Rate Your Encounters

Loving this thread! Here's a fight of mine that I think worked pretty well.

Scenario: Spider Caves (adapted and expanded from encounters C5a and C5b in Eyes of the Lich Queen)

[sblock]XP Encounter Difficulty: Level 13 (against level 11 PCs.)

Brief Summary: The party plunges into a dark, cobweb-filled cave and finds a host of spiders big and small, as well as some web-covered zombies, waiting to greet them. Some of the zombies are filled to the brim with spiders and might become even more dangerous when slain!

Area Setup: A deep cave with a few twisting and looping passages; I segmented it out onto 4 sheets of paper with bottlenecks at each edge of the page, so I could leave parts of the cave unrevealed until a PC got close enough to take a look. Sticky webs that could be destroyed, but otherwise required a skill check to move through at full speed without becoming Restrained, coated the edges of the room and cut off a few of the passageways. Enemies could move through the terrain without hindrance.

Enemies:
(all monsters were custom-built, even if they happen to sound like or were based upon existing monsters)
1 giant spider (level 11 elite controllers)
2 tomb spiders (level 9 skirmishers)
12 web husk zombies (level 7 minion soldiers)
3 special web zombies - they were a different-colored mini, and upon dying, each turned into a spider swarm (level 7 soldier swarm)

Enemy Setup: A few scattered web zombies and a tomb spider were initially visible. The other zombies trickled in from one direction in the cave, while the remaing big spiders crawled in through the other path.

How it went: The party didn't get much of a reason to venture deeper into the cave until some of the spiders began retreating back into the shadows when injured - I had to expend a little extra effort on making the fight mobile rather than making the monsters operate at peak tactical efficiency, which I thought was a fine tradeoff.

My major goal for the fight succeeded, though; after the PCs blew up the first special web zombie, they quickly figured out that they DIDN'T want to deal with any more swarms if they didn't have to, and so when the second and third special web zombies showed up, they went out of their way to ignore them and avoid killing them. This was exactly what I was hoping would happen, so I was quite happy with that :) . The last action the big spider took before dying was to go and pop the one remaining special zombie herself.

Actual Difficulty: Probably lower than a straight-up encounter of the same level could have been. In the end, the PCs got through the fight with a few expended surges and dailies, but no severe losses or near-death experiences. I'm fine with that, I bled off some of the tactical advantages in favor of keeping the fight moving and the enemies suitably skittery.

How well did it work: I'd put it at, uh, 8.5. I wish I had come up with a better way to get the PCs to run through the cave with the giant spider hot on their heels (ala Shelob), but the bursting web zombies was a good way to make it so that the PCs could make the fight easier on themselves by paying attention, and it worked exactly as planned.[/sblock]

I feel like I should also post an example of a fight that had a good apparent setup but worked out poorly in practice; if I find one trawling the archives of my campaign, I'll post it. Examples of what not to do are just as useful as examples of what works.
 

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DunmarLOK: Really dig the mood you invoked for the fight and the exploding cask. Normally I have difficulty thinking in pictures, but I could the layout of Avenging Dead right away. Very cool.

theJester: My last couple campaigns I've started to introduce gunpowder-age empires to my games, but the thought never even occurred to me to have undead using guns... Those were originally from 3rd edition?

NthDegree256: Thanks for gracing us with your second post! Love the minions-popping-to-swarms idea. I've had minions that explode when they die, but never into a swarm. It's like killing a regular monster and having a solo pop out of it!

I'm also trying to remember some of my fights that didn't go as well. I posted the Pinman one earlier that didn't go exactly as planned, but it was still ok. I don't think I've had one yet that went worse than that...

Also, I use alot of custom monsters in my game. Would it be useful to anyone if I posted their stat blocks in their own [ sblock ]s near their relevant encounters?

Anyway, awesome encounters, keep em coming!
 

theJester: My last couple campaigns I've started to introduce gunpowder-age empires to my games, but the thought never even occurred to me to have undead using guns... Those were originally from 3rd edition?

Yeah, they are from a (very, very good) 3rd party monster book.

Although, imc there is no gunpowder per se; instead, a group of orcs have developed "sunpowder," which is made by orcish priests of the god of the Light from sunlight that they must first distill into a highly volatile liquid. There's quite a tale there, but the long and the short of it is, orcs are pretty close to the only guys that have it in my campaign.
 


Scenario: Wyvrens and Airships
[sblock]
XP Encounter Difficulty: Level 9(Party was level 6)

Brief summary: The players have stolen a Hegemony flying craft, a 3x5 square open sided craft that they are using to fly over the Goblin siege of the Dwarven Citadel of Mt. Holm. As they fly over the enemy army, a pair of Wyvrens laden with goblins rise to face them.

Area setup
: The PCs are on the flying craft 50 or so squares above the enemy lines. If they drop below 20 squares for more than one turn, they risk being targeted by enemy siege weapons and archers. If they are 20 squares or lower for two or more rounds, they take 1d10 attacks as Hobgoblin archers and 1 attack vs. the craft, +10 vs Arcana(see below).

The Hegemony craft is "hotwired"(the PCs don't have the ritual to control it) so they have to make DC 25 Arcana checks to make it do something other than what it's doing.

One character at the front of the craft can make the checks and up to two other players can assist. If the check fails, the craft continues doing what it was before. If it fails by 5 or more, the PCs lose control and the craft begins to plummet(20 squares a round - which we set as falling speed in the game for anything that falls).

If they crash, the piloting PC can make a DC 30 Arcana attack to crash land safely, otherwise all PCs are dropped to 0hp(then promply swarmed, stabilized, and captured by the Goblin army).

If it falls, a DC 25 check stops it from falling, but all characters must make a DC 20 Acrobatics check or be knocked prone.

When the combat starts, the craft is moving 5 squares forward, 5 squares higher at the end of every round. It's maximum speed is 20, but going more than 10 requires characters to make Acrobatics checks equal to the craft's speed or fall prone and slide 1 square towards the back of the craft. If already at the back of the craft, they must make saving throws or go over.

The railings on the craft grant +5 on saves vs falling over and cover against other attacks.

If the Wyverns attack the craft, they make a Strength roll and the piloting player must make a Arcana check with a DC equal to the Wyvern's attack roll or the craft goes out of control.

Enemies
:
2 Wyverns, Level 10 Skirmishers
8 Goblin Warriors, Level 1 Skirmishers (attached by harnesses to the bottoms of the Wyverns, using Javelins). Note: If the Wyvern moves 4 or more squares, the Warriors get their bonus damage.
2 Hobgoblin Archers, Level 3 Artillery (riding the Wyverns)

Enemy setup: The Wyvrens start 20 squares below and behind the flying craft, rising quickly to take it on. They fly up level within 2 squares of the craft and make reach attacks while the archers and goblins make ranged attacks. If they take too much damage or get dropped below the craft due to prone, stun, etc, they make an attack against the craft(see above).

How it went: The Wyverns attacked, the Sorcerer blasted one prone, dropping it down while the other one pulled up alongside, attacking anyone in reach while the archer and goblins rained arrows and javelins on the party.

The PCs did some clever stunts, attacking the harnesses and saddle-straps of the goblins and hobgoblins to kill them in one shot. Then the other wyvern slammed into the bottom of the craft and they had two rounds of free-fall before the Swordmage could get control again, leaving them 50'(10 squares) above the goblin army, looking down at hordes of archers and a couple catapults and ballista training in on them.

The Swordmage piloting the craft proceeded to pull up at an extreme angle for a couple rounds, sending several players almost falling off the back. They shot the harnesses and saddles of one wyvern and bloodied it (so it ran) and killed the other wyvern outright.

Actual Difficulty: Slightly easier due to the goblins being level 1, probably balanced by the risk of the craft crashing and killing them all or falling off the sides of it.

The goblins were low enough level that they didn't hit much, but since the wyverns were moving around alot so when they did hit they hit decently hard - and the PCs had fun sniping their crude harnesses off and watching them fall.

How well did it work(on a scale of 1-10): 9.5. It might have been able to go better, but I'm not sure how. They got a little taste of everything I wanted to have happen: sniped by goblins, flybys by Wyverns, the PC satisfaction of killing standard monsters in one shot (even if they were low level), the panic of a couple rounds of free-fall, a couple near-misses with falling off the craft, crazy piloting checks and maneuvers... it was great.

[/sblock]
 
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Custom Monsters

Here's the custom monsters I used in the Scenarios above. And a bonus monster I made for my buddy's 10-player Forgotten Realms game.

PC Round-up

Hegemony Rifleman
[sblock]
Hegemony Rifleman Level 1 Artillery
Medium natural humanoid XP 100
Initiative +3 Senses Perception +0
HP 22; Bloodied 11
AC 13; Fortitude 13; Reflex 14; Will 13
Speed 6

m Bayonet (standard; at-will)
+8 vs. AC; 1d6 + 3

r Rifle (standard; encounter)
20; +8 vs. AC; 2d10 + 3

Reload (standard; at-will)
The Rifleman's Rifle power recharges.

Volley (no action; at-will)
Riflemen gain +1 to attack and damage per Rifleman within 2 squares.

Alignment Unaligned Languages Common
Skills Athletics +5, Streetwise +5
Str 10 (+0) Dex 16 (+3) Wis 10 (+0)
Con 10 (+0) Int 10 (+0) Cha 10 (+0)
[/sblock]

Hegemony Swordsman
[sblock]
Hegemony Swordsman Level 2 Skirmisher
Medium natural humanoid XP 125
Initiative +6 Senses Perception +1
HP 35; Bloodied 17
AC 16; Fortitude 14; Reflex 15; Will 14
Speed 6

m Blade (standard; at-will)
+7 vs. AC; (Shift 1 before or after the attack.); 1d10 + 3

M Leap Attack (minor; encounter)
After hitting with a Blade attack; shift up to 3 and make another Blade attack.

M Sweeping Attack (standard; encounter)
Make two Blade attacks at -2 to hit.

Skirmishing (no action; at-will)
Swordsmen deal +1d6 damage against targets they have Combat Advantage against.

Alignment Unaligned Languages Common
Skills Athletics +6, Stealth +9
Str 11 (+1) Dex 17 (+4) Wis 11 (+1)
Con 11 (+1) Int 11 (+1) Cha 11 (+1)
[/sblock]

I deleted the Hegemony Spearman since the Human Soldier in Adventure Tools was better than what I'd made.


The Secret Gate

Dwarf (the minion allies)
[sblock]
Dwarf Level 5 Minion Soldier
Medium XP 50
Initiative +4 Senses Perception +3
HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion.
AC 21; Fortitude 18; Reflex 16; Will 17
Speed 6

M Axe (standard; at-will)
+12 vs. AC; 4 damage.

Sturdy (no action; at-will)
When hit by a push, pull, or slide power, the Dwarf is moved one less square. If knocked prone, the Dwarf can make a saving throw to remain standing.

Alignment Unaligned Languages Dwarven
Skills Athletics +11, Streetwise +7
Str 18 (+6) Dex 10 (+2) Wis 12 (+3)
Con 14 (+4) Int 10 (+2) Cha 10 (+2)
[/sblock]

Hegemony Dragoon Infiltrator (note, these are the "fixed" elites, not the "broken" ones I actually used).
[sblock]
Hegemony Dragoon Infiltrator Level 8 Elite Lurker
Medium natural humanoid (shapechanger) XP 700
Initiative +13 Senses Perception +10
HP 138; Bloodied 69
AC 25; Fortitude 18; Reflex 23; Will 21
Saving Throws +2
Speed 6
Action Points 1

m Hammer (standard; at-will) • Weapon
+13 vs. AC; 3d6 + 5 damage.

M Twin Hammers (standard; at-will)
Make two Hammer attacks.

M Shapeshifter Feint (minor; recharge 4 5 6)
+11 vs. Reflex; the doppelganger assassin gains combat advantage against the target until the end of the doppelganger assassin’s next turn

M Strike-switch (immediate reaction; recharge 5 6)
When hit by an enemy in melee, the Infiltrator may Change Shape to appear as the enemy, may switch places with the target, and makes a Bluff check with a +5 bonus. Until the start of the Infiltrator's next turn the enemy must beat the Infiltrator's Bluff check with an Insight roll to tell which is the Infiltrator. If the Insight check fails, any attack has a 50% chance to target the wrong creature.

Combat Advantage
The doppelganger assassin deals an extra 2d6 damage against any target it has combat advantage against.

Change Shape (minor; at-will) • Polymorph
A doppelganger can alter its physical form to take on the appearance of any Medium humanoid, including a unique individual.

Unity Armor (minor; encounter)
Usable when bloodied; the Infiltrator gains Regen 5 and all attacks do an additional 1d6 acid, cold, fire, thunder, or lightning damage.

Alignment Evil Languages Common
Skills Bluff +15, Insight +12, Stealth +14, Acrobatics +14
Str 12 (+5) Dex 21 (+9) Wis 12 (+5)
Con 15 (+6) Int 13 (+5) Cha 19 (+8)
[/sblock]


The Pinman

The Pinman
[sblock]
Pinman Level 4 Elite Controller
Medium natural humanoid XP 350
Initiative +3 Senses Perception +9
Pin-tear aura 5; Anyone who makes their save against ongoing damage while in the aura takes 1d6 damage of the ongoing damage's type. The ongoing damage type of all Needle Golems in the area shift when the Pinman's does.
HP 108; Bloodied 54
AC 19; Fortitude 16; Reflex 17; Will 18
Resist 5 Untyped, See Instability.
Saving Throws +2
Speed 6
Action Points 1

m Pinstrike (standard; at-will) • Varies
+8 vs. Reflex; 5 ongoing damage(save ends). See Instability for damage type.

A Pin Blast (standard; at-will) • Varies
Area burst 1 in 10; +8 vs. Reflex; 1d6 + 4 damage and 1d6 ongoing damage(save ends). See Instability for damage type.

C Pin Volley (standard; encounter, Recharge Bloodied) • Varies
Close Blast 5; +8 vs. Reflex; (targets enemies); 3d6 + 4 damage and 1d6 ongoing damage(save ends). See Instability for damage type.

C Pinstorm (standard; encounter, Recharge Bloodied) • Varies
Close burst 3; +8 vs. Reflex; (targets enemies); 3d6 + 4 damage and 1d6 ongoing damage(save ends). See Instability for damage type.

Instability (immediate interrupt; at-will)
Gain resist 5 against the attack's damage. The Pinman's resistance and ongoing damage type shifts to that type.

Alignment Unaligned Languages Common
Skills Acrobatics +8, Insight +9
Str 12 (+3) Dex 12 (+3) Wis 14 (+4)
Con 14 (+4) Int 14 (+4) Cha 14 (+4)
[/sblock]

Needle Golems
[sblock]
Needle Golem Level 4 Soldier
Medium natural animate (construct) XP 175
Initiative +4 Senses Perception +2
HP 56; Bloodied 28
AC 20; Fortitude 17; Reflex 16; Will 16
Immune Disease
Speed 5

m Needle Strike (standard; at-will) • Weapon
+11 vs. AC; 1d6 + 4 damage and the target is marked until the end of the Needle Golem's next turn.

Marked Dart (free; at-will)
If a creature within 5 marked by the Needle Golem makes an attack that doesn't include the Needle Golem, it takes 5 ongoing damage(save ends).

C Needle Burst (no action; encounter)
Close burst 1; When reduced to 0 hitpoints.; +7 vs. Reflex; 3d6 + 4 damage and 5 ongoing damage(save ends).

Alignment Unaligned Languages —
Skills Athletics +11
Str 18 (+6) Dex 10 (+2) Wis 10 (+2)
Con 16 (+5) Int 8 (+1) Cha 10 (+2)
[/sblock]

Minion Armor
[sblock]
Pinman Armor Level 1 Minion Soldier
Medium natural animate (construct) XP 25
Initiative +0 Senses Perception -1*
HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion.
AC +1*; Fortitude +1*; Reflex +1*; Will +1*
Speed -1*

m Pinswipe (minor; at-will, The Wearer of the armor may use this power in addition to any other powers they may have)
+8 vs. AC; 5 ongoing damage(save ends).

Wearable (free, no action)
This may be worn by any medium humanoid creature. The first time each day a creature dons minion armor, they lose a healing surge. The statistics with a * denote they modify the wearing creature's stats.
[/sblock]

Oh, and in a little note,
there was another fight in tonight's session with the PCs in the Hegemony Airship and we re-read some of the aerial combat rules. Turns out everyone falls 100 squares a round normally in free-fall (not the 20 we've used previously). Good to know...

Bonus monster:

Early on in my buddy's game, his players faced a difficult decision: Stop a mad cultist from summoning a terrible abomination from the Far Realm or save a town from rampaging undead. They chose the latter. Due to their decision, 10 levels later they ran into the cultist and the abomination he successfully summoned.

When they first faced the Aspect, it was submerged under water and used nothing but tentacle attacks until it was bloodied(think the Kraken in LotR), then swam away, evading the PCs without revealing its true nature.

The second time they faced it, it rose from the water part-way into the fight, revealing its true nature. The characters fled.

The third time it was a fight to the death and ended with 7/10 of my buddy's PCs dead or dying when they finally killed it (and ALL of his players caught the Ghaundaur Mutation).

The Aspect of Ghaundaur(also known as "The Beholder-Kraken")
[sblock]
Aspect of Ghaundaur Level 16 Solo Controller
Huge aberrant magical beast XP 7,000
Initiative +12 Senses Perception +17; all-around vision, darkvision
Eyes of the Beholder aura 5; at the start of each enemy's turn, if that creature is within the aura and in the Aspect-'s line of sight, the Aspect uses one random Eye Ray power against that creature.
HP 640; Bloodied 320
AC 30; Fortitude 32; Reflex 28; Will 30
Resist 10 Acid
Speed 3, fly 6 (hover), Swim 10
Action Points 2

m Tentacle Attack (standard; at-will)
Reach 3; +21 vs. AC; 2d8 + 7 damage and grabbed(until escape). The Aspect of Ghaundaur can grab any number of characters up to 3 squares from it.

m Prime Tentacles (standard; at-will)
Reach 5; +21 vs. AC; 3d8 + 7 damage and the target slides 4.

M Tentacle Frenzy (standard; recharge 5 6)
Make one Tentacle or Prime Tentacle attack against each creature in reach of one of those attacks.
"The Aspect's tentacles thrash out in all directions."

C Engulfing Maw (standard; recharge 5 6)
Close Blast 3; +20 vs. Fortitude; 1d10 + 7 damage and any creature hit by the attack is grabbed. ALL creatures grabbed by the Aspect after this attack is resolved take a secondary attack:
+20 vs. Fortitude; 1d10 + 7 damage. Creatures hit are pulled into the Aspect's Maw.
"The Aspect's Maw opens, shooting out dozens of slender tongue-tentacles, grabbing enemies, stuffing them into its mouth, and swallowing."

Maw (no action; at-will)
All creatures in the Maw are removed from the battle, take 20 ongoing acid, are restrained, prone, and no creatures outside the Maw have line of sight or line of effect to them(save ends all). On a successful save, the target escapes from the maw and is prone in a square of their choice adjacent to the Aspect.
Each failed save: The Aspect heals a number of hit points equal to the creature's surge value and the creature loses a healing surge. If the creature has no healing surges, it suffers an amount of damage equal to its surge value.
"The Aspect rapidly digests the creatures in its Maw."

Main Eye (minor; at-will)
Ranged 10; +20 vs. Will; The Aspect slides the target 5 squares and the target is also dazed until the end of the Aspect's next turn.

Eye Rays(standard, at-will)
1 - Withering Ray(Necrotic): range 10; +20 vs. Will; 1d10 + 7 necrotic and 10 ongoing necrotic damage (save ends).
2 - Blinding Ray(Psychic): range 10; +20 vs. Will; 1d10 + 7 psychic damage and the target is blind(save ends).
3 - Dissolving Ray(Acid): range 10; +20 vs. Reflex; 1d10 + 7 acid damage and the target takes 10 ongoing acid damage(save ends).
4 - Enfeebling Ray: range 10; +20 vs. Fortitude; The target is weakened(save ends). First Failed Save: The target is dazed and weakened(save ends both). Second Failed Save: The target is stunned(save ends).
5 - Disarming Ray(Psychic): range 5; +20 vs. Will; 1d10 + 7 psychic damage and the target throws whatever they are carrying in their main hand into the Aspect's space. If they are not carrying anything in their main hand, they throw their off-hand item. Otherwise, they throw a random magical item they are carrying.
6 - Confusion Ray (Charm): range 10; +20 vs. Will; 1d10 + 7 psychic damage and the target charges its nearest chargeable ally and makes a melee basic attack against it.
The Aspect can use up to two different eye ray powers (chosen from the list below). Each power must target a different creature. Using eye rays does not provoke opportunity attacks.

Eye Ray Frenzy (standard; recharge 5 6)
Usable only when bloodied; As eye rays above, except the Aspect makes four eye ray attacks.

Body Shield (immediate interrupt; at-will)
When the Aspect is targeted by an attack, it may make one creature in its Maw the target instead. After the attack is resolved, the target creature used as a Body Shield is considered to have saved from the Maw(see above).

C Death Cloud (no action; when reduced to 0 hit points)
Close Burst 5; +20 vs. Fortitude; 2d8 + 7 poison damage and the target contracts Ghaundaur Mutation.
"The Aspect's body vents a cloud of noxious gas as it dies."

Alignment Chaotic Evil Languages Common, Deep Speech
Skills Arcana +18, Endurance +20, Insight +17, Stealth +17
Str 26 (+16) Dex 18 (+12) Wis 18 (+12)
Con 24 (+15) Int 20 (+13) Cha 18 (+12)

Ghaundaur Mutation:
Endurance DCs: Worsen (25 or less), Maintain(26-29), Recover(30 or more)

Subject Recovers
<-
Initial State: Subject loses one healing surge immediately after extended rest.
<->
At the beginning of each combat encounter, the PC loses a healing surge and sprouts an eyestalk that, at the start of the player's turn, makes a random Eye Ray attack (as the Aspect of Ghaundaur above) against a random ally as a free action. The eyestalks have the defenses of the character they are sprouting from and hp equal to the healing surge value of the character they are sprouting from.
[/sblock]

© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. These monster statistics block were generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.

Just to be safe =)
 
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Scenario: Battling demons on the deck of a spelljammer
[sblock]
XP Encounter Difficulty: Level 28 (+2)

Brief summary: PCs are traveling to the astral dominion of Kalandurren aboard a spelljammer. As they cruise in over the dominion, they are attacked by a group of demons.

Area setup: The deck of the spelljammer -- used a basic deck plan for a medium-sized ship.

Enemies:
Balor (level 27 elite brute)
Marilith (level 26 elite skirmisher), modified with at-will teleport 6.
5 vrocks (level 26 minion skirmishers), with a group-based dance of ruin ability

Enemy setup:
The balor lands at the aft portion of the ship. The 5 vrocks swoop in, make flyby attacks, then land at the forward part of the spelljammer. The marilith teleports into the center of the action. If the vrocks complete their dance, or the balor explodes on the deck of the spelljammer, the crew is slaughtered, sending the spelljammer spiraling out of control.

How it went: The vrocks landed and started their dance of ruin, which instantly made them a top priority for the party, who recognized the ability right away. The marilith tried to interpose herself, and using teleport harassed the only ranged combatant (the ranger) as much as possible.

The ranger quickly took down the vrocks, while the rest of the party (fighter, paladin, battle cleric) took turns on the marilith and balor. The balor was next to go (since the marilith, with her added teleport movement mode, was very slippery), and it exploded, hurting the party and killing the crew. As the party finished off the marilith, the spelljammer began to plummet.

Some of the PCs had items to mitigate falling damage, but not all, so they engaged in an ad hoc skill challenge, then eventually found the ornithopters stored in the spelljammer's hold, and escaped.

Actual Difficulty: The party was never in serious danger, though the ranger was hurt initially by the marilith, and the balor dished it out a bit. The dancing vrocks had the PCs on edge for a few rounds, until they were all killed. I did not change the balor or marilith much, though in retrospect I would have made the balor hit much, much harder. They really got into the skill challenge part, trying to slow down the spelljammer's descent enough so they could think up a solution.

How well did it work(on a scale of 1-10): 7[/sblock]
 

Cool Mentat, haven't seen an epic-level fight before. What's dance of ruin.

I'm assuming you guys didn't play from heroic all the way to epic already (though I guess I could be wrong).

We've played all the way up to paragon in our first game before we put it on hold. Has epic play been really different?


I was posting another encounter last night, got it all posted, then hit post and our internet went down for the night. So, I guess I'll post it again later...
 

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