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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 9547855" data-attributes="member: 27780">A particularly messy session, with 2 people out due to festivities, one absent for half the session due to technical problems, and one player quitting due to work commitments after being one of the more frequently absent ones in the previous month. Despite that, we did still make some progress. Knowing that half the characters wouldn't be operating at full competence, the remaining ones were extra cautious, making full use of their invisibility and flight when returning to the prison entrance. Things had changed, but not in the way they expected. Rather than reinforced defences, they found the level of the gas in the chasm noticeably lower, the outer portcullis broken and the outer rooms taken over by the fungus-infested kuo-toa from <a href="https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/polyhedron-dungeon.861315/post-24937793" target="_blank">Lord of the Scarlet Tide</a>, busily proving they're not just a static menace, but an expanding threat these guys are going to have to deal with at some point if they're serious about the whole world-conquering thing. Initially it seemed like they would be another speedbump wiped out in a round or two by the group's massive damage dealing powers, but that was reckoning without their fungal regeneration capabilities, so after taking the first four down, they were surprised by the first one standing up again and attacking from behind. They also had to deal with the fact that while the hole torn in the portcullis was large enough for the regular PC's, our enlarged orc needed to spend several rounds further breaking it to fit through. In the end, they decided they weren't currently in a position to systematically go through all the various energy types to find their weakness and just picked up their bodies after reducing them to negative hp and threw them in the chasm. They also had to deal with the newly resurrected feral binder once again being the butt of the status effects and failing her save against fungal infection. This involved cutting the infected body part off. (don't worry, she'll regenerate it in a few days, but at least her number of attacks is slightly reduced for the moment. )Having cleared the first defences and storeroom, they found that the sphincter doors were still broken after last time, but lots of crates had been hastily stacked behind them to keep the fish-men out. Since we have guys with superhuman strength, this was a tedious but solvable problem. There was a single flesh golem remaining trying to keep the defences maintained, but superior reach made that an easy target once a small hole had been cleared. They had a much bigger problem behind the next load of crates, as the illithid had summoned a Cornugon to replace the downed hydra. As soon as they cleared a small hole in the crates, they were zapped by a lightning bolt. Our binder did her usual trick of leaping in with all attacks going, but found she was only hitting on a natural 20 and each individual attack was barely affecting it due to DR. Thankfully there was only the one of it and all of them, so they still had the edge in action economy, but it was obvious even quite optimised 11th level characters were outmatched against a CR 16 monster. Everyone pulled out their very strongest attacks and barely managed to take it down, but once again had to deal with the fact that they didn't have the right kind of special powers to counter its regeneration and finish it off for good. After quite a bit of frantic discussion while bashing it to keep it in negative hp, they eventually scanned their spell lists and realised that casting Disobedience might be an option if it was summoned, freeing it from control and letting them negotiate with it to leave them alone while they went and got vengeance on the illthid who were responsible for putting it in this position in the first place. This decidedly risky gamble paid off, and it waived its SR check and teleported off as soon as it was back in positive hp. Now they have to venture down into the lower layers again and see what kind of other defences the increasingly desperate besieged guards have managed to cobble together. We shall see if next week goes a little more smoothly for them.</blockquote>

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