>trust Ashley
Nothing happens.

Alice expectantly looks at Ashley's body, pokes her, then looks back at a visibly shaken Yulya
Soo...
That was the great masterplan?

The bugbear commander looks around a moment, seeing Alice up, he considers going back to take her down again as his prey runs North, just out of reach. He uses Intimidate again on Alice and Yulya.

Alice and Yulya are pinned in place, once again struck with Frightened 1. He then turns and runs north After Cat, continuing the chase.

Alice's eyes dart around, considering her options
Damned what the hell is this? Yulya, what do we do now?



Frustrated, Alice shoots another poisoned arrow at the bugbear commander. Unable and not keen on approaching him, Alice moves South, carefully traversing her ball bearings, and decides to explore the chamber the bugbear commander came from. She tries to take a peek through the door to see what's in this room. If she sees no enemies, she takes a step inside

Yula casts Toll the Dead on the bugbear commander and stands her ground

[You didn't explicitly state you used the goblin staff but I presume you did.][WIS vs DC15 1d20+1=4][DMG 1d12+3G+2R=14][With the Bugbear's low wisdom, this would make for a good spell to boost. It would illegally make it to tier 3 but there may still be a better option.]

The bell tolls and you can finally see him begin to falter as he's bathed in necrotic energy.

Alice shoots another poisoned arrow at the bugbear commander. Unable and not keen on approaching him, Alice moves South, carefully traversing her ball bearings, and decides to explore the chamber the bugbear commander came from. She tries to take a peek through the door to see what's in this room. If she sees no enemies, she takes a step inside

[HIT (flank with Cat) vs AC18 1d20+5+EB1d4=26][DMG 1d8+3+1d2/2=5+1 piercing + poison damage]

The arrow sticks into the bugbear with a satisfying thunk, the sound reminiscent of an axe into soft, wet wood.

As you can see as you pass the first bedroom, though in a damaged state now and freshly baked, inside the first bedrooom is 4 beds and a chest near the door. Alice slips past the door second door, still open since the bugbear commander exited, and inside is a second bedroom. This one has only one bed, a writing desk, loose papers, ink, and other documents written in Dwarvish. There is a light brown fur shed on the bed as well as remnants of water from footprints, presumably snow from outside that's melted recently.

Cat shoots another arrow at him flanking with Yulya, then outruns him South as described in the Meta thread as Yulya calls her back.

[Cat, you've used your feline agility and have not stayed in one place for a turn so cannot use it again. Therefore, if you fire your bow your maximum distance to move is 30ft, so I have ignored your shot. Who do you give temporary hitpoints to?]

[Round 7]

He's enraged now and looking disheveled, he plucks Alice's arrow from himself with a wince and looks to be in pain. He's yells out in frustration, desperate he moves south and throws rocks as he approaches.

[HIT vs AC 1d20+4=5,8] Regardless of the target, he misses.

Yulya feels an unnatural presence, she looks at Ashley but there's no sign it's from her.

The lone buzz of a dragonwasp is heard amid the fuss of the bugbear commander, Beatrice has come out to greet him and attempts to grapple him.

[GRAPPLE vs DC17 1d20+2=5]

He flails at her and avoids the grapple.



[Make your moves]

The arrow sticks into the bugbear with a satisfying thunk, the sound reminiscent of an axe into soft, wet wood.

Alice nods with a satisfied smile and decides to let Daniella off the hook for now.
This bow isn't bad at all!

As you can see as you pass the first bedroom, though in a damaged state now and freshly baked, inside the first bedrooom is 4 beds and a chest near the door. Alice slips past the door second door, still open since the bugbear commander exited, and inside is a second bedroom. This one has only one bed, a writing desk, loose papers, ink, and other documents written in Dwarvish. There is a light brown fur shed on the bed as well as remnants of water from footprints, presumably snow from outside that's melted recently.

Both disappointed and relieved there's not another bugbear regiment, Alice exits again. Seeing she has no clear shot t the enemy, Alice again carefully tiptoes through the ball bearings and caltrops and steps over the downed bugbear to examine the chest.
Maaan, did we kill his family in there or something?

If the chest looks like it's not boobie-trapped, Alice will attempt to open it.
Damn Ashley! I knew we should have asked her about the traps. Why did she keep that to herself?

Cat shoots an arrow at the Bugbear Commander and runs West]

Beatrice has been bestowed temporary Hit points from two turns. [If you don't bestow the points, I will.] [4d6=14]

[Alice is out of range for Embolding Bond][HIT 1d20+2+1+1=19][DMG 1d8+1+1+1honed=7]

The Bugbear commander looks increasingly discouraged that he is being whittled down but is relieved at least one party member seems dead and another has given up.

If the chest looks like it's not booby-trapped, Alice will attempt to open it.

As a penalty for disengaging from battle during a dire boss fight, teetering on the edge of failure, you will not receive experience for this round among other punishments I will decide later.

[PERCEPTION 1d20+2=10]

Not finding any booby-traps, Alice attempts to open the chest.

[Hidden rolls]

As Alice fumbles with the lock, before she realizes she needs the lockpick set from Ashley, a fine mist of poison sprays her, the noxious cloud is very unpleasant. [1d10=6 poison damage]

[Previously, Alice was revived with a potion of healing from 0, 2d4+2=5, please note Yulya used her potion from the goblin den.]

Alice resists some of the damage and takes 3, leaving 2. The chest remains locked.

Yulya tries to determine the nature of that presence but there is no time for a serious investigation. She casts BANE on the bugbear commander and then falls back 20 ft South.

[PASSIVE PERCEPTION 1d20+5=13] There is definitely an unknown presence that also feels slightly familiar, she remembers it from the time Ashley was struck by lightning through the orb during leveling. She also catches a slight smell of ionized air. Glancing back at Ashley's body she sees she is suddenly sitting up, staring toward the bugbear commander with a blank expression.

Ashley has regained consciousness and has gained 5 HP

Yulya casts Bane. [CHA vs DC15 1d20+1=11] The bugbear commander is enveloped in negative field of disappointment.

To the bugbear's further disappointment and confusion, he sees who was previously dead suddenly sitting, staring at him.

Ashley casts Dampen Spirit boosted to level 2: Delusion



The Bugbear Commander's moral has crumbled, he will have disadvantage on all ability checks.

Beatrice attempts to grapple.

[GRAPPLE vs DC17D-1d4=DC16 1d20+2=(21,17)] Her grapple is successful and she attempts to sting the Bugbear Commander. [HIT A vs AC18 1d20+4=8,19][DMG 1d4=4] MVP Beatrice deals 4 poison damage to the Bugbear commander! He reels from the pain.

[The bugbear commander had auto-succeed poison saving throws regardless of source from sheer will and that has switched to no resistance under his current effects.]

[Round 8]

The bugbear commander swats at Beatrice. [HIT D vs AC10 1d20+7-1d4=(22,6),(20,8)] He wastes both his attacks failing to hit her. The tide of battle has certainly turned!

Ashley stands and walks up to the Bugbear Commander using Action Surge and extra attacks, striking him with her bare fists, she attempts to grapple him with a bonus action.

[1d20 vs AC18 1d20+10G+2+1F=(14,19),(28,25),(19,18)][DC+1 vs DC17D-1d4=15 1d20+1=(16,21)][DMG 3d4+3+6=19]

With ludicrous speed, she bombards the Bugbear with blows, grapples him and holds him in place.

Yulya feels this alien presence strongly and a psychic message fills her mind.



[Make your moves]

Not finding any booby-traps, Alice attempts to open the chest.
As Alice fumbles with the lock, before she realizes she needs the lockpick set from Ashley, a fine mist of poison sprays her, the noxious cloud is very unpleasant. The chest remains locked.

Alice is taken by surprise and finds herself poisoned instead of swimming in candy
Damneeed what the hell is that? Who does something like that? I hope you burn in hell!

Alice runs out at the room and straight to Yulya
Yulyaa, the chest - it poisoned mee!

Ashley stands and walks up to the Bugbear Commander using Action Surge and extra attacks, striking him with her bare fists, she attempts to grapple him with a bonus action.
With ludicrous speed, she bombards the Bugbear with blows, grapples him and holds him in place.

Alice watches with disbelief as Pacifist Ashley deals physical attacks to the bugbear commander.
Did you turn her into an Undead? Good job!

Alice stop fooling around and get back here! We need more ranged attacks!

Yes yes I'm here and there are no more enemies in the rooms over there! I hope I won't hit your undead familiar!
Standing next to Yulya, Alice shoots a poisoned arrow at the grappled bugbear commander

Cat shoots an arrow at the enemy but does not move to regenerate her Feline Agility.

[Alice and Cat are still too far apart for Embolding Bond.]

[HIT A vs AC18 1d20+2+1+1=(22,23)][DMG 1d8+1+1+1honed=11]

Standing next to Yulya, Alice shoots a poisoned arrow at the grappled bugbear commander

[HIT A vs AC18 1d20+5=(18,11)][DMG 1d8+3+1d2/2=7 piercing + poison damage]

Yulya takes her focus and puts all MP into boosting Toll the Dead casting it at the grappled bugbear commander.

[Hidden Rolls]

Given her illegal move, she can feel her very life-force draining and as the energy flows through her, she feels her invulnerability fade as well with Ashley's wild magic surging through her once again; it is replaced this time with searing pain in her eyes, and as that pain fades, for the next minute, she has true sight to 90ft.

[Elemental Damage: Lightning 1d12=7]

Yulya's pupils unnaturally glow an infernal warm hue like Ashley's for the next minute. Additionally, Yulya has gained a psychic connection to {Ashley}.   

Inundated by arrows and intense magic, the bugbear commander is utterly broken.



[WIS D vs DC15 1d20+1-1d4=(13,10)][DMG 4d12+2+3=29][DEATH 1d20=CM]

His skin melts from his bones as he takes necrotic damage, he falls like a tree and slams down to the ground, his flesh nearly melted off his bones, he ceases to breath further.

{Ashley} gains 5HP and stands. With a snap of her fingers Beatrice is puffed into purple dust. She feels her face with her hands and runs her fingers through her hair. When she comes to her tag, she plucks it off her ear and pockets it. Running her hands once down her body, she smiles. She stares at Yulya for a moment, then to Alice with a discerning glare and finally at Cat, she seems only faintly to recognize.

With Yulya's enhanced vision she can see Ashley for what she really is, invisible to normal or darkvision, mechanical celestial wings float behind her and she's surrounded by a divine aura of lightning and metal, her expression is uncharacteristically jovial, delighted even.



Abandoning her shield near the table where she was killed, she turns and silently moves North toward the northern passage with the grace usually only reserved for the divine, presumably to find the elevator shaft.

Another vision flashes through Yulya's mind, SheShe and Ashley are standing. While looking at her plainly, Ashley shrugs and winks at Yulya, though they say nothing, the vision is clear, Ashley is in fact in the ethereal plane with SheShe, and that body walking away is currently possessed by the mechatherial demigoddess's {denoted MDG as a placeholder} soul. To bring her back would require two obvious tasks, one, revive her using Yulya's bestowed spell REVIVE to call Ashley back to her body, and two, convince MDG to leave.



[Note: MDG in her final form is a nearly purely mechanical level 20 fighter, but Ashley's body isn't fully compatible with all her abilities, she will have to train them and feel them out as she levels, but she will not lose any of Ashley's abilities or summons, so consider this level 3.5+ for her. At this point, the body is safe and will live on under the DG's care, she's a dual class fighter/sorceress in this form with low HP but gains 5 HP per turn up to the maximum which is 14 right now, she gets three attacks per turn, and 2 action surges per short rest, she has a +10 proficiency for strength attacks but has a strength of +0 (10), the body has no weapon proficiency except unarmed at this time, nor any armor proficiency, as MDG never needed these before her old body failed, but she has other enhancements yet to be revealed. The MDG's soul is in Ashley's body. She does not speak by choice though she does know many commonly used languages and celestial, she prefers direct psychic communication and only Yulya would be receptive to that type of communication. She will act to fulfil Ashley's obligations through the dragon battle as she is looking forward to adventuring. After that she may choose to go her own way but may be convinced to stay. She does not have Ashley's aspirations or desires.

So there is a choice to be made here, Ashley is clearly okay with whatever you choose, this version or the old, more human, weaker, more impetuous, more whiney pure sorceress version. There's no time limit on this choice, it's up to you. In terms of Bear system headmates, the mechatherial demigoddess is an autonomous character born in 2018 when we installed an AI on our wonderland spaceship and it became autonomous, so you could consider her a moon or proto-tulpa, but her personality is somewhat muted as it was never fully developed. After the dragon battle, it may be possible to recruit Summer instead, that's again a choice up to you. Outside of this TTRPG, Ashley doesn't mind taking a break and having fun in our in-system DND playthroughs instead. Since she was in your playthrough it was somewhat Ashley overload to have her in two, similar to when I was in two. Your actions and choices will have an affect in determining this, MDG has her own will as well. Final note: MDG will need to be healed like Alice if downed from here on out, but like Alice, she will auto-stabilize and cannot die.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgUksX6eM0Y

[Congratulations! That was a hard won battle but you did it! Now that I know what you can do, I'll be giving far less hints and I'll have to make them harder here on out. Keep in mind, the hints end after you meet with Summer regarding the dragon, that battle will be entirely your own.]

[EXP to be determined.]