The Party Warily Prepares for the Toad

With Lothar, Engelhart and Mikael responding, the present position is now this.  I would understand at this point that half the party would probably not wish to enter into a combat with the toad according to an ad hoc post deadline, but I did want to force myself to stay focused.

For the moment, the toad shows no interest in advancing ~ perhaps because Rob and Lothar did not fall back.

The salve is fine, Lothar.  Roll a d4 and add that number to your present hit points.

Consider your withdraw spell cast, Engelhart.  I think there may be an issue I'm seeing in the spell description: where it reads, "The cleric may take any action which does not break the 5 ft. diameter bubble that's created ..." this is meant to indicate that the bubble surrounding the cleric is static and does not move with the cleric.  The spell should state that more clearly; note it does not say anywhere that the spell will move with the cleric, as it would indicate what the limit would be on the cleric's movement if that were the case.  I have not altered the spell at the moment, and won't until I hear from you.

Sorry if I'm second-guessing you here.  Earlier comments you made seemed to suggest you had planned to use sanctuary to move through the gate.

It is the player's move; those that do move can state whether or not they're prepared to go forward if we don't hear from the whole party.

Turning Back from the Gates

As the party begins to move away from the gate, keeping an eye open of course, the toad will begin to hop forward, slightly advancing on the party.  As the party reaches three hexes from the gate, the toad will close the distance to seven hexes total (from nine before).

The toad does move towards the wide gate.

[I am sorry, I have made an error that has arisen from the break and my memory having too many things to track.  I'd like to retcon something.  This gate IS the gate you saw in the vision; with wooden doors fifteen feet high and each seven feet wide. The doors are wide open. The bottoms of the door are frozen in place and cannot be moved. There is nothing to prevent the party from moving through the wall and deeper into the cavern ... from beyond there are sounds of croaking: a hollow, resounding echo, that never ceases ...

Added:

Snow Gate Round 4 ~ the Toad is Smacked Around

There, nice and big.  The blowing snow continues to make the toad hard to see, but the snow devil is making a mess of it.

As Embla approaches within two hexes of it, however, she feels as if she's opened a door into a cold outdoors as a freezing blast rushes against her, clearly emanating from the toad.  It is almost a solid thing.  She takes 1 point of damage as frost sinks into her hands and face.

Apart from that, the party is free to act.

Snow Gate Round 3 ~ the Toad is Hurt

The party has this move in hand.  Go ahead and act as you will.  Please don't forget that dagger roll, Mikael.  And remember, Engelhart; the dust devil moves only one hex per round, but it will attack if it is adjacent to the creature.

X.P. so far:

The Toad Shows Contempt

The hex numbers on the map have been adjusted due to Mikael's decision to move back [moving 3 hexes would have cost him 4.5 AP, with the note I made after, so I moved him back 2 hexes, saving the 2 AP Mikael asked for].  I forgot to add a red line to indicate the move [sigh; out of practice].

The toad merely moves to the left of the whirling "snow"-devil, letting out a loud croak.  A gas cloud emerges with the croak, obscuring the toad for a moment before it is sucked up into the snow-devil.  The toad takes no other action.

The party can move again.  This means Engelhart can take a second attack.  Lothar and Embla did not make a move with the last post [that I saw].  I'm just going to rule that, given that they had plenty of time, that the opportunity passed them by.

Everyone has the freedom to act as they will.

Snow Drift

Taking the moment where Embla has seen the open gate across the windswept snow-covered floor of the cavern, the assassin realizes that something is amiss.  Frozen from the march across the lake, the chilled sweat on Embla's body, she is a might slow on the uptake ~ but her eyes focus on a nearby three-foot snow drift.  As she stares at it, unsure and with concern, after several seconds the snow moves and falls away ... and Embla sees a huge eyeball, as large as a cantaloupe, robin's egg blue in color with a vertical iris that's pale yellow.

Whatever it is, the rest is hidden under the snow; the eye's lid is all that moved, so it is all that is revealed.

Embla is not surprised, but she does not necessarily have the initiative, either.  The eye is close; no more than ten feet away.  For the moment she stands as still as she can in the slicing wind; but at some point she will have to test her speed against whatever is under the snow.

I will remind you:  Engelhart is two rounds away; the cleric's arrival could in a bit more than 20 seconds could ignite something.  Rob Munro is right behind Engelhart.  Then Mikael, who has time to hurry along, with Lothar close behind.

I will make an image for this, though that will eat time so it will have to wait until Wednesday; I want to see what Embla does, first.

Move and roll a d6 for initiative.  Wait and see what happens.  Decide what else you might do.