Kristofferson shares what he saw. "That must be Derbrun. It makes sense for him to install his time-bending magic item by the town's timepiece."

Badger: "I concur. Let's try to meet him up there."

You enter the town hall and library. An elf sits at a welcome desk, glances your way, but keeps to themselves.

You walk in the direction of the library and stairs that might lead up towards the tower. When you reach the second floor, you run into Derbrun coming down the steps. He starts to pass as if passing perfect strangers. He seems agitated.

Badger: "Derbrun, sir, may we have a word. We have information about a certain Crystal." He gives a knowing look to the mage.

[moving this along a bit... feel free to retroactively roleplay if desired]

Derbrun looks startled, then pensive, then alarmed. He glances around and ushers you into a side study room with a table and chairs where you have a little privacy. "I've been trying to understand why I wasn't seeing my expected results, but if you strangers are aware of my Crystal, that must mean the effect I expected is not actual result of activating the Crystal. Tell me what you know."

You explain the meeting from the previous iteration, the flash of white light, and the return to that morning.

"Just as I feared. The Crystal is diverting time. It sounds like the loop is quite small, thankfully. Only part of a single day. To end the loop, we'll need to know exactly when the Crystal is engaged and somehow disrupt that engagement."

Just then, you hear shouts from outside in the town square. It sounds like people are panicking about some unexpected danger.

Badger hurries out to the square.

K follows.

Ash follows.

You see people running in to buildings to avoid five Awakened Trees that are terrorizing the town square, attacking people and damaging buildings! One of them holds the dwarf farmer boy. The trees are evenly spread around the square, which is about 50' x 50'. They are each within 20' of another.

Initiative

• Ash 18
• K 8
• Awakened Trees 6
• Badger 3

Ash runs to the nearest tree and slashes with Sparky and his shortsword (17 & 12 to hit, 7 piercing and 1 lightning)

Kristofferson runs to the same tree, swinging his quarterstaff (8 to hit) then kicks it (21 to hit, 11 bludgeoning)

The tree takes the damage, but doesn't seem as affected as you might expect.

Tree 1 attacks Ash (13 to hit), but is too slow to land the blow.

Tree 2 moves in and swings at K (8 to hit), but is also too slow.

Trees 3, 4, and 5 see the aggression and turn to move in. They are closing in.

Badger runs to the tree holding the dwarf boy and swings Hax, his magic battleaxe (24 to hit, 9 slashing)

Ash continues his focus on Tree 1, first flanking it with K (Sparky 24 to hit, 9+9 piercing+sneak, 3 lightning; shortsword 25 to hit, 7 piercing)

Kristofferson follows Ash's lead and ignores Tree 2, swinging at Tree 1 (20 & 16 to hit, 6+5 bludgeoning)

Again, Tree 1 appears to take less piercing or bludgeoning damage than you might expect. It and Tree 4 swing at Ash (12 & 16 to hit, 9 bludgeoning)

Trees 2 & 3 swing at K (13 & 26 crit!, 22 bludgeoning)

Tree 5 throws the dwarf boy at Badger (25, 5 bludgeoning). Badger, the impact hits you, and you notice it is enough to finish off the boy, who is now dead.

Badger shouts No! He channels divinity into Hax to make it a sacred weapon. He also uses the Branding Smite bead from his necklace on Hax.

Ash continues his assault on Tree 1. He uses Sparky to cast Lightning Bolt. If the tree fails Dex 15, it takes 33 lightning damage, else half.

Kristofferson turns to Tree 2 (7, 21, 13 to hit; 12 bludgeoning)

Tree 1 Dex save: 11. It takes the full lightning bolt damage, which is just enough to cause it to collapse on a heap, dead.

Trees 2 and 3 swing at K (23, 13 to hit; 17 bludgeoning)

Kristofferson is Unconscious.

Tree 4 swings at Ash (12 to hit)

Tree 5 swings at Badger (18 to hit)

Just then, you see 8 Guards enter the square from the north. They each shoot crossbow bolts into the melee, each targeting a different combatant. One attacks Badger (9 to hit) and one attacks Ash (12 to hit). They hit the trees 4 of 6 times for a reduced 15 piercing.

Badger swings Hax at Tree 5 (17+3 to hit, 9+6 slashing+radiant, and it sheds dim light)

Ash shouts to Badger to save Kristofferson, the uses Sparky to cast Lightning Bolt on Tree 2 (dex 15, 32 lightning on fail, else half)

Kristofferson death save: 10, success

Tree 2 dex: 3, takes full lightning bolt damage. It groans, picks up the unconscious halfling in front of it, and throws him at Ash (17 to hit, 2 bludgeoning). Kristofferson takes damage, taking a failed death save.

Trees 3 & 4 flank Ash and attack (22 & 13 to hit, 10 bludgeoning)

Tree 5 goes to grapple Badger. Strength: 23. Badger, if you roll less than 23 Athletics or Acrobatics, you are Grappled.

The guards fire again. This time, out of fear, an extra one fires on the lightning maker. Badger (17), Ash (19, 9; 3 piercing). They hit trees 2/5 for reduced 6 piercing)

Badger athletics: 5 (nat 1!) and is grappled. He shouts at the guards, "We are trying to protect the town!" He chops with Hax at his captor (16, 14 to hit; 17 slashing)

Ash sees that Badger can't get to K, so he feeds him a healing potion (+8 HP)

Kristofferson stands and channels his Ki to send a Water Whip at the nearest Tree (dex 13, 16 bludgeoning and prone on fail, else half)

Tree 3 dex: 17, it avoids the worst of the Water Whip.

Tree 2 swings at K (16 to hit; 12 bludgeoning)

K is Unconscious.

Trees 3 & 4 attack Ash (23, 21 to hit; 32 bludgeoning)

Ash is Unconscious.

Tree 5 squeezes Badger (6 bludgeoning)

The guards open fire again, hitting the trees 3 times for reduced 6 piercing.

Badger shouts again, feeling desperate. He slashes at the Tree grappling him again (nat 1, 23; 13 slashing)

Ash death save: 16, success

K death save: 9, fail

Tree 5 crumples from the damage, dropping Badger, and is Dead.

Trees 2 & 3 turn their attention to Badger, flanking him (8 & 20 to hit; 16 bludgeoning)

Tree 4 turns its attention to the guards. It swipes a mighty blow at two of them, killing them.

The guards all turn their attention to Tree 4. (3/6 hit for reduced 10 piercing)

From the west, you see two more trees approaching, knocking down buildings and terrorizing townspeople as they come.

Badger risks the opportunity attacks and runs to Ash and K. He casts Cure Wounds on K (+4 HP). He then stands defiantly facing the Trees, in hopes that they ignore the halflings.

Trees 2 & 3 swing at Badger as he leaves melee (20 & 9 to hit, 10 bludgeoning)