Phew, it's been a wild ride lately in Glorantha. Plenty of surprises.
You packed up the loot from the Krarsht shrine and found your way out of the maze to the cavern with the bridge, out of the deep darkness. Fortunately, your light gave you a glimpse of foes waiting ahead: 2 four-armed Krarshtkid-broos with mauls+shields, and 5 krarshtkids. They fled down the passage ahead of them, and unfortunately you knew what to expect: ambush ahead.
Fortunately, Pachala's chaos sense alerted you to their presence ahead in the maze. You made it sound like you were coming, then backed off for 5 minutes in an attempt to trick them into using up magic. You returned and they were waiting. Unfortunately, now 7 krarshtkids and the 2 krarshtbroo, waited for you in a 4-way intersection (2 of the kks dropped from the ceiling amidst the party). They were pretty good at fighting in their narrow tunnels, whereas you were cramped and teamed up on.
The battle went poorly for you. Pachala was gummed up by krarshtkid pratzim, had some of his armor eaten by acid tongues, and then was clubbed to death by broo mauls. Fortunately, Caernak tried to save him but unfortunately the same fate befell brave Caernak. By the time Arcus stepped up to the plate, things looked really bad. The broo were dragging Caernak+Pachala's bodies away. Dorgon was bitten and paralyzed by a krarshtkid. Fortunately, Taleo DI'd to blind the broo (3 POW), then again to shield the party (6 POW for Shield 6 on everyone). That helped (the broo ran off, chased by a shade that Tison released). Unfortunately, the KKs got wise and used their webs to snare the shielded PCs. Fortunately, eventually they ran out of spittle and ran off. Only 2 kks (the ones that dropped into the party) were slain.
You limped away with your companions' bodies and what loot you could carry. Unfortunately, you were low on magic and in the middle of the Devils Playground in the thick of night. Taleo suggested that you make a dash for Yelmalio Hill. You made it there and took shelter by its gates, and in the morning got an escort to the city. Caernak's wife was distressed by her husband's death but her Resurrection spell came in handy. Unfortunately, Caernak had contracted Joint Rot from the broo mauls and now his DEX SR is 3 (not 2). Pachala also suffered: his body deteriorated for a day before a Resurrect spell could be found at the Chalana Arroy temple. He lost a bunch of statistic pts before his spirit could be called back from the paths of the dead. A Heal Body was enough to un-paralyze Dorgon.
Bendrath congratulated you on your findings and paid you as well as he could. He promised the services of a Flintnail rubble tracker dwarf, a skilled axeman, and a crystal for your next venture into the Black. You found some suspicious Lunar documents from high-ranking city officials that Bendrath hastily subpoena-ed. You also found merchant goods with traceable markings that let you ID who owned the goods. Something was very fishy about that Krarsht shrine's stash: lots of nice, expensive, new goods. Either they stole it or someone is awful chummy with Krarshti.
So what went wrong this time? I rolled a bunch of nasty hits (criticals and such) that didn't help. You guys blew a lot of magic early on in the adventure and that sure hurt in the final battle. You would have kicked butt if you were at full magic. There were some intrinsic disadvantages to fighting in the tunnels with agile krarshtkids; it may have seemed unfair/unrealistic but I wanted to emphasize their natural talents for fighting in their own habitat. Ruleswise, in the future I will only allow KKs a few spits apiece before they run out of pratzim. It does seem ridiculous to let them spit unlimited. Otherwise, expect them to be as nasty next time as they were. On open ground they're not too tough, but in their tunnels they are very difficult foes.
Another change is spirit combat. From now on, spirits can only disengage a foe if they have 10MPs more than the foe, or if the foe lets them leave (both parties must consent). Otherwise, they are stuck in combat once they engage a foe. This is actually closer to the official rules and is fairer for you guys. Otherwise a spirit could disengage anytime it is being beaten, which ain't fair.