(If Soren would have told her that the vampire spawn ran to the back of the house Zefla would run to the door at the end of the hall and open it up, ready to attack.  If not, I think she could use her BA to dash to the door by the moonbeam.)

Either way, after opening the door, she would use her sword if right next to the creature, bow if at a range - if she sees the spawn.

(Both have the same modifiers)

Attack: 18, Damage: 6

In the attic window, there is no sign of threat.  The cul-de-sac is empty but for the dead.  In the distance, though, Giles can hear panicked cries and somewhere, a bell is ringing [not a church bell... it is a smaller, clunkier sound, like a cowbell].

Victor looks exasperated.  "What do you want of me?  I told them all to remain here!  It's not as if I have a Staff of Power tucked away somewhere for blasting thrice-bedamned vampires.  She -" he points to Lady Bauer - "already used my only scroll of lightning bolt."  He sighs.  "We'd all do well to just wait here and hope for the best."

Ireena sits down at a desk and puts her head in her hands, as if ashamed.

 Burr charges down the hall, throwing his weight into the door at the end.  Which bounces him back, sturdy in its construction.  He does discover it is quite unlocked, and it opens easily [free object interaction to open the door].  He steps into the kitchen at the same time that Zefla emerges from her path through the dining room.  Looking around, they see no sign of the Vampire Spawn, but they do see two cowering serving women.  

"Up... up the stairs," one of them stammers.  "It... it wanted us to ask you to follow."  She begins to sob.  

"Where can we go?" the other cries, looking at Zefla.  "Is there no where safe in Vallaki?"

Back in the main hall, Izek hurries down the stairs, stopping alongside Soren.  He looks past him into the dining room, then turns to the druid.  "Where is she, stranger?  Tell me!" he commands.  The bald, brutish leans in close, gripping Soren's cloak with his twisted abomination of a right hand, his axe held tight in the left.  His eyes are mad with fury and the unmistakable odor of strong wine follows him like a cloud.

A guardsman descends from upstairs, pausing to check the condition of the traumatized guard halfway up the first flight of stairs.  Another guard is still moving around on the landing.

Behind Izek, a voice calls out from the room with the snarling.  "Izek!  What's happening, man?!  Has the situation been contained?" 

Izek doesn't reply or take his eyes off of Soren.  "Produce my sister, or so help me I will take my time pulling you apart, bone by bone."  His chest heaves as he sucks in a long breath, then lets it back out into Soren's face.  "Ever wonder how long a man screams without a tongue?"   He bares yellowed teeth.  "I know... I can teach you...".

[FYI Soren isn't grappled.  The hand on his cloak is dramatic and has no mechanical effect.]

1. Soren
2. Vampire Spawn
3. Burr, Zefla, Giles
4. Izek and Guards and ???
5. Ireena

Knowing that those he has swoen to protect are upstairs Burr immediately bolts to follow the dead thing....

( Not sure his normal movement will get him far enough upstairs to see, if not then Dash)

Quote from Bartjeebus >>

 

Burr charges down the hall, throwing his weight into the door at the end.  Which bounces him back, sturdy in its construction.  He does discover it is quite unlocked, and it opens easily [free object interaction to open the door].  He steps into the kitchen at the same time that Zefla emerges from her path through the dining room.  Looking around, they see no sign of the Vampire Spawn, but they do see two cowering serving women.  

"Up... up the stairs," one of them stammers.  "It... it wanted us to ask you to follow."  She begins to sob.  

"Where can we go?" the other cries, looking at Zefla.  "Is there no where safe in Vallaki?"

---

Back in the main hall, Izek hurries down the stairs, stopping alongside Soren.  He looks past him into the dining room, then turns to the druid.  "Where is she, stranger?  Tell me!" he commands.  The bald, brutish leans in close, gripping Soren's cloak with his twisted abomination of a right hand, his axe held tight in the left.  His eyes are mad with fury and the unmistakable odor of strong wine follows him like a cloud.

A guardsman descends from upstairs, pausing to check the condition of the traumatized guard halfway up the first flight of stairs.  Another guard is still moving around on the landing.

Behind Izek, a voice calls out from the room with the snarling.  "Izek!  What's happening, man?!  Has the situation been contained?" 

Izek doesn't reply or take his eyes off of Soren.  "Produce my sister, or so help me I will take my time pulling you apart, bone by bone."  His chest heaves as he sucks in a long breath, then lets it back out into Soren's face.  "Ever wonder how long a man screams without a tongue?"   He bares yellowed teeth.  "I know... I can teach you...".

[FYI Soren isn't grappled.  The hand on his cloak is dramatic and has no mechanical effect.]

"No," Soren answers Izek's question calmly.  "I have never wondered that, since I am not the mouth-frothing monstrosity you have come to relish being."

He raises his voice so whoever is behind the snarling door, presumably the Baron, can hear.  Unlike Izek, Soren provides the Baron a sincere response:

"The manor house and all of Vallaki are under attack by Vampire Spawn.  A bloodbath as if Neverwinter River were running red.  We outsiders have driven off one such undead abomination and destroyed another in a desperate fight to save townsfolk and serving staff.  We pursue a third through your den.  Rather than aid us, your alpha warrior drunkenly threatens me with torture and death to chase his mad personal obsession with whoever this sister he speaks of is.  Pack-leader who cowers behind your closed door, your pack seems lost unless you cull this rabid dog from it without delay."

With that, the half-elven druid adds a word spoken in his mother's Fey Touched tongue and vanishes in greenish-silver mist, reappearing thirty feet to the west, down the hallway.  He continues through, having heard the serving women from the kitchen (Passive Perception:  16), following Burr in his pursuit upstairs after the tauntingly retreating undead horror.  As he does so, he grimly dons his wooden shield.

To the serving women as he passes, he quietly admits, "I do not know if anywhere in Vallaki is safe.  Though if I had to choose one den, I'd find the Blue Water Inn."  (Though their question had been to Zefla, not him).  "Unless my halfling companion can think of a better place."

Bonus Action:  Soren Misty Steps 30' west using his Fey Touched feat.
Action:  Soren dons his small wooden shield.
Movement:  Soren continues 30' chasing after Burr and the Vampire Spawn through the kitchen and towards the stairs up.

Nettle uses Flyby and her 60' fly speed to wing away from Izek without provoking an opportunity attack, and dashes ahead 120' up the stairs near the ceiling (hopefully out of reach) to scout which way the Vampire Spawn went, turning back towards Soren as soon as she senses it.

Giles glances back at Ireena, Tourmaline and Victor quickly, peering out of the window and looking down, ready to lower the rope if needed.  His hand clenches and he is itching to get back into the action, but afraid to leave the room and Ireena unguarded.  “What do you think they’re doing down there?  A lot of yelling, where is the spawn, the vampire creature?  Dear Lady Tymora, I need you now…”

(free action)

Soren blinks away from Izek and them moves into the kitchen, donning his shield.  Nettle flies past and up the stairs... then quickly returns, reporting telepathically to Soren that the Vampire Spawn is in the hallway upstairs and moving quickly back toward the front of the house.

Giles:

1. Soren
2. Vampire Spawn
3. Burr, Zefla, Giles
4. Izek and Guards and ???
5. Ireena

See #1883

Zefla dashes up after Burr, not wanting him to have to face the creature alone.  Seeing it in the middle of the hallway upstairs, she looses an arrow at it.

Attack: 27 (crit!), Damage: 16

Quote from Bulya39672 >>

Knowing that those he has swoen to protect are upstairs Burr immediately bolts to follow the dead thing....

( Not sure his normal movement will get him far enough upstairs to see, if not then Dash)

 ( Ok...working off this the VS is in range and visible when he gets upstairs so cancel the Dash and he'll throw the Bloodspear at it.)

Attack: 25 Damage: 9

( Well, at least one of us is rolling well...)

[Initiative order comes into play here... Soren and Nettle acted, and reported on where the VS was... but then the VS is up before Zefla and Burr.  So it is not necessarily in the same space.  It is not in range for Burr... his normal movement wouldn't even get him all the way upstairs to see the VS to throw his spear at it.  I will give Burr the dash action instead and get him upstairs.]

Burr rambles up the stairs, with Zefla racing along behind and then passing him by with her swift little legs.  They find the Vampire Spawn, not where it was supposed to be, but now at the far end of the hall, near the front of the house.  It skitters along on the ceiling, stalking like an upside-down cat as it approaches one of the Baron's guards from behind as he looks down toward the first floor over the bannister railing.  

Zefla's arrow takes it in the neck, eliciting a high pitched 'Ack-ack-KAAA!" from the creature.  The guard whirls and offers a surprised squeal of his own.  He draws his spear and backs up toward the stairs, weapon out in front of him in a defensive posture.

On the staircase, the traumatized guard looks up at the Vampire Spawn on the second floor ceiling and just wails, covering his own ears.  The other guard from the stairs looks up, then beats a retreat down the steps, closer to Izek.

Izek, meanwhile, has no care for events on the second floor.  "Come BACK here!" he howls as he charges down the hallway after Soren.  "Don't you turn away from me..." he growls menacingly as he bursts into the kitchen.  His axe held in his 'normal' hand, his other hand is held out at his side, fingers splayed.  Soren sees whisps of flame begin to dance between the fingers of that 'other' hand.  "... You don't leave until I'm finished with you.  You'll tell me where she is.  And then you'll die."

From back down the hall, a frightened and puzzled voice calls out from behind a closed door.  "Izek?  Who was that speaking just now?  What's going on?  All will be well, but we must get the manor house back in proper order!"

1. Soren
2. Vampire Spawn
3. Burr, Zefla, Giles
4. Izek and Guards and ???

For the first time, Soren shows true fear alongside his adrenaline and exasperation.  Not at Izek's words, but at the fire in his off-hand.  This rabid direwolf will sear his own den to ash, and us within it, while the den-master hides.  When Neverwinter Wood burned, I ran and ran, pursued by hungry flames...

"I know not who your sister is," he answers Izek truthfully, warily eyeing the fiery hand.  "Yet if she is who I suspect, then I will help you find her if you simply do your duty and help us destroy the undead horror that has gone upstairs.  If my companions and I perish in battle now, you will never find her."

(All of which Soren believes to be true, though he also thinks that after luring Izek to the sanctum, they may all have to destroy him together as a pack).

As the druid turns in fear to go, he hopes, perhaps vainly, that this plea will at least temporarily forestall any opportunity attack the madman may make.  Instead of addressing the hidden voice, who he now assumes must be the Baron, he exhorts the mastiffs he assumes must be the source of the snarling that he had heard beyond the door.  The same ones that had caught the scent of mastiff-Soren during his earlier stint in the manor.

Speech of the Woods:
O fierce and loyal guardians of your master's den!  Break free of your confines and aid me!  Undead horrors invade your home, slaying with abandon.  Your erstwhile pack alpha has gone rabid and threatens us who battle the abomination upstairs.  Help us protect your home as you were born to do.  Or at least distract this two-legged brute with the flames in his hand who threatens us.  The threat from beyond the grave must be quelled!

With that, Soren dashes upstairs after his companions, triggering an opportunity attack but hoping that his suggestion to Izek discourages one.

Nettle glides to follow (120' fly dash with flyby), though as she spies the Vampire Spawn on the ceiling, she wings no closer than 40' from it.

Soren dashes up the stairs... and does not feel the bite of Izek's axe.  He stays his blade for a moment.  Whether Soren's words have truly convinced the man remain to be seen.

[Soren please make a persuasion check, DC 17.]

From back down the ground floor hall, there is the faint sound of claws scratching at a wooden door.

Nettle flies on ahead, stopping between Burr and Zefla.

The Vampire Spawn still crouches, upside down on the ceiling at the end of the hall.  It reaches up to its neck and pulls out Zefla's arrow, the undead flesh knitting itself back together once the missile is removed.  It looks ready to move on Burr and Zefla until Soren and his owl also emerge up the stairs.  It hisses and instead crawls to the ceiling above the balcony and then lets go, dropping down past the guards to the ground floor.

Acrobatics: 19

It flips over like a falling cat and lands on its feet in the downstairs foyer.  

The guard on the ground floor, having readied an attack, stabs out at the creature when it lands next to him.

Spear Attack:  16  Piercing Damage:  4

The attack does little to bother the monster, but it does turn its baleful eyes on the guard.  It slashes out twice with its claws:

Claw Attack:  25  Slashing Damage:  9

Claw Attack:  19  Slashing Damage:  6

The creature disembowels the hapless guard and he falls at the foot of the stairs in a pile of blood and stinking entrails.  With the last of its movement then, the creatures moves into the main hall, out of sight from the balcony above.

1. Soren
2. Vampire Spawn
3. Burr, Zefla, Giles
4. Izek and Guards and ???

" Damnit!!

Burr turns and races back down the stairs and into the kitchen trying to get back to the lower floor hallway...

( Dash Action)

Soren's Persuasion:  17 (OOC:  on the nose, with a +0 modifier!)

Seeing the vampire spawn disappear over the balcony, Zefla dashes towards the front staircase, frustration outweighing the thought of trying to stick together with her team.  The sight of the freshly disemboweled guard turns her stomach, but she pushes past and if she sees the creature, she'll unleash another arrow.

Attack: 16, Damage: 9

Zefla is able to stick another arrow into the Vampire Spawn as the reaches the middle landing of the staircase, near the traumatized guard.

Burr heads back the other way, coming face to face with Izek Strazni in the kitchens.  The large man glowers up the stairs after Soren, then levels his cruel gaze upon Burr... before lifting his axe and turning back toward the hall.  "Fine!  Show yourself, then, monster!  Begone from my master's home!"

Stepping into the hall, he sets eyes on the Vampire Spawn at the far end.  He raises his deformed hand and flames dance between his fingers.  He reaches back and then thrusts his arm forward as if throwing a heavy stone. 

• Hurl Flame Attack:  8  (Miss)

A ball of flame soars down the hall toward the undead.  Watching Izek with catlike red eyes, the Vampire Spawn merely ducks its head ever so slightly and the fire passes by harmlessly.  It crashes into the ruins of the front door, flames licking the splintered wood and beginning to spread.  Izek roars in anger, while the Vampire Spawn makes a sound like a mockery of laughter.

Just then, the scratching on the hall door intensifies and then the door bursts open, a wounded and bloody mastiff bursting into the hall.  It immediately turns and lunges at the nearby Vampire Spawn with its slavering jaws.

• Bite:  14  (Miss)

The jaws look set to clamp on the creature's arm, only for it to pull just out of the dog's reach.  It tilts it head and looks at the barking mastiff with curiosity.  Behind the dog, a man emerges from the room - Baron Vargas Vallakovich.  He wears a red robe and slippers, blood that is not his own covering his hands and torso.  At first he reaches for the dog, but then pauses when the sees the Vampire Spawn and the carnage of dead bodies splayed out in the foyer just beyond.  

"What... what devilry?  No.  Not in my home.  NO!  This will not be!  Izek!  Guards!  Guards!  Put an end to this madness!  I will have order in my home!"

• Soren
• Vampire Spawn
• Burr, Zefla
• Izek and Guards and Baron and Mastiff

(Meanwhile, upstairs…)

Giles is looking out of the window intermittently when he hears the voice in his head, his thoughts around his Lady Tymora, he hears a very different voice in his head.  He stands bolt upright, looking around, then looking outside again, eyes straining in the dark, looking for any source of the sound.  He keeps his telekinetic mage hand ready to shove any intruder out of the window, his other hand on the rope, ready to lower it to his friends down below if needed.  He turns over his shoulder, eyeing Victor, then Lady Bauer, then turning to look at Ireena, saying in a muted voice under his breath… “You are the true prize here, aren’t you…”. in a louder voice to the others he says, “All of this is a distraction.  All of this is a farce, a play, a means to get at you, Ireena.  The darklord in that castle on the hill has wrought this passion play as a distraction, a means to obtain you, likely brought to him by his minions.  I will stand here and guard this window, guard you.  My friends can handle themselves... hopefully they can handle that last fiend and distance themselves from Izek, then get back to us here and we lie low, until it is safe to leave.  We will make a plan, we must wait for now...". He turns back to the window, to scared to share what he actually heard in his mind, but very aware of the implications.

Knowing he is near the secret attic where Giles, Ireena, Lady Bauer and Viktor are holed up, Soren cants his voice just loud enough to be heard by them.

"Packmates, we could use your aid.  Not from the one being hunted by the Vampire Spawn and by... the other who we know is hunting her.  But aid from anyone else would be welcome.  Not-father?"  A sudden lump forms in his throat as he realizes what has happened at the front door.  "Oh no..."

Trotting east along the upper hallway Soren spies the flames downstairs and smells the smoke.  His gorge rises.  The panicked fear of a trapped animal.

No!  N-not again.  My friends cannot perish, trapped inside this gilded man-den as it burns just as my forest home burned...

The Vampire Spawn pushed into second priority by his abject terror of fire for now, Soren splays his fingers, pointing them out the large eastern window and down to the dirt just outside, northeast of the entrance, just north of the steps to the front door.  Silvanus, lend me your strength...

Soren casts Mold Earth (somatic only, 30' range), excavating a five foot cube of (hopefully) damp earth to dump onto the burning doorway in a desperate effort to smother the burgeoning flames.  If he were more accustomed to city ways, he might consider that an aristocrat would likely not appreciate having a giant pile of soil deposited on their doorstep, but then they probably would not appreciate the river of blood and gore covering their carpet either...

In the attic:

Lady Bauer responds to Giles after he finishes speaking.  "What have you learned of this place?  I was captured by these troglodytes shortly after emerging in this land."

Downstairs, a wad of mud and soil slams into the burning front door.  The flames choke and sputter; though smoke erupts to fill the foyer and small embers continue to smolder, it seems the fire has been neutralized.

The Vampire Spawn looks back at Zefla with irritation, then down the hall toward the charging Izek.  If it is intimidated, it doesn't show it.  Instead, it steps forward, drawing close to the Baron and reaching out with its clawed hands...

Claw Attack:  18

It grips the Baron around the face and shoulders, lifting him off the ground.  Once of his slippers falls off as his feet dangle and he cries out, "Izek!  DO SOMETHING!"  The the Vampire Spawn tries to bite...

• Bite:  20  Piercing Damage:  5  Necrotic Damage:  9

It sinks its fangs into the Baron's neck.  His feet kick and he flails his arms wildly.  The wound from Zefla's most recent arrow begins to heal as the creature drains pressure life from the lord of the house.  Then the creature steps backwards into the dining room, carrying the Baron with it.  The mastiff snaps its jaws, trying to protect its master, but they close on empty air.

• Bite AOO:  6

The Vampire Spawn ducks out of sight into the dining room.

• Soren
• Vampire Spawn
• Burr, Zefla
• Izek and Guards and Baron and Mastiff