Seldom Spring

Wishing his eyes would adjust faster, but already being fully awake following that painful morningstar strike, Maldorn draws one of his daggers and slashes at the assailant in front of him after making it for the hunt.

-> Bonus action: Hunter's Mark on the Bugbear;

-> Action: Dagger vs. Bugbear: Attack: 23 Damage: 11 piercing;

Sagitta stays unseen within Maldorn's clothes.

OOC: Retroactively inspiring isn't a game changer, so I will allow it. Jambiya, consider yourself inspired.

Despite magically marking the creature, Maldorn's dagger scrapes against its shield, causing no damage.

Two more arrows sail through the air at Maldorn from the west. (arrow attack 1: 10, damage: 7 piercing damage) (arrow attack 2: 20, damage: 8 piercing damage) The first projectile goes wide, but the second catches him in the hip painfully.

Erric and Jambiya, and then Anafrey, you're up! Erric and Jambiya, you're a little south of Maldorn, Ebokk and Anafrey. Anafrey, you're in melee with the remaining hobgoblin. The bugbear is north of Maldorn. Jambiya and Anafrey, you can see all of this, but you still don't know who's shooting arrows. Erric, you hear combat a little north of you and then a little more north of you.

Erric looks at Jambiya, scared to move, but then looks at the camp and hearing the sound of his friends fighting, darts off toward them without a word.

He draws near enough to be able to see them (assuming I can see both) and then casts phantasmal force. What I'd like to do is to make it seem to one bugbear that the other bugbear has turned into a red-eyed horrible screeching demon who is attacking them. On a failed INT 13 saving throw, that's what they'd see, and would take 1 psychic damage per round. (If this won't work, let me know if I can cast suggestion on one to attack the other.)

He will also inspire Maldorn, who seems to be having a tough time.

Maldorn's concentration check on Hunter's Mark {DC 10}: 11

Jambiya will store Erric's inspiration in her Ring of Inspiration.

Watching Erric rush back into battle, Jambiya frets, but shoots a blast of energy at the bugbear, then moves through the darkness to the west, towards the source of the arrows, and tries to hide again.

Action: Cast Eldritch Blast at the bugbear, 17 to hit, for 3 magical force damage.
Move: Carefully as much as 30' west towards the archers, looking for them so as to not blunder on them. Perception: 13
Bonus Action: Nimble Escape (Goblin) to Hide. Stealth: 13

Advantage? Not sure if she hid successfully on the last turn (Stealth roll was 20), and if so, if that gives her surprise Advantage on the attack on the bugbear. If so, here's a second attack roll for the Eldritch Blast, if needed: 21

Erric, the bugbear and the remaining hobgoblin are not in melee with each other. One of them would have to move 10 feet to be in melee. You can still cause one of them to see a red-eyed horrible screeching demon who is attacking them, but it won't cause them to attack the other like I think you were trying to do. What would you prefer to do?

Ah, I see. Sorry, I didn't understand. Let's just have him go with suggestion on the bugbear. Erric speaks out, his voice taking on a new sort of overdubbed harmonic, "Hey friend hugbear, you want to stop attacking us and instead viciously attack that hobgoblin!"

He then says in his normal voice, "the bugbear's hopefully our friend now, so focus on the hobgoblin first!"

Anafrey would wince as she is struck. Her braided white hair would whip around as she noticed the hobgoblins attacking as well. She would then quickly release an arrow towards her enemy.

OOC: Kind of a generic post because she would attack the bugbear but not if the bugbear is convinced to attack the hobgoblins. I figure I will roll an attack and if the bugbear turns to our side then she will attack the hobgoblin... otherwise she would attack the bugbear.

Attack: 16 Damage: 5

Jambiya blasts the bugbear with a ball of energy. It's a good, solid hit, but the bugbear's armor protects it from very much damage. She then hurries west.

Jambiya:

Erric moves north and, sizing up the remaining hobgoblin and the bugbear, the bard decides to try to charm the bigger of the two. (WIS save DC13: 6) Erric can tell the magic worked, so he warns his comrades to ignore the bugbear for now.

OOC: Anafrey, you're in melee with the hobgoblin, so your attack roll would be at disadvantage. Here's your new roll: 27

Anafrey quickly draws an arrow and shoots the hobgoblin point blank. It sinks to its knees and then falls backward, dead.

Erric feels his magical influence over the bugbear dissipate.

The bugbear, which had turned its eyes toward the hobgoblin at Erric's suggestion, shakes his head and then roars. It looks at Maldorn and swings its morningstar ferociously. (morningstar attack: 6, damage: 14 piercing damage) Luckily, Maldorn's magical connection with the creature helps him anticipate the move, and he's able to deflect the attack.

Ebokk, breathing hard after his double hit, watches Anafrey take down the second hobgoblin. He looks around, a little bleery-eyed, then notices the bugbear attacking Maldorn. "Look out!" he says, stepping up and taking a swing at the creature himself. (two-handed warhammer attack: 12, damage: 4 bludgeoning damage) The bugbear does look out, sidestepping the clumsy swing.

OOC2: I'm still waiting to get an answer about Jambiya's turn, but ...

Round 3: Maldorn, unknown archers in the west, Erric and Jambiya, Anafrey, bugbear, Ebokk

To the DM...

"Whatever you did, Erric, didn't last very long," Maldorn says with a somewhat scared look on his face. He grabs a second dagger and attempt to cut some of the bugbear's tendons with them.

-> Action: Dagger vs. Bugbear: Attack: 19 Damage: 10 piercing;

-> Bonus action: Dagger vs. Bugbear: Attack: 19 Damage: 5 piercing;

The blood from his wounds is getting in between his hands and the daggers' handles. Maldorn's strikes are not as clinical as he would have liked.

(The spell dissipates only if the target is attacked by the caster or the caster's friends, so I'm not sure why it would stop? Sure, the hobgoblin's gone, but the first part of the suggestion was to stop attacking us. So wouldn't that mean it does not attack us, and then Maldorn and Ebokk would not attack it?)

"The target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, it pursues the course of action you described to the best of its ability. The suggested course of action can continue for the entire duration. If the suggested activity can be completed in a shorter time, the spell ends when the subject finishes what it was asked to do." You told it to attack the hobgoblin. When the hobgoblin died, the activity was completed, and so the spell ended. I guess one could say the bugbear could viciously attack the hobgoblin corpse, but I'd say that's a judgement call, and I decided that was further away from the intent than would be carried out. I would suggest (ha ha!) Erric suggest something more all-encompassing next time. I don't want to give examples, though, because I don't want you to know how to play to the DM.

Cool?

Oh, and Jambiya moved 10 feet to the west and stopped.

"Jambiya moved 10 feet to the west and stopped."

...and crouched, trying to Hide. (badly)

OOC: Sorry for the late reply - life's been a bit bonkers. And sorry to quibble here but I don't think the decision's what I or Erric meant to do here at all.

I think that the spell's still in effect because Erric suggested that the bugbear stop attacking the party, and instead attack the hobgoblin. The "course of activity" is to first not attack the party, and then to attack the hobgoblin. He's supposed to pursue the course of action for the duration of the spell, meaning he's not supposed to attack the party, given that's what Erric suggested he do. You're obviously the final call, but I didn't have Erric only suggest that it attack the hobgoblin, I had him suggest he not attack the party and then redirected him to the hobgoblin. If you're arguing that "course of activity" is simpler and should just be one action, like the command spell, I'd say that's a real weakening of a second-level spell and if suggestion's going to only allow for a single action result on a success, that's not how I viewed the spell's description and I'd honestly probably try to swap it for another spell in Erric's known spell list...

OOC: Assuming the bugbear is still a threat

Anafrey would quickly draw another arrow and point towards the bugbear threat. The anger in her eyes would disappear for a fraction of a second as a smile seems to flash across her face as she releases another arrow towards the creature.

Attack: 25 Damage: 7

OOC: If you want to trade in the spell, go ahead. I don't mean to be obstinate or frustrate you, but would a bugbear really see attacking one of its comrades as "reasonable"? I guess that depends on the bugbear, but Mike Mearls seems to think it's unlikely. I was going to give you the benefit of the doubt, and try to go with the flow, but when the hobgoblin was taken out, which I truly saw as the intention of the suggestion, I ended the spell (yes, you said stop attacking and attack the hobgoblin, but it's like saying stop, drop and roll — the rolling is the intended action — the spell says to specify a course of action, not two). How is suggestion different than command? I see suggestion as more of an RP-supporting spell. You can't finesse a king into rescinding his order to have you executed for crossing his border with command, but you can with suggestion. Plus, command is six seconds, whereas suggestion is eight hours. That's a MUCH more powerful spell. It's up to you. You can use this as a learning experience for Erric, or, if you feel I'm going to be too rigid to make the spell fun, pick a different one.

Maldorn is unable to land either of his attacks on the bugbear.

There is the sound of something wood — like a branch — breaking and a loudly whispered curse in the goblin tongue. Jambiya looks in the direction of the spoken expletive and doesn't realize an arrow is being launched at her. (arrow attack 1: 12, damage: 6 piercing damage — arrow attack 2: 5, damage: 6 piercing damage — fumble roll: 14) The goblin girl hisses as the projectile leaves a gash on her upper arm.

I have Anafrey's pre-post, but I now need Erric and Jambiya's actions for this turn.

OOC > I need a bit of clarity.

1. Jambiya was attacked by two arrows, right? So she has reason to believe there are two archers.

2. Can she see the goblin whose arrow actually hit and wounded her?

Thanks.

Jambiya was attacked by one arrow — by the archer she could see 60 feet away. However, I'm going to say that when she heard the goblin curse, she looked over and could barely make out the second archer as well. It is 60 feet away from the edge of the "camp", but 15 feet north of the one she first saw. The first roll was a critical fumble, which was the breaking sound.

Jambiya will shoot a crackling bolt of force at the one who hit her, who still has a functioning bow. Then she tries to hide in the darkness again, if there is any cover.

Action: Cast Eldritch Blast at the goblin. 18 to hit, for Unable to parse dice roll. force damage
Move: Into the dark? Behind something?
Bonus Action: Nimble Escape (Goblin) Hide (if there's any cover, obviously). Stealth: 5