The Challenge

The party eats the offered soup at camp, but Adrian urges the group to finish up so that they can still make some progress before the day is over. Jak recovers ten of the 13 cards he lent to Jahan before the group bid their farewell and part ways with the hunter/gatherers group and the demon hunter. Jak also asks for some booze and manages to get a bottled o wine and a small flask of dwarven hard liquor from the caravan before departing.
Adrian leads the group further into the woods, but just as the sun is setting and it's time to try and find a place to camp for the night, Adrian spots a suspicious-looking mound of disturbed earth. He tells the group to wait and dismounts to investigate. Before he reaches the pile, a tree twists around and exposes the face of Baga Yaga in its bark. She says that she only wishes to uphold her bargain and give Irdien the promised information. Irdien tells her that she doesn't want anything from her. Yaga then turns to Jak, asking about his strange necromancy powers and if he would care to demonstrate them in a challenge. Jak is hesitant, and Yaga takes it as a Yes. From the mound sprouts a bulette and its five children ready to attack at their closest foe.
Adrian is instantly swarmed by the family but manages to cut into the skin of the mother. Using the horse to close the distance, Labrat rides up, dismounts and runs to his aid. Her sword cuts deep into the thick hide. The mother hisses and burrows itself partly back into the ground. Jak dismounts and sends off the spell, Death gauntlet, towards the large bulette. It bounces off the terrain that it has partially covered itself with. Jak quickly climbs partly up the steep hillside and hide behind a large stone, trying to figure out his next move as he realises that most of his powers have been drains from the last fight with the werewolves.
Irdien jumps off her horse too and runs towards the fighting duo up front. She throws one of her blades at one of the five younglings. The family of bulettes all congregate and attacks Adrian. At first, it looks like the mother might bit him, but Adrian manages to evade her teeth. Two of the small ones, however, each gets a bite out of his calves.
Sirona dismounts and runs after Irdien. Seeing the small bulettes, she aims at one grabbing on to Adrian, but her javelin goes amiss. Capper decides to stay out of this and hides with the abandoned horses, saying he'll make sure they don't run away.
Adrain fights on and manages to kill the one biting at his leg. Labrat climbs up the hillside and tries striking the mother from above. Her sword has a hard time getting in a good hit, but her lightning breath manages better. The smaller bulettes keeps fighting Adrian except for one who breaks of to try and snap at Sirona. She blocks it easy with her shield.
Jak starts to sing behind his rock, and the power of his words has all but one of the babies fall dead. Willing spirits of the dead that constantly hover around Jak since he took up Morena's mantel instantly swoops in and uses the bodies of the dead animals to gain the physical form needed to aid in the fight and receive redemption. They all turn to the big one and starts biting at her. Irdien finishes the last of the small ones, and the mother screams in blind rage at the drow as she lashes out to crush Irdien in her jaws. Labrat immediately intercepts and takes the full attack instead. With a scream of terror, Sirona sends a heal to Labrat, restoring her health. She tries to send another magical spear at the creature, but it won't find its mark.
As if things weren't exciting enough, a manticore lands on the other side of the elevated battlefield and roar angrily at them. Baga Yaga snickers and asks what they will do now.
Recognising the new threat, Adrian strikes a finishing blow on the bulette and starts climbing up the hill to get on an even level as the manticore.  Labrat turns around and starts moving to close the gap between her and the new enemy. Jak fires another death gauntlet towards the manticore, but again the spell misses. He swears, frustrated from behind the stone. The spirits still inhabiting the three dead bulettes hovers up all the way towards the raised manticore. At the same time, Irdien uses some magical oil on her dagger before sending one of her throwing knives at the manticore. It hits, and the sizeable catlike creature snarls.
The manticore responds to this by spraying poisonous acid on the spirits swarming it, and jumps down towards Labrat. Again Sirona summons a javelin, and again it misses. Maybe because last time she fired at something in melee with Labrat, it did not end well.
From his high vantage point, Adrian, whose staff has turned into a bone-white bow, starts willing his blood to form a blood-red arrow. It drains a sizeable chunk of his health, but the projectile flies true, burrowing into the creature.
Labrat manages to climb the steps to get up next to the manticore and tries striking it, but the feline creatures move out of the way. Jak points at the manticore again, but this time he channels its life force, pulling some from the beast and restoring Adrian's heath with it. The summoned spirits keep fighting the manticore but can't seem to land any hits. Irdien throws another blade, and again it sinks into the body of the monster, drawing blood. While the manticore keeps fighting the spirits, Sirona sends a spell to bless and enhance Labrat manoeuvres and suddenly remembers to summon her protective halo.
Adrian reprices his last trick and pulls another portion of his blood, willing it into an arrow that sinks deep into the creature. As the manticore winches and roars in anger at the archer, Labrat sees an opening. She moves with a sacred glow and opens a deep and severely wound with her sword. Jak tries for a third time to death gauntlet the manticore, and again it fails, but his summoned spirits manages to hack away at the beast. Irdien starts sprinting towards the manticore. She runs straight up the steep hill wall flinging herself up into the air. Twisting around on the way back down, she embeds her blade into the head of the manticore, and it falls dead to the ground.
Jak instantly falls to his knees and offers a prayer to the aid of the spirit. They all start to fade, but before they disappear, the group hears their sigh of gratitude.
Adrian looks over the slain beasts but finds to his disappointment, that none of them has any harvestable ingredients that haven't been destroyed during the combat.
Baga Yaga is pleased with the conclusion of this test and praises Jak on his path towards restoring Morena's magic. She once again asks Irdien if she's sure she doesn't want the information she owes. Irdien tells her to speak if she must, and Yaga proclaims that her brother Ertherin is on the Island of Ghiz with his Monster hunter mentor, Merthin. She even opens up a cave portal and says that they can travel to a location near them if the group so wishes. If they choose not to use it, she promises safe passage through the forest from people and things.