Amaruve spits a good berry out and feeds it to Prespicacious lifting her onto his back with his forepaws. A moment later the sound of hooves on stone. Amaruve bolts after Gordra, Prespicacious holding weakly to his shaggy black mane. (Warhorse)

Cordelia is ready, the moment the professor acts she is hidden. (Stealth: 11) She's Ready to cover their retreat with a bag of 1000 ball bearings in hand.

Jean nods sagely and hops onto the warhorse to help Prespicacious not fall off. "Ready!" She exclaims to the transformed Amaruve.

Okay... Okay...

This is going to get funky. Everyone (including Perspicacious), roll initiative!

**Here we go**

Initiative: 20

Gordra: 20
Ritz: 18
Perspicacious: 16
Cordelia: 12
The Pretender: 11
Jean: 10
Amaruve: 7

Initiative: 10

(You all remember when I mentioned Calvinball?)
Gordra, feeling a little salty after his first taste of excitement in the arena, takes action. As the Pretender prepares to lay out the DM's his carefully crafted plot of subterfuge, kidnapping, disguise, and regime change, he shouts a warning to his comrades and blankets the room in fog. The Pretender lets out a squawk of surprise, and Ritz, standing as it was between Amaruve on the couch and Perspicacious on the floor, is shoved unceremoniously out of the way and against the way by an uncaring Amaruve. The black bear is surprisingly gentle as it hacks its final berry into its paw and places it in the displaced tiefling's mouth. He then lifts her to his back, and he changes.

Perspicacious, blanketed though you are in the smothering darkness of Ritz's soporific poison, you taste something both sweet and profoundly musky (which is a fairly horrible combination). You are healed for 1 HP, and you begin to regain consciousness as you groggily realize that you are astride a great shaggy horse...bear. Amaruve again, then.

Jean, you have the good sense to grab ahold of Amaruve's pelt before he dashes toward the exit. Make an Acrobatics check (DC 10) if you want to leap astride his back behind Perspicacious. 

Cordelia, I'm going to make a DM call and say that you just dump a reasonable percentage of your ball bearings (which had been intended for one of your studies back in your own lab) right at the exit of the room into the large lab behind everyone. As you do so, you hear the Pretender say, "Where's the bloody vent control?"  and you see from Ritz's corner a swirling, violet flame bloom into being within the fog. The pursuit order is:

Gordra, Amaruve/Perspicacious/Jean, and Cordelia. 

Gordra, you find yourself in the middle of the lab. There are 3 exits. Two are blocked by iron gates, and one (the tunnel you came from initially) is open. It leads upward to the intersection, where if you turn right you will find yourselves topside. One other thing: You need a cane to walk, and yours cracked against the tough hide of Ritz. You notice as you run toward the tunnel that the Pretender set his amber-topped bamboo staff on a desk in front of you. Will you take it?

((Assuming the goodberry brings me too, but if not, ignore.))

Perspicacious suddenly awakes, coughing. And she's on a horse. Her scream of panic is cut short as she tries to hold on for dear life to the galloping equine. 
Strength to hold on, if needed: 23

In case I'm not being clear enough, this is the cane:

And I guess this is Amaruve?

Quote from AsbestosPenguin >>

((Assuming the goodberry brings me too, but if not, ignore.))

Perspicacious suddenly awakes, coughing. And she's on a horse. Her scream of panic is cut short as she tries to hold on for dear life to the galloping equine. 
Strength to hold on, if needed: 23

(Yeah, nat 20!)

Gordra grabs the amber topped staff and hobbles as quick as he can towards the tunnels they came from, looking behind him to make sure others are following.  This day has been a whirlwind for The Professor and while he is normally reserved and thinks everything through before acting, right now he is operating on instinct alone.  He pauses close to the exit, looking around the room for something to assist him.   Summoning his draconic ancestry he reaches out to the flaming sconce closest to the alcove, and waiting until all of his companions have left the room he will try to cast Control Flames to stretch the flames across the entryway into the alcove.

Professor, you feel power surging through you as you lift the staff. The amber bauble shines with a golden light, and the staff begins to smoke in contact with your draconic grasp. As you watch (while hobbling), the pale white wood darkens to a burnt black.

(You obtained the bug-in-amber staff! This is a +1 arcane focus that also grants 1 spell slot of your highest currently available level!)

Noice

(It also helps when trying to bring extinct populations back to life to threaten the lives of your friends.

Hands full for the morning I'll post actions in about 5 hours.)

Quote from BDaddLy >>

(It also helps when trying to bring extinct populations back to life to threaten the lives of your friends.)

 (I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about :D)

Gordra reaches out his staff toward the purple sconces just as Cordelia passes him into the tunnel. With a flick of his wrist, the purple flame-filled sconces on either side of the tunnel burst from their cases as fire forms a roiling gate behind the party. 

Ritz and the Pretender burst out of the fog cloud, slipping and skidding on the ball bearings scattered across the stone floor. Ritz flings out its hand at the desk from which the Professor grabbed the bug-in-amber staff, and a heavy (5#) stone paperweight is flung (via the catapult spell) into the tunnel arch. 

Professor, as you are standing behind the flame, you are in the path of the stone. Make a DEX saving throw (with advantage due to cover by the flames).

DC 12, otherwise 17 bludgeoning damage

*fingers crossed*

Dex save: 21

*whew*

Gordra, anticipating the construct's action and invigorated by his new arcane focus, spins like top away from the projectile like a dragonborn half his age. In fact (perhaps taking a moment to stare at his new cane in surprise), he realizes that his hip hasn't felt this good in years. The paperweight shatters against the wall where Gordra's head was just moments before.

(Just as a reminder:)
Gordra: 20
Ritz: 18
Perspicacious: 16
Cordelia: 12
The Pretender: 11
Jean: 10
Amaruve: 10 (updated with guidance bonus)

For his action, the Pretender runs up to the desk and, seeing that his cane has been stolen, screams, "PORTER! You common thief! Do you all really think you can run back to the Duke and leave this place with your lives?!" He curses in a torrent of bubbling, liquidy syllables...

...and nothing happens just yet...

(btw, Chase rules are now in effect)

Acrobatics check to hold onto the bearhorse: 2

Edit: lol