Fane is unsure if the slavers are going to fight or surrender, so she will level her crossbow on Karg and hold. If he makes a move to go in the tower, or engages in anyway, she will fire. If he continues to talk or surrender, she won't shoot.

18 dmg: 9

Karg's breath comes heavy as he glares across the parapet at the intruders.  His knuckles whiten around the haft of his great axe, his teeth bared behind his bristling beard.  His voice rumbles like a distant landslide.

"So help me, Blue Hair," he growls, his glare fixed on Arlynn, "if it takes my dying breath, I'll see you tossed back into the sea!"

With a guttural battle cry in Dwarvish he charges out of the tower doorway, his iron boots pounding against the stone.

Just as he reaches the edge of the parapet, Fane’s crossbow twangs, the bolt piercing the air with a sharp whistle.  It strikes true, embedding itself in Karg’s shoulder.  He grunts but barely breaks stride, his momentum unbroken.

A few strides later, Karg throws himself forward, axe raised high, aiming to cleave through the center mass of the looming hydra.  The heavy blade comes down with a thunderous swing—

—And passes straight through.

Karg staggers forward, almost losing his balance as the axe carves through empty air and clatters against the stone.  He stands dumbstruck, his breath caught in his throat.  His gaze shifts from the illusory hydra to the ground where his axe landed, then back to the party, realization dawning.

"Filthy parlor trick!" he roars, spitting on the ground.  His face turns crimson, and he bellows in Dwarvish again, more curses aimed at the sky and the swamp beyond.  He is practically shaking with rage.

Gideon Rusk, still struggling against the vines, barks out a bitter laugh despite his predicament. "Ah, damn it, Karg.  You always were a sucker for a cheap trick."

Karg spins around, rage boiling over, looking right past Eron until his eyes find Arlynn and Fane.  "You think this is a game?  You come here, toss lies and conjure fake beasts?  I'll show you what real steel feels like!"

His stance is low and braced, eyes flicking from one opponent to another as he tries to regroup from his blunder, blood seeping from the crossbow wound.  The dwarf’s pride is wounded worse than his flesh.

[Eron is up!]

Eron advances on Karg slow and steady, “They’ll never have to fear you, I’ll make sure no one ever fears you again.”

Action attack 8 miss

bonus action attack 13, 5 bludgeoning if a hit.

Eron's blows glance off Karg's breast plate.  He bellows, "Is that right?  You'll need to do much better than that, Ranger, if you mean to end me."

Nearby, Gideon Rusk swipes at the vines around his legs with his rapier and tries to pull himself free.

STR:  11

He fails to free himself from the grasping plants.  He calls to Karg in Dwarvish:

 [Arlynn is up, then Sylraeth and then Fane again.  The hydra illusion is still there, but now everyone is aware it is an illusion so it is transparent.]

"Nice work girl." Arlynn says to the Sylraeth with a confident chuckle. "We'll see who ends up in the sea Karg, I'm just sorry I wasted my time trying to talk sense into you." She calls out to the stubborn and hot-tempered dwarf. The young blue-haired half-elf then unleashes another azure beam of eldritch crackling force towards the restrained slaver.

Eldritch Blast: 15 Force: 8 + Necrotic: 3

Then a massive tentacle appears and starts thrashing at the restrained slaver.

Tentacle: 18 Cold: 13 + speed reduced by 10 feet until start of next turn.

Even restrained, the fighter is able to duck away from Arlynn's beam this time, but then a spectral tentacle appears.  It tries to slap him with the briny cold of the deepsea but he bats it away at the last moment with the end of his rapier [Reaction: Parry to add 2 to AC vs the melee spell attack.]  Then he shouts in frustration, in Common this time.  "Karg!  Get me out of here!"

Next to Arlynn, Sylraeth gives a nervous smile and nods at the encouragement.  "Thanks.  Though I'm not sure there is much more I can do at the moment," she whispers, then returns to concentrating on maintaining her spell.

[Round 3!  Fane is up!]

Fane will move 30 feet closer towards Karg, hoping to get into melee range for next round, and will shoot at him. For now she will keep the Hydra. She will also call Leo so that she can help next round.

15 dmg: 9

Fane's bolt finds an opening in Karg's armor, though the two bolts so far seem to have done little to slow him down.

The big dwarf, looks down at the bolts, over at Eron, and finally back to Gideon.  He snarls and then moves 10' west, [not leaving Eron's reach or provoking an AOO] to get within reach of Gideon.  He brings his heavy axe down hard, chopping through some of the vines erupting through the stonework.

[Help action, giving Gideon Rusk advantage on his next attempt to break free.]

[Eron is up!]

Eron lunges with an expected longsword attack easily deflected but then his hammer uppercuts out of nowhere…”No you don’t!”

Action attack 8 miss.

BA attack 25, 8 bludgeoning +1 favored enemy damage.

Eron's hammer slams into Karg's back, regaining his attention.

STR:  17

Gideon makes the most of his opportunity and Karg's help, freeing  himself at last from Sylraeth's vines.  "Much obliged, Boss,"  he says with an exaggerated nod. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go have words with those witches over yonder."   He steps out of the clinging plants and trots along the stone platform in the direction of the approaching Fane.

[Arlynn is up, then Sylraeth and then Fane again!]

Groaning over her poor aim, the young blue-haired half-elf unleashes another azure beam of eldritch crackling force from her tentacle-shaped wand towards the approaching clumsily moving slaver.

Eldritch Blast: 13 Force: 12 + Necrotic: 4

Then the massive tentacle slides after the slaver and thrashes at him.

Tentacle: 11 Cold: 8 + speed reduced by 10 feet until start of next turn.

Arlynn's blast and her icy tentacle harass the swordsman, but he is able to evade both without much difficulty.

Seeing he has escaped, Sylraeth pauses a moment, then releases her hold on her magic.  "I can try again," she mutters, and then once again calls on the spirits of nature.  The first set of vines she had conjured grow pale and then dissipate, like petals blown on the wind.  At the same time, a new cluster of growth erupts from the cracks in the stony platform around Gideon's feet.

STR:  14

Ready this time, he stomps on the growing vines.  Though they pile around his legs, he prevents them from getting a grip on him.  He levels his rapier at Sylraeth from a distance.  "No more of that now, Miss."

[We have reached Round 4 and Fane is back up!]

Fane drops her crossbow at here feet. ♬♬♩♬♬♩♬♬♩

She pull out the short swords straped to her hips. ♩♩♩♫♩♩♩♫

Music surrounds her as she falls into her dance, her face unreadable. "Witches? Oh Mr Gideon, if only you were so lucky..." ♫♫♫

Fane will enter her bladesong.

She will stab Mr Gideon with her shortsword.

attack: 13/9 dmg: 9  (help from Leo)

[Fane will shield or absorb elements if she is hit, FYI]

Gideon, his attention previously on Arlynn and Sylraeth, looks over Fane with an appraising eye.  He looks about to say something, but then Leo and Fane strike.  It is all he can do to parry her magically enhanced strikes.  Still, he looks more enthused than frightened by the challenge of this duel.

Behind them, Karg squares up at last with Eron, both still inside the transparent illusion of the hydra.  "You made a mistake, coming here.  And I made a mistake, letting you lot leave once, peacefully.  Let's see who's made their last error, Ranger."

He raises his heavy axe, bringing it down twice, with more speed than a dwarf his size should be able to muster.

• Greataxe Attack:  18  Slashing Damage:  8
• Greataxe Attack:  20  Slashing Damage:  10

[Eron is up!]

Eron attacks Karg

Action & BA attack lonsword 13 hammer 7 both swish as Eron oversteps and drops the light hammer.

In dwarven, “Take your chance to flee or my friends will burn you to a crisp!”

Karg laughs at Eron's threat as the Ranger misses with his attacks, but it a joyless sound, full of wrath, not mirth.

"They'll all tricks and no true steel, Gideon.  Subdue those spellcasters quick, before they get lucky."

Gideon carefully circles Fane, not leaving her reach but making sure his feet are clear of the clinging vines before he makes his move.  He calls back to Karg, "Do we think they were bluffing about the others running into trouble?"

"We'll find out soon enough.  Make sure you leave that blue-haired one alive - we'll get the truth out of her."

With that, Gideon makes a pair of thrusts with his rapier, testing Fane's defenses.

• Rapier Attack:  17
• Rapier Attack:  17

His blade is quick, but Fane is easily able to avoid it.  The swordsman doesn't look disheartened, however, as his eyes are watching her movements carefully... learning the footwork of her dance.

[Arlynn is up, then Sylraeth and then Fane again for the start of Round 5]

Starting to worry that she had accidentally hexed herself, the young blue-haired half-elf unleashes yet another azure beam of eldritch crackling force from her tentacle-shaped wand towards the clumsily moving slaver.

Eldritch Blast: 20 Force: 13 + Necrotic: 6

Then the massive tentacle slides after the slaver once more and thrashes at him while interposing itself between the slaver and Arlynn.

Tentacle: 24 Cold: 9 + speed reduced by 10 feet until start of next turn.

The swordsman once again ducks just out of the way from Arlynn's blast, but he can't defend against Fane, missiles, and tentacles all at once.  The cold grip of the sea lashes him.

"Oh no," Sylraeth mutters as her vines fail to entrap him this time.  She leaves them in place for now, and moves a little closer.  Seeing the painful wounds inflicted on Eron, she speaks a word of Elvish and some of the pain recedes.

healing word: Eron regains 7 hp

[Fane is up at the top of Round 5!]

Fane calls out to Sylraeth, "move back to Arylnn if you can, give me room between you and this slaver for my dance" she looks at the man, "slaver. thats your name. Your dwarf boss, his name is also slaver."

"Your slaver friends are dead, digested by a real Hydra." [this is based on him asking Karg about them and what Fane heard: Persuasion: 4]

As Fane talks Leo approaches from behind, grabbing the man's hair and flying off. That is when Fane strikes..

22 dmg: 8  

She will then poke at him with her off hand.

15 dmg: 4

She will circle him, she will dance, but she will stay between him and the elves behind him, short swords in hand, smile on her face. "Slaver" is all she says, eyes on Gideon.

Gideon winces as Fane calls him slaver, though it seems to be more the accumulation of many small wounds giving him pause.  "We need to wrap this up Karg," he shouts, the first hint of real urgency in his voice.

Karg laughs his joyless laugh.  "I won't be more than another moment."

• Greataxe Attack:  11
• Greataxe Attack:  17  Slashing Damage:  11

[Eron is up.  No change to the last map.]