Hekazu

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Right, sorry about taking a little longer than planned. Your attacks manage to nick the combatant's skin, coming extremely close to drawing blood. As another piece of his armour ends up hacked further apart, coming strikes are now more likely to cause serious damage.

We move on to Parum's turn, prone on the ground next to the larger mêlée taking place. If she decides to take no other action or movement, she may take the Hide action under these circumstances despite not being exactly hidden from sight. Not saying that she necessarily should, but pointing out the out of the usual option feels right. So go forth @Ryonara, Parum is very much alive.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Thank you, I'll handle the damage to the appropriate target soon! There are flickering flames from makeshift torches set to the walls of this room and its barracks expansion, but the lantern on your target's belt is definitely the brightest around.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

I still don't know who Kyra, and now by extension Orchid, is attacking. Just to make sure my bookkeeping does not get all sorts of messed up by piling on damage to be applied upon damage to be applied, we can't move on in the initiative order quite yet. @Norschtalen, if you would be so kind as to clarify your target.

As for you @Lucius Cypher, Orchid hits his first attack but misses on the off-hand.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

@Norschtalen - Well, since the enemies are of the same type you are going to hit your attack even without this last detail being relevant, but which axe-wielder are you actually stabbing? The one with a scarred eye that has been giving orders (Cyanwrath was a little blinded at the moment that order was given too) or the one with a tiger at his ass and a lantern on his belt?

Orchid would be up once we have this damage filed in to my notes @Lucius Cypher.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

The glimmering blade of the weretiger struck past the defences of the half dragon, cracking apart a piece of his armour and sending its shimmering energy rushing through the body of the royal blue scaled male. But instead of letting discomfort in pain show on his features, Cyanwrath's eyes gleamed with excitement. Finally! An opponent worthy of his all! The background action of the tiger pouncing on one of his men went past him without a shred of note, even as the man resisted the druid's attempt to drive him down to the ground, only suffering deep cuts into the hides shielding his body. No, Cyanwrath's target was before him. "I knew you could fight properly if you tried! Come at me!" he bellowed from the bottom of his lungs, idle sparks between his teeth not reaching the dangerous concentration the champion had had the misfortune of witnessing in their earlier confrontation.

Cyanwrath used his blade to turn aside the second attack that Brannor had attempted, yet this moment brought him to a rather unfavourable angle. Cyanwrath took the risk and sliced at the ear of his opponent, an attack easily avoided by the werecreature whose sense of hearing would have sufficed to let him know the strike was coming. But he had chosen his direction for backing off poorly, and with that strike missing Cyanwrath took the opportunity to exploit a new weakness in the Paladin's stance. The half-dragon had to spin his entire body around a whole circle, but it let him keep the momentum of his earlier strike and add more upon it, this time landing his strike square in Brannor's side, the Greatsword digging between the plates of armour, not giving him the benefit of the redistribution of pressure.

And once you create an opening, you exploit it as much as you at all can. Cyanwrath was no stranger to the techniques of fighting a single opponent, pressing on immediately. He withdrew his blade, not having the time to check if blood had already decorated its edges as he swung for Brannor's shoulder, another fierce clang echoing in the room as metal hit metal and the splint mail budged under the fearsome assault. And as if he was adding icing on the cake, Cyanwrath brought his blade down before Brannor and went for the leg opposing the shoulder in one clean cut, exploiting the opponent's attempt to get away from the strike just made. Weaker, less plated armour was torn apart under the tip of the large sword of Cyanwrath's, blood gushing to the surface from a recently opened wound on the furred thigh of the werebeast. Cyanwrath locked eyes with Brannor, still midway returning to his ready stance and taking half a step back. He couldn't leave himself too open. A counterattack would eventually follow, especially if one exposed themselves with too much aggression. But the glint in his eyes was unmistakable. "Come at me", it beckoned. "Challenge me."

Mechanics&Rolls

Cyanwrath makes two attacks against Brannor, one of them landing as a critical thanks to his Improved Critical trait. He proceeds to use his one use Action Surge to make another two attacks with his greatsword, both landing still but thankfully not as criticals these two times around. He does not move from his duel with Brannor, focusing on it over anything else as far as anyone can tell.

Attack rolls were made as follows:

#1
To Hit: 9
Miss

#2
To Hit: 25
Damage (Crit): 15 slashing

#3
To Hit: 23
Damage: 12 slashing

#4
To Hit: 23
Damage: 12 slashing

All damage values are presented before resistances @The Harbinger of Ferocity.

Tl;Dr: Cyanwrath goes ham.

Next up, Kyra @Norschtalen.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

You do indeed land the first hit @The Harbinger of Ferocity. It stings Cyanwrath, but he remains standing with fortitude that refuses to waver quite yet.

We move on to Torus @Zverda.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

@Lucius Cypher - The rooms only have so much space to move in before the dimension give in. Assuming she tried to make the maximum distance while maintaining good LoS on Cyanwrath, that would have been partially closer to the axemen. And both of them were already in the room just as well, one specifically avoiding the melee to make it towards the backline. So yes, I am rather sure I got the dimensions right. Thank you for your concern.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Cyanwrath's posture hardly changed, but his behaviour certainly showed odd signs just after the halfling had performed her magical act. The half-dragon begun to glance towards his sides, and his nostrils drew closer to being shut. A low rumble emanated from his throat and his scaly fingers dug deeper into the handle of his weapon, the pressure starting to show even on the covering scales like it would have shown in the skin covered digits of a human, yet so much more mutely. His soldiers didn't need to consider twice what was going on, and the scar eyed man pointed his weapon in the direction of the bard. "Target the halfling!" he shouted out, earning a grunt of approval from their boss, stuck in the illusory threat without the ability to see beyond the cloud.

The axe wielding soldiers sprang into action, each changing their trajectories to pick up a new target from the group of adventurers. Even the one locked in melee combat against the half-orc would rush past his opposition, but the bleeding man didn't look all that certain of the action. Yet there was something in his eyes that drove him forward. Fear. Not of death, but a sideways glance to Cyanwrath spoke more than a thousand words. As did the swinging weapon of the half-orc, and after him the turning blade of the bestial paladin. His path was cut short, the hefty steel blade pushing him down to the ground, though even then it wasn't quite sufficient to cut through the man's armour enough to outright kill him. Oh he bled, especially from the shoulder that had just been struck, and the amount was not trivial either. But his chest still moved, and he closed his eyes on his own.

The druid in the guise of the tiger managed to strip a piece of armour away from the warrior that darted away from him, a snap of leather sending the broken strips lashing out at the animal's face. Not enough to cause direct harm, but certainly delivering an unpleasant lash just a hair too close to the eyes for one's liking. But with the Paladin having neglected the chance to impede the decorated axe and the apparent underling making it away from the tiger's maw, two axes came rushing down towards Parum. Both of the warriors put their full attention into the strike. Neither was fooling around. The intent was not only to maim. It was to kill, to ensure that the spell would end and that they would have one less target to worry about in the fight. The twin strikes landing on a woman barely the size of the blades spoke for themselves. One down. A couple more to go. Even if it cost one of their own.

Mechanics&Rolls

Recognising magic being cast, the axe wielders change their target. All approach Parum with their movement, the first one that had spoken with the party previously perishing in the attempt as two blades fall upon them. Yet even with one of them down, the other two reach their target and use what is their equivalent of Reckless Attack. Until the start of the Axe-Wielders' next turn, all attack rolls against them have advantage.

Attack rolls went as follows (participants Axe wielders #2 and #3):

#2
To Hit: 18 / 9
Damage: 9 slashing

#3
To Hit: 14 / Nat 20
Damage (Critical): 18 slashing

Put together that is 27 slashing damage on Parum, which should knock her out and end the concentration on the illusion @Ryonara. No need to roll for concentration if that happens.

Next in turn would be Brannor, the one that was challenged @The Harbinger of Ferocity.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Do you want me to post or do you want to just incorporate it in your post? I'm fine with either choice

@Zverda

I'll include it in mine. Anyway, you both hit. Neither kills, though the one that was against Orchid is now obviously doing not too good.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Would it be possible to use a Shove action as me AoP?

@Lucius Cypher

RAW no, that won't do. We can make shoving and grappling as an OA a thing, but that may not exactly end up being to your liking down the line. Taking a bit of damage is one thing, but getting your entire move cancelled by a mook successfully grabbing you makes both bookkeeping and planning turns ahead for post fluidity somewhat precarious. I'd default to no on this one, if mostly for the convenience over our chosen medium.

Plus give Brannor advantage if he goes after the guy I know down.

@Lucius Cypher

You do realise that the opponent could just rise up on his feet instead of crawling past Brannor, yes?