1. The Cloakwood

Round 2 Summary

Dieter rises to the occasion with a stunning display of martial prowess, blocking with his shield and striking with his enchanted sword. The one hole that appears in his defenses is quickly hidden by Stella's illusions, while Runeson's shining hammer crunches apart the horror's pauldron. Dieter cleverly severs the animated construct's swordarm, and then finishes it off with six inches of blade through the front of the helmet.

The helmed horror crumples without a sound into a heap of battered armor.

The companions look around quickly to judge if their silent scuffle has been noticed, and find a second helmed horror stepping into the long hallway, flaming sword splashing the nearby walls with flickering orange light.

Stella suddenly feels raking claws on her calf and the burn of insidious poison. An ugly little fiend appears behind her, its bulbous black eyes savoring her pain. A long, forked tongue darts from its misshapen mouth to taste the blood on its nasty little claws, and it grins up at Stella with pointed, crimson-stained teeth.

Round 3 Player Phase!!!

I step up next to dieter(if the corridor allows and back him up with my shield and warhammer against the second helmed horror.

Round 3 Summary

Dieter barely seems to slow as the first helmed horror falls, and he sprints down the hallway to assault the second, Runeson and Koveras at his sides. While the helmed horror fends off attacks from those two, Dieter delivers an angled slash that connects at the base of where the thing's neck would be. His enchanted sword rips down through the plate armor, a wound that would have immediately slain an ordinary foe. Lightning crackles along the slice as the construct's magic, nearly dissipated, barely manages to hold the thing together.

Meanwhile, at the rear of the party Stella and Aiwe do their best to rid themselves of the troublesome little fiend. It darts quickly forward to scratch again at Stella, but Aiwe's mighty swing of her morningstar stuns the quasit long enough for Stella's radiant arrow to pierce it through. Motes of starry light float up as the little monster turns into a smear of dark goo.

It's at this moment that Aldous attempts to throw a fire bolt at the helmed horror. The young noble's obviously still getting used to his spellcasting, for he fumbles the fire and it falls from his hand to the ground, where it blackens and flashes across the floor in every direction. Those closest to Aldous feel a tug on their souls as a bit of their life energy is collected by the black flame (Stella and Aiwe each take 3 necrotic dmg), and then the spell pulses back toward Aldous. He gasps as he's filled to the brim with stolen vigor, then looks around in panic at his friends. "I am SO sorry..."

From down the hallway comes the sound of powerful chanting. A robed wizard that can only be Davaeorn steps around the corner, hands raised before him in intricate gestures. And then another, identical wizard rounds the same corner, also engaged in spellcasting. And then a third. The trio of spellcasters are oddly in sync with each other as they step in intricate circles, sometimes one moving in front of the others, sometimes another. Lightning flickers at each Davaeorn's fingertips, no doubt a promise of destructive energy to come!

Round 4 Player Phase!!!!

I yell, "there’s three of him!" While also swinging at the helmed horror.

Round 4 Summary

The second helmed horror falls to Dieter's cunning blade, and then the air in the hallway begins to tingle with electricity as Davaeorn's spell intensifies.

Purple starlight shines from the eyes of Stella's conjured constellation, revealing truth and dispelling falsehood. As she ducks into the small bedroom, Stella's gratified to see the three Davaeorns succumb to her spell (Mirror Image is dispelled). However, the real Davaeorn does not appear.

Then blinding lightning tears through the corridor, shattering stone and igniting the costly rugs. Some of the companions, having sought cover, manage to avoid the brunt of it (Dieter and Stella take 13 lightning dmg, or Stella takes 6 if she casts Absorb Elements). Runeson seems frozen in place, however, until Koveras manhandles the paladin into a side passage (Runeson takes 13 lightning dmg). The crackling evocation strikes the half-orc full on, hurling him a dozen feet back down the hallway to land sprawling alongside Aldous, who similarly failed to escape the spell (Koveras and Aldous each take 27 lightning damage). Koveras, tough warrior that he is, gets to his feet with smoke rising from his broad shoulders, and he gives Aldous a hand up as well. The young noble grits his teeth in pain, but seems surprisingly fine for having just been struck by lightning.

Aiwe, busy working her own magic, reacts too slowly to the lightning. She dives for the small bedroom near the lift, but is slammed into a wall by the crackling bolt (Aiwe takes 27 lightning dmg). The tough young bard refuses to stay down, however, and continues casting her silence spell.

Seeking cover and a better understanding of the battlefield, Dieter slips into a parlor of sorts just as Davaeorn releases his lightning bolt. He barely enters the room when a magical glyph appears on a rug in the middle of the room. A trap! It glows an arctic blue, then explodes outward in a ring of frost, rolling over Dieter and sapping the warmth from his body (Dieter takes 26 cold dmg). As quickly as it appeared the frost ring dissipates, and shivering Dieter sees a second hallway leading out of the parlor. It appears to slant back towards where Davaeorn cast his lightning spell.

After being pushed into a small study by Koveras, Runeson quickly finds his bearings. The study is opposite the parlor Dieter entered, and Runeson sees the young fighter get frosted over by the arcane trap in that room. But another movement catches Runeson's eye - a third helmed horror animates within the study! The construct's sword bursts into flame.

Clever Stella, peering down the long hallway now marred by scorched walls and singed rugs, notes that though the three Davaeorns are dispelled, there is the briefest shifting flicker of light folded in on itself - a person cloaked by some kind of invisibility? She fires a radiant arrow at the disturbance, and at the last moment a shining blue barrier pops into place to deflect the projectile (Shield spell). The barrier disappears, and in the confusion Stella loses detection of the invisible wizard.

Aiwe's magical silence once again falls into place, this time enveloping the far end of the hallway. If Davaeorn is still there, invisible, he will have a hard time casting more spells.

Seeing his friends hurt, and hurting plenty himself, Aldous Silvershield runs up to the edge of the silence spell. It's still strange to see him run - and with that one frog leg, no less! He thrusts forward both hands and releases a powerful stream of fire into the next room. It flares silently, but all around can feel its heat. The young noble holds the pose and the spell for a long moment, and the stone walls begin to glow a molten red (Invisible Davaeorn passes the save but still takes 10 fire dmg... and fails his save for concentration). And then, silently in the intense heat, Davaeorn's spell of greater invisibility is devoured by the flames, and the wizard appears for all to see.

He doesn't look happy.

Round 5 Player Phase!!!!!

"We’ve got another one in here!"
As I try to thwack the third helmed horror.

9 damage to helmed horror 3

HP : 39/52
AC : 20

Round 5 Summary

Stella's summoned snake snaps out at Davaeorn, biting deeply into the wizard's shoulder while wrapping him tight in starlit coils. Dieter's sword dives in at the same time, sending out multicolored sparks as it bites through any remaining magical wards on the wizard and his robes. Last of all, another radiant arrow from Stella takes Davaeorn heavily in the shoulder.

For a moment it seems like Davaeorn might meet a quick and untimely end, but there's a sudden flash of light... and then the cunning wizard once again disappears, only to reappear at the very end of the long hallway (Contingency triggered + Dimension Door). From his new position, Dieter clearly sees that the hallway ends in... another lift! This one is much smaller, likely able to hold only a couple of people at a time. And Davaeorn is standing in it, his smile both pained and smug.

The wizard raises both hands before him and claps them firmly together. Tiles and chunks of stone tear themselves from the floor and the wall behind him, coming together piece by piece and merging to form a wall of stone before him.

Unwilling to let this dangerous foe escape, Aldous unleashes several glowing darts of force that zip down the hallway, around pieces of the forming stone wall, and onward to strike at Davaeorn. But that blue barrier appears again, absorbing the magic missiles at the last moment and then dissipating (Davaeorn casts Shield).

The stone wall is nearly complete; in a moment, the last chunks of stone will fly into place and close access to Davaeorn.

But there's a sudden blur in the hallway as Koveras, his feet moving impossibly fast, races down the hallway. He drops into a slide, passing through the entryway just before the last pieces of masonry fly into place.

And then both Davaeorn and Koveras are hidden from view as the completed wall of stone comes into being.

The fight isn't over; a cry from Runeson warns the others of the third helmed horror. In the small study, the paladin is pressed hard by the construct (Runeson takes 30 slashing/fire dmg).

Cursing, Aldous stumbles back to Aiwe for healing.

Round 6 Player Phase!!!!!!