We got off to a late start due to lack of players.  We even played a couple virtual board games until Paul called in and pushed us up to 4.  We crossed the drawbridge to the first gate.  There was no cover to be had in the inner courtyard so we debated.  There were plenty of arrow slits but no sign of people.  Loki cast Pace Without Trace which includes a “shroud of darkness” which we hoped would help.  We crossed and came to the front door.  At this point Paul started asking questions.  Did we want to scout around the whole castle perimeter? Is this an intelligence gathering opportunity or a practice fight or what? Ultimately, we decided not to back track and go forward.  The bigger question was how “real” was this encounter.  If we found stuff, do we keep it? If we use stuff, like consumable magic items, do we lose it? Brian was unhelpful and vague, as expected.  We pressed on and went in.

The castle was for the most part empty.  Very much like the abandoned mansions and keeps we’ve cleared out before.  Dusty and decrepit.  We just started wandering about with Baron Q added to the mix.  We heard music coming from the dining room but since we had been there before, we deferred it.  We saw various statues and gargoyles which didn’t animate.  (I had to drop off about here so this is my best reconstruction.)  They found an abandoned chapel to the Morning Lord.  This castle was once home to a noble family, before Stradanya took over the land.  To their surprise, the chapel was still “holy”.  They found a dead adventurer who seemed to have been electrocuted from touching a morning lord statue.  Ezra said it was good so he must have been bad.  He had a magic mace which Baron Q took.  Somewhere in here, they were attacked by some zombies.  They were dispatched without much issue but it made some noise.

Somehow, they went up a level from there (balcony?) and ended up in a hallway.  They triggered a trap and Stradanya appeared.  However, it was just a cheesy hunted house mannequin.  They also found a secret door that led to an elevator going up and down.  They spent an hour on this.  Evidently there were no controls inside it but could control it from the outside.  They sent it up and it made a lot of noise.  As if it hadn’t been used in a long time.  They didn’t want to risk it and didn’t want to change levels until this area was searched.  So, reluctantly, they left it behind.  The next room of interest, after a couple of unanimated skeletons were hacked to bits by Kharn, had the castle’s accountant.  He was very old and chained to his desk.  Surrounded by scrolls and papers.  (I came back at this point.)  Baron Q did his detect magic and we asked him some questions.  He did say that there was no money in his chests.  There was a false treasure room up but that the good stuff was down.  Loki tried to get the location of Stradanya’s bed room or of her minions but he didn’t know.  He was unaware of the elevator but had heard the noise.  Ambrus tried to unlock his chains but the manacle was bolted on.  We left him.

From there we went down into the first main hall via another secret stairway.  (On a side note, because we were using line of sight instead of fog of war, it was very hard to keep track of where we had been and how it all pieced together.)  As we debated whether to go into the dining room, BQ wandered about with his detect magic on.  He passed through the gargoyle room and this time they animated.  We’re not sure what was different.  They attacked but they were dispatched in a couple of rounds.  We were simply too high of level for them.  At this point, it was approaching 1AM so we stopped.  We’ve scouted a tiny portion of the castle and found next to nothing of interest.  I guess the hope is to find something important, like a minion or a glowing red gem, and then map the fastest way there? Anyhow, there’s still a ton of exploring to go.  And where is everybody? Last time we were here, wasn’t it full of servants?

Jon’s game next week.  Without Fantasy Grounds. 

We started in Kresk, discussing our options.  According to the script, next was to go to the cave near the Old Mill (Granny Momo’s cookie factory) and face our greatest fear.  That being, a trial run for our final confrontation with Strahdanya and her minions.  (This would finish Loki’s personal quest, the last quest to be completed.)  Followed by the actual assault.  And once she was defeated, her vampire god’s powers would be diminished sufficiently to be defeatable back at the Amber Temple.  And we’d have a week to do so or she’d rise again.  But first, what did we need to do?  There were plenty of things people wanted before fighting her, most prominently, acquire more spells.  But there are no spell stores in Barovia.  The best Lady Patrina could hope for was more inks in Valaki with which she could transcribe from Mord’s spell book.  And maybe trade with Esmerelda although she (and Brian) seemed at best lukewarm towards.  We all wanted to get to 12^th level but that will likely happen after this major milestone.  Getting a strong bow for Ezra was also on the list of desires although it’ll likely take a week or two to make, once ordered.  So, it may all be over by then. 

So, we decided to go to Valki for inks and a bow since it was on the way to the Mill anyway.  But first, there were a bunch of but firsts to do in Kresk.  Irena decided to stay behind to give Brian one less thing to keep track of.  We took another long rest to recover the last level of exhaustion for Lady P and Ambrus.  And we finally got on the road.  At the end of the first day, we came across a grisly scene.  It seemed as though a group of traveling peasants had been waylaid and killed.  The only survivor was a child who was clinging to her father’s body.  Lady P won initiative and approach her in a calm manner.  And it turned out, she was an evil fey creature feasting on the innards of the peasant.  Shock and dismay.  A dozen more leapt out of the bodies and the fight ensued.  They did a lot of damage including some free trips but at least they didn’t have any magic or legendary actions.  AOE were used.  Their AC was low but their HPs were high.  There was a big discussion on Kaladin’s attempt to use falling as “free movement” like was the case in the fight with the Roc but Brian objected.  It was a thing. 

Lady P, being in the front, got rocked pretty good.  So, she turned into a T Rex.  About round two, a huge Bone Bird fell from the sky, doing 20d6 to it and those it landed on.  In retaliation for the discussion above.  That did a bunch of damage to Kaladin and enough to knock the T Rex out of Patrina.  It got a free grab and restrained but didn’t seem to be able to fly.  How it got up there, we were confused.  That spiced up the fight.  Mighty smites and spells were used.  Fantasy Grounds went sideways a couple of times and we had to reboot once.  Lady P cast T Rex on Kharn who started granting T vantage.  The polymorph kept unsetting in Fantasy Grounds and even the Bone Brid turning into a Roc.  All in all, it was contentious, disjointed due to tech issues and resolved in a handful of rounds.  We took a short rest and continued.

In Valiki, Ezra ordered his bow from the elves.  Lady P and Esmerelda went into the city since they were the only ones not currently wanted.  After they went through the usual gate keeper nonsense, they checked the board, and we were still wanted.  They went to the magic shop.  She asked about magical items but he said that the riots caused by the wanted adventurers (us) had about cleaned him out.  He had no scrolls or spells for sell either.  But he did have ink.  She spent all her money on those and then started negotiating with the NPC about spell swapping.  She had very little success there.  Maybe she picked up a True Sight.  Meanwhile all the other idle players started drifting off.  We never really regained our momentum.  We went to the cave and entered.  And exited at the front gate of Castle Stradanya.  At that point it was probably too late to start on that, so we just stopped.  Of note, we’re going in short a short rest which is probably a bad idea.  And with all the talk of finding clues and things to defeat her, it seems like our plan is to beat her up.  And her minions, in her lair.  Although we were told that Ambrus’s new Sun Sword was sentient so maybe it has some ideas.  Any thoughts of finding another way in or weakening her forces were rejected.  Stay on the rails and those rails go right into the lion’s den.  Toot toot.

We got off to a slow start.  With two players missing, we had to wait for the late arrivers in order to reach critical mass.  Just as we moved across the bridge over the 500-foot canyon again, we were attacked by two Rocs.  Loki went first, firing 3-4 shots into one and then taking cover next to one of the towers.  (He was down to less than half as he had run out of HD.)  Kaladin went next.  (Still fatigued from the fight with the ghosts.)  He flew up to one and with a Flurry of Blows managed to hit and stun one.  It plummeted down and took 20d6 of falling damage.  He hit the second one but did not stun it.  Once again, the meleers were sort of left out.  Even Kharn’s strong bow was late in arriving.  The second Roc attacked Kaladin, hitting, and grappling him.  It started flying down towards its mate and was quickly out of range of our ranged characters.  Esmerelda used a Dimension Door to place herself on its back.  When Kaladin went again, he managed to stun it. (Dan: The mechanics of this was wierd.  I stunned the Roc and it instantly fell 500ft.  Since this happened instantly it interupted my action and I wasn't able to finish my action or try to escape... since an incapacitated foe can't grapple) And the 3 of them took 20d6 of falling damage.  However, the Monk took 5*level less damage.  And now both Rocs were 500 feet below the bridge.

Loki cast Summon Animals and brought forth two Giant Eagles.  He bid one to carry him down and one to catch him if the first should fall.  Although Shimota pointed out that in order to keep up, the second wouldn’t have an action to do so.  Kaladin got free of the Roc but was quickly knocked out.  Esmeralda was grabbed and it flew towards the bridge at river level.  That was finally in Loki’s range so he got a couple shots and then 4 more when his turn came up.  Kharn decided it was time for action.  He tossed his strong bow (and arrows) to Ezra and then jumped off the bridge (raging first), and landing on the Roc.  They all landed in a heap in the river, taking out the NPC.  He managed to fish her out and get her one of few remaining good berries.  Meanwhile, the other Roc attacked the Eagle carrying Loki.  It hit and grabbed and killed it.  However, since it was conjured, it simply disappeared, leaving Loki in midair.  The second Eagle managed to grab him, barely.

Kharn saved Kaladin from drowning and got him to 1 hit point as well.  He then flew at it and was critted with a beak and out again.  Esmeralda was also knocked out.  (I may be getting the order of these events wrong.)  Loki cast Rope Trick and climbed into the pocket so that the Eagle could go grab the NPC.  (He was still 100 feet up.)  But the AOO stopped that plan.  Next Baron Q decided to jump into the river to try to save her.  The problem was that she was like 30 from the bridge so the Baron needed to traverse that distance as he fell.  To do so afterwards would not leave him with an action to save her.  He wanted to use his Billowing Cloak to parasail the distance but Brian set the DC at 25.  Since the Baron was not proficient in Athletics or Acrobatics, he could not get to that number.  Some time was spent arguing and discussing options and eventually Brian agreed to move it to DC 20 because we wanted to see it tried.  He failed the roll however Ezra spent an inspiration in encouragement.  On that roll, he got a nat 20.  A beautiful swan dive (and 20d6 of damage) later, he managed to save her.

With only one Roc left, it started to fly away with the last Giant Eagle in its talons.  However, a couple of Fireballs killed it but not the Roc.  At a 120 fly speed it was getting away fast.  Esmerelda cast another Dimension Door with Kharn in tow and he took it out.  Once again, it got dicey saving the NPC from the fall but we managed.  We limped into a long rest in the same tower we stopped at on the way up.  There were some discussions about who needed full rests to recover from exhaustion and how we can get rests and have watches.  On Loki’s watch, an undead spirit manifested in the tower.  He blasted it 4 times and took it out.  People were mad for being awoken over an alleged ghost.  Once rested, we were ready to head out. 

But Kharn could not let go of the notion of a Roc nest full of treasure.  We spent 20 minutes arguing about it and eventually decided to send the fliers in search so that we could move on.  DG figured we’d miss the tracking roll anyway however with assistance from Kharn, he rolled a nat 20.  It turns out, the nest was over the Amber Temple.  We went back up the hill to check it out.  It had nothing but 2 starving Roc chicks.  Time well spent.  By the time we got back to the wagons, the day was about over.  So, we took another long rest.  And then we fast forwarded to Kresk.  Irena put herself and the sword hilt in the healing waters, fortified by the green gem Loki put in the well, and not only did the sword repair but she got her 10 years of aging back.  It is a finesse long or short sword that does +2/+2 plus an extra 1d8 of radiant damage.  And some other things once attuned.  Hopefully it’s good at slaying vampires.  We gave it to Ambrus.  Next is back to the Old Mill cave to face our greatest fear.  And maybe a side trip to Valaki along the way to get Ezra his very own strong bow.

We started at the top of the order with Loki.  He was in a tight spot.  In an archimage’s lair, surrounded by magical darkness that the Mage could see in but Loki could not.  DG’s first thought was to ignite the “sun” sword in hopes that it might penetrate the darkness.  Brian told him he could “feel” that it was somehow broken.  He then put forth several reasons why he might have a fighting chance of finding the window out again but it boiled down to a contested skill roll.  Loki’s survival versus his perception.  He rolled an 18 and DG rolled a nat 20.  Loki went into all 4s mode and scampered past him and out the window, down the statue with his climb speed.  The Mage went next.  He cast something on Loki which he used an inspiration to save against.  Some sort of paralysis spell.  But since he was still in the darkness, we didn’t know what else he did.  Then everyone else got to go.  Unfortunately, most everyone was in the adjacent hall and without the at will teleportation he had, it was going to take a round or two to get into the main room.  Plus, Kaladin and Patrina were late arriving.

Loki headed towards the exit, hoping that the Mage couldn’t leave the temple? The NPC wizard we promised to take with us was confused and cast Greater Invisibility on himself.  Unfortunately, he stood in a doorway.  Baron Q plowed into him and was forced to stop.  Ezra plowed into him and knocked him over.  Some of us were still exhausted from the ghosts last time and moved at half.  The Mage appeared in the first hallway.  He cast Heat Metal on the sword hilt in hopes of forcing Loki to drop it.  He then cast Chain Lightning on 4 of us.  Ezra and Ireena saved and evaded it.  Loki and Lord Q didn’t save and took all 50.  And then teleported away.  Baron Q dispelled the Heat Metal and turned the corner to head up the last hallway to the exit only to find him up there waiting.  And this was the hallway with the huge steps so it was going to be Athletics rolls and difficult terrain to get up it.  Ezra got up one step.  Loki fired 4 shots and with the Mage’s Shield, missed on all four.  He continued towards the crack in the wall exit the barbarians used. 

At this point, the Mage made his mistake.  He teleported into the midst of us and up cast Banishment.  Loki and Esmeralda missed the save and disappeared.  (Along with the sword, by the way.)  I think around here, he revealed his true form.  A fox headed demi god? Baron Q cast a Mental Prison but he saved.  And the conciliation physic damage all bounced.  But now the melee guys could finally catch up.  Kharn raced up the stairs and with an extra boost of movement from raging, hit him.  Right around here, that NPC wizard decided it was time to make his move and cast Cone of Cold on a bunch of us including the Mage.  And promptly went back invisible.  Then Kaladin went.  He hexed the Mage, then hit him.  All the damage bounced except the one point of necrotic from the hex.  That caused him to miss his concentration and the banished returned.  He then missed his stunning fist save.  Then Ezra hit him with a 2^nd level smite and crit him with another 2^nd level smite doing a ton.

At that point, now bloodied, the Mage teleported across the room as a free action and cast a Fireball?  While stunned? But he had been “breaking the rules” the whole fight.  Stunned, he got hit 3 times by Loki and hit by Esmeralda and finished off by a Disintegrate from Lady P.  Meanwhile the NPC wizard’s Quasit attacked and its master kept fighting.  The Quasit was finished off pretty quickly but we could not target the guy.  He finished off Lady P and Loki with a Fireball.  And once berried, took them out again.  However, that revealed he was in the hallway upstairs.  Esmeralda cast an AOE persistent Cinder Cloud.  He finally dropped after two rounds of that.  As is usually the case, half the players were at death’s door and half were barely touched.  A bunch of things were proposed to do.  Bandaging, short rest, searching his lair in the statue, trying to figure out if the missing part of the sword was in there or elsewhere or needed at all, transferring Ezra’s Cleric scrolls to the NPC Ireena, leaving, staying, and another half dozen things.  But we didn’t seem to be able to do anything but bring up more stuff.  At this point, the chronicler went to bed as he had an early morning the next day.  Perhaps the back up chronicler can add on from there.

After defeating the Amber Golem last time, we took a pause to reassess.  We had been told that the Sun Sword would have been dropped near the entrance.  However, we were pretty deep into the temple at this point.  We decided to double back.  (Which was ironic since the next door was the last door on this side.)  On the way, we decided to search the mage chapel a bit more.  While searching for secret doors, we found a singed mage hiding behind the lectern.  He claimed to have come in with his master who was burned to a crisp by flaming skulls.  On the other side.  After some questioning, we agreed to leave him there and come back and get him on our way out.  Back in the room with the now plugged hole in the floor, Loki found a secret door.  That lead to a scroll storage room however none of the scrolls were intact.  Just bits and dust.  We skipped the main room and went to the other side.  In there were some barbarian types and their pet Dire Wolf.  Ezra managed to negotiate a discussion.  Evidently, they were hunters that were using this place as a camp.  For a deserted temple that required at least 11^th level to enter, it sure was busy in here.

So, we agreed to part without a fight however the door behind them was the last stone unturned.  We went into the main room and searched.  There were no doors and no one found any secret doors.  We knew there was a room on this level that had the red mist but hadn’t found it yet.  We did note that the big statue in the room had a Darkness at its head.  Which meant we couldn’t see who it was.  We thought about dispelling it or climbing up but decided to delay messing with it.  Maybe there was a sleeping god up there.  That led us back to the barbarians.  Ezra asked what they wanted to let us pass.  500 gp, which was outrageous but we had it.  For that, they said they’d pack up and leave.  Before they left, Loki used his Wand of Detect Magic since Lord Q was not present.  He did not detect anything on them.  Like a Sun Sword.  They left via a crack in the wall in the room.  The door was opened and we saw a long hallway with 6 flaming skulls.

Once again, they plastered us with low DC Fireballs.  We rolled poorly on initiative and just had to take it.  Those with Evasion fared much better but 4 Fireballs, even at half damage, hurt.  Kaladin and Ambrus got critted by eye rays as well.  We took them out but needed a short rest before going on.  We had used up our healing from the previous fights.  In the hall was the body of the master of the guy we’d seen before.  He was indeed burnt and his spell books destroyed.  His magic staff was okay.  Lady Patrina took that to be Identified later.  We held up in the barbarian room.  A few minutes in, that apprentice knocked.  He wanted a status and was particularly interested in his master’s books and staff.  Patrina hid the staff in her Portable Hole.  According to him, it was a staff of cold.  We finished our short rest and headed down the hallway.  We found a door that led down a level but we left it.  We were still hoping the sword was up here.  We found a room that stored potions but none were magic anymore.  We then found a room with a model of the vampire’s castle.  The battered crates and chest in the corner were empty and Loki used another charge and found no magic.  At the end of the hall was a door that led into a banquet room with a fine meal laid out.  And a door that probably lead to the balcony overlooking the main room.  Loki announced that the ewer was magic.  Patrina rushed forward and grabbed it with the intent of putting it away for further study.

When she touched it, a dozen Specters appeared in the chairs.  Multiple people ordered her to put it back but unfortunately her initiative was low and she went after every Specter.  Some delayed but there was no point.  Combat ensued.  Their to hit bouns was 4 and Brian rolled low so they barely hit.  They mostly swung at Patrina.  However, when they died, all that were near them had to make a Con save or take a level of exhaustion.  Several took two levels and were really screwed.  She cast a Dawn spell however it was the usual AOE friendly fire nightmare.  She tried to order people to leave the room but they could not until their turn.  Meanwhile, the Specters started to fly through the walls to escape.  It was a mess but they were taken out in a couple rounds.  With the Dawn still going, she decided to move it onto the statue to cancel the Darkness.  Everyone got one round of movement before she did this and that left us scattered.

It turns out, Dawn does not cancel Darkness although it did allow us to see the head of the god of secrets.  But it also awoke the archimage sleeping in its head.  He demanded to know who dared to disturb him.  We asked some questions.  Patina advised him to move out of the statue and would not move her spell.  So, the mage teleported next to her as a move action, cast Finger of Death and killed her.  How he found her, I’m not sure.  But villains play by their own rules.  Ezra attempted to calm things down.  He was here doing research.  He knew nothing about the sword and claimed to know nothing about Stradhanya which we found unbelievable.  (Maybe this was Stradhanya, for the truly paranoid.)  We said we wanted the sword to defeat her evil reign and he seemed to at least consider it.  During this, Ezra used his last Lay on Hands to save Patrina.  Meanwhile, Loki slipped away and went into the main room.  Ezra could sense that he was not being truthful about the sword.  Loki climbed the statue and felt his way around and found the eye hole.  I.e. the Darkness was still there.  The Mage started to sense something was wrong while Ezra tried to keep him engaged.  The Mage took a step to get line of sight to the statue and teleported over just as Loki grabbed ahold of a sword hilt with a good perception roll.  “What are you doing, squirrel?”  “Er, just trying to prevent a fight over a sword you say you didn’t need.”  He’s got True Sight always on, of course.  We stopped there.  It seems like a tall order but since he had the sword, it seems as if we are supposed to defeat him.    

Before and after, we had some discussions about Path Finder.  Other than Dan, everyone had varying degrees of apprehension about this new system.  Most of the backgrounds being considered were orphans and outcasts that happen to find themselves in this village.  Brian was hoping for better links but was willing to work on it.  It’s a common problem.  The game designers build towns that are most humans but the players all want to be non-humans.  You’d think these designers would have figure that out by now.  Or make humans better.  Brian said we’d start at 1^st and has shelved the junior mage school idea for now.  The general trend seems to be trouble maker young adults, bored with their small town.  Anyhow, the ideas presented were as follows.  Dan has a gnome sorcerer with dragon magic.  DG has a human shape changing Druid, black sheep daughter of the town leader.  BTO was thinking charming Swashbuckler but hadn’t gotten any further.  Paul was thinking a Bard Orc or half Orc.  Andy was thinking a blessed Rogue.  And Jon was thinking an elf Monk who is more of an unarmed fighter whose style translates as Monk.  Although since no one was doing a Wizard, he was feeling some obligation to do so.  So, currently its 3 martial and 3 magic. 

We started, surrounded by enemies.  Between the Vrocks, the tower and the cliffs to either side, there was nowhere to maneuver.  The Vrocks had two at will AOEs, (stun and poison) that kept recharging.  We started slugging.  Unfortunately, the mages took the brunt of the damage.  Esmeralda could take it but Patrina could not.  She went down before her turn came up.  But we had Ezra back.  Not only did he do a ton of damage to these fiends with his Holy Avenger smites, but gave people bonuses to their saves as well.  Other than Patrina, we did okay.  At the end, the NPC cast a Time Stop spell.  (9^th?)  She ran to the top of the tower, cast a Disintegrate against which it saved and some other high-level spell.  All on the same turn.  It was over soon after that.  We chose to try for a long rest rather than take a short rest.  But Irena did bandaging, several did Prayer of Healing and Ezra did Lay on Hands just in case we got attacked again.  We did not and continued on our way the next morning.

The Amber Temple was impressive.  There were massive steps (10 foot high) leading down into it which we navigated without issue.  Loki spotted some arrow slits up high but they were not manned.  This place seemed empty as a tomb.  The first room had more stairs going down plus a closed door to the left and an opened door to the right.  Esmeralda’s research told us that the Sun Sword was purportedly dropped off the main path near the entrance.  We figured that ought to be the open door way.  Loki snuck in and found a hole in the floor.  It appeared to have been blasted although there was no debris.  Patrina sent her manifest mind down the hole and ran into 5-6 Flaming Skulls.  Initiative.  Initially, Brian put them all into the room but it was argued successfully that they ought to move on their initiative.  The first came up and fired a Fireball with its free action.  That got most everyone.  The DC was low so all saved but even half of 30 was nothing to sneeze at.  (Although some Evaded it.)  It then used its eye beams on Loki who was the closest. 

Patrina went next and decided to launch a (radiant) Fireball down the hole.  She tried to target it such that it wouldn’t get Loki or the one Skull but given the size of the room below, Brian ruled that the spill over would get them anyway.  Just before she fired, Brian said her manifest mind saw 3-4 sarcophaguses in the room as well.  But she cast it anyway.  We heard a boom, the floor shook, we heard a crack and saw red mist rising through the hole.  Esmeralda started yelling about telling us there were evil demi-god in here and we needed to be more careful.  We were worried although it turns out only one had cracked open.  More Skulls came up and cast a couple more Fireballs.  Loki saved against all but was hit by all and was nearly out.  We blasted the Skulls.  Baron Q bravely ran in and cast his Gust of Wind spell.  That pushed the mist down but he could tell it was fighting against him.  Esmeralda waited for Patrina’s mind to determine the sword was not in the room below and then cast a Stone Wall to seal the hole.  The last Skull was crushed and it was over.  After 10 minutes of concentration, the wall became permanent during which some healing was done.

A bit shaken, we pressed on.  We opened a door into an empty room.  Then down a hall to the north and through a door on the right.  That was some sort of evil chapel great hall.  There was nothing obvious in there and since the door was shut, we left it alone.  At the end of the hall was a half-destroyed room with an amber statue (golem) in it.  It turned its head and we rolled initiative again.  We blasted away although its AC was higher than most foes.  This time, Ezra was rocked with a crit.  It also had a Slow AOE power but only Kharn missed that save.  It moved through the door and started down the hall.  Ezra used up a lot of his smites and we whittled it down.  Loki finished it off with a crit.  It exploded for minor damage as a parting shot.  Thankfully, no demi God demon emerged from it however no Sun Swords did either.  We stopped there.  I think we’re already deeper into this Temple than we hoped.  The stakes feel higher and higher.   

There was a brief discussion as to what our next task should be but the promise of a powerful vampire slaying Sun Sword at the Amber Temple trumped all.  We headed south with the two NPCs included.  Esmeralda and Irena.  The weather quickly turned cold but we argued that the researching NPCs would have warned us and we would have picked up some extra clothes.  Rather than argue the point, Brian allowed us to bring some, although they were a bit shabby.  We reached the bridge without incident.  There, we faced a fortress guarding the narrow pass.  There were statues on the walls but no people were seen.  The portcullis opened automatically but there was a wall of green flame in the way.  An arcana roll indicated that a Dispel Magic was needed.  Searches for levers or buttons or writings or any else yielded nothing.  Rather than risk finding a way around or over, which wouldn’t work with the wagon anyway, Patrina just cast the spell.  We hurried through.  There was a door into the tower on the other side.  We spent some time searching it but we found nothing but stone and bones on all 3 levels.  Eventually, we moved onto the bridge.

As Ambrus got to it, a mysterious rider in black appeared in the middle.  He hailed him at which point it turned to dust and blew away.  We never did figure out what that was about.  Ambrus went across cautiously, looking for traps or faulty stone.  When he reached the other side, others started across.  Kaladin chose to fly across, looking under to make sure there weren’t any trolls or anything.  And then, from up river, a gargantuan Roc flew in and attacked.  It grabbed him with its talons and crit him with his beak and he went from full to a handful of hit points.  It landed on the far side to finish him off.  Ambrus charged towards it and bravely engaged.  The rest started moving across the bridge, firing range shots if they could, but it was going to take a round or two.  Kaladin attacked a couple times, then Misty Stepped out of its grasp and flew back to some cover.  When Patrina finally got to go, she turned Kaladin into a T-Rex, with a new compliment of hit points.  Unfortunately, he barely fit in the archway he was hiding and blocked those that were trying to get past.  But that was a momentary distraction.  Massive amounts of damage were pumped into it.  But it did save against a Disintegrate from both Baron Q and Patrina. 

Just when the meleers finally got over to it, it decided to fly back across the river with the T-Rex in tow.  Gargantuan carrying huge.  And that’s when things got complicated.  Do we kill it and let the T-Rex fall 500 feet into the river below? Kaladin could fly but could Patrina dismiss the spell in time? Most kept shooting and the T-Rex kept biting.  It started to fly off the board.  Patina dismissed the Polymorph and cast Bigby’s Hand and caught Kaladin.  However, Esmeralda continued with her plan and Dimension Doored she and the raging Kharn onto its back.  It started to fly away and Brian gave them an Acrobatics roll to stay on which she promptly missed.  Kharn tried to argue to use Animal Handling instead since he was proficient in it.  Brian said that would be a tougher 20 roll but if he made it, he’d give Ez another roll.  Paul rolled and missed.  Inspired and missed.  She inspired him and he missed again.  (Does that ever work?) As Brian started calculating falling damage, DG pointed out that Kaladin was right near them on the floating hand.  He should use his Rope Skill to lasso them to safety.  That was so ridiculous and turn based rule breaking that Brian allowed it.  DG got an inspiration for it.  Kaladin missed it.  Inspired and missed.  Used DG’s new inspiration and he missed again.  (Does that ever work?) They fell into the water but Kharn took half damage and Esmeralda had tons of hit points.  She simply DD’ed them back up as the Roc flew off.

We needed a rest.  Preferably a long one given the number of high-level spells used.  Since it was near the end of the day, we decided to take a long rest in the tower rather than on the road.  Watches were formed.  In the 2^nd watch, we were attacked by 4-5 Giant Hell Goats.  What now? Some bounded onto the roof and the others beat on the door.  People awoke or were awoken as they could and a fight ensued.  That was going well enough when the statues on the top of the towers turned into Vrock demons and flew down to attack.  4 of them.  They did an AOC poison attack which put the poison effect on and did continuing damage.  Then they did an AOE screech attack that stunned.  And then on their actual action, had a claw and beak attack.  In that first round, at least 5 heroes were poisoned and a couple stunned.  By this point it was 1 AM so we decided to call it.  Hopefully our demon slaying Paladin will return from watering the horses to help in the fight.  And this will certainly mess up our long rest.  I anticipate a late morning next time.

We were attacked by 6 packs of wolves.  Super swarms, if you will.  They were large, had reach, did 3d10+, had 100s of hit points, had a low AC, and got a free attack when they went below half after which they did a bit less damage.  We could hear a familiar woman’s voice cackling in the forest.  They were tough.  Their size and reach made maneuvering difficult and the horses were in the middle of it all.  Loki got one to himself and climbed a tree.  The rest sort of piled up so some fire was concentrated on pack 1.  Ambrus used the Ring to cast Web and two packs were restrained.  That helped a lot.  Stradanya cast half a wall on round 2 and the other half on round 3.  So, we were surrounded by a 20-foot high wall.  Loki jumped out of the tree and ran along the top, firing along the way, to get on her side.  Lord Q was impressive with an upcasted Shadow Blade but most everyone was doing 30+ points a round.  Whether than was from sneak attacks, sharp shooting, smites, shadow blades and crits.  Their low AC certainly helped as did Kharn-vantage^TM. In round 4, she cast Cloud Kill.  That sparked a debate as to whether we took damage when it was cast and then more damage when our turns came up.  I.e. two CON saves before ever getting to go.  That seemed harsh but that’s how Brian ruled.  But it was very difficult to get past that debate. 

Thankfully, the Cloud was smaller than the Walled area so there was somewhere to run.  And the wolves took damage too.  Funny how villains don’t have to worry about friendly fire.  Lord Q went down first.  (Ironic since he was mostly untouched the last fight.  The fortunes of war.)  But he was in a Cloud so he’d be failing death saves quickly.  Loki decided to risk shooting at the vampire in hopes of breaking her concentration.  He missed and rerolled and missed again.  He hit but she threw up a Shield turning it into a miss.  And then, without sharpshooter because of the Shield, hit with a crit.  Doing a whopping 16 points which she instantly healed even though it wasn’t her turn.  But he got her attention.  She upcasted Fireball, expertly placed with a +19 Arcana skill roll to get Loki and several others.  It was looking very dire as there were still 3 packs left.  But then, once again, she decided she’d tortured us enough and it all just disappeared.  Another unsatisfying fight.  At 11^th level, we are no more match for her than we were at 1^st.  Seemed pointless and hopeless.

That sparked a discussion about whether we were making any progress.  We certainly weren’t doing any damage to her as evidenced by fighting her every 3^rd night.  Brian quoted the readings we got from Madame Eva two years ago that no one remembered.  Those were supposedly 5 things we had to do before facing her and we had done 3, I think.  That point was that we’re making progress plot-wise if not combat-wise.  Beacon of Hope, Sunlight in the Druid lands, Staff of Power, research into her backstory, etc.  It was still daunting.  However, since our 3 possible paths involved fighting her or fighting what was empowering her, it did not seem like we had any chance of accomplishing any of them.  We faced group paralysis.  Brian pulled GM privilege and stated that we’d go back to Kresk and see if Esmeralda had made any progress with her research.  Maybe she has ideas the dim-witted players did not.                                                                             

We approached the bridge across the river at the falls when suddenly 4 of Stradanya’s vampire minions appeared.  A couple, we had fought in Valaki.  One was the girl we were unable to save from Stradanya.  The wizard one in charge reminded them that they had an order of preference or some such.  Ambrus went first and hid in the trees.  Loki started firing.  Two of them charged at Patrina and Ezra.  Evidently, they were the most dangerous.  No surprise there.  Unfortunately for Petrina, by the time she went at the bottom of the order, they were fully engaged so no AOE’s this time.  Save or die spells were exchanged.  They got several reaction powers which made up for their lack of numbers.  We used several inspiration points to keep from turning on our friends. 

Kharn showed up in round two.  We battled.  Lord Q hit with a Banishing Strike and put one away in a pocket dimension for 10 rounds.  Meanwhile, Ambrus snuck under the bridge to get behind the leader.  He spotted a hunter with a crossbow aimed at her but he did not blow his cover.  He then used his Mage Hand to pluck the wizard’s component pouch from her belt and toss it down the cliff.  Not all of her spells had components but it did limit her options.  (That earned him an inspiration for original thinking.)  However, at round three, one of them tried to put a ruby bracelet on Kharn.  When she failed, the wizard yelled “3” and they teleported away.  Evidently, they had a plan or a time limit.  We were poised for when the Banish Smite ended, but she did not reappear.  Yet another unsatisfactory vampire fight.  Doubly so, since I think we were winning.

The hunter was looking for his son.  He had tracked him as far as the bridge.  Loki helped track him from there and his footprints seemed to just end as if he teleported or was grabbed by something flying.  Some took a short rest while some others searched around.  We found nothing conclusive.  A dragon or an Ogre Magi? Someone spotted a ledge or cave behind the waterfall about 100 feet down.  After some debate, we got over there to take a good look.  It would be possible to climb down the cliff and get behind the water.  But not easy.  Flying Kaladin secured 100 feet of rope and we went down.  The skilled helping the unskilled.  We left the hunter with the wagon but he followed anyway.  Ambrus tried to sneak ahead but with all the light sources for the humans, there wasn’t much point.  At least we were quiet.  We saw boneless corpses lying about.  Ambrus triggered a cage trap at a choke point but managed to jump back in time.  At which point, the Flesh Corpses animated and their shadows became Shadows.  This time Patrina was near the top of the order and unleashed a radiant Fireball with minimal friendly fire.  With that softening up, they were all dispatched.  Ezra taking out the last on our last initiative.  The bars of the cage could not be bested by Kharn but with he and Ezra working together, they managed to get past.

The path to the left lead to some sort of torcher room.  The path to the right went unexplored but it looked like they lead to the same third chamber.  There were all kinds of body parts and butchery tools hanging about.  Tied to the table was Mad Mary, the mother of the same girl we just fought.  And failed to save.  While she was rescued, Loki guarded the doorway to the next room.  That triggered another cage trap.  He bravely chose to leap in, figuring time was of the essence if we were to save the missing son.  Loki started to search, hoping his invisible to darkvision power would protect him.  A Flesh Mound fell from the ceiling.  (It didn’t have eyes so evidently used tremor sense.)  He was hit twice, then engulfed.  Grappled and restrained.  Some of the others went down the right path only to encounter another cage trap.  Ambrus picked the lock of the second cage and then Kharn and Ezra bent the bars to get back out.  Meanwhile, Loki successfully argued that he could escape the engulf (after taking more damage on a missed Con save) with an athletics check on his action.  He got out, disengaged with a bonus action and then ran to the other side of the room.  Where another Flesh Mound fell from the ceiling.  He was hit twice and engulfed.  At this point, he had a handful of hit points.  There were a total of 3 of those large things in the room plus two flying skulls.  And when they moved, they left goo behind which attacked as well.  It was chaos.

Meanwhile, as others rushed into the room, the cackling hunter turned into the Ogre Magi we had half expected.  (He had a nifty staff which we assumed was the Staff of Power we were seeking.)  He and Patrina exchanged Force Walls and counter spells.  Kharn was also engulfed.  He decided to stay in and fight at disadvantage.  (He fights recklessly anyway so there wasn’t much difference.  At least he was proficient in Con saves.)  Loki tried to escape once but then came to the same conclusion.  People fought.  Patrina managed to Radiant Fireball the whole room.  However, Kharn and Loki were “safe” in the Flesh Mounds and Kaladin, Ezra and Amburs had Evasion.  I.e. minimal friendly fire.  That did some good.  It was looking dicey and once again, the main villain was mostly untouched.  By then it was 2 AM so we called it a night.  We let Patrina have one last turn since Brian will not make the next game.  Another Fireball.  Will we survive next time? Patrina will cease to exist and Loki will be out on the next failed Con save.  As for the others, damage varies but it ain’t good.  And the Ogre Magi is still at large.  Tune in next time for the exciting conclusion.        

We started, still at Blintzsky’s, trying to get a long rest before continuing.  But first, there were a few more things to investigate.  Lady Petrina asked about any high-quality inks that might be for purchase.  I.e. for magic scroll and spell book copying.  Turns out, he did have some because the monkey created that scroll spell book, we found last time.  Brian rolled randomly and got, I think, 26 levels worth.  Lady P was given the leftover mitral and palatium pieces off the party sheet and Loki gave her 3 platinum from his sheet to cover the costs.  She also picked up a bag of dice that she intended to use for her new Animate Objects spell.  Kharn asked about the line of dolls that looked remarkably like him.  He was told that they were commissioned by a guard in Valaki who claimed to be missing his little brother.  So evidently, not only does Kharn have a twin sister but a brother as well.  We folded up the portable boat and took that long rest.

In the morning, we sailed to the shore closest to the Tree of Life encountered last time.  With a good Survival roll from Kharn, we found it without much trouble.  (Brian had bolstered this encounter so it was laid out a bit differently.)  We saw the original tree, 4 more and one dead one in sort of an H pattern.  Each had a Fey lantern hanging in its branches.  Loki cast his Speak with Plants spell.  Only the biggest spoke into his mind, all be it slowly.  Loki offered to help it and ask for help against the Vampire.  When asked why, he said that she was throwing off the natural balance and name-dropped Laura Stoneheart’s name (the druid god we recently rescued) for good measure.  He was shown a ritual in which the heart of a creature (i.e. a raccoon) could be harvested and combined with an acorn to create another Guardian Tree.  Presumably to replace the one that was dead? He turned that offer down.  Meanwhile Lady P examined the lanterns.  They were emitting tons of life energy but were pointing in random directions.  She thought if they were focused, they might be able to turn her into a live person.  Or, we thought, revive the dead tree.  So, we started talking about how to do that.  The tree stopped talking by that point. 

However, then player paranoia started kicking in.  (And in this place where everything is out to kill us, paranoia just makes good sense.)  The Paladin could detect some vague evil.  Loki rolled a good Insight and could sense the tree was holding something back.  But isn’t everyone? What if the dead tree was an evil tree? The Baron was in favor of walking away and was Ambrus.  However, the consensus was to try it and see what happens.  What’s the point of playing if you don’t do stuff? And, of course, it all went bad.  Once the first lantern was redirected, Wood Woads emerged from each tree.  Patrina tried to explain to them in Sylvan that we were trying to help them but they did not appear to care.  Once Kharn raged and attacked, we were in combat mode.  The WW were tough.  The Baron hit one with an upcasted Blight which did max damage against a plant and it was only wounded.  Good AC, attack, damage, two attacks, various resistances and they regenerated 10 a round to boot.  But we do a lot of damage and after a couple rounds, there was only one left. 

And then things got worse.  Evidently, the lanterns were part of a mystic seal that was holding a 20-foot-high Night Terror demon thing.  (No good deed goes unpunished.)  It had a damage field that extended 30 feet which was tough on our hand-to-hand heavy group.  It did lots of damage and had tons of hit points.  Its AC was low though.  Ezra did a ton of damage with a smite crit.  For his efforts, the demon knocked him out, the next round.  This was particularly dicey since he was in the damage field and would automatically miss a death save each round.  Nobody could really help him but damage kept pouring into it.  Luckily, it didn’t have any legendary actions so it didn’t go very often.  But its damage was adding up, plus we started hurt from the first fight.  But then the Baron hit it with a Banishing Strike and it popped out. Since nothing can get out of this place, it could not return to its native plane.  So, one minute later, it would return.  In that minute, we gave Ezra a berry, he did Lay on Hands and Patrina cast some Cure Wounds.  People positioned themselves with various advantages and we waited.  But when it came back, it didn’t last the round.  It was reduced to a burned-out heart.  An Arcana roll concluded it could not be destroyed in this plane so we put it in a jar and stuffed it in the portable hole.   (Dan: Brian later told us that he had intended to have the encounter either way.  That was why he made all the clues so vague and conflicting)

We took a short rest and got back onto the boat.  We returned to the Vastani camp and took a long rest there.  We debated going into Valaki.  Some wanted to overthrow the pro-vampire government that so ruthlessly took over recently but we didn’t know what we’d replace it with.  It seemed a tall order.  There were also various loose ends including Kharn’s brother.  But most of us were wanted and it just didn’t seem worth the hassle.  Plus, with the inks we got a Blintzsky’s our most pressing need wasn’t needed any more.  So, we decided to move on to the site of Mord’s fight to recover his Staff of Power.  One night, the first watch was visited by a reporter who went by “S”.  Most assumed he was Stradanya, come to mess with us again.  Kharn Intimidated him and he ran off into the night.  The next watch, a Gaston like oaf showed up with the body of “S”.  It was harder to get rid of him.  Eventually, Kaldain convinced him that he needed to be out in the night, saving damsels and he left.  The last watch missed the wolf watching us from a far.  We then got to the bridge where 4 vampire spawn(?) awaited us.  A couple of them, we fought in Valaki.  That was the fight where collateral damage burned down some buildings and put us on the wanted list.  Anyway, one said that “she” wanted to talk to one of us.  We assumed Standayna and Kharn but we stopped there.