Lyra Initiative:  11

Initiative: 5

LT Initiative: 13

Initiative: 3

Initiative: 11

Leaving a pyre of burning corpses, your party begins the trek north through the forest. The first hour of your travel is unremarkable, as Leftenant leads your way through the snow-dusted trees. But an uneasy feeling prickles the skin on the back of your neck. The cold seems to deepen, carrying with it an unnerving silence. As the shadows themselves seem to darken, you finally notice it: the conspicuous absence of the typical sounds of wildlife. No chittering insects, hooting owls, or even distant howls.

Kalamin is the only one to realize the lurking threat, moments before it strikes, the rest of the party is surprised by the sudden assault.

If you're surprised, you can't move or take an action on your first turn of the combat, and you can't take a reaction until that turn ends. A member of a group can be surprised even if the other members aren't.

Two dark, smoky forms dart into your view, appearing to come through solid boulders to your right and left. One of the creatures streaks towards Leftenant, and he's able to catch a flash of red glowing eyes before a maw opens up, biting into his leg. Before he can react the creature darts off towards Lyra.

Bite Attack - Leftenant 22, Damage: 6 

The four legged creature - almost catlike - sprints at Lyra, slashing her side with razorsharp claws.

Claw Attack - Lyra 20, Damage: 5 DC 13 Constitution Saving Throw: On failure, take 4 cold damage, and your speed is reduced by 10ft. until the end of your next turn.

The second shadowy stalker materializes out of the boulder to Kalamin's left, leaping through the air and biting into his shoulder. 

Bite Attack - Kalamin 22, Damage: 5

It continues forward, slashing Juno with its claws as it runs past.

Claw Attack - Juno 16, Damage: 4 DC 13 Constitution Saving Throw: On failure, take 2 cold damage, and your speed is reduced by 10ft. until the end of your next turn.

Kalamin will finish off initiative for this round. We will then begin next round with Leftenant, Glyptemis, and Lyra.

Notes: Leftenant, and Glyptemis are able to take opportunity attacks as the creatures move out of melee range, as your turns have ended by that time and you are no longer surprised. Kalamin can take reactions as normal regardless.

Lyra winces in pain, too surprised to react, unable to cast Shield as a response to block the shadowy creature's claw.  Still, she remains steady.

Lyra DC13 CON Save:  20 (dirty) - success, no cold damage or slowing.

Kalamin found solace in the deep silence as they made their way through the forest, it gave him space and time to think. So wrapped up in his thoughts he was, that he didn't notice his subconscious screaming at him until it was almost too late. He sees the dark shadow out of the corner of his eye and turns, spinning the blade of the glaive around even as it leaps at him.

He chases after it, swinging the glaive again. His hand slips up the haft towards the blade as his stance changes, thrusting forward to slam the butt of the staff into the creature. 

The weapon shifts in his hands again as he pulls back towards Glyptemis, holding the glaive out to keep their attacker at bay.

Movement: 5 SE -> 15 E (Action & Bonus Action Taken) -> 5NW
Action: Glaive Attack
To Hit: 14
Damage: 9
Bonus Action: Polearm Master (Glaive) Attack
To Hit: 20 
Damage: 5
Reaction: Polearm Master (Glaive) Opportunity Attack
To Hit: 22
Damage: 6

Glyp, with barely enough time to react to the sudden appearance of these creatures, slashes out a bit wildly as it runs by.

(Opportunity attack, 14 to hit for 7 damage)

You feel little resistance as the glaive passes through the creature's wispy body - but you do feel it hit something solid partway through. Its teeth latch onto your shoulder before it darts away.

Glyptemis scimitar catches its flank as it runs past and it flinches away. Again, you only feel resistance part way through the body.

As you chase after it, slicing into it once more and bludgeoning it with the other end of the glaive, you hear it let out a chilling, hissing screech. The sound eerily resonates, echoing as if it were coming from multiple directions at once. The smoky material that makes up its body begins to falter, sinking to the ground and dissipating. With a final screech the last of the smoke fades away, leaving a blackened four-legged skeleton that collapses to the ground.

Leftenant, Glyptemis, and Lyra are next initiative.

OoC: Since with Glyptemis's opportunity attack Kalamin would have felled it, I remade the post to compensate. 

Leftenant was too focused on selecting a good path while maintaining his bearings to get to the village of Vinande to notice the uneasy silence creeping around the group. Then the attack happened. He was just aware enough to catch a glimpse of it. It nimbly nips at his leg and solidly strikes him. With bow in hand he swipes at the shadow as it moves away from him towards Lyra (Improvised Weapon Reaction: Attack of Opportunity, To Hit: 14, Damage: 1)

He then whirls around to track it. Lining up his shot as he draws an arrow from his quiver, he lets loose before moving back to put a bit more distance between him and the shadowy pouncers.

Action: Attack: (To Hit: 20, Damage: 4)  
Other: Colossus Slayer if applicable, Damage: 2  
Move: 15’ North.

(OoC: eventually the damage dice have to roll to another side beside the ‘1’, right?)

(Assuming the second one is not taken down by LT)

Glyp watches the creature dissipate into practically nothing "Okay, probably don't need to overcomplicate this" he thinks to himself, then shifts to track on the red eyes of the other beast. He follows the line of Lyra's focus, using her attention to guide himself toward the nearly invisible creature, slashing down at it as he draws his second Scimitar from his back and slashes down a second time.

(OoC: Accidentally clicked a Deception roll but i'll use what was on the die for my first attack)
(Movement) Run up to the block to the SE of the creature
(Attack) 9+5=14 to hit for 4 damage
(Bonus Action) 2 Weapon Fighting - 5+5=10, probably misses but 4 to damage if it doesn't

Lyra's face goes very still as she faces the shadowy enemy before her which had raked her with its frigid claw.  Somewhere in the deeper recesses of her mind, her rationality and memory attempts to identify and categorize what type of creature it might be.

Lyra Nature:  18

Yet Lyra appears almost unaware of what happens next.  As she draws her dark warhammer a thin, spectral inky tendril seems to emerge and coalesce from it and from her black earrings, extending through her fingertips, wafting out like the undulating arm of some shadowy sea anemone, landing softly and attaching to the creature's forehead.  So gently.  Lyra's own soft brown irises flicker to jet black, then remain so as she places Hexblade's Curse.

The dark warhammer, looking far too heavy for Lyra's slight frame, appears to whip around of its own accord in her hands towards its target's head.

Movement:  Lyra circles clockwise to put herself on the other side of the creature in case it flees.

Bonus Action:  Lyra places Hexblade's Curse on the creature (+2 damage, Crit on 19 or 20, Lyra regains 6hp if target dies).

Action:  Lyra attacks the shadowy creature in front of her with her dark warhammer (Hex Weapon, using CHA for attack rolls and damage).
To hit:  20 (dirty)
Damage:  8 + 2 from Hexblade's Curse:  10 bludgeoning

OOC: Eyyy that's a 12 for Juno's con save. So a fail.

As Leftenant lashes out with the bow, you again feel no resistance as it passes through the shadowy part of the creature. You feel it impact something before retreating further to release an arrow at it. It disappears within the thing's form, and you hear a small "chink" as the metal arrowhead reflects off something solid. The creature lets out a shrill echoing cry like its partner, cut short as Glyptemis and Lyra rain blows down about it. It sides out of the way of the Tortle's second slash- directly into the path of Lyra's warhammer. You feel something like bones crack as it impacts.

Again, the shadow that makes up the cat-like creature shudders, sinking to the ground and rising again as it struggles to hold shape.

The creature hisses, opening its maw to bite Lyra before spinning round to slash at Glyptemis.

As it tries to get its jaw around Lyra, it can't find purchase on her armor.

Bite Attack - Lyra 17, Damage: N/A

Razor sharp claws find their mark perfectly on the Tortle however, bypassing the naturally armored part of his body.

Claw Attack - Glyptemis 25(Critical), Damage: 6 DC 13 Constitution Saving Throw: On failure, take 5 cold damage, and your speed is reduced by 10ft. until the end of your next turn.

Kalamin and Juno are next!

As the creature's claws strike out unerringly to rake Glyptemis, jagged shadowy beams with a silver lining shoot from Lyra's free hand to distract the attacker.  Coalescing from her black harmonica and warhammer and arcing out like dark lightning.

Lyra casts Silvery Barbs as a reaction without using a spell slot (Fey Touched feat).  Shadowy cat must re-roll their attack and Lyra confers advantage to the next d20 roll of any ally - in this case Kalamin.  (Likely meaning advantage on his next attack).

Lyra

 The dark energy shocks the shadowy creature - its arm spasms and the claws miss Glpytemis entirely.

Kalamin feels the odd magic empowering him and moves in for the kill, bringing the glaive downward in a slash then spinning the blunt end around for a second strike.

Movement: 10N
Action: Glaive Attack
To Hit: 20
Damage: 11
Bonus Action: Polearm Master (Glaive) Attack
To Hit: 17
Damage: 6
Reaction: 

The blade of the glaive breaks through the brittle bones that make up the creature's skeleton - it's shadowy form dissipates and its blackened bones fall to the ground in a pile.

The woods are still eerily quiet, but nothing else seems to be in the immediate vicinity. You have roughly 2 more miles of trekking to get to Vinande.

As the shadowy creature's form breaks down from Kalamin's blow, the ephemeral dark tendril connecting Lyra to it pulses as if engorged.  There is a strange rushing sensation as whatever passed for the creature's life force is sucked away, through Lyra, to some other place.

(Lyra regains 6hp as the target of her Hexblade's Curse dies).  Lyra's own wounds close during this backwash of life energy, and her irises fade from inky black back to their usual warm brown.  She speaks conversationally, as if nothing unusual has happened.  Concerned and puzzled, but not overly agitated.

"That creature, much like the red and white elves, and whatever that mage was, does not seem to have been from this world."