Bell looks as confused as Marliza after seeing that eerie red light from the doorway further along the corridor. Waving frantically to Marliza, Bell whispers, "I can still feel the air pushing and booming. I think Meredith and Erudisia went this way." She points at the partially open door next to her. "I will push the door in and you come behind me to cover my back."
Passive Perception: 11
Bell will steel herself as Marliza moves into position. She will crouch down and push the door open wider; hoping to get a better view of the interior while offering an unexpectedly short target.
Erudisia advances down the corridor, a tornado of forceful wind preceding her. She does not see any sign of the two guards by the end of her movement, so no attack roll (or use of inspiration) is needed. (I’ll let you bank that nat 20 for your next attack though!)
Meredith, planting her feet firmly, dances around Erudisia and turns at the corridor’s end to see two more crossbow bolts come flying at her. But, plainly flummoxed by the magical assault, the older guard’s braid gets trapped in the crossbow when it fires. He screams in surprise and pain, and the bolt is lost in Erudisia’s gusting wind. The second guard’s aim is little better and his bolt whistles past Meredith’s ear.
Now, the bard, standing fearlessly akimbo, in full drama, with Erudisia’s gale-force wind machine whipping her pixie cut and gown around her, is still more than they bargained for. They both drop their crossbows, turn for the door, see Bell there blocking it, “Another witch!!,” one shouts, and with nowhere else to go, they both dash through the southern door into the palely glowing room with barred cells in it. “Stay outta here or… or…,” then changing tacks, “You won’t have my soul tonight, witch!”
“Mine either!,” shouts the other one.
Bell has witnessed this through the door, Marliza behind her, and Little One has come up behind Marliza.
Around the corner behind her, Bell hears Marliza shout in terror, “Bell!!! Help!! Eieeeee!!,” and Little One shouts, “Marliza!!”
Bell turns to see Marliza flop to the ground, dead or unconscious, arms and legs splayed, her little pink mini straining, three red spines protruding from her back and belly. Laughter, like that of possessed children, echoes down the hallway behind her.
From her position, Meredith sees Marliza and, just barely, heard the shouts over the roaring winds.
You are now positioned like so (Heroes are blue, guards, white, unconscious people are yellow, and demonic horrors(?), red):
Bell's head whips back and forth... between seeing two guards throw themselves into a holding cell and the scream of Marliza as she dropped to the ground out in the corridor. Shoving a hand into her coin pouch, Bell will take a copper piece out and whisper to it Light
Suddenly, the coin gives off a bright reddish yellow light that streams from the doorway out into the corridor. Doing a quick 'one step out and one step back' motion, Bell will toss the coin a good 20-25 feet down the corridor (southward) which should light up the area. She will grab what she can of Marliza's form to drag her into the security room.
Meredith laughed happily when the guards bolted and called back over her shoulder to Erudisia, " Keep going"
She followed the guards a little way, jamming a crossbow in to hold the door open....as she moves out into the guard room she is greeted by the sight of Bell bent over in front of her pulling something into the room.
Shaking off her intense distraction she stumbled forward and saw Marliza, she moved up and dropped to her knees next to Bell.
" Hi....", she lifted her hand to her face suddenly self-concious of the soot, wind burn and other less than stylish aspects of her current state.
Then remembered what she was supposed to be doing there and sent healing energy into Marliza.
When Bell peeks out into the corridor to throw her coin, she sees, first, to the right, a pair of deep red-skinned, bat-winged, pointy-toothed and long-tailed cherubs flapping in the air, their arms and legs and tails bearing spines just like the ones impaling Marliza. A quick glance to the left shows her Little One, eyes bulging in fearful sympathy at Marliza’s limp form but then shifting to the hellish creatures that hurt her with a clenching of his jaw and showing his teeth. “I’ll try to keep them busy!,” he rumbles, then makes an enormous leap, rushing the creatures. Bell succeeds in pulling Marliza out of the corridor and into the security room as her coin rolls to a stop under the ogre.
Meredith’s healing energy disintegrates the impaling spines and Marliza gasps, filling her lungs, eyes wide. “Thank you!,” she whispers, recovering her footing, getting her bearings, and backing away from the door.
Erudisia (one imagines, nearly borne aloft by her wielding of elemental air), rushes into the room, sees Bell and Marliza, and notes Little One leaping down the corridor.
You all clock the ogre’s pounding steps followed by his grunts of pain. A moment later, the devils now appear at the door, wings flapping, their beady, flaming eyes quickly searching for and fastening upon Erudisia.
"That's the one!," one of them chuckles in a child's voice.
"She looks too stringy for a full meal!," answers the other, wickedly.
"Kill her and find out!"
Laughter trills from the pair like a stolen deathly kiss.
Erudisia'seyes widen in alarm, even as a shudder rips through her at their disquieting child-like voices, but with the two infernal fiends framed artfully by the door, she could hardly ask for better targets.
The Gust of Wind pauses from the briefest instant then emergest from her, directly blasting through the door and striking the wall beyond with the force of a tempest. As the flying devils deal with that, Erudisia brings the thunder with an Eldritch Blast.
[Attack: banked nat 20]
[Damage: 7, 3 +3 force; +2 thunder = 15 damage]
(Erudisiawould target whichever cherubic imp resists her gusting winds, or else whichever is closest if both do/don't.)
Presuming that the imps also lack a key card, and perhaps are not the most trustworthy team players, the if both imps are pushed back into the corridor she shouts to Bell and Marliza, "Close the door and bar it shut!" even as her heart feels vice-shut for fear of what has happened to Little One, the final part of their band of four.
If either of the creatures are 'in view' while attempting to close the door, she will use Mind Sliver 6 ptspsychic damage
Bell will wedge her foot at the bottom of the door while she looks around for something to 'bar the door'.... desk, chair, file cabinet... whatever might be used to wedge and hold the door closed.
"Meredith, Erudisia... thank the gods. Little One is out in that hallway. He charged those things but it got very quiet. I do not know what condition he might be in."
Erudisia'seyes widen in alarm, even as a shudder rips through her at their disquieting child-like voices, but with the two infernal fiends framed artfully by the door, she could hardly ask for better targets.
The Gust of Wind pauses from the briefest instant then emergest from her, directly blasting through the door and striking the wall beyond with the force of a tempest. As the flying devils deal with that, Erudisia brings the thunder with an Eldritch Blast.
[Attack: banked nat 20]
[Damage: 7, 3 +3 force; +2 thunder = 15 damage]
(Erudisiawould target whichever cherubic imp resists her gusting winds, or else whichever is closest if both do/don't.)
Presuming that the imps also lack a key card, and perhaps are not the most trustworthy team players, the if both imps are pushed back into the corridor she shouts to Bell and Marliza, "Close the door and bar it shut!" even as her heart feels vice-shut for fear of what has happened to Little One, the final part of their band of four.
Erudisia watches in surprise as her gusting zephyr, rather than ejecting her winged foes from the room, is pulled into the devils, as if the flying hell children are protected from magic. Their hellish flames only burn the brighter for it. (They are resistant to her magic and anything resulting from it. They make their saving throws at advantage. However, they are still affected by the movement portion of the spell.) Neither one is blown back, however, the warlock’s Eldritch Blast pierces one of their cursed magical shields and torpedoes the hellish cherub, disintegrating the chubby flesh off of its baby face to reveal sharp teeth and bone but leaving it with no less vigor than before! It clacks its teeth at Erudisia, eyes flaming in rage.
If either of the creatures are 'in view' while attempting to close the door, she will use Mind Sliver 6 ptspsychic damage
Bell will wedge her foot at the bottom of the door while she looks around for something to 'bar the door'.... desk, chair, file cabinet... whatever might be used to wedge and hold the door closed.
"Meredith, Erudisia... thank the gods. Little One is out in that hallway. He charged those things but it got very quiet. I do not know what condition he might be in."
Bell’s Mind Sliver rips through psychic space at the devil, but just as with Erudisia, the devil’s hellish brain-form catches the psi-spike and snaps it in two, suffering no damage! (The devils have advantage on spell saves. They also occupy the doorway, but I’ll let Bell make a contested Strength check against them to force them out and close the door. [Beat a 19!]) Bell notices that there is no glowing green line around this door...)
Bell’s attempts are harried by a flurry of bat-wings and bristling devil-spikes. The door remains open.
Meredith’s slash misses, but when the hell-cherub’s gnashing bone-face comes snapping at her, she knocks out one of its teeth.
“Ow!!, you huwt me,” it lisps, mockingly. But then shadows from Bell’s Light spell shift in the corridor beyond the doorway, anticipating the appearance of Little One. The green-suited ogre fills the doorway, grabs the wounded devil by one ankle and, using it like a fiery club, smashes it against the doorframe and floor. Little One then heaves it against the far wall like a javelin, to fall in a heap on a desktop.
But the devil pulls itself up, the flame gone from one smashed eye, its now toothless child-maw gaping like an old man’s. It shakes it off, then it and its hale twin launch their fiery spikes.
Vs Little One: 6 to hit /5HP piercing + 6HP fire
Vs Little One: 13 to hit for 5HP piercing + 1HP fire
Vs Meredith: 20 to hit for 4HP piercing + 3HP fire
Vs Erudisia: 17 to hit for 5HP piercing + 4HP fire
(Meredith and Little One are now Engaged in a hand-to-hand struggle with the (healthy) devil in the doorway.
The remaining devil is close to Erudisia, and down to 1HP. If someone hits it, they may describe its demise.)
Bell has figured out that her magic is nothing for these creatures; only physical combat seems to do anything at all. She is regretting her revealing gown... not being able to hide her light crossbow and bolts in the semi see thru material. Shifting material about, she draws the one dagger she was able to smuggle into the casino.
Using all she had learned back home, Bell will throw her dagger at the one Little One has been smashing and bashing.
Throw to Hit: 9 --> used Heroic Inspiration to try again to Hit: 10Damage: 6 pts. piercing
The devils flutter and giggle their evil giggles, zigging, zagging, and flapping in the faces of our heroes, escaping harm.
Marliza seems frozen in shock following her terrible wounding. Despite Meredith’s healing, and Marliza’s innate courage, she is, in this moment, terrified, a teen who has gotten way more than she bargained for. (Perhaps someone could cajole or implore her to action.)
But Little One is not at all frozen (or blown away: he crits his strength save). No, indeed, Little One snatches the healthy devil out of the air, smashing it and hurling it as he had its twin. But this devil is wiley, curling around to avoid the worst of the blows, then banking upward on bat wings to avoid hitting the wall when thrown. But when it arcs back up, Erudisia’s gale catches it and flings it tumbling the other way, straight into Little One’s bone-cracking grip. Crowded by the massive ogre, it is unable to fling its barbs this round.
The other devil flits and skulks along the line of mirrors, flicking its flaming spines at Erudisia and Meredith:
Vs Erudisia: 19 to hit for 6HP piercing + 3HP fire
Vs Meredith: 10 to hit for 4HP piercing + 1HP fire
Bell looks as confused as Marliza after seeing that eerie red light from the doorway further along the corridor. Waving frantically to Marliza, Bell whispers, "I can still feel the air pushing and booming. I think Meredith and Erudisia went this way." She points at the partially open door next to her. "I will push the door in and you come behind me to cover my back."
Passive Perception: 11
Bell will steel herself as Marliza moves into position. She will crouch down and push the door open wider; hoping to get a better view of the interior while offering an unexpectedly short target.
Initiative: Nat20 +2 = 22 {game log}
Erudisia advances down the corridor, a tornado of forceful wind preceding her. She does not see any sign of the two guards by the end of her movement, so no attack roll (or use of inspiration) is needed. (I’ll let you bank that nat 20 for your next attack though!)
Meredith, planting her feet firmly, dances around Erudisia and turns at the corridor’s end to see two more crossbow bolts come flying at her. But, plainly flummoxed by the magical assault, the older guard’s braid gets trapped in the crossbow when it fires. He screams in surprise and pain, and the bolt is lost in Erudisia’s gusting wind. The second guard’s aim is little better and his bolt whistles past Meredith’s ear.
Now, the bard, standing fearlessly akimbo, in full drama, with Erudisia’s gale-force wind machine whipping her pixie cut and gown around her, is still more than they bargained for. They both drop their crossbows, turn for the door, see Bell there blocking it, “Another witch!!,” one shouts, and with nowhere else to go, they both dash through the southern door into the palely glowing room with barred cells in it. “Stay outta here or… or…,” then changing tacks, “You won’t have my soul tonight, witch!”
“Mine either!,” shouts the other one.
Bell has witnessed this through the door, Marliza behind her, and Little One has come up behind Marliza.
Around the corner behind her, Bell hears Marliza shout in terror, “Bell!!! Help!! Eieeeee!!,” and Little One shouts, “Marliza!!”
Bell turns to see Marliza flop to the ground, dead or unconscious, arms and legs splayed, her little pink mini straining, three red spines protruding from her back and belly. Laughter, like that of possessed children, echoes down the hallway behind her.
From her position, Meredith sees Marliza and, just barely, heard the shouts over the roaring winds.
You are now positioned like so (Heroes are blue, guards, white, unconscious people are yellow, and demonic horrors(?), red):
Please post for Round 3 in any order.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Bell's head whips back and forth... between seeing two guards throw themselves into a holding cell and the scream of Marliza as she dropped to the ground out in the corridor. Shoving a hand into her coin pouch, Bell will take a copper piece out and whisper to it Light
Suddenly, the coin gives off a bright reddish yellow light that streams from the doorway out into the corridor. Doing a quick 'one step out and one step back' motion, Bell will toss the coin a good 20-25 feet down the corridor (southward) which should light up the area. She will grab what she can of Marliza's form to drag her into the security room.
Meredith laughed happily when the guards bolted and called back over her shoulder to Erudisia, " Keep going"
She followed the guards a little way, jamming a crossbow in to hold the door open....as she moves out into the guard room she is greeted by the sight of Bell bent over in front of her pulling something into the room.
Shaking off her intense distraction she stumbled forward and saw Marliza, she moved up and dropped to her knees next to Bell.
" Hi....", she lifted her hand to her face suddenly self-concious of the soot, wind burn and other less than stylish aspects of her current state.
Then remembered what she was supposed to be doing there and sent healing energy into Marliza.
( Cure Wounds- 21 )
Unable to hear Meredith over the gale, Erudisia dashes after her companion as she loses sight of her around the corner.
With an effort of will, she turns the wind to flow behind her, toward the corridor that leads to the vault.
(Thank you for the banked nat 20. May be useful presently!)
[Action: Dash. Bonus action: change direction of the gust of wind. Movement 30ft x2. Should put Erudisia to the middle of the guard room]
When Bell peeks out into the corridor to throw her coin, she sees, first, to the right, a pair of deep red-skinned, bat-winged, pointy-toothed and long-tailed cherubs flapping in the air, their arms and legs and tails bearing spines just like the ones impaling Marliza. A quick glance to the left shows her Little One, eyes bulging in fearful sympathy at Marliza’s limp form but then shifting to the hellish creatures that hurt her with a clenching of his jaw and showing his teeth. “I’ll try to keep them busy!,” he rumbles, then makes an enormous leap, rushing the creatures. Bell succeeds in pulling Marliza out of the corridor and into the security room as her coin rolls to a stop under the ogre.
Meredith’s healing energy disintegrates the impaling spines and Marliza gasps, filling her lungs, eyes wide. “Thank you!,” she whispers, recovering her footing, getting her bearings, and backing away from the door.
Erudisia (one imagines, nearly borne aloft by her wielding of elemental air), rushes into the room, sees Bell and Marliza, and notes Little One leaping down the corridor.
You all clock the ogre’s pounding steps followed by his grunts of pain. A moment later, the devils now appear at the door, wings flapping, their beady, flaming eyes quickly searching for and fastening upon Erudisia.
"That's the one!," one of them chuckles in a child's voice.
"She looks too stringy for a full meal!," answers the other, wickedly.
"Kill her and find out!"
Laughter trills from the pair like a stolen deathly kiss.
Please post for Round 4.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Erudisia's eyes widen in alarm, even as a shudder rips through her at their disquieting child-like voices, but with the two infernal fiends framed artfully by the door, she could hardly ask for better targets.
The Gust of Wind pauses from the briefest instant then emergest from her, directly blasting through the door and striking the wall beyond with the force of a tempest. As the flying devils deal with that, Erudisia brings the thunder with an Eldritch Blast.
[Attack: banked nat 20]
[Damage: 7, 3 +3 force; +2 thunder = 15 damage]
(Erudisia would target whichever cherubic imp resists her gusting winds, or else whichever is closest if both do/don't.)
Presuming that the imps also lack a key card, and perhaps are not the most trustworthy team players, the if both imps are pushed back into the corridor she shouts to Bell and Marliza, "Close the door and bar it shut!" even as her heart feels vice-shut for fear of what has happened to Little One, the final part of their band of four.
Bell will spring up to try to close the door.
If either of the creatures are 'in view' while attempting to close the door, she will use Mind Sliver 6 pts psychic damage
Bell will wedge her foot at the bottom of the door while she looks around for something to 'bar the door'.... desk, chair, file cabinet... whatever might be used to wedge and hold the door closed.
"Meredith, Erudisia... thank the gods. Little One is out in that hallway. He charged those things but it got very quiet. I do not know what condition he might be in."
Erudisia watches in surprise as her gusting zephyr, rather than ejecting her winged foes from the room, is pulled into the devils, as if the flying hell children are protected from magic. Their hellish flames only burn the brighter for it. (They are resistant to her magic and anything resulting from it. They make their saving throws at advantage. However, they are still affected by the movement portion of the spell.) Neither one is blown back, however, the warlock’s Eldritch Blast pierces one of their cursed magical shields and torpedoes the hellish cherub, disintegrating the chubby flesh off of its baby face to reveal sharp teeth and bone but leaving it with no less vigor than before! It clacks its teeth at Erudisia, eyes flaming in rage.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Bell’s Mind Sliver rips through psychic space at the devil, but just as with Erudisia, the devil’s hellish brain-form catches the psi-spike and snaps it in two, suffering no damage! (The devils have advantage on spell saves. They also occupy the doorway, but I’ll let Bell make a contested Strength check against them to force them out and close the door. [Beat a 19!]) Bell notices that there is no glowing green line around this door...)
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Strength Check: 2
Bell had hoped to force the imps out by slamming the door shut but...
Cursing under her breath at her lack of muscle, she add, "Now is when I wish Little One was here to make up for my failings."
Meredith ran up into the doorway slashing and clubbing at the flying things and trying to see Little One.
Attack: 13 Damage: Unable to parse dice roll.
BA- Attack: 16 Damage: 1
Bell’s attempts are harried by a flurry of bat-wings and bristling devil-spikes. The door remains open.
Meredith’s slash misses, but when the hell-cherub’s gnashing bone-face comes snapping at her, she knocks out one of its teeth.
“Ow!!, you huwt me,” it lisps, mockingly. But then shadows from Bell’s Light spell shift in the corridor beyond the doorway, anticipating the appearance of Little One. The green-suited ogre fills the doorway, grabs the wounded devil by one ankle and, using it like a fiery club, smashes it against the doorframe and floor. Little One then heaves it against the far wall like a javelin, to fall in a heap on a desktop.
But the devil pulls itself up, the flame gone from one smashed eye, its now toothless child-maw gaping like an old man’s. It shakes it off, then it and its hale twin launch their fiery spikes.
Vs Little One: 6 to hit /5HP piercing + 6HP fire
Vs Little One: 13 to hit for 5HP piercing + 1HP fire
Vs Meredith: 20 to hit for 4HP piercing + 3HP fire
Vs Erudisia: 17 to hit for 5HP piercing + 4HP fire
(Meredith and Little One are now Engaged in a hand-to-hand struggle with the (healthy) devil in the doorway.
The remaining devil is close to Erudisia, and down to 1HP. If someone hits it, they may describe its demise.)
Please post for Round 5 in any order.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
[Concentration Con save: Nat 20]
Erudisia moves so that her wind is focused again on Little One, Meredith and the evil imp, hoping to set them apart from each other.
The imp behind her is battered and weak. A sitting duck, or so she thinks. She fires an errant Eldritch Blast.
Attack: 8, 7 (Inspiration)
Damage: 11 force, 2 thunder.
Bell has figured out that her magic is nothing for these creatures; only physical combat seems to do anything at all. She is regretting her revealing gown... not being able to hide her light crossbow and bolts in the semi see thru material. Shifting material about, she draws the one dagger she was able to smuggle into the casino.
Using all she had learned back home, Bell will throw her dagger at the one Little One has been smashing and bashing.
Throw to Hit: 9 --> used Heroic Inspiration to try again to Hit: 10 Damage: 6 pts. piercing
Meredith clubs at the fiend next to her with the stolen security baton then throws her dagger at the one near Erudisia.
Attack: 12 Damage: 2
BA- Attack: 19 Damage: 1
(Oh no edit: wait… oh yes?).
(Alas, halved damage rounds down…)
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
The devils flutter and giggle their evil giggles, zigging, zagging, and flapping in the faces of our heroes, escaping harm.
Marliza seems frozen in shock following her terrible wounding. Despite Meredith’s healing, and Marliza’s innate courage, she is, in this moment, terrified, a teen who has gotten way more than she bargained for. (Perhaps someone could cajole or implore her to action.)
But Little One is not at all frozen (or blown away: he crits his strength save). No, indeed, Little One snatches the healthy devil out of the air, smashing it and hurling it as he had its twin. But this devil is wiley, curling around to avoid the worst of the blows, then banking upward on bat wings to avoid hitting the wall when thrown. But when it arcs back up, Erudisia’s gale catches it and flings it tumbling the other way, straight into Little One’s bone-cracking grip. Crowded by the massive ogre, it is unable to fling its barbs this round.
The other devil flits and skulks along the line of mirrors, flicking its flaming spines at Erudisia and Meredith:
Vs Erudisia: 19 to hit for 6HP piercing + 3HP fire
Vs Meredith: 10 to hit for 4HP piercing + 1HP fire
Please post for Round 6 in any order.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Bell, with no more weapons at hand falls back on a spell she knows well. magic missile
Dart 1: 2 pts force damage
Dart 2: 4 pts
Dart 3: 3 pts
All three flying at the creature battling Little One.