We didn’t get rolling until after 9. It was assumed the Stupefy curse was cured by Briscoe. We decided to start where we left off, searching the room of the Dread Wisps. Nothing was found but that’s not too surprising since wisps don’t really have pockets. Next was the cliff room where Belcorra was shooting at us as we fled. We saw a dead tree with several red fruits. And a polluted stream leading to a waterfall down to the swamp. The Druid rolled a 25 Nature but Oakwood rolled a 30. The tree was a Corpseroot. An undead tree with poisonous fruit. Far ahead in the next room we could see a Gug, meditating in the room identified as the “Lord and savior” room on the map. We debated whether we wanted to fight the Gug and therefore deal with the tree or go back to the mushroom chamber. And then it attacked with reach. Initiative.
Briscoe was first. He cast the Timber cantrip, figuring a tree would have a poor Reflex save. It saved for half of 16 but it took no damage from the bludgeoning. He then moved back. The Tree tossed a fruit at Briscoe and crit for 38. Then it used a branch to hit Oakwood for 25. Lastly it made a root attack at TerStegan and missed with the 3rd MAP. Oakwood did a Blazing Wave cone fire attack. It saved for half of 24 but took 22 from fire weakness. He also turned on his Thermal Nimbus. TerStegan turned on his aura, stepped up and attacked. He failed to crit with a 19 on the die and did 23 which was 43 from the fire and slashing. Clarisa used her staff to cast a Floating Flame at 4th level. It failed its save but she only rolled 9 points on 4d6. It took 19. And then she cast Shield.
Briscoe cast a targeted heal from his new staff since it was undead. That was 12 points but it crit failed its save for double. And then he threw his shield and missed terribly. The Tree did not like the flaming axe guy. It attempted to trip TerStegan with its roots and crit with a 42 athletics check. That made him prone plus 3 points of damage. And it got a free grapple attempt which was also a crit success. So, he was Restrained as well as Prone. It then hit him with a branch for 29. Oakwood did the Blazing Wave again. It saved for half but took 21. TerStegan failed to roll a 19 or 20 to escape the roots and failed to roll a 20 on the next two tries. (He could not retrieve his Otari Key because it was a manipulate action.) Clarisa then hit it with TK Projectile and did 28 slashing. But it crit saved against the Floating Flame.
Briscoe did an AOE heal this time, getting everything. It crit saved for none but we all got 22 back. The Tree couldn’t grab again with its occupied roots so it tossed a fruit at Clarisa and missed. TerStegan couldn’t get a Reactive Strike bite at it because he was restrained. It missed Oakwood with a branch and then missed again. It took Nimbus damage first. Oakwood did BW and it missed its save. And took 33 more fire damage. TerStegan failed to Escape 3 times. Clarisa sustained the FF. It failed its save and was destroyed.
The next monster didn’t move during that whole fight. Clarisa sustained her Flame, just in case. Everything in the room was pretty much cooked and we didn’t find anything. Or the remains of anything. Oakwood did Dash of Herbs on TerStegan for 17 and Briscoe for 13 while we searched and debated. The Flame expired. The Gug was not in our monster book although we had fought one before. We recalled it did jaw and claw attacks. TerStegan recalled knowledge with a good Occult roll. It was resistant to nothing. As we studied it, we noticed it was holding something glowing red in one of its 4 claws. We also heard some noises from up there but were too far away to make it out. Oakwood cast Heroism with his wand (10-minute duration) and we started moving up.
The streams flowed through the room. Crossing them wouldn’t require a jump but would be difficult terrain. The water was saying stuff. There were also mushrooms and lichen in there. Briscoe tried to identify what it was holding with a Religion roll but failed. TerStegan also failed. As we studied, Briscoe and TerStegan were hearing the water talking about lenses. “She knows the secrets of the lenses. 3 within reach. 1 very close. The other, lost by Yidaris. One held by the blood eaters.” Briscoe talked to the mushrooms but had to get closer to do so. That conversation caused the Gug to shift its object to its furthest claw. The first sign that it knew we were there. Clarisa moved up as well and found the voices Fascinating and got that condition. At this point, Briscoe and TerStegan noticed they had the Stupefied condition as well.
The mushrooms said they and it had been around awhile. That other things broughtb it food but they hadn’t in a while. They had no idea what the object was but they didn’t like it because it glowed red like fire. TerStegan got nearer and said, “We are here to destroy Belcorra. Can we have the lens?” He was ignored in common and undercommon. Oakwood moved up and heard Clarisa muttering, “She keeps them apart while she works her petty vengeances but the essences shall become one.” At this point TerStegan cast Bless and Haste but failed on the haste because of the Stupefy flat check. Oakwood turned on his Nimbus. Briscoe used Treat Condition on TerStegan to get rid of the Stupefy. He successfully reduced it by 1. TerStegan went around to flank it and get near the object. It shifted it to its other side. Oakwood got to that side and was now nearest the object. He tried to make a grab for it and it was finally annoyed. Initiative.
Briscoe Treated himself and succeeded against the Stupefy. And raised his shield. Urthagul stood up and took a Reactive Strike from TerStegan. He missed. Its AC is 30. It did a clawed flurry (3 attacks with no MAP). It missed Oakwood by 1 with a 2. It hit TerStegan for 27. And missed Oakwood again with a 1. TerStegan critically missed an Intimidation roll. He used his Essence Charm to only fail so that he could enter his stance. And missed. Clarisa cast a full load of Force Barrage. That was 37 points. Oakwood did Hail of Splinters, avoiding Briscoe and TerStegan in the cone. It saved for half. It took 5 plus the persistent bleed. He figured it would be a long fight and maybe the bleed damage would add up. Wrong.
Briscoe tried to use Mage Hand to grab the object but that cantrip only works on an unattended object. He argued that it was targetable when it transferred it between claws but that didn’t fly. He then moved past it and took a Reactive Strike for 22 (2d12+19). It took 10 Nimbus damage. It bit Oakwood for 39 on a 2 on the die. And then did 3 claws on Oakwood with two actions. A crit for 46 and hit for 27. And he was dropped. And another crit TerStegan for 46. It took 3 from the bleed but didn’t save. TerStegan Demoralized it with a “wasted” 20. But the calmness of the chamber negated it. He then hit for 15 measly points of damage. And missed. Clarisa cast another FB for 42, making it blooded.
Briscoe couldn’t stride without getting hit by a Reactive Strike. But rather than step to TerStegan, he did his DV which was a stride. (He figured he could take one hit. He was wrong.) It crit on its RS, did 74 and took him out. Oakwood made his death save to self-stabilize. But he was still unconscious. It charged at Clarisa since she was doing all the damage. TerStegan missed his RS, used a hero point and barely hit. That did 26. With reach, it did a Flurry of Claws on her. She took 27 and somehow was missed twice. It took another 6 from the Splinters. TerStegan cast Hymn of Healing on Briscoe, figuring getting the healer up was a wise investment. And then moved after the monster. He stopped short to avoid engaging it since he was out of actions anyway. But its reach was longer than he thought so he still got whacked by a RS. But it missed. Engaged Clarisa cast another FB and thankfully it had already used its reaction on TerStegan. She took it out with 41. She did 120 points in 3 rounds. Dan had to sign off at this point.
Briscoe got 32 hit points over the next 4 rounds from the Hymn. The object was a lens with a drifting red cloud within it. Like blood. And magical. Briscoe wanted to use his new Stabilize cantrip on Oakwood but he wasn’t dying and already unconscious so it did nothing. Other than the lens, it had nothing. Briscoe asked the mushrooms about any “secrets” in the room but they knew nothing. Eventually Briscoe got around to doing a Treat Wounds on Oakwood but first TerStegan did a Hymn of Healing on him so he could do it riskily. Briscoe did 53 on the both of them with Ward Medic. Oakwood then did DoH on himself while TerStegan refocused. We kept hearing the voices. And became slowly Stupefied.
We sort of had to take it in case something useful was said. “Find the lenses and place their essences together within a host.” “Join the essences within Haruvex, and she shall fall again. This is a promise of the Empty death.” Eventually we all got to Stupefied 4. TerStegan and Oakwood left the room once the Treat Wounds was done but Briscoe went back in with a Detect Magic spell. That took 10 minutes to search so TerStegan recovered from the Stupefy. However, since Oakwood crit failed one of his (off camera) saves, he did not. TerStegan tried Snap Out of It on him but it didn’t work. Eventually Briscoe came back and tried Treat Condition on him. He missed the roll, used a hero point and crit succeeded. (We’ve got to get him to get an Essence Charm.) That erased two levels and he was good to go. Lastly, Oakwood did DoH on TerStegan to top him off and we were ready to go back to the mushroom chamber.
