Lost Lab of Kwalish

@Tesservett: Which first, the control attempt or the movement ?

<sorry for the slow post rate, guys.  Busy with life>

As glasses appear on the skull, it shouts, "Insubordination will be dealt with swiftly and harshly!"

An instant later, a haze appears next to the skull, from which emerges the artificer, himself {infoportation}.  He raises an outstretched finger at Gravity and the skull flies at incredible speed, closing the gap with gravity (70ft or more) in (< 6 seconds).

He will do the control attempt first as long as he’s not too close to the sphere.  It slid towards him 10’ right?  

<On the failed attempt the sphere moved 10ft closer, yes.  The following attempt is a success.>

Moghaddam initiative 7

Moghaddam will attempt to wrest control of the sphere from Tetrevess.  (It's a contest, please make an arcana check.  Until Moghaddam's initiative, Tetrevess is in control of the sphere, per the mechanics in the spoiler.)

Arcana: 13

"You won't escape!" Moghaddam calls to Tarnhem in Abyssal, "But if you quell this unrest, I may let you live."

Persuasion 8

Tarnhem insight 4

Quote from Wile_E_Coyote >>

Initiatives

Moghaddam 19

Sam 18

Tetrevess 16

Ana 9

Tarnhem 6

Gravity 4

Pentival 4

((I'm confused whom are we fighting?))

Maghaddam - hopefully the demon isn’t dumb enough to join his enslaver against us!

heres tetrevess attempt to maintain control of the sphere- I guess as a reaction.

24  

whew!  

he will send the sphere right at moghoddam and say to the demon “seriously- we came here to free you.  He will just lock you up again to drain your power for thousands of years of torture.   Help us kill him and destroy this place!”

(Tetrevess will help someone else make the persuasion check by pointing out the obvious) 

on his turn- tetrevess sends the sphere right through moghraddam’s chest

Quote from ikarbino >>

((I'm confused whom are we fighting?))

 You've never actually started fighting.  Moghaddam is actively mad at Gravity and certainly aware and displeased that Tetrevess has control of the sphere.  Though he might be dissuaded from that.  The balor seems to be willing to ally with his captor but that's still fleeting 

Moghaddam Dex save x Sphere of Annihilation 20

<the arcana check was for a skill contest, similar to grapple.  It does not require a reaction from the defender; I'd say it's more like a saving throw.  For the aggressor, it doea use an action.  That is why Moghaddam didn't cast a spell or something this round.>

The artificer narrowly dodges the sphere as it whizzes by.

<Tetrevess decides how far it travels up to the 5x Int limit, so he dictates where it stops>

<The current initiative order falls to Ana, who may choose to act before Tarnhem.>

It goes 30’ total, so some of that behind the artificer.  If I can hit the jeweled skull with it I will, I won’t hit any one else. I don’t have a good mental picture of the battlefield at the moment.  

@everyone:

After some thought, I realize that there was a subtle additional effect to the activation of your guide, Logan, earlier in this room [Less than a minute ago in game time]: You feel refreshed as though you have just taken a long rest.

(I both want this to maximize fun potential and also think it should happen based on how the item works, just in this specific instance.  So, go ahead and adjust your character sheets accordingly.)

Quote from Tesservett >>

It goes 30’ total, so some of that behind the artificer.  If I can hit the jeweled skull with it I will, I won’t hit any one else. I don’t have a good mental picture of the battlefield at the moment.  

 Sorry, I forgot to upload the map recently.  Here it is with Tetrevess moving after taking control of the sphere but before the sphere moves.  The skull came in from the north entrance, Moghaddam appeared beside it.  Squares are 10ft.  I'm not sure the sphere could have reached the srtificer with the amount of movement that imparts.  He's roughly 90ft from it.  The skull zipped after Gravity, though, so it is certainly close enough to hit.  

Mild spoiler for mechanics:

https://www.owlbear.rodeo/game/HW2kKYQ0I

Moghaddam seemed to be mad with them - she couldn't imagine why - so despite still having no investment in any of this fighting Ana sighted upon him and let loose two arrows.

((Ana should still be hidden so I'm rolling with advantage for the first arrow.

Attack: 18 Damage: 7 Elven Accuracy 3rd d20 die: 23

Attack: 27 Damage: 9 ))

EDIT: hey, two crits. Imma smite him both times: 49 for first and 55 for second and knock him down with the second.))

(Woah, nice!   FYI, tetrevess doesn’t really want the sphere, he just doesn’t want anyone else having it, especially not our enemies) 

Creep has been frightened because of the sudden appearance of Moghaddam since she has never thought about the extent of his capabilities. At the same time she's been surprised by the fact that the skull can move at an incredible pace. The sudden collision between the spectral skull and her flying self works as a trigger to let her bestial form unleash. Her orange locks of unkempt hair stands up in a stylized form of messy mohawk, when similar kind of whiskers appear on her face. She waits for Tarnhem to respond to the issue before attempting to make further advancement, but moves away from the evil skull.

Bonus Action: Shifting

Reaction: Swiftstride Reaction

The artificer falls to the ground, dead.  Pentival calls to Ana, "That's it!  The light shines brightly with us, this day.  Keep on, give no quarter! Let us drive this demon back to the Abyss."

Tarnhem surveys the scene.  "Fool," he spits, "That is precisely where I will ferry myself the very moment I remove you and any other trivial obstacles from my path.  I've no further business here.  My son has made this mess and he'll be left to deal with it by himself.  Now if you insist on dying before I go, that can be arranged, but I am in a bit of a hurry to leave, so if you do t mind, I'll be on my way."

Eyeing the party, collectively, he adds, "Thanks for helping a demon out.  You lot are welcome in the Abyss anytime." He says with a smile as he moves to pass the deadly black sphere and very ture deeper into the tomb, toward the ruins of the chapel.

"If that is your true intent, then allow me escort you myself, demon." The wounded paladin growls through clenched teeth, swords held tightly in each hand.

“That was amazing Ana.  .”  Tetrevess says.  He glances at the paladin and says “This Balor is beyond any of us.  I have no desire to die after this victory over the evil artificer.”  To the Balor he says “, you promise, I’m sure, to be good and cause no further evil here on the prime material plane?”   Persuasion 2  on both to try to get them not to fight.  

He moves the sphere out of the way of the Balor, but close enough it could be moved towards it. 

(Mechanical observation - with a DC13 dex save to avoid for no damage- it’s actually pretty hard to make this sphere an effective weapon.  It would be good for drilling tunnels and creating dungeons, as well as destroying troublesome magic items and things..). 

Tetrevess will search the artificer for items of interest or value, check the skull over, etc.

Gravity observes everything silently, she seems to be growing anxious gradually like an initiate of a circle who's about to ascend to the highest level of ranking system. She suddenly starts to speak with an authoritative tone:

"You can leave without worrying too much about your son, Tarnhem! As the newly appointed architect of the tomb, I'll take care of him and make sure that it's transformed into a 'Tomb of Creation'."

Sam seeing the instant death of this man just laughs his head off “well done Ana” then looking at the balor “so there’s no favour for us” looking at the balor 

and getting ready to scrap the Dragonborn