The bearded man laughs. "Suppose you are right. In more sense than one, you are near death."

Luthok, you see despite how cheerful this human sounds, that he is fully concentrating on his spell with the gesture of his hand. Wrapped in it you see a thick, metal string of some kind, which you have seen before the time(s) you've seen similar spells cast by those who study the arcane. 

Luthok eyes the man. "One old grump to another, what are you going to do to them?" He walks closer to the altar, slowly, if the man shows the slightest hint of wanting to move he stops. Calmly he looks at the half-elf. "We're only here for the half-elf right?" He turns towards the party for just a second before throwing a fistful of thorns from his pocket into the air and slams his staff into the ground. At first the thorns fall down like they usually would, but the second the staff hits the ground they soar towards the 3 enemies in front of him and land at their feet. It takes mere milliseconds before the thorns burst and sprout into a thick wall of spiny thorns and branches, encapsulating them all within the 5 foot thick wall. (If the other kidnapped girl gets harmed so be it just trying to not hit the half-elven girl). Luthok lets out a grunt and with a puff of spores he shouts "RESPECT YOUR ELDERS, YOUNGSTER!"

Action: Cast: Wall of Thorns with my Staff of the Woodlands Dmg: 32 DC: 12 Save: Dex

Reaction: (Only if Luthok manages to get within 10 ft before the man seems to get ready to move) Deal 6 poison damage with Halo of Spores, buffed by the active Symbiotic Entity)

The old man let's Luthok approach, convinced that there was nothing the old dwarf could really do to him. He seemed to wear a smug, self-satisfied smile. Even the zombies, which stood nearby Luthok, didn't make a move.

Luthok'sthorns fly, almost in slow motion, as the other old man realizes what is about to happen. He seems to point his clenched fist, which carries the metal rod, toward Luthok, but it is too late. 

The thorns grow and encapsulate the men and girl. They are all covered with blood and seem to stop moving. Whatever light was left in the girl's eyes seems to fade as well. 

Merrick, Muireach, and Dyoken, you all feel sensation slowly return to you as the old man suddenly spouts, "I'll remember this!" He spits blood. "If we survive to see each other again, you will pay!!!"

With that, suddenly the men, girl, and dying old man disappear without a trace and are replaced by a single person. 

A young girl appears where there was, for a moment, carnage. She seems to be a half-elf girl, with her brown hair in a bob. The girl's dress is dark and short, but it makes you think whoever dressed her had eccentric taste.  She doesn't seem alive until you see her look up from the ground. She seems to be looking at Luthok. No... Through him. Without a word, she throws her hand out and a long handle appears in it with a scythe at the other end, which has a faint green glow.

At her appearance, the doors that lead you here suddenly slam shut. You hear the girl's soft, quiet voice just barely. She says, "Engarde."

(This is a bit special, so let's stick to posting by initiative order for most fairness. I've given locations based on map on previous page, but I will try to update this map when I get home. Because this is sudden, Merrick, Dyoken, and Muireach are standing near the door. Luthok is 10 ft from the yellow square. Ask me any questions on discord via pinging me!)

Initiative:

Merrick 

Muireach

Mystery Girl (standing on lower left corner of the yellow square)

Dyoken

Luthok

Zombie (standing on top skull)

Zombie (standing on bottom skull)

Muireach will hold Darkness until Merrick Attacks.

"Ooh boy. That doesn't look good. Artin always told me that if they say something like 'engarde' or make a speech, it's usually bad news. Hum, well at least the girl seems uninjured. Hey, I wonder if this is a girl under the influence of a spell? Is it bad to shoot her? This is a lot to think about."

Merrick fires off an arrow at the engarde girl.

Bonus: Hide (Stealth 18)
Attack: 10 Damage: 13

Darkness is cast on the scythe girl as it is triggered.

Merrick fires an arrow at the girl from between Muireach's legs, but it seems to go right over the girl's head. In response, she tilts her head, and then is engulfed in darkness.

As he casts the darkness, Muireach shouts, “Guys! She’s looking at me through the darkness! I’m beginning to think I’m not the only person with a magic sword in this place!”

The hilt of Calibolg shimmers as shining dust settles on the girl, using Hexblade’s Curse.

Dyoken rolls up his sleeves and glares into the darkness. "I guess I'll just have to knock her on her ass for you. Take care of the Zombies first. I don't need to see to overpower a frail young girl. Once she's pinned drop the spell." 

"You've angered my father's servant," the girl says flatly from inside the darkness. She hops out of the darkness, scythe in a side slash, and brings it toward Luthok. It connects and some of Luthok's blood sprays from his arm. 

Her attention turns to Muireach and she simply states, "I hate the dark," as she swings her scythe toward him, using the full reach of her weapon. As it whirls downwards toward Muireach, he sees a faint glimmer in her eyes as it cuts him across the chest.

(Luthok - Attack: 22. Damage: 13 slashing.

Muireach - Attack: natural 20. Damage: 16 slashing. 

Standing in square below Luthok.)

"Or that works too" (she leaves the darkness? That's helpful.) Dyoken's eyes flare with Rage as he grabs the girl and pulls her away from his allies... (Probably, Athletics: 25)

"Oof," the girl says monotonely as Dyoken effortlessly grabs her.

Muireach is taken aback the sudden advance of the murder child, bringing his blade up to late to counter. The blade streaks across his chest, taking his shirt’s life instead of his own. Now bare chested, Muireach recovers, “It’ll take more than a farming instrument to put down the Lord of Heroes, child. However... where did you get that?”

Luthok howls in pain as the scythe cuts his arm and says through his teeth. "Lass, you are catching me in a bad mood." He turns away from her and flings a shard of ice made from murky dirty water over at the furthest zombie and gives a quick glance back as a thick cloud of spores erupt from his beard and at the grappled girl. 

Action: Cast Ice Knife (2nd level) at zombie furthest away (no-one in AoE range) Attack: 26 DMG: 4 Piercing + 11 Cold 
Bonus action: Cast Shillelagh at his staff
Reaction: Deal 6 poison damage to the girl with his Halo of Spores

The ice shard manages to lodge itself in whatever was left of that zombie's brain. It collapses to the ground as it's body freezes over into what now looks like an ice sculpture.

The girl, though being held, doesn't seem to struggle. The spores fly onto her face, causing her eyes to redden, but her expression remains neutral. Those of you who can see her face can tell she is eyeing the now dead zombie. She states, "Bad dwarf. Priority." With that, the still-living zombie attempts to shove against Luthok.

The zombie seems to moan with disappointment and tries to slam Luthok again, but fails as the dwarf easily sidesteps the attack. He might not be as agile in his old body, but Luthok isn't in the mood for dying today.

Merrick runs up to the woman, drawing his rapier. He dashes past her, cutting in passing, then slips under Dyoken's legs, and tumbles back away, hiding behind Muireach.

Bonus: Hide (Stealth) 13
Attack: 17 Damage: 16

As Merrick dodges behind Muireach, the Lord of Heroes dashes toward the murder child as Calibolg glows a shining gold (Hex, Disadvantage on Strength Checks), “Allow me to show you why I am the Lord of Heroes! Calibolg!” Attack: 18 Damage: 12 magical slashing damage + 5 necrotic damage!

As your various blades and cuts swing at her, you can almost make out a glimmer of magic that your swords hit against, however, it seems like she is being worn down somewhat.

"I don't like being touched," the girl whispers to Dyoken before she poofs into a green mist and reappears standing adjacent to Muireach and Merrick. She looks at Merrick, they are probably about eye to eye, and says, "Found you." The girl holds her scythe over her head and does a downward cut toward Merrick followed by a sideways cut. The first strikes true and cuts Merrick on his shoulder, but the second misses his stomach by mere centimeters.

(Merrick - attack: 21 & 10, damage: 12)

Merrick's mouth opens as the blade opens his shoulder to the bone. "Oh."

Dyoken leaps at the girl, and swings his clenched fist down in a double overhead hammer fist. (I might be making that term up) The reckless attack hits AC 20 for 8 bludgeoning and (if hit) attempts another grab and drag. (Athletics: 25) "A slippery one. Princess of Villains? You've been reading my friends playbook at the very least. I'll wager there's a limit to how often you can manage that trick."