Well, there was also that Ogre (CR 3, I think) in the Improv session that floored Brian's Monk in one blow (only to be restored - completely - in one casting from Jacob, but still...), and how close of a track have you been keeping on the various party member's HP? Last fight, Aphrisini was down to 4 of 13 HP, and Jacob had taken some damage as well.
The last fight was "Two CR 2's"; from the SRD:
Quote:
Challenge Rating
This shows the average level of a party of adventurers for which one creature would make an encounter of moderate difficulty.
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. If I'm not mistaken, our party averaged (at that time, at least) level 2 - as there were two of them, that was a moderate-high difficulty encounter. The swamp crocidle (not the second that thought a lone Druid would make for a good snack) is listed as CR 2 as well - at a time when the party level was more along the lines of 1 to 1.5; again, a moderate-high difficulty, by the book, at least. The only real reason it was "easily" disposed of is because, as a party, we go through our limited-use abilities quickly - Stisnera was mind-thrusting every round, even though she only had about 4 power points max at the time (although she did have those grey ioun stones, at 25 gp a pop). Another such croc, even with a full party, at the time would have wiped the party out. We just make it
look easy; our characters are actually straining to their utmost rather frequently. It's why the constant rest stops.