Dragon of Icespire Peak ***CLOSED***

Pog stares deeply into the softly glowing eyes of the beautiful elf. Other voices fade into the background and all he hears is the sound of Tabesha’l’s voice echoing in his ears and in his mind. The periphery around her face blurs as her words penetrate deeper into his sub-conscious:

WIS save 15 vs. DC 13 (charm person, Tabesha’l)

Pog shakes his head from side to side as the magic from Tabesha’l’s spell fails to render him under her control. “You will have to excuse me for a moment, Lady Tabesha’l...it seems as though the wild magic of this place has found some excitement this day...”

As Tabesha’l’s magic fades, she begins to sense a rift in the Weave that was not of her own doing:

Arcane power seems to ripple through the air, but no ill effects are apparent or even noticeable to anyone other than the elven wizard.

Tabesha'l frowns but quickly recovers her composure. She turns towards the others.

" It seems my powers are at best uneffective in this place, if not downright unreliable. Our gnomish friend has the truth of it: maybe yer dancing feet shall suffice to win the day, after all ?"

“Okay gang, here goes nothing.”  Vadernul, the Giant that he is attempts to run through the turbines at just the right time.

Dex Save: 18

“AAAAGH!” He screams as he makes his way across.  Finding the lever he will shut down the turbines. For the group.

Vaxis visibly winces as Vadernul runs through the turbines.

Vadernul ducks, dodges and spins left and right avoiding the razor-sharp tines of the spinning turnstiles - no easy feat considering he is as tall as the ceiling. Safely on the other side, he reaches for the lever...

...and upon grasping the handle finds it reaching back for him! A sticky, purple tongue lashes out at his forearm followed by several rows of vicious, pointed teeth! The mimic rapidly expands to full size and drops to the floor, eager to consume its rather over-sized meal.

ROLLING INITIATIVE!

Connak: 10
Vaxis: 4
Tabesha’l: 6
Vadernul: 6 - grappled
Barric: 4
Ando: 16
Mimic: 20 - NOTE: while disguised, any creature that touches the mimic is automatically grappled by it. Attempts to escape the grapple are made with disadvantage at DC 13.

INITIATIVE ORDER:

1. BARRIC
2. MIMIC
3. TABESHA'L
4. ANDO
5. CONNAK
6. VAXIS
7. VADERNUL

Barric shouts a curse as he draws a blade.

"I swear these gnomes are trying to kill us!" 

Not wanting to leave Vadernul unsupported, he tries to time the spinning of the blades and dives through, attempting to reach the creature attacking his ally.

Action: Taking the dodge action. Move: 1L, 3DL, 1L. Reflex save vs the blades (gaining advantage from taking the dodge action). 18

If Barric takes at least 8 damage from the blades, he will use his bonus action to use second wind: 7. If he reaches the mimic, he will use his action surge to attack. Attack: 9 Damage: 8.

If the attack hits, Barric will attempt to use his Trip Attack Maneuver. If so, the attack will do 7 extra damage and the mimic must make a dc 13 strength saving throw or be knocked prone.

(OOC: Vadernul takes half of 18...9...slashing damage & Barric takes half of 17...8...slashing damage as they move through the spinning turnstiles.)

(OOC: Mimic makes a STR save 11 vs. DC 13 taking 3 additional piercing damage and falling prone on a failed save.)

Barric darts through the gauntlet of spinning blades taking several slices in the process, but emerges upright on the other side and rushes to Vadernul's aid. The mimic had almost fully transformed to its natural form, except for a tail-like appendage that looked remarkably like the sort of lever one might use to shut down spinning turnstile blades. His shortsword struck with lightening speed teetering the horrible monstrosity over on its side, tugging a surprised firbolg along with it.

As it stands, the mimic's needle-like teeth elongated out of a hungry maw as its jaws ratcheted open into a wide, sickly grin before snapping closed on Vadernul's forearm:

Bite Attack: 22 vs. AC 16 (Vadernul), dealing 11 piercing damage + 8 acid damage on a hit.

(OOC: The mimic has advantage on attack rolls against any creature grappled by it.)

Squinting to see between the whir of the roaring blades, Tabeshal gasps as she sees the firbolg being mauled by the beast. She turns towards her companions and her face, usually so calm and composed, now clearly betrays her distress :

" I dare not use my magic in this maddening place ! We must reach friend Brut... I mean Valdemul, before he's torn apart !"

** Readied Action - will move to Vadernul to try and stabilize him as soon as the rotors stop. Medicine 20 **

Ando will Dash to clear the turbines and flip the real switch to stop them, stopping there (just above Vadernul). He'll also cast Shield of Faith on Vadernul as a bonus action once he's flipped the switch.

"This monstrosity is a perversion of nature! We must vanquish it."

DEX Save: 1

The paladin strikes up his courage and forges his way through the deadly device. The weight of his armor, shield and weapons slows his ability to avoid the blades of the machine, and one of the tines catches the man at the ankle, throwing off the tempo of his steps. Before he can fully recover from that misstep, another blade swooshes in from the opposite side striking him again, further aggravating the calculation of his movements, leaving him exposed to two more strikes before he emerges on the others side...

(OOC: Ando takes 10 slashing damage from the spinning blades)

What he may have lacked in grace moving through the turnstiles, he more than compensated for with luck in managing to avoid the largest and sharpest blades. Emerging largely unscathed on the other side, Ando slams the lever into the up position and the spinning blades grind to a halt.

Seeing the blades stop, Connak will move to get line of sight on the situation (3L, 2DL, 2L) and shoot the mimic...

Longbow Attack: 8 Damage: 7

Vaxis, remembering the wild magic effect offers a short prayer to Bahamut that the wild magic doesn't effect his god-granted spells. He moves to attack range (1w1s3w1sw) and casts Guiding Bolt at the Mimic, attempting to end this fight quickly.

"Begone, abomination!"

(Attack roll: 19, Damage: 15 radiant and next attack has advantage on it)

Relieved that his companions are on the way in one of his most dire states.  Vadernul thinks about the health potion he has in his bag, but decides to follow Vaxis’ lead and finish the fight quickly.  Bolstered by the now glowing bright target and protective aura.

Vadernul swings down the hammer to the mimic.

Attack: 16 Damage: 6

Vadernul then turns himself invisible and pretends to bring his arm down as if the mimic had dropped while making sure he doesn’t go prone.

Immediately after his guiding bolt erupts from his fingers, the massive, fearsome-looking silver dragonborn shapechanges into a potted plant!

(OOC: While in potted plant form, Vaxis is incapacitated and has vulnerability to ALL damage!)

Vaxis' adventuring companions look on with a mixture of horror and confusion, not sure whether this is some strange kind of dragonborn magic or just another unfortunate circumstance of their visit to Gnomengarde.

Barric does not even notice the chaos behind him as he is totally focused on the mimic. Trying to time his strikes to keep the thing off balance, he draws his second blade and launches a series of cuts into the monstrosity.

Action (Drawing second sword as part of the action) Attack: 23 Damage: 6

If the attack hits: Trip Attack Maneuver, DC 13 Strength save or prone. Extra Damage: 2.

Bonus Action: Attack: 17 Damage: 9. If the previous attack hit and the mimic is prone, rolling at advantage: 6.

Move: No Movement.

(OOC: the mimic makes a STR save 17 vs. DC 13, falling prone and taking an extra 8 piercing damage on a failed save.)

Again, Barric viciously strikes away at the mimic, using both swords this time. The monster roars in pain as the fighter's shortswords skewer it's flesh again and again, forcing it to finally let go to let go of Vadernul in order to defend itself properly. The mimic turns itself back upright and launches it's pseudopod at Barric:

Pseudopod attack: 20 vs. AC 14 (Barric), dealing 7 bludgeoning damage on a hit.

(OOC: Barric may immediately re-post below concerning any parry or riposte actions after the mimic's attack.)

Tabesha'l looks at the potted plant on the ground where mere instants before the proud figure of the draconic paladin used to be.

" Oh my ! Now, that is quite unfortunate... ! Never fear, friend Vaxis, there must be ways to turn thee back to thy proper form." the elf mage murmurs as she bends towards the small house plant, her dainty brow furrowing in deep thought.

** Arcana check to try to recall what she learned about Wild Magic during her studies at the Arcanum Magistrum : 18 **