[I'm assuming the Vortex is to the South West based on the large map? Do I think this awareness and my mark pulsing started when Lojack bit me, or unrelated?]
Roland will drop another fire hopefully right in the middle of the three shades and one specter to the west. DC Dex 14 or 5 fire damage.
He will then alert Lucian, "my mark, it itches, and seems to be moving, similar to that vortex over there" pointing in the direction of the vortex.
He will then keep an eye on the vortex to see what happens, and will decide more next round.
Lucian glances to Roland, getting ready to fire another shot from his bow. “i knew something odd was going on with that…” he looks to the swirling vortex of magical energy. Does he sense anything as well?
A raging bonfire bursts into life on the platform, burning wisps of shadow away from the shades. Once more, you notice that while the fire seems to do some damage to the specter, it doesn't seem as bothered as you would expect.
Shades (3 group) DEX: 11 Specter DEX: 8
Roland: The vortex is more like directly south of you. You are quite sure when the mark started pulsing - it's a very subtle effect. Now that you do see it, you notice Lucian's doing the same. The awareness happened after Lojack bit you, which seems coincidental. What you felt in your mind was something intentional, like there was something intelligent behind it.
The remaining specter seems to phase out of existence, disappearing into thin air. Korranwould feel a cold presence move through him, and a moment later the ghostly creature reappears in front of Roland, thrashing at him with spectral claws (Melee Spell Attack against Roland:6 to hit). While the three shades flit around Holm, trying to grasp him with their clawed hands but failing to find purchase (Melee Group Attack against Holm:12 to hit).
As your battle continues, you notice once again that the chant grows louder. With every passing moment the fog seems to thicken, and each word rings with a hollow, metallic reverberation.
Lucian: Besides a deep sense of unease from the rolling thunder of syllables filling the air, you don't feel anything in particular. You look down at your mark for the same signs Roland mentioned, and you notice it to be very subtly pulsing.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Lucian, interested in his Mark’s sudden movements, is rather shocked as the specter appears right in front of Roland. He yells and swiftly produces an arrow, ready to fire at the accursed creature. “Why are they so fast-“ he whispers to himself, taking a deep breath and focusing on the ghastly creature, before letting loose the arrow.
for a bonus action, he uses steady aim for advantage. Then he uses his bow to fire an arrow at the specter attacking Roland.
Drawing on his past several years spent learning and researching, Holm quickly narrows down the nature of the runic circle between blasts from his metallic bracer. They didn't match anything he'd ever seen, divine or arcane, from any of the modern nations. But magic goes beyond structure, and there were elements here that he could recognize no matter their frame. He stands back up, releasing another burst of flame at the spirits as he shouts to the others. "This circle seems necromantic, but it's not any magic I recognize! Do we try to destroy it?"
BA: Flamethrower on the three right shadows for 13 fire damage or DEX 13 save for 6
A: Dagger attack at the guy between Holm and Dante. 13 to hit (I rolled twice in case we're using flanking advantage rules which we haven't discussed I don't think? But the second one was lower so it would be the first roll regardless) for 3 piercing damage.
An arrow flies between Rolandand the specter, vanishing into the fog. Across the bridge, Holm'scontraption lets out another fan of flames, incinerating what remained of the three shades. His dagger finds a fourth where its face should be, and it explodes into a fading black mist.
“You, open space, !” He shouts to Holm, advancing towards the remaining specter, taking mental note to avoid using spells that target the mental resistance of that kind of creature. Attacking a spell circle was a dangerous idea if song and tale were to be believed, but if the last moments were anything to go by more undead would appear if the thing was left alone. If his thought was right, if those dead were people at the summit, then maybe the sigil would gradually bring forth any number of those who stood there during the explosion. The crew would be exhausted long before making a dent on the enemy force. Dante was more mobile and his strikes had more impact. Roland and Lucian were too far away and the Artificer was the one with better understanding of magic. It has to be me, Korran decided. “I’ll attack the circle!”
And if the worse were to happen, well, it was enough of a miracle he didn’t die at the temple. To use a few extra minutes in order to save a few others wasn’t that bad of a way to go. Determined, the bard ran towards the circle, dropping both of his blades. As he extended his right hand a wharhammer appeared on it. After raising the weapon overheard with both hands, he made steel fall over stone.
Notes: Korran misses the flor drop his scimitars, spend a bonus action to use his Pact of the Blade and summon a warhammer as a pact weapon, and spends his action to attack the circle (13 to hit, 7 radiant damage).
The stone cracks under the weight of Korran'sswing, interrupting the flow of the odd sigil. Behind him, another bonfire erupts as Rolandburns away another shade as it fails to lay a deathly hand on Holm. The chanting ceases, and for a moment you feel relief - it's over.
And then a deep reverberation fills the air, like a hammer striking an anvil.
The dreadful voice begin to chant once more, even louder than before - feeling closer than before. To the north, rising above the cliffs you begin to see the silhouette of a massive structure reaching into the sky, a castle or a tower of some kind.
To Korran's horror, the sigil beneath his feet alights anew as the stone mends itself, and additional runes carve themself into existence on either side of it. You recognize now that this is not the mortal realm, that this world belongs to something evil, something powerful. And it is watching. And it is in near absolute control of this realm. You will not be able to stop it by merely breaking some arcane circles.
A denser, freezing fog begins to rise from the ground on the platform; more shades and another specter form out of it. Something seems different about them though, they appear fiercer, more frightening...Something else begins to build in front of you. Not another spectral form, but something more solid.
Your marks thrum and simultaneously you all feel a psychic spike drive itself into your minds. A strained voice all but screams. "RUN! I CAN'T HOLD HIM ANY LONGER, THE PORTAL!" Behind you, the arcane vortex in the distance flares brighter than before, and the swirling energies begin to calm into a still image. Through a thin shimmering veil, you can just make out the snow capped Blackstar Mountains, where the Temple of Sacred Light had once stood.
Wisdom Saving Throws (I rolled these to save time) Holm - 4 Dante - 8 Korran- 13 Lucian- 15 Roland- 15
As the presence withdraws from your minds, some of you feel a lingering pain in your heads. (Holmand Dantetake 4 psychic damage)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
”Oooooooooh Solarion…”Lucian whispers, Vaguely remembering the name of the paragon of light, shocked, confused and so, so very scared. A spike of psychic energy embeds itself into his mind temporarily, and he clutches his head in shock. As the pain recedes, he looks up, and sees the bright vortex, and… the Blackstar Mountains. Somewhere potentially safe. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to Lucian, but combined with what the voice told him, it’s his best shot.
”Everyone! We need to go! If we don’t, we might as well be dead!” he yells to the others across the bridge. He takes another arrow, lining up a quick shot with his bow, aiming for the spectre diagonal from Korran. Whether it hits or not, he then makes a frantic dash towards the portal, gesturing for the others to follow, heading towards the portal by the shortest route.
as an action, he attacks the spectre with his bow. To hit: 21 damage: 4+12 piercing damage.
as a bonus action, he uses cunning action to dash, increasing his speed from 35 ft to 70, and he runs towards the portal, in the most direct route he can.
When steel fell over stone he expected to die in an explosion, instead the circle simply stopped glowing and for a moment, a brief moment, he felt relief. Then came the sound, the renewed glow, the presence. Korran had never felt anything like that. It covered everything, overpowered everything, made him feel in the bones that whatever was coming was greater than the whole place, controlled it. We’re a different plane and its master’s coming, he understood as the undead appeared. He felt pain encroaching on his head and out of instinct fought it, repelled it, just before the voice echoed on his mind. The same was likely to have happened with the others, he understood as Lucian shouted.
“Daaaaash!” He shouted, pointing to the portal and starting to run ignoring the close specters. He was unhurt and had the Armor of Agathys. That should be enough to allow racing. On the way he stopped for the briefest of moments, to retrieve the scimitar he had dropped but a moment earlier. All his focus, all his forces, where channeled into running. The scenery beyond the portal didn’t exactly inspire hope. There was destruction there and if the leaders of the summit had died… Well, those were worries for later. Scaping had priority.
Notes: Korran spends his action to dash, moving 60ft towards the portal/exit. On the way he uses a free action to get his scimitar back.
Once Korran runs, and assuming Holm follows suit, Roland will cast a spell and cover the stairs in front of the undead swarm with spikes. He will then run 30 feet towards the portal, and as a bonus action, magically leap another 30 feet towards it.
dmg if needed for spike growth per 5 feet: 4 piercing.
[[ Huh, I just realized Roland is the only one out here with second level spells already. ]]
Before Holm can even react to the redhead's confirmation to destroy the sigil, another of his strange new comrades dashes by with a scimitar—no, a hammer now—to smash the stone apart. There was relief, and then pain, as a strange voice filled his head, and he could only assume the heads of the others. The red marks on his arm burned under CASK, and a vision of somewhat familiar mountains appeared in the vortex swirling in the distance. Shouts echoed around him from his companions, which he could barely make out through the thrumming in his head, but he knew he had to run. The wild man between him and the portal looked like he was holding some kind of spell, so rather than releasing another cone of flames, Holm simply ran, pausing only for a moment to fire a more focused pulse of red energy from the third arm of his bracer, which he'd yet to utilize in this battle.
Movement: 30 ft. south through Roland.
BA: Force Ballista at purple-white spirit 14 to hit for 6 force damage, and it is pushed 5 ft. back if possible (that may be a wall behind it I can't tell.
A: Ready another 30 ft. of movement south once Dante is out of the way to avoid the whole difficult terrain through another creature thing.
Lucian's arrow finds its mark this time, ripping away wisps of the specter's form. A moment later a concussive blast knocks it backwards, slamming it against the cliff face behind it.
After the others have started to pull back, but before Rolandcasts his spell and begins to retreat himself, he would see the unfinished form begin to take shape: a pale man, kneeling in reverence with his sword pointed into the ground. A dark steel armor begins to form around him next.
A growth of spikes erupt from the ground on the stairs, seemingly blocking the advance of the shades and specters...Until they rise into the air, flying 5 feet above the thorny growths as they give chase. Two of them fly past, coming back down to the ground as they land between Roland and the rest of the group. The other three stop to hover 5 feet above the druid in a line. As you look around, the shades always seem to be facing you, their faces shifting and twisting into a myriad of horrifying visages.
The specter flies off the side of the platform, avoiding the spike growth entirely.
OoC Note: I don't think Lucian's attack would have sneak attack damage here. It wasn't made with advantage and there were no allies within 5 ft. of the creature. If I'm wrong on this, let me know!
Hearing the spirits quickly approaching, Holm spins around, ready to fire another cone of flames into their midst, but stops just short as he realizes the wild-looking man is caught up in the middle of them. Shaking his head, he instead backtracks a moment before focusing once more and sending out another soft pulse of red light from the bracer to shield himself and the others around him, then resumes the dash for the portal.
BA: Protector for 5 temp HP to anyone out of Korran, Dante, and Roland that wants it (this will replace your AoA if it's still active or any other temp HP, so your choice whether to take them)
A: Dash (possible opportunity attacks as he moves back down)
Movement: 5 ft. N - BA - Remaining 55 ft. of movement in the quickest route to the portal.
Korran didn’t know what moved faster, his body or his mind. As he dashed towards the portal his legs were light, his breath unchanged and his mind filled with questions. What was that presence? How could it feel greater than the very space where it manifested, so capable of control everything around so completely? Not even the Primordials had that kind of authority over an environment. Not even in legend. Could it be they were dealing with a spirit higher than the very gods the knew? What about the voice? Whoever was behind it could hold the presence, if for a moment. And there were the marks. Hells, last time the bard felt that lost he wasn’t even a bard.
“Faster!” He shouted looking behind. Roland was almost entirely surrounded and different from Lucian didn’t seem to have a spell to jump farther. Part of him wanted to attack, cast and Eldritch Blast, but doing so had more chances of weighting down the crew. The spirits seemed stronger and that was likely to translate into their tolerance to damage. Even before that the rudimentary spell could hit but one target and hardly with enough power to kill. The optimal action was to focus all his strength into moving, into keep dashing, and so he did.
Notes: Korran moves his full speed towards the portal, then spends his action to dash in the same direction.
Lucian is relieved to see the others starting to follow him, continuing to shout and gesture for them to hurry. To free up his hands he takes his bow and puts it across his back, sprinting towards the portal frantically, with extreme, panicked speed and agility.
he dashes as both an action and a bonus action using cunning action. This adds up for a total of 105 ft. Of movement, and it’s a bit hard to see squares on the map, but if that would be enough to make it to the portal, he pauses just before it, looking back to the others to wait for them.
As Holmmoves out of their reach, both shades swipe at him(Melee Group Attack:24 to hit, 2 necrotic damage), slipping past his armor with chilling claws. Dantestrikes down one of the shades, dancing just out of reach as one tries to strike him in retaliation as he pulls away. While the rest dash across the bridge, Luciantakes off like a bolt fired from a crossbow. He comes up to the edge of the portal, feeling a cold breeze through it as the mountain air pushes into this deathly realm.
All four shades fly forward, surrounding Dante, swirling around him as their faces melt and change in horrifying fashion(At the start of your next turn, make a wisdom saving throw). The shades reach out to attack the warlock, but fail to get through his defensive stance(Melee Group Attack: 9).
Meanwhile, the specter flies towards the rest of the group - halfway there it turns invisible, reappearing in front of Korranwith its claws raised. The elvish man is caught by surprise, unable to dodge the attack as ghostly claws rake through him(Melee Spell Attack: 24 (Critical), 20 necrotic damage. Make a DC 12 Constitution Saving Throw, on a failure, expend a hit dice with no benefit).
On the platform, the dark iron armor plating finishes forming around the man. He stands up, walking up to the edge of Roland's spike growth. He disappears in a puff of mist, reappearing near the outer edge of the spell's effect. The thorns find the gaps in his armor as he wades through the remainder of them(taking 8 piercing damage), emerging on the other side. Dante would see the dark knight glaring at him with cold, icy blue eyes through his helmet visor.
Player characters are back up in initiative!
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[I'm assuming the Vortex is to the South West based on the large map? Do I think this awareness and my mark pulsing started when Lojack bit me, or unrelated?]
Roland will drop another fire hopefully right in the middle of the three shades and one specter to the west. DC Dex 14 or 5 fire damage.
He will then alert Lucian, "my mark, it itches, and seems to be moving, similar to that vortex over there" pointing in the direction of the vortex.
He will then keep an eye on the vortex to see what happens, and will decide more next round.
Lucian glances to Roland, getting ready to fire another shot from his bow. “i knew something odd was going on with that…” he looks to the swirling vortex of magical energy. Does he sense anything as well?
A raging bonfire bursts into life on the platform, burning wisps of shadow away from the shades. Once more, you notice that while the fire seems to do some damage to the specter, it doesn't seem as bothered as you would expect.
Shades (3 group) DEX: 11
Specter DEX: 8
Roland: The vortex is more like directly south of you. You are quite sure when the mark started pulsing - it's a very subtle effect. Now that you do see it, you notice Lucian's doing the same. The awareness happened after Lojack bit you, which seems coincidental. What you felt in your mind was something intentional, like there was something intelligent behind it.
The remaining specter seems to phase out of existence, disappearing into thin air. Korran would feel a cold presence move through him, and a moment later the ghostly creature reappears in front of Roland, thrashing at him with spectral claws (Melee Spell Attack against Roland: 6 to hit). While the three shades flit around Holm, trying to grasp him with their clawed hands but failing to find purchase (Melee Group Attack against Holm: 12 to hit).
As your battle continues, you notice once again that the chant grows louder. With every passing moment the fog seems to thicken, and each word rings with a hollow, metallic reverberation.
Lucian: Besides a deep sense of unease from the rolling thunder of syllables filling the air, you don't feel anything in particular. You look down at your mark for the same signs Roland mentioned, and you notice it to be very subtly pulsing.
Lucian, Holm, Dante, and Korran you're up!
Full Map
Lucian, interested in his Mark’s sudden movements, is rather shocked as the specter appears right in front of Roland. He yells and swiftly produces an arrow, ready to fire at the accursed creature. “Why are they so fast-“ he whispers to himself, taking a deep breath and focusing on the ghastly creature, before letting loose the arrow.
for a bonus action, he uses steady aim for advantage. Then he uses his bow to fire an arrow at the specter attacking Roland.
to hit: 22 damage: 8+9 piercing damage.
Drawing on his past several years spent learning and researching, Holm quickly narrows down the nature of the runic circle between blasts from his metallic bracer. They didn't match anything he'd ever seen, divine or arcane, from any of the modern nations. But magic goes beyond structure, and there were elements here that he could recognize no matter their frame. He stands back up, releasing another burst of flame at the spirits as he shouts to the others. "This circle seems necromantic, but it's not any magic I recognize! Do we try to destroy it?"
BA: Flamethrower on the three right shadows for 13 fire damage or DEX 13 save for 6
A: Dagger attack at the guy between Holm and Dante. 13 to hit (I rolled twice in case we're using flanking advantage rules which we haven't discussed I don't think? But the second one was lower so it would be the first roll regardless) for 3 piercing damage.
An arrow flies between Roland and the specter, vanishing into the fog. Across the bridge, Holm's contraption lets out another fan of flames, incinerating what remained of the three shades. His dagger finds a fourth where its face should be, and it explodes into a fading black mist.
Dante and Korran are next!
“You, open space, !” He shouts to Holm, advancing towards the remaining specter, taking mental note to avoid using spells that target the mental resistance of that kind of creature. Attacking a spell circle was a dangerous idea if song and tale were to be believed, but if the last moments were anything to go by more undead would appear if the thing was left alone. If his thought was right, if those dead were people at the summit, then maybe the sigil would gradually bring forth any number of those who stood there during the explosion. The crew would be exhausted long before making a dent on the enemy force. Dante was more mobile and his strikes had more impact. Roland and Lucian were too far away and the Artificer was the one with better understanding of magic. It has to be me, Korran decided. “I’ll attack the circle!”
And if the worse were to happen, well, it was enough of a miracle he didn’t die at the temple. To use a few extra minutes in order to save a few others wasn’t that bad of a way to go. Determined, the bard ran towards the circle, dropping both of his blades. As he extended his right hand a wharhammer appeared on it. After raising the weapon overheard with both hands, he made steel fall over stone.
Notes: Korran
misses the flordrop his scimitars, spend a bonus action to use his Pact of the Blade and summon a warhammer as a pact weapon, and spends his action to attack the circle (13 to hit, 7 radiant damage).Roland sees a glowing blade burst through the chest of the specter, followed by it slowly fading into the mist.
Korran is up!Full Map
Roland will drop another fire on the shade standing next to Holm. DC Dex 14 or 8 fire damage.
"I'm concerned with that vortex to the south, but don't think we should run off there yet" he'll say to Lucian.
He will then move 30 feet north towards the symbol on the ground Dante is off to attack.
The stone cracks under the weight of Korran's swing, interrupting the flow of the odd sigil. Behind him, another bonfire erupts as Roland burns away another shade as it fails to lay a deathly hand on Holm. The chanting ceases, and for a moment you feel relief - it's over.
And then a deep reverberation fills the air, like a hammer striking an anvil.
The dreadful voice begin to chant once more, even louder than before - feeling closer than before. To the north, rising above the cliffs you begin to see the silhouette of a massive structure reaching into the sky, a castle or a tower of some kind.
To Korran's horror, the sigil beneath his feet alights anew as the stone mends itself, and additional runes carve themself into existence on either side of it. You recognize now that this is not the mortal realm, that this world belongs to something evil, something powerful. And it is watching. And it is in near absolute control of this realm. You will not be able to stop it by merely breaking some arcane circles.
A denser, freezing fog begins to rise from the ground on the platform; more shades and another specter form out of it. Something seems different about them though, they appear fiercer, more frightening...Something else begins to build in front of you. Not another spectral form, but something more solid.
Your marks thrum and simultaneously you all feel a psychic spike drive itself into your minds. A strained voice all but screams. "RUN! I CAN'T HOLD HIM ANY LONGER, THE PORTAL!" Behind you, the arcane vortex in the distance flares brighter than before, and the swirling energies begin to calm into a still image. Through a thin shimmering veil, you can just make out the snow capped Blackstar Mountains, where the Temple of Sacred Light had once stood.
Wisdom Saving Throws (I rolled these to save time)
Holm - 4
Dante - 8
Korran - 13
Lucian - 15
Roland - 15
As the presence withdraws from your minds, some of you feel a lingering pain in your heads. (Holm and Dante take 4 psychic damage)
All 5 of you are up again in initiative.
Full Map
”Oooooooooh Solarion…”Lucian whispers, Vaguely remembering the name of the paragon of light, shocked, confused and so, so very scared. A spike of psychic energy embeds itself into his mind temporarily, and he clutches his head in shock. As the pain recedes, he looks up, and sees the bright vortex, and… the Blackstar Mountains. Somewhere potentially safe. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to Lucian, but combined with what the voice told him, it’s his best shot.
”Everyone! We need to go! If we don’t, we might as well be dead!” he yells to the others across the bridge. He takes another arrow, lining up a quick shot with his bow, aiming for the spectre diagonal from Korran. Whether it hits or not, he then makes a frantic dash towards the portal, gesturing for the others to follow, heading towards the portal by the shortest route.
as an action, he attacks the spectre with his bow. To hit: 21 damage: 4+12 piercing damage.
as a bonus action, he uses cunning action to dash, increasing his speed from 35 ft to 70, and he runs towards the portal, in the most direct route he can.
When steel fell over stone he expected to die in an explosion, instead the circle simply stopped glowing and for a moment, a brief moment, he felt relief. Then came the sound, the renewed glow, the presence. Korran had never felt anything like that. It covered everything, overpowered everything, made him feel in the bones that whatever was coming was greater than the whole place, controlled it. We’re a different plane and its master’s coming, he understood as the undead appeared. He felt pain encroaching on his head and out of instinct fought it, repelled it, just before the voice echoed on his mind. The same was likely to have happened with the others, he understood as Lucian shouted.
“Daaaaash!” He shouted, pointing to the portal and starting to run ignoring the close specters. He was unhurt and had the Armor of Agathys. That should be enough to allow racing. On the way he stopped for the briefest of moments, to retrieve the scimitar he had dropped but a moment earlier. All his focus, all his forces, where channeled into running. The scenery beyond the portal didn’t exactly inspire hope. There was destruction there and if the leaders of the summit had died… Well, those were worries for later. Scaping had priority.
Notes: Korran spends his action to dash, moving 60ft towards the portal/exit. On the way he uses a free action to get his scimitar back.
Once Korran runs, and assuming Holm follows suit, Roland will cast a spell and cover the stairs in front of the undead swarm with spikes. He will then run 30 feet towards the portal, and as a bonus action, magically leap another 30 feet towards it.
dmg if needed for spike growth per 5 feet: 4 piercing.
[[ Huh, I just realized Roland is the only one out here with second level spells already. ]]
Before Holm can even react to the redhead's confirmation to destroy the sigil, another of his strange new comrades dashes by with a scimitar—no, a hammer now—to smash the stone apart. There was relief, and then pain, as a strange voice filled his head, and he could only assume the heads of the others. The red marks on his arm burned under CASK, and a vision of somewhat familiar mountains appeared in the vortex swirling in the distance. Shouts echoed around him from his companions, which he could barely make out through the thrumming in his head, but he knew he had to run. The wild man between him and the portal looked like he was holding some kind of spell, so rather than releasing another cone of flames, Holm simply ran, pausing only for a moment to fire a more focused pulse of red energy from the third arm of his bracer, which he'd yet to utilize in this battle.
Movement: 30 ft. south through Roland.
BA: Force Ballista at purple-white spirit 14 to hit for 6 force damage, and it is pushed 5 ft. back if possible (that may be a wall behind it I can't tell.
A: Ready another 30 ft. of movement south once Dante is out of the way to avoid the whole difficult terrain through another creature thing.
Lucian's arrow finds its mark this time, ripping away wisps of the specter's form. A moment later a concussive blast knocks it backwards, slamming it against the cliff face behind it.
After the others have started to pull back, but before Roland casts his spell and begins to retreat himself, he would see the unfinished form begin to take shape: a pale man, kneeling in reverence with his sword pointed into the ground. A dark steel armor begins to form around him next.
A growth of spikes erupt from the ground on the stairs, seemingly blocking the advance of the shades and specters...Until they rise into the air, flying 5 feet above the thorny growths as they give chase. Two of them fly past, coming back down to the ground as they land between Roland and the rest of the group. The other three stop to hover 5 feet above the druid in a line. As you look around, the shades always seem to be facing you, their faces shifting and twisting into a myriad of horrifying visages.
The specter flies off the side of the platform, avoiding the spike growth entirely.
Full Map
Lucian, Dante, Korran, Holm, and Roland!
OoC Note: I don't think Lucian's attack would have sneak attack damage here. It wasn't made with advantage and there were no allies within 5 ft. of the creature. If I'm wrong on this, let me know!
Hearing the spirits quickly approaching, Holm spins around, ready to fire another cone of flames into their midst, but stops just short as he realizes the wild-looking man is caught up in the middle of them. Shaking his head, he instead backtracks a moment before focusing once more and sending out another soft pulse of red light from the bracer to shield himself and the others around him, then resumes the dash for the portal.
BA: Protector for 5 temp HP to anyone out of Korran, Dante, and Roland that wants it (this will replace your AoA if it's still active or any other temp HP, so your choice whether to take them)
A: Dash (possible opportunity attacks as he moves back down)
Movement: 5 ft. N - BA - Remaining 55 ft. of movement in the quickest route to the portal.
Korran didn’t know what moved faster, his body or his mind. As he dashed towards the portal his legs were light, his breath unchanged and his mind filled with questions. What was that presence? How could it feel greater than the very space where it manifested, so capable of control everything around so completely? Not even the Primordials had that kind of authority over an environment. Not even in legend. Could it be they were dealing with a spirit higher than the very gods the knew? What about the voice? Whoever was behind it could hold the presence, if for a moment. And there were the marks. Hells, last time the bard felt that lost he wasn’t even a bard.
“Faster!” He shouted looking behind. Roland was almost entirely surrounded and different from Lucian didn’t seem to have a spell to jump farther. Part of him wanted to attack, cast and Eldritch Blast, but doing so had more chances of weighting down the crew. The spirits seemed stronger and that was likely to translate into their tolerance to damage. Even before that the rudimentary spell could hit but one target and hardly with enough power to kill. The optimal action was to focus all his strength into moving, into keep dashing, and so he did.
Notes: Korran moves his full speed towards the portal, then spends his action to dash in the same direction.
Lucian is relieved to see the others starting to follow him, continuing to shout and gesture for them to hurry. To free up his hands he takes his bow and puts it across his back, sprinting towards the portal frantically, with extreme, panicked speed and agility.
he dashes as both an action and a bonus action using cunning action. This adds up for a total of 105 ft. Of movement, and it’s a bit hard to see squares on the map, but if that would be enough to make it to the portal, he pauses just before it, looking back to the others to wait for them.
Roland curses as the undead easily avoid his blockade!
He will Misty Step, then he will dash to the portal, his mind on escape with the others.
As Holm moves out of their reach, both shades swipe at him(Melee Group Attack: 24 to hit, 2 necrotic damage), slipping past his armor with chilling claws. Dante strikes down one of the shades, dancing just out of reach as one tries to strike him in retaliation as he pulls away. While the rest dash across the bridge, Lucian takes off like a bolt fired from a crossbow. He comes up to the edge of the portal, feeling a cold breeze through it as the mountain air pushes into this deathly realm.
All four shades fly forward, surrounding Dante, swirling around him as their faces melt and change in horrifying fashion(At the start of your next turn, make a wisdom saving throw). The shades reach out to attack the warlock, but fail to get through his defensive stance(Melee Group Attack: 9).
Meanwhile, the specter flies towards the rest of the group - halfway there it turns invisible, reappearing in front of Korran with its claws raised. The elvish man is caught by surprise, unable to dodge the attack as ghostly claws rake through him(Melee Spell Attack: 24 (Critical), 20 necrotic damage. Make a DC 12 Constitution Saving Throw, on a failure, expend a hit dice with no benefit).
On the platform, the dark iron armor plating finishes forming around the man. He stands up, walking up to the edge of Roland's spike growth. He disappears in a puff of mist, reappearing near the outer edge of the spell's effect. The thorns find the gaps in his armor as he wades through the remainder of them(taking 8 piercing damage), emerging on the other side. Dante would see the dark knight glaring at him with cold, icy blue eyes through his helmet visor.
Player characters are back up in initiative!