Quote from AlaricBrand >>

Become visible, leave the room, slump in corridor outside, trying to calm his mind for another attempt to leave his body. All that meditation practice should come in handy.

[[ Can I declare a action that if no-one has left room by end of the turn, he slumps to ground? ]]

Brand leaves the room unmolested and slumps down against the wall in the (room) outside Nathaniel's bedroom. Immediately in front of him are the bookcases of the upper floor of the library and he can hear the sounds of someone yelling and running.

[[You can only hold an action in the turn you are in. Brand has already done his action, so he now needs to wait until his next turn to do anything other than a Reaction.]]

[[I am about to go out for a while and then to the dentist, so there will be nothing for the next couple of hours.]]

 [[ Then I guess I wait until the next time I have initiative ]]

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

 [[ Then I guess I wait until the next time I have initiative ]]

[[Sorry. I was in a hurry and I got it wrong. Although we talked about grappling Nathaniel, Brand didn't actually do it. So he could have used his Cunning Action: Disengage to leave the room without risking an Attack of Opportunity and will therefore still have his Action, which he can Ready. However, to Ready an action requires you specifying a trigger event for that readied action to act on (e.g., if I hear something trying to exit Nathaniel's room, I dash away).

Back to you.]]

[[ I think you were right in the first place:

- he put the Invis stone in his glove (free)
- activated it (action)
- searched room and under bed again while invisible (move)
- deactivated stone and left room

So...I don't think he has an action.

He still has movement left, but if he can't use it as a reaction then there's nothing more he can do, I think]]

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

[[ I think you were right in the first place:

- he put the Invis stone in his glove (free)
- activated it (action)
- searched room and under bed again while invisible (move)
- deactivated stone and left room

So...I don't think he has an action.

He still has movement left, but if he can't use it as a reaction then there's nothing more he can do, I think]]

[[Yep. Obviously not on the top of my game—literally—today.]]

[[

Move: 1

Brand's Initiative: 22
Nathaniel's Initiative: 11
Daffid's Initiative: 7

]]

Slumped against the wall, Brand hears the thrashing in Nathaniel's room stop.

Then, over the sound of the fleeing Daffid, he hears a rasping voice coming from inside the room. "Alaric. Run. Save yourself," it says.

As Brand thinks furiously about what he should do, he hears the sounds of Daffid's terrified retreat slow and then stop and then he hears another's voice—a woman's—raised in frantic query.

[[It is Brand's move again.]]

Brand shouts, "Nathaniel is being possessed."

Then, still with  raised voice, "This abomination must be stopped, and your knowledge is critical Nathaniel -- we must save you."

Then he resumes his attempts to focus his mind, and tries to leave his body again. [[ He can't see him, and has resisted once, can it not be at disadvantage? ]]

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

Brand shouts, "Nathaniel is being possessed."

Then, still with  raised voice, "This abomination must be stopped, and your knowledge is critical Nathaniel -- we must save you."

Then he resumes his attempts to focus his mind, and tries to leave his body again. [[ He can't see him, and has resisted once, can it not be at disadvantage? ]]

[[What you are having Brand try to do is very difficult and something he has never done while awake and/or without assistance... I will let you roll normally with the +4 bonus in this situation, but this is something I will only let you try once per day in normal circumstances.]]

[[What you are having Brand try to do is very difficult and something he has never done while awake and/or without assistance... I will let you roll normally with the +4 bonus in this situation, but this is something I will only let you try once per day in normal circumstances.]]

[[ Fair enough! I appreciate the option, and that this is not a 'normal' situation! ]]

Roll: 12

[[ Edit: Might a hero point help? ]]

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

[[What you are having Brand try to do is very difficult and something he has never done while awake and/or without assistance... I will let you roll normally with the +4 bonus in this situation, but this is something I will only let you try once per day in normal circumstances.]]

[[ Fair enough! I appreciate the option, and that this is not a 'normal' situation! ]]

Roll: 12

[[ Edit: Might a hero point help? ]]

[[It is definitely a fail, but I won't say if a hero point will help, though clearly Brand is finding it difficult to achieve a meditative state in 6 seconds.]]

[[ Getting rid of hero points means I don't need to worry about them later...so: ]]

Heroic effort: 6

"Run, Alaric, run," Brand hears the hoarse voice of Nathaniel say as he realises that he is not going to succeed.

[[Brand now has 0 hero points and only has a Move action and any relevant Bonus Actions left in his move.]]

[[ WTF? That's a bit broken, IMO. ]]

Brand stands, glancing from room to the woman's voice he heard, calling out "Nathaniel needs help! Hurry! Something is trying to possess him."

He turns and faces the room, then waits [[ deferring whatever he can defer; just let me know. ]]

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

[[ WTF? That's a bit broken, IMO. ]]

[[I tried to talk you out of it. It was possible, but difficult.]]

Brand stands, glancing from room to the woman's voice he heard, calling out "Nathaniel needs help! Hurry! Something is trying to possess him."

He turns and faces the room, then waits [[ deferring whatever he can defer; just let me know. ]]

[[You can only ready an Action, which he has already used. He does have his Reaction.]]

[[

Move: 2

Brand's Initiative: 22
Nathaniel's Initiative: 11
Daffid's Initiative: 7

]]

Facing into the room, Brand see Nathaniel raise his head and look at him. His friend is obviously under a lot of strain.

"Alaric, I'm not sure I can keep this up for much longer," says Nathaniel, his voice rough and rasping. "You have to kill me so there is no living host for it to possess."

Brand hears the sound of running feet getting closer behind him. "What's happening? Is that thing still there?" comes the nervous shout from Daffid.

[[It is Brand's turn again.]]

[[ WTF? That's a bit broken, IMO. ]]

[[I tried to talk you out of it. It was possible, but difficult.]]

[[ I got that; my comment was in relation to the way hero points work; it just reinforces my earlier views. ]]

[[ Try again? If so, ]]

Roll: 21

[[ Otherwise he waits until something happens, saying: ]]

"Nathaniel is fighting it. He needs help."

[[ Edit: Happy to let this play out. No plans to kill Nathaniel. He would add to Nathaniel: ]]

"What is it? who did this to you?"

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

[[ WTF? That's a bit broken, IMO. ]]

[[I tried to talk you out of it. It was possible, but difficult.]]

[[ I got that; my comment was in relation to the way hero points work; it just reinforces my earlier views. ]]

[[ Try again? If so, ]]

Roll: 7

[[As Brand cannot know if trying again is possible, I will assume that by making a roll he is trying again. To avoid being at Disadvantage, he sinks to the floor and closes his eyes.]].

[[ Otherwise he waits until something happens, saying: ]]

"Nathaniel is fighting it. He needs help."

[[ Edit: Happy to let this play out. No plans to kill Nathaniel. He would add to Nathaniel: ]]

"What is it? who did this to you?"

[[

Move: 3

Brand's Initiative: 22
Nathaniel's Initiative: 11
Daffid's Initiative: 7

]]

Brand sinks to the floor and closes his eyes once more trying to escape his body.

As he tries to achieve the right mental state, he hears Nathaniel's voice.

"Daffid," Nathaniel says, "You must kill me. The creature will lose interest and leave if there is no living body for it to possess."

After a moment, Daffid says, "I have no idea what is going on, but there is definitely no way I am going to kill you. Let me try some magick."

Brand hears no answer, but does feel Daffid move past him into the room.

Brand opens his eyes to see the journeyman magus sprinkle something that looks like salt and pepper onto Nathaniel and then make some magical passes over the prone man while muttering something that Brand can't understand. He then touches the old man.

In response to this, Brand sees two wispy figures—one light grey and one dark grey—detach themselves from Nathaniel's body and float up and backwards away from the body.

Nathaniel's body sinks to the floor.

[[It is Brand's move again.]]

Brand stands,  watching the wispy figures.

"That ..  looked promising. What did you do? And how do we kill them?" he says, gesturing at them.

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

[[Sorry. Got caught up in a four-way FaceTime chat with the family.]]

Move: 4

Brand's Initiative: 22
Daffid's Initiative: 7

]]

Brand stands,  watching the wispy figures.

"That ..  looked promising. What did you do? And how do we kill them?" he says, gesturing at them.

[[We are still in combat, so what else does Brand want do do? Ready an action? And if so, what?]]

[[ Can he wait to see what the wispy figures do? ]]

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

[[ Can he wait to see what the wispy figures do? ]]

[[If he wants to hold his Initiative, Brand will need to Ready an Action to be triggered by a specific event (e.g., one of the figures attacks). If he wants to delay his whole turn, then his position in the Initiative order will change permanently to the value one less than the move of the wispy figure he chooses to act after. Also, please note that I play it that not all monsters act at the same Initiative, so one of these figures is likely to act before the other.]]

Brand stands,  watching the wispy figures.

[[ Put away invis stone (free?); draw silver dagger (action?); move to keep clear view of wispy figures ]]

"That ..  looked promising. What did you do? And how do we kill them?" he says, gesturing at them.