Hey we won! As the Ashen Company tries to catch their breath and strategize for the fight ahead. Null tries to think about what Sally's casting style was - She was equal parts intelligent and charismatic, displaying traits of both a wizard and a warlock. They all agree that Sally's charisma is clearly not reflected in her demeanor and Lotty notes that the person who killed her cousin was clearly a sorcerer with metamagic abilities. HMMM. We contemplate the possibility of a short rest, but are interrupted by an illusory Calitrax. She tries intimidate us into leaving, but to be honest the Ashen Company is at the end of their rope and have little patience for these theatrics. We ignore her, but Sally needs to be acknowledged and so causes several meteors to crash down from the sky. The ship carrying the liberated crew, Captain Bob and Derrik is obliterated. The party flees further inside the complex as the docks they're standing on are also destroyed. Okay fine, she's got our attention. A chill sets in around them as the magic keeping the Frigid Deep at bay disappears. Berrik casts Oasis to buy them some time but he knows they only have a few minutes. Flynn spots a large grate in the floor and get to work blasting it off its hinges. Below the grate is a swirling mass of lights and Flynn is sure they've gotta jump. We double check the area for alternate routes but it seems that Flynn is right. We chug some potions (health and necrotic resistance) and then leap into the unknown.
Sally's digs definitely don't match the arctic wasteland above. The party appears amidst some unique architecture: 4 portals surround a ringed dais and several stone arches interweave above it. Matching Berrik's vision there are 5 necrostones, each with a person crucified to it. Glowing arcane runes cover everything. Oh and a gooey necrotic forest lies right outside. Whatever this place is for, we're pretty sure we don't like it. Null appears at the northern (red) gate and Flynn appears at the southern (white) gate. Lotty and Berrik appear together at the western (yellow) gate. The party are pummeled with a necrotic lair action right off the bat, but luckily they all took some resistance potions. The fates can sense Flynn's eagerness to prove that he is the better warlock, and so allow him to go first and hassle the lich.
It's a pretty large field, so it takes some time for everyone to converge. Sally summons a bunch of skellies to waste our time. Lotty and Null start pruning the mob. Strangely, the lich seems to be saying her inner thoughts out loud. Mostly she's just projecting her next move and lamenting when things don't go her way, but hopefully the Ashen Company can coax something more dramatic from her as the battle wears on. Berrik casts Circle of Power. Spooky grabby hands pop out of the ground to slap everyone around (except Null, who is flying just out of reach). Calitrax has had enough of Flynn's antics and so decides to send a Power Word Kill his way. She can't revel in the blessed quiet for too long, however, as Berrik will revivify Flynn with a potion on his turn. Sally is audibly upset that she can't counterspell this. She targets Berrik next with an attempted Feeblemind, but he shrugs it off. He tries to respond with a Forcecage, which she promptly counterspells. Suddenly, the fates smile upon us and 7 hobgoblin warriors appears through the portals. Zubbe sent us some help! Sally then decides the fates are wrong, actually, and opts to let out a Psychic Scream. Everyone takes 50 psychic damage and 6 out of 7 hobgoblin heads explode, leaving just one alive to help us. Also we're all stunned for a hot sec.
With most of the skellies gone, Null and Lotty start to focus on Sally. Null has access to Chill Touch and Lotty's trident/wrench stops healing for a round, so the lich is starting to get whittled down. Suddenly, ethereal chains whip out from the ground and try to grapple our heroes. Null has adv. on the save for some reason, but the dice don't help her in the end. Everyone gets these ghostly chains wrapped around them, taking damage. All are able to escape on their turn in one way or another, except for avid Fleetwood Mac fan Berrik. Fighting continues!
Sally needs a breather and wants to victimize Berrik uninterrupted, so magical darkness falls on the field. Null manages to find her target thanks to Blindsense, but Lotty can't see anything and so takes the dodge action. Flynn, however, CAN see. He takes this opportunity to launch 3 Eldritch Blasts at 3 of the unconscious people on the necrostones, deducing that they must be important to Sally's strategy. The 3 victims promptly die, each providing the lich with 50 hp, but she doesn't actually need that much healing in the moment and so the boon is wasted. The rest of the party has no idea Flynn just committed some light murder, but Flynn is comfortable in the knowledge that those dudes were probably dead anyway and the act helped their odds. Sally moves on, frustrated that Berrik isn't going down in a timely manner. Dude's resilient!
The darkness dissipates and Lotty, noticing that 3 of the necrostone decorations are dead, urges the remaining hobgoblin to free last two. The hobgoblin does his best, but it's a gruesome affair. He starts dragging the barely alive victim through the nearest portal. Sally's lair's next trick is to pull the party back through the portals. Hoping to shake up the battlefield, I guess? Null and Flynn fail their saves and come back at inconvenient spots on the field. Null is farther away and starts motoring back to the fray, launching another Chill Touch Sally's way. Flynn has had enough of being tossed around and assumes his Dao form. He's out of spells, so some targeted elemental pugilism will do nicely.
Next, Sally decides to target Lotty with a Power Word Kill. This is not a possibility that the rest of the Ashen Company is willing to entertain. Berrik squares up to counterspell this, which Sally promptly counterspells back. But this bitch is dealing with a divination wizard, and Berrik makes sure to place a low portent on her counterspell. Power Word Kill fails! Lotty is saved! And Berrik is now on Sally's shit list.
Now that he's in full view of witnesses, Flynn opts to use his Dao strength to attempt to pry the last necrostone victim free. This doesn't work out the way he thought, though. The victim's still alive, but definitely worse for wear and still affixed to the necrostone. Okay, better to wait for the hobgoblin to come back, I guess. He turns around and readies to go after Sally. Lotty and Null keep swiping at the lich, but Sally's now made it her mission to end Berrik's shenanigans. She summons 8 more skellies to surround him, hoping to finish him here. Berrik has other ideas, however, and tosses a Fireball at his feet. This obliterates the skellies and grazes Sally. The lich seethes.
The battle continues! Calitrax is wounded, but not out by any means. We're looking rough and she's sure to have more up her sleeve next week.
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