“Little One, we must take her to the house of rest!” gasp Erudisia in shock. The priests and clerics there will know how to help her, and Little One will have the easiest time transporting Varnyr without disturbing her overly much. 

Bell catches Varnyr from crashing to the floor. Meredith rushes to heal the scribe, but the bard’s innate magical sense tells her that Varnyr has not taken any HP damage. However, Varnyr is indeed cold to the touch and now,  paralyzed. Immobile!, except that following her scream of terror, her eyes still rolled back, she slowly inhales and as she does, as she slowly sucks in air, her mouth forms words, which sound in a haunting, inhaled whisper. She sings The Shemshime rhyme! Over and over again!

Erudisia shouts to Little One to carry Varnyr to the House of Rest. But Little One seems to barely hear her. Having stood back to allow Bell and Meredith room for their ministrations to Varnyr, the ogre’s eyes now bulge in ogre horror (“horgor”?).

“Air D. Look!,” he says, pointing to the spot where Varnyr had been standing. Three large firefly chandeliers had been casting three shadows from Varnyr. Varnyr has moved away. But the shadows remained where they were, and as you watch, they ripple, extend, and gain dimension, peeling away from the floor, forming into rapier-thin humanoid shapes, and, noiselessly, turning to face you and rushing to attack!

(As this battle begins, you three and Little One closely surround the three shadows. 

Please roll Initiative. If you beat a 12 you may act before the shadows.)

Years ago, when her noble Lady mother had carried her younger brother — yet to be born and named, most callously, Errata — her father had been summoned away on an adventure. This was not uncommon. Advanced in her pregnancy, he prevailed upon Erudisia mother to remain at their estate. Too heavy with child was she, he said, and the danger too great to warrant her involvement but also too slight to warrant her efforts. 

Sorely, Erudisia wished he had not gone, and she had not seen her Eladrin mother, her ever-changing, tempestuous mother, enter her winter aspect. 

Shadows had she faced then. Shadows as she faces now. 

Erudisia’s breath puffs into the chill air. Her arms are heavier than they ought to be and her hands shake. With one hand she forms a blade of shadow and air, and weakly swings it at the nearest shadow.

”No, no, no…” she whispers. “See a mother scything wheat—“ she sings, as she concentrates on her spell. 

[Intiative: 21]
Bonus Action: Shadow Blade
Action: throws it at the nearest shadow. To hit: 9 (if bright light, 10 if dim-light). Damage 12 (10 psychic, 2 thunder)

[Initiative: 21]

Bell almost pulls away as Varnyr starts to sing even as they are incapacitated. Twisting at the sound of Little One's voice, she sees the thin shadows forming and approaching.

With a groan of frustration, Bell splays her hand onto the floor and invokes Light hoping bright light might disperse the shadows.

Merediths eyes went wide at the sight of the shadowy things, " Something truly foul has taken root here......we might need to burn it out."

Initiative- 18

She brushed her fingers against her face drawing the quill from her skin back to solidity.  She span it through the air at the nearest shade...

BA- Summon Quill

Attack- Attack: 4 Damage: 4

Erudisia’s magically conjured blade shoots toward the Shadow’s head, but it--the Shadow's head-- suddenly wilts back to a spot on the floor allowing the blade to pass without touching it, before its head reforms as it was before. Its negative space eyes flare at the warlock. [They are AC12.]

Bright light flares from Bell’s hand, but though the Shadows throw up their arms to cover their eyes momentarily, they drop them after a moment, laughing in perfect silence. Some arcane instinct tells Bell that the light would have to be much brighter (such as a Daylight spell) to impact the dread darkness of these assailants.

Meredith’s crow-feathered quill shoots across the room at one of the Shadows, but this shadow, too, zigs its form unexpectedly and the quill misses, ricocheting off of one of the firefly lamps, shattering it. Fireflies float free, adding to the chaos.

Little One, flailing with his goat-sized arms, seizes one of the Shadows and smashes it against a bookshelf. Dust poofs and several tomes topple down upon the Shadow (it takes 10HP damage in total).

Varnyr, still paralyzed in a chair at the table, head lolling back, continues to inhale-sing in her choking whisper, “SHEMSHIME! SHEMSHIME!”

K’Tulah, one of her hands rising to her mouth in horror, screams in fear. She seems frozen in place though she backs away instinctively up against a bookcase where she stops, all thought driven from her mind in a total panic.

Ebder appears at his door following Meredith, where he stops on a dime, eyes bulging out in horror.

The Shadows now act.

Shadow #1, the one held by Little One, wraps itself around him like a snake, its hollow eyes staring fiercely at the ogre. You watch as darkness creeps into your friend’s eyes, his physical power draining away. (He suffers 9HP necrotic damage and loses 3 points of STR).

Shadow #2 is upon Varnyr and finds an easy target. Varnyr takes 3HP necrotic damage and loses 1 point of STR. She is near death.

Shadow #3 attacks Erudisia, and she feels its icy touch as it jets forward and wraps itself around one of Erudisia's arms and one ankle (15 to hit, 8HP necrotic damage & lose 2 STR).

All, please post Round 2 actions.

Merediths head whipped around toward the shadow on Varnyr and threw the returning quill at it, concentrating on its unnatural form....

BA- Hunters Mark

Attack- Attack: 14 Damage: 5 + 5

Bell gathers her thoughts and casts Scorching Ray , sending a ray of fire at each shadow.

S1 - To Hit:  12   Fire Dmg: 6
S2 - To Hit: 18   Fire Dmg: 6
S3 - To Hit:  8    Fire Dmg: 3

Bell practically yells with frustration as the rays did not produce the results she had hoped for.

As the shadow strikes her, Erudisia’s breathing becomes panicked and quick, her eyes wide. The Shadow-smoke blade so quickly summoned back to her hand in previous fights vanishes, its form pulled into the darkness of the shadow that wraps and tangles in her limbs, snatching it from her feeble and poorly held arcanum. 

Stutteringly, she barks out an Eldritch Blast against the shadow that holds her and a thunderous force rips through the arm affected, spinning Erudisia around in an unfocused eruption of force and thunder. 

[Concentration CON save: 5. Drops Shadow Blade]
[Action: Eldritch Blast. Attack with disadvantage: 16 for 10 force and 2 thunder damage]

Meredith reads the Shadow’s movements perfectly and anticipates its zig-zagging motion. Her quill pierces the dark form, which, like a sheet of thin, pliant wax, craters with the impact, then gives way to the quill’s penetrating force. The thing’s right shoulder is torn off from it to dwindle into a null zone of necrotic energy. One-armed now, it pulls off of Varnyr and twists toward Meredith. 

Bell’s flaming rays whoosh through the chill air, singeing and incinerating fireflies caught in their paths. The first two rays hit their marks, the first, striking the back of the Shadow attacking Little One. The second ray destroys the Shadow Meredith had just damaged. It shrieks noiselessly as it vanishes.

Erudisia’s beam of crackling energy ravages her assailant, which is pinned helplessly, roaring furiously in silent desperation. But to naught. Over a matter of seconds it loses its coherence and disintegrates, flakes of shadow drifting away and diminishing to nothing in the wake of the warlock’s thunderous assault.

Little One now grasps the Shadow holding him with both huge hands, pulling it off of himself with a groan and, with all his remaining strength, gritting his teeth, tearing it in half! The ogre then stumbles backwards, tripping back onto the huge table in the center of the room, his eyes inky, his strength suctioned away.

Yet the last Shadow is not destroyed. Its angles reconnect, its shape reforms, and only a moment later, it lunges back at Little One. But just before it reaches him…

Blackness. A complete darkness envelops the room. You see nothing. Varnyr’s deathly chant resonates all around you, a counterpoint to K'Tulah's screams. And then…

The darkness is over. Bell’s Light is the first thing to reappear, quickly growing from a distant point to bright illumination. The fireflies give off their amber light. Everything is as it was. Except the last Shadow is gone, along with all remnants of the other Shadows.

The return of the light shocks K'Tulah to silence, one hand still over her mouth as she uncontrollably repeats the Shemshime rhyme, her eyes wild and wet.

Varnyr’s chanting has ended. Indeed, Alas! She isn’t breathing… she is completely still for ten heartbeats. And then she gasps hugely for air and her eyes fly open.

Ebder runs to the west stairway, where you spot Gailby, hiding around a corner at the edge of the stairs, terrified. Ebder wraps his arms around her protectively, then turns back to the room, his expression firm and ready.

The door in the north wall creaks open. A kenku’s beak pokes through the crack in the door, slowly mouthing the Shemshime rhyme, until its eye peers out fearfully too. With an effort it squawks, "Varnyr???"

For a moment Erudisia is overcome then, with the danger past, she falls to her knees and sobs. This lasts for a few moments or until someone comes to her, before she holds one dress sleeve to her eyes, and stands, her breath coming shakily. Stutteringly. 

She feels drained, her whole body heavy. 

Slowly, one eye on the Kenku, she moves to Varnyr’s side. 

(Is Varnyr conscious, or are her open eyes unseeing?)

(Varnyr is conscious, no longer paralyzed, and her body temperature is returning to normal. It will take a few minutes for her to be able to speak, you would guess.)