(Sounds good on the bullets.)

Shishalki again makes the trip back to the Garden of Horrors, this time accompanied by the rest of the group— now rested and ready to face Yggmorgus. Again, the trip is uneventful and short, but you do soon make it to the Garden, successfully unnoticed. You encounter almost the exact same situation as last time: A group of 18-20 myconid listlessly frolic around the base of the large mushroom, muttering soft, incoherent words while Phylo stands at the base of the mushroom. This time however, their eerie voices begin to grace your ears and you hear the verses of a song begin to form and almost drift through the large cavern: 

From rocky bed the toadstool rose,
From chaos dark, her love She shows.
Wish! Yearn! Laugh!
The Lady will be wed!
Crave! Hunger! Dance!
Her joyous spores will spread!
Youth is gone, beauty rots,
Araumycos and Zuggtmoy!
Joined together, heart to heart,
Becoming one ’til death do part!
Hail! Hail! Hail!

What would you like to do?

How closely grouped are they?

They are all within 10-20 feet of each other and I’d estimate the party is about 30-50 feet back from them depending on where you want to be. 

Nicholas feels the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He turns to his friends and whispers, "Is this some kind of ritual? Should we stop them?"

"Ritual or not, we have come to put an end to this abomination. Let us proceed," Syvis mutters grimly to Nicholas as she studies Phylo's movements and loads her crossbow.

Insightful fighting: 14 vs Phylo's deception

She looks around to the others and, assuming they're in position and don't give any sign of wanting to wait, she seizes the opportunity for surprise and fires at Phylo!

Crossbow Attack: 22 Damage: 9

Thodek does have one thing to try before combat, we'll see how it goes.

Once he's within 60 feet of the group, he clutches his amulet and makes a quick prayer, then waves gently in the direction of the cultists, releasing magic he hopes might break them out of this madness.

Calm Emotions DC 13 charisma save.

Ok, Nicholas, Shishalki— anything you would like to do before combat most likely starts? Essentially a surprise round mechanics wise.

What would you like to do?

Seeing Thodek step up and attempt, his magic, Nicholas would hold his shot and see if they remain hostile after.

(Hold action to shoot if mushrooms turn hostile.)

Shishakli, getting into position, looks back at Phylo, and this time feels it’s time to end him. There is clearly something sinister going on. He pulls out his bow and aims as he had before, but
this time looses the arrow.

Thodek initiative: 9

(Probably going to be needed soon, so here it is.)

Ok, so calm emotions first.

Phylo Cha. Save: 21

Myconid Cha. Save: 16

 Unfortunately, both make the save, but with this foreign force tugging on their conscious, the creatures are nonetheless broken from their blissful trance and look, in one synchronized head turn, towards the group. Phylo stands up, looking towards your group, and in your mind, the sovereign speaks. “Look, my friends. It is the traitors who have stolen the others of our grove from us; stolen them from the benevolence of our queen. They will not— cannot be forgiven… we must eliminate them!”

Queue the groups surprise attacks:

(Phylo’s Deception for Insightful Fighting: 12: Fail!)

Shishalki and Syvis both fire shots at Phylo, each of them sinking into the chest of the myconid sovreign who lets out a scream that seems to originate from Yggmorgus itself, echoing through the cavern and causing it to shake (Total: -38hp).

Nicholas, go ahead and roll the held attack. 

 Phylo Initiative: 18

Myconid Initiative: 6

Nicholas Initiative: 5

Initiative Order: Shishalki, Phylo, Syvis, Thodek, Myconid, Nicholas

Map incoming ASAP; Shishalki is up! Others may queue their actions as well, just keep in mind with Phylo in the middle, things may change before your turn actually comes around. What would you like to do?

Shishakli does his best to make Phylo a pin cushion, shooting another arrow at him from the darkness.

Held Attack at Phylo: Attack: 26 Damage: 9  (3/4 bullets remaining in chamber)

With the situation having escalated Nicholas takes aim and fires at Phylo. Then as soon as he can takes another shot him while trying to keep distance from the on coming myconids.

Action:  Dazing Shot (DC13) at Phylo Attack: 9 Damage: 12  (2/4 bullets remaining in chamber)
If Nicholas cannot attack Phylo, he will shoot the closest Myconid but will not use Dazing shot.

Ok, map is up! It is on the resource doc (let me know if I need to send it again), and isn’t much different from what we’ve used in the past but is a bit better quality. I made a rough estimate of where each party member would be placed, so let me know if you would have been somewhere else before combat started. I also have added some extra layers to our baddies here that should make combat hopefully more interesting, but we will cover that when we get there :)

 Nicholas’ surprise attack misses, whizzing past the head of the Myconid sovereign who does not even flinch at the large bang. 

Will wait here for now: Shishalki, feel free to change or add on to your action now based on the map. Everyone else can also tell me what starting positions their character would be in. If not, I’ll just wait for some confirmation that everything is good, and we’ll go from there. What would you like to do?

Shishalki looses another arrow that, makes contact, indeed turning Phylo into a pincushion of sorts with four arrows now protruding from its chest (-9hp (Total: -47hp)). 

Phylo is up!

First, using a legendary action at the end of Shishalki’s turn, the sovereign turns to the nearest myconid. Phylo smiles before reaching out a hand, and with a crunch, the head explodes as the body falls limp to the cavern floor, however Phylo recovers 3 hit points (Total: -44 hp).

Then on Phylo’s turn, the large myconid simply spends its movement to rotate around the base of Yggmorgus to where it now it protected from the party’s assault of arrows (mechanically, Phylo now has half-cover).

Back to the party; Syvis and Thodek are up! Map has been updated: there is now one less regular myconid, and Phylo has been slightly more injured (It also has half cover). Let me know if your starting positions need to change, if not, what would you like to do?

Syvis silently wretches as she watches the sovereign sacrifice its follower so flippantly. She focuses on what seems to be the myconid at the central-most position in the group (O9 if we're playing Battleship) and whispers a prayer to Sehanine as she casts sleep into the gathering (which I think should catch them all except Phylo). Without waiting to observe the efficacy of her actions, she slinks around the base of Yggmorus, clinging to whatever shadows she can find in an attempt to hide and get a better view of Phylo from around the other side (away from the myconid).

Sleep HP: 23
Hide: 15

Thodek moves forward quickly to engage the lesser myconids, leaving the leader to his allies, and swings his warhammer at the nearest before summoning up a spiritual hammer to smite it with as well.

Move right five squares and down two.
Melee: Attack: 23 Damage: 11
Spiritual Weapon: Attack: 9 Damage: 10

(Advantage rolls in case his target is asleep: 22   8)

Syvis mutter this prayer as a wave of calming energy wash over the myconid, (1), with the one closest to the party slumping to the ground, unconscious. She then slinks along the cavern wall, deeper back into the shadows to where she is unseen (successful hide attempt). 

Thodek then follows up by rushing in, swinging his hammer down savagely on the sleeping creature (extra damage for auto crit: 3). The body crumpled inward, gore spraying up from the corpse as it falls limp again, this time for good (-15hp— Dead). Then, Thodek summons a spiritual hammer that swings at the next closest myconid, but misses as the creature gleefully twirls out of the way (Miss).

The myconid are up!

Each of them begin to move, eerily in step, happily, skipping— acting almost as if this is a game. 

Two, (the closest to Thodek), spend their turn dashing past him, running towards Nicholas and Shishalki, and are able to reach melee range with the two. (Thodek may take an AOO should he choose to use his reaction for it).

Four, move towards Phylo and again surround the sovereign in a sort of protective circle.

And finally, five more move towards Thodek. Four of those are able to make it within melee range and can take attacks, while the last one is not able to reach him.

One, ejects spores that seek and surround the dwarf (Please make a DC 10 Con. Save or be poisoned for one minute), while the other three make slam attacks:

Attack: 9 Damage: Unable to parse dice roll.

Attack: 14 Damage: 4

Attack: 24 Damage: 10

One of these attacks hits you hard, as the creature attacks with surprising and overpowering strength (-17hp).

 Nicholas is up!

Despite Phylo’s cover, Nicholas fires his pistol again, this time, making contact as the bullet blasts a chunk of flesh off Phylo’s shoulder (Con. Save: 17— Fail: will have disadvantage on all attacks next turn) (-7hp (Total: -51hp)).

At the end of Nicholas’ turn, Phylo uses a second legendary action to cause one of the myconid nearest to Thodek explode again, this time acid and gore sprays the nearby area. Thodek: You need to make a DC 12 Dex. Save or take 9 acid damage, taking half on a success. 

Shishalki is up! Others may also queue their actions, just remember things may change before the move actually occurs. Map is updated; what would you like to do?