Recap Cardinal Alessi remains in the air raft. Dark Santa needs to be subdued in order to begin the exorcism. The group discusses the plan of attack for a moment before Impact runs to the door to knock. Dark Santa answers. He laughs and says that normally he would just let them go but this year the heroes are all on the naughty list! The Battle For Christmas Begins!   Monday December 24, 2018 Dark Santa and the Brigade battle. Dark Santa is knocked out and returns to his jolly incarnation. He tells the group that the demon Rhazazarak is responsible for the kidnapping of 13 baby girls in Iowa. Santa was under the influence of Rhazazarak until the Brigade knocked him out. Because of their connection Santa is able to give the group Rhazazarak’s exact location. Paladin wants to take Santa to the cave so they can make sure he does not go on a mass murder spree. Santa implores the group to let him keep his appointed rounds. He does not want to be responsible for disappointing millions of children! Santa points out even under Rhazazarak’s spell he never used lethal force. He suggests that Impact can baby-sit to make sure that he stays good. Reluctantly Paladin agrees and Impact yells in delight! (Impact was an NPC at the time and this was a convenient way to sideline him within the story.) Everyone else loads into the Air Raft and, with a little help from Christmas magic, they are transported to just outside the cave where Rhazazarak intends to sacrifice the baby girls to give him a permanent form in this dimension. Froggy and Revenant decide to stealth into the cave to recon the situation. They become invisible and proceed with extreme caution. As they enter the cave they feel a great sense of dread wash over them. The cave is also full of a thick fog. Five large monsters created from corpses that were sewn together erupt from the narrow walls and attack! Froggie from her vantage point on the ceiling notices too late that the fog exposes the invisible adventurers. The spots where the fog is absent reveals where the intruders are. The sounds of combat alert Big Tuna and Paladin that they are discovered. Tuna rushes in and discovers to his horror that there is no light. He can’t see in the dark and even if he could the fog hides much of what is inside. While Tuna is putting together a torch the other members of the group discover the zombies are not much of a threat in of themselves but make a good fent for other enemies concealed by the fog. Revenant gets trapped in a giant thorn bush that was enchanted as a snare. Some witch placed a curse on Paladin making him easier to hit (for the duration of the spell his DCV was reduced by one). Another witch blessed the defenders of the cave giving them an additional bonus on their chances to hit (+1 OCV). Others pelted the group with barrages of magic missiles. Of the more powerful enchantments that were used were Power Word Stun with briefly deafened the group causes 15 points of Stun Damage to most of them. Another used Finger of Death on Froggy nearly killing her. Big Tuna ramrodded through the guarding plant making the second path through the brambles, Paladin made the first. The zombie-things were all destroyed and more of the witches were revealing themselves as the group moved past the guardian plant. None of the witches had been harmed but the Brigade was pressing forward with their advantage when Rhazazarak moved into the main chamber. He yelled “Enough!” Rhazazarak offered the group the option of facing him (and his witches) and dying horribly or turning around and leaving saving themselves and everyone they care about.  [End Session]