With Nyli and Chase clear, Dunkin takes a drop from his water skin and casts Ice Knife at Skeleton B as it begins to rise from its crypt. “I’ve always wanted to do this”, he thinks. Unfortunately, the crypt’s lid deflects most of the icy shard harmlessly into the ceiling.
OOC:
6 to hit (miss I presume), 4 piercing damage, 4 cold damage on failed DEX12 save
Skeleton A barely makes it out of its sarcophagus before Nyli nearly sends it back there for good. Skeletons B and C stand and brandish rusty weapons at Dunkin and Chase.
OOC:
You were ready for the skeletons' ambush, so you caught them off guard. It is now round 2 and your turn again.
Nyli swings at skeleton A with her dagger, hoping to finish it off, but misses. She follows up with the shortsword and the skeleton is reduced to a pile of bones.
With Skeleton A destroyed, its undead brother strikes back at Nyli, but Chase's enchantment mitigates the damage. Chase send off a bright bolt of energy at it, nearly destroying it, and leaving behind a glowing point of light on its lower spine, highlighting existing fractures in the vertebrae and a sizeable gap in its armor.
Dunkin's magic stone slips right between Skeleton B's bones, just below where its kidney had once been, and clatters against the stone wall beyond. The skeleton rushes at Dunkin wielding a shortsword, but Dunkin nimbly ducks under its wild thrust.
In the midst of the fight with the skeletons, a pair of energy beams pierce the northeast door of the room, burning a large hole in the door and singing the opposite wall. Through the hole floats a spherical thing with a gaping maw and a single great eye, set within four eyestalks. It looks at all of you simultaneously as you hear an alien voice in you heads. "This house and all within it belong to Glasstaff the Magnificent. Leave now or die, trespassers."
Regardless of the monster's warning, the remaining skeletons show no sign of letting up their attack.
OOC:
A DC 20 Intelligence (Arcana) check lets you know what the eyeball monster is:
A spectator is a lesser beholder that is summoned from another plane of existence by a magical ritual, the components of which include four beholder eyestalks that are consumed by the ritual’s magic. Appropriately, a spectator has four eyestalks that shoot forth deadly rays, two on each side of the wide eye at the center of its four-foot diameter body.
Magical Guardians. A summoned spectator guards a location or a treasure of its summoner’s choice for 101 years, allowing no creature but its summoner to enter the area or access the item, unless the summoner instructed otherwise. If the item is stolen or destroyed before the years have all passed, a summoned spectator vanishes. It otherwise never abandons its post.
Erratic Servants. Though it can speak, a spectator communicates primarily by way of telepathy. It is civil while on guard, openly discussing its orders and its summoner. However, even a brief conversation with a spectator is enough to reveal quirks in its personality brought on by its years of isolation. It might invent imaginary enemies, refer to itself in the third person, or try to adopt the voice of its summoner.
Like any beholder, a spectator views itself as the epitome of its kind, and it has an intense hatred of other spectators. If two spectators encounter one another, they almost always fight to the death.
Freed from Service. When a spectator has fulfilled its service, it is free to do as it pleases. Many take up residence in the places they previously guarded, especially if their summoners have died. With the spectator’s loss of purpose, the quirks it displayed during its servitude flourish.
Despite the skeleton in front of him, Dunkin senses the strange, floating, eyeball creature is the real threat. Raising his shield arm to protect against the repeated swings of Skeleton B, he touches a bead of perspiration on his nose and casts Ice Knife against the Spectator.
OOC:
Ice knife to hit=24, Piercing damage=6, On failed DEX12 save, 9 bludgeoning damage as shard explodes.
Dunkin's Ice Knife pierces the side of the spectator, but it does not explode. Instead, it flies straight back at Dunkin! It then does explode into icy shards. Those paying attention may notice the spectator's large, central eye following the path of the ice knife closely. Skeleton B does not even seem to notice the spell at all as it continues its relentless assault on Dunkin.
You all hear the same, strange voice in your heads, "I do not wish for you to leave. You are the first intruders I have met; what I wish is to fulfill my purpose and destroy you." The spectator focuses two of its eye stalks at Chase and Nyli, letting loose beams of red and yellow, respectively.
Resolving previous turn: Dex save vs Ice Knife: 16 --> no cold damage taken
Action: Confusion ray at Nyli; fear ray at Chase --> both must make DC 13 wisdom saving throws
Confusion Ray. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw, or it can’t take reactions until the end of its next turn. On its turn, the target can’t move, and it uses its action to make a melee or ranged attack against a randomly determined creature within range. If the target can’t attack, it does nothing on its turn.
Fear Ray. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, with disadvantage if the spectator is visible to the target, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Reaction: Spell reflection at Dunkin: Ice Knife --> 14 to hit Dunkin (miss)
Dunkin and Chase (and Skeleton B) must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or else take 11 Cold damage
Chase barely misses being hit by shards of ice, and as the fearsome beam of red washes over him he simply shakes it off. “Okay then let’s get up close and personal!”
Move into melee with spectator. Action attack warhammer 23 for 5 damage.
Dunkin successfully dodges the reflected ice shards (DEX save=14), and seeing Chase roll into berserker-mode, decides to do the same. He can’t help but grin before his jaw lengthens and he resumes his Brown Bear form. Skeleton B is easily within reach although it’s harder the get ahold of than he thought.
Nyli feels confusion for a split second but shakes it off. "Oh, you are so going to regret that!" She disengages from the last skeleton, and slides under the spectator, stabbing up with her shortsword as she passes underneath, leaving a gash on it's underside.
Wis save vs ray - 13
Bonus action - disengage.
Shortsword to hit Spectator 7. Re-roll due to heroic inspiration. To hit 15 damage 5.
The spectator finds itself surrounded. "Why are my beams not working?" you all hear it cry out in your minds. "You should be running away, and you should be backstabbing your allies, and you . . . should not be a bear! No matter, it is time to bring out the big guns!"Its five eyes growing wild with desperation, the spectator lets loose two more beams as the remaining skeleton charges at Nyli from behind.
**Nyli should roll sneak attack damage for her last attack because her allies were within 5 ft. of the spectator
Action: Paralyzing Ray at Nyli; Wounding Ray at Dunkin --> both must make DC 13 Constitution saving throws
Paralyzing Ray. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Wounding Ray. The target must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw, taking 17 necrotic damage on a failed save, or 8 damage on a successful one.
Map:
You're all bunched up against the north wall now. It's safe to assume everyone is within 5 ft. of everyone else. If you request, I will post a map.
As Nyli turns to continue her attack she feels one of the eye beams strike home. She tries to shake it off, but it's power overwhelms her and finds herself unable to do anything except watch the advancing skeleton.
Chase in his haste to eradicate the Spector is stung by a short sword. Blood dripping from his injury he loses focus (ending heroism) but as his hammer solidly connects he follows with another…
As Dunkin swipes at Skeleton B he feels the Spectator’s beam like a physical blow. Then the pain starts as the necrosis spreads (CON save=8, fail). He casts Healing Word on himself, and his anger now inflamed, rushes the Spectator. He barrels into the floating being and drives it into the ground, but his jaws miss purchase on any of the eye stalks (bite attack, 2+5 mod=7, miss).
OOC:
Bonus action cast Healing Word on self (+7 hp)
Skeleton B should be at 8 hp after my last round, and should also be prone.
The spectator's eye stalks twitch back and forth as it weaves back and forth in space, narrowly dodging the attacks coming from all directions. Despite all its evasion, it never retreats. Indeed, it continues its attacks, along with the skeleton, who doesn't seem to react to anything except your physical presence. Where the skeleton acts robotically, the spectator seems to be treating this as a battle to the death.
OOC:
Rolling Nyli's DC 13 Con save vs. paralysis: 14 (pass) --> no longer paralyzed
Action: Confusion Ray at Nyli; Paralyzing Ray at Chase
Confusion Ray. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw, or it can’t take reactions until the end of its next turn. On its turn, the target can’t move, and it uses its action to make a melee or ranged attack against a randomly determined creature within range. If the target can’t attack, it does nothing on its turn.
Paralyzing Ray. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
With Nyli and Chase clear, Dunkin takes a drop from his water skin and casts Ice Knife at Skeleton B as it begins to rise from its crypt. “I’ve always wanted to do this”, he thinks. Unfortunately, the crypt’s lid deflects most of the icy shard harmlessly into the ceiling.
OOC:
6 to hit (miss I presume), 4 piercing damage, 4 cold damage on failed DEX12 save
Monsters Round 1
Skeleton A barely makes it out of its sarcophagus before Nyli nearly sends it back there for good. Skeletons B and C stand and brandish rusty weapons at Dunkin and Chase.
OOC:
You were ready for the skeletons' ambush, so you caught them off guard. It is now round 2 and your turn again.
Skeleton B DC 12 Dex save vs. Ice Knife: 13
Monsters:
Nyli swings at skeleton A with her dagger, hoping to finish it off, but misses. She follows up with the shortsword and the skeleton is reduced to a pile of bones.
Dagger 7 - miss
Shortsword 17 to hit damage 4
Skeleton A dead (again)
Nyli Bemblade - Gnome Arcane Trickster
Portia Thornleaf - Halfling Rogue
Chase uses guiding bolt on skeleton c, attack 14 damage 15.
Wise as a serpent and sly as a fox.
Stooping to pick up a stone, Dunkin casts Magic Stone and lets fly with his sling at Skeleton B (unfortunately missing at close range).
OOC:
Magic Stone attack=8 (miss)
Monsters Round 2
With Skeleton A destroyed, its undead brother strikes back at Nyli, but Chase's enchantment mitigates the damage. Chase send off a bright bolt of energy at it, nearly destroying it, and leaving behind a glowing point of light on its lower spine, highlighting existing fractures in the vertebrae and a sizeable gap in its armor.
Dunkin's magic stone slips right between Skeleton B's bones, just below where its kidney had once been, and clatters against the stone wall beyond. The skeleton rushes at Dunkin wielding a shortsword, but Dunkin nimbly ducks under its wild thrust.
In the midst of the fight with the skeletons, a pair of energy beams pierce the northeast door of the room, burning a large hole in the door and singing the opposite wall. Through the hole floats a spherical thing with a gaping maw and a single great eye, set within four eyestalks. It looks at all of you simultaneously as you hear an alien voice in you heads. "This house and all within it belong to Glasstaff the Magnificent. Leave now or die, trespassers."
Regardless of the monster's warning, the remaining skeletons show no sign of letting up their attack.
OOC:
A DC 20 Intelligence (Arcana) check lets you know what the eyeball monster is:
A spectator is a lesser beholder that is summoned from another plane of existence by a magical ritual, the components of which include four beholder eyestalks that are consumed by the ritual’s magic. Appropriately, a spectator has four eyestalks that shoot forth deadly rays, two on each side of the wide eye at the center of its four-foot diameter body.
Magical Guardians. A summoned spectator guards a location or a treasure of its summoner’s choice for 101 years, allowing no creature but its summoner to enter the area or access the item, unless the summoner instructed otherwise. If the item is stolen or destroyed before the years have all passed, a summoned spectator vanishes. It otherwise never abandons its post.
Erratic Servants. Though it can speak, a spectator communicates primarily by way of telepathy. It is civil while on guard, openly discussing its orders and its summoner. However, even a brief conversation with a spectator is enough to reveal quirks in its personality brought on by its years of isolation. It might invent imaginary enemies, refer to itself in the third person, or try to adopt the voice of its summoner.
Like any beholder, a spectator views itself as the epitome of its kind, and it has an intense hatred of other spectators. If two spectators encounter one another, they almost always fight to the death.
Freed from Service. When a spectator has fulfilled its service, it is free to do as it pleases. Many take up residence in the places they previously guarded, especially if their summoners have died. With the spectator’s loss of purpose, the quirks it displayed during its servitude flourish.
Monsters:
Skeleton A (Skeleton) 0/15 HP (dead)Map:
Despite the skeleton in front of him, Dunkin senses the strange, floating, eyeball creature is the real threat. Raising his shield arm to protect against the repeated swings of Skeleton B, he touches a bead of perspiration on his nose and casts Ice Knife against the Spectator.
OOC:
Ice knife to hit=24, Piercing damage=6, On failed DEX12 save, 9 bludgeoning damage as shard explodes.
Chase launches another guiding bolt at the spectator missing by an eyestalk…
Wise as a serpent and sly as a fox.
Nyli shouts "If you wish us to leave, tell these creatures to stop attacking us! Until then we will defend ourselves."
She swings at Skeleton C with her shortsword 21 to hit, 5 damage.
She follows up with her dagger at Skeleton B: 17 to hit 1 damage
Skeleton C - Dead
Skeleton B - 13/14 Hp
Nyli Bemblade - Gnome Arcane Trickster
Portia Thornleaf - Halfling Rogue
Monsters Round 3
Dunkin's Ice Knife pierces the side of the spectator, but it does not explode. Instead, it flies straight back at Dunkin! It then does explode into icy shards. Those paying attention may notice the spectator's large, central eye following the path of the ice knife closely. Skeleton B does not even seem to notice the spell at all as it continues its relentless assault on Dunkin.
You all hear the same, strange voice in your heads, "I do not wish for you to leave. You are the first intruders I have met; what I wish is to fulfill my purpose and destroy you." The spectator focuses two of its eye stalks at Chase and Nyli, letting loose beams of red and yellow, respectively.
OOC:
Monsters:
Skeleton A (Skeleton) 0/15 HP (dead)Skeleton C (Skeleton) 0/17 HP (dead)Map:
No changes except that Skeleton C is destroyed
Chase barely misses being hit by shards of ice, and as the fearsome beam of red washes over him he simply shakes it off. “Okay then let’s get up close and personal!”
Move into melee with spectator.
Action attack warhammer 23 for 5 damage.
maintain concentration on heroism
Wise as a serpent and sly as a fox.
Dunkin successfully dodges the reflected ice shards (DEX save=14), and seeing Chase roll into berserker-mode, decides to do the same. He can’t help but grin before his jaw lengthens and he resumes his Brown Bear form. Skeleton B is easily within reach although it’s harder the get ahold of than he thought.
OOC:
Wild Shape=Brown Bear
Bite attack=5 (miss)
Claw attack=14 (hit), 5 slashing damage
Nyli feels confusion for a split second but shakes it off. "Oh, you are so going to regret that!" She disengages from the last skeleton, and slides under the spectator, stabbing up with her shortsword as she passes underneath, leaving a gash on it's underside.
Wis save vs ray - 13
Bonus action - disengage.
Shortsword to hit Spectator 7. Re-roll due to heroic inspiration. To hit 15 damage 5.
Nyli Bemblade - Gnome Arcane Trickster
Portia Thornleaf - Halfling Rogue
Monsters Round 4
The spectator finds itself surrounded. "Why are my beams not working?" you all hear it cry out in your minds. "You should be running away, and you should be backstabbing your allies, and you . . . should not be a bear! No matter, it is time to bring out the big guns!" Its five eyes growing wild with desperation, the spectator lets loose two more beams as the remaining skeleton charges at Nyli from behind.OOC:
see below
Monsters:
Skeleton A (Skeleton) 0/15 HP (dead)Skeleton C (Skeleton) 0/17 HP (dead)Map:
You're all bunched up against the north wall now. It's safe to assume everyone is within 5 ft. of everyone else. If you request, I will post a map.
OOC:
Nyli's sneak attack is 11 so Spectator is now on 9/41
Nyli Bemblade - Gnome Arcane Trickster
Portia Thornleaf - Halfling Rogue
As Nyli turns to continue her attack she feels one of the eye beams strike home. She tries to shake it off, but it's power overwhelms her and finds herself unable to do anything except watch the advancing skeleton.
Con save 7 - Nyli paralyzed.
Nyli Bemblade - Gnome Arcane Trickster
Portia Thornleaf - Halfling Rogue
Chase in his haste to eradicate the Spector is stung by a short sword. Blood dripping from his injury he loses focus (ending heroism) but as his hammer solidly connects he follows with another…
Action attack warhammer 11 miss whoosh
Wise as a serpent and sly as a fox.
As Dunkin swipes at Skeleton B he feels the Spectator’s beam like a physical blow. Then the pain starts as the necrosis spreads (CON save=8, fail). He casts Healing Word on himself, and his anger now inflamed, rushes the Spectator. He barrels into the floating being and drives it into the ground, but his jaws miss purchase on any of the eye stalks (bite attack, 2+5 mod=7, miss).
OOC:
Bonus action cast Healing Word on self (+7 hp)
Skeleton B should be at 8 hp after my last round, and should also be prone.
Monsters Round 5
The spectator's eye stalks twitch back and forth as it weaves back and forth in space, narrowly dodging the attacks coming from all directions. Despite all its evasion, it never retreats. Indeed, it continues its attacks, along with the skeleton, who doesn't seem to react to anything except your physical presence. Where the skeleton acts robotically, the spectator seems to be treating this as a battle to the death.
OOC:
Rolling Nyli's DC 13 Con save vs. paralysis: 14 (pass) --> no longer paralyzed
Monsters:
Skeleton A (Skeleton) 0/15 HP (dead)Skeleton C (Skeleton) 0/17 HP (dead)Chase Con save vs paralysis… 8 Chase‘s mind panics even his eyes stare straight ahead yet his mind works…
He examines what he can see of the stonework in this room. (Stonework) history 14
Wise as a serpent and sly as a fox.