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 4^th 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.  

Brisco was the first hero to go, as usual.  His first inclination was to do Battlefield Medicine on TerStegan. However, because the monster had him in his tentacles, that was going to be tough.  He cast his Tempest Surge spell and took a Reactive Strike.  That hurt but it didn’t crit so the spell still went off.  Brisco then had to make a 26 Will save against its evilness and rolled a 20.  The monster missed its save and took the full 16.  He then put Guidance on TerStegan to aid any future rolls.  Even though he was still unconscious.  Xeelie went next.  She did her Lore thing and learned it had no weaknesses nor resistances.  She then charged past it but was 5 feet short of getting flanking and cast Fast Healing on TerStegan.  Clarisa did her last 3^rd level Missile Barrage for 39.  Oakwood turned on his Thermal Nimbus, moved in and crit with a fiery axe for 28.  TerStegan became conscious from the Fast Healing, drew his backup hand axe since his main axe was back where he initially fell and attacked with the +1 from Guidance.  He hit for a sad 11.  And hit again for 12 and killed it. 

We searched the room and found nothing.  We healed up and refocused.  Somehow that took 20 minutes of arguing.  The door to the south opened to a long hallway that ended with another door.  However, about half way down, we were attacked by a devil (Barbazu) with a floating shield and floating glaive.  It went first.  It missed with two glaive attacks and then crit with its beard.  TerStegan missed the Fort save and was diseased.  TerStegan turned on his stance and missed twice.  Clarisa was still in the old room so she had to move up.  She tried a Daze since its range was 60 feet and the devil critically failed its save.  It took 10 and lost one action.  Brisco moved up and did his doctor visit on TerStegan and healed him 31.  Xeelie ran up and enchanted TerStegan’s axe with Conductive Weapon.  Before Oakwood got to go last, a small flying devil entered the encounter.  But it was invisible.  It summoned a large rat swarm on top of the 3 heroes up front.  They had to make a 17 Reflex.  They took minimal damage but Xeelie missed save.  We figured she was diseased as well.  The floating glaive disappeared and reappeared behind Clarisa.  But missed.  Oakwood turned on his Thermal Nimbus, moved up to get the rats in it (and give fire resistance to his friends) and then missed the devil with a ranged attack.   

Retroactively, the two flying devils became visible after taking their hostile actions.  They were attached to the shield and glaive.  The big guy missed TerStegan and then crit with his beard again.  He rolled a 1 on that disease save and was Enfeebled 1.  He hit for 29.  And then missed and then crit the rats.  That was for 56 which instantly killed the whole swarm.  And then the follow through sweep did 13 plus 6 electrical to the main devil.  Clarisa moved further into the hallway, fleeing her devil.  She then turned and hit it for 13 from TK.  5 of which, bounced.  Brisco cast Heal on TerStegan and gave him 42.  And then stepped back.  Xeelie did her Lore on the devil and got the same info as last time.  She then moved up to get flanking with TerStegan and missed with a 2.  One flying guy dropped the shield, flew up and attacked Xeelie with flanking.  It hit and did 8.  And then missed.  The other one dropped his glaive and caught up to Clarisa.  It hit for 16.  She a rolled a 1 on her DC20 Fort save but used her hero point.  And made it.  For its last action, it threw a flask at Oakwood.  That hit for 5 acid which was also persistent.  (2d6+2) Oakwood charge it.  He hit for a net 3 and then took 8 more acid damage. 

The big guy charged to target Xeelie and hit her for 24.  Plus, that 1d6 infernal persistent bleed.  And then shifted her out of her reach.  And missed with its reach glaive.  And then used his beard and hit TerStegan yet again.  For a normal hit of 10.  TerStegan hit him back for 19.  And again for 14.  He tried to Demoralize him but didn’t roll anywhere high enough.  Clarisa moved closer to the big guy who was “near death” and used an Electric Arc between it and one of the flying guys.  Both saved for half.  It was only 5 but at least they didn’t resist any of it.  Brisco did the same but only one took half and the other took none.  He then healed Xeelie for a bunch.  The resulting Reactive Strike missed him.  Xeelie stepped to get within range and hit with a hero point.  That did 16 which was 11 which was enough to drop it.  She did Recall Knowledge on the flying guy.  It had the same “default devil stuff” as the other one.  The one flying guy took a 5-foot step and disappeared.  We assume, turned invisible and flew off.  The other did the same.  Oakwood had low odds to Seek it so he emptied his water skin and got rid of the persistent acid instead. 

Paul stepped away and was skipped.  Clarisa cast a AOE heal but it was only 1^st level so it was only 4 points.  Brisco used his keen Halfling eyes to Seek the invisible devil.  He rolled a blind roll.  He did not find anything, despite his bonuses.  He used a hero point and this time was confident there was nothing in his Seek area.  He then used Administer First Aid on Xeelie.  The DC was only 20, the same as the flat check, so he made that with no problem.  Non bleeding Xeelie then picked up the shield and then moved north to pick up the glaive.  He noticed the flying guys in that room and saw them fly away.  Quickly.  (We then figured they were using Dimension Door to get around.)  Brian wanted to end the encounter but Oakwood had one last power to use at the bottom of the order.  The Dash of Herbs allows a save against disease.  Because Brian didn’t want to do the bookkeeping, he just said it worked and people saved.  It shouldn’t have been that easy but we said thank you and moved on.  The glaive was +1 and the shield was cold iron.  We almost quit for the night but Paul returned so we thought we’d finish off the last two doors.  We opened the door.  In there was a torturous room.  The equipment rack was missing the equipment the devils were using.  It was otherwise unremarkable.  TerStegan remember the clue from Dr. Whatshisname and went to the lose floor tile.  In there were 5 potions and another letter.  The letter was from Dr. Quagmire.  More delusional ramblings of barely useful stuff.  Mostly about devils and how they were reasonable, dangerous, and deadly.  One vial was Portal paint and the rest were Skeptic potions. And nothing else. 

The last door of the night lead into the arena.  The room was large as was the description.  Once again, there were tempting words about treasures in the pile of garbage to entice (trick) us into entering.  The Cheerer Man was still there, watching.  TerStegan went in and started searching.  The rest followed.  Someone shoved Brisco into the room and the door locked behind us.  The arena started up and Brian read the usual text about how we have no choices.  We had to fight Belcora’s champion, Caliddo Haruvex.  He promised us 10k gold if we won.  We assumed that would never happen so it must be a “runaway” challenge in order to get a draw.  (Metagaming)  Xeelie, who was detecting magic, felt the doors were magically locked behind us.  The doors to the north were protected by formidable portcullises.  The main viewing area was 40 feet up the shear walls.  In the 3 corners were items we thought might hold the key to our escape.  The closest one had a fine silky powder in it which Brisco picked up on his turn.  The golem said that if Clarisa went with it to serve Belcora, he’d let the rest of us live.  (The GM attached Clarisa’s back story to Belcora.)  She tried to stall it by pretending to negotiate with him.  “Tell me more about this fabulous job opportunity.”  She rolled a 19, used a hero point and got a 27. 

Oakwood activated his dashing bracelet to move 35 for a minute.  And moved up 70, seeing one of those aberrations, watching and taking notes from the gallery.  He was heading for the chain shirt in the far corner but was reminded of the hand crossbow Xeelie’s mother had given us.  And the Climbing Bolt that would go up 50 feet.  TerStegan moved to a portcullis and pulled out the Otari key.  Xeelie examined the pouch but Identify is an encounter activity.  I.e. took too long.  She did her Lore on the golem first and rolled poorly.  She used a hero point and rolled a 20.  It is undead and had many immunities but no weaknesses.  It was a Grave Knight.  Generally, very high up on the food chain.  High AC.  He passed that on to us which the Grave Knight overheard.  That did not help Clarisa’s bluffing.  She then rolled on the dust.  She thought it was just garbage, left here over the years.  (I.e. more enticements to get us in here.)  Brisco stayed near Clarisa to support her deception.  Clarisa had to move closer to it to appear cooperative but she could move inefficiently.  Two actions of movement and one to convince him.  She only got a 23 this time and it decided she was lying.  Brisco tried to support her but needed a 20 on the die.  His RP tale moved it down to an 18 but he still rolled a 20.  That bought us another round. 

Oakwood, giving up on the chain shirt, moved into a corner to get some cover.  He pulled out the crossbow and fired at the helpless ceiling.  And rolled a 1.  He used a hero point and rolled a 4 which became a 14 which was enough to get a critical success.  Because he was against the wall, it would be easier to climb up with foot holds.  The Grave Knight only moved up another move thanks to the actions Clarisa and Brisco had used to stall it.  TerStegan wanted to use his Lifting Belt which would lift 8 bulk as if it was nothing.  However, there are mechanisms to overcome so it wasn’t simply a weight issue.  So, he used the Knock feature on Otari’s key (+4) and had to make a Force Open Athletics check.  But he didn’t have a crowbar which gave him a -2.  Brian made him a Jon deal.  20 gp to “happen” to have a 5 sp crowbar to avoid the -2.  Which he reluctantly took but then Xeelie suggested he use the newly acquired +1 glaive to pry it up.  New deal.  Use the glaive but it would be ruined.  He needed get a 25 and got a 25.  That was all his actions but it was wedged opened.  Xeelie was next.  She cast Loose Time’s Arrow.  That gave everyone a Quicken action to step or stride on their next turn.  She then moved up the stairs behind the portcullis. 

Clarisa realized the Knight wasn’t buying it any more so she ran up the stairs and on to the map, one level above.  Brisco did the same.  Oakwood used his Burning Jet to get up 25 feet, then used Assurance to climb the rest on the rope.  And then used the Quicken to move again.  He was still holding the rope since he couldn’t spare the action to try to pull it free.  Unfortunately, the Knight went next and TerStegan was still in there.  But it couldn’t quite get to him so he summoned a flying phantom steed instead.  TerStegan moved on to the other map.  Xeelie moved to be even with the back rank and cast Bless with her last 2 actions.  That new map was at the grand hallway that led to the circular stairs up and down.  Clarisa delayed until after Oakwood, not sure what to do.  Oakwood gave the rope to Brisco and then grabbed Clarisa and Jetted to the upper hallway.  He was heading for the exit asap.  Brisco made a crazy Acro roll to get up there and ran past the other two.  Clarisa pulled a rope out and tossed it over the edge.  It went next.  It flew 60 but lost some movement gaining altitude.  It still got over us.  (Any hopes that it wouldn’t leave the arena were dashed.)  TerStegan zipped up the rope in one action and picked up Clarisa.  He then used his Helmet to stride twice which got them at the portcullis.  Xeelie ran to the circular stairway instead with the intent of heading to the teleportation circle. 

Oakwood triple moved, slid under the portcullis we had jammed open and got into the exit tunnel we had cleared out.  At this point, the chronicler went to bed.  He assumes once everyone slipped under the portcullis and/or got out of the dungeon, the Knight turned back.  And Xeelie managed to find her own way through the teleportation circle network.  I think the only things left on level 6 are the Hydras and the treasure hoard of the water demon that almost killed us a couple times ago.  And the arena of course but that guy had just proven to be unfair so hopefully we can avoid that.     

They were down Oakwood and Xeelie but decided to press forward until they hit a fight where it was clear the smaller group was in over their heads. They crushed a group of Ice Cubes (frozen Gelatinous Cubes).  They smeared a pair of Ochre Jellies.  That was a bit of a slog since they were immune to most normal attacks. TerStehgen insisted Clarissa pick up all the crap from that encounter since it could net the group 10s of silver pieces each.  FYI: Clarissa has about 10 Bulk worth of miscellaneous “group” stuff in her bag.  In the last encounter, they were quickly in over their heads.  It went like this:

Round 1 -

The hidden monster stayed hidden and prepared an attack once a PC came into reach.

Briscoe spotted the hidden monster.

TerStehgen ran forward, did some damage and took maybe 20HP from a single attack (and made a DC26 Will save).

Clarissa did maybe 35HP with Force Barrage.

Round 2 -

The monster Critically Hit TerStehgen who made a critical save (making him immune to that portion of the attack going forward).

And then the monster hit a second time and down went the Fighter. 

They stopped there.  Assuming we add one or more characters next time, they will roll initiative and get slotted into the combat based on that.  They are at 27 in the order with the monster having just gone, so don’t roll too high or you’ll miss the round.  Can Oakwood or Xeelie save the day? Or more likely, distract the monster long enough for Brisco to heal TerStegan so that he can save the day.

The GM expects the survivors to make 7^th level at the end of the next game as this level of the dungeon is almost complete.  So, start planning.

We decided to deliver the head to the mummy in hopes of getting the pass key to the saw traps.  That way, we could finish off that level.  Just being in his presence caused everyone to have Frighten 1 with no save.  He gave us the pass phrase to turn it off for 1 minute.  He went back to preparing to leave so hopefully he’s stuck in a loop like a lot of the noncombat NPCs down here and won’t ever leave.  We went back to the gladiator lounge and into the mural room.  Unfortunately, Zara was still in there and she gave us a hard time.  We decided to just go around a different way rather than deal with her.  Through the kitchen area.  We hurried through the area, chanting the phrase.  The first room was empty.  The next was locked.  Xeelie was eager to search the bones but we weren’t sure how long this trap worked.  Oakwood argued we could search after the rest of the party got out of that room.  He checked his keys and Brian decided it shouldn’t have been locked in the first place.  That room looked like a blood-stained office.  We searched and the only thing we found was another alchemist lab but it was another 5 bulk.  However, Clarisa’s bag could hold 25 so she had plenty of room.  Xeelie went back into the saw room to search the bones.  However, a search took 10 minutes.  A minute later, a saw blade shot out and did 12 points of damage.  There were also 3 glue bombs.  TerStegan took one and the others went into the party stash to be sold.  And there was a door going back down to level 6. 

Xeelie wanted to try disabling the traps.  But it was a DC26 thievery check, once for each of the 6 blades.  She and TerStegan and Oakwood jumped in the room and tried to disable them.  TerStegan and Oakwood critically failed and were attacked.  Oakwood was missed but TerStegan was critted.  He started swinging and missing.  He crit failed again and was crit again.  Xeelie crit failed, used a hero point and succeeded.  Oakwood failed and was crit.  TerStegan finally hit it but most of it bounced.  He tried, crit failed and was crit.  We ended up in initiative order.  Xeelie failed, the saw attacked Oakwood for another crit, Oakwood stepped out of the room with his 15 hit points and cast a Protector Tree.  Clarisa deferred.  TerStegan disabled the last one.  Oakwood did a round of healing.  While we waited for 10-minute, we searched the bones and found nothing but bones.  A complete waste of time.  Through peep holes in the walls, we did get to see the other fighting group in their rooms so Xeelie did her lore thing on the undead demon thing.  That took 10 minutes so we healed again.  All told, it was 30 minutes of recovery time. 

We went down the newly found stairs which emptied to the south end of the viewing area of the operating room.  There was a door down on this end which TerStegan opened.  In there was a bunch of broken wooden furniture.  There was also an eerie full-length mirror.  TerStegan suggested that a mirror shouldn’t work without light so proposed using his darkvision to search the room.  He stepped in, closed the door and looked around a bit.  He looked at the mirror to prove he had no reflection and saw a distorted TerStegan.  He won initiative and with his remaining action, tried to make a thievery check to cover it.  He failed.  It missed and then hit for 29.  And then a fort save which he missed for Drained 1.  It had a +19 attack.  Xeelie steeped in, saw two reflections, was crit hit for 55 and missed a Fort save for Drained 1.  And successfully covered the mirror.  And fled.  The trap was bested.  We spent more time healing.  TerStegan and Xeelie wanted to take it back to the cabin.  Oakwood and Brisco were against it.  Clarisa voted for chaos so we took it.  They had visions of using it to guard the house or vex our foes or something.  We needed a night’s rest to reset the Drained so we headed back home.

That night, Clarisa was attacked by the mirror in the bathroom.  Evidently the cursed mirror had infected our cabin mirrors.  It critically hit her for 53 points.  She made the Fort save at least.  She left the room after much confusion about the map.  Xeelie made a lore roll and thought a religion roll could exercise it.  It was a haunt, not a trap or a monster.  Brisco had the highest religion skill but was obstructive on general principles.  “You three brought it in here, why is this my problem.”  But we talked him into it so we could move on with our lives.  Xeelie aided for a +2 with a 20.  Brisco rolled a crappy 10, used a hero point and rolled a crit for a double crit.  And we cleansed the cabin and got a poor quality, full-length mirror for TerStegan for our efforts. 

We got a long rest and recovered from the Drained.  And then started making items since Xeelie currently existed.  TerStegan tried to get a job.  But first, he went to Wren to buy a Lifting Belt and scroll of Sure Strike for Xeelie.  Xeelie made Goggles of the Night for herself and Clarisa but she was a bit short of cash.  She sold some fancy bottles.  We sold the alchemist lab.  And argued about the second lab.  We all agreed that we put it into Clarisa’s bag of holding except Brian so we lost that argument.  TerStegan got a job at the Crow’s Cast, used a hero point and rolled great.  That only got him the job however.  On the earning roll, he rolled poorly for a 20.  That got him not much.  Oakwood went out with the lumber crews, made a diplomacy roll and made some popularity points with them.  That got him 7 silver pieces.  Brisco switched his Druid Crown to leaves mode and wandered about outside of town.  He was looking for the accountants, assuming they got away.  The not dead one was currently in custody, battling in the courts.  The vampire one had been killed, right? He looked for the guys they had hired but they were gone.  Xeelie gave Oakwood her Bracelet of Dashing rather than make a second one.  We spent one extra day to transfer the striking rune to TerStegan’s backup backup hand axe. 

We went back into the Gauntlight through the back door.  Oakwood said he was trying to obscure our tracks into it.  We didn’t want anyone wandering in.  We came down at the tavern and headed over to where the keys we picked up from Jafaki would open a door we couldn’t get through before.  However, we ran into some more monsters at the spiral staircase.  We fought here a couple games ago but evidently there was traffic coming up.  Two Dreshkan (electric spider bugs) and two Barbazu (devil minitours).  Brisco considered using a Blazing Bolt but there were too many walls in the way to target enough of them.  He moved up and cast Electric Arc, hitting two.  They saved for half for 3.  The electric bug guy took none.  One Barbazu took a step, used his reach glaive and attacked TerStegan.  He crit, of course, for 42 plus 2d6 bleed.  As a free action it moved him 10 feet and attacked with his beard.  And missed despite no MAP.  Xeelie did a 2-action heal on TerStegan for 25.  And then cast Life Boost on him.  The next Barbazu charged up and attacked Xeelie with a reach weapon through the doorway.  It missed and then used his beard to attack TerStegan and missed.  TerStegan got fast healing and cast Bless.  He attacked the Dreshkan to the south to try to get rid of the flanking.  He crit for 29.  And the Barbazu took 7 from the sweeping crit.  TerStegan took 13 from the bleed and missed the flat check.  That was a 20 DC so he needed a nat 20 to recover without aid.    

Another Dreshkan moved up, climbed onto the ceiling and over TerStegan to get past the glut of monsters around TerStegan.  TerStegan crit with his rection and did 26.  He did more sweep damage to the same one.  Xeelie noticed it was averting its gaze.  The last one hit TerStegan once for merely 12 and closed the door.  Oakwood was screwed by the closed door just like last time.  He turned on his damage aura, using cold instead of fire because of the devils.  And then stepped and opened the door.  Clarisa was going to do her missiles but Brian made him update his character to get the new and improved focus spell for an arcane dragon sorcerer.  She used that instead and hit one and crit another.  That did 17 and 16.  Some of it bounced off the devil.  And the last Dreshkan went.  It was definitely avoiding looking at the rest of the party.  It was allowed to share a space with another of its kind.  He tried to close the door against Oakwood’s athletics.  And beat it easily with a 17+12.  It shot something at TerStegan and missed.  Brisco was faced with a closed door again.  He moved up, opened the door, and moved in. 

A devil cast Dimension Door, unafraid of TerStegan’s used up reaction and appeared behind Clarisa.  It hit for 25 plus 1d6 bleed.  And then moved her 5 feet away from aid.  Xeelie at least had an open door.  She moved through Brisco and between two monsters.  A tight fit but Brian allowed it.  She did her lore on the bug and learned that they had had no weaknesses or resistances.  She got flanking and hit.  And did 16.  A devil hit TerStegan because of the flanking and did 19.  He moved him 5 feet and he fell down the pit 40 feet.  Brian made it make an athletics roll to get over the railing.  It did that with ease.  And TerStegan had no reaction to Grab an Edge.  That was 20 points of falling damage.  And then it crit Xeelie for 23 with its beard.  She made a Fort save.  Meanwhile, down below, TerStegan started prone.  He stood up in a red stone chamber with ominous doors at each compass point.  There was another devil ordering 4 blobs to the north but they didn’t notice him.  Or didn’t care.  He fled up the stairs.  Rather than calculate how far it was up, Brian decided it would take a couple of turns.  And then he took 7 points from the bleed.  A bug took 3 frost, and was still dazzled by our lights.  It missed Xeelie 3 times even with flanking.  They were definitely less dangerous.  The next one was also still dazzled.  It did a 30-foot cone Needle Spray.  It hit Oakwood and Xeelie but also two of his pals.  Only Oakwood missed his save for 11.  Oakwood considered using his AOE but could only get two of them so he attacked instead.  He missed but hit with the second and took one out.  And made the devil near Clarisa his prey. 

Clarisa took a step to avoid its reaction but it had reach.  It hit her but missed the crit by 1.  So, her spell went off and she missed with both claws.  She used a hero point and hit a devil for 21, 5 of which bounced.  She gave herself +1 AC from her blood line effect.  And then took 5 from the bleed.  The bottom bug did a Needle Spray on Brisco and Clarisa and they both saved for 9.  Brisco stepped 5 feet to target both bugs with a Blazing Bolt.  The devil missed with its reaction.  They both took 14 fire.  The devil behind Clarisa went next.  He reached Clarisa and did 24.  It pulled her towards her but she was already out.  It then moved near Oakwood and took 3 frost damage.  With flanking he hit for 18 plus the bleed.  Xeelie attacked the bug she had flanked and crit for 33.  She hit again for 19 and dropped it.  For her third action, she did lore on a devil and rolled a crit success.  It was weak to Holy, immune to fire, resistant to all physical and poison.  A devil missed Xeelie with a 1. He switched targets to Brisco, rolled a 2 and finally hit with its beard on its last action.  He took 10.  He made his Fort save.  TerStegan kept running.  He healed for 6 and then took 6 bleeding.  The last bug crawled on the ceiling and dropped in the middle of everything to get and give flanking.  It crit Xeelie with a claw for 8 points.  It hit Oakwood for 8.  Oakwood did Herbs on Clarisa at range.  And then hit a bug for 14.  He took 6 bleed but 3 was resisted by his Aeon stone.

Brisco did battle medicine of 29 on Xeelie and then failed on Oakwood.  He used a hero point and did 28.  And then took another step and critically failed on Clarisa.  He used a hobbit luck and gave her 32.  89 points of healing and 3 steps in one round.  Clarisa woke up.  She did a 3-action barrage without bothering to stand up, hitting the further but more injured devil.  44 points and killed it.  And then she bled a little.  The last devil took 3 frost and hit Oakwood for a meager 11.  It then cast Dimension Door to get to the floor of the pit.  We argued that he couldn’t possibly see down that far from where it was.  Brian assumed he could fall the rest without issue.  It was after 1AM and he was trying to finish up.  However, Xeelie could see down the hole from where she was at the railing and pulled out her starknife.  But she was at long range for it.  She rolled a 1 and used a hero point.  She crit with a nat 20.  She did 31, it resisted none and took some bleed from the crit specialization.  She then rolled another nat 20 and crit again.  That was 32 and killed it.  That last bug was declared dead. Brian assumed we would save the bleeding and healed up. We stopped there.  Reeling from another “random encounter” that lasted 3 rounds.

Brian healed us up at our cabin.  Since no one had any pressing business and Xeelie was not there to do any crafting projects, we decided to go back to the Gauntlight.  However, when we exited the front door, we found a basket with a note. It was from Wrin.  “The stars tell me you may need this soon.  Return it when done.”  It was a hand crossbow but it wasn’t magical or remarkable that we could tell.  It probably should have gone to Xeelie but she didn’t exist at the moment.  So, we gave it to Oakwood since he had the next highest Dex.  The only magic bolt we had was the climbing bolt in the party stash so he got that too.  We came in at the back entrance and plotted a path back to one of the ways down.  We decided to go by way of the mold trap and talk to the mummy.  We discussed burning away that mold since Brisco was not there to object.  But we were wary of starting a fire in a dungeon.  We were reminded that we had made a Nature roll at some point and learned that as long as we didn’t stay in the room more than a minute, we’d be okay.  So, we decided to live and let live.  We gave the head to mummy from Clarisa’s sleeves.  She was asked to make a Deception roll, rolled well but not well enough.  This was the wrong head.  We asked for a means to identify the right head but he was unhelpful.  We were going to kill them all anyway.  We went around through the gladiator lounge and down into the surgery room we almost died in last time. 

There was an alcove with the spider web that we walked past last time but this time it “looked odd”.  TerStegan put his hand through it and found it and the wall behind it was an illusion.  Behind it was another teleportation circle matching the one the gladiators had come through a level above.   Beyond that were double doors south into a hallway.  And then double doors to the south and west.  TerStegan failed to pick the lock to the south.  DC 30.  None of Oakwood's keys worked.  The west doors lead to the arena floor and didn’t loop around.  Nothing but the Cheery Man was in the arena.  We decided to bash the locked doors down.  Oakwood rolled a 24 to give TerStegan a plus one and he rolled a 28.  But it didn’t open.  Multiple rolls failed to achieve a 30 needed.  Finally, after ~10 tires he did it.  The lock was forced but the door was still substantial.  Behind it was an experimental/alchemist lab.  There were body parts on the wall and a screaming Morlock head.  And Jafaki, the very head we sought.  He was another large aberration.  Despite all the noise we made, he was working too hard to notice us.  This was our opportunity to avoid a combat with 3 players.  We closed the door and debated.  TerStegan was for fighting.  Since we knew it was coming, we could spell up for a change.  We decided to go for it.

Bless, Thermal Nimbus and Haste on TerStegan were cast.  We opened the door and he was waiting for us, floating 20 feet up.  It had a +19 initiative, of course.  Brisco showed up just in time but despite the fact that we opened the door, it went first.  It cast Phantasmic Killer at TerStegan who saved.  And then threw a Bottle of Lightning.  That hit for 17 plus 6 splash for Oakwood and Clarisa.  Brisco moved up and used his Druid Crown to cast Enlarge on TerStegan.  That should solve the flying problem, at least for him.  As TerStegan moved in, a Drider dropped from the ceiling and attacked with its glaive. With a readied action. (TerStegan was off guard because he didn’t see him.)  He did hit for 12 plus poison.  He failed that save for 6 and stupefied 1.  TerStegan continued to charge but had to save against a Mind Fog aura as well.  He missed that and used a hero point to save.  And after all that, he missed.  And then missed again.  The Drider then got his actual turn.  It attacked with a fang and hit for 15 and gave TerStegan another poison.  He crit saved against it and was unaffected.  It then stepped up into Oakwood’s aura and did a ranged attack.  That triggered a reactive strike from TerStegan due to his enlarged reach.  He hit for 28.  The range attack missed Oakwood.  Clarisa was next.  She did a Force Barrage on the big thing for 39.  Oakwood did hunted prey on the Drider and crit with a 20 for 35. 

Jafaki was next at the top of the order.  He moved on the ceiling but TerStegan had already reacted.  And cast Confusion on TerStegan who missed his will save of 26.  This one had a one-minute duration.  Sort of.  Brisco wanted to move through the Drider, willing to take an opportunity attack, to get to TerStegan.  But this is Pathfinder so he had to Tumble Through.  He failed that acro roll, used Hafling Luck, and failed again.  On his next action, he succeeded.  He then did Doctor’s Visit to move around behind TerStegan and did Battle Medicine for 35.  Next was confused TerStegan who was commanded with a reaction by Jafaki to attack Brisco.  Shimota protested to no avail.  “You can’t do that!”  At least he got a Will save to fight it off.  And failed that.  He only hit, for 23.  And then hit again for 25.  And then hit again for another 16.  And then took a hasted confused step back.  He then failed against the poison for 3 damage which gave him a flat check against the confusion which he made.  The Drider hit TerStegan with a ranged web and immobilized him against the wall.  And then tried the same on Oakwood who used his reactive shield to be missed.  And then closed the door.  Clarisa had no targets so she delayed her action.

DG complained that he had abandoned 6 plans, waiting for his turn to act.  Oakwood took a 5-foot step, opened the door, wished he had two actions to aid Brisco or TerStegan and missed with a one action attack.  But with the door open, Clarisa reentered the initiative order and fired a barrage at the Drider.  That did 13, putting it near death.  Jafaki cast confusion back on TerStegan who failed the save.  And then used a “quick consumption” ability to take a potion with his last action.  Elixer of Life.  Shimota protested to no avail.  “You can’t do that!” Brisco charged the beasts while doing a Doctor’s Visit on himself.  That got him away from the confused but stuck TerStegan.  He critted his Medicine roll for 34 points back.  And cast Tempest Surge on the Drider.  But he missed a confusion save from the aura first.  He used a hero point to save.  The Drider crit saved for no damage.  Bummer.  However, on its turn, it was killed by the fire aura.  TerStegan failed to resist Jafaki’s order.  He threw his hand axe at Brisco and did 14 and then another 16.  And then used his hasted action and missed.  And then crit failed against the poison again but for only 2 points.  But missed the flat check this time.  Oakwood wanted to target Jafaki and TerStegan with a Flying Flame but had to move under Jafaki to reach them both.  (After much discussion and trigonometry about the distance.)  He saved for half of 6 and TerStegan took it all.  Hardly worth the discussion time.  However, TerStegan got another flat check and snapped out of the confusion.  Clarisa moved into the room and did a level one barrage.  Saving against the confusion first retroactively.  She did 10. At least that moved it to injured.

Jafaki went next.  He made some sort of concerned plea in a language no one understood.  He cast confusion on Clarisa but she saved.  Her mind is tougher than the fighter.  And then he tossed a lightning flask at Brisco and missed.  But the splash damage still went but only for 2 points.  Brisco moved back towards TerStegan and away from the monster.  And did a Doctor’s Visit on TerStegan to treat his Stupefied.  He made his roll so reduced it by 1 level to level 1.  That at least helped his confusion save.  He wanted to throw his trident but the fact that it was still flying put it at an extra range increment so he gave Clarisa Guidance instead.  TerStegan missed his athletics roll to get free from the web.  He made the second roll and charged Jafaki.  But it was out of his reach so he threw his axe instead.  And did 10 points.  Oakwood missed the confusion aura save and then saved with a hero point.  He shot straight up and missed.  And then raise his shield.  Clarisa fired her last full Barrage at it and did 36. 

It went again.  It drank a potion, making him concealed in mist.  He moved down and took 5 points of fire aura damage.  And missed TerStegan with his rapier.  That was infused with high level poison.  Brisco cast Tempest Surge on it.  He had to beat the flat check, 3 instead of 5 because he’s a halfling.  It saved for half and took 12.  And then gave TerStegan guidance.  TerStegan was now in range of it.  He dropped his hand axe, gripped his big axe and started attacking.  He made the flat check and hit for 16.  And took him out. 

Oakwood did a round of Dash of Herbs while we sort through the loot.  They had a bunch of stuff.  Oakwood took the keys.  He tried to disconnect the screaming head and failed.  That unleashed a ball of green energy that flew around the bodies and flew off to parts unknown.  We rolled great on the identifications despite Xeelie’s absence.  But half way through, Brian just gave us the rest.  There was a lot of bulk and he wanted to distribute it.  But DG pointed out that if we split it up, we’d have to unsplit it to sell it eventually.  We decided to take anything useful, leave the rest in the stash and assume it sold in order to speed up the bookkeeping.  It still took some time.  The rapier was a +1 striking.  Brian stripped the striking part and gave that to TerStegan and left the rest in the stash for selling.  The composite longbow was +1 but it was sold.  There was another crafter’s eye piece that Oakwood took.  Two doses of antiplague potions.  A wand of peaceful rest which we sold.  Divine spell that stops bodies from becoming undead.  A wand of force barrage, rank 1 that we forced Clarisa to take.  Wyvern poison.  Elixir of Life.  Mist Form.  The big item was an Expanded Alchemist’s Lab.  +1 to crafting rolls.  I don’t know if it stacks with the eye piece.  We assumed it was sleeved or will be hauled on our next trip home.  All totaled was almost 400 gold including stuff we already had in the stash.  It was distributed and we stopped there.  

We started with no Brisco or Xeelie.  The door opened into a viewing hallway with more of that clear stone between us and the operating area, 5 feet below.  Brian put us into encounter mode even though we had yet to see any foes.  One foe had a +19 initiative, always a bad sign.  A large Destrachan.  There was also a Seugathi Researcher which forced a DC21 Will save.  The dreaded Confused.  Clarisa went first and missed that save.  She then crit Oakwood with TK projectile for 16.  And then punch at him and missed.  The effect would expire at the end of her turn but until you saved, we’d be saving again if still in the area.  And unknown thing went next and did an unknown thing.  On Oakwood’s turn, he rolled a 3 and was confused as well.  The GM made him use one blast and then 2 punches against Clarisa.  All of which thankfully missed.  Then the Destrachan moved up and bit TerStegan for 24 points.  TerStegan rolled a 3 for his save as well but he used a hero point to critically save.  He turned on his aura and missed with a 2.  He then used Snap Out of It on Clarisa and she saved against her confusion.  So, they were immune for a minute.

Clarisa blasted the big monster with missiles for almost 50, barely injuring it.  The previously unseen researcher moved up behind the hit point buffer and with reach, did an envenom strike on TerStegan.  And missed.  Oakwood made his save, turned on his aura and hit the big thing with two fire attacks for 22.  On its turn, it took 5 points for the fire aura and did a sonic blast which TerStegan countered with his performance.  He rolled a 28 for a successful save.  (The DC was a 25 reflex.)  So, we all took half of 29.  And then it bit TerStegan for 21.  Brisco showed up but rolled too high for initiative so went after TerStegan at the top of the next round.  TerStegan cast Bless and then crit the big thing for 39. 

Brisco was too far away for the mind fog but since we were fighting in a hallway, it was a challenge to get to TerStegan.  He cast a Heal at range for 37.  And threw his trident and hit for 9.  Clarisa finished it off with a TK projectile and then cast Shield.  The researcher stepped forward and missed TerStegan twice.  Oakwood designated it as his prey and then missed with a 2-action fire spear.  TerStegan crit for 34 and then hit for 19.  Brisco made the confusion save with ease and cast splash on TerStegan.  And then did 11 with his trident.  Clarisa finished this one off as well.  Oakwood healed everyone poorly and Brisco treated him.  TerStegan took its head but we weren’t 100% sure if this was the guy the mummy wanted.  It did have a magic wand.  Clarisa tried to identify it but failed.  TerStegan succeeded with the same roll because it was an occult spell so the DC was slightly lower for him.  It was a Status spell.  It wasn’t much use to us but worth 160 gold so we’ll sell it.  Those two attempts took time so Oakwood topped everyone off. 

We shoved the bodies aside and moved into a room.  There was a wall full of glyphs similar to the ones we’d seen before that control the stone walls.  These were set “off” to allow passage.  Oakwood tried his wall but it was solid.  But over nearer the glyphs, it was off.  There were ladders attached to the wall going down.  TerStegan went down and looked about.  There were crystals that Oakwood examined but he rolled crap for crafting so any potential value was unknown.  At the furthest end were the stairs up that we came down and then fled a couple games ago.  Because Brian kept mentioning it, TerStegan checked out the drain. There was water in it and he was able to move the drain cover aside.  The water was deep.  TerStegan used his grappling hook to search around.  He did see some glowing mushrooms and could see it opened up into a bigger area.  At the hydra lake area level? After much discussion, Oakwood went in with his bottle of air and a rope around him.  He went straight down and looked around.  It was certainly attached to the lake and this section was a bit deeper.  It looked like a lair.  But it would take 10 minutes to do a full search and he could hold his breath for 9 rounds.  With the bottle of air, he could do it but it seemed complex.  Plus, the hydras were still alive so it didn’t seem wise to stay down too long. 

He decided to come up at which point a Sarglagon attacked.  Devilish underwater aberration? Evidently, it made its perception roll for the round or two he was down there.  Oakwood rolled a 25 for initiative but its stealth roll was much higher.  He needed to make a DC 26 Fort which he missed.  He used a hero point and succeeded only because of the +10.  He was sickened 1 from water magically appearing in his lungs.  It then critically hit for 40.  (It had a +20 attack.)  And then a DC 26 Fort for poison which he missed.  That’s clumsy 1 and poisoned starting at stage 1.  Thankfully it didn’t have a tentacle grab power sort of thing to pull him under.  Brisco moved once to get down to the same level.  But Oakwood was still several feet down in the drain and it would take another action to drop prone to reach him.  He simply didn’t have the actions to do battle medicine.  So, he used Aid to help TerStegan pull him out with the rope.  He made the 15 roll with a 6. 

But Oakwood was next.  After checking to see when the poison got worse, it hit him with an aura.  He critically failed that, used a new hero point and merely failed with a 1.  Encumbered.  I.e really heavy.  He used Burning Jet to leap 40 feet without evoking reactions.  However, because he was threading through the drain hole, he had to make a targeting Acrobatics roll.  On which he finally rolled double digits.  And ended up not quite as far as he hoped but got out of the aura.  And then wretched and saved against the sickened.  And then saved against the poison at the end, reducing it to stage 0.  TerStegan replaced the grate for an action but there wasn’t really anything locking it down.  And then he grabbed Brisco and moved away.  Clarisa moved down the stairs and put a Floating Flame on top of the grate in case it came up. 

We took a breath but the 64-dollar question was could it follow through the drain.  It was large but slimy.  And perhaps deterred by Oakwood’s Flame Jet and Clarisa’s Flame Sphere.  Brisco did battle medicine on Oakwood for 30 and then climbed up the stairs.  TerStegan moved up and prepared to turn on the walls.  But Clarisa was still down there.  She moved up and sustained her Flame on the grate just in case.  On its turn, it appeared at the secret door we came in.  Evidently it had a fly speed and could slither through hallways despite its large size.  It was later revealed it had a Dimension Door spell that it has used to help cover the distance.  It crit Brisco with a tentacle for 38 and he failed the poison save for Poisoned 1, Clumsy 1 and 8 more points.  On its third attack, it only hit with a fang for 33 and took him out.  Full to out in a round. 

Oakwood took a 5-foot step, got into its aura and crit failed a Will save with a 2.  He was encumbered again, this time for 3 rounds regardless of proximity.  He picked up Brisco but that weight made him encumbered which in this aura meant he couldn’t move.  So, he dropped his shield as a free action and got under the limit.  Then used Qi Rush to step 5 and move 15 away from it.  (-10 move from the crit fail.)  He assumed it had reactive strikes since it seemed to have everything else.  TerStegan turned on his aura, moved, swung, and missed.  Clarisa used her last 3^rd level missiles and barely dented it for 37.  Brisco then rolled a 1 for his dying check and went to Dying 3.  He could have use his last hero point to reroll but saved it for when he died.  But he still had to make the poison save.  He missed that and was dead from that damage at Dying 4.  He used that hero point to cheat death and reset to unconscious.  The GM allowed that to also save against the poison and it to reset his conditions. 

And then suddenly it was its turn again.  It hit but didn’t crit TerStegan for 28.  And then hit again for 21.  And he crit failed his poison save for another 11.  And its last attack hit due to the clumsy condition and he took 18.  (That’s 78 in one round for those keeping score.  Plus, multiple conditions.)  Oakwood did battle medicine on Brisco for 19 and put up a Timber Sentinel next to TerStegan.  TerStegan had already saved against the aura.  He missed his attack and had no hero points.  But Brian thought we were due two hero points.  (Things were intense and no one was watching the clock.)  So, Oakwood and Clarisa got one.  He hit with his second attack for 13 and cast Shield.  And then failed his poison save at the end of his round and dropped.  Clarisa considered many options including swapping cards since she had 3 hero points to burn.  She did a recall knowledge and missed.  And used a hero point to succeed.  And learned it was immune to fire, being a devil and vulnerable to Holy which no one had.  So, she didn’t cast a wand fireball as she had planned.  She cast missiles, swapped Oakwood card to heighten it one level to 3^rd and did 38.  Brisco crawled 5 feet and cast ranged heal on TerStegan for 42.

It cast a spell.  TerStegan stopped pretending to be out but missed with his opportunity attack.  (Since he dropped his axe when he went out, it was only a bite.)  It fired a line of water.  Brisco, TerStegan and Oakwood somehow saved for half for 14.  Since it knew TerStegan was alive, it bit him with a crit.  He took 56 less 30 from the tree and barely stayed up.  (Although still prone.)  Oakwood healed TerStegan for 15 and then hit it for 8, 5 of which bounced. Clarisa did a 2^nd level missile for 17.  Brisco stood up, moved to TerStegan and did his doctor’s visitation for 27.  And then did a treat poison, granting him a +2 on his next save against the poison.  TerStegan grabbed his axe, stood up and attacked.  And missed with a 6.  And used his hero point and hit.  He did 27 and killed it.  3 rounds of terror.  He then missed the poison save again and took 16.  Luckily the poison wore off in 3 rounds so we assumed he’d live with us patching him.  Brian assumed we’d live to get back to the cabin via the rear entrance.  It had nothing in its pockets but we assume anything it had was back at its lair under the water.  And we were worried about a couple of measly hydras.  Yikes.   

We started with a Battle of the Bands in the tavern that had no business exiting down here.  I.e. a skill challenge.  Oakwood used acrobatics, rolled a 7 for an 18 and lost.  Brisco used his Wildsong (nature) augmented with a summon animal for a +1, rolled a 10 for a 25 and a win.  Clarisa breathed fire with a focus spell to use intimidation, rolled a 14 for a 26 and a win.  TerStegan finished with performance with musical accompaniment cantrip for +1, rolled an 8 for a 24.  That was a tie but it went to us.  Lastly was a group roll with a +3 for the 3 individual successes.  TerStegan rolled that for us, rolled a 15, got a 32 for a win.  But he wanted better so he used a hero point and rolled a 4 (14) for a 31 and a win.  No cash prize.  Nothing gained.  The band left the stage to their room behind.  We talked to a Morlock barmaid.  She was eager to “go under the knife” and be upgraded like the Female Drider bouncer.  Evidently, they were all waiting for the call.  The drink options were poor after 500 years.  Unfortunately, only TerStegan could speak undercommon so the rest of us were sidelined.  He tried to get directions to the head surgeon but they were pretty convoluted.  But truthfully, we were going to go into every door eventually so it really didn’t matter.

The closest door was where the band went.  It had some stage props and another door.  The band was in this room, smoking some stuff.  TerStegan talked to them a bit but they had nothing useful to say other than don’t piss off the Drider.  The next door was into the band’s dining room.  Another door lead back to the bar and to another door.  That door led to a room with no doors, some sort of office.  And an unknown creature.  She spoke 3 unknown languages until she got to undercommon.  She offered to hire us as the new band when TerStegan told her we beat the current band.  She fired them on the spot but TerStegan talked her into keeping them since we had better things to do.  She then said the audience over, get out.  So, we left. 

We were back to the tavern.  We went through a door behind the bar that led into the kitchen.  The bartender was annoyed but didn’t do anything.  There were 3 people, chained in alcoves.  One was an unconscious drow, obviously beaten.  The deep gnome looked okay and the 3^rd was a human woman with a missing hand and hanging from a hook.  We shut the door before we started talking to them.  The drow said he was waiting to be transformed.  He had been captured from his drow land, deeper underground.  TerStegan tried to get more information on where and what that was but didn’t get anything.  I suspect the module left that undefined.  I.e. it was “elsewhere.”  He was going to try to pick their locks with Xeelie missing but Oakwood’s key to the cabin was similar enough to work.  The drow thought he could find his way out if we took him to the central spiral staircase.  The gnome was evasive about his home but took the same deal.  TerStegan asked them to put in a good word for us in their homeland in case we ever ended up there.  They promised to take the human with them since she was pretty out of it.  We did pick up a jar of deadly nightshade mushrooms in that room, assuming it was worth something. 

There was one last door into a pantry.  However, it was full of yellow mold.  DC 26 Fort.  TerStegan crit failed that for drained 2 and 4 points of damage.  Brisco tried a treat poison on him and rolled a medicine check.  He succeeded and gave him a +2 on his next save which was next round.  He got a success and dropped one stage.  Brisco’s next roll was a failure but not a critical failure.  However, TerStegan crit failed the next save and took 16.  Brisco gave him an antivemon potion for +1, missed a medicine, used a hero point and did a crit success.  That all gave him a +5 but he still failed and stayed at drained 3.  The next time he rolled well but the spores expired after 6 rounds anyway.  But there might be treasure in there so we kept at it.  Brisco went and talked to the spores but could only manage a 15 diplomacy roll.  But the GM made him open the door first so he had to make a save.  And now he was poisoned.  He stepped in to do a quick search since it couldn’t get worse? He spotted a potion and grabbed it.  His next save was a crit fail, stage 3 and took 11.  He tried to treat poison but failed.  He missed that save and took 21.  Oakwood gave him his antivemon potion and he eventually got better.  Oakwood did his healing thing and then Brisco did treat wounds on both as well.  It took a total of 30 minutes to get them both back up.  And probably more wall clock than that.  The potion turned out to be a moderate healing potion but since we used two potions in getting it, it was probably a net loss. 

The next door led into another teleportation room that was being used as a store room.  TerStegan and Clarisa were experts in the needed skills.  She made the roll but he did not so it was not activated.  Another hour used up.  Oakwood convinced them that we really didn’t need to fix this one right now.  We moved on.  We went through the bar and out the main double doors.  No one objected to the freed prisoners coming with us.  That led to a short hallway that then went to a long hallway.  That led to the room Clarisa fell down into.  But that finally got to the spiral stairway.  However, we ran into a couple guards.  The large Seugathi guard went first.  It moved up and used its reach longsword on TerStegan.  But it licked it first to add poison to it.  And crit with 20.  22 points plus another Fort save.  He crit saved that.  Brisco started within the range of the Pitiful Moan but made his Will save.  He moved into the stairway and did Rousing Splash on TerStegan across the gap.  TerStegan made that Will save as well.  But he was in another aura and made that one too.  He turned on his aura, stepped forward and attacked the large thing.  And did a mere 15.  Oakwood turned on his aura, moved up but not close enough and crit with a blast.  But sleepy DG accidently did vitality damage so he did none.

Clarisa moved up and missed with a TK Projectile.  I think she was the only one to miss a save for sickened 1.  The small guard missed TerStegan with a claw.  It tried to push past him but failed.  And missed again.  The big one acrobatically managed to slide past TerStegan to get flanking.  Although he did take damage from Oakwood’s fire.  He then crit because of the flanking and TerStegan took another 21. TerStegan made that save.  And it missed on its last attack.  Brisco saved and used Electric Arc.  One crit made and on crit missed.  And then missed with his trident.  TerStegan attacked the small one to remove the flanking advantage and crit.  He did 33 and killed it.  It exploded and did acid to most of us.  We all saved but the big one did not.  So, we took none.  TerStegan then swept over to the big one and did 21.  Oakwood hit for 18 and then missed.  Clarisa had to move a bit to get a shot.  She did the TK thing and hit this time.  It was only 9 but it was enough to drop it.  TerStegan got some healing and we sent the prisoners on their way down the stairs.

On the other side of the stairs was a door.  That led to a T.  To the north we thought it went to a viewing area to see the hydras.  To the south, was a room with two alcoves and a door across.  That door was more of an image of a door with no handle.  We were suspicious.  We spiked the entry door open.  The alcoves had key holes.  A round hole for a round key that we found earlier.  Oakwood turned the key and the north door closed, despite our spikes.  But turning it, the other way opened it again.  The other alcove had 4 key holes and we didn’t have that key.  Evidently it would take a master thievery and 4 high DC successes to pick it.  So, a dead end.  We went around the other way through more hydra viewing hallways.  That ended in a wall that looked an awful lot like it should be a door.  It took some rolls but we found the hidden pressure plate eventually.  We think the surgeon guy the mummy wants us to kill is just around the corner.  Another boss battle in a 10 by 20 room.  Next time.     

Once we got going, we entered the dungeon via the Pirate’s Hideout entrance we had dug out last time.  We were stopped at the door by 3 bounty hunters.  They were looking for the werewolf Druid we had killed some while back.  We noted their wanted poster quoted a 1000 gp reward whereas we only got 300.  Evidently the prices were better if you were a member of the guild.  They eyed TerStegan with suspicion, thinking he looked a bit furry.  He told them the tale of how we fought the werewolf and that convinced them.  It was a bunch of conversation that amounted to not much.  TerStegan asked if they had any other bounties but they weren’t going to give away their business.  Eventually, they just left.  So much for our hidden entrance that was instantly found. 

We then headed to the secret door to the south of one of the old guard rooms.  It was a dusty bedroom, maybe for the head guard.  The only thing that ended up amounting to anything was a foot locker.  It had a hat, pouch, and a book.  Clarisa tried to read aura on the book but it fell apart in her hands.  Dan missed a thievery roll that Clarisa was so untrained in, he didn’t know such a skill existed.  There was a debate as to why she’d have to handle it in the first place but we lost.  It was ruled too destroyed to use the first level Mending spell.  From the scraps, it had had some crafting formulas so only Xeelie really cared.  The pouch has 25 gp worth of green gems. Xeelie failed to identify the hat but took some extra time and succeeded on her second try. It was a Hat of Disguise (greater) worth 340 gp.  Xeelie already had a Scarf of Disguise but the hat gave you unlimited uses per day.  That’s probably needed for any serious infiltration.  But like a lot of these sorts of deception things, it is hard to use in a group.  I think the plan is to sell it.

The next door lead to a long corridor downish to the back of another secret door.  That opened to a walkway/viewing area around the battle arena.  The Cheery Man was still there but no one was fighting.  On the west end of the arena was a huge pile of rotting garbage.  We moved in, ignoring the Cheery Man, and up to another secret door.  It was a stone window up a bit.  With a boost, it was a one-way window that we couldn’t see through.  According to the mummy’s map, there was a viewing area behind it.  Past the Cheery Man we could see broken stone statues although the giant spider one looked okay.  TerStegan asked if anyone had a stone to flesh spell. Just in case.  No one did.  We decided to avoid the Cheery Man and the statues but when he called out, TerStegan walked up and started talking to him. “We were afraid you’d make us fight.”  “Make you? No.  But you might want to turn around.”  There were 3 Basilisks.  So much for avoiding the stone spider statue. 

The first one attacked TerStegan with a bite and rolled a 1.  And tried again and crit with a 20 for 30 points.  Brisco went next.  At the start of his turn, the basilisk used its reaction to turn him to stone a bit.  Slowed 1 on a failed Fort save.  He did his doctor visitation on TerStegan for 25.  And threw his trident for 16.  Xeelie was next but a basilisk reacted on her first.  TerStegan used his Counter Performance to use his Performance roll but both rolls would have succeeded.  She cast Loose Time’s Arrow, quickening all but distant Clarisa.  And did her knowledge thing and crit succeeded.  Unfortunately, it had no weaknesses.  Clarisa was too far away to be slowed, hit the injured one with Magic Missiles for 22 points.  The second basilisk did a petrifying gaze (not the glancing reaction) on TerStegan.  He made the 22 Fort save.  And moved away a bit.  And did its reaction on TerStegan’s turn.  He missed the save for slowed 1.  He started his aura and attacked the damaged one.  He crit for 45.  Overkilling it, likely.  He then moved with the quicken.  The last basilisk hit the flanked TerStegan for 9 and did its gaze on Xeelie.  She failed for Slowed 1.  Oakwood didn’t get glanced because he was around the corner at the start of his turn.  He turned on his damage field, quickened moved, missed with a 6 and missed with a 3.

Slowed Brisco did Rousing Splash on someone for temp hit points.  Slowed Xeeile did her knowledge thing and hit for 18.  Clarisa moved up and did the Avert Gaze action to give her +2 on the Fort save.  A basilisk did a gaze on TerStegan and he saved.  And then tried a bite and missed.  TerStegan had flanking with Oakwood and crit for 35.  And rolled a 1 on the next attack.  The other basilisk tried to gaze TerStegan but Xeeile did a reaction first.  (Her class’s reactive attack include concentrate as a trigger.)  And crit killed it.  Oakwood double moved to get flanking again and then missed.  After he saved on the glance.  Brisco cast Tangle Vine to limit its movement by 10 fearing it might flee?  Clarisa used a missile barrage on it.  The basilisk got one more turn, gazing at TerStegan.  But Xeelie got her reaction back and attacked first.  TerStegan saved and Xeelie did 17.  On its last action, it bit for 9.  TerStegan hit with a 4 and did 27, finishing it off. 

We had more conversations with the Cheery Man.  He was trying to talk us into fighting.  He had a variety of options.  Groups, single, various difficulty levels.  He offered 200 gp for the group for a group fight.  Cash whore TerStegan was tempted.  It took a while but we finally pried everyone away from him.  During all that, Oakwood healed the wounded with his Dash of Herbs.  We wandered around the level and got to an unopened door.  It was a room with old bottles and surgical equipment.  Oakwood upgraded his healing kit.  Brisco searched and found a round key which Oakwood added to his key ring. We refocused while Xeelie failed to repair a push cart found in there.  We had a retro-active discussion on the possible value of basilisk body parts.  They had no value but the blood of a recently killed one could be used to reverse those being recently petrified. But we had avoided that but it was good to know.

We moved down a hallway to more double doors that led into the viewing room we had assumed from the window.  It looked like a dining room that had been thrashed.  And there were a couple of ghosts, wearing old fashionable noble clothes.  They were throwing stuff at each other.  We could see that stone window and some glyphs used to control it? The ghosts were ignoring us.  Xeelie tried a roll to figure out what they needed but Brian put us into combat first.  They were “naturally invisible.”  Oakwood rolled a 20 Society to try to figure out their problem.  They said “they were trapped in the arena.”  Brisco deferred his turn.  Xeelie rolled her esoteric lore and got a 26.  “There’s no path to escape.”  Brian was hoping for all the answers but obviously the GM was just giving clues.  Brisco jumped into the initiative and tried to talk to them.  He offered to show them the way out but they were not being reasonable.  Stuck in their curse.  Some of us thought the runes might be the key so Brisco moved to them.  They went next and attacked.  One did a TK Storm AOE but missed on all 3 attack rolls.  It then it threw a cup and missed.  The next one tried to Fear Clarisa but she saved.  And then hit Xeelie for 17.  TerStegan missed the invisible one but the fear attack made the other one visible and he hit that one for 12.  Clarisa tried her Vitality Lash but it saved for half damage.  At least it worked. 

Oakwood turned on his fire damage stance, moved pass them and missed a sad Occult roll on the glyphs.  Xeelie crit the visible one for 46.  And hit again for 18.  13, actually since it had 5 points of resistance.  Brisco had a 1 Arcane skill but rolled a nat 20 to figure out the glyphs.  He then spent 2 actions opening the window.  And as a free action, he mentioned it to them. And they flew off.  Oakwood topped off Xeelie’s hit points and we searched the room, looking for anything of value.  Xeelie found the magic window wall.  Brisco found a small metal box, dented and locked.  It was jammed so he gave it to our thief to open.  Xeelie failed but she heard something rattling around in it.  She used the Knock spell on the skeleton key and tried again.  A 30 opened it to find a ring.  It had a small skull on it, chewing on something.  Clarisa knew that was the symbol of Nimbeloff.  Xeelie tried to identify it.  It was a Ring of Wizardry.  That’s +1 to Arcana rolls and two extra 1^st level arcane spells a day.  A pricey 7^th level object.  Clarisa was the obvious choice but Dan didn’t see any value in two extra 1^st level spells. He hardly ever used 1^st level spells and never ran out of them. The current version of Xeelie could cast arcane spells so she took it.  Extra 1^st level spells are more useful to a part time caster. Now if it did primal or occult spells, it would have been a different character wanting it.

The remaining door led down through some rubble to the next level.  That led into a tavern with live music.  That letter we found mentioned music briefly.  I think we’re done with the 5^th level until we complete the mummy’s task and get the pass key to the saw traps.  So it’s pick your poison on the 6^th level hard foes.  We’ll probably start at the tavern since no one immediately attacked us.  Plus, I’m sure TerStegan is eager to use his Performance skill. 

We leveled up to 6th.  On to the game.  The town elders show up with some guards.  They wanted to assess our power level to decide if the town guards would be able to help in the upcoming confrontation with the agents of the Kartos Consortium.  They had 6 guards and TerStegan said he could take them all on by himself.  He took them out in two rounds with multiple crits and they never touched him with multiple critical failures.  So, they will stay out of the way.  Then Carmine stepped into the ring and they fought to a critical laden draw.  We had 2-3 days of downtime.  TerStegan tried to get work at the upscale Crow’s Cache to earn some extra Income.  He missed his roll so they had nothing available.  He bought his full plate and transferred his current +1 rune for which he borrowed money from Clarisa.  The Rowdy Rockfish was eager to have him since we saved their son. He rolled great and got 5 silvers plus 5 more the next day.  And then he went back to Crow’s Cache the last day and earned 2 gold.  Oakwood picked up his +1 hand wraps from Amecia.  He planted some more trees in the surrounding area and searched for hidden armies.  And then guarded the ballot place on election day.  Clarisa translated some of the spells that we’ve gathered into her spell book. Xeelie built a booby-trapped ballot box.  Oakwood failed to Aid her but she rolled a 20.  She then built magic items for herself and TerStegan.  She worked with Amecia and told her about them being half-sisters.  They buried the hatchet and bonded over blaming their parents for not telling them.  Last was Briscoe. He searched the guard barracks, looking for breeches already in place.  He intimated the guards about being tree lovers or he’d sick TerStegan on them while he was at it.    

So, then we transitioned into planning for the night.  Xeelie would hide under the counter.  Her familiar would be up on the counter.  Brisco wanted to use his “turn into a shrubbery” power to guard the front door.  TerStegan would patrol around outside.  Oakwood would hide upstairs overlooking the lower level and the windows.  Clarisa would hide in a cabinet on the lower level.  At the end of the day, Xeelie switched the ballot box as planned.  She noticed the hinges were not quite right once they were besides each other.  (I.e. she missed that first hidden roll.)  And tossed her flour in the holding cell.  TerStegan was randomly at the south side of the building on his rounds when things started happening.  A tiny gold dragon-like familiar(?) flew in a window, past an alert Oakwood and landed on the railing above the holding cell.  Xeelie didn’t notice anything but she didn’t have any line of sight up that high.  Briscoe noticed a pane of glass hovering (invisible person) by the same window and some sort of gold creature climbing in.  He chose to raise the alarm.  He figured breaking and entering was a sufficient crime.

He saw a black figure drop down from the same area.  They hit the ground and ran into the bushes across the street.  Oakwood stepped over the railing, onto the cage and grabbed the familiar with a 30.  And then turned on his powers.  TerStegan came around the corner but couldn’t see anything.  Brisco ran across the street, after the figure. Unfortunately, that put him off the map which complicated things.  When he got close to it, it looked more blobish than man.  A roll identified it as an illusion.  He yelled that at TerStegan.  He looked around for the caster but didn’t see anyone.  Xeelie heard someone on the cell (Oakwood).  A hidden perception rolled revealed nothing.  Or nothing had happened.  Clarisa heard the yelling as well but inside the cabinet, her line of sight was limited to a sliver.  She could see Oakwood acting but chose to stay hidden.  Next, the GM did stuff that we were unable to perceive.  Briscoe’s illusion disappeared, likely no longer being sustained.  Xeelie and Oakwood took an Arc of Lightning, failing saves of DC 26.  But it was only 7 points.  It came from somewhere on the top level but we still couldn’t see them.  But the window was now open.  The dragon broke free but with only one action, it didn’t go anywhere. 

Oakwood failed on a Seek action and then used his Flying Flame since AOEs don’t need to be targeted.  Something was hit for some fire damage but not illuminated since that’s too useful to get for free.  TerStegan ran up and opened the front door.  He couldn’t see the foe but didn’t have any actions left anyway once he turned on his stance.  Briscoe ran up to the building, rolled a 1 and didn’t climb it.  Xeelie stood up, cast fast healing on herself and did a Seek on the lower level but found nothing.  Clarisa stood up, jumped on the counter and did a Seek of the south balcony.  We had to roll a great perception and guess right so our odds were poor bordering on hopeless.  “Thankfully”, Cryde became visible and cast a Fear.  Oakwood succeeded, Xeelie failed and Clarisa and TerStegan critically failed.  TerStegan used a hero point to avoid the fleeing condition and got a critical success.  Credence became visible, Devised a Stratagem and attacked Oakwood.  He crit for 32 plus 2d6 bleed.  Oakwood turned on the Thermal Nimbus and did Battlefield medicine on himself.  And then took 6 more bleed damage.

TerStegan wanted to superleap across the room and up to the balcony but he couldn’t do it with Jump or Leap.  After much discussion.  So, he used his helm to get an extra Stride, went through the door and most of the way up the stairs.  Briscoe managed to climb up through the window and up to the balcony level.  Xeelie crit failed her Lore roll, gave up on her attack and moved towards the stairs.  Clarisa had to flee out the door.  Cryde cast Dimension Door and ended up down below in the cell. She did reenter Oakwood’s fire aura so took more damage.  She examined the box and identified the defect. We stopped there at Credence’s turn.  Most players had spent their rounds moving and seeking so we’ve barely touched them.  However, only Oakwood has taken any serious damage.  So, after 2 rounds, it’s pretty much a draw.  The turning point will be if we can counter whatever spells they have left when they decide to flee again.  As we’ve seen, we can’t do much against Fly, Dimension Door and Invisibility.

It was a night of dead ends and unbeatable foes. Xeelie snapped into existence and was forced to make a save from the Shrinking Trap we had passed through last time. She critically failed and she became tiny. There was still no guidance as to what that meant, rule-wise, however we thought her reach became 0 which was more of an issue for a melee character. She switched to her less effective star knife. And then the teleporter activated and a bunch of battered creatures appeared. A redheaded woman with a great axe and a plague doctor each carrying two halves of a body. Plus, a crawling hand and one of those Bounders and a bat demon. They had the symbol for “winner” floating on their forehand in a language that only Xeelie knew. That body looked like one of those adventures we met on level one so long ago. TerStegan did a Warfare roll and didn’t get much of anything. Xeelie rolled on the bat thing and identified it as the result of a necromancy ritual. Giant ghoul bat. And that it would be an even match for one of us. So maybe as a whole, they’d be a tough fight for us but we agreed we wanted to defer that fight as long as possible. They moved into the dorm area we hadn’t explored yet. So, we avoided that.

Soon after, another group came through. The losers. The rest of that adventuring party. They had gotten transported down here by the Grinning Man to fight and could not get past the barrier to get back out. We told them we had recently removed the barrier. And then asked them about the winners in case we had to fight them. Giant axe is obvious. Bat is a ghoul. Tough and probably undead. It had a bone chilling screech. The Plague Doctor was a healer and probably a necromancer. The hand just did damage and we had seen a Bounder. Evidently surrender is an option however the victors get a boon. In this case, the body of their friend. Which will probably be turned into another ghoul? They would be losers for 24 hours. We told them there was a path to the exit. They wanted to leave but were afraid the Grinning Man would not allow it. They were going to take a rest and then try it. They headed to the dorm area we had already explored.

TerStegan started talking about sending Xeelie into the saw trap room. But then Zara and her riding dog came up the stairs. She was pleased to see more competitors and asked if we were going to fight. We begged off for now, due to the fact that we were still shrunk. She was a spectator and not a fighter. She went into the mural room and closed the secret door. Evidently that’s where she slept. We had already learned we couldn’t defeat her. So that was another unbeatable dead end. The last door led to stairs down. The other stairs down lead to double doors and presumably to the arena. We didn’t want to go there so we chose the door. That door also went down. Is down the next level? That ended in a big room. There was a large creature chomping on the crystal shards. And big dangerous worm thing with a wand that seemed to be ordering it around. We rolled initiative and fled in order. The beast was large and the stairs, small. But the GM insisted we play it out. It had a sonic attack that sickened on a save and stunned and deafened if you failed. Xeelie failed and used her one remaining action to identify it. Then Clarisa grabbed her and we all fled. Not that way! We guessed that was the 6th level and wanted to face it as 6th level characters.

We recovered and headed to the shrinking room since everywhere else was death. Xeelie thought the shrinking would not be cumulative but would likely extend the duration. But we tried to limit our time in the room regardless. One of the doors was locked. TerStegan bashed the door and it was another teleportation circle chamber. On the normal network. He and Xeelie tried to activate it with a 10-minute ritual. Neither succeeded on their roll. And evidently were Stupefied 1 for 24 hours. That’s minus 1 on Int plus a flat roll to cast a spell. But they were mostly melee guys. They tried again and failed again. The Stupefy didn’t stack but did make their rolls one harder. One more try. Failed again. Use hero points and succeeded. It would be working for d6 days. That gobbled up some time for them and us. The next door was spiked closed. The GM said it would take minutes to remove them. At least Oakwood had the right tool with his climbing kit. He assumed Xeelie was right and stayed in the room. The trap didn’t go off again. Xeelie, seeing that it was safe, searched. However, the shrinking duration ran out while we worked on the spikes. We got big and then we got shrunk again. Eventually Xeelie realized it was triggered by weight. I.e. M but not S or T. It was needlessly complicated and time consuming since it didn’t really impact anything.

After all that, it was a single room. It had more runes on the floor and walls. Ruined furniture and a mummy. “Who are you?”, in a language only Xeelie spoke (DR-I think this was Necril.  Clarissa speaks it too but by the time I looked it up it didn't matter any more). Chaffekim. Xeelie thought the runes were “boosting” its power? It switched to common. “What’s going on? Was Belcora still in charge?” We told him she’d been dead 500 years but power was rising and we were trying to stop it. He called her a fool. Evidently, he was providing an army for her back in the day. We asked what he would do, now that we freed him. Return to Oserum where he’s from. But if we were to perform a service for him, he’d reward us. He wanted Jafarkey or the imp Zuk, killed and proof brought. He described them and the main one sounded like the same species as the thing we fled from not long ago. Evidently there are a bunch of them on the next level.

For our reward, he’d provide the password for the blade trap which he built and a map of this level. But the foes were on level 6 so a map wouldn’t do us much good then. TerStegan said that we’d get to level 6 faster if he gave us a map of level 5 first. He tore a page out of a book and sketched a map on it. The page had a Freedom of Movement (level 4) from a spell book on it. We asked about the Grinning Man and the arena and he knew nothing about it. We could have spent all night questioning him but he said he had things to prepare and closed the door on us. Our best guess, he went afoul of Belcora, was imprisoned and used his spell knowledge to turn himself into a mummy in order to survive. I.e. unbeatable again. I doubt we want to release a mummy to walk the land but I’m not sure we can do much about it.

Somewhere in here, the adventure party showed up, asking about the exit. We hadn’t had a chance to discuss as a group, whether we wanted to reveal to them about the teleportation circles. They said,”what’s in that room?” Brisco said, “what room?” Xeelie said, “you mean the one with the teleportation circle we just fixed? Help yourself.” So, they left. Whether they actually got out, I guess we’ll find out. Back past the mold room, we found a kitchen. The map pointed us to a secret door. That corridor had bones similar to the saw room. That trap is big and had 3 entrances into it, according to the map. Even with a map, this place was very maze-like mainly because there were crisscrossing levels within the same level.

We went down a hallway to a bridge across a grand north/south hallway. That hallway lead to the arena? That hallway had a star mosaic on the ceiling. A skill roll indicated the stars were from the perspective of a different planet. Impressive but not very useful. Far to the south, we could see statues of various fleshwarp creatures. Most of them were broken and melted. Mouthers and abominations. TerStegan tried to get more information but it was too far away. We could see the Grinning Man, sitting on his throne. TerStegan was still headed for the guard room mentioned in the letter since it said something about an exit. Oakwood and Clarisa, being in the back, noticed the Grinning Man noticing us. Another unbeatable foe. We went across another bridge that ended at a portcullis. And double doors behind it. Some of the bars were melted and twisted such that a small person could slip through it. And as luck would have it, we were all currently small or tiny. It was still a DC 18 acrobatics roll which isn’t trivial, especially if you didn’t happen to have that skill. Tiny Xeelie slip past with ease examined the locks on the doors. We could see arrow slits but no one was shooting. Oakwood made it through on two tries. Since there was only room for two between the bars and the doors, they opened the door so that we could move more through. That revealed a room with more doors.

And a Greater Shadow emerged and attacked. It had a +20 Stealth and went first. It hit Oakwood for 17. Then stole his shadow and gave Enfeebled 2. (STR drain.) That created a new shadow called Oakwood’s Shadow. It then hid in Xeelie’s tiny shadow. It was now Concealed which meant a flat check of 5 to hit it. But Xeelie’s lantern made it a 4. Clarissa cast Revealing Light in the area. It succeeded as did Oakwood but Xeelie failed. That meant Dazzled for 2 rounds or 1 minute but canceled concealments. So, it was not concealed but everything was concealed to them. Brisco missed with Ray of Frost and then missed with his trident. TerStegan faced a Acro 18 or an Ath 30 roll. He used his helmet for a +2. Only got a 23. He used a hero and failed again. And then he used Acrobatics and made it. GM let him move into the room since the thing was hiding and not resisting. Xeelie moved to get flanking and then rolled her knowledge thing and rolled a 20. It was resistant 10 to everything except force, ghost touch or vitality. And then she missed. And missed again. Oakwood crit but remembered he was Dazzled, rolled a 2 on that check and lost it. And tried to attack Oakwood’s shadow and missed.

It went again. It hit TerStegan, stole his shadow and created another shadow spawn. And missed Oakwood for its last action. But it was Dazzled, so retroactively it missed that flat check and none of that happened. Clarisa did a Full Force Barrage and finally hurt it. Brisco did Vitality Lash and it saved for half damage. He wanted to throw his trident again but it was pointed out that he could not go through the portcullis. So, he cast Guidance on Oakwood instead. Oakwood’s shadow walked through the portcullis and attacked Clarisa in the back rank since she was the one doing damage. And it missed twice. TerStegan pulled out his Ghost Touched hatchet and attacked. (It was debatable whether he’d do more with his great axe, taking the minus -10 to damage but if you got it, might as well use it.) He hit for 9, but it took it all. Xeelie attacked and made the flat check. But then she missed and then missed again. And again. Oakwood made his flat check and missed and made it and missed. It went and did something. Clarisa felt “marked for death” whatever that meant. And then it fled through the north door. However, TerStegan got a Reactive Strike and crit for 18. And that dropped it. GM assumed its spawn died too.

The north door was to another room. A guard room but no guards. Nothing worth anything on the empty weapon racks. Another door, another empty room. Arrow slits here and there. The south door did the same. The mummy’s map indicated a secret door down there. Brisco looked but didn’t find it. TerStegan tried and found it. It’s helpful to have a map. Meanwhile Xeelie attempted a crafting roll to hold the portcullis open. And failed due to the still present Stupefy. That secret door led to double doors which led to a long hallway. 100 feet down the tunnel was collapsed. The GM said it would take hours to clear. Although the tiny might be able to get by. Since the letter indicated there might be an exit/entrance, we dug. It led to the smuggler’s den. That’s 10 minutes from our house. How the elevations work out, we’re not sure. And the fact that this circumvented the whole gather items to remove the barrier thing, we’ll ignore. We stopped there. We’re fine on hit points and not down too many spells since we can’t seem to find much we can fight. But the conditions are adding up. Although some had expired. We might try to finish off the level before sunset or just head home. The re-election is 3 days away. From the map, there are 4 rooms yet to have visited. Plus, the arena? Brian declared us 6th via email so hopefully that’ll help.