We started back to the club house in need of a long rest for the casters.  The GM had asked for our intentions via email so he would prepare but he got very little response. Once again, Paul asked about finding a buyer (trading partner) that would be willing to exchange one of the flaming runes we found, for a shock rune he wanted.  (Fire seemed less ideal given all these devils.)  The GM had him make a tough Society roll which he missed.  However, that was for finding someone that had a shock rune.  The answer to the “exchange” question was a solid no.  The price between selling the fire rune for half and splitting it 5 ways and then buying a shock rune and just using the fire rune was too great.  We decided to go back to the room with the monsters in statis.  According to the “friendly” imp, they were being stored so that they could be unleashed on the town of Otari as some future date.  So, we felt we had to destroy them.  Ideally one at a time.  The Imp also said there was a haunt or something in that room to deal with. 

One of the statis chambers was not like the others.  The stone glass was covered in soot and there didn’t seem to be anything in there.  We could see some bracers and a pouch.  (We’ve been enticed into danger before.)  And then a flaming creature appeared.  It’s a familiar problem.  Is it a haunt to be negotiated with or a monster to be fought or a monster to be fled from? It was pretty aggressive and we didn’t really have a chance to negotiate with it.  The first two players sort of delayed, waiting to see what it would do.  Xeelie thought it was once a hag? When it went, it unleashed a 5^th level Cry of Despair spell with a very high Will save.  Most failed and were slowed 1 for 10 rounds.  Briscoe saved and got a save each round to see if he was slowed that round. 5^th level spells? So, are we supposed to run?

Oakwood left the room, hoping more distance or no line of sight would stop the despair.  He had little chance against that Will save.  That did not help.  Again, no one could decide to fight or flee so people fled slowly.  We hoped it could not leave the room and that might give us an advantage? After a couple rounds, we all got out and the door shut.  However, it summoned a Will O Wisp which opened the door and attacked.  We committed to attack mode at that point.  Unfortunately, Wisps are immune to most magic so Oakwood and Clarisa were pretty much out of luck against it.  He cast some Protector Trees and she shot around it at the original ghost.  Between the opening and closing of doors, the slowed and their massive ACs, it was slow going.  When the Wisp was taken out, everyone moved in against the haunt.  When it hit with a strike, that character had a permanent (curse) weakness to fire.  It also got a reaction strike when hit.  Its chances of critting was higher than our chances to hit it.  A crit and a hit took TerStegan out in pretty much one round.  Once it again, it was a foe that was way beyond us that we won out against thanks to numbers and healing.

Xeelie made some more rolls and determined that it was a hag that was killed and turned into an undead to fulfill some purpose.  And until its reason for being there was gone, it would return in a day or two.  So, it was all for naught.  Paul correlated its name of “Warden” with the cells and correctly concluded that until all the prisoners were gone, the warden would stay.  As for the curse, the Druid had access to a 4^th level spell to fix that but he’d have to get a long rest to memorize it.  I think 2-3 of us were cursed.  We certainly didn’t want to start fighting these monsters with them so afflicted.  So, we decided to head back home after one fight.  Resources like battle medicine and magic missile were also expended.  But first, TerStegan bashed into the empty cell.  It had an 18 hardness and he was the only one that could best it with any regularity.  Once in, the items were examined.  The bracers were of Force.  Basically, explorer’s clothes that you needed an +5 Dex to equal the armor base we all had.  It also had a shove effect but not worth losing AC.  It would have worked for a 10^th level Monk great.  We’ll sell those.  The other was a type II pouch of holding.  Briscoe took that and handed down his type I to Oakwood so that he could haul more treasure when needed.

We went back home, took a couple of days rest to clear the curses and went back again.  They talked to the Imp some more and got a better idea what each of these monsters were.  The plan was to free them one at a time and kill as many as we can in a day.  And refight the haunt as needed.  Hopefully we can fight it smarter next time now that we knew what it could do.  And maybe we can negotiate with it? Assuming it wants to leave, if we show we’re killing her charges, maybe she’d stop hassling us? Not sure how many game sessions that’ll take or if we’ll earn anything for it.  Maybe we’ll get practice fighting things we’ll see further down.  If they’re all 2-3 levels above us, it’s going to take a while.

Brian proposed 3 days of idle time in town after which our rewarded magic items for saving the mayor’s daughter would arrive from Absolum.  However, there were two problems with that.  Dave and Dan hadn’t decided on their items yet and it’s impossible for characters to be idle.  Dan decided fairly quickly on a 3^rd level wand of Force Barrage.  Paul took Slippers of Spider Climb.  BTO took Boots of Bounding and DG took a 3^rd level wand of Heroism.  Dave decided not to decide otherwise we never would have played.  TerStegan tacked on a request for an Essence Charm of performance and made his Society roll to have it found.  Xeelie wanted something as well but didn’t make the roll.  TerStegan also asked someone to ask around about the bounty hunter in town looking for a devil worshiper.  They had heard of the wanted, a known confidence woman who had been imprisoned and escaped several times.  But of the hunter, the guards in Absolum had never heard of.  We’ll have to confront him at some point.  (Maybe she conned him and he’s pretending to have authority?) 

As far as downtime.  Xeelie retrained a feat and researched a couple of the monsters in the prison room in the dungeon.  And bought and sold some magic gear at her mom’s shop.  She did learn that one of them was well beyond our capabilities.  So, we decided not to start releasing them and truing to destroy them.  Finally, a clear sign on what to do.  TerStegan earned a couple silvers in the bars but just missed critting for gold.  Briscoe put up “wild life restoration area” signs in various parts of the forest to annoy the lumberjacks.  Oakwood spent time reconnecting with his family.  Based on the letters Brian wrote for the rescue storyline, they missed him.  Clarisa did nothing.

We decided to go back to the secret door found at the end of last time in hopes it would access the area behind the trapped room they avoided.  However, as we walked through our “secret” entrance on level 4, we came across a symbol painted/etched on the floor just before the portcullis.  A society roll said it was a Kobald clan symbol but not magical.  We could also see that stuff had been moved around in a defensive manner.  A small voice demanded 1 gold per person to pass.  Long story short, we advanced, they fought and were totally outclassed.  We took a bit of damage but all it really did is use up time.  We earned some coins and a magic ring.  TerStegan made an Occult roll and said it was a luck ring.  If you were generous, you were lucky.  Brian insisted he wanted to keep it so we assume it was cursed in some manner.  We pressed on after 20 minutes of healing and refocusing.

We headed down our favorite spiral staircase and could hear the murmurings of a Gibbering Mouther.  Did it escape from the prison or was it another one? That confusion power has caused us all kinds of trouble in the past.  In addition, we could smell something really bad.  We correctly concluded there was more than one thing down there although we couldn’t see anything.  A mass break out? We cast some preliminary spells and bravely came down.  We faced a Mouther (which turned out to be the least of our challenges), a large crab thing, a large toad thing and a Drydier (large spider thing).  And we were back to our old friend.  To flee or fight? What are we supposed to do? We decided to flee or more accurately retreat and hope to leave some of them behind so that we could fight less of them.  That rarely works because someone will miss a save or get grabbed or left behind or something.  But we had little choice and after we saw the damage these things could do, it was the right choice.

Briscoe went first and cast his Mushroom Patch in hopes of slowing some of them down.  However, he didn’t flee and that put him a round behind for the whole fight.  We moved up as we could.  It was hard to visualize the 3-D map.  Everyone saved against the Confusion which was only a 19 Will.  And against the smell which was a tougher Fort.  Making those early saves really made it all possible.  It was a fight of making the saves that tried to stop us, taking big damage when they caught us and doing almost nothing to them.  The slow Mouther was left behind.  The spider hit Oakwood and Briscoe with a web but they managed to make the Dex save to escape.  It was impeded by the mushroom patch and broke off its pursuit as well.  The crab was large and had reach and a free grapple.  It grabbed several of us and did a lot of damage.  It managed to reach higher up than we thought possible.  It grabbed TerStegan and jumped up and got Briscoe as well.  We thought he was done for. 

But using halfling luck and hero points, he managed to escape and climb up a turn of the stairs.  That put them next to the giant toad which was jumping up levels much like Oakwood was with his Burning Jet.  Then Xeelie leaned over and used her Friend Fetch and pulled them both up a level.  (We weren’t sure if it was intended to pull across the ground or could be used to lift but since it said TK, Brian ruled it did work.)  That finally got everyone out of reach of the giant crab at least.  The toad then leapt to the landing we were targeting as our turn and fight spot and the combat could finally start.  We started injured or bloodied and it uninjured.  But it was outnumbered.  Several hit it.  Clarissa managed to hit it and the giant crab down below.  Brian said that turned it from wander away mode to attack mode but hopefully its size will slow it down.  The plan is to finish off the toad before it gets up and then finish the crab.  Assuming no one gets pushed off the edge.  And then rest up (short or long) and go back down to finish off the other two.  Assuming there are more freed monsters down there.  So, the plan is working.  We just ran out of time for this session.

The characters in attendance decided to forgo a long rest so that Briscoe could cure two of the witchfire curses and press on into town.  They went to the Dawnflower Library via the graveyard to avoid getting entangled in town.  The librarians were reluctant to let Xeelie and Briscoe in because they looked to be on fire.  The fact that they demonstrated they weren’t flammable didn’t help but Oakwood talked to Vandy she let them in.  Oakwood’s mom was worried but glad to see him.  Doriana was in surprisingly good spirits.  The Motley Man was promising to take her on some adventures and the price of a shriveled hand seemed reasonable to her.  We talked and made some rolls.  Her dreams were being invaded and her life force being drained.  She had a ruby of unknown origins that seemed to be aiding the connection.  When shown a sketch of the guy with a giant undead hand we saw in the dungeon last time, it was a match.  Xeelie felt that if we observed her sleeping, we might learn more.  Oakwood elected to stay with his family while Briscoe, Xeelie and late arriving Clarissa went into town.

Xeelie wanted to check on Amicia first.  The shop was closed and the house locked up.  There were blacksmith’s goods all over the lawn.  Evidently Carmine’s arrest had turned the whole town against his family and they were returning the things he had made for them.  She picked the lock and they started putting the stuff inside.  A guard came by and the GM wanted to hassle them more but Xeelie rolled a 20 on Society and he just threw up his hands and left.  They searched the house and found no one.  And the forge next door was cold.  The next stop was Xeelie’s mom’s shop.  She had no help on both plotlines but she did have a scroll of Reverse Curse.  It was pricey at 4^th level but I think Xeelie bought it.  Wrin asked her to mind the store for an hour or two so she stayed and did some shopping for potions and scrolls. 

The other two pressed on the jail to talk to Carmine.  That conversation was inefficient since Dan and Dave hadn’t really been paying attention(Dan: Neither of us really cared).  Basically, more information of Carmine’s involvement with the Kartos Consortium had come to light including their plans to bankrupt the whole town and take it over.  People were mad and evidently him coming clean and helping at the end wasn’t enough.  He was awaiting trial.  The traveling judge and his lawyer from Absolum were on their way.  He didn’t know anything about Amica, having not seen her since his arrest two days ago.  He assumed she was manning the shop.  When told she wasn’t, he was concerned.  About the shop, not her.  He asked if they checked her room upstairs.  Evidently, according to the GM, they didn’t go upstairs.  Said vs heard vs implied etc.  So, they went back.

They found her crying in her room.  Neither was eager to talk to her.  Briscoe was particularly harsh but evidently, they had never gotten along.  Too bad Xeelie or TerStegan were not there.  Basically, she was upset because the whole town hated her and her father.  Understandable.  Briscoe demanded to know what she was doing about it but the 16-year-old girl felt powerless.  True.  When told that Doriana, her best friend, was sick she agreed to go visit her.  But she was really trying to get Briscoe to go away.  Once Briscoe went out the front door, she slammed it and locked it.  He was mean.  Then she and Clarissa slipped out the back and headed to the Memhenes estate.  Briscoe gave up, stopped at Wren’s to tell Xeelie what they had learned and then returned to the cabin to get that long rest.  When the girls got to the estate and Dan realized that Doriana was at the library, Amica ditched Clarissa as well.  They both gave up and went home.

Meanwhile, Oakwood’s father came to visit at the library so he asked him some more questions about Carmine.  The real question is how much he knew and how much he was duped by the Consortium. There seemed to be a preset bias against him due to his Rogue past and the long-standing rivalry between the two men.  But they needed a trial to sort it out.  The players thought he was duped and might try to help him.  Eventually, Xeelie showed up and night fell.  They got some Occult rolls which Oakwood made with a hero point.  They thought that killing the monster in the dungeon would break the connection.  As Paul predicted last week.  That killing the hand would not hurt her.  That time was pressing because eventually she’d go into the dream plane and never return.  They took the ruby and went back to the cabin in the early morning.

The next morning, Briscoe removed the curse on Xeelie.  Since TerStegan didn’t exist, he was going to use his 2^nd slot on himself but I think Paul showed up before he did. So, he cast it on TerStegan? We got back to the prison room and spelled up.  Bless for TerStegan.  Blur for Oakwood and Xeelie.  Etc.  We rolled initiative and a 3^rd monster showed up.  But not the hag haunt.  Plus, the Motley Man and the Hand we had expected.  The Minion cast the first of many Will saving throws.  The Hand was taken out very quickly.  The caster was most feared but the Hand was in the way.  The Motley Man cast a bizarre spell which dominated the fight.  He placed 4 10x10 squares on the map but they couldn’t be adjacent.  Inside was difficult terrain.  However, when you tried to exit a square, you randomly appeared at a different square.  With the tight quarters, it had a big impact.  He was very tough with high AC and spell DCs. I can’t recall it, blow for blow.

Oakwood critically failed a Confusion save, making him a danger to all for 10 rounds and no saves.  However, TerStegan used Snap Out of It to get him a save.  He still missed it and used a just earned hero point to make it.  He returned the favor and used Dash of Herbs on TerStegan to give him an extra save on the Sickened.  Clarissa just stood there and pumped Force Bolts into the caster, avoiding the movement issues and its AC.  As usual, she did most of the damage.  Xeelie managed to navigate into melee with the caster.  As a reward, she was crit with its first and third attack, taking almost 100 points and going out.  That was a problem because that spell would make it very hard to get to her.  Plus, she was still 2d6 bleeding.  Briscoe managed to get to her but it took 3 full actions and his free movement from Doctor’s Visit to do it.  However, she had about a dozen conditions on her including prone, clumsy, sickened, etc.

Oakwood managed to hit it once only to find it immune to cold.  Xeelie had been so busy dying, she hadn’t done much Lore stuff.  He then critically failed a Fear save and was forced to flee.  Briscoe was in a tight spot when the minion walked through the walls and got in there too.  Xeelie was afraid to stand up.  Both of these things had reaction attacks.  Somehow the caster rolled a 1, the only roll that could miss her in her current state, and she survived another round. TerStegan was forced to bounce from square to square and lost rounds of actions trying to get into the fight.  Eventually it was worn down and near death.  It managed to drop TerStegan before Xeelie dropped it with a hero point.  (If it wasn’t for that +10 on hero points, we’d never live.)  When it dropped, its minion dropped as well. 

The “Denizen of Leng” was sent back to its home dimension.  His Fragment of Urevian’s Pendant dropped to the floor.  Briscoe completed his pendant and now feels a slight pull towards Urevian’s location (Hint: We saw a massive door previously with a large Pendant inscribed on it).  They found Scroll of Dream Message (x2 30GP Each) and Box of Candles (50GP).  There was also a room that was apparently used to contact Doriana with a bunch of mummified hands. TerStehgen found a secret door leading south-ish that might get around a trap from a couple sessions ago.  I assume he grabbed the maps of Otari off the wall like he said he would.  They returned to town and found that Doriana’s hand was back to normal and she seemed to be much better / recovering from the ordeal.  Oseph Menhemes rewarded the party by allowing each person to select 1 7th level or less item (pick normal stuff you would use, not the ridiculously priced vehicles, siege engines, etc.) typically in the 360GP or less value.  Common stuff is fine, but run anything not common past the GM for approval (mostly to filter out stuff that is not area appropriate).  It will take about a week for the items to be procured and brought back from Absalom.

TerStegan used his Sudden Charge to get through the second archway and around behind the Demonologist.  He hit despite his AC of 25.  Pretty good AC for a caster.  That did 26.  In response, he cast Blood Vengeance.  TerStegan missed that Will save (by 9) and took persistent bleed damage.  4d6 because it was a heightened spell.  He only took 8 that first round but he didn’t save.  The Demonologist took a step to avoid a reactive strike and then cast Fireball on the rest of us.  Oakwood critically failed and then used a hero point to make it.  (Fearing a heightened Fireball.)  Xeelie made it but Briscoe and Clarisa missed.  25 points but they used their Eat Fire reaction so 10 less.  Too bad Oakwood’s Thermal Nimbus wasn’t up yet. Briscoe charged forward and cast Powerful Inhalation.  That did 28 which the Antipaladin took half.  The Demonolgist missed the save, took it all and couldn’t speak above a whisper for one round.  The Antipaladin used her reaction to shield some of the damage.  Clarisa had focus points at least so moved up and cast Flurry of Claws.  She crit the Antipaladin for 23 but miss the other.  The Antipaladin stepped up to Briscoe and touch him with the anti healing hands.  He saved for half so 13.  And then raised her shield.  Xeelie cast Conductive Weapon on her weapon and did her Lore thing on the Antipaladin.  No damage modifiers.  And a shield expert which was already obvious.  Oakwood turned on his Thermal Nimbus, moved up and missed the Antipaladin.  In his defense, she had an AC of 29 with her shield raised. 

TerStegan moved, turned on his aura and missed the Antipaladin.  And then took 10 bleed.  The Demonologist couldn’t step into difficult terrain so he moved and took a TerStegan reaction.  That missed with a 1 but then heroically crit for 49.  He then cast Wall of Fire on top of Briscoe and the Antipaladin, splitting the group.  Briscoe took 19 less 10 for another Eat Fire.  Briscoe stepped out of the Wall, cast a Shock Wave (cone) that got both of them.  They both saved but were still off guard for a round.  Clarisa used Sure Strike on the concealed Antipaladin and did a Flurry of Claws on both.  She took 21 after the shield.  The Demonologist was hit due to Briscoe’s spell and she made the flat check.  That did 35 and he was “near death”.  The Antipaladin took a bit of fire from Oakwood and a bit more from the Wall.  She made her flat check and crit TerStegan for 39 points.  He missed his Fort save and was knocked prone from the hammer crit.  So then she hit him again for (max) 24.  And then raised her shield.  Xeelie moved and stepped and attacked the Antipaladin.  She hit for 18 but some of it bounced.  With the shield block, she got a free disarm attempt.  That succeeded but not a critical success.  Her grip was weakened on her rapier but she didn’t drop it.  Oakwood ran through the Wall and took 15.  As a reaction, the Demonolgost hit him with a reactive spell and crit.  That did 4d6+4 acid persistent.  He missed and then hit and killed him.  And then took 14 acid and didn’t save.

TerStegan stood up, made the flat check, but then rolled a 1.  And then missed.  And then took 14 bleed and dropped.  Briscoe ran through the Wall, taking 9 points after Eating Fire.  And then took the bleed off TerStegan’s body.  Clarisa did her TK attack on the Antipaladin and missed.  She then moved near TerStegan but had no actions left to aid him.  The Antipaladin took 24 more fire damage and decided to get out of the Wall.  She critically Shoved TerStegan’s body 10 feet out of the way and then followed behind it.  Xeelie, once she switched implements, took a reactive strike and hit for 14.  She was disappointed in that damage but it was enough to killed her.  She then moved and cast Fast Healing on TerStegan.  And then the GM ended the encounter. They had some stuff.  The long spear was +1.  And an Elixir of Cheetah’s speed.  TerStegan took the half plate and dropped the breastplate since it was worth more.  We spent more time arguing about what we could carry.  We decided to spend another half hour healing up and refocusing.  Just in case there was an undead army waiting for us at the exit.  We made it home without another encounter and took a long rest.

And then undid all the work we did to split all the treasure up.  Put it back on the party sheet, pulled off anything anyone wanted and then sold the rest for cash.  159+ gold each.  And after a long rest, went back into the dungeon.  At this point, the primary chronicler’s back seized up and he had to drop.

The GM decided we needed to be punished for attempting to carry out so much loot such that we were encumbered.  (We did linger quite a while in a mostly unexplored level full of fiends.)  So, he created an Underground Temple map in the middle of our usual exit tunnel to the Smuggler’s Hideout.  And created a “random” encounter.  According to the email Brian forgot to send, we heard a noise behind us.  We hustled forward but the monsters were catching up.  Rather than prepare or turn or lay in wait, evidently, he decided we would be overtaken more of less unaware.  Two cat-like creatures and two fiends in hot in pursuit in response to our attack and theft of the amulet fragments.  Our choice was, do we run for the exit or turn and fight? That depends on who wins initiative, of course. 

TerStegan won and prepared to attack.  He used his Helm to get 3 interact actions for one action.  He cut loose the breastplate for two actions and one of the glaives for one.  Now he was no longer encumbered.  Then he regripped his axe and entered his stance.  Next, a goat-like fiend moved up and did a Frothing spew.  20-foot line at Oakwood and Briscoe.  Both saved for half.  10 points and they didn’t fall prone.  The other one moved up and did a Fume instead.  Black smoke concealing everyone within.  (They were immune from the effects, of course.)  Oakwood saved but the rest failed for Sickened 1.  Briscoe cast Rousing Splash on Oakwood and ran through the archway and out of the smoke area.  Aren’t we fleeing, he asked.  Clarisa ran out as well and cast Laughing Fit.  Wait, reverse that.  She cast first.  She missed the flat check and used a hero point.  The fiend missed that save.  And then she ran.  And then retroactive play.  That smoke attack had no range so none of us were in it.  Only them.  An unseen Hellcat stealthfully moved and Growled.  That burst got Briscoe and Oakwood but TerStegan used his Counter Performance since it was an auditory attack.  He rolled poorly and used a hero point for a critical success.  That made them immune for 24 hours.  The next Hellcat, which we could sort of see, moved up and attacked TerStegan while still hidden.  The bite hit for 18 and it was no longer hidden.  The claws both missed.  Oakwood took an action to place the keg of flammable chemicals on the ground and roll it away.  That wasn’t as far as he’d hoped so he had to step south one square and then turned on his Thermal Nimbus.  He was also now no longer encumbered.

TerStegan hit for 23 and 8, losing 5 damage on each.  And cast Shield, still standing on the flaming glaive he dropped last round.  A fiend moved behind Oakwood and TerStegan.  It couldn’t do its Fume because of the Slow from the Laughing Fit so it attacked TerStegan.  But it took a crit reaction for the move from TerStegan for 50 first.  And its boiling blood splashed us.  But it was minimal fire damage and bounced off the resistance from the Thermal Nimbus.  After all that, it missed even with flanking.  The next fiend moved up and Spewed on them.  Oakwood missed the save and took 18 and TerStegan took 5.  The nimbus helped mitigate the damage but Oakwood was knocked prone.  Briscoe ran back in and missed a fiend.  But he at least gave TerStegan flanking.  Clarisa shot a fiend with a Briny Bolt for 26 and sustained the Laughing Fit.  That guy bled but we all saved so it bounced.  The hidden Hellcat got all the way around and pounced on Clarisa in the other room.  That crit but only rolled 28 on 4d12+16.  The other Hellcat missed TerStegan, even with flanking.  It growled.  Oakwood and Briscoe were immune but Clarisa only succeeded for Frighten 1.  Oakwood stood up and no one hit him for it.  And cast a Timber Sentinel in the middle of us. 

TerStegan missed by one but Oakwood did his reactive guidance focus ability.  That hit for 22 and we all took the splash.  Oakwood and the tree took 1.  TerStegan then missed again but then hit for 19.  That dropped it and its blood bounced.  The last fiend crit Oakwood for 46 but between the Nimbus and the tree, he took none of it.  And it rolled a second 20 with its second attack.  That did 34 points.  Briscoe turned and fired a Tempest Surge on the Hellcat on Clarisa.  It saved for half so 12.  He then moved and did BFM on Oakwood for a net 23.  Clarisa sustained the Laughing Fit and cast the same on the other Hellcat which failed its save as well.  It then bit her for 29 and then re-hid.  The next Hellcat bit Oakwood for 16 and clawed him for 12.  He, in turn, missed it twice and raised his shield. 

TerStegan missed twice and cast Shield.  The fiend did its Fume to cause more confusion.  Briscoe wasn’t in the smoke, made his flat check to target and did a Tempest Surge on the fiend.  That did 20 and made it Clumsy 2 for a round.  He then ran over to Clarisa and did BFM for 32 hit points.  Clarisa sustained both spells and fled into the room with the rest of us.  Her Hellcat attacked Briscoe and missed. And then crit with a claw for 47.  The other Hellcat missed the save from the smoke for Sickened 1.  It made its flat check however and hit TerStegan for 19.  And missed with 2 claws.  Oakwood saved against the smoke, cast Sure Strike to ignore the conceal and crit the fiend.  That did a disappointing 20 cold.  The blood splash bounced.

TerStegan missed the save against the smoke to be Sickened 1.  He stepped out of the smoke, retched against the Sickened, and hit the Hellcat for 26.  The fiend used his Spew on Oakwood and TerStegan.  The first saved and the second crit failed and then heroically saved.  They took 28/2-7=7.  Briscoe had a target rich environment of blooded characters to heal.  Unfortunately, Oakwood was still in the smoke but Briscoe made the flat check to get to him and used his bonus BFM.  That did 24.  He then did a powerful heal spell on himself for 47.  Clarisa didn’t sustain on the Hellcat, did sustain on the fiend and cast on the other Hellcat.  That failed for Slowed 1.  The unslowed Hellcat went hidden, moved and attacked Clarisa with a +2.  It barely hit and did 26.  And hit with a claw for another 18.  The Slowed Hellcat crit Oakwood for 54.  But it missed its conceal flat check so that didn’t count.  It clawed him for 16 but the shield took 8 of hit.  Oakwood breathed another round.  He made his Fort save, put up another Tree and raised his shield.  He was contributing more with the Nimbus resistances than he could with damage. 

TerStegan hit the Hellcat once and finally moved it to blooded.  The fiend hit Oakwood for 8 and his shield blocked it all.  Briscoe healed everybody for 21, including them.  (4 vs 3 is a win?) Clarisa was running out of spells since we hadn’t had a chance to rest.  And she only had 1 action since she was sustaining two spells.  (Should she have been casting damaging cantrips instead? Hard to know.  What she didn’t have was any Magic Missiles and that damage was missed.)  She cast Shield.  The Hellcat missed Clarisa with a bite and then hit with a claw.  It missed a crit by 1.  That did 21 and she chose to keep the shield’s AC and take it.  And missed.  The other Hellcat crit Oakwood by a lot but missed the flat check again.  The claw hit TerStegan for 17 but the Tree took all of it.  Oakwood cast Dash on Herbs on Clarisa but rolled a minimum 6.  And then attacked the fiend and did 15, making the flat check.

TerStegan decided to flank the fiend and try to get something off the map.  (The Hellcats had a hell of a lot of hit points.)  He made his Fort save from the smoke.  He hit and made the flat check.  He did 25.  And then missed.  The fiend attacked the still flanked Oakwood, ignoring the smoke.  That did 19, less 5 fire and 14 to the tree.  And then missed.  Briscoe cast another Tempest Surge on the fiend but missed the flat check.  His Halfling Luck didn’t apply so he used a hero point.  That did 15 doubled for 30 because it crit missed its save.  And Clumsy 2.  And then he hit with his trident for 8.  Clarisa stepped 5 feet to get next to the battered tree and sustained the two spells.  One Hellcat waited for its friend to move up to get flanking for both.  It bit Clarisa for 17.  The Tree gave its remaining but she still dropped to 0.  The other one crit Briscoe for 48.  And hit with a claw for 21.  And missed.  He went from unharmed to near death.  Oakwood crit the fiend and dropped it after making the flat check with a 5.  And put up another tree next to Briscoe, figuring that was more hit points than he could possibly heal. 

TerStegan moved to flank a Hellcat.  He hit once for 25.  Briscoe did BFM on himself for 22 and then cast his last heal on Clarisa for 36.  Clarisa stood up and cast her Silver Needle Darts and missed.  She used a hero point and barely hit.  That did 20 points, none were resisted.  She stopped sustaining to do so.  One Hellcat fled towards the dungeon depths now that its master was dead.  The other made a 31 acro to get past us but TerStegan gave it a parting 9 points.  Oakwood missed his save, finally moved out of the smoke, retched to clear to sickened and raised his shield in case they came back.  TerStegan was dying to give chase but picked up the magic glaive he had dropped at the beginning.  He pretended it was the smoke that stopped him from charging after them and rolled a 1 on his Performance so nobody bought it.  We spent 20 minutes healing up and refocusing.  And then packed back up and headed for home.

And then Brian rolled a random encounter.  A demonologist and an anti-paladin came walking down our secret cave.  (For a hidden cave that no one had used for 500 years, there sure was a lot of traffic in it.)  They claimed ownership of our hard-earned flaming glaives.  And they wanted all the rest of our stuff too.  So, it was to be a fight.  We rolled initiative and agreed to go one round.  And then the GM restarted Foundry to try to fix some stuff and that didn’t fix it.  We took it as a sign to just stop.  Maybe Xeelie will show up to help next time.  

The GM had to reset the game and lost the initiative order so we started there.  The last spider thing went first and did another cone AOE.  It was only 10, save for half.  Next was the blacksmith devil angel in the back.  He flew forward 30 feet and flew up 10 feet.  And then cast Divine Wrath.  20-foot burst that got all of us.  Fort save of 26 and 4d10 spirit damage.  Oakwood saved and got none, TerStegan didn’t but used a hero point or he would have been out so half, Clarisa saved and Briscoe failed.  21 points.  TerStegan went next but he had a persistent 1d10 coming so he wasn’t likely to survive the round.  After much deliberation, he decided to run to the teleportation circle.  With his Helm for an extra move, he got to the door.  But he pulled and drank a healing potion rather than going through.  He took 7 and didn’t save.  But survived.  The furthest devil Dimension Doored into the middle of the now front-rank casters.  And randomly attacked Clarisa.  It hit for 25 and 1d6 infernal bleed.  She used her Eat Fire cantrip to bounce 4 of it.  Oakwood ran and did BFM on TerStegan with his last action.  Clarisa Belched Smoke which made her and Briscoe concealed.  And the devil but we didn’t care about that.  She moved, it missed with its reaction and she got within a move of the teleportation circle.  She took 5 from the bleed and didn’t save.  Briscoe was concealed but it had used its reaction so it didn’t get a swing.  He moved 3 times and got up with the rest. 

The spider thing did not show up.  The devil had plenty of movement to catch Clarisa but ran out of actions to do anything other than threaten.  The blacksmith was moving 40 and got a rope attack on TerStegan but missed by the 1 he got from cover from Oakwood.  TerStegan had to decide to jump into the portal and hope his friends could follow or turn and fight.  However, they were untouched and we were all blooded.  Paul had to decide where to teleport.  Up as far as possible or near the backdoor and out.  He decided on level 2 since the swamp might help with his persistent fire damage.  The other devil could get Clarisa with its reach.  It hit and did 22.  She used her cantrip and saved the 3 points of fire.  Thankfully it missed with its second attack.  Oakwood cast a Protector Tree and then jumped into the portal.  Clarisa took two steps and then got into the portal.  Briscoe ran into the portal room, had the foresight to close the secret door behind him and went through the portal. 

TerStegan ran into the swamp and got rid of the persistent damage.  Oakwood moved and did First Aid on Clarisa to stop her bleeding.  At this point, the GM pulled us out of initiative order.  We emerged on level 1, under the docks.  We hadn’t really used any spells so we decided to hide in the boat house and heal up.  He assumed that took half an hour.  We debated what spells we could cast ahead of time and when to do so.  Nimbus, unfettered movement for TerStegan from his key, 5 temp hps for all from Briscoe, Haste on TerStegan from Clarisa, Blur on Oakwood, and Tailwind for Briscoe.  And then we got derailed for a half hour, retroactively making Briscoe a 2^nd level Tailwind wand.  The fact that he was remembering the spell name wrong and the right one had been renamed to boot.  We zipped down to the level 7 teleporter room buffed up. 

TerStegan opened the door and charged around to the double doors.  With the Haste, he took an action to increase his Bless area to 25 feet on the way.  Clarisa ran behind him and cast Shield.  Briscoe moved 35, got to the doors but didn’t open them.  Oakwood moved 3 times and got behind him.  TerStegan opened the doors and saw the 2 devil fairies, dead in a pile.  He ran past all the cell doors and got to the far double doors.  Briscoe was concerned about those passed doors and how far ahead he was.  Clarisa moved in and cast Shield.  Briscoe spent an action to open the second double door.  Moved to the first door in the hallway and opened it.  (It was supposed to be locked but the map let him so the GM let it be so.)  It was some sort of armory full of weapons and such.  Oakwood triple moved to be behind TerStegan. 

TerStegan opened the doors and we saw the 2 spiders, the 2 devils and the blacksmith.  The chamber was 25 high and had an impressive description.  A fiery forge with the guy working away.  He hit a spider for 25 and swept the other one with a hasted attack but missed.  A devil missed with reach and missed twice more.  The next devil missed and then crit for 58 plus 2d6 bleed and 1d10 fire.  And missed.  The blacksmith (Barcumbuk) started throwing flaming war hammers.  He crit exactly but Paul successfully argued that he had +1 cover from the devil in front of him.  So, it was only 15.  Oakwood was missed with the same cone AOE hammer barrage.  Clarisa cast Sure Strike and then Briny Bolt.  She hit the big guy for 32.  He took 27 and was blinded for a round.  Briscoe moved up to TerStegan and did BFM.  30 points net.  Oakwood used cold reach and hit a spider 3 times for 11, 11 and 10.  But it stood.  The spider did a cone AOE but didn’t get Briscoe because he had stepped into a side room.  Clarisa took half for 6.  The other one did the same.  Clarisa took all 15 and Oakwood took 7. 

TerStegan crit the healthy spider for 36 and his pal took 14 and dropped.  He then stepped in over it and attacked a devil.  He hit exactly for 22 so 17.  And missed a spider with his last action.  And then took 3 points of bleed and the fire damage bounced because of Oakwood’s aura.  A devil hit TerStegan for 24 and moved him one.  And hit again for 33.  That dropped him. Discord dropped for a bit here.  The other one stepped up and did 28 on Oakwood and moved him back.  And missed.  The blacksmith wiped his eyes to get rid of the blindness, pulled out a hammer and crit for 24 and the d10 fire.  Clarisa attacked the boss again with the same Sure Strike Briny Bolt combo.  She crit for 38 plus dazzled for a minute and blinded for a round.  Briscoe cast Moonlight Ray on the devil between him and TerStegan and hit.  He used a hero point and crit instead.  That did 72, half cold and half spirit.  That dropped it.  He then ran up to TerStegan, taking a reactive strike along the way.  That hit for 33 and infernal bleed.  He healed him for 35.  Oakwood demanded retroactive play to apply his Blur effect.  That removed the devil attack but not the crit.  He then crit and hit the last spider and took it out.  And moved up to try to take some hits for Briscoe.

TerStegan picked up his axe, stood up, and attacked the blinded boss.  He missed and then heroically hit instead.  That did 28.  And then swept the devil and missed.  And took some bleed but no fire.  The devil attacked Briscoe with reach and hit for 24 and bleed.  And moved him closer.  And then missed Briscoe.  And attacked him with his beard but missed by one.  The blind blacksmith used an action to get rid of the blinded but was still dazzled.  He cast a spell but TerStegan got a reaction.  But missed.  He Dimension Doored down the hall.  Clarisa cast Force Barrage on the fleeing guy.  That did 39 and as a reaction he cast a spell at Clarisa in response.  (He made the conceal flat check.)  Clarisa made the save and took half the damage she had done to it.  And it dropped.  Briscoe attempted First Aid but took a reactive strike.  But that missed.  That stopped the bleeding on TerStegan.  And hit with his trident for 14 points minus 5.  And he took 4 bleed.  Oakwood stepped into flanking and hit for 12 and 12 again.  And the fire damage bounced.  TerStegan hit it for 21 and 24 and it dropped. 

The GM assumed we’d get rid of the persistences.  We got some stuff including 2 more pieces of the amulet.  It will be a key of some sort when fully assembled.  Clarisa identified the 2 glaives as +1 flaming striking.  And we got a +1 striking hammer.  The room had normal weapons and chunks of cold iron, silver and adamantine.  And a bloodletting kukri worth 240 that evidently Brian forgot to give us on the last level.  It was +1 striking, 1d8 persistent, and 1d8 temp hp on a crit.  666 arrows.  Briscoe recognized the forge as a hell forge, used by fiends to make evil weapons.  It needed holy water to destroy it and (missing) Xeelie was the only one that bought any.  A barrel and keg had alchemist fire lesser (600 uses) and moderate (60 uses).  But 60 bulk and 6 bulk.  3 potions of red dragon’s breath (young).  One explosive arrow and 3 spell strike arrows, type 3.  A giant anvil.  And more.  The GM insisted we navigate the carrying of all that bulk, recognizing that Paul and Dave would want it all.  The summary writer went to bed as they were checking bags of holding space, carrying capacity and the like.  I think we need more bags.  I assume they loaded up, went through the portal and assuming they didn’t drown in the swamp from the weight, back to town. 

We started, back in the arena, facing a big monster emerging from the pile of garbage.  Somehow Oakwood went first and the Shanrigo Behemoth went last.  (Bizzarro world.)  He made it his Hunted Prey, turned on Thermal Nimbus and missed its 29 AC with an 11.  TerStegan turned on his aura and moved around to get flanking.  That was 3 actions but he used Sudden Charge so he got one swing.  And he hit exactly.  (Because it was made up of multiple monsters, it couldn’t be flanked.)  He did 21 but 10 points of the slashing damage was resisted.  Briscoe had no one to heal so he didn’t know what to do.  He cast Enlarge on TerStegan and missed with his trident.  (At least it didn’t have reactions.)  Clarisa did a 3 action Force Barrage.  That did 37 all of which applied once the GM targeted it for him.  It took 6 fire damage from the aura and then slapped Clarisa with reach.  It had a +23 attack so it could only miss on a 1.  It did 21 and then grabbed her with ease.  And then squeezed her for a Fort 27 save.  She missed that and took 18 plus 1d6 persistent bled.  And that squeeze healed it some.

Oakwood missed with a 2-action melee fire blast and then raised his shield.  TerStegan demoralize it for Frightened 1.  He hit exactly, due to the frightened, however the bonus damage from the enlarge was the same type as his stance so that didn’t stack.  He did 25, 10 of which bounced.  And then missed.  Briscoe couldn’t possibly pry Clarisa free so he used his Tempest Surge.  That did half damage for 15.  And then Doctor’s Visit for 32 on her.  Clarisa didn’t like her chances to Escape.  She channeled her inner Jon and went outside the box.  She asked if she cast Pest Form and became tiny, could she slip through its huge claws.  He got a Brian deal.  If she agreed to take 2 more dice of persistent damage, she could do it.  But first she had to make a flat check to cast while grappled, which she did.  She successfully slipped through and then moved away and reverted to her normal form.  And the deal got worse in that the 3d6 persistant stayed.  And then it went again.  It felt like Russian Roulette.  Who would be destroyed this round? It was Briscoe.  It rolled a 1.  And then crit with an 18.  That did 38 and 2d6 and Enfeebled 1.  And then it missed.

Oakwood did First Aid on Briscoe to treat the critical bleed.  And then rolled a 20 and did 21 points of fire damage.  TerStegan missed and missed again.  And cast Shield.  Briscoe gave Oakwood Guidance and did a 2 action DR first aid on Clarisa to get rid of the bleed.  That medicine roll was a 1 so he used his hero point out of embarrassment.  Clarisa did her last 3^rd level Forced Barrage.  That did 38 that couldn’t miss or be resisted.  Can’t be beat.  It went last.  It crit Oakwood for 55 and 2d6.  It then shoved him past the portcullis we pried open last time.  And slammed it shut.

Oakwood cast Sure Strike and missed a two-action ranged EB with a 1 and a 10.  And took some bleed.  TerStegan used a hero point to do 5 and then missed twice.  Briscoe cast Tempest Surge again.  Half for 13.  That dropped it.  It then released a 5-foot emanation of yuck.  Fort 29 save.  Briscoe failed but TerStegan rolled a 20.  That did 40 and Briscoe dropped.  Brian ended the encounter but he kept us on the turns to watch us miss some rolls.  Oakwood did Herbs on Briscoe to get him conscious and then bled again.  And then failed an athletics roll to raise the gate.  Enlarged TerStegan missed the gate roll 3 times.  Oakwood then did First Aid to get rid of his bleed and aided TerStegan.  He rolled a 2.  And then a 13 which succeeded. 

Brian gave us a 50/50 chance and the rune was broken.  Oakwood did Herbs on himself but Briscoe refused to do Ward Medic in this garbage area.  TerStegan started searching the pile and made a Fort save against the disgust.  Briscoe wanted to help but did BFM on himself first.  He missed that save and was forced to refuse to participate.  And then argued about it for 15 minutes and was allowed to search while vomiting.  Oakwood jetted over to the other side of the arena to look for the stuff in the corners we saw before.  The first was hide armor of some kind.  The other corner no longer had anything.  A half hour later, Brian declared the search pointless.  At this point, TerStegan realized the Researcher that had been watching us was in a chamber we hadn’t been in.  So, healing became important again and we spent 10 minutes while Briscoe did Ward Medic.  TerStegan navigated the fog of war and we ended up back in the bar.  The patrons were still there but mostly ignored us.  From there was a door into the viewing area. 

We opened the door and the party die split.  It went first and was tipped off to our hostile intentions because we had rolled initiative.  It moved up, applied venom to its weapon and using reach, attacked TerStegan.  And missed with an 11.  Hidden in the shadows behind the door, a Dreshkan emerged and attacked.  It used its claw and hit TerStegan.  That did 9.  It then stepped in front of the door.  And rolled a 20 for 21 more.  TerStegan had to save against the voices in his head.  DC 21 Will save.  He saved and was immune for a minute.  He attacked the Dreshkan and hit with a 5.  But only did 14.  And then hit again for 23.  Another Dreshkan emerged from the other side of the door and attacked.  It missed and moved to share a square.  And missed with a claw.  Briscoe made his Will save and then complained about his poor Druid options.  He cast Hydraulic Push on the big guy and missed.  He used a hero point and hit.  That knocked it back 5 feet and did 13.  Oakwood missed the Will save and was Confused.  He was forced to attack the unharmed Dreshkan.  He crit for 28 and then missed.  Clarisa used TK on the one she could see.  It got -1 for cover but she still hit.  The big guy took 15.  She cast Shield.

The big guy stepped up and attacked with reach.  And missed twice.  The Dreshkan did a cone needle attack.  Three of us took all of 15 and Briscoe took half.  TerStegan crit with 6 to spare.  That did 48 and destroyed it.  Its buddy took 17 from the sweep.  He then hit that one for 19.  And hit again for 23 and it dropped.  107 in one round.  Briscoe cast Slow on the big guy and it missed the save for Slowed 1.  He then crit with his trident for 25.  Oakwood was confused again and he attacked TerStegan.  He missed with a couple 3s.  Clarisa did TK again and missed.  And cast Shield again.  One of the card players shoved Clarisa from behind.  And then closed the door.  We were making too much noise, evidently.  Since she couldn’t share Briscoe’s square and there was nowhere for anyone to do, the GM declared her prone. 

The big guy opened a side door and ran away.  TerStegan followed it into a hallway with 7 doors.  Those doors were smaller than normal and didn’t reach the floor.  He missed and hit.  That did 25.  Before Briscoe could go, the door at the end of the hall opened and something vaguely undead looking said, “Why should I help you researcher?” in common.  And closed the door.  Briscoe targeted the big guy with Frostbite.  It saved easily for 4.  Oakwood ran up, got reach and hit for 17.  And then missed.  Clarisa stood up and moved.  But that left her with one action so she couldn’t attack.  The big guy managed to go again.  Still slowed.  It stepped away from TerStegan and ran down the hall.  TerStegan followed and attacked.  He crit for 44 and dropped him by 43.  That other guy was hiding and now had a large body on it.  TerStegan stepped up to engage it. 

Murschen attacked from hidden and got his sneak attack dice.  He did a Flurry on TerStegan.  The first was a crit for 39.  The next for 19 and that dropped him.  He then charged up to Oakwood and threw a star at the lever the GM had been trying to get us to flip.  He rolled a 38 on athletics and hit.  That opened 4 doors with a ghast behind each.  And they stunk.  Briscoe needed a Fort 18 save and made it.  He couldn’t get pass the guy to get to TerStegan.  He cast a AOE heal to get all of us except TerStegan plus the undead.  Murschen was not undead so he healed too.  He was a Monk.  The undead saved, crit saved and two fails.  It was 12 on the dice.  Oakwood could reach TerStegan with a 30-foot ranged Dash of Herbs.  And then turned on his fire aura now that he wasn’t confused.  Clarisa critically made her Fort save as did Oakwood retroactively.  She stepped up and used Flurry of Claws.  That hit a Ghast and missed the monk.  A Ghast attacked Brisco.  The claw missed but the bite hit.  It was 9 points plus a Fort save which he made.  Another Ghast stepped up and attacked Oakwood.  The bite hit for 13 and he made two Fort saves.  The claw missed.  The next Ghast tried the same but both attacks missed.                    

At the top of the next round, the last Ghast attacked Brisco.  He took 11, saved against the fever but missed the paralysis.  But since it had the incapacitation tag and we were twice their level, that fail stepped up to a save.  TerStegan stood up, picked up his axe and walked into the fight.  The monk attempted to Tumble Through.  TerStegan hit him with a reaction for moving.  (His AC was 29.)  That was 24 points.  He needed 3 successes to get past 3 players and missed the first one.  And missed on his second try.  He gave up and did a flurry on TerStegan.  That crit for 47.  (He had an attack of +22.)  He then crit Oakwood for 30.  Briscoe started with another Fort save which he made.  He then cast another Heal.  All the Ghast failed the save.  It was 23 points.  Oakwood saved and then missed 3 times with rolls no higher than a 6 against a low level Ghast.  Clarisa did a 4^th level Blazing Bolt.  She missed the Monk and used a hero point and hit.  That did 25.  The next bolt missed a Ghast and the last bolt killed one.  A Ghast attacked Briscoe and did 10.  He saved.  It hit again for 8 and he saved again.  And hit again for 8 and he still didn’t roll a 1. But the damage was adding up.

The last Ghast died from the fire aura.  TerStegan couldn’t stand or pick up his axe without taking a reaction attack and this monk crits nearly every time.  He crawled one square away, picked up his axe and stood up.  The monk hit Oakwood for 16 and then missed.  He failed to tumble through.  (And he had a very good acrobatics roll.)  And then hit Oakwood for 14 more.  Briscoe did a ranged heal on TerStegan that did 40.  And then did DV on Oakwood for 32.  Oakwood cast a Protector Tree next to him and then hit the monk for 15.  He figured this guy couldn’t miss but didn’t do a lot of damage so the tree was a good idea.  Clarisa did another Blazing Bolt.  He hit the monk for 21 and took out the last Ghast.  And then retroactively she missed a Fort save and then heroically made it.  And then she ignored Briscoe’s pleas to close the door and cast a useless Shield.  TerStegan stepped up and hit for 17.  His second attack missed.  The monk went next.  He entered a stance that upped his damage dice among other things.  He crit Oakwood for 37 and then missed.  But the tree took all the 37.  And then we swung on TerStegan and missed.  Briscoe cast Tempest Surge and the monk saved for 12.  Oakwood tried to talk to him as a free action but used up his allotted words for a free action.  He replaced his tree with one behind TerStegan figuring Oakwood had the healer behind him.  And then hit for 17.  Clarisa did TK but missed.  She then closed the door.

TerStegan missed and then heroically hit.  That did 22.  He then missed but only by one.  Oakwood used his reaction focus point Guidance to make that a hit.  That did 15.  And he rolled a 20 to crit on his last action for 47.  But somehow, he stood.  However, on his turn, he dropped from the fire aura.  The GM was most displeased for our actions.  Murder hoboing a neutral dungeon denizen.  He taunted us for a while and will continue to do so till the end of time.  The monk did attack first, knocking out TerStegan and opened the doors of the undead but evidently, he was a guy we weren’t supposed to kill.  He did have a victory brand on his forehead that we could now see now that it didn’t cost us an action to notice.  He had some mundane weapons.  And a +1 striking hand wraps.  The hide armor turned out to be ghoul hide armor.  That gave +1 saves against ghouls and curses.  Briscoe considered it but it would reduce his AC by 1.  That’s limited use vs constant use and not worth it.  The doors went to chambers that had massage tables.  And the last door led to a sauna.  Victor’s area? We decided to leave the dungeon, rest up and attack the next level fresh.  As usual, the casters had burned through their highest-level spells first.  The barkeep banned us for fighting.  We sold the loot except the resistant armor which went into Briscoe’s bag for later conversion.  That netted us each 42 gold.   

After a short debate, we sold the two “evil” items from last time.  The thinking being, if they fall into the hands of an evil sort, they weren’t that useful anyway.  Those plus some glaives and the party stuff Clarisa had left over in her bag of holding netted everyone 2 platinum and 8 gold.  After going round and round and starting and interrupting, we accomplished some stuff.  We cast a ritual to create 3 permanent unseen servants for the house.  Once we figured out who had the 3 skills needed.  But in order to make a DC 19 check 3 times, it took 2 hero points.  But that turned into a crit so we got 6 minions.  TerStegan bought his Killer’s Belt from Wren.  Clarisa bought some rituals for her spell book.  And transcribed them. (And then undid all that when Dan reread the PE2 ritual rules.)   Wren gave them a Consecrate ritual to ward off future undead armies.  However, in addition to another 3 skill rolls, it needed to be 3 people of the same religion.  That went round and round but we eventually decided that Oakwood and Brisco worshiped the Nature god.  So, we reached out to the town Druid to help.  But again, we needed a hero point to make the DC 17s and again that became a crit.  That covered some of the nearby swamp as well.  During the 3 days on that ritual, TerStegan earned some cash and Xeelie did repairs on the cabin.  Clarisa and Oakwood repaid Xeelie 10 each for the Consecrate components.  Briscoe refused on general principles.  We weren’t sure what those were but he was adamant about it.  TerStegan said to add it to his tab.  And then Xeelie bought some more scrolls including a healing one Oakwood paid for. 

We decided to finish off the Hydras and started at the main spiral staircase.  Briscoe had memorized a Water Breathing spell and cast it on everyone.  We moved into the room, hoping to get a round or two of long-range fire while TerStegan made a bunch of noise.  Briscoe felt some sort of connection to the natural world in the area.  TerStegan drank his Swim speed potion and cast Bless.  And then used his Musical Accompaniment cantrip.  We rolled initiative.  TerStegan was first but nothing had happened yet.  Xeelie cast Conduction Weapon on his axe.  Oakwood turned on his Nimbus and fired a fire arrow into the middle of the water.  There was nothing to target but he rolled a 16 and hit about where he wanted to.  But nothing stirred.  Briscoe sensed Earth Elemental magic behind us.  Great.  A Sod Hound emerged from the wall.  It looked at us.  Those with expert levels in Arcana and Occult noticed that it had energy shackles on its legs.  Another human-like creature then emerged.  Also, with shackles. And then another Hound.  And another.  That one took damage from the Thermal Nimbus and thus were identified as “foes”.  TerStegan re-entered the order and tried an Occult check.  And rolled a 1.  He then tried an Intimidation, rolled poorly but succeeded.  And did the same to a Hound.  The Living Landside said something but we didn’t speak its elemental language.  Clarisa didn’t want to start a fight and cast Deep Breath and Shield.  And stepped back a bit.

Xeelie was too far forward to see the elementals so she moved to get line of sight and then rolled a Lore roll.  She learned that the shackles were keeping them on this plane.  Given the time and material (gems from the earth) she might be able to free them.  But no one had any gems.  Oakwood suggested Xeelie use her Thaumaturge power.  Namely, having odd bits and pieces of stuff to Exploit Weakness on creatures.  Like gems on the shackles? The GM bought it.  After a Diplomacy roll, she managed to approach.  We dropped out of combat and let her do her thing.  And then Hound pulled 6 gems out of a stone crevasse.  But the ritual would take 4 hours.  Brian gave us a bone (a poison bone, it turned out) and told us the hydras were gone.  No one was feeding them so they left? But again, rituals needed skill checks from multiple people.  The DC was 23 and the backup rolls needed to be a critical success to help or the main roll took a -4.  So Xeelie would have to do it alone.  TerStegan used his swim speed and water breathing to start searching the water.  Oakwood went with him.  Briscoe stayed with the elementals to help keep them calm.  Clarisa did nothing.  It was a big area to search.  Around the bend, on the land, behind some debris, a hydra looked up. 

The Hydra went first and looked hungry.  It moved a bit and did a focus assault on TerStegan.  All 5 heads at a +18.  Thankfully(?) the extra heads only did extra damage and not extra attacks.  The crit did 62 points on 12d6+14.  The next hydra moved up onto the land but was out of movement.  Briscoe moved to get line of sight and then tossed a trident at long range.  And somehow hit for 8 points.  TerStegan feared he was facing 5x2 opportunity attacks with reach.  So, he decided to fight rather than run.  He did his stance and crit it.  That did 49.  And then he hit for 14.  Xeelie ran up behind Briscoe and did her Lore check.  And then drew her starknife.  Clarisa moved up but she could barely target it.  But it turned out she only had 1 action left so she cast Shield.  Oakwood was in a pickle.  If he swam to get onto the land, it would trigger reactions.  And if he fought without a swim speed, he’d take minuses.  So, he Channeled his elements, did his Thermal Nimbus and used Burning Jet that doesn’t trigger reactions and got onto land. 

The hydra regenerated 15 points and then hit TerStegan for 32.  That knocked him out.  And then picked up his body in one of its mouths.  The other one hit Oakwood for 30 and then bit him for 13.  Briscoe cast Fleet Step and then charged up near Oakwood.  Xeelie moved up with two move actions to get near TerStegan.  Unfortunately, with reach it got reactions to that movement.  It used 3 heads for 3 attacks.  All missed.  She then cast a spell and the other two heads got to use their reactions.  Two hits for 18 and 18.  But none were crits so she cast Life Boost on TerStegan.  Clarisa could now do her Force Barrage on the uninjured one.  She did 34 points.  Oakwood did Hunt Prey for the extra d8.  And then missed with reach fire.  And then used a hero point to do 20. 

TerStegan got the Life Boost.  He drew his hatchet and attacked, still in its jaws.  He did 20 and it lost a head.  That dropped him back into the water.  A 10-foot drop into water does 5 points of damage in this system.  He attacked again and hit for 14.  That Hydra grew two heads and did a focused attack on TerStegan with 6 heads.  That did 34 and took him out.  And it picked him again.  He dropped another axe.  The other one shoved Xeelie with ease and moved her back 5 feet.  And then attacked Xeelie but missed due to the -5 MAP.  Briscoe moved up and was crit as a reaction for 34.  And then did BFM on Xeelie but that reactive crit interrupted that action.  That only did 30 so he was still up.  After much consideration, he stabbed with his trident so he wouldn’t be killed by yet another reaction.  And missed.  And missed again.  Xeelie took a 5-foot step back, and threw her knife.  She missed and then hit for 17 points.  Clarisa moved up and engaged in a lengthy discussion about line on sight, line of effect and spell ranges.  And eventually decided to do a Fireball, getting the Hydras and TerStegan.  They save for 20 and TerStegan took it all, stepping closer to death.  Oakwood then missed with a 1 and then missed with a 4.

TerStegan came to again from the Fast Healing.  Paul noticed drawing a weapon was a manipulate action and would cause a reaction.  So, he bit the head that held him.  And missed.  He used a hero and barely hit.  That did 13 and it dropped.  He fell 10 feet again and took 5 points.  He swam 15 feet down and grabbed his axes.  Briscoe did BFM on himself for 36, Oakwood for 32 and Xeelie for 36.  Xeelie moved to the pile of debris and started searching.  One of the regenerating Hydras got up and attacked Oakwood.  (Somehow BTO missed that they had been regenerating?) That did 30 points.  Clarisa moved up and did a 2^nd level Force Barrage.  One hit for each Hydra.  Oakwood targeted the both of them with a Flying Flame.  That dropped the one that was up and the other one went down a Dying level.  He then tried a Recall Knowledge to figure out how to kill them.  And rolled a 1.

The 6-headed Hydra stood up and hit Xeelie for 28.  TerStegan was too deep to attack it so he had to swim up.  He did get flanking from Xeelie.  Using his hatchet, he missed and missed again.  Briscoe shot them both with a Blazing Bolt.  He hit the dead one and then missed with a trident.  Xeelie did her Recall Knowledge to figure out how to kill these things once and for all.  On a 26 she learned that they would regenerate as long as they had heads.  But don’t they regrow heads? Brian forced him to use another action to make another roll.  We have to chop the heads off with slashing and cauterize the neck with fire.  How much fire? On her 3^rd action, she barely hit the one that was up.  That was 15.  Clarisa cast a Floating Flame and put it over the necks of the down one.  The 5-headed one popped up but Brian gave up on the combat.  Because they were dead, Foundry was a nightmare about targeting and the effort wasn’t worth his amusement of watching us flounder about.  Kill, slice and burn would have been a challenge but we’d do it eventually.

Briscoe bandaged TerStegan and Oakwood hit him with Herbs.  And then Herbs for the rest.  Xeelie and Briscoe searched the land and the rest swam and searched the drain lair.  There was a skeleton in armor and miscellaneous gear.  Oakwood made a raft from generated elemental wood to make transporting it all back to land easier.  Briscoe couldn’t stand being left out and swam up too.  However the weapons were too rusty to be of value.  So, after all that effort, one suit of scale mail.  At least it was very valuable +1 resilient armor.  It would take 8^th level to transfer it to a better armor type for us before we could wear it.  TerStegan could wear it now but he didn’t want to lose 2 points of AC.  So, we’ll store it. And work out who gets it when it comes up.  Oakwood cut open the Hydras and found nothing while Xeelie attempted the ritual to return the elementals.  But we couldn’t make that roll until we had one more distraction.  The GM said the moss in the area was very nice.  Briscoe rolled a 1 and then heroically rolled a 20.  It was tasty moss.  He harvested some to take back to our swamp.  Xeelie rolled a 20 and the earth elementals went home.  She got crystal sense for a week for her efforts.  The ritual took 4 hours so we healed up and will head down to the fiends.  But first, there was talk of retrieving the magic glaive we used to escape the arena.  It was broken but maybe the runes were salvageable.  Brian couldn’t wait, mainly because he won’t be here next week.  So, we zoomed down, were placed into the arena and were attacked by a huge garbage monster.  And the glaive was gone.  We’ll start there.    

Ollie, Periwinkle and Bell were added to the tracker.  About in the middle.  Brisco started a new round and did another AOE 3^rd level Heal.  Once again, in a target rich environment, he got lots of them plus TerStegan and Clarisa.  24 undead monsters.  But first he had to make a Fort save or have his lungs fill with Bog Mummy rot water.  He missed it and used a hero point to save.  The description sounded really bad.  He rolled 10 on the Heal.  Below average again but he cleared out lots of hordes.  370 points total but the Bog Mummy boss was unimpressed.  The large mummy hit TerStegan for 11.  And missed Brisco with reach and then missed again.  Next was the distant Zombie Lord.  It moved up, targeted Clarisa upstairs and hit with a spell.  She missed the save, used a hero point and saved for half.  Only 5.  A Skeleton Champion hit Xeelie for 7.  TerStegan first saved against the Bog Mummy.  He then crit it and did 36.  Plus 8 to the large mummy next to it.  And hit again for 22 and then again for 23.  The riderless horse on Oakwood took 1 from the fire and then hit for 8.  Oakwood used his Reactive Shield to block its second attack.  Clarisa shot a 3^rd level Fireball at the Zombie Lord, Zombie Brute plus 4 hordes.  The hordes were destroyed.  Brian insisted the house make a save as well which it did. 

Upstairs, another Champion attacked Xeelie and crit.  That did 18.  It then missed and hit with a 20.  That wasn’t a crit but it did 11 and dropped her.  However, her mother then appeared through a stitch in time.  She used a Martyr spell.  Xeelie only took 9 instead and now had 1 hit point.  Her mother took the remaining 2 and they both got Wounded 1.  She stayed but her time magic brought a demon dog with her.  It flew over and attacked Wren for 23.  Two Skeletal Hordes came up the stairs and engaged Clarisa.  Thankfully, their attack took 2 actions and they didn’t have them.  And then two more moved and did the same.  Olli was next.  He flew out of the barn and to the front of the house.  He did his Wing Flash on the horses, the Knight and Oakwood.  Oakwood saved and was off guard until the end of his next turn.  The horses got the same plus lost an action.  The Knight crit saved for nothing.  Xeelie was next.  Wren told her to flee and she’d take care of it.  Xeelie closed a door to delay the dog and a Champion.  She then ran out on the balcony and then cast Life Boost on herself.  She then took 6 points from the bleed and went down again.  But saved against the Bleed.  The Life Boost doesn’t help until the start of her next turn.  Periwinkle told us that the bosses were the key.  Yeah, we know.  She cast Holy Light on the Knight and did 42.  Half fire and half spirit so it actually took 32.  And then moved up next to Oakwood and the Knight.  And cast a Heal on Oakwood.  That gave him 10 on 3d8.  But she had an aura going so it actually did 16.  Plus, damage to the undead. 

The Bog Mummy hit TerStegan for 11.  He missed the save and then saved with a hero point.  And then it missed twice.  The Zombie Brute came around to the front and took 6 points of fire.  The Skeleton Mage targeted Clarisa with a Chilling Darkness spell.  That just missed due to her Shield spell.  Oakwood thanked Periwinkle for her help and then used Burning Jet to get up on the balcony, leaving her behind.  “Sorry.”  He was facing 4 foes while flat-footed.  He then shot the Knight with vitality but only for 4.  The Knight then attacked Periwinkle and crit.  She took 42 and went out.  It attacked the raptor and crit for 38.  And then finished it off with its 3^rd attack.  A Zombie Brute moved up to TerStegan.  Next were Mummy Hordes but there were only two left.  They attacked TerStegan.  He missed a save and used a hero point.  And then succeeded for 5.  And then the Zombie Hordes of which there were plenty because they were too slow to be in the AOEs.  Some surrounded Wren and some surrounded Clarisa.  And more at the back door moved up on TerStegan and Brisco.  At the end of the round, Oakwood’s sister showed up and hit the middle of the order.

Brisco considered a cone attack spell but the targeting wasn’t very good.  So, he cast his last 3^rd level Heal.  He rolled 12 this time and took out a couple more hordes.  But the Bog Mummy finally went down.  As we suspected, all of the mummies went down with him.  Unfortunately, there was only one left.  But Brisco and TerStegan got 12 back as well.  Next was the Zombie Lord.  It moved up and targeted Clarisa, still in the window.  She saved for Frightened 1.  A Champion attacked Wren and hit exactly.  She took 11.  And then it missed twice more.  TerStegan did a Sudden Charge against the Zombie Lord.  Nothing on his path had a Reactive Strike.  He hit for 25.  And then again for 23.  The Skeletal Horse ran over to Olli and did 8.  And then 11.  Clarisa was surrounded so if she cast, she’d face 4 Reactive Strikes.  She successfully Tumbled Past and got outside.  She upcast a Blazing Bolt to 4^th.  She did 35 to the Zombie Lord and the Skeletal Mage.  That dropped the Lord and all the Zombies.  That was good because there were a lot of those still on the board.  Wren was still up.  She cast Fey Disappearance to go invisible however it had the manipulate tag.  A Champion hit but didn’t crit.  She took 7.  The other one did the same for 11.  She then moved, cast Time Jump which allowed her to move twice more.  That got her out of the house to the back. (DR-I found it amusing that her mother teleported in to save Xeeli and then she snuck out the back door and locked her mother in with the undead horde.  It made sense and she was told to do it by her mother, but the optics were less than heroic.)

The Champion didn’t know where she went but it knew where Clarisa went.  It moved to her but missed.  The Hound used scent to surmise which way Wren went and ended up next to TerStegan in the backyard.  Somehow it still had an action and hit TerStegan for 25.  The remaining Skeleton Hordes were upstairs.  They went after Clarisa and some went around to the front.  Olli did a 5-foot step and flew up to the second floor to safety.  Xeelie Fast Healed for 8.  Still prone and unarmed, she cast a 3 action Heal spell.  That got the Knight and its horse plus Bell and Periwinkle and Oakwood and herself.  And rolled 3.  But that at least got Bell and Periwinkle awake.  Doriana charged the Knight and did a Flurry of Blows with the Inner Upheaval.  She hit and did 20.  And hit again for 21.  (Monks look great when they roll 18 and 19.)  The Skeleton Mage cast Chilling Darkness on Clarisa.  It hit and did 14.  And then foolishly moved closer to TerStegan.  Oakwood jumped back down, took advantage of the flanking from his sister and finished off the Knight.  Some more skeletons went down but some were controlled by the Mage.  He then used BFM on himself with his last action.  Periwinkle stood up, flew up 10 feet and did Lay on Hands on Xeelie. 

Brisco ran up to TerStegan and did Doctor Visit BFM on him.  That did 30.  And then climbed up to be near Clarisa.  But also near a Champion.  Another Champion moved up from inside the house but missed him.  TerStegan had to make a save against Hound first.  He did and took 9.  He charged the Skeleton Mage and crit.  That did 55 and destroyed him.  That took out the rest of the undead.  He tried to Demoralize the Hound with his last action but despite his critting on the roll, it was immune.  Clarisa’s only target was the Hound.  So, she did her last Force Barrage for 35.  Wren cast some funky time-based NPC spells but the Hound saved.  It then made her make a save on its turn.  She crit failed but TerStegan did his Counter Performance to make it a fail for 18.  And then it moved to her and critted her for 42.  That dropped her, obviously.  And then returned to whence it came.

Wren was helped and then left.  We had a meeting.  The other group had gone down a level and ran into 5 fiends in the dining room.  4 Barbazus and 1 Drier.  Amica was captured and their rogue was hiding nearby.  5 fiends is a tough ask made harder without a long rest.  We debated.  It was argued that other than being tortured for the time it would take to rest, she wasn’t not going anywhere.  And there’s no point in going to rescue her if we die doing it.  But ultimately the two girls said that if we didn’t leave right now, they’d go into town to gather guards and head back in.  So that meant more death to townspeople.  So, we had to go.  Brisco was unhappy about it, being down most of his spells.  We refocused, healed up and left.  And Brian threw us into the dungeon. 

We started in the empty dining room.  There was a door, a room, a secret door and lastly the soul sucking table room ahead of us.  Brisco cast Splash on TerStegan.  TerStegan drank a potion to give him Fast Heal 3 and opened the door.  Periwinkle deferred.  Xeelie opened the next door and saw a Barbazu.  They rolled too high on their initiative and missed their turn.  Then she did her Lore thing.  She rolled a 33 but already knew everything.  But now she got her extra damage on them.  She tried to distract them but didn’t speak their language.  Oakwood cast Blur on himself and turned on his damage field but cold this time.  Periwinkle turned on her Halo for extra healing.  Doriana charged in and attacked the only devil visible.  She hit twice for 26.  And then a Trip attempt.  She did it with a 19 despite the -10 MAP.  Clarisa moved into the room and there were 2 other devils.  She cast TK and hit for 27. 

Brisco now had a target rich environment.  He charged in next to Clarisa.  He cast his focus spell and did 25.  That took a devil out.  (It did not resist the electrical damage for future reference.)  The Drier moved so it could see Doriana and hit her with a barbed net.  That made her Clumsy and 10 feet less mobile.  And tried the same on Brisco but rolled a 1.  TerStegan charged in and headed to the devil in front of the boss.  He chose a route to avoid reactions however they had reach so he still got attacked.  One hit for 14 plus 1d6 bleed.  And the guy he was charging got an attack because of closing on a guy with reach.  But he missed.  After all that, TerStegan crit for 42.  He then took 5 more and failed to roll a 20 to stop the bleeding.  A devil moved to get flanking on TerStegan but closed the door instead.  And then missed Doriana.  The next devil moved and closed the other door.  And then hit Clarisa for 20 plus the bleed.  The last one attacked TerStegan.  He hit for 19 plus the bleed.  (Thankfully they don’t stack.)  It then missed with a beard attack.  Xeelie spent an action opening the door.  She had flanking with Clarisa.  She hit for 19.  And then missed.  Oakwood didn’t want to try to tumble past the devil so he used Weapon Infusion to get reach.  He crit for 18 cold and missed.  Periwinkle cast a spell on a devil but it saved for half so 12 became 1.  But she moved it out of the doorway.  Doriana attacked the one guarding the door to TerStegan.  She tried to Demoralize, rolled a 19 and got Frightened 1.  And then a flurry.  She crit for 22 and then missed.  Somehow her Champion archetype gets her holy damage.  Lastly, she tried to Trip but failed.  Clarisa took a step and hit for 11.  It didn’t have a reaction available.  And then took 6 and didn’t save against the bleed. 

Brisco hit for 9 with a 5d4 frost but it saved for half.  And the missed with a trident.  The boss hit TerStegan with a net.  It switched to its trident and missed.  TerStegan attacked the devil and crit.  That did 28 and killed it.  He then stepped up and attacked the boss.  And missed.  And then took 2.  The devil on Doriana went next.  It missed her and missed again.  And then took a step.  The other devil stepped to get flanking on Brisco but rolled a 2.  And then missed again.  Xeelie moved into the room but it took a reaction.  That hit for 18 plus the bleed.  She was surprised to find the secret door to TerStegan and the boss closed.  She had to alter her plan and killed a Devil instead.  And then attacked the other one in the room and did 13.  And then bled.  Oakwood moved in but stopped short to avoid the reach reaction.  He crit with reach cold and then hit and finished it off.  That was the last devil in the room.  Periwinkle ran into the room but didn’t know how to open the closed secret door.  She cast a heal.  Doriana waited for Clarisa to open the secret door.  She moved, opened it and cast Sheild.  Now Doriana went.  She moved into the torture room, staying on the edge to avoid the damage field.  She hit and then crit.  That did 47.  And a free Trip from the hook rune.  That was a critical fail so she fell prone. 

Brisco ran in, still enjoying the Tailwind from the last fight.  He tried to trip the boss with a Tangle Vine but it missed.  Their Rogue, Chartreuse Scribbles was in the room but Invisible.  She threw a club and did 10.  And became visible.  The boss missed TerStegan but then hit.  That did 28.  Evidently it did extra because of the net.  And then missed again.  TerStegan hit for 25 and then missed.  He used a card that made the miss a hit.  It took 22.  His 3^rd attack missed but he used hero point to hit.  That did another 19 and that finally dropped the boss.  TerStegan unlocked Amica with Otari’s key and she was grateful.  (His lock pick upgraded again.  Unfettered movement, once a day.)  No treasure here as the devil’s equipment turned to dust.  We did earn, retroactively, Bagpipes of Turmoil and Banner of Despair from the earlier fight.  Neither are useful to us and might be too evil to sell.  We stopped there with plans of playing next week.  We’ll certainly go back to the cabin and ger a long rest.  Then repair the damage and do that selling and buying we were planning to do before we were attacked by an undead army.

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.