Session 23: The Leech-Lord Falls

S23 Recap — The Leech-Lord Falls

TL;DR

The party finished the long, grinding boss fight against a humanoid-shaped leech/worm swarm spellcaster. After fighting through magical darkness, mirror images, poison clouds, and the swarm's heavy physical resistance, Veve ended it by hurling a chair (Vile Projectile) that crushed the boss against Abbas's shield, dispersing him into maggots. The party stomped out the scattering leeches and looted the desk: two known scrolls, an unidentified dark scroll, a journal, and a valuable lantern that glows with the same "undeath" light as the graveyard.

Previously / Setup

The session opens mid-combat. The enemy is made of leeches that scatter and re-form into a humanoid rather than transforming. The fight takes place in a dining room with chairs, a desk, and a connected corridor.

What happened

Darkness lockdown. The boss flooded the whole room with magical darkness (a 2nd-level spell) that even darkvision couldn't beat, forcing flat DC 11 checks to hit. The party backed out into the dining room/corridor while puzzling through the counteract rules. Veve finally counteracted the darkness clear (with help from Abbas's Divine Lance).
Counteract crash-course. The table worked out PF2e counteract: roll your spell/class DC-based check vs the enemy caster's DC; a failed counteract still spends the slot. The GM, in character, bumped the boss's counteract DC to 27 once they solved it.
Debuff Gauntlight. The boss layered Phantom Pain (full + persistent damage, sickened), area void damage with bleed on Veve, then mist/cloud spells stacking sickened 1, slowed 1, persistent poison, and a worms-in-flesh spell that made targets off-guard. Venris repeatedly retched off the sickened/persistent effects; Veve failed several recoveries and stayed sickened, bleeding, and poisoned.
Know your enemy. A successful Occultism Recall Knowledge (27) confirmed: it's a swarm — immune to precision damage and with physical resistance, which is why every slash and stab landed soft. It still has unidentified weaknesses the party never learned.
Mirror images and the slog. The boss kept refreshing Mirror Image (1-in-4 to hit the real one) and Shield, and self-healed by regenerating leeches. It shoved past Cid to swarm the casters in melee ("This is what happens when casters run up!"), nearly dropping Venris, who was saved by an earlier self-heal.
The kill. Hero points poured out (Veve spent essentially everything she'd saved for ten adventures). With the boss in single digits and regenerating, Veve threw a chair (Vile Projectile, 16 dmg). The boss's body was squished between the chair and Abbas's shield and burst into maggots. The leeches scattered; the party blocked the door and stomped them out, with one nearly escaping.
Loot. On the desk: a Scroll of Comprehend Language, a Scroll of Paralyze, an unidentified dark/vile scroll (identify failed), a journal plus assorted papers, and a lantern glowing with a pale blue "undeath"/resurrection light identical to the graveyard's gone-lights. The lantern is very valuable and favored by those with necromantic intent. Venris quietly identified it, snuffed it, and hid it from Abbas, privately thinking of "the staff."

Decisions made

Push through the fight rather than retreat to rest (Veve's repeated Cozy Cabin requests were deferred).
Burn nearly all hero points to survive the boss's saves and persistent effects.
Venris concealed the suspicious lantern from the strongly anti-undead Abbas and is leaning toward selling it.

NPC / location notes

The boss (GM name spelled "Sedolfus"/"Cidolfus" — note collision with PC "Cid") served a master/mistress, referenced as Belgora/Belcorra, and a resurrection plot over Otari. Dying words: "you cannot kill us."
Dining room was the whole battlefield; the desk held all the loot.

Open questions for next time

Who was this leech-lord and why was he so strong? (The GM points to the journal for answers.)
What is the unidentified dark scroll?
What exactly does the undeath lantern do, and will Abbas find out Venris took it?
Did any leech actually escape and re-form?
The party still needs a long rest — resources are badly depleted.

Next-session reminders

Read the journal and assorted papers first.
Identify the dark scroll and the lantern properly.
Veve is out of most level-2 slots and hero points; expect to rest before anything risky.

Scene timeline (8)

00:00:00	Pregame setup and resuming the boss fight Table chatter about Monster Hunter friend lists and stream setup, plus a recap that the enemy is made of leeches that scatter and re-form into a humanoid shape rather than transforming. The GM (Speaker A) declares the party is resuming the ongoing combat against the leech-swarm enemy. [S23 · 00:00:04 · turn 0002 · scene 001]
00:02:57	Magical darkness and the counteract scramble The whole room is plunged into magical darkness (a 2nd-level darkness spell) that even darkvision cannot pierce, forcing flat DC 11 checks to hit. The party retreats out of the room while the GM and players work through the counteract rules. Veve (V V) attempts to counteract twice; the first fails, but a later roll succeeds and the darkness subsides. Abbas's Divine Lance also helps clear it. The boss taunts the party throughout. [S23 · 00:03:22 · turn 0030 · scene 002]
00:18:49	Phantom Pain, area saves, and the heightening ruling Combat continues with the boss landing a Phantom Pain on Venris (failure: full + persistent damage, sickened 1) and an area attack forcing fortitude saves (void damage plus bleed on Veve). The table debates how Phantom Pain's heightening works (heightened plus 1 per level, so at 3rd level it scales up). The boss casts Shield repeatedly and retreats toward a corner. Venris later retches off the sickened condition, ending the persistent damage. [S23 · 00:34:48 · turn 0298 · scene 003]
00:45:56	Recall Knowledge: a leech swarm with physical resistance The party deduces, via a successful Occultism Recall Knowledge (27), that the enemy is a swarm-type creature: immune to precision damage and with physical resistance, which is why their slashing/piercing hits are heavily reduced. It is known to have additional unidentified weaknesses. Mirror Image complicates targeting (1-in-4 chance to hit the real creature). Void Warp and chip damage slowly wear it down; it is described as 'Blooded.' [S23 · 00:58:39 · turn 0544 · scene 004]
01:03:47	Mist, mirror images, and the boss closing on the casters The boss layers up mist/cloud effects (concealment, sickened 1, slowed 1, poison) and refreshes Mirror Image. Veve burns hero points trying (and mostly failing) to counteract, eventually clearing a mist with a counteract success. The boss shoves past Cid to swarm Abbas/Venris in melee ('This is what happens when casters run up!'), dealing piercing swarm damage. Venris nearly drops and is kept up only by an earlier self-heal. The party keeps the boss low while leeches regenerate. [S23 · 01:14:40 · turn 0713 · scene 005]
01:30:00	Worms within flesh, hero-point chair, and the kill The boss casts a worm/poison spell making targets off-guard while persistent damage lasts, plus more poison and a Suggestion ('sit') countered by Veve's counter-performance. Veve cycles through nearly all saved hero points and heals (Soothe-style temporary HP). The party grinds the boss to single-digit HP as it self-sustains with regenerating leeches. The killing blow comes when Veve hurls a chair (Vile Projectile) and the boss's body is squished between chair and Abbas's shield, dispersing into maggots. [S23 · 01:46:42 · turn 1081 · scene 006]
02:06:09	Mopping up the scattering leeches The boss's body breaks apart and leeches scatter in every direction trying to escape. The party blocks the door and stomps/perception-checks to crush the fleeing leeches. Veve steps away briefly (player has to leave soon). One leech is flagged as nearly escaping past Abbas before the swarm is fully stamped out. The boss's final words warn 'you cannot kill us.' [S23 · 02:07:05 · turn 1292 · scene 007]
02:10:42	Loot: scrolls, a journal, and the suspicious lantern On the desk the party finds a Scroll of Comprehend Language, a Scroll of Paralyze, and an unidentified scroll (identify check failed). There is also a journal / assorted papers and a lantern. The lantern emits a pale blue light identical to 'gone-lights' / undeath light tied to the graveyard's resurrection theme; it is not intrinsically evil but favored by those with sinister/necromantic intent, and is very valuable. Venris quickly snuffs it (hero point used) and hides/downplays it from Abbas, secretly thinking of 'the staff.' The GM teases next session's question: who was this person and why were they so strong, with answers in the journal. [S23 · 02:11:16 · turn 1336 · scene 008]

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