Dungeon World - Strom's Six (Inactive)

Game Master Infernal Zero

I was about to ask just what you were spouting lore about, but it sounds like you aren't sure if that's what you're doing.

...Just what are you trying to do, here? What are you attempting? What are you after?

Trying recall the layout of the library to use it in trying to head off the cloaked figure, and getting distracted instead.

(Bikke is always sober! Except earl-ay in the morning (and in the noon, and in the afternoon, and in the evening...) ...Anyway, I leave the target's description to the others.)

The fighter looks nervous. "Ahoy, tha' bilge rat is cheesing it!"

He emphasizes his point, but his unintuitive pirate lingo makes whatever point he had difficult to interpret. Most likely, he meant, "The (insult) is fleeing!" But he may be also talking about literal rats and cheese.

(I would chase him, but stubby dwarf legs, see. Plus he has the home field advantage. Does anyone have any ideas?)

...well, that's a bit awkward. I'm not sure whether to give you library info anyway, or just give you something based on your reading material given that you wouldn't be using any info on getting about right now from the seems of it. If you tell me what your book's about, I can work with that instead.

Bikke, if you're stuck for ideas, maybe check your move list for inspiration, or just think what would be cool to do. This is a massive library, filled with books and bookcases - not just around the walls, but in the the floor space too. Purple just rounded one in front of you, for reference. Does it help to think about what you can do with the environment? You can always just try something, and I'll give you other options if it isn't possible. If it sounds like it'd be cool or fun or something, it's worth a shot.

I forget which games have adopted MCKaos's PbP houserule, and I wasn't sure if that was SL or DD. Let's say the book covers the history of the Procession of Spring.

(Ah what the heck, I'm going to take that advice, Loopy!)

Bikke is frustrated that the others seem more interested in interpreting dusty tomes than taking action. Bikke takes out some of this annoyance by slamming his fat fist to the nearest bookshelf. "ME MATEYS. THA BILGE-"

He stops, as the bookshelf shakes a little. He gets an idea. And many sailors know that when Bikke gets an idea, it's going to mean trouble for at least one party involved.

He dashes forward a few feet, giving chase to the target. He then tackles a bookcase, hoping it would either cause a domino effect in the library, or just otherwise block the enemy's escape somehow.

Bend Bars, Lift Gates (and Tackle Shelves, apparently): 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (6, 5) + 1 = 12
(I guess we didn't have time to give me a short rest to remove my slight exhaustion. If that's right, substract the -1 penalty... But it seems that dice gods favor me today anyway.)

(I choose "It doesn't take a very long time", "Nothing of value is damaged" (for you book types in the party!), and "It sends a fricking bookcase flying or something")

"...Arr!"

Honestly, I go with Spout Lore mainly because that's what you wrote. I understand why you'd be confused in this case, though I'm pretty sure getting distracted mid-cutoff is in violation of "do what you set out to". I'll stick with Spout Lore right now, and say that you're distracted as described until next update or something sufficiently dramatic brings you out of your reverie.
EDIT: Like Bikke. Really, we both knew it was the only way this would go, but it still cracks me up. Nice job! Keep it up! And we'll see about your third selection. I'm tempted. Just remember if I go with it, it means the things actually on your list you didn't select won't happen, naturally.
Also, you didn't apply the -1, but it's not like it changes anything. That's still a flat 11.

I'm not using that version of DD, anyway. I need the practice, first. Maybe at a later point.
To anyone confused, the detailed change is here. It's an interesting change, and it works well enough for PbP, but it doesn't carry outside of it so well in my mind, and I'd prefer some more generally applicable skills. If you'd prefer to use it though, I can't complain too much - it's less for me to deal with.
Reminds me - if anyone still has bonds with Gromroir, go ahead and mark the bonds off and take the XP you would get for resolving them.

(Yes, well, heh...)

(The move, as written, is used to "destroy inanimate objects". I think that causing a domino effect is a bit out of the focus of the move, so I did a compromise and spent a "choose X things" thing to make it work. And yes yes, of course. If I understand you correctly, you're just saying that the bookcases can't be fixed later, and that this causes a lot of noise? No problem.)

Even if it didn't fit the move, your moves help inform you what your general skillset is, and DD STR would have worked just as well to do what you wanted to. You get the idea now, anyway. Use your imagination.

Don't forget you've got 2XP in Grom-bonds.

Fizzy hustles along, and eventually will find himself in the library as well.

SO. MANY. SO. MANY. BOOKS!

He immediately rushes about looking for books on magic and books on adventure, whichever he stumbles on first he starts collecting them to read.

Discern: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 5) = 11

I'm...confused. Did you mean to Discern Realities, from your roll? I'm struggling to see how your current actions line up with anything other than a dogged pursuit of literature.

I didnt know what to call a move to search out books. I figured what is useful to me here as I look for books on magic and adventure, I suppose.

I think you'd just be looking for books. Not particularly a move as I'm aware. Maybe Spout Lore if you wanted some interesting info from one - in which case, same question as the Herald. What's the book you're looking at about? Preferably not something too broad. Magic and adventure is a LOT to handle. Just give me enough that I might be able to find something of relevance or interest to you.

Oh, and Bikke's knocking down the bookcases. Some of them should be fine, but I thought this might be worthy of notice to Fizzwiddle.

Holding her tome in one crooked arm, The Herald gestured over her head with her staff for Fizz's benefit. "Metaphysics, Theory, Standards and Practices, History, Prophesy, and Fiction. The biography of Fizzwiddle Glockenfleffor XVI should be on the bottom shelf. It's out of order, but you know: Gnomes."

Loopy, awaiting the retribution from failing my attack roll before proceeding with another...

I handle my updates in blocks. Still waiting for Elena currently. I'll move on if there's nothing by the end of the week - I don't intend to spend too much time waiting this time.

makes sense

Fizzy starts to go for the tales of great adventure..dragon slaying and such, but he gets stopped by the Herald and immediately grabs the bio go his ancestor.

ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh

He hugs the book then hugs herald then plops down and starts to read

Moves With Grace hurries into the bookcases, chasing after the fleeting traces of purple fabric, and prepares his nunchucks for an assault on his target...only for Terestria to crash into him and send them both tumbling onto the ground as his target gets further ahead. A few black feathers land on him, seemingly from the woman that crashed into him...wait, does she have rabbit ears? Those are definitely rabbit ears. What IS this woman?

Among the bookcases that fill the room, the Herald and Fizzwiddle immerse themselves in their reading. The biography of Fizzwiddle Glockenfleffor XVI is more recent than the Herald’s ancient tome, written in the more familiar and quirky script of the gnomes. No dragons have been slain thus far, but his ancestor had allegedly convinced one to play one of the gnomish people’s more unique games. Fizzy, what is it called, and what is the one thing that baffles most people new to it?

Suddenly, throughout the library, a great crashing and splintering of wood can be heard. And another. And another.

Bikke only needs to stand back and admire his handiwork as bookcases come crashing down with increasing spread and speed. The library is filled with the sound of crashing bookcases, falling books, and an increasing amount of obscenities from the man in the purple cloak as the wave of wood and paper continues on. The bookcases right in front of him have already tipped completely, the wood cracked and splintered.

Terestria and Moves With Grace are barely able to disentangle themselves and start regaining their feet before the bookcase behind them starts to come down. As the monk gets up, he spots his adversary attempting to clamber a bookcase further away before he’s crushed by another, and for a brief moment he spots something shimmering under the cloak. His friend’s wound shimmered in the same way. It wouldn’t have been a fatal wound, but terrible changes overtook his flesh starting from there. MWG, Tell us what they were, and why you didn’t dare approach the body afterward.

The cascading bookcases similarly approach Fizzwiddle and the Herald in the midst of their reading, a few tomes of history tumbling from their shelves and onto the ground around them.

The bookcases that Bikke set in motion are coming down toward the rest of the group, save Elena. The man in the purple cloak is trying desperately to get above the wave before he’s trapped below it, in view of Bikke, Terestria and Moves With Grace. And mixed in with the sounds of falling bookcases and explosions are the faint echoes of heavy footsteps.
What do you do?

"Arr! Tell tha sailor! Was tha' brilliant, or was tha' marvelous!" Bikke, at least, is happy and proud about the chaos he caused.

He points at the man in the purple cloak, buried underneath wood and books. "Finish tha job, Terry!" Bikke notices the monk she had crashed into. "Watch out! Tha bilge rat had some hired muscle thar!"

As MWG stands up, he sees a golden flash underneath his target's robes. It reminds him of when he found his friend's body, the edges of the wound itself were gold, but a dark purple...something...was spreading quickly in the skin around the wound, quickly consuming the body. Despite his desire to help, he somehow had the feeling that to touch the darkness would cause it to spread to himself.

It takes him a few seconds to comprehend what the pirate said, but once he does, he shout out for all to hear "I am not that man's friend, but his enemy!"

Despite what Bikke just said about the man being buried underneath wood and books, it's my understanding from Loopy that we are all currently trying to avoid the wave of shelves, and that no one's buried underneath them (yet). So...

Trying to avoid being buried :

Defy Danger,DEX: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (6, 5) + 1 = 12

True to his name, MWG deftly manages to step on top of the falling bookcases, "walking" across them as they fall!

As he approaches the cloaked figure, he whirls his nunchucks again, in a flashing flurry (spending one Flow) :

Hack&Slash: 2d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (2, 6) + 1 + 1 = 10

Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 6 (Messy)

And they bite into the figure's flesh!

Fizzy clutches the book to his chest and races out from the tumbling shelves, jumping out of the way at the last moment, he stands and dusts himself off, and lets a tear fall at the damage to the books.

Can I get a roll for that, Fizzy?

Also, glad to see you're getting into things MWG, but I'd prefer it if you described your actions instead of your outcomes - the things you attempt, not the final result. I'm looking at your H&S here. Even if you rolled well, there may be some fiction that affects whether what you did is possible, or effective - don't get me wrong, there's no problems right now with your actions, but you may put me in an awkward position in future if I have to say there's an issue. Do you understand?

Easiest thing to remember - you're in control of your own actions (as well as how many bad ideas you give me). But it's my job to say what happens, and manage the world around you. It gets awkward if either of us cross the line.

Reminds me - if I narrate you doing something you wouldn't do, tell me, would you? I'll fix it right away... assuming you tell me what you WOULD have done. Kinda stuck otherwise.

"Hi! Wow, you're a serious looking fellow aren't you?" Terestria says cheerfully to MWG."Hey, where're you going?"

Seeing the incoming book shelves, she panics, her fight or flight instinct kicking in the wrong way! Putting her arms against the nearest bookshelf she tries to push them back, deflecting the domino chain of destruction!

Defy Danger....+STR!: 2d6 - 1 ⇒ (3, 6) - 1 = 8

That's a fair amount of bookshelves you're trying to deflect here. As far as I can tell, you aren't that strong either, at least in human form. With the momentum of the wave and the weight of other bookshelves backing this up, can I ask how you're going to pull this off?

The idea's well enough, I'm just not sure if you have the physique for it in the first place. Bikke probably would, but he started this.

Ok, I have a better idea. I'm going to shapeshift into something useful for this very situation, and that should enable me to feasibly roll for DD+STR. Can I keep the above roll for that?

In the awkward moment where Terestria and MWG are entangled, she says her piece as above and immediately transforms into a Stoneskin Bear! Grey of fur, as big as a grizzly! I think they're incredibly tough, strong, and big.

Shapeshift!: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (1, 4) + 2 = 7

With a mighty roar that sounds like stone slabs being drawn over gravel she throws her paws forward to stop the shelves!

Go ahead and keep the roll.

Question for you: Do you want to adopt a ruling I found a while ago? Right here. What do you think? I trust you to be reasonable here.

I mean, I can and will still suggest a basic set of ideas, but there's that too.

Sure, I think that would actually be ideal for PBP games where we can't just have a simple face to face interaction. I do however think that the GM's ability to define my moves is a real balancing factor over the druid's inventiveness.

So as a compromise, how about I'll suggest two moves per form - giving you an option to add another in as you'd like.

Working with this, I'm going to say the bear's moves are:

Whew, sorry about that. Had the flu amd then there was a death in my girlfriend's family.

Elena phases from the floor behind the cloaked man and shoots a beam of fire from her goggles!

Using a Charge to Hack and Slash with Int.
Hack and Slash: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (2, 1) + 2 = 5

sure. Figured since I was just moving maybe I could get out of the way, but I'll retcon and might try to donmore

2d6 ⇒ (5, 4) = 9 defy danger dex

Fizzy hustles out of the way of the falling shelves but does not realize that the domino effect will continue. He turns and manages to step out of the way of the shelves but he does manage to get buried in a mass of books leaving him buried up to his waist.

Loopy, ok, no problem. I hadn't differentiated between describing what I do to provoke a Move, and describing its results (sort of like what Fizzy just did ;).

(In case Loopy's waiting for my "action": Bikke just takes this moment to admire his hands' work, and to instruct Terestria.)

You know, something only just hit me.

Elena, you said you came from the floor to appear behind our runner, and shot fire at the guy.

I didn't move you, so as I remember, so you were by the entrance. How are you now coming from the floor behind him, and what are you doing about that falling bookcase he was trying to get away from?

I etherealy traveled through the floor, of course. Heavy falling objects don't concern me!

And I just remembered that the glove is broken. Crap.

Elena then sees the domino chain of shelves falling all over the place. Quickly she slams her glove against the bookcase toppling onto her and flips a switch. "Executing phase shift!" Nothing happens. "Bloody Ohm! It's still shorted out! Plan b!" A hasty toggle of a different switch, and the magnetic reversal field fixes the bokkcase in place long enough to duck out of the way.

Plan B, Baby!: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (6, 6) + 2 = 14

Whereabouts are you in the library, Elena? As I recalled, you were pretty much with Bikke, so you shouldn't need to worry about the bookcases yourself. Unless you went among the bookcases at some point and I didn't notice.

Just trying to get things clear before I update. I know you can't have used your glove anywhere, so that's out of the question. I just need to know where you are and how you got there, and I can take it from there.

Or just what you're doing in general. To be clear - I'm assuming you're with Bikke right now, at least to start. That's right at the entrance to the library, with the book-wave unfolding before you. This means you've got a distance to go to reach anyone else, and the bookcases may be obstructive to your travel, but you're otherwise safe. If you're involving dice at any point, you can carry your roll just then forward to another defy danger - just let me know where the your double sixes go if you do.

I'm not assuming your H&S has happened yet. If you get in position for it and try again, you're keeping your prior roll, and you will have still spent that charge.

I’m just going to assume I forgot something, Elena. Better to keep it moving.

As Bikke stays back and admires his work, everyone else is busy attempting to deal with the mess he’s made.

As Moves With Grace rushes up on top of the other bookcases, Terestria takes on the form of a stony-furred bear and starts pushing back against the wave of bookcases. With the strength of her new form, she’s able to halt it briefly, but the force is still slowly pushing her across the ground, and it’s not long before she’s up against the other bookcase in the confined space between. The wave’s too far in to just stop it, let alone deflect it, but you still have options. A hold will let you push it back and give you some breathing room, and enough time to get out of the way safely. Or, you can hold fast, and break through the bookcases. You’re going to be a bit stuck until you take the time or effort to get out, but at least you’ve not been crushed.

With the plight of the woman who bumped into him out of his mind, Moves With Grace heads across the bookcases to the man who killed his friend. Just as the man manages to start getting on top of the bookcase, the monk’s nunchucks smash into his side, the sound of bone breaking audible as he gives out a cry of pain. It’s all he can do to hold on to his current as the bookcase behind him comes crashing into his legs. After having to stop to deliver your blow, the sudden motion of the bookcase beneath you causes you to tip forward, and the man in purple uses that moment of unbalance to latch onto your leg, spitting blood onto your feet. His other arm reaches into his cloak for something as he glares hatefully at you, and you get the distinct feeling you don’t want to know what it is.

The Herald taps her staff against the ground and pushes off, gliding out of the path of the bookcases on a thin sheet of ice, tome still in hand. Fizzwiddle alongside him, trying desperately to get out with his ancestor’s biography. Both get clear with their respective books, but the Herald’s ice has spread further than she needed across the ground, and Fizzwiddle can only helplessly slide into another bookcase at high speed without the means to stop in his haste. He finds himself on the ground, seeing double and incredibly disoriented. Until the next post, you’ll have to defy danger to make any particularly fast motions without losing your balance or sending your head spinning.

With a physics-bending application of her belt, Elena freezes the bookcase in place, providing enough time to escape its path. As she rushes into an empty aisle between the rows of tomes, she notices something - a severed clay arm coming from between two fallen bookcases, an indicator of the fate of the golem she hijacked.That crazy monk looks like he’s having issues with the guy in purple too.

The footfalls are becoming clearer amidst the noise. They sound...metallic? There’s definitely a clang to them. The Herald and a currently dizzied Fizzwiddle can hear them approaching their position. Elena and Moves With Grace can also hear footfalls coming closer to them, though the monk has more immediate concerns to attend to. And Bikke’s back is starting to get warmer, and he’s pretty sure there shouldn’t be anything there to cause that.

What do you do?

("Dizzied Fizzwiddle"? Try saying that with a mouth full of mozzarella or zucchinis... And loving the part about "space warping".)

(I'm curious about my back getting warmer. What is it like? Is it like radiating warmth, as though Bikke had stood under a strong lamp for too long? Or like a burning heat, the back of his coat caught in fire?)

(Bikke will probably go jump on a bookshelf to scope the area for enemy reinforcements. How would I go about doing that?)

Very rapidly getting warmer, and you have no idea when it's about to stop. Do you remember what happened to Fizzwiddle earlier? I think it's enough to expect something in that vein again. If you looked behind you, you'd see a glyph assembling itself.
Which reminds me, the Herald should be able to feel that magical signature from earlier again in your direction.

Just hop onto the bookshelves in front of you - those have definitely finished falling. Only so much you can see though - you're a bit distant, and you're both shorter (as I'm aware) and on a lower point relative to where you're looking. I'm going to say you'll have to get closer for a good view. That, or start climbing the bookcases on the walls.
Your call. Horizontal, vertical, or something else? Surprise me. If you're unsure whether you can do something, ask and I'll tell you. It's my job, after all.

Fizzy, tries to shake out the cobwebs, and then, slowly stands, with his hand on the shelf next to him to steady himself.

Then he looks about the room trying to gauge the situation

Discern: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 2) = 4 what is useful to me

Unfortunately the world is spinning still and Fizzy just can't keep his feet. He slumps back down to the the floor, pressing his palm to his forehead

The floor. The floor is useful right about now. It's a valuable resource, Fizzy. You should make very good friends with it.

MWG aims his nunchucks at his target's arm, hoping to prevent him from pulling out whatever he's trying to (and spending a Flow)...

Hack&Slash: 2d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (4, 1) + 1 + 1 = 7

And hits him!

Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 5 (Messy)

Are you actually trying to cause harm, or just disable the arm that's reaching in his cloak? If you just wanted to hurt him you could just do it, he can't exactly defend himself, but to disable the arm before he does his thing would be a DD instead of a H&S. DEX at that, since you seem more like you're acting fast to nail the arm, and not powering through as far as I can tell. Especially with the way you described your messy stance - you have to get your nunchucks whirling and strike a disabling blow before he does his thing.
Not that it matters here which stat it should be, since you get the same result.

So, to be sure, is disabling the arm what you intended? Are you sure you've fully considered your situation too? I'm checking before I lock it in.

The bear takes the brunt of the collapsing bookcases, rather than spending a hold to break through. With massive paws, the bear attempts to smash through them and clamber out of the mess she has found herself in.

After doing so, she runs to the aid of her nearest recognisable companion and roars helpfully in their face!

Loopy, can you give me a hint by what you mean by "have I fully considered my situation too", as a newcomer to DW? Pending the answer to that...

If I can just hurt him without a roll ("if you just wanted to hurt him you could just do it"), I'll take that. He can't attack me unless I roll a 9 or less on a H&S, right? Or, would disabling his arm prevent him from even *drawing* the (presumably) weapon *at all*, for more than one "round" into the future?

Sorry for all the questions, still trying to get the hang of DW...

(I'd be lying if I said I fully understand the heat thing yet... but oh well. Probably something nasty magic.)

Bikke closes the distance to the others, jumping over the fallen bookcases and the piles of scattered tomes. "Arr! Me be missin' a lot o' tha' action 'ere... Son of a biscuit eater...!" the pirate curses while he does his best to maneuver the terrain with his dwarf legs.

Once a little bit closer to his allies, he starts to pay more attention to his surroundings, and less to the mess at his feet.

Discern Realities: What is about to happen?: 2d6 - 1 ⇒ (3, 3) - 1 = 5
(Marking XP.)

Loopy, your explanation in Discussion was very helpful, thanks! I'll change my Move to Defy Danger/DEX, with the intent of disabling his arm.

May I hold that trivia as if this were one use of a bag of books?

Passing the end of the aisle of books where the struggle is taking place, the Herald stops to tut in their direction. "What are you all still doing here? You need to get downstairs. There is a very powerful magic-user headed toward the Gates boy." Her brow furrows as she considers whether she remembers telling them that or if that was just something she had planned to share later. Shrugging, she stuffs her new tome up into one of her sleeves and withdraws her tarot deck. She takes a count of heads to make sure they were all there.

"Let's see a simple forecast, yes? What danger is there if we stay, and what danger do we face by descending?" In stark contrast to her previous reading, the crone simply cuts the deck and reverses the top card of each half with a smooth motion of one hand. One card from the top half, one card from the bottom half, corresponding to dawdling here and making haste below, respectively.

Cast Spell(Grim Portens): 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (1, 4) + 2 = 7
Your spell won't last long - you'll need to hurry to take advantage of it. and Your spell has unforeseen side effects, and might draw unwanted attention.

Go ahead, Herald. Just remember that you already defined what the book is about when you want to use it.
As the Herald reveals the cards, the thrum of magic can be felt from them as they sluggishly slow their faces. The cards entangled themselves in the future’s weave, and revealing them now has pulled the future just a little closer, the cards entanglement limiting their vision only to the closer points in time they connect to.
Below is represented by the Page of Gears...likely connected to the intruder or Lincoln, and certainly related to a plot unfolding. To head below would bring you into their plot, and given prior behaviour the intrusion would be unwelcome.
Above...the card drawn seems to show a figure pointing, all other details failing to impress upon the your mind. In the direction of the card’s pointing is Bikke - no, a little behind him, where you feel formation of a spell completing. As the pirate overlooks the library, fire erupts behind him.

An inferno takes the surroundings as flame continues to pour from the point of the spell. Ancient magic protects the books, but the bookshelves are not so lucky, setting alight and beginning to char as fire sweeps about the room, covering the way the group entered and a significant area besides. Smoke from the magical fire fills the area, obscuring sight and filling Bikke’s lungs, forcing him to start coughing.
When you recover enough to look around, you can see little other than fire and smoke around, flames licking at your feet. You’re Sickened, and currently unable to see much. You’ll be defying danger if you want to get to a particular destination unscathed.

As the dwarf is enveloped by the smoke, Terestria smashes through the bookcase and out of its subsequent binding, rushing to the nearest recognisable ally before the smoke and fire reaches them. The Herald finds herself face to face with the rabbit-eared bear, a roar delivered directly to their face as if in support, prompting metallic footfalls to increase in pace as a trio of metal golems appear at the end of their aisle. One, fitted with an automatic crossbow, fires a few bolts that bury themselves in Terestria’s hide as the other two stand if front of it, blades at the ready. That’s 1d6 damage, though I don’t know if armour applies here. A few bolts fly towards Elena, which are sent off path by one of her gadgets.

Close by on a soon to be immolated bookcase, Moves With Grace’s nunchucks impact with the purple man’s arm again, it briefly going slack as the impact numbs it and the man curses again.The shimmering object he was retrieving falls to the ground between the golems and the Herald’s group on the ground, and the ground jolts beneath the monk as the wave of bookcases enters its final stages.
As you try to steady yourself, one of your legs won’t move, still held by your friend’s killer as he looks back to the encroaching flame and then at you. ”If I’m going, it won’t be alone, bastard.” A few bolts whiz over your heads as the crossbow golem takes a moment to fire at you as well. You numbed his arm, but he’ll have use of it again soon enough. Not to mention, he still has your leg when there’s a combination of fire, smoke, and crossbow wielding golems ready to mess you up.

In all this, Fizzwiddle is stuck alone, dizzy on the floor. Just as he regains his senses, he finds his arms gripped by cold, metal hands as he’s lifted from the ground.
You barely have a moment to register the empty helmet before you before it headbutts you, releasing you as it kicks you across the ground. 1d6 damage. As you pull yourself up, it pulls a sword attached to its back. You’re on your own unless your allies wish to brave the fires that now separate you.

What do you do?

The Herald glances up in time to see the fire blossoming, and suddenly, cards are everywhere. The mistletoe staff is thrust out, awkwardly, and an arcane symbol traces itself in the air in briliant silver, resembling a dinner-plate-sized snowflake. However, the fireball is too fast for the crone to affect a counterspell in time.

With a huff that seems to suggest she missed catching a particularly colorful butterfly rather than a deadly fireball, the Winter Herald gathers up her cards with a sweeping gesture before they flutter to the floor.

"Come now, dearies, we have a job to do. Lets not stop the vandalism at a little book burning." Grasping her staff in both hands, she thuds it into the floor, and the half-formed arcane circle shatters into tiny ice daggers that drive themselves into the floor and begin to spread, pulling the floor apart.

Cast a Spell(Chill them to the Bone): 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (6, 2) + 2 = 10
I'm choosing "Your spell affects either much more or much less than intended."
(The intent was to get the party one floor down quickly, the outcomes I imagine are: hole too big, everyone falls; hole too small, bear no fit; some of party falls, hole closed off by debris; there isn't a "one floor below" you've cracked the floating island in half; etc.)

Yipes!! Fizzy shouts

1d6 ⇒ 6

Pew Pow! Fizzy screams as he wiggles his fingers and sends the boxing glove up into the chin of the creature holding him, hoping it makes him drop

2d6 + 2 ⇒ (5, 5) + 2 = 12 for 2d4 ⇒ (3, 2) = 5

With that he wiggles, doing his best impersonation of a fish out of water

Dex Defy: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 6) = 12

if I am allowed to do that as well after the hit to the face

You don't need to escape its grip, Fizzy. It already punted you across the floor.