It's a fantasy role-playing game.

DM: You are Vex Vex'ahlia, a half-elf ranger . You are the member of the famous group of adventurers. Previously, There, they find a cave filled with magical darkness. Keyleth shifts into an earth elemental to scout the cave, finding that it contains a strange planar rift and a group of grick.
DM: It does not, technically. It just means he can move it, so yeah, it does not cancel out the disadvantage.
Player: Oh, so I've got to roll a couple more times?
DM: Yeah.
Player: They both hit. They're both high.
DM: Okay, great. There you go. So, as you're on the boat, you can see the hand grasping. It gives you a moment of bravery. You pull out (swoosh, swoosh) let loose two more arrows into the slightly dark, shrouded exterior of the boat. Both arrows strike true into the currently-grappled cloak-like creature.
Player: 26 for those two. Plus Hunter's Mark. Oh, wait! No, 30 for those two. And 9 for Hunter's Mark.
DM: Nice. Portions of it are trying to squeeze free of this arcane hand. One strikes through its wing, leaving a gaping wound in the middle, where you can see it's going to have a hard time maintaining height at this point. The second one strikes it and actually pierces one of its red, glowing eyes. It gives out this horrible, painful screeching sound (screech) into the cavern as you can now see what was once two gleaming red, piercing eyes, left with only one, and darkness on the other side of its face.
