then rolled crafting to reduce the challenge of dealing with that.  DC11 down to DC5 flat check.  We tied ropes to the hooks that attached the chain and we each took a lever.  Oakwood had one hand on the rope and one a lever.  Xeelie had one on her lantern and one on the lever and eyed the rope.  TerStegan tied himself to the rope so he could keep a hold of his axe.  Clarisa put her staff in her pouch and held the rope and the lever.  On the roll, Oakwood crit saved, Xeelie crit failed and the other two succeeded.  This tipped the platform and we had to make a DC18 Reflex save.  We all made that.  Since Xeelie missed the roll, Brian asked her what she was going to do about it.  She called out 2s for us and a 1 for her to hopefully level off.  It was slow going. 

At the 40-foot mark, an untouched rune flared and there’s a power surge, tipping us again.  Another Reflex save.  Again, half rolled poor but luckily the DC is low and we all made it.  There was a heavy fog down below but we could tell the shaft was opening up.  Another DC5 flat check and Clarisa failed it.  Another Reflex save.  Clarisa failed and started to slide off.  She missed another save to Grab an Edge and lost the rope and fell off towards TerStegan.  He thought about grabbing her but knew she had Feather Fall.  But she didn’t have a reaction, he realized as she went over the edge.  But then 3 of the chains broke and we all toppled over.  The whole thing is going down.  Brian asked if anyone had something to help themselves. Xeelie leapt away from the platform and rolled a 28 Athletics.  Success for 20 feet.  Oakwood had Cat Fall and could fall 50 feet without damage so he rode it out.  Clarisa cast Fly since she was out of reactions.  But then Brian decided to allow Feather Fall after all.  TerStegan just fell and Briscoe survived it all since Dave wasn’t there yet.

We moved onto a new map and crashed on to a dock on the edge of an underground swampy lake.  (We were 100 feet down.)  The remaining fall was 40 feet so Oakwood took no damage.  Brian still made him make an Acrobatics to avoid the debris and he rolled a 3.  So, he landed prone.  TerStegan also crashed prone taking 10 points.  He made Clarisa make a Perception roll to time her spell.  She succeeded and landed on her feet unharmed.  Xeelie took a DC 25 Acrobatics roll to hit the water.  She missed that, missed the water and took 10 points.  We saw 4 creatures, one of which seemed to be running to the south.  Visibility was only 30 feet from the fog.  We rolled initiative.  Clarisa, the only one that fell off the platform initially, was the only one not prone.  They were Gnomish Zombies and somehow, they reacted immediately. (No surprise in PE2.)

The first attacked Oakwood and hit because he was ruled prone.  He was hit for 10 and then hit again, again due to the prone and took another 18.  He made two Fort saves, barely.  On his turn, he saved again from the stink.  He Kipped Up.  He cast Blazing Wave, getting 3 of them and 2 of the 4 boats.  21 points.  The furthest one crit failed and went prone.  The boats were deemed destroyed and sank.  But the dock was ruled wet enough to not be too badly damaged.  He then turned his aura back as well as Thermal Nimbus.  TerStegan stood up and attacked the fleeing one.  He crit and did 28 plus persistent 1d10 fire from his new axe.  He saved against the stink as well.  Clarisa saved from the stink and noticed a large animated skeleton in the mostly submerged cage.  She cast the Dragon Claws, doing 25 to one of them.  Xeelie saved, stood, exploited weakness and drew her weapon.  The Zombie was vulnerable to cold and resistant to fire and undead.  The back one moved up to Oakwood and missed twice.  The one to the south ran off, getting a reaction from TerStegan.  He hit for 14.  It moved, opened a door and went out of view.  Clarisa heard in Gnomish, him alerting the rest of the guards.  Another flanked Oakwood and missed.  The last one tried to trip Oakwood and succeeded exactly.  It still missed but then hit with the 3^rd due to the prone.  Oakwood took another 13.  Medic?

Oakwood Kipped Up again, attacked 3 times, missing twice and critting for 32 cold damage.  TerStegan went into his stance and regripped his axe.  He advised Clarisa that there was a room down his way that might want a Fireball.  She reluctantly moved so she could see the edge of the room beyond the door.  She rolled 27 damage but they resisted some of it.  One was an “elder” that took very little.  The one that had run in, ran back out and attacked Clarisa.  TerStegan got a swing as he went past and did 26 points.  The Zombie missed her.  Xeelie took a step to get flanking on the one Oakwood was fighting.  She hit due to that flanking and did 28, destroying it.  For her last action, she raised her shield.  A Zombie took a step to flank Oakwood again.  He hit for 12 and then 12 again.  With two hits, two more saves.  He rolled a 1 for a crit failure.  Inflected with bog rot and took 7 more plus Clumsy 1.  Their caster cast at Clarisa for a Fort save.  She succeeded but was still Blinded for 1 round.  Another came out of the room and ran around Clarisa for flanking.  It hit for 15 and she made her save.  Brisco arrived and would start the next round. 

Brisco cast a 3 action Heal spell, rolling 28.  That got us and lots of them including the Skeleton Hulk in the cage.  That’s a big swing on hit points, for and against.  A Zombie attacked the flanked and clumsy Oakwood.  He barely hit for 13 and hit again for 13.  The last one came out of the room and charged Clarisa.  Somehow, it missed her.  Oakwood recast the Nimbus to cold damage and then used Dash of Herbs to get a new save against the disease and rolled another 1.   He used a hero point to crit save instead.  Brian then realized it was supposed to be a curse, not a disease but let it work this time.  (Remove Curse is a 4^th level spell so it’s going to be a much harder problem.)  TerStegan moved and used Swipe to attack two of the ones on Clarisa.  He hit for 16 on both.  Clarisa was blind, surrounded and in melee.  She engaged her new Oracle feat, Thousand Visions.  It was a free action and lasts a minute.  We had to plow through the hidden rules again.  She missed her Seek action and had to roll a DC 5 flat check.  She hit with Claws for 25 and then another for 12.  One of those hit her for 15 and then crit for 35.  Xeelie hit the one flanked by Briscoe.  She did 24 but it was still up.  She hit again for 30 and dropped it.  Their caster stepped up and cast a 20-foot burst.  DC 30 Reflex save.  Entangle.  Oakwood and Briscoe saved and TerStegan, Clarisa and Xeelie did not.  Xeelie used a hero point to save.  Most of them were in it too.  The last Zombie hit Clarisa for 13 and 15.  She was in a bad way. 

Briscoe ran through the Entangle and did DV on Clarisa for 33.  And then a heal spell for 42.  The last Zombie on Oakwood ran to one of the remaining boats and moved off.  One hit Clarisa for 14.  Oakwood moved twice to get onto the boat and then missed with a 4.  TerStegan crit with a Swipe for 49 each, destroying one.  Rather than attack with a -10 MAP, he stepped to the caster to hopefully disrupt its next spell.  Clarisa did a Force Barrage on the last one on her.  That did 38 and destroyed it.  Xeelie eyed the Skeleton Hulk as it pounded on the bars and tried to run behind their caster.  Brian made him make a Tumble Through which failed, as usual.  She tried again and failed again because its Reflex save was at least +18.  She then did her exploit weakness which raised her shield.  The caster cast something that wasn’t a manipulate action and merged into the stone next to it.  The last one on Clarisa opened a door behind it and then moved off stealthfully.  The Hulk rolled initiative as it burst out. 

Briscoe was still in the Entangle effect area and critically failed.  He was immobilized.  He wanted to do nothing but DG pointed out the Hulk was heading right for him.  He argued he was a small harmless Hafling but decided to act.  He cast Hydraulic Push on it and missed.  He then desperately threw his trident and missed by 16.  The Zombie in the boat rolled a 39 and crit Shoved Oakwood out of the boat and 10 feet away.  He then sat and rowed 5 feet.  Oakwood critted on swim roll and swam back into the boat.  Then hit it with cold and destroyed it.  Then shoved the body and got into the oar position.  To TerStegan’s surprise, he made his save against the Entangle but it was still difficult terrain.  He used his Helm to stride twice after the fleer.  He arrived in a room with no exits and no Zombies.  He then used the Seek action to find the hider.  And he found a Roper attached to the ceiling in the back corner instead.  He had one action left so he attacked it and did 44.  It went next and hit with all 6 of its tentacles with its +25 attacks.  “Thankfully” those did no damage so no double damage on the plentiful crits.  But they did do Enfeeble which quickly maxed out at level 4.  And then it bit him for 27.  Clarisa missed the Entangle save and moved 15.  She still got into the room and could see the Roper.  She cast Laughing Fit, hoping its Will save was low.  It was not but it still lost its reactions on the save.  The Hulk got Entangled but had enough movement to charge Xeelie.  That did 25 which she shield blocked for 8 less but she was shoved 10 feet.  Xeelie missed the Entangle save and moved back near Briscoe who seemed to be its target.  (From when he accidently hit it with his AOE heal.)  She then moved into the room with the Roper, hoping the Hulk couldn’t follow.  The hidden Zombie tried to run out but ran into Clarisa.  It hit her twice for 14 and 14.  She missed the second save on the Zombie Rot curse but used a hero point.

Briscoe failed on the Entangle so -10 movement.  He moved into the room as well but it took all his movement.  Oakwood spent an action to move the boat 5 feet.  He gave up on that and stepped back onto the dock.  He then could see the Hulk, knew that skeletons were resistant to cold and redid his Nimbus to fire damage.  Not that it will make a dent.  He still couldn’t see that everyone had abandoned him due to the fog.  TerStegan mulled his poor options.  He “sensed” that his Enfeeble would not improve if he got free.  Eventually, he chose to swipe at two tentacles and missed them both.  Then used his last action to pull out Otari’s Key but failed the DC 5 flat check to do a manipulate action.  And he had to take a hand off the axe to try.  It crit him with a bite and did 51.  It left two tentacles on TerStegan and used two to grab the Zombie.  It then somehow missed Briscoe with two 1s.  For its 3^rd action, it bit TerStegan again for 24.  He’s still alive.  Clarisa closed the door at Xeelie’s repeated suggestion.  And then cast Laughing Fit again, only removing its reactions again.  The Hulk missed his save so still -10 and difficult terrain.  It got to the door but wasn’t smart enough to open it.  So, it started beating on it.  Xeelie did exploit and learned the Roper was really weak to fire.  She then used Friend Fetch on TerStegan.  The spell said nothing about if someone was grabbed.  But it did say Forced Movement and that got him free, pending further research.  The caster reappeared on the map near the Hulk.  While in the stone, he couldn’t see so he didn’t know that was a bad idea.  He couldn’t see Oakwood either due to the fog.  He missed his save on his own Entangle.  He cast and moved back into their guard room.  The last Zombie tried to escape from the Roper and failed 3 times.

Briscoe did a Heal on TerStegan for 31 and then a BFM for 63.  Oakwood moved up, saw no friends and a Hulk beating on a door.  It was reasonable for him to assume his friends were hold up in there, doing a quick heal up.  And would be back soon? Not wanting to face it alone, he decided to cast a Tree to protect the door? Unfortunately, he had to get in the Entangle and nearer the Hulk to reach.  TerStegan pulled out the key and readied an attack on a tentacle should one attack him.  The roper held the Zombie with two, grabbed Briscoe with one making him grabbed and Enfeebled 1.  The 4^th hit TerStegan which he reacted to and crit.  That chopped that tentacle and put it on fire.  It then hit TerStegan.  It then did a Pull the Strand, pulling all 3 to it.  It took 19 points of fire from the persistent.  Clarisa cast Sure Strike and then a two-action 4^th level Blazing Bolt.  She still missed the Roper.  He used a hero point and hit.  That did 37 and then 33 to the Zombie.  The Hulk bashed on the door and despite the Tree, busted it open.  But at least it took all its actions.  Xeelie moved towards the Roper, using Clarisa’s Propulsive Breeze to get there.  She then missed it and missed again.  The Zombie rolled a nat 20 and broke free of the Roper.  He stepped north twice, not wanting to trigger its reactions and didn’t get far.

It was 1 AM and the top of the order so we stopped there.  We’d be missing two so no game next week.  Once again, every fight is a fight for our lives.  However, this time, it’s going to be much harder to flee home.  Some discussions were started about how we are going to get up 100 feet but that’s a future us problem.