Session 6, part 2- Second floor, The Schir and the desert demon


So our party was ready to head for the second floor. They guessed (correctly) that there will be resistance. And indeed there was- 2 tiefling fighter 2, 1 tiefling sorcerer 1 and 2 clutistss cleric 3. These basically replaced the many tieflings and low level cultists in the module.

Not that it made it a tougher fight. The party sort of disregarded the fighters, and headed straight for the casters, taking them down easily. Andera got near a door which seemed to be blocked with some abyssal writing on it, and decided to avoid it. While they were dispatching of the last of the resistance, a schir demon arrived from the library. Millorn cast a grease spell on it's halberd (Which we all thought was clever. Andrew was playing him) but it saved. The party ganged on it and killed it before it hit anyone.

So they arrived at the second floor. The rift's percentage didn't work on this battle, which may have made it easier. Still, quite a cake off.

This battle was according to the module the major part of defenses here. Time to explore!

Behind door number 2...
First came the matter of the blocked door. In the module the Preyton demon was locked here. I thought to put something more interesting, and put a Hungry Flesh ooze monster. As Harry tried to decipher the abyssal warning over the door, I improvised and said "warning. Side effect". That was enough for the party, and they left the room alone.

From here they sort of went counter clockwise.

Next they explored the room the Schir came from- a ruined and burnt library. They found a bit of treasure and carried on. Sena player was getting a bit fed up with the "dungeon crawl". We don't usually have those. We usually go for very swift dungeons, if we do them at all. I think he was getting to tired as well.

Next they went to the room with the buzzing that Mad dog heard when he climbed the window. After some debates Mad dog entered, and with one strike and cleaves killed the demon flies there. "What? That's it? We should have climbed!" his player moaned.

The next room proved more difficult.

The scrying room, the aghash div, and a near fatality
Sena opened the door to the next room, the scrying room, with it's bloodied walls and guts and gore all over the place. There were also 5 zombies there- 3 regular, but 2 that seemed to move quickly, and were armored and held great axes- 2 zombie juju of Sarkori warriors.

But from the pool rose a demon they fought before- the desert demon, the aghash div from the hall of heroes.

Mood music, Soprano of the swarm
(Now THIS music was very well accepted! Set the tone just right!"

"Sword wielder, you have come! The fates are unclear, come, and let the sands solve it!" The juju zombies added. "Come, Jaclyn awaits for you to join us!"

The Aghash tried to curse sena with his spectral hand, but failed. Sena in return called upon Sarenrae, and consecrated the place, driving much of the blood away, returning some holiness to the scrying pool . The zombies moaned with unease. Millorn casts expeditions retreat on Andrew, who moves in up to the Aghash, meeting his challenge, but missing him. "Your faith is weak sword wielder!"

Andera and Mad dog goes in towards the Aghash as well, While Harry stays outside, and starts to burn the zombies. Being surrounded, The aghash dimension doors outside, and have a zombie block the exit, It now faces Harry and Millorn alone!

Sena unleashes a channel energy, taking 2 zombies down (but not the blocker), and wounding both juju. Andera destroyes the blocker, and Andrew decides to charge the desert demon...

Only an AoO critical from a juju does more than 50 damage ,sending Andrew to -10 (For those new to PF, you die when you get to -CON score on PF). Suddenly the battle turned far more critical. The party however let Arabeth give Andrew a potion (She rolled the minimum. Didn't wake him up yet). While they focused on the Aghash, It tries to unleash a sand storm, but Sena in return does an AoO crit, and with a few more strikes from Mad dog, and Andera, manage to kill the demon, which turns to sand.

And with that, with Andrew on the floor at negatives, and the party quite depleted, we ended the session.

About the Aghash Div
Spoiler
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While it is a very flavorful monster, I do think they work better as a support monster, than a main antagonist. Their curses are a serious hamper, but they just hamper, they do not fully threaten or kill. I think that in retro spect I might hvae chosen a different demon. Oh well...

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Each Player's XP: 14,220

So, a bit shorter of a write up than I thought. Some comments:
- Our group doesn't seem to like long dungeon crawls that much.
- Only the Othirubo encounter proved any kind of challenge so far. The one with the Aghash turned to a problem due to the "orc with a great axe at low levels" lucky hit problem
- I wasn't at my best this session, nor were Sena and Andrew's players. Hopefully better next time, eh?

Next time the finale, and possibly the start of the next module. I hope you're enjoying, let me know!