This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Ryloos draws another arrow to her bow as Helios's sunlight strikes the beast and it falls limp. She's disappointed by her inability to seriously wound the beast or contribute at all. But all of that is broken when the roaring starts again, only this time it is much, much closer. By her judgement, the roaring originated only 20-30 feet behind them. She scans the tunnels for some inkling of a clue of what is coming..
The blasts of radiant light strike the vitreous flesh of the gator. Aptly named as it were, cracks spiderweb across the glass gator's translucent skin and then shatter, brittle exoskeleton breaking away to leak sickly, sticky hemolymph. In its death throes, it sprays you and your teammates with glowing bits of its sap-like lifeblood. It is a visceral display of beauty.
ALL
The glass gator is well and truly dead with relatively little difficulty. But that roaring beast is closer - you can hear it thundering towards you. You are still several hundred feet from the exit grill, which is actually imbedded in the ceiling above you. You may be able to escape if you act quickly. Or prepare to attack, should it strike your fancy. You've had a couple of easy victories - I promise you that this fight, were you to choose to engage, will be significantly more difficult.
"Awaiting orders Sergeant, should we run for the exit or prepare for the next attack?" HELIOS wipes a hand across his face attemting to remove the glass gators blood but just ends up smearing it more before forming a ball of sunlight in each hand.
Depending on Lofty's orders HELIOS will either full run towards the gate or take a defensive stance turned towards the sound of the roaring beast. Either way radiant sunbolt is prepared to go if threatened.
Buoyside's smile fades into a satisfied smirk, he's unable to express how disappointed he is that the creatures blood was translucent and that the body of water they're standing in isn't a rich, red pond. He locates his sheathe, still floating on the surface, and retrieves it. "We ****ed that thing up, thank god I was around to shatter that bastards leg, eh? Kind of saved you all...well, 'I'..." Buoyside does air quotes around the I, "...didn't, I guess. If I were around it'd be over much quicker. Much more violent and impressive." He turns to the load roar and his eyes light up. "And there's more fun to be had! We can't just keep running from this ol' ****, he's asking so nicely! 'Please, wait up for me! I long to feel the length of your enormous blade, Buoyside! I need to feel you inside of me!' Classic big ol' monster, classic villain." Buoyside laughs, genuinely pleased with himself. He removes a coil of rope from his pack. "Cap'n, I'll start rigging some rope..."
Buoyside begins rigging rope between pillars in segments, in some places he rigs just below the surface of the water, other times closer to his waist, he's unaware how large the monster is so he's trying to check all his boxes. He even shimmy's up the pillars, intending to rig some high up.
Acrobatics check for high ropes 17
For now I'm just going to have Buoyside's personality switch every 5 turns to keep it fresh, so here's the ol' ******* version of him.
"Sorry bouyside, I'd love to join you in turning that beast into a heap of gore, but I'm afraid we've got a job to do. The army is dying out there, time is of the essence." Lofty motions for the squad to move out and spends a moment consoling the clearly disappointed Bouyside. "We both know you would slice that thing to ribbons but your talents are needed elsewhere. Who knows, maybe it'll find us again huh? It seems persistent."
I'm gonna cast guidance on whoever goes for the grate, add 1d4 to your check.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Hearing Lofty's orders HELIOS grabs some of the rope from Buoysides hands and takes off in a sprint towards the gate and leaps off the wall in an attempt to grab and dislodge the exit grill.
Acrobatics Check - 15
Assuming a success on reaching and removing the grill HELIOS attempts to tie off the rope above and toss it down to the party below.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Buoyside stares blankly at the Captain, he firmly disagrees with this decision. Retreat? He thinks. Scurry away like roaches in the torchlight, to hide in the muck like some slippery bastard? Buoyside doesn't respect much in this world, other than his own skills, blade and how a disemboweled creature steams in the darkness, but he does feel some shred of loyalty to the captain. He clears his throat. "Very...well, then. Okay. Excuse me." He turns to start retrieving his ropes, calmly at first, before he just starts hacking them down, knowing he can thread them back up in no time. "Sure, spare that giant ******* beast hunting us to save some cowards on the fields. They'll die without us and they deserve it. Can't hoist your own rotten corpse and hold your head high for the enemy to strike you down? No, inconvenience ol' Buoyside. He'll save you. Don't worry, he's got a 9 foot long ****in' sword but he'll play medic for you, maybe he'll also suck. your. *******. pecker." He finishes, sighs heavily in release and folds the rope back into his pack. He turns back to the captain, handing him his sheath. "Now, if you wouldn't mind sir...sheathe me."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Lofty thought for a moment about how best to mollify the swordsman as he helped bouyside with his blade.
"You know...we're about to become the first people to walk the streets above us in over a century. Think of it. The whole city is one giant antique. Even their bedpans would be worth a hefty sum to the right buyer." Five minutes ago Bouyside probably would have been horrified his CO was suggesting such behavior, but Lofty suspected the Bouyside next to him now would jump at the chance. His moods ran deeper than a bad temper, but that mystery would have to wait.
"C'mon, let's check it out."
Lofty grabs hold of the rope and begins to climb. 6
After hearing what was coming behind them, Xantlin breathes a slight sigh of relief at the Sergeant's decision. He quickly stuffs his amulet down his robes and makes toward HELIOS's rope.
Climb roll (not totally sure what this is for?) - 4
HELIOS, following his orders to the perfection demanded by his sentience algorithm, runs over to the grill. He spends several seconds adjusting his position and posture and poise, a series of microadjustments to his weight and balance too fine for the coarse human eye to appreciate taking place beneath his metallic exterior. With impressive strength, he launches himself upwards, kicking off a nearby support pylon and punching through the grill in one swift, elegant motion. He finds himself in a vertical shaft, up which he scurries with singular speed and efficiency. Coming to its rim, he finds himself in a dusty room filled with a series of curious pipes, hydraulics, and nondescript canisters, its interior covered in a thick layer of dust. After briefly scanning the room for danger, he returns to his task, fastening a rope to an overlying spigot and kicking the excess spooling down to his comrades.
Ryloos, nimble and lithe, soon afterward follows him up the rope. She climbs with the agility of one accustomed to scuttling into areas when opportunity presents itself...and shimmying out when consequence comes calling. She leaps from the hole, dagger once again in hand.
Lofty is the next to ascend. Though laden with heavy weapons and plate armor, he is able to drag himself proficiently, if not easily, through the grate by sheer stubborn will and brute strength. He is winded and his pristine armor may have been scraped against the rough stonework, but Lofty is otherwise no worse for the wear.
Xantlin struggles a smidge. After all, clerics dedicate themselves to perfecting their understanding intent and will of the gods, not necessarily the strength of their muscles nor the limits of their endurance. But he suffices, a friendly - if somewhat begrudging - push from Buoyside giving him the inertia to climb, the welcoming arms of Lofty and Ryloos awaiting him at the top. As he rises, the sounds of crashing water and roaring grow much, much louder.
BUOYSIDE
And so we come to the fate and actions of the one named Buoyside. He stands guards valiantly, angrily, eager for battle, side by side with his elaborate rope trap as his team ascends into the castle above. He keeps his eyes peeled on the mist, eyes scouring the darkness before him for any sign of the rapidly advancing foe. He grins, relishing the thought of a fight - that is, until he sees the erudite Xantlin struggling. He gives the half-elf a shove to hurry him along and watches him vanish into the ceiling, his colorful tapestry of a stole fluttering behind him.
It is now Buoyside's turn to climb. He sighs ruefully, casting one last plaintive look at his ropes before slinging his blade over his shoulder, taking the rope in his gauntleted hand. He gives the rope a firm tug, steeling himself for the climb..****y to feel the rope suddenly go lax in his grip, the spigot subsequently striking him in the head.
There is a pause. Even the monster seems to freeze at the sound of the spigot splashing into the water, its roaring dying out abruptly. Buoyside's voice echoes hollowly in the reservoir.
"Uh oh."
Buoyside looks up at the ceiling, to the worried faces of his friends and comrades, only to watch them disappear in a cloud of steam and crumbling brickwork. He is - you are - alone.
ALL
Pulled free by Buoyside's weight, a jet of highly pressurized steam fires out of a nearby hydraulic structure. Seconds later, you feel the vary stone beneath you shift violently, waves of force rolling through them as a pressurized pipe explodes somewhere below you. You have no choice but to flee as the room fills with scalding steam and pulverized stone, obstructing the grill from which you made your egress, your friend trapped below with the beast.
Time is working against you. You must find a way to get back to Buoyside and help him to escape, hoping that he can hold his own against the creature in the interim. The steam will scald human skin in seconds. While your steel skin may resist the heat, its humidity may permanently warp and damage the finely-calibrated telemetric instruments of a warforged with prolonged exposure. Creative solutions are encouraged. There may also be an alternative route back to the reservoir.
I guess it's time to stop being coy about what's chasing you.
In the old legends, there were a race of creatures called the aboleth. Fishlike aberrations from another plane, they were creatures of immense spite and cruelty, traveling between worlds and enslaving the weak-minded lesser races to their will. They were products of a dark, eldritch horror completely anathema to the minds of men.
Even amongst the aboleth, however, some of their kind were drawn to the void, to the dark eddies where the waters of times ran stagnant and deep. These aboleth, when they re-emerged, had...changed. And none for the better.
Here's the skinny on them:
The Good - They are undead, and so take double damage from radiant attacks.
The Bad -Everything else. They are resistant (i.e., half damage) to all nonmagical weapons when in material form and totally immune to nonmagical attacks when immaterial. That's right - they can swap between dimensions as a bonus action, rendering them functionally immune to your attacks. They corrupt the world around themselves and, should they weaken you sufficiently, can potentially enslave you. Forever.
BUOYSIDE
As you slowly turn back to face your foe, you glimpse a horrid wretch of a monster, something like an ancient placoderm (prehistoric fish) mixed with a tentacled alien. Also, it smells of rot, its flesh literally decaying in front of your eyes, only for the putrescent flesh to revitalize once again as time ebbs and flows about the beast. Having caught its prey, it seems much calmer and less frenetic, swimming lazily around you through both water and (alarmingly) air, intermittently disappearing into the interstitial spaces between dimensions as a purple-shroud. It regards you hungrily and with intense, utterly alien hatred.
From here, it'll pretty much function like you're in combat. Mick can take a turn at attacking, the rest of you can take a turn trying to get to him (rules regarding movements and actions still applying), and once you've batched your turns, the nihileth will attack. Or really, whenever it wants...it's got legendary actions.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Buoyside grins at the beast before him. "Ah, so you've come to meet ol' Buoyside Zinfandel have you? You've come to feel my length inside of you? You've come to get ****ed?" He whips the sheath off of his blade, casting it against a wall before it plops into the water and floats. He calls out to the WUSS crew above. "Take your time boys, we're going to have some fun!"
Buoyside leaps forward and slashes at the creature. 23 (was 17)
69 total damage? I genuinely don't know what to do with these dice rolls changing when I edit too much. I'm in a rush because I'm getting picked up so let me know if I totally ****ed that up. I can redo it tomorrow night, but I think I did it right. If you trust my initial rolls, which I have no reason to lie about.
Casting your sheath aside, you focus all of your strength into a series of brutal slashes with your weapon. Though the initial blows seems to little affect the creature, your sword pulses with divine energy. The blast shatters scale and scatters the creature's decaying flesh from its flanks. You sever one of its facial tentacles. The creature writhes in pain and recoils, falling into the water. (Nihileth HP 135 --> 66)
For a second, you are convinced that you have won.
Then the creature springs leaps from the water, its tentacles flailing violently.
Does Buoyside get poisoned? (Constitution save 14) 10 22 10He would have if he didn't have divine health.
The beast strikes you three times, each blow landing with incredible force, denting armor and bruising flesh. Your stagger to your knees, cowed by the onslaught; at the same time, you feel your left radius and ulna shatter beneath an unfortunate glancing blow. Wincing in pain, you assess your wounds: a sickly, greenish venom seeps into the lacerations inflicted by the beast, which you quickly realize is the nihileth's attempt to envenomate you. Moments later, however, your wound glows a gentle gold color and the noxious effects of the venom are neutralized.
Before you can react, the fish monster dives into the air, its edges blurring as it wriggles into the grey spaces between planes. You track its nebulous, purple outline swimming through the air like a bruise on the skin of existence. It is a heinous thing.
The creature is now incorporeal. Your weapons cannot hurt it, but spells may be able to.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Ryloos rolls out of the steam filled room. The echoes of the battle below somehow reach her ears but she cannot pin point where they are coming from. She scans the room in which she was rolled into for the source of the noise transfer.
Perception check:3
She looks around but there is no light here in the depths of what she believes is the castle of the royal family. The only thing that she can make out is the sound of Buoyside's grunts and armor crinkling. "I can hear sounds from the sewers in here!," she yells out to her compatriots but the dark and mist are thick here and she is uncertain whether they are with her or not.
Ryloos desperately fumbles about in the mist, searching for a way back to the reservoir to assist Buoyside. His face infinitely calm and inscrutable in a way that only elves can evince, Xantlin joins her, his clever eyes carefully studying their surroundings. As they stumble down the hall, they come across a second door. Xantlin notices a small rivulet of water running through an inclined gutter carved into the base of the door. On attempting to force entry, however, you realize that the door is secured fast.
Instead of a lock, it has a complex circular contraption with three symbols placed equidistant about its circumference. They are, in order, a half-sun, a full sun, and then a full moon. Currently, the full sun sits at the top of the circle with the half sun at the bottom right and the moon at the lower left. Beneath the contraption, an engraving reads, "Let the day pass into night but ill afford the dawn." There appears to be some smudged writing below the riddle, though it is difficult to make out in the poorly lit, fog-laden halls of the castle.
In case it wasn’t clear, you can turn the circular structure with the symbols on it. You’ve only got two options - turn it clockwise or counterclockwise. One will open the door. The other will...I dunno. Fire a bunch of angry fire ants at you.
Lofty runs cursing from the boiling hot room and staggers over to Xantlin. Fidgeting to keep the hottest bits of his armor from touching bear skin, he doesn't stop to wonder why Xantlin hasn't proceeded and turns the doorknob clockwise without reading the inscription.
"Ah yes, this light helps tremendously when attacking the target, chance of success versus this beast is now 100%."
HELIOS spins towards the now glowing gator and launches 3 orbs of sunlight at it. (Two from attack action and one from bonus action.)
13, 16, 27
All 3 bolts strike into the side of the beast (rolling all the damage at once for simplicity, 1d6+5 for each)
26 Radiant Damage
The glass like skin of the beast cracks as it falls limp in the water still glowing from Xantlin's spell.
H.E.L.I.O.S - Warforged Sun Soul Monk
AC - 19
Ryloos draws another arrow to her bow as Helios's sunlight strikes the beast and it falls limp. She's disappointed by her inability to seriously wound the beast or contribute at all. But all of that is broken when the roaring starts again, only this time it is much, much closer. By her judgement, the roaring originated only 20-30 feet behind them. She scans the tunnels for some inkling of a clue of what is coming..
Perception check: 15
HELIOS
The blasts of radiant light strike the vitreous flesh of the gator. Aptly named as it were, cracks spiderweb across the glass gator's translucent skin and then shatter, brittle exoskeleton breaking away to leak sickly, sticky hemolymph. In its death throes, it sprays you and your teammates with glowing bits of its sap-like lifeblood. It is a visceral display of beauty.
ALL
The glass gator is well and truly dead with relatively little difficulty. But that roaring beast is closer - you can hear it thundering towards you. You are still several hundred feet from the exit grill, which is actually imbedded in the ceiling above you. You may be able to escape if you act quickly. Or prepare to attack, should it strike your fancy. You've had a couple of easy victories - I promise you that this fight, were you to choose to engage, will be significantly more difficult.
"Awaiting orders Sergeant, should we run for the exit or prepare for the next attack?" HELIOS wipes a hand across his face attemting to remove the glass gators blood but just ends up smearing it more before forming a ball of sunlight in each hand.
Depending on Lofty's orders HELIOS will either full run towards the gate or take a defensive stance turned towards the sound of the roaring beast. Either way radiant sunbolt is prepared to go if threatened.
H.E.L.I.O.S - Warforged Sun Soul Monk
AC - 19
Buoyside's smile fades into a satisfied smirk, he's unable to express how disappointed he is that the creatures blood was translucent and that the body of water they're standing in isn't a rich, red pond. He locates his sheathe, still floating on the surface, and retrieves it. "We ****ed that thing up, thank god I was around to shatter that bastards leg, eh? Kind of saved you all...well, 'I'..." Buoyside does air quotes around the I, "...didn't, I guess. If I were around it'd be over much quicker. Much more violent and impressive." He turns to the load roar and his eyes light up. "And there's more fun to be had! We can't just keep running from this ol' ****, he's asking so nicely! 'Please, wait up for me! I long to feel the length of your enormous blade, Buoyside! I need to feel you inside of me!' Classic big ol' monster, classic villain." Buoyside laughs, genuinely pleased with himself. He removes a coil of rope from his pack. "Cap'n, I'll start rigging some rope..."
Buoyside begins rigging rope between pillars in segments, in some places he rigs just below the surface of the water, other times closer to his waist, he's unaware how large the monster is so he's trying to check all his boxes. He even shimmy's up the pillars, intending to rig some high up.
Acrobatics check for high ropes 17
For now I'm just going to have Buoyside's personality switch every 5 turns to keep it fresh, so here's the ol' ******* version of him.
Character Sheet
AC: 16
"Sorry bouyside, I'd love to join you in turning that beast into a heap of gore, but I'm afraid we've got a job to do. The army is dying out there, time is of the essence." Lofty motions for the squad to move out and spends a moment consoling the clearly disappointed Bouyside. "We both know you would slice that thing to ribbons but your talents are needed elsewhere. Who knows, maybe it'll find us again huh? It seems persistent."
I'm gonna cast guidance on whoever goes for the grate, add 1d4 to your check.
Character Sheets: Page1 Page2 Page3
HP: 35 AC: 20 Saves: Str+2 Dex+0 Con+4 Int+2 Wis+2 Cha+6
Hearing Lofty's orders HELIOS grabs some of the rope from Buoysides hands and takes off in a sprint towards the gate and leaps off the wall in an attempt to grab and dislodge the exit grill.
Acrobatics Check - 15
Assuming a success on reaching and removing the grill HELIOS attempts to tie off the rope above and toss it down to the party below.
Dex check 25 + Guidance 4 = 18 Total
H.E.L.I.O.S - Warforged Sun Soul Monk
AC - 19
Climb roll: 18
Buoyside stares blankly at the Captain, he firmly disagrees with this decision. Retreat? He thinks. Scurry away like roaches in the torchlight, to hide in the muck like some slippery bastard? Buoyside doesn't respect much in this world, other than his own skills, blade and how a disemboweled creature steams in the darkness, but he does feel some shred of loyalty to the captain. He clears his throat. "Very...well, then. Okay. Excuse me." He turns to start retrieving his ropes, calmly at first, before he just starts hacking them down, knowing he can thread them back up in no time. "Sure, spare that giant ******* beast hunting us to save some cowards on the fields. They'll die without us and they deserve it. Can't hoist your own rotten corpse and hold your head high for the enemy to strike you down? No, inconvenience ol' Buoyside. He'll save you. Don't worry, he's got a 9 foot long ****in' sword but he'll play medic for you, maybe he'll also suck. your. *******. pecker." He finishes, sighs heavily in release and folds the rope back into his pack. He turns back to the captain, handing him his sheath. "Now, if you wouldn't mind sir...sheathe me."
Climb roll: 1
Character Sheet
AC: 16
Lofty thought for a moment about how best to mollify the swordsman as he helped bouyside with his blade.
"You know...we're about to become the first people to walk the streets above us in over a century. Think of it. The whole city is one giant antique. Even their bedpans would be worth a hefty sum to the right buyer." Five minutes ago Bouyside probably would have been horrified his CO was suggesting such behavior, but Lofty suspected the Bouyside next to him now would jump at the chance. His moods ran deeper than a bad temper, but that mystery would have to wait.
"C'mon, let's check it out."
Lofty grabs hold of the rope and begins to climb. 6
Character Sheets: Page1 Page2 Page3
HP: 35 AC: 20 Saves: Str+2 Dex+0 Con+4 Int+2 Wis+2 Cha+6
After hearing what was coming behind them, Xantlin breathes a slight sigh of relief at the Sergeant's decision. He quickly stuffs his amulet down his robes and makes toward HELIOS's rope.
Climb roll (not totally sure what this is for?) - 4
Xantlin Pegason (imgur)
33/33 HP
4/4 level 1 spells, 3/3 level 2 spells, 2/2 level 3 spells
AC = 15, Spell attack bonus = 7, spell save DC = 15
ALL
HELIOS, following his orders to the perfection demanded by his sentience algorithm, runs over to the grill. He spends several seconds adjusting his position and posture and poise, a series of microadjustments to his weight and balance too fine for the coarse human eye to appreciate taking place beneath his metallic exterior. With impressive strength, he launches himself upwards, kicking off a nearby support pylon and punching through the grill in one swift, elegant motion. He finds himself in a vertical shaft, up which he scurries with singular speed and efficiency. Coming to its rim, he finds himself in a dusty room filled with a series of curious pipes, hydraulics, and nondescript canisters, its interior covered in a thick layer of dust. After briefly scanning the room for danger, he returns to his task, fastening a rope to an overlying spigot and kicking the excess spooling down to his comrades.
Ryloos, nimble and lithe, soon afterward follows him up the rope. She climbs with the agility of one accustomed to scuttling into areas when opportunity presents itself...and shimmying out when consequence comes calling. She leaps from the hole, dagger once again in hand.
Lofty is the next to ascend. Though laden with heavy weapons and plate armor, he is able to drag himself proficiently, if not easily, through the grate by sheer stubborn will and brute strength. He is winded and his pristine armor may have been scraped against the rough stonework, but Lofty is otherwise no worse for the wear.
Xantlin struggles a smidge. After all, clerics dedicate themselves to perfecting their understanding intent and will of the gods, not necessarily the strength of their muscles nor the limits of their endurance. But he suffices, a friendly - if somewhat begrudging - push from Buoyside giving him the inertia to climb, the welcoming arms of Lofty and Ryloos awaiting him at the top. As he rises, the sounds of crashing water and roaring grow much, much louder.
BUOYSIDE
And so we come to the fate and actions of the one named Buoyside. He stands guards valiantly, angrily, eager for battle, side by side with his elaborate rope trap as his team ascends into the castle above. He keeps his eyes peeled on the mist, eyes scouring the darkness before him for any sign of the rapidly advancing foe. He grins, relishing the thought of a fight - that is, until he sees the erudite Xantlin struggling. He gives the half-elf a shove to hurry him along and watches him vanish into the ceiling, his colorful tapestry of a stole fluttering behind him.
It is now Buoyside's turn to climb. He sighs ruefully, casting one last plaintive look at his ropes before slinging his blade over his shoulder, taking the rope in his gauntleted hand. He gives the rope a firm tug, steeling himself for the climb..****y to feel the rope suddenly go lax in his grip, the spigot subsequently striking him in the head.
There is a pause. Even the monster seems to freeze at the sound of the spigot splashing into the water, its roaring dying out abruptly. Buoyside's voice echoes hollowly in the reservoir.
"Uh oh."
Buoyside looks up at the ceiling, to the worried faces of his friends and comrades, only to watch them disappear in a cloud of steam and crumbling brickwork. He is - you are - alone.
ALL
Pulled free by Buoyside's weight, a jet of highly pressurized steam fires out of a nearby hydraulic structure. Seconds later, you feel the vary stone beneath you shift violently, waves of force rolling through them as a pressurized pipe explodes somewhere below you. You have no choice but to flee as the room fills with scalding steam and pulverized stone, obstructing the grill from which you made your egress, your friend trapped below with the beast.
Time is working against you. You must find a way to get back to Buoyside and help him to escape, hoping that he can hold his own against the creature in the interim. The steam will scald human skin in seconds. While your steel skin may resist the heat, its humidity may permanently warp and damage the finely-calibrated telemetric instruments of a warforged with prolonged exposure. Creative solutions are encouraged. There may also be an alternative route back to the reservoir.
Buoyside, your role is simple...survive.
I guess it's time to stop being coy about what's chasing you.
In the old legends, there were a race of creatures called the aboleth. Fishlike aberrations from another plane, they were creatures of immense spite and cruelty, traveling between worlds and enslaving the weak-minded lesser races to their will. They were products of a dark, eldritch horror completely anathema to the minds of men.
Even amongst the aboleth, however, some of their kind were drawn to the void, to the dark eddies where the waters of times ran stagnant and deep. These aboleth, when they re-emerged, had...changed. And none for the better.
Here's the skinny on them:
The Good - They are undead, and so take double damage from radiant attacks.
The Bad - Everything else. They are resistant (i.e., half damage) to all nonmagical weapons when in material form and totally immune to nonmagical attacks when immaterial. That's right - they can swap between dimensions as a bonus action, rendering them functionally immune to your attacks. They corrupt the world around themselves and, should they weaken you sufficiently, can potentially enslave you. Forever.
BUOYSIDE
As you slowly turn back to face your foe, you glimpse a horrid wretch of a monster, something like an ancient placoderm (prehistoric fish) mixed with a tentacled alien. Also, it smells of rot, its flesh literally decaying in front of your eyes, only for the putrescent flesh to revitalize once again as time ebbs and flows about the beast. Having caught its prey, it seems much calmer and less frenetic, swimming lazily around you through both water and (alarmingly) air, intermittently disappearing into the interstitial spaces between dimensions as a purple-shroud. It regards you hungrily and with intense, utterly alien hatred.
From here, it'll pretty much function like you're in combat. Mick can take a turn at attacking, the rest of you can take a turn trying to get to him (rules regarding movements and actions still applying), and once you've batched your turns, the nihileth will attack. Or really, whenever it wants...it's got legendary actions.
For the first turn, the nihileth is corporeal.
Buoyside grins at the beast before him. "Ah, so you've come to meet ol' Buoyside Zinfandel have you? You've come to feel my length inside of you? You've come to get ****ed?" He whips the sheath off of his blade, casting it against a wall before it plops into the water and floats. He calls out to the WUSS crew above. "Take your time boys, we're going to have some fun!"
Buoyside leaps forward and slashes at the creature. 23 (was 17)
damage: 22 (was 17, halfed to 8.5?)
Divine Smite (Level 2) 10 (was 20, double damage for 40)
He leaps back, grinning. "Yeah mother****er, you love me!"
Second attack: 11 (was 23)
Damage: 7 (was 13, halfed to 6.5?)
Divine Smite (level 1) 9 (was 7) double damage for 14
69 total damage? I genuinely don't know what to do with these dice rolls changing when I edit too much. I'm in a rush because I'm getting picked up so let me know if I totally ****ed that up. I can redo it tomorrow night, but I think I did it right. If you trust my initial rolls, which I have no reason to lie about.
Character Sheet
AC: 16
BUOYSIDE
Casting your sheath aside, you focus all of your strength into a series of brutal slashes with your weapon. Though the initial blows seems to little affect the creature, your sword pulses with divine energy. The blast shatters scale and scatters the creature's decaying flesh from its flanks. You sever one of its facial tentacles. The creature writhes in pain and recoils, falling into the water. (Nihileth HP 135 --> 66)
For a second, you are convinced that you have won.
Then the creature springs leaps from the water, its tentacles flailing violently.
Does the creature hit? (Buoyside AC 16) 23 27 17
How hard does it hit? (Buoyside HP 44) 9+12+16=37
Does Buoyside get poisoned? (Constitution save 14) 10 22 10 He would have if he didn't have divine health.
The beast strikes you three times, each blow landing with incredible force, denting armor and bruising flesh. Your stagger to your knees, cowed by the onslaught; at the same time, you feel your left radius and ulna shatter beneath an unfortunate glancing blow. Wincing in pain, you assess your wounds: a sickly, greenish venom seeps into the lacerations inflicted by the beast, which you quickly realize is the nihileth's attempt to envenomate you. Moments later, however, your wound glows a gentle gold color and the noxious effects of the venom are neutralized.
Before you can react, the fish monster dives into the air, its edges blurring as it wriggles into the grey spaces between planes. You track its nebulous, purple outline swimming through the air like a bruise on the skin of existence. It is a heinous thing.
The creature is now incorporeal. Your weapons cannot hurt it, but spells may be able to.
Ryloos rolls out of the steam filled room. The echoes of the battle below somehow reach her ears but she cannot pin point where they are coming from. She scans the room in which she was rolled into for the source of the noise transfer.
Perception check:3
She looks around but there is no light here in the depths of what she believes is the castle of the royal family. The only thing that she can make out is the sound of Buoyside's grunts and armor crinkling. "I can hear sounds from the sewers in here!," she yells out to her compatriots but the dark and mist are thick here and she is uncertain whether they are with her or not.
"Sergeant we have to get back down there and help Buoyside. Ryloos do you have any idea how to get back down to the sewer from here?"
Xantlin scans the new surroundings looking for any way that looks to lead down. Perception check - 25
Xantlin Pegason (imgur)
33/33 HP
4/4 level 1 spells, 3/3 level 2 spells, 2/2 level 3 spells
AC = 15, Spell attack bonus = 7, spell save DC = 15
Hot diggity, Xantlin with some dope rolls.
MAIN GROUP
Ryloos desperately fumbles about in the mist, searching for a way back to the reservoir to assist Buoyside. His face infinitely calm and inscrutable in a way that only elves can evince, Xantlin joins her, his clever eyes carefully studying their surroundings. As they stumble down the hall, they come across a second door. Xantlin notices a small rivulet of water running through an inclined gutter carved into the base of the door. On attempting to force entry, however, you realize that the door is secured fast.
Instead of a lock, it has a complex circular contraption with three symbols placed equidistant about its circumference. They are, in order, a half-sun, a full sun, and then a full moon. Currently, the full sun sits at the top of the circle with the half sun at the bottom right and the moon at the lower left. Beneath the contraption, an engraving reads, "Let the day pass into night but ill afford the dawn." There appears to be some smudged writing below the riddle, though it is difficult to make out in the poorly lit, fog-laden halls of the castle.
This is a real thinker, boys.
In case it wasn’t clear, you can turn the circular structure with the symbols on it. You’ve only got two options - turn it clockwise or counterclockwise. One will open the door. The other will...I dunno. Fire a bunch of angry fire ants at you.
Lofty runs cursing from the boiling hot room and staggers over to Xantlin. Fidgeting to keep the hottest bits of his armor from touching bear skin, he doesn't stop to wonder why Xantlin hasn't proceeded and turns the doorknob clockwise without reading the inscription.
Character Sheets: Page1 Page2 Page3
HP: 35 AC: 20 Saves: Str+2 Dex+0 Con+4 Int+2 Wis+2 Cha+6