We started in the Spirit Naga’s bedroom and assessed our health. Only TerStegan was down any however Briscoe hadn’t arrived yet. Oakwood did a Treat Wounds on him and Xeeli did her Life Boost. Then we all Refocused. In there, Xeeli re-searched the area with her lantern but didn’t find anything we hadn’t already found. Clarisa cleaned off the mud with Prestidigitation. We elected to not get bogged down dealing with the treasures from last time but Xeeli did take the Wand of Fire. Once everyone was back on the dock, we moved the boat back. We now had too many people for it but luckily there was another boat there. We decided to go back around to the “more evil” room, thinking it was more Wisps since the previous Wisp room was labeled “evil”. (Turned out to be true.) We wanted to fight them when Xeeli and her lantern were present. Once back to the BBQ room, Xeeli spotted a secret door we missed last time. It was a long hallway that ended at a stairway down. But we weren’t ready for that.
Before we opened the door to the Wisps, TerStegan cast Bless but no one else spelled up. It was a long large room with two stone basins like the ones we encountered before. Each had a Wisp in it. Xeeli’s lantern turned them from invisible to concealed. We rolled initiative. One of them went first. It took a step and did a Draining Touch on TerStegan. It missed twice. The next one did the same thing and missed twice as well. Clarisa somehow went first for us. We knew Force Barrage was one of the few magics that affected them. She did 39 points. TerStegan turned on his stance and tried to Demoralize one. He made the flat check and rolled well but it was immune to it. He then hit for 26 points. Xeeli identified it to get her bonus damage. She declared them weak to vitality. These were tougher Dread Wisps with an AC of 32. She used Mobility to get behind one and attacked. She hit and did 20 points. 30 actually. Oakwood put up a Tree between the front-line fighters and tried to test if it was indeed vulnerable to vitality magic. But he missed.
The first Wisp teleported through the shadows to get behind Clarisa. But missed on its attack. The next did the same but this one crit. That did 52 points plus Drained 1. Clarisa stepped away from them and tried a vitality attack herself. But she missed the flat check. TerStegan moved into the square she just left and did a Swipe. He missed. Xeeli asked if they were incorporeal. They weren’t so she couldn’t run through them. She tried to Tumble Through. She rolled a 31 but their Reflex defense was 33. She was bounced back to the end of line. She decided to cast Blur since she could not get to them. Oakwood recreated the Tree and missed with a reach attack. We felt the ground shaking at the end of the round.
The Wisp hit TerStegan for 28 which the Tree took. And hit again, taking out the Tree and doing 8 points over. The next one hit for 24 and then missed twice. Clarisa did another Force Barrage but could only target the unharmed one. That did 42. TerStegan missed with a Swipe again. And took a desperate swing at -10MAP that missed. Xeeli stepped and switched to her throwing weapon. But it was -2 through the doorway. She missed by one but Oakwood gave her Guidance. She made the flat check and took it out. Briscoe entered the initiative order and did a DV on Clarisa. That did 56 points. He then hit with his Trident and did 13. And then missed. Oakwood put up another Tree to protect TerStegan and then missed again. The room got colder.
The Wisp missed 3 times. Clarisa finally hit with a Vitality Lash but it was immune to magic. (Now we know.) And cast Shield. TerStegan missed but then hit for 27. And cast Shield. Xeeli failed on her identify roll but still didn’t fail. And then missed twice. Briscoe missed with a trident toss. And then did a Rousing Splash on TerStegan for 12 temp hit points. Oakwood missed the flat check on a Shove attempt and then gave up. He couldn’t get through the traffic to try punching it. We heard a threatening Belcora voice bouncing off the walls. “Get out!”
The Wisp hit the Tree for 17 and then crit TerStegan for 24 carry over and Drained 1. And then it crit again. That did another 52 and now Drained 2. That took him out as consecutive crits often do. Clarisa finished it off with her last 3rd level Barrage. And then a Belcorra appeared. She cast a spell on Oakwood. Clarisa missed her identify attempt not that it mattered. He crit failed the 35 Will save, used a hero point and just failed. But it was supposed to happen on his turn so nothing happened, yet. Xeelie moved on top of TerStegan’s body and closed the door. Belcorra didn’t have a reaction to stop it. Xeeli then cast Life Boost on TerStegan. Briscoe cast a heal on TerStegan for 22 points. And then did a risky DV and missed it. He used a hero point and did 45. Oakwood backed up and put a Tree next to everyone else. Oakwood got his hero point back because she wasn’t in sight so that attack never happened. But he felt fearful.
TerStegan grabbed his axe, stood up and had to back up to get out of Xeeli’s space. Clarisa had no targets so she moved to the bottom of the order. Belcorra appeared behind us, walking through the wall. We felt time get “wonky”. She cast a spell on Clarisa. She missed the save, used a hero point to still miss and was Stupefied 4 for the foreseeable future. (On a not crit failed save!) Feeblemind or the PF2 equivalent. Xeeli tried to identify her. She missed and used a hero point to succeed. She has no weaknesses and the undead immunities. And then she started running. Briscoe could treat Stupefy but he had to remove the curse first and he already used that spell this day. So, he cast Fly to improve his fleeing chances. Although his speed was unchanged. Oakwood used his bracelet of dashing to get +10 move and then moved 40 twice. Clarisa moved 75 on her turn.
TerStegan used his helm to take his Cheetah’s Elixir and then ran 35 twice. Belcorra did something but we couldn’t see her. Xeeli was sad to hear we left the ladder up. She jumped into the boat and moved it around in the right direction. Brisco flew 75, getting over the water and a little higher. Oakwood moved and then Burning Jetted over the water and near the empty cages. Clarisa got into a boat but Xeeli had the rowing seat so she couldn’t move it. Wade concocted a “Wade DealTM” to allow her to try to move it but it was too complicated and risky so she passed.
TerStegan turned on his Slippers and ran up and along the wall. Brian made him make an Acrobatics roll to transition from wall to floor. He didn’t have that skill so he argued difficult terrain instead and just went less far. Belcorra appeared up on a balcony and fired a 35 Will save at TerStegan. Clarisa missed her recognize spell feat roll again. TerStegan used his Skeptic’s Defense which let him use his Intimidation skill instead. (Sort of. It’s not clear how counteracts work.) He still failed since Belcorra is so high level. He used a hero point and still failed. And then crit failed his save roll. That was 86 points of damage, Frightened 4(-1=3) and Fleeing from a Phantasmal Killer. Xeeli failed her Athletics roll so didn’t row far. And then succeeded and got further. And succeeded again and got the girls in front of the pack. Briscoe ran up to TerStegan and did a DV. He couldn’t risk risky so it was only 21. He then flew twice more. Oakwood ran and Burning Jetted up to the ladder but was out of actions. He used a reaction to Grab an Edge onto the ladder as he fell. Clarisa stared at the 30-foot up ladder and delayed until she could do something.
TerStegan had to flee and continued to climb the wall. Belcorra cast a spell on Xeeli. She failed and had no hero points. She was Confused for a minute. Clarisa was standing next to her so she reentered the order. She moved next to the ladder and away from her. She readied an action to start climbing if the ladder is dropped. Xeeli was Confused (and angry evidently) so she had to attack someone. With her Starknife in hand, anyone was a possible target. She randomly picked Briscoe and missed. Pick him again and missed. And then missed Clarisa. Briscoe tossed a Bloom on Xeeli which gave her another save against the Confusion at +2. She missed by one. And then he flew up some more. Brian gave him a chance to Grab an Edge to grab onto the faster TerStegan. He made that roll. TerStegan wasn’t paying him any attention. Oakwood released the ladder and took a shot at Xeeli. He missed the first flat check since she was still Blurred but hit on the second shot. She took 7 cold damage and made her flat check to snap out of the Confusion.
TerStegan couldn’t quite get all the way out because he had to get into the shaft. Briscoe came along for the ride. Belcorra flew closer and cast TK Projectile at 7th level. She hit Oakwood with a 4 on the die and did 36 points. Clarisa climbed up the ladder and got right behind Oakwood. Xeeli moved to the ladder and started climbing up. She could go faster than there was room on the ladder. So, she used one action to climb and tried to identify Belcorra again. (In a meta-gaming sense, the purpose of this unwinnable fight was to gather information about her?) She was resistant to all damage except force, ghost touch and vitality. Briscoe looked down and could tell the rest of us were at least on the ladder since he could see through mist. He stayed with TerStegan. Oakwood climbed up to almost the top.
TerStegan continued to be Frightened but the fleeing had stopped. But he fled anyway. And the Frightened ended. Belcorra flew up and hit both girls in a cone. Another 35 Will save. They both failed but not critically. Crushing Despair. No reactions and Slowed 1 for a minute. Sobbing. Clarisa climbed two actions and didn’t make it to the shaft. Xeelie grabbed the ladder behind her and climbed. The boys got to the top and looked down to see where the girls were. And suddenly it was Belcorra’s turn again. She cast a spell at the top of the room/bottom of the shaft. DC 35 Reflex which they both crit failed. They used hero points and just failed instead. They took 15 plus persistent poison damage. And they were grabbed, flat-footed, and immobilized. And still Slowed. Clarisa made a grabbed flat check and a Stupefied flat check to cast a Fireball on herself. Clarisa crit saved for none but Xeeli only saved and took 16. That killed the snakes and stopped the grabs. Clarisa took 4 poison damage but saved against it. Xeeli moved around to the other side of the ladder and climbed up. She kept pulling the ladder. At this point, Belcorra stopped pursuing us. Combat over.
Afterwards we thought she was seeing through the Wisps. That the planters plus a Wisp formed a conduit to her. And it was the real Belcorra and not some spirit or echo or such. We need multiple days to recover from the Drains and other conditions. We talked about the magic items. Xeeli took the Potion of Quickness since TerStegan can cast Haste. And after some arguments, the javelin of lightning. We sold the rest for 147 gold each. Xeeli started taking crafting orders such as Briscoe’s Staff of Healing mods that she could do while we recovered. Since BTO misses half the games, he wanted to do that on this night.
It’s hard to imagine we’ll be able to fight against those DC35 saves, even at 10th level but Wade assures us we’ll have “plot device help” to aid us. Hopefully it’s +10 to all Will saves to give us a 50/50 chance against those crippling spells. But we did learn her resistances. That damaging a confused person is better than them trying to save against a 35 DC. And attacking the snakes with an AOE is better than trying to escape a 35 DC grab. And that we need 10 hero points each to turn crit failed saves into just failed saves. And doing damage to her at some point might be important.
