Hexblade's Lost Mine of Phandelver - Main Thread

Ethan stands with the others, looking every which way into complete darkness.

Ethan is confused why everyone has stopped just inside the entrance to the cave.

Ethan opens his mouth to talk, but stops, thinking better of it.

Zeke is ready to strike the queen first, but he senses Tarja would likely prefer a less violent resolution.  He moves to keep himself between the Queen and the rest of the party and casts a pointed glance at his druid friend, arching his eyebrow in a clear 'what now chief?' look.

With all of her party members inside the cave, Tarja reverts back to her dwarf form.

Get the egg sac outside, and leave her a way out! She might leave to stay with it!

Initiative: 18

Action when I get one: Cast Thorn Whip targeting the egg sac to pull it 10ft towards me. Attack: 8 Damage: 5 .

[edit] Wait, I'm supposed to have advantage on the roll, right?  Well here's the second roll for the attack roll then, wonder if it'll make a difference... 17

Elra's eyes go wide when Tarja mentions an egg sack and another spider. "You mean that we decided to enter a cave with it..."

At the commotion, Ethan pulls his light stone out of the cloth and snaps it back onto his armor.

Ethan still cant tell whats going on, but stealth is right out the door now.

Ethan activates his gauntlet, and a disc pops out of a compartment on top.

Throwing the disc into the air, magic streams out of it and solidifies into solid matter, in the shape of Ethan's Eldritch Canon.

The small Eldritch Canon lands on the ground next to Ethan, as Ethan clips his head-piece in place over his ear.

As Ethan pulls out his Fire Caster, he scans around, trying to see any threats, his Eldritch Canon tracking in sync with his head movement.

"Fae! Get your light out, I cant see!"

Ethan is unable to see beyond the 10ft from his own light stone, and is panicking.

Zeke Initiative 15

Ignore previous 'surprise' round - Zeke would have waited on Tarja's play and will back her.

Well you all are rolling quite poorly on initiative (but not attacks, so that's good), but so did the giant spider.  I'd roll for the rest of you but you are likely to roll better and I'd need your actions as well, thus can I have initiative rolls and actions for the rest of the party?  The spider will be 'Surprised' for the first round and I'll also roll with the notion of the Unconscious condition applying, but with the amendment that it does not need to drop anything or fall prone in this scenario as it is more dormant than knocked out cold by an attack or other such applications. *These conditions apply until after the spider's first turn in round 1.  Tarja's thorn whip will strike either way.*

INITIATIVE

• Ethan 8
• Giant Spider 5
• Zeke 5
• Tarja 4

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#Surprise

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/appendix-a-conditions#Unconscious

Elra Initiative: 18

Elra casts Sanctuary on herself, too scared to attack or back peddle out of the cave.

Arvel initiative: 15

The charlatan looks to Ethan and Elra with his golden eyes and speaks calmly with his honeyed voice.

"Stay calm. We're going to be alright. Everything is going to be fine. We're all here to help each other."

He turns and raises his walking stick at the spider.

**Keihäs!**

Elra shakes her head and just watches what of the fight she can. "I'm sorry," she whispers barely loud enough for the people around her to hear.

Zeke follows Arvel's lead and strikes out at the Giant Spider with his halberd.  Summoning the fire and fury of his infernal heritage, the barbarian cries out 'hellfire consume you, oh foul creature!' . As he finishes, his blade flares with white-hot energy - light and heat bursting forth, infusing his strike with the demonic fury.

Now with the change of tides, Fae will pull out the glow stone for her friends. She'd hold it out to provide the light Ethan asked for "Arvel's right." She'd smile, "We're a team and have each others back."

Initiative: 20

The wizard would hold out her other hand "Uskeche." And three glowing violet darts shoot from her palm.

Casting: Magic Missile Damage: 3|2|2

Elra casts a ward on herself and Arvel blasts the giant spider as Tarja's words trigger confusion and commotion inside the small cave.  Meanwhile Ethan's equipment comes to life as he deploys light, his cannon and his firecaster, the array ready for battle.  The giant spider suddenly jerks awake from its dormant state at the various sources of stimulation but does not have time to act before Zeke also strikes home with a searing blow and Tarja tears the egg sack away with a magical thorn whip.  Just as the spider looks like it's gathering itself to move or strike it is Fae's arcane missiles that stop its movement cold.  All grows quiet for a moment but the party notices that the large web is vibrating after all of the various forces brought forth against their arachnid foe.  The web keeps moving several moments after the spider had stopped doing so, and then slowly a symphony of hissing, scraping, rustling leaves, snapping twigs and the legs of spiders scurrying across wood and stone builds to a crescendo rapidly...

INITIATIVE

• Elra 18
• Arvel 15
• Ethan 8
• Giant Spider 5
• Zeke 5
• Tarja & Fae 4 (in either order is fine)
• *Other* 4

Quick and dirty extension of the map into the cave.  Please forgive the poor quality.

Ethan is relived when light floods the cave, allowing him to properly see their foe.

When Fae's bolts of magical energy all hit home, putting the giant spider down, Ethan almost relaxes before noticing the vibrations in the web and then the accompanying sounds.

Ethan moves himself a little closer to the entrance to the cave, directing his Eldritch Canon to come stand beside him.

"It sounds like we got the attention of others. Be ready."

Ethan keeps his shield held high and his Fire Caster aimed at the entrance, magical energy radiates from the Fire Caster.

Ethan's Eldritch Canon sweeps its payload back and forth, like its looking for targets

"Okay, Etan. Now you can light the webs on fire."

Elra closes her eyes and tries to forget the spider was there, holding her amulet a little too tight as she starts praying to Oghma to,  "Please bless my friends so they can get rid of the spider really really quickly. Please, I know it's kind of a rush job and I'm basically demanding it of you but I really hate spiders so bless their strikes so they hit."

Arvel raises his left hand, his fingers crooked at the spider in its lair.

"Olet kirottu!"

A band of now familiar golden light surrounds the spider's legs.

The charlatan raises his walking stick again.

"Keihäs!"

Another bolt of force flies out at the spider.

"Mind that entrance. That'll be our choke point!"

Seeing the big spider stop moving, Tarja focuses her attention on the entrance, awaiting the swarm of spiders from outside. She briefly considers casting Spike Growth to make entering the cave hazardous, but realizes spiders could just walk around it via the walls.

Watch the walls - they could come in anywhere.

Tarja stays where she is, next to Ethan and slightly behind the Eldrich Cannon.

Ready action: cast Create Bonfire if an enemy moves next to any of us, or ends turn somewhere visible.

Seeing the giant spider fall Zeke moves towards the front of the cave - ready to intercept any inbound creepy crawlies.  Deep breaths in and out and the barbarian slips into the trance he learned at the temple.  The quiet contemplative state that lets the rest of the world fall away, centering him on the task at hand.  The fear, anger, and anxiety of his comrade glowing behind him, the palpable danger ahead of him. Twirling his blade in front of him, he summons the spirits of the temple guardians who had come before him, feeling their power swirling around him, ready to extend their protection to those in his care.