Concentration Check: 15

Unfortunately, the glancing blow is all it takes for Ednyss to lose his focus on the strength he was channeling from Takal Demesh into Varielky and he has to shake his head to refocus his thoughts.

(OOC: Don't know why it is flagging the post... the original roll was an 8 so I'll go with that...)

Ednyss sees Auger run next to him and calls to the warlock, "As much as running may seem like a good idea, Varielky and Benita won't be able to get out unless we carve a path out for them." With that, he turns back to his dance partner and thrusts his War Pick forward into the Orc's gut before calling a word of healing to Auger, "Go!" If he manages to take out the Orc, Ednyss will wave Benita and Varielky in his direction using his body to shield them from the blows of the orcs in the more central part of the tent.

(OOC: He is motioning for them to come up to the left of him (on the map) where O13 and O14 are laying and attempt to get around and out.)

As she blocks the second attack of the first Orc, Varielky once more tries to cut in quick response. However, successful or not, she doesn't manage to block all the other attacks aimed at her. Hearing the others, Varielky considers the matter for a moment but decides to dismiss it. "The gods wished otherwise," Varielky responds to Benita, "and they are still with us!" She calls, gathering her resolve before running forward towards the Orc chief, hoping to end this fight quickly. Trying to evade any attacks aimed at her on the way, though not giving it too much thought, Varielky runs towards Xurl. "AND NOW, THE GODS WILL BE DONE WITH YOU!" She calls as she slashes twice at the Orc. The second attack is aimed at his hand, trying to knock the axe out of it. If she succeeds, Varielky will kick the axe behind her.

Reaction: Riposte maoeuvre against O3. Attack: 16 Damage: 16.

BA: Second Wind healing 12 points.
Move: To G-22.
Action: Menacing Attack manoeuvre against Xurl. Attack: 10 Damage: 16. If hit, Xurl must succeed a DC 14 Wis save or be Frightened of Varielky until the end of her next turn.
Action Surge: Disarming Attack manoeuvre against Xurl. Attack: 11 Damage: 18. If hit, Xurl must succeed a DC 14 Str check or lose grip on his axe.
Free Action: If Xurl dropped his axe, Varielky kicks it backwards, away from her.

ROUND 3 RESULTS

Ednyss’s opponent reads his movement and dodges back from the war cleric’s thrust, taking no damage. But, repeating the maneuver, Ednyss causes the orc to shift just enough to make an escape path behind the table for Auger and Benita.

Auger evades the approaching war chief and takes advantage of the opening Ednyss made.

Varielky. With a subtle twist, the shield-maiden traps Orc 3's right hand behind her shield following his attack, and her red-steel blade rips through the humanoid, and his eyes go dim as he flops to the ground, his belly cut wide open. Then, Varielky calls to Xurl and leaps atop the table to confront him while dagger slashes from the combatants behind her grate against her shield and greaves. Muscles rippling, the huge war chief turns his attention from the warlock to the warrior and parries both of the shield-maiden’s ferocious blows. 

Benita shouts, “Come on, bruiser!,” but holding little expectation that her friend will run from a fight, remains where she is and strikes O15, slashing his forehead. Blood cascades into the orc's eyes from the wound and he falls back (“blinded” at 1HP). Benita then lunges low at O16, impaling his gut, and the orc falls. But as she moves away from O1, he grabs her from behind, restraining her arms and lifting her off of the ground.

Granophyre slashes with Wad's battleaxe again, but the orc sees the old man’s blow coming and dodges back. Strewn's Golden Bird’s tiny beak emits another force beam at the Orc holding Benita, but the humanoid twists out of the way.

Azh 2 Lunja attacks O10, plunging forward and spitting the orc on her blade, then pulling back as he falls. She dives into a combat roll, coming to a stand beside O1, but the orc sees her, and twists Benita in the way, thwarting the Azhvuv’s second attack. Her Alyasub harries O15, but does no damage.

Azh 3 Sakinatadla follows Lunja, attacking O1 and striking for 7HP. The deathly wails overwhelm O15 and he drops, clutching his bloody head.

Azh 4 Tagwerramt peeks out of the curtain again, and frowning, moves to defend Granophyre, rising in a twisting leap and bringing her blade down on O6, finishing him off, as deathly wails assault the sense of O12. She moves to within earshot of Ednyss, Auger, and Granophyre, and shouts, “Guards are coming!,” before lunging at O12, who falls to his knees (1HP) as the Azhvuv withdraws her bloody blade.

Shulong Xurl, bathed in blue light, roars at Varielky (Intimidation roll: 24), and he leaps onto the table beside her, which creaks under his weight, then slams his great axe down, smashing her shield with such force that she falls to one knee (and takes 15HP). His second massive blow comes around with such force, Varielky can only watch, as if in slow motion, as it barrels into her. The blow overwhelms her completely (for 22HP damage), and the shield-maiden’s broken body rockets off the table, falling in a heap on the floor.

“VARIELKY!!,” screams Benita.

Hand 1 shifts his whooshing blue blades to attack Sakinatadla, and they tear through her robes and inflict 8HP damage, then the blue-lit, tattooed shaman rushes the Azhvuv, swinging his bladed staff low, but she leaps over it, taking no further damage.

Hand 2 brings his spiritual weapon to attack the same target, critting, and inflicts 11HP damage. You see the Azhvuv’s corporeal form is beginning to lose its definition (2HP).

Orc 1, holding onto Benita, moves her back to Xurl.

Orc 7 attacks Granophyre and darts past the scholar’s shield, stabbing him (crit) for 9HP damage.

Orc 12 disengages and runs out of the room.

Orc 17 attacks Ednyss but can’t compete with the war cleric’s shield.

Two orc guards enter the dining hall at a run, and gasp at what they witness.

You are now situated like so.

Please post Round 4 actions.

Seeing that Benita is again held, and then seeing Varielky's body fall to the ground, Auger turns and attempts to assist as best he can. Drawing forth energies from the Sea of Stars he again summons a dragonfly, dripping purple energies and sends it inexorably into the Orc holding Benita, weakening it substantially. Auger then draws forth his twisting energies and sends them into that same Orc, hoping to free Benita.

If Auger's actions free or enable Benita to become free then Auger says, while motioning towards Varielky's crumpled form, "Gather her up and leave with us!"

Auger

Death Save? 1. 

Ednyss sees Varielky get struck down by Xurl and shouts furiously at her, "No!" With that word of power, her body is infused with some healing magics and she is brought back to consciousness. "The Gods will deal with these Orcs themselves. We have done our part in rescuing Benita, and it is now time for us to leave." Smashing his War Pick into the Orc that is continually evading his blows, if he manages to take him out, Ednyss himself will start to retreat back towards the entrance, halting in front of one of the guards.

Free Action: Channel Divinity: Guided Strike

Starting at the 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to strike with supernatural accuracy. When you make an attack roll, you can use your Channel Divinity to gain a +10 bonus to the roll. You make this choice after you see the roll, but before the DM says whether the attack hits or misses.

New Attack Roll: 18

((I'm not sure if the "broken body" part is just fluff or actually a status effect. I don't really mind, to be honest, as I do like seeing results of great attacks on PCs as much as I like seeing them on enemies. I'll go on with the assumption she can act normally, but if not, those will be her intentions, as she's not aware yet of whatever might be wrong, if anything, and perhaps some of her intentions will not work as planned.))
Varielky gasps as she opens her eyes, which results in quite a lot of pain. She has a moment there lying on the floor before she forces her aching body to stand up, grunting with great pain. (Going to assume Auger's blast hits.) She sees Benita near Xurl and wants to charge at him, but she hears Ednyss' words and... she was somewhat intimidated by the Orcs' chief. She may have been a little bit euphoric, thinking it will go as smoothly as last time, and she feels as if she was very close to death. She looks around, trying to see the situation. Most Orcs have been taken out already, but both of the Hands remain, as well as Xurl, and she's already gravely wounded. She recognizes the danger and begins to retreat.
Yet, after taking a step back, she cannot quite let the matter go. Varielky turns back, swiftly pulls one of her handaxes out of its frog and says: "May the gods guide this axe to the head of my foe, as a symbol of my vow to complete this fight another day!" Then, she hurls it at Xurl. "Here's to remember me by! A promise that we are not done yet! One day, your head WILL roll beneath my feet!" Varielky might be putting on a little bit of a show, trying to deal with the fear by showing boldness, but she does retreat farther back, trying to summon back her sword on the way.

Move: Eventually to G-16, but stopping for a moment on the way to do the rest of the turn.
Action: Using one of her handaxes to make a Menacing Attack manoeuvre against Xurl, using inspiration to gain advantage on the attack. Attack: 24 Slashing Damage: 17. On a hit, Xurl must succeed on a DC 14 Wis save or be frightened of Varielky until her next turn.
BA? I don't remember what the rules on summoning the sword were. I'll assume it works like the Eldritch Knight's Weapon Bond feature, which takes a BA to summon.

ROUND 4 RESULTS

Auger’s Hex strikes O1, who has only time to gasp in surprise before the warlock’s Eldritch Blast crashes into the humanoid and the orc’s caved-in body flies head over heels, sliding against the tent wall, then flopping down, dead, at the feet of Hand 2. Benita, free of the orc’s grasp, falls to hands and knees and glances her thanks up at Auger, but due to the loudness of the music she can’t hear his call to action.

Ednyss sends healing to Varielky, then, channeling the God of War, who guides his hand, whips his war pick into the orc before him, splitting the humanoid’s skull, before the war cleric moves to H13.

Varielky moves to G16 after throwing a hand axe at Xurl, who sees it coming and parries it down to THUNK into the table in front of him. But glancing at his chest, he notices the whirling weapon deeply cut his pectoral, which oozes blood (OOC: he fails his WIS save and will not pursue the party this round, and takes 9HP damage).

Benita disengages from Xurl, then runs to aid Granophyre, slashing the orc before him (O7) for 11HP damage.

Granophyre and his Golden Bird finish off the orc which Benita had just wounded (O7).

Azh 2 Lunja, Azh 3 Sakinatadla, and Alyasub 2 hold off Hand 1, curved blades whirling, but the Hand parries or dodges every blow.

Azh 4 Tagwerramt shifts position to impale G1 with her blade, and the weeping souls afflict G2, who cries in fear, holding his head in pain.

Shulong Xurl stands tall and immobile, and watches Varielky retreat, frowning deeply, and then he locks eyes with the remaining guard (G2).

Hand 1 attacks Sakinatadla, both with his bladed staff, which she evades, and from behind, with the swirling blue blades, which slice through her sandy form for 7HP damage. She cries out before transforming into a thin tunnel of spiraling sand which shoots upwards and out of the roof vent like a screeching wind.

Hand 2 moves his swirling blue blades to attack Lunja, and they cut easily through her garments and form for 10HP. He then joins Hand 1 with his bladed spear to attack Lunja hand-to-hand, but the Azhvuv’s thin swords move with incredible speed as she leaps and dodges to evade or parry his every attack.

G2, at a signal from Xurl, dashes away.

You are now situated like so.

Please post Round 5 actions.

(OOC: I Will post my actions in two parts because the second part depends on the first...)

Ednyss notices the signal from Xurl to the guard, and seeing the guard rush off, the dwarf rushes after the guard.

(OOC: I'm not exactly sure where the entrance flap was, but Ednyss is just following as far after the guard as he can (25 feet). At the end of his movement, can he see the guard that ran?)

Quote from The_Mathemagician >>

(OOC: I Will post my actions in two parts because the second part depends on the first...)

Ednyss notices the signal from Xurl to the guard, and seeing the guard rush off, the dwarf rushes after the guard.

(OOC: I'm not exactly sure where the entrance flap was, but Ednyss is just following as far after the guard as he can (25 feet). At the end of his movement, can he see the guard that ran?)

Move: 25 Feet (Following after the guard)

(OOC: the entrance is at L12.)

Ednyss sees the guard turn right after fleeing the dining hall, but, as he enters the throne room, Ednyss does not see him, yet notes that the curtain on the south wall is swishing down. The orc no doubt ran that way, but is now out of sight. Ednyss now also remembers that another orc, O12, had already fled the room earlier in the melee, and there is no sign of him either. 

Varielky sheathes her sword. Then, after taking one last look at Xurl, locking her eyes with him for a mere moment, she turns around and runs out. "Come on." She calls to those behind her, her voice sounds restrained and monotonous. She'll then dash towards the meeting place with Tamazaert (I hope I wrote that right).

Auger joins the others and Dashes out of the room and as far as he can across the throne room, encouraging Benita and Granophyre to keep up as best as possible.

Seeing nobody immediately, Ednyss decides against giving chase and uses all his energy to continue pushing onwards, after Varielky, to their meeting place.

Action: Dash

Tagwerramt yells, “We can’t hold them for long! Run!,” and moves to join Lunja in her battle against the hands. You four dash out of the dining hall and across the throne room and hear the wailing of the dead erupt again behind you -- one of the Azhvuv must have been destroyed. Benita picks up a rapier leaning beside the throne -- hers, as Varielky recognizes -- and Granophyre shouts in surprise as you hear a young voice announce, “It’s me!” Tamazaert, nearby. She must have remained in the throne room, and had just taken Granophyre’s hand. He calms himself and guides her as you keep running, back to the hallway outside the restroom. You hear the sound of orcs yelling in anger and running in from the tent’s main entrance to the throne room just as you exit it. They do not see you. You continue into the chamber pot room, then, quietly -- or at least, quietly enough, out of the covert exit you carved for yourselves, as horns blow in the distance and a commotion forms up in the plaza.

In another moment, you are hugging the exterior of Xurl’s tent once again -- this time, with Benita.

Here is a map showing your current location (the red X), and your planned escape route (the blue arrow), which the Azhvuv told you would lead to a farm where you could find mounts you could attempt to steal, 1 mile from town.

The orcan dance music which had accompanied your entire melee finally stops mid-phrase. It sounds like someone destroyed the instruments the musicians were playing with a single blow. Or killed the musicians. In another moment, you see a thin tornado of sand whip upwards into the night sky, and away southward. Tagwerramt.

Auger sends Py, can you fly ahead and--

A short sharp grief returns to Auger as he pauses for a moment. Returning to a whisper but some sharpness to his voice, Auger says, "Now we must go and quickly!" and he proceeds around the tent on the established escape path, assuming the team will follow, and perhaps not see the tears forming.

The rear, north side of Xurl’s tent, you will discover, abuts almost to the base of the dagger-shaped rock spires under which it was built. The path is very narrow: 12” or less wide. Slow going, and you’ll have to lean on the rocks and tent walls as you go. Do you continue in that direction, up and around the north side of Xurl’s tent?

Before you go, while you are just outside the chamber pot room trying to press your bodies against the tent so as not be be seen from the plaza, Granophyre pulls out what looks like a surgical instrument, squeezes it, and slowly drags its edge down the cut the Azhvuv made in the tent’s exterior. Uttering an arcane phrase, the cut tent wall closes up, as if being shorn in reverse motion. The sage works on this as you decide what to do. From inside the tent you will soon hear the sounds of curtains being thrown open one by one, rooms being searched. 

Seeing what Granophyre is up to Auger steps in and helps him as best as he can.

Auger looks at the rock spires for a moment, does it appear there is a path that goes behind them? If not Auger asserts that the team could re-enter the tent after they have searched it and leave through a hole on the opposite side.

The Azhvuv told you there is definitively no path through the rocks.