Encounter over!
After the avenger slices the final creature into small bits, a brief silence falls over the garden, broken only by heavy breathing from the adventurers. After a few seconds, the eye hovering over the entry gate drops down out of view again, with a quiet splash. Gradually, the thick, thorny hedges shrink back down to their original waist-level height, their thorns and thick brambles seeming to melt away into smoke.
Ahead, across the garden, the wall of thorny brambles that blocked the entrance to the looming pyramid quickly crumbles to an ashy residue. Torchlight flickers farther down the dark passageway.
The brightly colored birds and insects return a few moments later, flitting around the now harmless shrubs and flowers.
[sblock=Encounter Over!]Well, that encounter was a bit easier than the first. It helped that the avenger got the crits instead of the DM this time.
I thought it was a pretty fun fight, if maybe a bit too static. The idea was that somebody would get dragged into the interior by one of the creatures, but it proved too easy to escape their grasp. Also that the zombies wanted to fly back to the totems to charge up with temp HP, but they didn't survive long enough (timely crit). It might have been a bit more interesting if I let the party get more into the center of the garden before starting the encounter. But oh well.
Soon I will post XP for all the encounters completed so far.[/sblock]
[sblock=Short Rest/Milestone]After a short rest you'll hit a milestone and gain one action point.
You don't have to take the short rest immediately, nor do you have to stay in the garden while you take it. Let me know what you want to do.[/sblock]
[sblock=LadyLaw]I've been posting "-X" for damage taken all along so far, until the creature's hitpoints are revealed, then I've been posting "X/Y" for hitpoints remaining. But I'll try to make it more clear next time.[/sblock]