Crimson Sands of Time

Quote from rob88scps2 >>

Amri Athletics 20

"Well, that was a dead end... hallway to the left then?"

 “Sure” 

As you enter the hallway you hear the sound of more ritualistic chanting coming from the far end.  You areive at a set if stairs. Stealthily approaching the hall at the bottom of the stairs you find a hall 10 feet wide, 65 feet long with two stone doors at each end of the northern wall. One in the northwest a d another in the northeast. There are also two southern passageways.

A surge of chaos magic fills the hall. The Far Realm’s malice grows stronger as the air grows heavier. A second later, the hall transforms into an endless sea of stars. While floating in the void, you see tiny portals open in the distance. On the other side of the portals, dragonborn are preparing to harvest magic. From your angle, you see three entities float closer to the realm, ready to feed the dragonborn a tiny portion of their raw power. The first entity manifests as a gargantuan sphere that annihilates everything that draws close. The second resembles an immense cloud of worms. The third, trapped in melting ice, is a crystalline praying mantis with scythe-like claws and three compound eyes set above its gaping maw of fangs.

<this is all scripted, but out of curiosity I paused to see your reactions>

Three cultists have gathered the dragonborn bones in this area and tries to summon their memories related to the Far Realm. Something goes horribly wrong as the characters arrive. Rogar, a bald human cultist in black robes, cries out in pain, his body twisting into something incomprehensible, and pleads to the other two for help dispelling his magical ritual. However, the other cultists, Spencel and Teld, are unable to do anything. A character who wants to help Rogar must make a successful DC 19 Intelligence (Arcana) check or cast a dispel magic spell on the cultist (treating the transformation as a 5th-level effect). If the character is within a dark or dimly lit area, they have disadvantage on any related check.

I don't think you covered or snuffed your lights, but you decide if you were trying to be stealthy or whatever. 

For super-duper clarity, I just want to know if you're planning to try to save Rogar and, if so, how?

Amri does not have darkvision, so he would be carrying a torch, unless one of the others has a light spell going.

The halfling will cry, "He may be accidentally summoning a creature of the Far Realm!  Can either of you block the spell??"

(Don't know if it's possible to help with an arcana check, but Amri will do what he can.)

Sam looks to T “well this is your expertise” 

(Tesservett had a continual flame dagger, but again, for stealth, maybe sheathed it.  Not declared and it would invite DA, so I assume it's out and lit)

I might allow help on arcana if the helper is proficient or has some prior experience.

<For me, the DM, I'm good with either outcome.  It's not like a door that just won't open; something different happens, that's why I'm pausing to really wait for an outcome.>

Anybody want to try or should we just go with 'no help attempted,' which is identical to "fail to help"?

(Amri would probably be ready to kill the cultist rather than let some Far Realm starspawn cross over, but I have the metaknowledge about the Power Word Kill so I'm reluctant to sacrifice another character. Amri has zero magical ability or knowledge.)

"Rogar, a bald human cultist in black robes, cries out in pain, his body twisting into something incomprehensible, and pleads to the other two for help dispelling his magical ritual."

This is the prompt that would potentially incite intervention, whether you consider it helping Rogar or stopping the ritual, they are they same thing.

<It's not so bad,  it's just 2 eyedrakes>

The cultist explodes as the main vision fades. The stars linger on, growing larger and larger before transforming into eyes that are then consumed by dragons. Two eyedrakes appear before the characters and attack!

Roll for initiative! 

Eyedrakes 5

Initiative 23

Amri initiative 25

(The eyedrakes are size Large)

The halfling warrior will charge ahead to the nearest eyedrake. At the last second, he drops into a slide, passing right under the first eyedrake and ending up behind it (Halfling Nimbleness)

He will then attack thrice (level 12 fighter, also Amri scores critical hit on natural 19 or 20)

First longsword Attack: 27 Damage: Unable to parse dice roll. magical slashing

Second longsword Attack: 25 Damage: 11 magical slashing

Third longsword Attack: 20 Damage: 11 magical slashing