After healing Finley and Aoife, Valrieth hides just outside the room to be out-of-view of Bavlorna's "withering ray." Ever since they discovered that these miniature copies of Bavlorna were fast and full of energy -- so unlike the indolent hag herself! -- a nagging doubt had been growing in Val's mind. She had believed that the Cosmic Omen she read in her star charts had foretold Bavlorna's defeat, but what if it really warned of the woe befall them if they attacked the hag?! She prays that Finley and Aoife would just survive long enough for her to get a chance to recast her spell and reposition the thorns to protect them better from these Lornlings.
Hearing Finley's Thunderwave, Val peeks hopefully around the doorframe, but she's disappointed to see that while the Lornlings were injured, they all still seem to be alive! She pulls back into the hallway again to gather her courage. Val feels certain that if they could kill the hag, her miniature copies would die too "Heal my friends, attack the hag." They were so close now! Bavlorna was clearly hurting!
But then -- almost as if Val's thought had summoned the hag -- Bavlorna appears in the doorway, looming over her! The hag opens her wide, toothy mouth, like a dark, twisted nightmare of a frog, ready to bit her. The Val-of-2-weeks-ago would have screamed or just froze in fear at the sight. But not now. Not this Val. In the days since she crossed from the Witchlight Carnival into Prismeer, she has gained real experience in fighting the evil fey of this corrupted realm. Val instinctively grips her shield tighter and then hops aside as Bavlorna tries to bite her . Thankfully, Bavlorna still seems to be affected by Octavian's enchanted song, and she fails to catch Val in her jaws.
Relieved, Val thinks of making a counter-attack against Bavlorna. Maybe this was the moment their fates turned like it did in the fight against the brigand Agdon Longscarf? She glances past the hag to Finley and Aoife for backup.
Aoife takes a final swing, missing Bavlorna's bulk as she moves past. She succumbs to the Lornlings' attacks and hits the deck, lying unmoving as she bleeds out.
(Correction Val is not grappled as I forgot Bavlorna is still frightened so I made another attack roll which is a miss)
Aoife and Finley are dead
And this time, Val really does freeze for a moment. It's a sight too awful to process: the vicious Lornlings stand over the bodies of Finley and Aoife, gleefully stabbing again and again with their bloody daggers. Her friends are now beyond the help [spell[Healing Word;healing magic[/spells] and even her Chalice Starry Form.
Val's breath returns with a painful, shuddering gasp. She looks again at the wicked hag in front of her through eyes now welling up with tears, but it definitely isn't a look of fear this time. Val glares at Bavlorna with a burning hatred. She has long despised this wicked hag for her awful, twisted creations and her cruel enjoyment of others' pain. Now her grief at her friends' deaths fans the flame of that hatred and makes her want to lash out at Bavlorna with all of the magic she can summon...
While Valrieth is angry at herself for failing to protect her friends and furious at the hag for killing her them, she is also wise. Wounding Bavlorna before dying here won't help her friends. The Stars couldn't have been leading them all to a futile death in Bavlorna's hut. While Val longs to to strike back at Bavlorna, to see the pain that she feels in her heart reflected in the hag's awful, froggy face, she isn't sure whether she can kill the hag. Not with so many Lornlings still alive and unrestrained. And the only justice -- the only way to ensure that Aoife's and Finley's deaths were not in vain -- will be to put an end to Bavlorna for good.
If Val dies here, what would happen to her notebook and the secret of the Bavlorna's widdershins allergy? From her travels through Hither, Val knows that the evil hag has enemies even in her own realm. Sir Talavar, Jingle-Jangle, Tsu Harabax, and even Margot the Bullywug. She must escape Bavlorna's squalid hut. Then she can find other supporters of Zybilna and return to avenge her friends and see that Bavlorna answers for her crimes.
Val is wise, and the instant she stares directly into Bavlorna's wicked face, she knows what she has to do. It flashes into her mind in an instant without a conscious thought. She just knows. And as soon as she knows she acts...
Valrieth hops to the side, avoiding Bavlorna's bite. She turns to glare at the hag, her own glowing Starry Form reflected in Bavlorna's big, froggy eyes. Then Val runs in a tight circle counterclockwise right in front of Bavlorna to ensure that the hag is still unable to cast any of her own spells. As she runs widdershins, Val calls out a bit hysterically, "The end of the Hourglass Coven approaches. I have seen it in the Stars!" Immediately after this pronouncement, Val make a sudden and mighty spring away from Bavlorna and right to the top of the staircase. She turns too look past Bavlorna and into the parlor, and, releasing her concentration, she casts Spike Growth (again), centered just above and to the south of the hag. This time, the spell covers the southern half of the parlor and even into the hallway and up to the first few stairs. Then she turns, jumps over those first few thorn-covered stairs, and races down to the pool room (B1). She just hopes that she can make it to the trapdoor down to the lake before any of Bavlorna's Lornlings can catch her.
Movement: Val uses 10-ft of her movement to run a couple of circles in-place, counterclockwise. Then, after she springs to the stairs and casts her spell, Val makes a standing jump just 4-feet to get past the thorn-covered part of the stairs. She lands on the stairs heading down and uses the rest of her movement (~15-feet) to finish descending the stairs and, once she reaches B1, to move about 10-ft south of the staircase. Bonus Action: Rabbit Hop (As a bonus action, you can jump up to 15-ft without provoking opportunity attacks.) to jump from the doorway to the head of the stairs. Action: Cast spell (LVL 2 slot) Spike Growth. Hard spines and thorns grow over a 20-foot sphere centered on a point just above and south of Bavalorna. (see the approximate map below) Val is trying to position the center so that it covers (most) of the Lornlings and high enough that the stairs don't block the spell's ability to reach to the right/east. But she also wants to ensure that as much of the hallway from the parlor to the staircase is covered so that Bavlorna cannot easily pursue her. Area of effect is difficult terrain, and when a creature moves into or within the area, it takes 2d4 piercing damage for every 5-ft it travels. Free Action: Talking
Movement: Val uses 10-ft of her movement to run a couple of circles in-place, counterclockwise. Then, after she springs to the stairs and casts her spell, Val makes a standing jump just 4-feet to get past the thorn-covered part of the stairs. She lands on the stairs heading down and uses the rest of her movement (~15-feet) to finish descending the stairs and, once she reaches B1, to move about 10-ft south of the staircase. Bonus Action: Rabbit Hop (As a bonus action, you can jump up to 15-ft without provoking opportunity attacks.) to jump from the doorway to the head of the stairs. Action: Cast spell (LVL 2 slot) Spike Growth. Hard spines and thorns grow over a 20-foot sphere centered on a point just above and south of Bavalorna. (see the approximate map below) Val is trying to position the center so that it covers (most) of the Lornlings and high enough that the stairs don't block the spell's ability to reach to the right/east. But she also wants to ensure that as much of the hallway from the parlor to the staircase is covered so that Bavlorna cannot easily pursue her. Area of effect is difficult terrain, and when a creature moves into or within the area, it takes 2d4 piercing damage for every 5-ft it travels. Free Action: Talking
I should have also mentioned that if Bavlorna (especially) or any of Bavlorna's minions are able to get into melee range with Val, she'll use her Reaction to apply a -3 debuff to Bavlorna's bite or the first of the Lornling's dagger attacks. (I think that I have to decide to use that ability before I see the roll.)
(OOC: @weathervision - Will do. Important question. Is the trapdoor still open? And, if not, at what point would Val be able to tell? Val was basically going to try to get through the trapdoor this round and jump down to the lake. But if she can see that the trapdoor has closed & locked itself somehow, she may have time to try one last action before the Lornling finishes her off.)
Valrieth hears Bavlorna stalking down the stairs toward her. Val was worried about the hag's withering ray, but -- worse -- the hag creates another Lornling. Val tries to defend herself from the frenzied stabbing, but two of the Lorning's attack make it past her shield, armor, and cloak.
Saving throws for concentration:
DC 10 CON saving throw: 19 DC 10 CON saving throw: 12
Valrieth grits her teeth and maintains her concentration on her Spike Growth spell, but that's not going to do her much good against Bavlorna and this Lornling! When she got down to the pool room, she could still see the light streaming in from the open trapdoor. If she could just make it through before Bavlorna or the Lornlings stop her! Val makes a final, desperate sprint for the exit.
As Val twists away from the Lornling's final attack, she crouches and then suddenly springs up and away, jumping 15-ft south in one hop. She focuses on the trapdoor ahead of her. All she can hear are her own panting breath and the pounding of her feet on the wooden planks as she races around the pool, slower than the Lornlings but as fast as she can. As soon as Val gets to the trapdoor she slides to the ground without slowing down, just grabbing the frame so that she can lower herself down to the landing beneath.
Like Val said, she doesn't like heights, but she's more afraid of the Lornling's knife than she is of the heights. Once she gets through the trapdoor and onto the wooden stairs down to the lake, she just goes as far down the steps as she dares (so that she's not quite so high up) and then scrambles over / through the hand rail and jumps off into the water below. She's not sure how deep the water is here, but she feels better about her chances of surviving a fall into the water than she does about facing another flurry of attacks from the Lornling.
Just before she hits the water, Val takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.
Bonus Action: Rabbit Hop (As a bonus action, you can jump up to 15-ft without provoking opportunity attacks.) Hopping 15-ft south, away from the Lornling. Movement: Move 30-ft south alongside the pool, turning to the east toward the trapdoor as soon as she can. (That should take her to a spot just south of the lily pad, 10-ft from the trapdoor.) Action: Dash, another 30-ft of movement. 10-ft to the trapdoor, whatever movement is needed to drop down onto the landing below, and then using her remaining movement to get down the stairs (if she can) a bit and moving through/over the handrail to fall into the lake. Free Action: As Val jumps off of the wooden stairs to fall into the lake below, she lets out an involuntary, "Eek!"
Note: Val is currently still in her Chalice Starry Form (round 7 of 100). She sheds bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet. Any boats that were close enough to Bavlorna's Hut on the lake would have seen a strange, cold glow in the fog, falling from a height before vanishing with the sound of a splash (and Val's exclamation).
(OOC: Ah, fair enough. I thought that you couldn't move diagonally around an opponent like this. I guess I was thinking of this rule:
But I see now that that rule is really about walls and terrain, not about other creatures.)
Finley does a final swing before going down.
Reaction: Hit: 23, Dam: 7 Thunder
Finley Stoneshaft, Dwarf Artificer - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Falkas, Half-Elf Drow Warlock - Keys of Empire
Aoife takes a final swing, missing Bavlorna's bulk as she moves past.
Sylvan talon shortsword 10 to hit.
She succumbs to the Lornlings' attacks and hits the deck, lying unmoving as she bleeds out.
Past characters:
Cariadne - Forest of Celador
Daphyra Fuffletail - The City of Cats
DM - Geek Legends - Wild beyond the Witchlight
Leela Steadystone - Adventures in the Sands
Mirri Goldenhorn - Journeys through the Radiant Citadel
Lola Smythe-Whyte - Larkin Expedition
Daphyra - Deathworld: Lost Mine of Phandelver
Vanja - Binder's Hold and the Problem with the Mine
After healing Finley and Aoife, Valrieth hides just outside the room to be out-of-view of Bavlorna's "withering ray." Ever since they discovered that these miniature copies of Bavlorna were fast and full of energy -- so unlike the indolent hag herself! -- a nagging doubt had been growing in Val's mind. She had believed that the Cosmic Omen she read in her star charts had foretold Bavlorna's defeat, but what if it really warned of the woe befall them if they attacked the hag?! She prays that Finley and Aoife would just survive long enough for her to get a chance to recast her spell and reposition the thorns to protect them better from these Lornlings.
Hearing Finley's Thunderwave, Val peeks hopefully around the doorframe, but she's disappointed to see that while the Lornlings were injured, they all still seem to be alive! She pulls back into the hallway again to gather her courage. Val feels certain that if they could kill the hag, her miniature copies would die too "Heal my friends, attack the hag." They were so close now! Bavlorna was clearly hurting!
But then -- almost as if Val's thought had summoned the hag -- Bavlorna appears in the doorway, looming over her! The hag opens her wide, toothy mouth, like a dark, twisted nightmare of a frog, ready to bit her. The Val-of-2-weeks-ago would have screamed or just froze in fear at the sight. But not now. Not this Val. In the days since she crossed from the Witchlight Carnival into Prismeer, she has gained real experience in fighting the evil fey of this corrupted realm. Val instinctively grips her shield tighter and then hops aside as Bavlorna tries to bite her . Thankfully, Bavlorna still seems to be affected by Octavian's enchanted song, and she fails to catch Val in her jaws.
Relieved, Val thinks of making a counter-attack against Bavlorna. Maybe this was the moment their fates turned like it did in the fight against the brigand Agdon Longscarf? She glances past the hag to Finley and Aoife for backup.
And this time, Val really does freeze for a moment. It's a sight too awful to process: the vicious Lornlings stand over the bodies of Finley and Aoife, gleefully stabbing again and again with their bloody daggers. Her friends are now beyond the help [spell[Healing Word;healing magic[/spells] and even her Chalice Starry Form.
Val's breath returns with a painful, shuddering gasp. She looks again at the wicked hag in front of her through eyes now welling up with tears, but it definitely isn't a look of fear this time. Val glares at Bavlorna with a burning hatred. She has long despised this wicked hag for her awful, twisted creations and her cruel enjoyment of others' pain. Now her grief at her friends' deaths fans the flame of that hatred and makes her want to lash out at Bavlorna with all of the magic she can summon...
Round 6: Valrieth
While Valrieth is angry at herself for failing to protect her friends and furious at the hag for killing her them, she is also wise. Wounding Bavlorna before dying here won't help her friends. The Stars couldn't have been leading them all to a futile death in Bavlorna's hut. While Val longs to to strike back at Bavlorna, to see the pain that she feels in her heart reflected in the hag's awful, froggy face, she isn't sure whether she can kill the hag. Not with so many Lornlings still alive and unrestrained. And the only justice -- the only way to ensure that Aoife's and Finley's deaths were not in vain -- will be to put an end to Bavlorna for good.
If Val dies here, what would happen to her notebook and the secret of the Bavlorna's widdershins allergy? From her travels through Hither, Val knows that the evil hag has enemies even in her own realm. Sir Talavar, Jingle-Jangle, Tsu Harabax, and even Margot the Bullywug. She must escape Bavlorna's squalid hut. Then she can find other supporters of Zybilna and return to avenge her friends and see that Bavlorna answers for her crimes.
Val is wise, and the instant she stares directly into Bavlorna's wicked face, she knows what she has to do. It flashes into her mind in an instant without a conscious thought. She just knows. And as soon as she knows she acts...
Valrieth hops to the side, avoiding Bavlorna's bite. She turns to glare at the hag, her own glowing Starry Form reflected in Bavlorna's big, froggy eyes. Then Val runs in a tight circle counterclockwise right in front of Bavlorna to ensure that the hag is still unable to cast any of her own spells. As she runs widdershins, Val calls out a bit hysterically, "The end of the Hourglass Coven approaches. I have seen it in the Stars!" Immediately after this pronouncement, Val make a sudden and mighty spring away from Bavlorna and right to the top of the staircase. She turns too look past Bavlorna and into the parlor, and, releasing her concentration, she casts Spike Growth (again), centered just above and to the south of the hag. This time, the spell covers the southern half of the parlor and even into the hallway and up to the first few stairs. Then she turns, jumps over those first few thorn-covered stairs, and races down to the pool room (B1). She just hopes that she can make it to the trapdoor down to the lake before any of Bavlorna's Lornlings can catch her.
Movement: Val uses 10-ft of her movement to run a couple of circles in-place, counterclockwise. Then, after she springs to the stairs and casts her spell, Val makes a standing jump just 4-feet to get past the thorn-covered part of the stairs. She lands on the stairs heading down and uses the rest of her movement (~15-feet) to finish descending the stairs and, once she reaches B1, to move about 10-ft south of the staircase.
Bonus Action: Rabbit Hop (As a bonus action, you can jump up to 15-ft without provoking opportunity attacks.) to jump from the doorway to the head of the stairs.
Action: Cast spell (LVL 2 slot) Spike Growth.
Hard spines and thorns grow over a 20-foot sphere centered on a point just above and south of Bavalorna. (see the approximate map below)
Val is trying to position the center so that it covers (most) of the Lornlings and high enough that the stairs don't block the spell's ability to reach to the right/east. But she also wants to ensure that as much of the hallway from the parlor to the staircase is covered so that Bavlorna cannot easily pursue her.
Area of effect is difficult terrain, and when a creature moves into or within the area, it takes 2d4 piercing damage for every 5-ft it travels.
Free Action: Talking
Concentration: Spike Growth round 1 out of 100
Spike Growth Area of Effect "radiating" from the origin
I should have also mentioned that if Bavlorna (especially) or any of Bavlorna's minions are able to get into melee range with Val, she'll use her Reaction to apply a -3 debuff to Bavlorna's bite or the first of the Lornling's dagger attacks. (I think that I have to decide to use that ability before I see the roll.)
Round 7
Bavlorna
Create Lornlings Recharge
6
Bavlorna
moves 5ft (10ft difficult terrain) into the hallway
Then standing leap 10ft to reach the stairs without the spiked growth. Then 10 ft to reach the bottom of the stairs.
She takes 5 damage.
Bavlorna then creates 1 lornling near her.
Lornling 13 moves to Val
3 dagger attacks Val
Attack: 22 Damage: 7
Attack: 20 Damage: 7
Attack: 14 Damage: 10
Lornlings 6-8 without daggers move forward ending their existence.
Lornlings 9-12 wait to see if Val can maintain concentration. If she fails they move down the stairs. If she passes, they stay put.
-3 debuff is applied but that is still a hit.
Bavlorna Wis Save vs. Frightened
6
Round 7
Post when able Val
Please roll concentration check DC 10 for each hit.
(OOC: @weathervision - Will do. Important question. Is the trapdoor still open? And, if not, at what point would Val be able to tell? Val was basically going to try to get through the trapdoor this round and jump down to the lake. But if she can see that the trapdoor has closed & locked itself somehow, she may have time to try one last action before the Lornling finishes her off.)
The trap door is opened, and you can see it when you round the corner of the pool
Valrieth hears Bavlorna stalking down the stairs toward her. Val was worried about the hag's withering ray, but -- worse -- the hag creates another Lornling. Val tries to defend herself from the frenzied stabbing, but two of the Lorning's attack make it past her shield, armor, and cloak.
Saving throws for concentration:
DC 10 CON saving throw: 19
DC 10 CON saving throw: 12
Round 7: Valrieth
Valrieth grits her teeth and maintains her concentration on her Spike Growth spell, but that's not going to do her much good against Bavlorna and this Lornling! When she got down to the pool room, she could still see the light streaming in from the open trapdoor. If she could just make it through before Bavlorna or the Lornlings stop her! Val makes a final, desperate sprint for the exit.
As Val twists away from the Lornling's final attack, she crouches and then suddenly springs up and away, jumping 15-ft south in one hop. She focuses on the trapdoor ahead of her. All she can hear are her own panting breath and the pounding of her feet on the wooden planks as she races around the pool, slower than the Lornlings but as fast as she can. As soon as Val gets to the trapdoor she slides to the ground without slowing down, just grabbing the frame so that she can lower herself down to the landing beneath.
Like Val said, she doesn't like heights, but she's more afraid of the Lornling's knife than she is of the heights. Once she gets through the trapdoor and onto the wooden stairs down to the lake, she just goes as far down the steps as she dares (so that she's not quite so high up) and then scrambles over / through the hand rail and jumps off into the water below. She's not sure how deep the water is here, but she feels better about her chances of surviving a fall into the water than she does about facing another flurry of attacks from the Lornling.
Just before she hits the water, Val takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.
Bonus Action: Rabbit Hop (As a bonus action, you can jump up to 15-ft without provoking opportunity attacks.)
Hopping 15-ft south, away from the Lornling.
Movement: Move 30-ft south alongside the pool, turning to the east toward the trapdoor as soon as she can. (That should take her to a spot just south of the lily pad, 10-ft from the trapdoor.)
Action: Dash, another 30-ft of movement. 10-ft to the trapdoor, whatever movement is needed to drop down onto the landing below, and then using her remaining movement to get down the stairs (if she can) a bit and moving through/over the handrail to fall into the lake.
Free Action: As Val jumps off of the wooden stairs to fall into the lake below, she lets out an involuntary, "Eek!"
Concentration: Spike Growth round 2 of 100
Note: Val is currently still in her Chalice Starry Form (round 7 of 100). She sheds bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet. Any boats that were close enough to Bavlorna's Hut on the lake would have seen a strange, cold glow in the fog, falling from a height before vanishing with the sound of a splash (and Val's exclamation).