1. The Cloakwood

Round 6 Summary

Wrapped tight again by the giant snake, Davaeorn recognizes he's in dire peril. The wizard keeps the presence of mind to fight not against the snake, but its conjurer. And so he works a mighty spell of his own, shaping from the Weave an enormous disembodied hand just behind Stella. The giant hand seizes the young woman around the legs and gives her a violent shake, squeezing her hard and trying to disrupt her spellcasting (Stella takes 14 bludgeoning dmg). But despite the pain and disorientation, Stella's mind remains firmly focused, and the giant snake endures, gripping Davaeorn all the tighter.

Aldous, reinvigorated by Aiwe's healing magic, tries to help the party. He looks to Stella, being whipped about by the arcane hand, and starts to shift his weight towards her. But what can he even do against such a conjuration, able only to guess at its nature?

Aiming carefully, Koveras slips his blade between the snake's coils and is rewarded with a gasp of pain from the wizard (Davaeorn takes 8 piercing dmg). "Rrrggah! You dare!" Davaeorn's face reddens with strain. "You're dead, Anchev. You and your friends. Dead!"

And then, once again, Aiwe's magical silence descends on the wizard, cutting off further threats.

Within the study, Runeson's battered form hits the floor. The helmed horror, sword ablaze, steps over the paladin and into the hallway. It turns toward the party's back line and takes deliberate steps toward them...

...and then Aldous steps forward.

The young noble throws up both his hands, making a pushing gesture and a mass of air seems to ripple toward the helmed horror. The construct staggers, but then braces itself and moves forward through the quivering air several more steps. Aldous groans and digs deeper into his magical reservoir, throwing as much force as he can into the spell. And it works! There's a deafening crack of thunder, and the helmed horror is thrown a dozen feet back down the hall (Aldous casts Thunderwave and spends 3 sorcery points to inflict disadv on the save, HH3 takes 10 thunder dmg and is pushed back).

Round 7 Player Phase!!!!!!!

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Round 7 Summary

Davaeorn's chest heaves for breath as Stella's giant snake vanishes into motes of starlight. The wizard has little time to recover, however, as Koveras presses the attack (Koveras deals 7 dmg to Dav). At the same time, Aldous gathers the last of his magical reserves an launches a trio of magic missiles at the wizard (dealing 11 force dmg to Dav).

Back in the hallway, healing light flows from several of the companions. The helmed horror advances to once again face Runeson, but suddenly staggers as Dieter unleashes a whirlwind of attacks from behind. The construct's animating force is nearly depleted, but it has just enough left to stay in the fight.

Davaeorn manages to fend off Koveras long enough to reach into a pocket of his robes and produce a wand. Instead of pointing it at one of the companions, which likely would have required a futile command word within the zone of silence, the wizard desperately grips the wand at each end and snaps the spellcasting implement in half... and chucks the sparking pieces at Koveras' face!

The half-orc just barely ducks away from the improvised projectiles, which leave pockmarked craters in the wall behind him. He levels his sword at Davaeorn's throat and prepares to move in for the kill.

Round 8 Player Phase!!Round 8 Player Phase!!" alt="Round 8 Player Phase!!" class="usrImg">

Round 8 Summary

Dieter manages to occupy the helmed horror long enough for Stella to finish it off with her spell, and the construct clatters to the floor.

Koveras, tusks bared in a silent snarl, chops at Davaeorn with his sword, but the wizard's remaining wards seem to be enough to deflect the blows.

Aiwe's mallets come twirling in, and one of them hits Davaeorn hard in the shoulder. The other bounces off a wall. Koveras uses the opportunity to close in, crowding Davaeorn into a corner of the small lift. With one hand gripping the wizard's robes, he raises his blade high...

...and a flash of fire sears down the hallway, under Koveras' swordarm, and strikes Davaeorn squarely. The fire erupts, consuming cloth and flesh in one horrible instant. Though Davaeorn's screams are lost in the void that is Aiwe's silence spell, it doesn't take long for the smell assault everyone's senses.

Aldous falls into a sit in the hallway, finger still outstretched from where he fired off his spell. His face is grim, but his wide gray eyes betray a fair amount of shock as well.

The wizard and his metallic minions are defeated.