Round 2: Hildegard

"Onward and upward, Perdita!" Hildegard whispers, and nudges the fiery steed to fly up into the air and forward towards the approaching cultists and Zolgu, as high as the cavern will let her, high up in the air, and though the nightmare burns brightly like a flaming beacon, maybe she won't be seen quite so readily by those who aren't looking above...

(Hello again. Hope you all had a merry Christmas!)

It looks like all the preparations have been made...

The two cultists round the bend. Unlike the last bunch, they're spread out a bit, trying to come at you from multiple directions to avoid being easy targets from AOE spells. Both of them are surrounded by what appear to be infernal spirits as they approach.

Meanwhile, Zolgu... doesn't appear. He's either decided not to join the fray or, more likely, he's decided he's going to sneak around rather than engage in an open fight. He's probably invisible as well...

Zolgu's Stealth: 18

Top of Round 3, Temphalic is up!

(OOC: I guess Korba's readied action triggered, but with a nat-1 the Eldritch Blast missed. Did anyone else have a readied action that would trigger? 

I don't think that everyone is in the Owlbear Rodeo room, so I'll post the updated map at the start of round 3.)

Updated: I added the AoEs for Spirit Guardians.

Update #2: I corrected the size for Hewelathan's Pass Without Trace AoE and changed it to grey so that it's less distracting.

Quote from Mister_Whisker >>

The two cultists round the bend. Unlike the last bunch, they're spread out a bit, trying to come at you from multiple directions to avoid being easy targets from AOE spells. Both of them are surrounded by what appear to be infernal spirits as they approach.

(OOC: It looks like the elf shadow and Jodie will be starting their turns in the AoE if the cultist's concentration isn't broken before then.  What damage would we take from that spell this round, and what's the DC of the WIS save?)

18 necrotic damage and DC 12 Wis save for half.

Joy expecting Zolgu to have stayed behind Tamphalic wonders if he might be invisible. He decides it is probably best to know for sure and casts see invisibility on himself. After which he uses telekinesis to try and move the cultist 5ft backwards to have the spirit guaesians not around jodie.

Dc14 strength save. 

Quote from Secretfool >>

Joy expecting Zolgu to have stayed behind Tamphalic wonders if he might be invisible. He decides it is probably best to know for sure and casts see invisibility on himself. After which he uses telekinesis to try and move the cultist 5ft backwards to have the spirit guaesians not around jodie.

Dc14 strength save. 

Go ahead and roll a Perception check against Zolgu's Stealth check (it was 18)

Strength save for Cultist 2: 6

Perception: 10

Quote from Secretfool >>

Perception: 10

You don't see him. If he's nearby and invisible, it seems he isn't foolish enough to assume that being magically cloaked would be a foolproof protection.

(I'm going to be out of town for the next few days, so it might be a while before I post Zolgu's turn)

(OOC: Here's the updated map after Tamphalic's turn.  I added an initiative tracker so that it's more clear when you look at the map where we are.  This is what it looks like at the start of Zolgu's turn.  Changes: I "pushed" the cultist away from Jodie, and I added concentration markers to Tamphalic and the two cultists for their concentration spells.  Zolgu is not shown since none of us knows where he is yet.)

With a sudden, dramatic flourish, Zolgu appears, seemingly from nowhere! The little white kobold appears among the toppled bookshelves and broken chests (represented by the black area to the right of Hewelathan, Jodie, and Korba's shadow... I'd add him to the map, but I'm on mobile right now). Blue flames flicker around him in a protective shield.

"I commend your courage... but you have only signed your death warrants!" the white kobold laughs.

Though his hatred burns brightest for Nickeline, the cunning little bastard sees an opportunity to hurt several of you at once that he can't pass up...

He waves a hand and casts fireball into the middle of Hewelathan, Jodie, Temphalic, and also Korba's shadow. All those listed must make a DC 14 Dex save or take 31 fire damage (half-damage on success). If any one of you happens to still be standing after that, he hurls a dagger infused with some kind of ice magic at the whoever has the lowest HP of that group.

Dagger attack:

Attack: 25 Damage: 5 piercing + 3 cold

Nickeline is up now! Zolgu currently has half-cover after dumping his fireball and retreating about 15-ft back to duck behind a toppled bookshelf.

(OOC: I think that Temphalic would have revealed himself by casting two spells, and the Elf Shadow would have done the same with that readied attack since I think the cultist was initially in range for the shadow before getting pushed back by Temphalic. That attack does hit, btw. I have a REALLY hard time imagining that it would even be possible not to notice the bear standing between the two of them based on Zolgu's initial position about 10-ft away from said bear and very possibly walking right past it while he was invisible)

Speaking of Cultist 2... Con save: 19 for concentration on spirit guardians after getting smacked by the shadow.

Dex save: nat 20 for a 22

Con save for see invis: 20

Chronal shift for reroll: 1st Jodie if fail, than Hew otherwise shadow

Nickeline doubles back towards the enemy when Zolgu's fireball lights up the cave and scans the area for injured allies. She knows she would not have made it out of that inferno in one piece, so her companions might be in need of healing.

She returns Zolgu's taunt with her own, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

OOC:

Action: Dodge
Bonus Action: Cast Healing Word on whichever ally has the lowest HP --> restore 6 HP
Movement: 25 ft. northeast
Ongoing Effects: Sanctuary, Bardic Inspiration

Oh, I almost forgot, Zolgu does a bonus 1 damage on his fireball, courtesy of an item he has.

Quote from Mister_Whisker >>

The little white kobold appears among the toppled bookshelves and broken chests (represented by the black area to the right of Hewelathan, Jodie, and Korba's shadow... I'd add him to the map, but I'm on mobile right now).

(OOC:  Oof!  Do you mean for the whole map area to be in play?  The parts that I marked in black were meant to be solid rock.  That is, the grey area is open, and I imagined that Hewelathan-bear was creeping along near the cavern wall.  The curve of the cavern was how I imagined that the party and the initial fight was not visible to the other cultists and Cynurrarth.

I can add Zolgu to the map, based on your description.)

Yep, it's in play. Though the cave floor is raised up there.

Quote from Mister_Whisker >>

the Elf Shadow would have done the same with that readied attack since I think the cultist was initially in range for the shadow before getting pushed back by Temphalic. That attack does hit, btw. I have a REALLY hard time imagining that it would even be possible not to notice the bear standing between the two of them based on Zolgu's initial position about 10-ft away from said bear and very possibly walking right past it while he was invisible)

(OOC: Catching up before I post for Gorash's, Korba's, and Hewelathan's turns. 

I didn't realize that the elf shadow was close enough to make that attack.  Despite being deep within the Spirit Guardians AoE, it should take no damage because it has immunity to necrotic damage.  But it'll need to make a saving throw vs. the fireball.

I think that we'll need to see Jodie's saving throw vs. Fireball and her CON save to see whether she becomes visible before we can figure out who Zolgu attacked with his knife.  In case it's the Elf Shadow, does the knife deal magical piercing damage or just regular piercing damage along with cold damage?)

Elf Shadow - DEX saving throw: 10
Hewelathan - DEX saving throw: 12

Jodie crouches low to avoid (Dex 15) most of the blast, but she still burns from the flames (16 fire).  Her training allows her to easily control the pain (Concentration 19), while she remains invisible from Zolgu.