Hexblade's Lost Mine of Phandelver - Main Thread

Round 5 Resolution

Tarja moves to her right and, luckily enough, finds herself stepping out of the large void of darkness.  A few steps later she turns and sees her companions fighting several large spiders.  Quickly summoning her flaming sphere she sends it hurling beneath a tree and right through some spider webs before watching it crash violently into one of the spiders attacking Ethan.  The spider shrieks in pain as its flesh burns and moves away from the sphere. (full hit for Tarja there)

Meanwhile Krikket brings Arvel a potion and keeps the Lady's plaything alive.  As the warlock's mind comes around, however, he can feel the fire burning in his veins from the poison and realized he cannot move a muscle.  He can only see the sky above him, Krikket and Fae warding off an attack from the massive spider.

 Ethan's cannon repositions itself as instructed but misses its first shot from this new position as it recalibrates its balance on this rocky, hilly terrain.  Ethan himself has more success, however, not only in hitting one of the spiders with his fire caster but also in fending off more attacks from the spiders despite their aggressive onslaught.  The spiders also come under assault from the radiance of Elra's spell and further burning due to Tarja's floating sphere of flame, the two spellcasters having much more success than their unlikely goblin counterparts. (boy those guys can't roll to save their lives! success for Elra and half damage from the flaming sphere at the end of BS4's turn though)

As Zeke continues to duel with the Spider he feels the heat of Fae's errant firebolt zip past his head.  The mighty warrior continues his assault with another mighty blow that should hit his foe but feels the frustration of it sinking into nothing more than an arcane ward once again.  The Spider laughs his bone chilling laugh once again and says "a noble effort, young one."  "You might have made a mighty warrior one day, but alas, I grow weary and have more pressing matters to attend to, courtesy of your dwarven friend.  Goodbye."  The Spider launches a series of arcane bolts at Zeke which crash into him for 15 force damage.  The giant sphere of darkness then starts slowly moving away from the party down the hill the way it came (30ft).  The sun hits Zeke again as the Spider moves away.

(Thanks everyone for your patience during a busy week!)

Seeing the sphere of darkness retreat, Tarja feels a moment of relief. They're safe now. But is the Spider retreating because he is bored - or because he's weakening?

She directs her flame sphere to continue burning the regular spiders to try and free up her allies (Bonus Action: ram [Tooltip Not Found] into BS3 by moving it one space left, 8 damage). She then targets an Ice Knife at the center of the darkness where the Black Spider might be. (Attack: bless 1 + 15 Piercing Damage: 5, dex save against 6 cold damage). She moves up 30 ft, staying outside the darkness sphere but keeping an eye on it.

[edit]Oops messed up my tooltips! The first "tooltip not found" is flaming sphere (not flame sphere)), and my attack roll should have had disadvantage not advantage (though it didn't matter because both dice rolled the same...)

Double oops - did not realize Zeke was down... will post heal instead. Post to come when I get back from work 

Ethan looks up, as the sphere of darkness begins to retreat.

"We cant let him get away! What about Gundren!?"

Ethan directs his weapons at the spiders still before him, trying to finish them off, so he can start chasing after the darkness.

Again there is another whine and womp, followed by a crackle of fire.

As the darkness rolls past, the party finds the bleeding and battered form of Ezekial Thrice-Cursed sprawled on the ground where he fell, his blade still in his hand, but the life drained from his body.

Elra sees Zeke fall, ordering Vincent to start flying towards him so she can heal him once he gets there, and sends another blast of radiant energy towards the spider attacking Arvel.

All it'd take was for Fae to see Zeke's unconscious body revealed by the retreating darkness for the her composure to snap.  It would take everything for her not to run forward to chase the darkness. "You. Coward!" The wizard was seeing red. Without any supportive healing skills in her repertoire, she'd feel her only action would be to continue on full offense.

Eyes black as ink, Fae raises her hands directly in front of her towards the darkness, focusing in on her arcane magic. She narrows her concentration in on the spider.

More. Power.

White.

A moment of clarity breaks through Fae's mind as Elra's flash of radiant energy streaks by.

Don't let the darkness take over.

The wizard would throw her head back and shout in frustration with herself, causing her hood to fall back.

You are not him. Break the mold.

She'll dig her heel into the ground and pivot her body slightly, unloading two arcane bolts into the spider in front of Arvel before swiftly shifting to unload her last two bolts towards the spider in Ethan's melee.

Krikket fires an arrow at the spider threatening him and his master.

Tarja had planned to continue assisting her comrades with the sphere and attacking the Black Spider, but seeing Zeke fall upended those ideas. Survival came first, they all needed to live to fight another day. She would whisper a Healing Word at Zeke (bonus action, heal Zeke for 4) and instead of throwing an ice knife, would aim a Thorn Whip at BS3. (Same attack roll as in previous post, damage roll 2 and on success BS3 is pulled towards me by 10ft.)

(Movement - move closer to the bottom of the sphere of darkness closer to zeke, but don't end turn within 15 ft of him to avoid black spider's AOE)

Hearing Tarja's voice calling him back into the fight, Zeke's hands clench his blade tighter and he sucks air into this lungs.  Alive, thanks to the blessings of the druid.

With air in his lungs, he knows he must turn back to the fight.  The tiefling summons the battle trance learned at the temple, striving to force the pain from his mind, to drive back the clawing fear of failure and strike at the foes surrounding his comrades.

Staggering to his feet, he deftly pulls a hatchet from his belt and sends it singing towards the large spider, and while years of practice make hitting a target second nature, his failing strength means the whirling blade only deals a glancing blow to the massive creature.

Round 6 Resolution

Zeke is revived and the party continues to take the fight to the large spiders.  Krikket knocks out the spider threatening Arvel and then Fae finishes it off with an arcane missile.  The rest of her missiles split off and finish off another spider attacking Ethan and impact the other as well, Ethan having done his part to burn the beast himself.  The revived Zeke tosses his hatchet for the killing blow on the final spider.

The goblins begin to cheer as they party successfully fends off the spider attack but then the haunting voice is heard once more.  "Well aren't you a spirited bunch.  I'm sure King Grol will enjoy your company but it matters not to me.  I have no further use for the goblins or your friend.  Oh, and Yeemik, do not think that I forgot about your betrayal."  Three arcane missiles come flying out of the darkness and the goblin turns to run but cannot escape.  Yeemik is struck dead by three bolts to the back, his goblin friend looking over him in horror.  The black sphere then begins moving away from the party again and down the hill.  The goblin that had come with the Spider can now be seen struggling in a web in the trees behind, having gotten caught in it while trying to escape the darkness.

(the edge of the darkness is now 5ft off the map)

"Hrr...aah...grrr..."

"He says 'Go after him! Don't let him get away!"

Fae will continue her advance forward, holding onto her concentration on the spider. She’ll launch her missiles towards the darkness.

2 | 3 | 2

Elra sprints to Yeemik. "Please please please dont be dead," she says, placing a hand on his forehead and praying to Oghma to spare this goblin.

"I know that these goblins have desecrated what belongs to you. I know that in your eyes they might not deserve compassion, but the Lore Master told me to follow my heart," she whispers, clutching her amulet in her hand and raising it to her lips. "And my heart is telling me that he doesn't deserve to die in this moment. I'm not the bravest or the smartest or the strongest, but right now all I can offer to my friends is the ability to keep moving. And this goblin deserves that same chance. So please, spare him this once..." before placing her amulet and hand on Yeemik's chest and trying to will him back.

Silently, in her head Elra order's Vincent to help the party with the spider if they decide to continue following him.

 Now that he's alone, maybe we can overwhelm him!  Let's see how he does when stuck in place!

Tarja releases concentration on the Flaming Sphere, letting it fizzle into a small ember, and casts Entangle targeting the center of the sphere of darkness.

Tarja moves towards G1.

(if he fails his save, we get advantage attacking him (counteracting the disadvantage from darkness) until he spends his action to escape, and he gets disadvantage on dex saves and attack rolls, if we have things that target those.) 

Seeing the last of the spiders fall, Zeke turns back towards the dark wizard to finish him off.  Blood streaming out of his ears and nose, the tiefling stumbles 30 feet after the drow, bellowing a challenge 'Stand and fight me, coward!  Or does the mighty Spider need to cower in the darkness to feel strong?'  

As he closes back in on the black sphere, the barbarian launches a hatchet into the darkness, it's blade seeking the retreating figure.

Ethan sees Yeemik go down.

"I really don't like that guy."

Ethan shouts at the retreating darkness,

"Your evil and undeserving of mercy!"

Ethan takes aim, his Eldritch Canon doing the same, and does his best to aim for the centre of the darkness, high enough off the ground to hit Spider in the chest, if he is standing there.

Again there is a whine as the Canon charges up and then a womp as the vortex of force shoots from the Canon.

A crackle of fire follows after the vortex as it disappears into the darkness.

"Urrr...aaah...garg."

"Yes, master."

Krikket watches over Elra warily as she performs her ministrations, eyeing the remaining goblin with suspicion.

Round 7 Resolution

Elra can sense Yeemik's life slipping away from him rapidly after the arcane missiles struck him down.  She quickly prays to Oghma and calls upon his might but does not feel any response, initially at least.  A few seconds later the cleric feels the warmth of her God but also a bit of hesitation or uneasiness she normally does not sense when using her divine magic.  Yeemik's eyes remain closed but he weakly gasps for breath and then his tiny little chest starts moving up and down.  Although still unconscious, Elra is confident that his situation has indeed stabilized.

One of the remaining goblins continues to struggle against the spider web, mostly making his situation worse, while the other drops his borrowed dagger and kneels over Yeemik.  He watches Elra with amazement as she saves his friend.

Meanwhile the party launches its various attacks against the Spider but all of the arcane energy and projectiles go into the darkness with little response other than another deep, chilling laugh.  At Zeke's words the Spider continues to move away but responds "amongst many, surely YOU know that some do not belong in the light."  "You would make a suitable warrior with us in the shadows, if you ever choose to follow the darkness in your heart, winged one."

The spider keeps moving and loudly speaks a few indistinguishable, harsh words from the protection of his shroud.  Tarja knows that they mean "do not let them pass!"  More spiders descend from the trees and block the path between the party and the dark elf and wait there for their prey.  The spider calls back to Zeke and the others one more time as he moves down the hill "I'd advise you save your fury for the King, if you still care to rescue your friend.  I shall not interfere."

(Had to create a new map and move everyone.  Just let me know if you think your positioning is off a bit.)

"Thank you," Elra whispers, "thank you..." she looks to the goblin. "I'd pick up your dagger," she says. "Looks like we've got more... spiders... coming," she says, turning on her heels to rush to Arvel. While she's rushing to him, she order's Vincent to help the lone goblin out of the webs as best as he can.

Kneeling down next to Arvel, she takes one of his hands in her own. "Oh good! You're not dying! Well, I mean, it probably sucks being paralyzed... and poisoned... um... give me a second and you'll feel a lot better," she pulls the pearl from her pocket and uses it to start regaining part of her own power.

Are the spiders attacking us? (I'm trying to judge whether we need to kill them or whether we can grab the injured and also escape. If they're aggressive and coming towards us, we gotta fight; if they're defensive and holding the line, we can do the same.)