Crimson Sands of Time

In response, she plays one note to Trisk, 

 Then, she continues her tune for all to hear/see

You see what appears to be zombies shuffling in robes with a red wizard and two unidentifiable "scary" undead things. Then her tune changes: You hear the familiar tune (Puff the magic dragon). The red wizard is accompanied by what appears to be a small black dragon.

In addition, you see the now too-familiar shambling mounds attacked by adventurers, die, slowly regenerate, and then attack additional guests to the garden.

<Ethan finished off the first shrub>

Shrub 2 dc21 Wis save vs vicious mockery 14

<this is a frequent issue with interpretation I. 5e the discrepancy between cover and concealment, for mechanical purposes, they are pretty much equivalent. Picollo wants to be up tgree, so there's a tree. otherwise this is a garden, albeit not very orderly, with dense foliage. So, if you're actively trying to hide in it, you can do so, easily. But, it's not standing in your way of seeing anything taller than a hobbit. I rule it as equal to a low wall. (½ cover, per SRD).

Sam is up.

(sorry sam for the radiant damage!   Manifest mind is really weird in some respects.  I think a lot is left to interpretation, but I figured this would work. If i was king of 5e i would rewrite the ability.  a lot is not very clear about it) 

Which reminds me... turn undead says, "If the creature fails its saving throw, it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes any damage."

Some undead were damaged by the lightning from the pillars, which means the turning effect ends for them.

It's both wights and 3 zombies. Because of the difficult terrain, only one wight can reach Trisk, the other undead, freed from Sam's turning, follow behind as fast as they can muster. They seem unhurried, refusing to dash as they had to flee Sam, as if the embodiment kf death, slowly marching ever toward whoever lies along its path, uncaring, inevitable.

As he reaches the tree in which Picollo roosts, the wight seems unaware of Trisk waiting just behind it. But the moment he sees the wizard's elbow twitch beyond its gnarled trunk, the wight strikes at Trisk with its longsword 8 for 6 slashing, and reaches a pallid hand to catch hold of the shadar-kai illusionist 20 for 5 necrotic (+ additional effects) ...

The sword narrowly misses the wizard's head as he catches the movement from the corner of his eye and ducks just in time to avoid the rusted blade. But the creature dies manage to lay a hand on the elf, grasping his forearm tightly and leaving an impression of his body fingers on Triskellion's flesh. DC13 Con save or hp maximum reduced by 5.

The other wight weikds a longbow, which it aims at Samogri, releasing two arrows with steady hands. 5 for 6 piercing 18 for 6 piercing.

...

The remaining shrub attempts to grab Rthan, slamming its branches at his body. 10 for 13 bludgeoning 24 for 13 bludgeoning

Looks like both shrub attacks hit. Will Ethan use shield?

Players are up.

<Sam is actually up twice, once from before monster actions, I just got tired of waiting. Ideally no retcons are needed for this, but I guess we'll see.>

"Crap!" Randy swears after seeing his brother tank a powerful blow. He then aims his artillery at the second bush, except this time, he's gonna fire a poison bolt

Chaos Bolt Poison 1st Level: 24, 11 Poison

Force Ballista Attack: 21 Damage: 11 Force

Quote from shimshon123 >>

 Then, she continues her tune for all to hear/see

You see what appears to be zombies shuffling in robes with a red wizard and two unidentifiable "scary" undead things. Then her tune changes: You hear the familiar tune (Puff the magic dragon). The red wizard is accompanied by what appears to be a small black dragon.

In addition, you see the now too-familiar shambling mounds attacked by adventurers, die, slowly regenerate, and then attack additional guests to the garden.

But then Piccolo's illusions hit him and he is left confused... "Uh hey guys... Is it just me or am I seeing things?! I... It's her doing isn't it? Please tell me I'm not going insane! That Red Wizard, the black dragon... the zombies... what is she trying to tell us?! Anyone?!"

Piccolo's illusions accidentally distracted Ethan as the first vine slams into him by surprise; his arm is now bleeding but is standing strong still. He then blocks the second attack with his bat (Shield) in time to avoid being grappled before he retaliates one last time, but then he notices the wight attacking Trisk and decides to alert him. "NEW GUY! BENEATH YOU!"

Baseball 1 (Shrub): Non Nat 20, 10 Force

Baseball 2 (Shrub; If the first one kills it he'll aim for the wight that attacked Trisk): 19, 15 Force

Baseball 3 (Wight): 17, 14 force

After seeing her illusions again however, the message she's trying to convey is slowly starting to make sense to him... maybe.

"I think I know. what's she trying to say. I just realised she can't talk." Ethan relays back to the group. "The black dragon and the Red Wizard, those might be the next enemies we'll have to face alongside the lich once we uh... somehow get her out of the tree? She's bound right? Or am I wrong? Also, the shrubs we just faced... if I'm not wrong it seems that they're gonna regenerate soon! Be careful!"

Piccolo smiles to herself and plays her instrument again

Ethan

@Wildland_Shifters: Chaos bolt is normally roll for damage type. Did you roll a 6 somewhere or is this from some class ability, etc. I'm unaware of?

Moot point, unless it's lightning. If it's lightning, the bush survives the force ballista, if its anything else, the force ballista kills it.

Trisk will use his reaction to activate his 10th level feature:

Illusory Self

Once per short rest, you can create an illusory duplicate of yourself. When a creature makes an attack roll against you, you can use your reaction to interpose the duplicate between the attacker and yourself. The attack automatically misses you, then the illusion dissipates.

Hopefully this means the wight's hand grabs the illusion and it disappears leaving Trisk undamaged and unaffected by the hp reduction?

<all of Ethan's attacks are now directed toward the wight>

The wight releases Trisk's arm as he is bashed in the head with a searing baseball. He snaps toward the source of the assault just in time to see two more balls flying towards him, crushing his rub cage and blasting a hole in his abdomen, the desiccated remains of viscera and coagulation blood explode from his back as he let's out a horrific wail from beyond the grave.

But, he Does. Not. Fall.

Duplicate self works mechanically, because it's absolute. Narrarively it's lackluster because you're hiding behind a thing and by time the you see him he's already grabbed your arm, but the rules say it works, so,  I am imagining it like the echo knight's ability, where you create the duplicate farther, then assume its position just as the wight grabs your arm and before any effect is imposed (also the grabbing thing is flavor text by me; mechanically, it's just a melee attack)

(where are we in the init order?)

I use side initiative so you can all post at any time irl whenever possible. The only benefit to high initiative is choosing to go before monsters if you beat their initiative. After one round, this is moot, unless there's an effect that happens on initiative 20 or something, which does happen sometimes. This is top of round 4.

<initiative>

Tetrevess ✅️✅️✅️▶️

Picollo 21 ✅️✅️✅️▶️

Ethan 20 ✅️✅️✅️✅️

Triskellion 20 ✅️✅️✅️▶️

Samogri 19 ✅️✅️▶️▶️

Monsters 14 ✅️✅️✅️⏸️

Randy 7 ✅️✅️✅️⏸️

This question came up, so I thought I should answer it from everyone here in the main thread. Unless otherwise noted, throughout the Doomvault, these dimensions describe the general construction. 

Regular rooms and their features are of worked and finished stone, mostly marble. Caverns are rough-hewn stone.

Ceilings rise from 20 feet to vaults of 30 feet. Caverns have natural ceilings roughly 30 feet high. Corridor ceilings are 20 feet high

Piccolo, frustrated that the undead are attacking her rescuers continues to perch in the basket. (She is only 3.5 feet tall and weight about 30 lbs)She draws two thorn like throwing daggers and flicks them skillfully at the wight from above:

(Sneak attack since PC's near wight, (To hit: 17/  Damage: 11 magic piercing     To hit 28, 14 magic piercing (sneak)) The daggers disappear on impact.

Almost at the same time, she plays her piccolo and Trisk gains (Bardic Inspiration: 1d10 the creature can add it to one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw. This can be added after seeing the roll, but before knowing the outcome.)

The ephemeral dagger strikes the wight, and remains protruding from its head for a moment before vanishing, whereupon the undead creature collapses to the ground. 

Trisk, picollo, Sam, Ethan and Tetrevess take 5 light in ongoing damage as all the pillars energize once more and a jolt of electricity shocks each of them, as well as 4 zombies, 1 skeletons and a wight. The damaged skeletons are evidently enraged by this and cease the work they were doing to attack the nearest living humanoid.