Chapter Four: The Manifest of the Harikan Squall

For Domarc, too, everything is a blur. He blinks and rubs his eyes as dark, indistinct shapes begin to take form.

No concentration check is needed yet. I'll go ahead and roll Mordred's saving throw so we can advance this...

Edit: Mordred is unharmed.

Zangua gets to his feet after Domarc hustles outside. At the same time, the strange sounds and sensations coming from inside the shrine begin to ebb, and the magical darkness recedes.

Adan Tuell has backed about thirty feet away from the shrine. He holds unsheathed a silver sword, short and broad-bladed, that sparkles with condensation in the moonlight and seems to emit a faint, eerie glow of its own.

Two men are jogging towards him from the direction of Ziu-Pater's temple. One is dressed in beggars' tatters and the other wears the white robe of an acolyte. Overhead, you hear the rattling buzz of Adan's beetle familiar's wings as it flies in slow circles.

"So you've decided to come out," Adan says. "Does that mean you've made your decision?"

Unless any of you want to try to continue to talk this out with Adan, you should go ahead and roll for initiative.

Also you guys have been up since the wee hours of the morning (remember, this is still the same day you fought all those skeletons in the crypt of the Zapanim!) with only an afternoon nap for rest so I really should apply fatigue penalties!

I don't know, y'all. I don't think we should fight, but I don't have any other ideas as to how to distract/misdirect/trick Adan...

The two men running from the temple close in. The one in tatters draws a curved sword from under his soiled tunic with his right hand and a dagger with his left; the false acolyte holds a metal baton. Adan grins at the party. "As it should be, then," he says.

Edit: The acolyte holds his rod upright, utters a strange and sharp word, and twists his hand to hold the rod in a horizontal orientation. A sudden constricting sensation seizes Zangua's chest and limbs. Zangua, make a Wisdom saving throw.

Adan, meanwhile, traces a circle in the air with the point of his blade and whispers something. Three glowing points of light appear within the circle and hover there for a second before darting out toward Mordred.

Edit 2: Mordred is thrown back into the doorway, flat on his back. Steam rises from his chest where the magical missiles struck.

Domarc, you can take an action.

Welp, that's 0 HP for me gang. 5th Edition does the Death Saves mechanic, right?

Zangua is held fast by the paralyzing spell.

Mordred, you do get death saves, but if Felor doesn't step in, he will cure you by DM fiat this turn.

Domarc, you're up. Also, anyone who wants to should make an Insight check.

Domarc becomes invisible. As he fades from sight, it occurs to him that this may not be a fight they can win head-on, as Adan appears to be a skilled magic-user.

Zangua, for his part, has similar thoughts as he struggles against the unseen forces restraining his movement.

DM acting on Felor's behalf in his absence: Felor lays his hands on Mordred's chest and channels the healing power of Fjorgyn into him, finishing the prayer just as the blade-wielding beggar descends upon him.

Edit: Felor rolls out of the way just in time, but the acolyte steps forward and repeats the rod gesture and word of power he used against Zangua.

Edit 2: Felor's faith is greater than the false acolyte's; he shrugs off the paralytic forces that attempt to overtake him.

While all this is going on, Adan strolls up to the immobile Zangua and jerks the catchpole out of his hands. "We were missing this," he says.

Invisible Domarc and just-revived-from-near-death Mordred, go ahead and figure out how to save the party from a total wipe! It's your turns!

Crap, I accidentally edited CancerMan's comment instead of replying to it. Sorry! You asked if you get another chance to break free of the paralysis, and the answer was that we're into the second combat round and you will get another chance at the end of this round.

Being invisible, you could duck pretty easily between the shrine and its adjacent buildings pretty easily. If you wanted to get farther away, you might need two turns' worth of movement.