(OOC: It's Nickeline's turn now. 

Here's an updated map that shows Zolgu's Cone of Cold.  I also removed the Faerie Fire effect and Korba's concentration. I marked Hewelathan as unconscious since I didn't see a marker for "dying."  I'll remove the Cone of Cold AoE and switch Hewelathan back to his regular token now.)

Ruby uses absorb elements and thinks Withstand the Cold like a Big White (dragon)

Con save: 13

Ruby takes 21 cold and falls.

Quote from Faux_Beau >>

Ruby takes 21 cold and falls.

(Sorry about the confusion, Faux_Beau, but I miscalculated the actual area of the spell and had a long chat about it with Ben_Eveolent. Ruby is outside the area of the effect and is thus fine.)

(OOC: Yep, as @Mister_Whisker said: Ruby was not in range.  The map in post #1987 is correct and what we finally agreed on.

The root of the problem is that none of us are experts with Owlbear Rodeo.  😇  There was some confusion over the distance between Zolgu and our party members because the Ruler tool shows distances based on the scene's measurement type, and the default is Chessboard.  That matches the explanation from Playing on a Grid where it "costs 5 ft. of movement" to enter a square whether you're moving orthogonally or diagonally.  That probably makes sense for a regular in-person game or remote game over voice or video chat.  It's probably easier to keep things combat quickly if everyone can plan their action just by counting squares.  But since we have plenty of time in an asynchronous play-by-post game to post our PCs' actions, I switched the measurement type to Euclidean.  The distances shown by the Ruler and other measurement tools in Owlbear Rodeo should now show the actual distance between points.)

Nickeline thanks her god she wasn't caught in Zolgu's cone of cold. She recites a prayer of healing for Hewelathan, who seemed to have gotten the worst of it.

OOC:

Movement: about 10 ft. NE
Bonus Action: cast Healing Word on Hewelathan --> recover 6 HP
Action: Cast Sacred Flame on Cultist 1 --> DC 14 Dex save or take 2 radiant damage

Zolgu casts counterspell. Nickeline, make a DC 14 Con save or your healing word fails to go off and Hew remains down.

OOC: Nickeline DC 14 con save —> 10

Quote from mamoduck >>

OOC: Nickeline DC 14 con save —> 10

(OOC: At least Nickeline keeps her spell slot!)

Round 5: Hewelathan

Zolgu's Counterspell interrupts Nickeline's spell, and Hewelathan remains unconscious.

Hewelathan - Death Save: 13 (in game log)

Round 5: Gorash

Gorash rushes to defend Hewelathan.  As he races across the piles of spilled books, he roars, "I am Gorash Bloodskull, and I will not be cowed by a kobold!"  He ends just south of the ruined bookshelf and uses Force Blast, trying to target it as close to Hewelathan as possible so that he doesn't hurt the half-elf or the dragon. 

Gorash's goal isn't so much to harm Zolgu and the cultist but to push them away from Hewelathan and closer to the dragon.  He knows that the group's initial assault was just a diversion to let the invisible bard free the dragon, but with Hewelathan dying and Tamphalic looking battered, now would be a great time to loose the dragon.  He just hopes that the bard had the sense to stay out of the way and behind the dragon.

Movement: Move 55-ft northeast toward Zolgu (including extra movement from the Aggressive feature).
Bonus Action: Use Aggressive feature to move closer to Zolgu, "a hostile creature that he can see."
Action: Force Blast. Range: Self, 20-ft cube.
  Each creature in the AoE must make a DC 12 CON saving throw or take damage: 9 (thunder) and be pushed 10-ft away from Gorash.
  On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage (Unable to parse dice roll.) and isn’t pushed.

Round 5: Korba

With the enemies all out of reach of his sword and his allies starting to fall, Korba decides that they need help.  As he risks moving closer to Zolgu, he grips his sword and focuses on its long lineage with the elves.  He summons another elfshadow, which can withstand the infernal spirits around cultist #1, and commands it in Elvish: "Kill that cultist."  Then he takes out a Potion of Healing and drinks it in preparation for a last, desperate fight against their remaining enemies.

Movement: 30-ft of movement to move closer to Zolgu and the cultists.
Action: Call forth an elfshadow from his Moonblade.
Free Action: Talking - commanding the elfshadow.  Item interaction - take a potion out of his pack.
Bonus Action: Consume a [magicitems]Potion of Healing[/magicitem]: +9 HP healing

(OOC: Does the elfshadow act immediately on Korba's turn, or does it just get dropped in with its own 10 initiative?)

Four Rubies moves to find a better shot and some cover.  Using the shadow's threat, Ruby blasts the cultists with his attention drawn. (pack tactics)

Blast 1: 11 Damage: 10 force

Blast 2: 24 Damage: 21 force

Ruby lets out a the cutest roar as her second blast hits the cultist square in the chest.  "Zolgu, you are next!"

Jodie sees Nickeline's healing countered and steps in to assist Hewelathan.  She sings out Don't give up, you still have friends... 9 hps  (bonus action)

(OOC: awaiting on her hidden status)

(Jodie is no longer hidden as soon as she casts a spell or makes an attack)

Zolgu Con save: 18

Death Cultisf 2 Con save: 11

Ruby's beam of force hits Death Cultist 2 right in the chest, and kills him instantly (adding to Ruby's ever-growing body count...)

Quote from Ben_Evolent >>

Round 5: Korba

With the enemies all out of reach of his sword and his allies starting to fall, Korba decides that they need help.  As he risks moving closer to Zolgu, he grips his sword and focuses on its long lineage with the elves.  He summons another elfshadow, which can withstand the infernal spirits around cultist #1, and commands it in Elvish: "Kill that cultist."  Then he takes out a Potion of Healing and drinks it in preparation for a last, desperate fight against their remaining enemies.

Movement: 30-ft of movement to move closer to Zolgu and the cultists.
Action: Call forth an elfshadow from his Moonblade.
Free Action: Talking - commanding the elfshadow.  Item interaction - take a potion out of his pack.
Bonus Action: Consume a [magicitems]Potion of Healing[/magicitem]: +9 HP healing

---

(OOC: Does the elfshadow act immediately on Korba's turn, or does it just get dropped in with its own 10 initiative?)

The Shadow would get dropped in on its own initiative.

Jodie reaches for a magic arrow, intent on taking out Zolgu after he's reacted to so many attacks.  Jodie sings and twirls in a defensive flourish as the arrow strikes true.

Attack: 22
Damage: 11 piercing
Jodie +4 AC until next turn

Quote from Mister_Whisker>>

Ruby's beam of force hits Death Cultist 2 right in the chest, and kills him instantly (adding to Ruby's ever-growing body count...)

(OOC: You meant Death Cultist #1, the one next to Tamphalic and the elfshadow, right?  That's the one Ruby was attacking, and he should have 36 dmg at this point after Korba's Eldritch Blast and Ruby's Arcane Blast.)

Quote from Mister_Whisker >>

Zolgu Con save: 18
Death Cultisf 2 Con save: 11

(OOC: FYI - That means that Gorash's Force Blast pushed cultist 2 into Zolgu's space.  I updated the map and offset Zolgu slightly so that you can select either one more easily. I've never encountered that situation before, but it looks like it's possible to move a creature unwillingly into a space that another one already occupies.  There's some discussion about whether that should impost penalties for squeezing into a smaller space until one of the creatures can leave the space. 

@Mister_Whisker - You should probably make a ruling on that since it could meant that Jodie, Cynurrarth, and Hildegard would get advantage on their attacks until cultist 2 can move out of Zolgu's space on his turn.)

Quote from Ben_Evolent >>

Quote from Mister_Whisker >>

Zolgu Con save: 18
Death Cultisf 2 Con save: 11

(OOC: FYI - That means that Gorash's Force Blast pushed cultist 2 into Zolgu's space.  I updated the map and offset Zolgu slightly so that you can select either one more easily. I've never encountered that situation before, but it looks like it's possible to move a creature unwillingly into a space that another one already occupies.  There's some discussion about whether that should impost penalties for squeezing into a smaller space until one of the creatures can leave the space. 

@Mister_Whisker - You should probably make a ruling on that since it could meant that Jodie, Cynurrarth, and Hildegard would get advantage on their attacks until cultist 2 can move out of Zolgu's space on his turn.)

...you guys REALLY like hitting me with these sorts of weird scenarios, don't you?

No, I'm not going to impose a penalty. The cultist gets popped into a nearby square, I guess the one to Zolgu's left.