Taking a deep breath as a nearby ghoul latches onto her, Taliyah slams her staff down on the ground, forming three concentric rings of golden light beneath her, which she sinks down into as a cloud of [Tooltip Not Found]. She reappears on a nearby rooftop if one is within 30 feet, where she launches another eldritch blast at GH1. "If you think that's enough to ensnare me, think again!" She crows after letting the spell fly.

To hit: 26!! (17 + 5 + 4)

Damage: 9 force damage on GH1

(Side note: So glad the grappled condition doesn't prevent spellcasting. I knew I wouldn't likely be able to beat a nat 20 from the ghoul, so I decided to just burn the spell slot instead of fighting it. I rolled an 11 on acrobatics though.)

Strength check: 9 (Lol well that's what I figured. It would be literally impossible for Shugo to have gotten out of this anyways even with a nat 20 since his strength modifier is -1 :'D)

(I don't think being grappled takes away his ability to hit the creature so I will attack it.)

Shugo yelps when the ghoul suddenly jumps on him, causing him to fall backward. Now pinned to the ground, the elf struggles to get free but to no avail. Giving up on escaping, he opts for just beating the thing on the head. Since he can't stab the creature due to the length of his sword, he slams the dragon head pommel of his sword into the creatures temple, then punches it in the face. "GET! OFF OF ME!!!" He yells at the ghoul.

Sword to hit: 20 + 4 (from bless) 24

Damage: 5

Fist to hit: 25 + 2 = 27

Damage: 7

"I believe in you, Taliyah! Shove them off!" Venet yells, boosting magic finding purchase on Taliyah's form.

Then her voice goes a quiet and hushed, whispering at GH2, psyche burning magic encircling them. 
--------------------------
Bardic Inspiration to Taliyah (1d6). Shugo still has Bardic as well.
Casting: Dissonant Whispers. Wis Save: 14. Damage: 10 

Taliyah teleports out of harm's way, but it seems that the roofs of these buildings are poorly constructed. Dragonborns, just like their avian ancestors, are relatively light for their size thanks to their partially hollow bone, so Taliyah's weight didn't collapse the roof immediately. It isn't likely that anyone will climb up the roof with her anyway.

GH1 gets cleaved in the chest by Alex's sword, and then Taliyah follows up with a precise blast to their head, blowing it to the other side of the cave and ending their misery—two down, four more to go.

GH2 gets tased by Renar's katana, and in that instant, the smell of burnt meat fills the air, it's very strong as expected from a walking, decaying body like that. They seem shocked (literally) and hurt by it, but manage to stand upright. And their head explodes after Venet plays a deadly song to them. Black liquid sprinkles across the cavern room, presumably their 'blood.' Three down, three to go.

Maya's spell blasts a hole in GH5's body, they slump forward, and their upper half looks like it's about to detach from the lower half, but they're still standing.

Both attacks from Shugo hit the ghoul that grabbed him, it looks like it hurt, but not enough, because GH6 is still standing.

Round 3

With their numbers dwindling, the ghouls begin to retreat. Even under mind control, their instinct of self-preservation is greater than any force in this world.

But... it doesn't seem like GH6, who grappled him, is letting him go. All three ghouls left quickly scramble and retreat into the snowy cave behind them... well, at least not now, they all move 30 feet away from you, GH6 is a bit slower since they're dragging someone with them.

Maya gasps when the ghouls start to retreat, but doesn't breathe a sigh of relief just yet; Since Ghoul 5 is still alive, Maya stomps up to the ghoul she attacked previously and sharpens her claws again before she delivers one final slash to where the neck once was as her fox-like growl becomes even louder and more feral. "I SAY MAIGONINARU! LET HIM GO!"

Non nat 20, 7 Piercing.

"GAAAAAAH! Let! Me! GO!" Shugo yells, punctuating each word with an attack as the ghoul starts to drag him away from the group. Fantastic. This is what he gets for putting himself up front. Though if he hadn't positioned himself where he did, then it likely would have been Venet being carried away by this discussing beast.... She wouldn't have been able to escape this either right? Right? Hmmm. Well she does have magic, so maybe. Ugh. No point in thinking about the consequences of his actions, he needs to get out of this mess!

Once again, he pommels the ghoul with his sword, then punches it right in the face.

Sword to hit: 13 + 1 from bless =15

Damage: 4

Punch to hit: 8 + 4 = 12

Damage: 4

Damn it! They're running away! I can't let Shugo be dragged away with them... This isn't good either. Okaa-san's also going out of control... *He rushes over and prepares one final slash to the legs whilst his katana; 16 to hit, 6 Slashing* "Hang in there! This should be it! Don't worry about the other two!"

"Drop him!" Alex shouts at G6, pointing at the creature to reinforce the command. He holds his position, at least for now. If the attempt to free Shugo fails, then he'll run over in preparation for his next attack. He isn't about to let his friend get taken by undead. 

"GET OFF OF HIM YOU ROTTEN BASTARD" Taliyah roars, dropping a beam of golden light which bypasses any cover GH6 may have onto it. "You can do this Shugo! Taliyah shouts as Pixel flies down to give the grappled monk some help on his next escape attempt.

DC 13 DEX save or GH6 takes 8 radiant damage:

Venet quickly grabs her rapier and dagger, going to slash at GH6 in order to free Shugo.
-----
Rapier. To Hit: 14, Damage: 10
Dagger. To Hit: 21, Damage: 1

Venet precisely sliced off the ghoul's head with her rapier, and the headless body fell to the ground, limp and... expired.

Combat Over

The sound of fighting slowly fades away, replaced with the natural background noise of this section of the Underdark, which is low humming and nothing else.

These houses are completely empty, there is almost no furniture in sight, and sometimes there are crates here and there, but you doubt there will be anything useful inside. This place doesn't look particularly interesting either, it's just an empty, dark, and depressing city. 

The three ghouls' dead bodies slowly dissolve into ash, a small gust of wind blows, and it scatters the ghoul's ash into the air. Their trapped spirit finally gets to rejoin The Creator once again.

Speaking of interesting... you actually arrived in the Underdark from this section, you can try to find the bronze dragon whose egg got stolen and explain to her what happened. Her lair isn't that far away from here, or you could try to find where Cezars went first by going to the snowy cave—the entrance is right in front of you. This place isn't ideal for camping or short rest either, better off camping in the snow or with a giant scaly 'bird' than in a place where dead people used to die.

Panting, Alex wipes his blade on his cloak before sheathing it. He put way more energy into that fight than was necessary... probably because it was his first time encountering undead. Regardless, now he finds himself rather mentally drained. Everyone is safe... well, aside from what damage was done prior to this attack, and the fact that the three baddies may or may not be going to attack Paulis... plus they stole a dragon's child, so... ugh. This is just too much. 

Letting out a long breath, Alexander tries to put on a positive expression. "Well, at least that's over," he flashes a brief smile. "We've definitely improved as a team don't you think?" Maybe now isn't the best time to be thinking about that, but in light of trying to stay positive, he couldn't help but notice the difference between this and their first attempt at working together. 

"So, uh. Now what?" He asks, looking around and deflating a little bit when he realizes that they don't really have any leads on Cezars. "Should we go talk to the dragon? She deserves to know what happened to her egg... Do you think she'll listen to us if we tell her that it was Cezars? She might be able to help us."

Maya's heavy growls remain even as after Venet slices the last one clean. She remains so for five minutes until she regains herself retracts her sharpened claws and teeth and scans the area nervously... Only to notice the others sort of brutally battered.

"AH! Daijoubu desu ka?! (大丈夫ですか?)" The kitsune lady exclaims as she checks in on both Shugo and Alex in case of any fatal injuries. Peeking over to the Ice cave however, she really wants to head to that glitched area and tear down that stupid fire guy who just controlled these poor ghosts... In  a way, it reminds her of a similar Fire Genasi except he wasn't as hostile as he is. Maybe her son is thinking that too she wonders...

She also looks to Taliyah after releasing her from the dead ghoul's grasp. Maybe in the next fight... She'll leave the healing role to her. She must be feeling devastated after no one wanted to receive her healing... And the kitsune can sense that just from her body language alone.

Finally... it's over... *Pant, pant* I hope no severe damage was dealt to Shugo, Alex or the dragon girl. Uh... what was her name again? Aybe I should ask her. "Hey. Dragon lady. You al-" *Maya beats him to it as he snarls in disgust* What the- Okaa-san?! Ugh... Fine. Whatever. I'll pave the way then to the glitched path whilst you all go recover your gimmicks... urgh... *He sheaths his katana back as he walks off in disgust, eyes peeled towards the Ice cave* 

Quote from Aroc_of_Eaf >>

Letting out a long breath, Alexander tries to put on a positive expression. "Well, at least that's over," he flashes a brief smile. "We've definitely improved as a team don't you think?" Maybe now isn't the best time to be thinking about that, but in light of trying to stay positive, he couldn't help but notice the difference between this and their first attempt at working together. 

"So, uh. Now what?" He asks, looking around and deflating a little bit when he realizes that they don't really have any leads on Cezars. "Should we go talk to the dragon? She deserves to know what happened to her egg... Do you think she'll listen to us if we tell her that it was Cezars? She might be able to help us."

"I mean... yeah. We have. I... guess...?" *Confused look as he glances towards him and then away again but then smiles behind everyone's back* I don't have a good enough reaction to respond to this, but he's right. Judging by how well we coordinated, this is truly a drastic development; I'm more surprised that Okaa-san's actually coordinating with the others really well too. Usually she takes a while to adjust to their fighting styles unlike me. Sigh... I wonder how Rixi and Yuri doing back in the Sword Coast. They'd love to fight alongside us for sure though. I wonder how'd these guys would coordinate with us Wildland Shifters if they were to meet? I can already picture some perfect pairs... Dragon Lady and Okaa-san is one of them.

Alex wants to see the dragon huh? I mean that doesn't sounds like a bad idea, but I don't think we'd have time to do both... I'm just wondering if Stupid Rixi's group would have already beaten us to it and if they do, I fear the natural disaster might bring wrath not only ono Paulis but to everyone in this world. "We've lost so much time because of these poor souls though. What if Stupid Rixi has already made it to the glitched area? What's gonna happen to Paulis if they somehow managed to get pass it? I mean, sure she might believe that he stole her egg, but there's a chance she might attack us for it. I'm also worried we might not have time to stop them if we do end up seeing her, since we have to cross the threat level 6 area first, ironically enough."

"Oh," Alex says. "Well, I'll do whatever you all think is best. You met the dragon and I didn't, so if you don't think talking to her is a good idea..." He shrugs. "I have a feeling that Cezars will find getting to Paulis more difficult than we will, but I also don't want to take any risks. So if you all think that going after him is the best course of action right now then let's get to it!" He says, trying to sound enthusiastic in order to cover up his own nervousness. 

(Alex will follow wherever the others choose to go, since right now he feels that their judgement in terms of the dragon is better than his own.)

"UGH! This is disgusting!" Shugo whines as he pushes the body off of him. Standing up, he flicks his hands to try to rid himself of some of the ghoul goo that has been splattered all over him. Huffing, he gives up on trying to clean himself and wipes the rest of the stuff on his already soiled coat. He cleans his blade and sheaths it, as Maya looks him over. Smiling at her he says, "Oh I'm fine. That thing just dragged me, no damage done." Then he puts his hands on his hips and addresses Renar, "I think we should just keep going after Cezars for as long as possible. If we hold off on it we will end up losing him. I doubt the dragon would attack us, but she didn't seem super reasonable either. If we recover her lost child, then she'd at least be less likely to try to keep us prisoner or something."

"I agree. Cezar should be our priority, especially if he plans to unleash the mother of all plagues on people." She climbs down from her rooftop roost to join the others. "I for one cannot stand by and let such a plot continue unimpeded.

Venet stares at her weapons, almost confused that her attacking the creature succeeded. She then blinks, cleans off her weapons with a bit of magic and then stores them once more. 

"Here, let me." She starts using Prestidigitation to clean the gunk off of Shugo, and then anyone else who allows her to.

"I agree, we need to catch up to that group. They are.. unreasonable and reckless in the pursuit of their goals."

Hmph. As expected. everyone here is unanimous on tearing down Stupid Rixi. In fact... *His fox ears twitch again* how did no one point out that I gave that guy such an awful nickname? I acceidentally blurted it out loud and everyone's so focused on... doing whatever. In fact I can see Okaa-san eyeing the cave rather than the exit, which means she must want to rip Stupid Rixi apart too... Yeah, 5 to 1 for the glitched area? This poor paladin is outnumbered; If the Wildland Shifters were here they'd probably raise this ratio to uh, 15 to one... *HE snickers to himself* ok maybe 3-4, since Yurime, Trojan and The Lamb don't mind last minute changes...

"Sorry Alex, but all of us already agreed to reach Paulis before we even left the camp. Even I can see Mayasan eyeing the threat level 6 area, which, ironically is where we need to cross first. It's too late to change routes last minute. Besides, what if he has reached the glitched area already? Can you imagine the damage he might to do to not only Paulis but the rest of... *Clears his throat as his hidden tail tenses* the rest of Lancea? How would you go an fix this from there, should this future possibility persist?" Holy hell... I nearly said the blunt and the suspicious 'your world' rather than Lancea itself... what those stupid mushroom fellas warned me an Okaa-san, if it's true I don't want to risk being wrongly accused again just like back on Toril... *He sheaths his katana back in its scabbard as it stops glowing bright yellow; Bladesong has ended* "We better get going. Who knows what we might we have to face yet. I have a gut feeling whatever's in that threat level 6 area is gonna stall us even more. Also... ugh... it's cold in there. *He takes out several thick coats from his back as he shivers from the radiating coldness from the ice cave* Everyone put on a jacket if you have one. If not borrow mine."