We started in the small elevator room that they ended in last time.  There was a door to the north and south.  We went south.  In a small hallway, we could smell something bad coming.  The next room had soil on one side, the rotted remains of some sort of organic material.  Xeelie was hesitant to enter so Oakwood stepped up and prodded the soil with his reach Bo Staff.  A fungus creature emerged and let loose a gas cloud.  Unfortunately, it extended to where Oakwood was but fortunately, he saved.  We rolled initiative and moved up as we could.  It was tight quarters.  The two of them weren’t much of a threat and only TerStegan was hit for little damage.  Xeelie did her Detect Magic and as usual, she detected something new but we had no idea from where.  We did the dance of moving around to no avail.  There just wasn’t any room.  TerStegan even dug through the dirt.  Eventually it occurred to someone that the elevator might be magical.  A Crafting roll said that it didn’t sound mechanical when we rode it so it must be magical.  We moved on.

The next room had a big pile of flesh parts.  The source of the smell.  Oakwood thought it looked like another Gibbering Mouther which turned out to be true.  Thankfully, it was dead.  There were also two, what turned out to be, ghouls in there, praying to it.  Brisco went first and fired a cantrip.  On its turn, it ate a chunk of flesh and healed itself.  TerStegan was hit on that first round, infected with Ghoul Fever and paralyzed.  He stayed that way throughout the fight.  The save DC was stiff although it did lower by one each round.  He could do nothing.  Xeelie did her Tumble Through thing and Oakwood moved up to give an alternate target to TerStegan.  And then one of them leapt across the front lines and landed between the two casters in the back.  One of them got paralyzed too.  2 of 5 unable to move and it looked dicey.  Oakwood managed to Trip one which gave Xeelie two sneak attack hits, one of which was a crit.  Oakwood also crit and then finished it off when it tried to stand up.  3 against 1 swung the odds back in our favor and it was dropped, trying to get to the healing flesh. 

We made a bunch of rolls.  The disease increases in severity once a day and Treat Disease took 8 hours of care so we couldn’t really do anything about the afflicted TerStegan and Brisco at this time.  Oakwood did Treat Wounds on TerStegan while Brisco and Xeelie searched.  With Xeelie’s new witch healing focus spell, TerStegan was good to go.  We found nothing although we did avoid messing with the mound of flesh.  We decided to press on after talking Brisco into taking 10 minutes to Treat himself.  The next room was back to the library we had seen before.  We saw a ghostly figure that looked a lot like the portrait of the head craftsman we saw in the workshop.  He took a book from a ghoul and then faded into the floor.  In the center of the room was a column of blue light with bits of flesh flowing through it.  The light looked a lot like the Gauntlight Tower light however we didn’t think we could stop it here.  We had to go down and stop it at the source.  The librarians seemed ghoul-like but not as menacing.  One asked what she could help us find.  Xeelie spoke up from the back and asked for a book on Haunts.  We were told we needed to go to the scriptorium for that.

So, we were led through the library, past shelves of books, ghoul librarians and lots of closed doors.  The scriptorium had many desks for scribes to transcribe books.  And a skeleton on the floor.  Soon enough, a Haunt appeared and told us to get to work.  She was the head librarian and assumed we were new scribes.  Xeelie agreed that we were and got to work.  Oakwood tried to explain that we weren’t scribes but was mostly ignored.  Once we got to work, the Haunt touched a secret button which would open a secret door (to her office?) However, since she was a ghost, she just walked through it.  One of our books had a letter put in it.  Another letter from the Dr whose footsteps we seemed to be following.  What I can remember, it said that as long as we worked, the Haunt wasn’t a problem.  That the temple to the north was “interesting” but the priests were “touchy”.  And something about a grand spiral staircase.  It also guided us to a sack with some gems.  Oakwood searched the skeleton and found a small portrait of the chief craftsman.  He was a Cavern Elf although the Haunt of him looked a bit different.  He also found a tiny iron key but no one saw anything to use it on in this room.  Lastly, he removed the Chain Shirt.  At this point, we decided to head home and deal with the disease.

Back in the library, one of the ghouls invited us to meet the high priest in the temple.  Clarisa made a Recall Knowledge on the carvings around the door.  The goddess of death.  That told us they likely wanted to sacrifice us.  We said, no thank you and moved on.  There was some debate as to the quickest way back to the stairs up but Xeelie got that right.  From there, it was up and out.  We had no trouble until we met a 4-person adventuring party around a fire by the entrance.  Evidently it was almost midnight in the above ground world.  They were eager to trade information but since we knew way more than them, we didn’t give them much of anything.  It helped that we were ”just kids” so they assumed we didn’t know anything.  Evidently, the mayor had invited them to come over here and they were pleasantly surprised that someone had already cleared out the first level.  You’re welcome.  TerStegan suggested they start with the Gauntlight tower, to face the blood Delcora.  Was that evil? Brisco mentioned our run in with undead.  They had heard about the graveyard attack from the mayor, and again it didn’t occur to them that we could be the heroes that fought them off.  They said they had found a way down a level to the mushroom men and were tackling that in the morning.  At least they’re going a different way.  If they get killed, we’d get lots of good stuff.  Is that evil? But they look more formidable than the town guards.     

Once we got TerStegan to stop talking about the Rose Guard Lore, we made it back to the club house.  Brian assumed we could deal with the disease.  And also assumed we could identify magic items.  The bag had 4 one-use weapon talismans.  We decided to sell those.  And some medium strength anti poison potions that got distributed.  The doctor’s letter had warned us about poison users coming.  The miscellaneous wealth got distributed as well but it wasn’t much.  The big ticket was the +1 chain shirt.  TerStegan was eager to convert it into something he could use.  But it was a 5^th level item so, while we could use it(?), we couldn’t Craft with it.  Oakwood asked if anyone could use it in the meantime.  The Rouge could but since she lacked the STR, it would give her -1 on DEX skills.  Plus, it had a DEX cap of +3 so she’d be losing out on some of it.  The Sorcerer spent a feat to be able to use light armor so she could use it.  She also lacked the STR but didn’t care so much about DEX skills.  But she didn’t fight much.  We assumed the Druid could not use it since it was metal but further research says PE2 removed that WotC limitation.  We gave it to Clarisa for now, however when she turns 5^th, she’ll likely bump her DEX to +4 at which point, maybe it will be converted.  She went from the least wealthy to the most wealth and now Oakwood is on the bottom. 

We started with the fact that Oakwood and Xeelie were already wounded from the game previous.  It was successfully argued that when the rest of the group healed up last game, the non-existing two would have been healed as well.  This allowed us to get going.  As usual, we had a myriad of options but the main two were to go down the mold infested stairway or into the room with the animating bones.  It was decided to stay on this level rather than go down although with all the twists and turns, no one was sure what “level” we were even at.  However, a discussion was had on the mold problem regardless.  TerStegan argued that since it absorbed heat, attacking it with cold would be good and heat would be bad.  Several made Survival rolls and Xeelie was “fairly certain” she knew what to do.  I think that was GM speak for “hazard avoided.”  However, Paul and BTO demanded details (that Brian didn’t have) and guarantees (that Brian wouldn’t give).  They were still thinking in terms of avoiding an encounter.  And they could be right.  But again, we decided to table that discussion until our mold talking Druid showed up and go the other way.  To the Giant Skeleton.

The door was reopened and the bones started to pull together again.  Initiative was rolled but until it was rebuilt by whatever background evil was present, there wasn’t really anything to do.  Xeelie moved to the other side of the small room and opened the exit to give us more options.  Clarisa hit the skull with a Telekinetic Object but at this point, it was only a thing and not a monster so it did nothing.  TerStegan ran in and tried to stand on the large glaive but didn’t roll high enough on his Athletics check.  Oakwood readied an attack.  When it did form, giant-sized, he missed with both flurry attacks.  TerStegan got into his Stance after two tries but we quickly found that it was too mindless to be affected by fear.  (As are most undead.)  It did a lot of damage with its sweeping glaive.  We did a lot of missing.  TerStegan did the lion’s share of damage and after a few rounds, it was over.  Oakwood did some Treat Wounds for 2d8 while the others searched.  Xeelie’s Detect Magic detected magic but again, that spell is not specific about the location.  So, we had to play 20 questions as she moved about the dungeon, trying to zero in on what new thing was magical.  Eventually, Brian gave him an Investigation roll and said that it seemed to be background magic and nothing specific.  She determined the glaive had no value and that moving the bones would not be necessary.  Moving along.

The next “room” was a large corridor with more doors than TerStegan could count.  After some debate, we decided to defer the door that was glowing greenish and open the double doors to the north since they were closest.  That was another hallway with little dioramas in alcoves along the way.  Each depicted a great city being destroyed by some catastrophe.  Closer examination revealed that each had a tiny Gauntlight in the scene.  Xeelie was quickly convinced it was Absolom, the biggest city on the island, but they weren’t really detailed enough to confirm that.  She and Brisco tried to triangulate the position of the Gauntlight with their knowledge of Absolom using their various skills.  But were told, repeatedly, that it was not to scale, only representative, move along.  At the end were another set of double doors.  It was a large dining room or meeting room filled with webs.  In there was a Web Lurker.  It was commanding us in a language none of us understood.  A good Society roll from Oakwood thought it was some sort of Underdark language.  TerStegan planned to research that language in his downtime.  We faced the usual murder-hobo dilemma.  We knew it was evil but couldn’t attack it until it did something evil.  TerStegan decided to Demoralize it with a growl.  That succeeded and it cowered in a corner.

However, that worked.  Its two Dream Spiders and two Giant Spiders attacked from the shadows.  They moved up, attacked with immobilizing webs and poison stings and then moved back out of range.  Oakwood and TerStegan, at the bottom of the initiative again, just stood there and took it.  Although they both got 1 reaction attack at least.  They were both immobilized and poisoned but thankfully, the poison was Stupefy (i.e. mental) so it didn’t bother them much.  The rest fired into the room and Xeelie tried to do her Recall Knowledge to get her extra 1d6.  Oakwood managed to rip free and choose to step into the room to lessen their hit and run tactics.  It was a fight and we took some damage.  About the time we had them on the ropes, both the frontline guys got caught in web traps.  But the spiders were finished off soon afterwards and they were assumed cut down.

What followed was over an hour of downtime.  Oakwood Treated the barely wounded while Brisco Treated the badly wounded.  Meanwhile Xeelie and the rest searched.  They found a web pouch full of shiny bits and bobbles.  However, in there was a necklace with 3 Fireballs (1 use) that went to Clarisa.  Some glowing sling bullets that would continue to glow if they hit their target.  Again, one use.  Brisco took those since he didn’t have any enhanced sight.  Lastly was an opal that when placed on clothing, it would bump up a Deception roll one level.  We were going to sell it, not thinking of a reason we’d ever use such a thing, but the eventual Bard ended up taking it.  One Treat Wounds was not enough to get TerStegan back to battle ready so we waited an hour for that clock to reset.  During that time, everyone was topped off and we were good to go.

The glowing room turned out to be a wash room with glowing green slime within.  That slime moved and spelled out the following message, one letter at a time.  “I am Otari.  Save me, below.”  Or some such.  And then proceeded to move across the floor.  We followed it and it led us back to the mold infested stairway down at which point, it disappeared.  This reopened the mold debate, with our Druid.  TerStegan asked if Brisco could use his Ray of Frost cantrip to clear away the mold.  (Sneak peek at the answer: It was no.  He could not.)  This sparked a bunch of questions from Dave.  Why do you think that’ll work? Why do we have to go this way? Why are we here at all? Why should we attack innocent mold? The bottom line was that Plant Druid Brisco would not attack a plant without cause.  By sticking to his character concept at the expense of the group and all of our time, he earned a hero point.  But again, we came back to the same conclusion.  We’d like to finish this level before going down.  So, we went back to the washroom.

That’s a problem with these modules.  They are full of details but they are also full of “useless fluff” that don’t advance the main plot.  But we, as players, don’t know what room is pointless and what room has an important clue, a valuable item, a secret door, etc.  So, we have to grind through each room, one at a time.  What’s in here? What’s it for? Is it important? Is it dangerous? Is it trapped? Everyone wants to use their skills.  Each room takes time.  I guess each is its own encounter to be overcome.  So, the next room had a small demon who, we think, was conjured to do the cleaning down here.  He “seemed” evil but wasn’t doing anything evil.  He talked but had nothing useful to say.  The fact that it had been a hundred years since anyone was down here didn’t seem to faze him.  Eventually, we just left him behind.  The next room had two large constructs and seemed to be in storage.  Is this area a storage warehouse or living quarters for minions or what? I went to bed at this point, unable to face another pointless room.  I assume nothing happened.  Hopefully they grinded through some more and dare I hope, stopped at something significant? Not much learned, not much gained, no character advancement, no closer to any campaign goal.  Until next time… 

We returned home with our grim cargo of 6 guardsmen bodies in tow.  Brian hadn’t had a chance to come up with any sort of reaction from the town so there wasn’t much of one.  He rolled randomly to see how Derric Longsaddle’s father would react and rolled very low.  However, he forgot to declare whether low was good or bad.  Having declared, he rolled again and got very middle so there wasn’t much.  The town gave them a Viking funeral and we prepared to return to the Gauntlight.  We were assumed to have healed up after a couple of days.  DG suggested we buy a human drawn cart and load it with construction items for use at the dungeon.  So, we could repair the drawbridge, fix wooden shields without searching for timber scraps and sift through the debris for loot.  That was met with enthusiasm although it took surprising long to agree on a price and a cart.  That sort of cart wasn’t on the list in the books and we ended up on a sled with wheels and spent 1 silver ring worth 5 gp for the package.  We attempted to get to there several times but got derailed by Darkvision discussions, encumbrance discussions, Dave’s detailed discussion on the spells he had access to that wouldn’t summon something to pull the cart, etc.  Eventually, we got there.

We repaired the drawbridge and stashed the raft under it.  We parked the cart in the entry tower so that it was at least out of sight.  Brian exposed the map so that we could remember the areas we have explored.  Other than going down a level or searching for more scraps, the only part we hadn’t done was a small outer building on a small island to the northwest.  Through the castle, the only way there was past the pool of blood so we elected to avoid that and go around the castle to the east.  (Retroactive play.  Paul said he wanted to ask Xeelie’s mother and the town Cleric about that pool of blood.  After being interrupted by Xeelie and Brisco wanting to make knowledge rolls, Brian said they said it sounded like a Haunt. That usually required it to be put to rest.  But to put such a powerful Haunt to rest would take a significant event.  I.e. the end of the adventure.)  There was also discussion on where that alleged Swamp Dragon lived.  Over by the boat house and not here.  The doors were unlocked but jammed or blocked.  TerStegan made a critical Athletics check and managed to open them without destroying them.

The first room appeared to be a study with books tossed about on the floor.  We heard a disembodied voice claiming to be a Wisp.  It offered information if we’d retrieve “the shiny” from the next room.  That required a lot of discussion.  We then saw a light fly through the closed door.  Xeelie made an Arcana roll and said that was a Dancing Light spell.  We searched and gathered and talked.  This was the lab of Belcora’s apprentice.  The voice urged immediate action but we were growing suspicious.  It seemed like the books were tossed “recently”.  We searched a door to the south and found some construction supplies.  The next was a mold filled room with stairs down.  Brian said it looked like no one had been in there for 100s of years.  Brisco used his Talk with Plants ability to talk to the mold and determined that no one had been in there for 100s of years.  TerStegan suggested that perhaps there was an invisible something in the book room so a more thorough search was made.  He found a tiny Brownie hidden under a table.  We talked and bargained and threatened and failed to coerce and kept coming back to the same spot.  Open the last door and face the monster.  Eventually, Oakwood opened the door into the hallway but it didn’t work.  The rest of the group couldn’t leave the Brownie.  He’s hiding something.  Of course he is.  He wants us to fight a monster for him.  Of course he is.  Where did he come from? It’s as if he just exists so that we can encounter him.  Of course he is.

Eventually, we opened that last door with TerStegan begrudgingly leaving the Brownie behind.  A tiny bird like construct was in a lab that made lenses for an immense lighthouse.  It asked what we were up to, didn’t like Oakwood’s answer and charged in a rage.  What followed was a night of extremely poor rolling on our part.  It had a beak attack that did persistent bleed damage and since this was Pathfinder, it could do up to 3 attacks a round of decreasing bonuses.  All of its stats (initiative, AC, attack bonuses, damage reduction, etc.) were scaled up to be a medium challenge.  Oakwood got battered.  TerStegan missed a lot.  Classira cast cantrips that usually missed and since they took 2 actions, she only got 1 shot a round.  Xeelie tried to get flanking for her sneak attack bonus and then couldn’t decide what to do when she couldn’t.  Brisco couldn’t decide what to do every round.  The floor was uneven and required an easy Acrobatics check or fall prone.  Luckily, it seemed everyone had that skill except for TerStegan who spent most of the fight crawling on the floor.  After a round or two, the Brownie danced past us to grab the spyglass on the other side.  We envisioned him stealing it away as we fought.  Xeeile tried a Lightning Arc from her sword and targeted the spy glass as the second target in hope of dissuading him from taking it.  For that, the Brownie “attacked” her with a confusion effect that caused her to attack someone at random.  At that, TerStegn charge crawled over to it, crit and killed it with one mighty blow. 

Towards the end, 3 of us were taking persistent bleed damage.  Brisco got critted and then got attacked by Xeelie who thankfully missed twice.  With a couple of us down half, a couple untouched, it finally fell.  Brisco started reading the First Aid rules for alleviating persistent bleed damage and the chronicler went to bed as it was after 1 AM.  I assume we spent time healing and searching and identifying the spyglass and then stopped.  Or stopped with that to do first thing next time.  We’re still doing 1 room a night.  At this rate, it’ll take years.  But maybe next time we can at least go down a level?         

We were down to 3 players and back to Foundry.  It took a bit to get re-familiar with it and there had been updates so that didn’t help.  Plus, Brian had to rebalance the likely encounters for the fewer characters.  We were about to approach the altar in the cursed chapel yet again when Paul noticed Ter Stegan was down significant hit points.  This surprised us since we didn’t do much last time and thought we started that game by healing up.  Brian had gone back to FGU to transfer our current hit points but it didn’t seem right.  After much discussion, he double checked and indeed he had shorted him 20.  We were finally good to go.  As we approached, a blue light appeared in the chests of the 3 skeletons.  As it floated up, it pulled the bodies into a standing position and they attacked.  Brisco went first and cast an Arm Shield spell on Oakwood that gave him a virtual shield without needing a free hand.  But he had to use an action to raise it and a reaction to block with it.  (It saved him 4 hit points and one miss for their efforts.)  When one of them went, it hit Ter Stegan twice, once being a crit, and he was half dead.  Start to worry.  Damage is big in this game.

It was a fairly typical fight.  Ter Stegan did most of the damage although it took him 3 rounds to get into his Dread Marshal Stance.  Only to discover that these were immune to fear.  Oakwood did a lot of missing including missing on a Trip in round one.  He gave up on that tactic and just got flanking instead.  Brisco cast a spell per round but that took a lot of time.  We had to figure out how the spell worked, how it worked in Foundry and then apply it all.  It was 20 minutes per spell.  Same with Battlefield Medicine on Ter Stegan.  It had just been too long since we played PE2 and used Foundry.  As for the monsters, it was claws and bites.  They also had a 30-foot cone blue glow power than did damage on a save and more damage and fear on a failure.  But fear is only -1 to everything (i.e. no fleeing) and goes away the next round.  The only surprise was when the first one went down.  The blue glow floated over to the thief body and animated that.  Luckily, the original skeletons, once dropped, were too broken to reuse.  BTO showed up late but didn’t enter the fight.  One blue light tried to float past us and into the rest of the keep but Ter Stegan cut it down with a Reactive Strike.  Brisco was knocked out at the end but they were defeated soon after.

Brisco did his Risky Surgery on himself.  Xeelie searched with knowledges and Ter Stegan and Oakwood searched with perception.  Oakwood found a secret compartment in the altar which contained a scroll and a wand.  Xeelie eventually identified them as a scroll of restoration-like that went to Brisco and a wand of Harm which will go to the missing Clarissa.  (Cast Harm, once a day.)  If Brisco spent another hour on himself, he could double the hit points gained and since he rolled a 20, he did that.  Oakwood Treated Ter Stegan and those two were “topped off” with Xeelie’s free Elixirs of Life.  Xeeli rolled a great Recall Knowledge but to BTO’s disappointment, there was nothing else to be learned.  Evil Undead god chapel, etc.  She also tried to repair Brisco’s wooden shield but Brian ruled that she needed some quality lumber beyond the repair kit she had in her sleeves.  The only wood in the area usable was the door to the unexplored south.  (Because it amused Brian.)

At this point we had the usual debate.  To continue or go home for a long rest.  Hit point wise, we were good but Brisco was out of spells.  And to keep playing or call it a night.  DG pointed out that the next room was the last room on this floor in this main part of the keep.  So sleepy Paul had Ter Stegan just open the door.  I guess we’re continuing.  In there was a huge scorpion and a large one.  More combat.  They had reach, enfeebling poison, a grab and the first appearance of a monstrous Reactive Strike.  Xeelie could not make a Recall Knowledge to get her sneak attack dice at range.  After two rounds, she pulled a short sword and attacked.  Brisco used his last spell (maybe he meant it this time) and gave them Fungus rot.  Ter Stegan hit a lot and even Oakwood hit.  We took some damage and Oakwood got poisoned but we won.  Brian accelerated the healing (including the Fly Pox), the transportation on the bodies and the successful return home.  We stopped there, with ramifications of the death of the town guards to come.  No experience with mentioning.  If Brian plans to get us back in sync with the module expectations and get us down a couple levels in the keep before leveling up again, at two rooms a night, it’ll be a while.   

The immediate issue was that Forge would not work.  Or more precisely, that we could not access Forge on Brian’s computer.  Something about granting enough access through Brian’s firewall.  He tried a bunch of stuff and eventually had to give up.  So, we temporarily switched back to Fantasy Grounds.  That took some time but thankfully most of us were 4^th level on it so there wasn’t too much to do.  But it took a bunch of time.  We finally started and tried to deal with the Fly Pox problem.  However, it was pointed out that Treat Disease took at least 8 hours of care so we couldn’t do anything about that.  Next was healing Ter Stegan.  Dave was having trouble remembering how to use his Risky Surgery to Treat Wounds with Aid from Oakwood.  In his defense, switching from D&D to Pathfinder to Owl Bear Rodeo to Forge to FGU was taking its toll.  Eventually, he was healed.  During that time, crafty Xeeli built some travois to drag the bodies back to town.  Two bodies per and 6 bodies.  We placed them by the entrance in case we had to make a hasty exit.  And with that, we started exploring some more.

The first order of business was tracking down the Flies.  We figured they’d return to the Fly room, as labeled on Boss Skrug’s map.  We had some discussions on who was doing which Exploration Mode tasks.  Those roles were assigned and then reassigned.  It was a small but tall round chamber that used to be a tower.  In the middle was a pile of rotting carcasses.  Fly food, we figure.  No Giant Flies and nowhere where they might perch or stay.  We were expecting access from on high but the ceiling looked intact.  Ter Stegan was eager to burn the bodies so once everyone got their chance to search and recall and detect, we used some torches and a pot of oil to burn them.  Once that was done, Brian revealed that there was a trap door on the ceiling.  A bit late as the room filled with smoke.  But it would be a near impossible climb to get up there and it didn’t seem logical that flies could be using a trap door?  We moved on. 

Brian declared that it was now night time.  One of the things we wanted to do was to check out the Gauntlight Tower in the night since that’s when the attack had occurred.  We lined up and Ter Stegan bravely opened the door.  He saw that the pool of blood had formed into a vague humanoid shape.  He immediately closed the door but turn-based games don’t work that way.  His Roseguard Lore told him it was shaped like Belacor (which we figured) but smaller than he’d expect.  We postulated that the pool was short of blood.  Or perhaps she was a gnome all along.  He and Clarissa were in the line of sight.  They took 8 points of damage as a glob of blood was extracted and flew into the pool. They also missed a stiff Fort save and were Dazzled (partial blindness) for a round.  (Perhaps this pool has been growing over the decades on fools that happened by in the night? And is now big enough to light the tower?)  Once Brian had his say, Ter Stegan could finally close the door.  Expect that it wasn’t his turn.  Initiative.  Brisco went first as usual.  He moved up, closed the door and pulled Ter Stegan back a square or two.  (He ran out of actions.)  He did notice a secret door in the corner he cowered in.  Basically, we fled and it didn’t open the door.  With a +15 initiative, that big Fort save, the fact that our weapons would likely be diminished against a “pool of blood” and any damage to us would possible “feed it”, it seemed like one of those things we should flee from.

We regrouped at the entrance.  We decided to avoid the tower and proceed on to the ghost infested chapel.  But first we checked out that secret door.  It led to a 5x5 room with no other exits.  An examination of the floor said that it was once a teleportation circle but that it had been disabled and any precious metals used in the seal had been removed.  We went back through the secret door into the chapel where we had turned back due to lack of numbers almost two months ago.  After arguing about traps, we piled in.  The same scene as before.  Oakwood grabbed some stuff from the dead adventurer including some potions.  We eyed the skeletons on the altar and looked for ghosts in the eerily cold.  However, when Clarissa came in, Brian revealed some back history.  She realized she was a blood relative of Belacor.  That her Blessed feat was from the god of death that Belacor evidently worshiped.  Brian offered Dan the chance to change the Ghost Knowledge to God of Death Knowledge.  And replaced the Guidance cantrip he got from that feat with the more “deathly” Vitality Lash.  Basically, a ranged undead damage spell. 

We stopped there before Shimota could declare that we must kill her now.  Experience was minimal but so was the progress.  No game in two weeks because Brian will be out of town.  So, in four weeks we’ll fight ghosts and/or skeletons and whatever goes “buzz buzz” in the room south of this one.                 

BTO needed to get his character into Foundry.  Paul was going to attempt to attend from Mexico via his phone so Brian had to transfer TerStegan as best as he could.  That gobbled up some time but at least they got a head start.  We agreed to go take out the Mudmifts rather than mess with the ghosts in the chapel.  So, we backed away from the secret door.  We successfully lobbied that it had been an hour of conversation with Boss Scrag and exploration so Brisco did another Treat Wound on Oakwood.  And now that Xeeli existed again, she topped him off with an Elixir of Life from her Alchemist dedication feat.  Once again, we struggled to get Foundry to work right.  There were some discussions about exploration activities options which is a feature that Pathfinder seemed to think was important.  I’m not sure it had any impact.  We prepared for the fight outside the door and so did Brian.  He tried to balance the encounter for the full 5 character set.  (So much for our plan to better our chances by waiting for more players.)  He had some problems with that but eventually Xeeli opened the door and the party started.

She fired some arrows into the room.  And then a spider attacked her from above and crit.  This was our first combat with the new program and it was a struggle.  There seemed be stuff that happened automatically but only if you entered stuff manually first.  Figuring out how to attack, use skills, target foes and friends.  We rolled the damage but Brian had to apply it.  And others.  We piled in.  Another problem was that the spiders Brian placed were all the same spider so when one took damage, they all did.  Brian was tired of dicking with it and just let it be so.  That made the fight much easier as when that first spider dropped, they all did.  The boss, which I think we assumed was a spell caster, just seemed to have a blow gun.  It only took a couple of rounds to clean them out.  The Boss successfully pleaded for his life.

That was good and bad.  He provided crude maps of the first and second floors.  There were several foes still to be discovered.  Next to the old stables, they were breeding giant flies on which they’d ride on their assault on Otari.  There were some other bugs before the chapel that we avoided with the secret door.  And something in the water.  And a layout out of the next level, the most important of which was the access point under the dock.  There were discussions on whether that would be under water, since the dock was over water, but maybe not.  But the big news was that the lair of the swamp dragon was at that point.  Several intimidation rolls were made on him and he mostly spilled his guts.  But he didn’t know everything.  He knew nothing of the lighthouse other than to avoid it.  He had no treasure.  The bag of gems he offered us last time was merely pebbles, shells and worse.  The bad news was that we had to figure out what to do with him.  We decided to head back to Otari and hand him over to the “authorities”.  Not sure how that will work out since we had no evidence and a semi confession forced under duress.  But TerStegan was eager to pick up his new weapon.

Back in Otari, it would take two days for the weapons to be complete.  In that downtime, each character had a chance to do some stuff.  The amount and success of those activities varied greatly.  TerStegan wanted to talk to Xeeli’s mom.  (And the priest but she was too busy.)  She had one piece of advice that we hadn’t already thought of.  Since the lighthouse attack happened at night, maybe we’d have a better idea what was going on if we went there at night.  Xeeli spent most of her time getting started on her sleeves of holding.  Brisco spent most of his time at the clubhouse, fixing up the grounds in particular.  Oakwood attempted to get a start on the Mayor Election side quest but he had no social skills and couldn’t roll above an 8 so got nowhere.  Dan was distracted with home issues and Clarisa didn’t do anything that I can recall.  We also talked to Honest Jack.  He had definitely been out there which wasn’t too damning however he seemed very well versed in the Mudfits plans.  Brisco found this suspicious and Oakwood thought it at least warranted a mention to us on our way there or to the Otari authorities.  There was also some investigation on the boat.  The bird statuette we found was an osprey and there was a bar in town for which that was their symbol.  And they happen to specialize in pasties.  Pirates? We weren’t even sure if that boat could get to the ocean from the swamp. 

Next time, we’ll have to decide (again) to continue on the main quest or get diverted by side quests.  We earned no treasure and any experience was negligible.  Hopefully combat goes smoother next time and we can make more progress.  Maybe finish off the ground floor.  Brian said that our level progress will slow while he tried to get us back in sync with the level expectations of the module.  

Only Paul and DG responded to the email about what we should do.  Dan called in first and agreed with DG so it was off to the Gauntlight.  But first TerStegan and Oakwood put in ½ deposits on striking weapons with the merchant in town.  We headed to our cabin but had an encounter along the way.  A small (gnome?) well dressed traveling merchant and his giantess (as in giant) companion, wagon, protector.  Jack and Jody.  They were on their way to Otari to do some business at the Founder’s Festival.  Clarisa told them they were a bit late.  He went into his spiel.  He had lots of odd stuff and we weren’t sure if they were real magic items or not.  E.g.  A trap finding chicken and a billowing cloak.  He did say that he was a re-seller and not a crafter.  He did mention selling a dragon egg to a bunch of ignorant Kobalds but it sounded like he thought it wasn’t a real egg.  Eventually, Oakwood bought a lesser healing potion, figuring it was worth a few gold to know if this guy had legitimate goods.  They continued on to Otari and we continued north.  We checked in briefly at the cabin and picked up the raft from out back.  Oakwood thought we might need it, depending on how swampy the path to the Gauntlight might be.  It turns out, it was not needed.  The path led right to the front door.  But the day is young.

One of our first questions was whether the light was on.  Not.  We proceeded in the front doors.  Unless stated otherwise, every room was in ruins, covered in moss, mold and cobwebs, debris strewn about, walls and stairs crumbling, etc.  We entered a gatehouse which was solid enough to put the rafters in shadows.  We could hear scampering up there and talking in a language none of us understood.  Oakwood tied the Everburning torch to the end of his staff and put it up there.  He got a glimpse of a small creature that looked like a cross of a Potter house elf and goblin.  TerStegan advocated for killing them but the reach and the darkness would make that tough.  Brisco was against “murder hoboing” and Oakwood voted for live and let live as well.  Spoiler alert: The correct answer was “murder hoboing”.  We moved on and TerStegan got hit in the head with a small brown pellet of some sort.  Best not to ask.  Across a small drawbridge, we entered a large hall with lots of doors.

The first door led to what used to be a stable.  There was a big hole which granted access to the outside.  And a giant toad which had had its bottom half bitten off.  Some examination said that whatever did this had acid in its bite.  Similar but bigger to that dragon Clarisa had slain? There seemed to be a hole up a level but no good means to get up there so we moved on.  The next room used to be a dinning room however the roof had collapsed.  Eventually TerStegan stepped in and a swarm of Kobald ghosts appeared.  They attacked with a fear power but he saved.  They were quickly critted away.  But were they gone or just dissipated? Brisco was eager to search for treasure, figuring/hoping that the ghosts might have scared away all the adventurers that had come through here.  Rather than continue to argue with him, Oakwood just went in.  And the ghost reappeared.  He charged them but before he could attack, they cast fear and confusion and he didn’t save.  Fear is okay but confusion is rough.  Even though the ghosts were the only things in the room and TerStegan was the only other thing in sight, Brian made his roll randomly against every party member and the ghosts.  (Good thing he didn’t include everyone in Otari too.)  So, Oakwood didn’t attack.  He whirled around, charged the opposite direction, and attacked TerStegan.  Clarisa couldn’t get a shot and made a Ghost Lore roll instead.  Since they were cowardly Kobalds, they might be frightened off.  She then rolled Intimidate and they disappeared.  It was assumed Oakwood was restrained long enough to come to his senses.  No treasure, by the way, although it would take picks and shovels to do a proper search through the rubble. 

There were more doors but the next door to the north was the tower and that was our goal.  That was a circular room with a stairway winding up 100 feet.  It showed no signs of wear.  In the middle of the floor was a pool of blood that looked fresh.  There was a slight ripple which got everyone fixated.  We spent 30 minutes messing with that.  TerStegan wanted to remove the blood but we couldn’t find anything to contain it or wash it away.  Not a bucket or bowl in the whole place.  Or a mop.  Out the next door was a boat house and we thought maybe we’d find something out there.  It had more useless debris however what we did find was the remains of a recent campfire and the footprint of a Giant.  Jack and Jody, we assumed.  Were they just camping here (brave?) or up to something.  We did find a boat in reasonable condition.  But too small for a giant.  In it we found some pastries in a sack.  They were fresh but more like cookies so they could be days old.  Not 500 years though.  No one could make a Recall Society roll so that was a dead end.  And there was a figurine of a bird.  Brisco made enough of a roll to recall seeing something like this in town but no one could remember.  So that was a dead end as well.  We talked about doing a detect magic but there was so much background magic, Brian told us not to waste our time.  Meanwhile, Clarisa used Prestidigitation to clean up the blood but found that it replenished itself.  Finally, TerStegan made a Roseguard Lore roll and recalled that Belacourt was supposedly slain at the bottom of the tower.  This is her blood and it’s been there 500 years so it’s not likely we’d be able to do anything about it.  Moving on.

We headed up the stairs which were solid enough but creaked with age.  At the top, through a trapdoor was the Gauntlight.  We did it.  We’re here.  And..??  We spent another hour trying to figure something/anything out.  The room description was debated.  Basically, the outer “wall” was an iron cage with a “glass like” force field enclosing it.  In the center of the room was an iron cage with a man-sized glass chamber within.  It glowed with blue light but evidently it wasn’t bright enough to be seen from the swamp in the daytime.  There was nothing in there and no door or anything.  We found no levers or dials or controls of any kind.  Nothing else in the room at all.  No conduits or pipes.  It was self-contained.  We discussed theories and possible actions.  Lore rolls were attempted to no avail.  I mean, why was there a lighthouse in the middle of a swamp instead of on a coast.  What was its purpose? Obviously, it wasn’t currently beaming monsters into the Otari graveyard so someone must have been here and done something last night.  We should search for them or evidence of them.  Or it was on autopilot and had recharged after 500 years and fired off.  So, nothing to find.  TerStegan wanted to smash the glass with his axe but that seemed risky.  Oakwood suggested building a wall of stone around it using the debris below but would that even work? Eventually we decided to search more of the ruins.  We’d only seen a third and maybe there were more clues to be found. 

Swift Oakwood was leading and when he got to the door between the tower and the hall, he found 4 of those impish fey and 2 giant magots waiting for us.  Again, they talked in a language we didn’t understand and attacked.  Unfortunately, 5 of them rolled initiatives above anyone on our side.  Oakwood took some hits but at least he made a Will save.  The casters fired over him and when the magots went down, they exploded in a cloud of sickening goo.  He failed that save.  He took an action and saved against it, hit once and backed up a step so that TerStegan could get in there.  He killed one or two.  In their next round, they ran.  TerStegan got one free hack but he only had one reaction.  Two went to a door on the right and one went to a door below.  Oakwood couldn’t reach the one so he went for the two.  Both doors went into another room with 8 more in there.  They were weak but their attack was high.  Oakwood was nickeled and pennied to death.  TerStegan faired better but he was critting and hitting and dropping them at a much faster rate.  The casters supported Oakwood as his hit point bled away.  The last couple tried to flee again.  Oakwood chased his although if DG had realized how few hit points he had left, he might have acted differently.  He caught him, hit once but missed on attack 2 and didn’t kill him.  And was dropped on its next round.  However, that action meant it didn’t get through the next door before TerStegan finished it off.  Clarisa stabilized Oakwood with a cantrip and we stopped there.

Our heroes raced up the path to the library on their way to the graveyard.  We were short Xeelie and Clarisa.  We met an acolyte coming the other way.  He said the library was under attack but they were holding their own there.  However, Corgaide was trapped in a shed in the graveyard and needed saving.  When we got up there, we found 12 skeletons and 12 zombies climbing out of their graves.  But they were spread over a large area.  The skeletons were resistant to piercing and had a decent AC but not many hit points.  The zombies only got 2 actions and had a low AC but more hit points.  Brisco supercharged TerStegan’s axe who then started cleaving them.  Oakwood managed to crit miss twice and miss on his first round.  From there, TerStegan kicked ass, destroying them 2 a round.  Oakwood ran across the map with his 35’ move and engaged the ones around the shed before the door gave way.  Brisco supported TerStegan and Corgaide managed a couple shots through the keyhole.  They were very weak opponents but with 2-3 attacks a round, some landed.  And did low damage but it added up.  We managed to defeat the ones in the immediate area in 4-5 rounds but they bled off some hit points, especially from TerStegan.  At the end, Wrin Sivinxi came up from the library to help us.

<By the way, Brian is planning to implement critical hit and critical fumble tables.  But only on a nat 20 or nat 1.  We had a lot of nat 1s and he rolled up the first couple to see what it would be like.  Seemed harsh.  Crits too.  More afflictions, I think.>

And then there was another green flash and a spiney green spider thing appeared in the middle.  Brisco did Risky Battlefield Medicine on TerStegan and TerStegan charged it.  It was another extremely challenging boss with high scores all around.  2d8+8 attacks, 23 AC, high saves, poison, AOE, etc.  On its first round, it hit TerStegan for 15 plus poison and then another 15 and just like that, our best fighter was on the ropes.  I think Brisco healed him again.  Meanwhile, Oakwood raced across the graveyard and at least got close enough to give TerStegan flanking.  With that +2, he did manage to crit it for a bunch of damage.  And save against the poison before taking another dose of damage.  However, the next round it hit him twice and dropped him and hit Oakwood as well.  49 points in one round with 3 attacks that all hit.  Oakwood did his flurry but didn’t have flanking anymore.  He was unsure what to do with his last two actions.  Its AC was much too high for a -10 attack and reflex save too high for a trip.  Wrin asked that if he could move TerStegan a bit, she could get all of us in a heightened AOC heal.  Brian let him move and then drag TerStegan around him to get him 10 feet closer with those two actions.  She did that heal which also damaged the undead that were still wandering in from the north.  Basically, it was three healers trying to keep TerStegan up with his Runic Weapon and one Monk trying to give him flanking.  Plus everyone pitching in on damage where they could.  And then suddenly, he dropped it.       

In order to speed things along, Brian said that the remaining undead stopped when the spider stopped.  Now that we had an action to spare, Brisco’s Recall Knowledge said it was an abomination.  We were concerned that more may be on their way but Brian said that the tower had stopped glowing.  We searched around a bit to see if the grave it arrived at had any significance but it didn’t.  Basically, it was a big mess with bodies scrambled all over the place.  We were glad it wasn't our job to clean this up.  Same with the library.  Clarisa’s mom, Lux, was overseeing the cleanup of that.  No treasure, of course.  We talked about sleeping up there since it was late evening by this point or maybe charging off to the Lighthouse but Wrin’s portents said that the immediate danger had passed.  We should head home, get a good night’s sleep, and start fresh in the morning.  We finished the night with some side quest/backstory progressions back at our homes.  To go with the bandits with guns, missing person, werewolf on the loose and, oh yeah, saving the whole world plotlines we already had.  

When Brisco arrived home, he found an Aarakocra and a Dwarf taking measurements outside of Clarisa and Lux’s home.  They were well dressed and communicating in some sort of sign language.  He was hesitant to get involved since he was alone and out of spells.  In case there was trouble.  And then he decided to cause trouble.  He pretty much assumed/accused them of being up to no good.  Refused to provide any useful information, etc.   They were aware that they rented from Lady Someoneorother and asked if he knew if they were up to date on their rent.  Eventually they left.  Brisco then went back to the library to talk to Lux.  She had no ideas.  As far as she knew, she was in good standing with her landlord and was even doing side work for her to get a break on her rent.  Maybe the Lady was in financial trouble.  If they were casing the place, they were at the wrong place because she had nothing of value.  The next morning, when we all hooked up again, Oakwood suggested it might have something to do with the school the Lady was building.  Their house was near the site but not that near.  Nothing as fearsome as well-dressed accountants.   

Back at Oakwood’s place, he overheard discussion about pirates attacking lumber barges.  (No talk of blue beams and the dead rising?)  They were just taking any cash and dumping the wood.  Their efficiency also indicated that they were getting insider help.  It’s bad for business.  In the middle of the night, he heard a noise.  Wood scraping on wood.  He got up to investigate and found his sister at the breakfast table.  She was still having headaches and not sleeping.  She’d been hearing voices but couldn’t make out what they were saying.  When Oakwood mentioned the scraping sound, she thought it was her moving a chair.  She was dressed for sleep so it was unlikely she had snuck in a window or anything.  DS was convinced it was thieves guild sneaking into the house via secret trapdoors.  But it’s a big house with lots of comings and goings so maybe it was nothing.  Oakwood suggested she put pen and paper near her bed and try to write down what they were saying while it was fresh in her mind.

TerStegan found his father pondering a piece of wood with strange runes carved into it.  He found them on the loading plume of the Menedes family.  He was planning to ask one of the magically trained folks in town about it.  They discussed.  Maybe it was an act of sabotage or protest from his friend, Brisco? TerStegan didn’t think that was likely, given how busy we had been.  And then they bonded over tales of the night’s fight.  The next morning, they took it to Wrin who said it was a warming rune but generally used to warm a room, not burn down a building.  It would take many of them to start a fire plus more spells as such.  But that’s a lot of work.  There are easier ways to start a fire.  Oakwood pointed out that it was a high stress structure so maybe a little damage might cause more damage than she thought.  There was then talk about who had a motive to ruin a lumber business, town economy, etc.  She was asked who in town could create it. It was a short list of the arcane casters.  Not primal magic.

We stopped there.  Brian needed to add up the experience earned to see if we made 4^th.  It’ll be close.  His expectation was that we’d be heading to the Lighthouse next time.  Hopefully we’ll find pirates, bandits, and arcane saboteurs there because suddenly we’ve got a full list.  I.e. there’s no sense in saving the town if the town destroys itself while we’re gone.