Seraphine didn’t see Valerian until he called out, holding high the book he procured. In a heartbeat it was clear that the ants must have noticed him, too. She steels herself for the commencing battle. (Initiative: 12)

Aralin initiative: 17

Valerian takes a step back, book firmly held in one hand and closes the other around one of his daggers. (Initiative: 7)

Round 0 - anybody else wanna act as they see Valerian run right into the midst of the ants?

Round 1 - 

Aralin -

5 ants -

Finn -

Seraphine - 

Valerian -

Seraphine would approach as soon as she notes that Valerian intends to claim something from the body as she is sure that this would alert the ants (who had been focused on the body). So if it is possible to do in the surprise round, Seraphine would move her normal range forward. I will say that she would not attack outright, as she still allows herself to hope that Valerian returns unnoticed.

When Finn sees Val cross the safe 50 foot distance and realizes he is going in for the body, Finn will start sprinting towards him

Aralin, moves to protect Val’s rear behind / rear of stone. 

Alright, now everyone is in position. The ants have definitely noticed Valerian.

Round 1 - 

Aralin -

5 ants -

Finn -

Seraphine - 

Valerian -

Aralin attacks  'Ant' one square north of him with Longsword 18 | 9

Aralin cleaves the ant in two with his sword! The legs twitch and wriggle for a disturbingly long time as the creature dies.

The remaining ants swarm Valerian, mandibles chomping at him. The first one gets in his face aggressively and then the others swarm around, taking advantage of his attention getting divided to get in cheap shots (they have pack tactics).

They get in 3 good bites, but unbelievably they only deal 9 damage and Valerian has 10 HP! (all 1’s on the damage rolls)

Round 1 - 

Aralin - sliced an ant in half

4 ants - swarming Valerian

—> Finn -

Seraphine - 

Valerian -

OOC: Not sure if I we are into second round.... but incase we are:

Aralin attacks with Longsword, one square north; 7 | 4 

(OOC: oh god they are going to rip Valerian into shreds😭 this is hilarious, HE'S STANDING BY ONE HITPOINT)

(I'll wait till Finn and Seraphine go but question, if I try to make a straight run south, would the ants left alive get attacks of opportunity on Valerian?)

Quote from detectivelora >>

(I'll wait till Finn and Seraphine go but question, if I try to make a straight run south, would the ants left alive get attacks of opportunity on Valerian?)

 (Not if you use an action to disengage. Alternatively, you can use your action to dodge and they will have disadvantage on their opportunity attacks and also when or if they attack you during their turn.)

(something is being wonky with the dice roller in the forum, deleted my other posts and rolled instead on the campaign thread on my character sheet)

Finn will run up to the closest ant (you can pick which one), while running he'll extend his claws on his right hand and try to rake them across the ant's face for his action: 15 to hit, 5 damage (slashing)

He'll then throw a left haymaker for his bonus action: 18 to hit, 4 damage (bludgeoning)

(If Finn needs more than 30 ft of movement to reach any of the ants, he'll use Feline Agility: When you move on your turn in combat, you can double your speed until the end of the turn)

Seraphine hurls a Fire Bolt the nearest ant's way and engages in melee to protect Val's exit, "Val! Get away from them as long as you can, we take over!"

Action: Fire Bolt @nearest ant, hit 25 (crit!) for 13 fire damage
Move: move into melee

Valerian's vision has gone blurry and a dizziness takes over him as the ants swarm around, attacking with their piercing mandibles. He keeps focus on holding the book close to him and tries to steady himself. 

He can sense that his companions are closer and have begun attacking the ants. This will be okay, he thinks to himself as he hears Seraphine and focuses on just getting away from the ants.

Using an action to disengage, Valerian will use his 30ft of movement to just back away straight south until he's near the others.

Finn kills an ant with a swipe of his claw! The creature’s carapace ruptures and shatters, sharp edges slicing the vital innards, and the ant collapses. He deals a crunching blow to another ant, putting a cracking dent into the side of its abdomen, and the thing writhes silently.

Seraphine sends a ball of fire at another ant, which explodes and leaves only a smoking charred corpse.

Valerian ducks away from the last 2 ants and scurries back behind the protection of his new friends, clutching at the hard-won book.

Aralin advances on one of the remaining ants but it quickly scurries out of the arc of his sword attack. It retaliates with a bite attack, but its attempts are futile against his armor. Seeming in cooperation with its companion, the other ant swarms over to Aralin and also attempts a bite, but is also foiled by the armor.

Round 2 -

Aralin - missed

2 ants - swarming Aralin (one is injured)

—> Finn -

Seraphine - 

Valerian -

(sorry, can’t update the graphic while at work, I think you guys have got it in the bag though)

Finn, tasting victory, becomes vicious and feral. He will look at the ant he already put a dent in, and try to slice through its weakened area to spill whatever guts it keeps inside. 7 to hit, 5 damage (I assume that misses lmao)

The mask of uncool vanishes as he winds back and attempts to slam another punishing blow with his fist: 24 to hit, 7 damage (bludgeoning)