Critical Role - C2E59 Perspective

Episode Date: April 25, 2019

The Mighty Nein engage with the stone giants in the Icozrin Steelworks, then discover a more sinister danger deep in the Vermaloc...Watch Critical Role live Thursdays at 7pm PT on https://www.twitch.tv/criticalroleSupport the stream by using the official digital companion for the world's greatest roleplaying game at http://dndbeyond.com

Once upon a time, a group of curious storytellers breathed life into epic tales set in the wide fantasy world of Exandria. This is Liam O'Brien, here to welcome you to Critical Role. We'll dive into the story in just a moment, but first, a few notes. This is the audio-only version of our broadcast that streams Thursdays at 7pm Pacificm. Pacific over on twitch.tv slash criticalrole and youtube.com slash criticalrole. If you subscribe to our Twitch channel, you can watch the video on demand immediately after the broadcast.

And it's also available Mondays at 12 p.m. Pacific on YouTube. And of course, for all you wonderful podcast listeners, freshly minted episodes release right here on the Critical Role Podcast Network one week after our broadcast on Thursdays. With all that said, let's get into the story. Hello, everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons.

Dragons! This just descends into further madness. I know. Well, tonight's going to be a little crazy, so let's get into some announcements. First and foremost, we have our fantastic returning sponsor, and another returning sponsor, we have our friends at D&D Beyond, first and foremost,

as they are the top of the episode. So Sam, if you wouldn't mind. Hi, everyone. It's me, Sam Riegel. Last week, I was assaulted verbally on this stage by Liam and his attack dog, Ashley Johnson. You mean running mate? Sure, call it what you will.

Assaulted or just salted. So could respond to night with a retort, but in keeping with the spirit of the night, it's a positive night. It's filled with love and gratefulness to our Critter fans. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to do the thing that everyone wants me to do. It's the thing that I was really put on this earth to do, which is sing a spoof song about our sponsor. That's really what to do. It's the thing that I was really put on this earth to do, which is sing a spoof song about our sponsor. That's really what I do best. Can this one be animated, though? Probably not. We'd have to get some rights, but someone who owns the rights might be here tonight. Anyway, for this song, you might want to turn down your lights where applicable.

Oh no. Oh. What? In the not-too-distant future, every Thursday A.D., there was an app called Beyond, and it started with D&D. It let you roll stats and compute whether you're a mage or a big, strong brute, a perfect little warlock with an invisible mace, or a tiny little gnome with a super handsome face. I sing you cheesy music, the worst of mankind. You have to sit and hear my songs while I eradicate your mind. Now keep in mind I'm going to be the president and that's no gloat. And Liam has no chance at all because everyone is going to vote. Let's hear your

predictions. Liam? What? Liam! What? Liam. What? Liam!

Okay, that didn't go how I thought it would, but I am undeterred. I've got the support of D&D Beyond and a million other nerds. Vote Sam Riegel for president 2019. Yes, yes! Wow. That's what I thought, your campaign couldn't get any staler.

A valiant attempt. A valiant attempt. Amazing. Not enough, but a valiant attempt. Next week, I'll bring the heat. I'll bring the heat. Thank you, sir. Really, really good. I feel swayed. I feel swayed.

That was a good retort. It was a great retort. But definitely bring it next week, because I I feel swayed. That was a good retort. It was a great retort. But definitely bring it next week, because I think they're plotting. If you have it, bring it. I mean, if you got it, you should bring it. If I got it, I don't know if I got it. If you got it, you bring it.

All right, and thank you, D&D Beyond, as always. Our fantastic other returning sponsor this evening, our friends at Rook and the Raven. They have come to help support tonight's episode. They have their highly anticipated Draconic Edition. Campaign planner is now finally available for pre-order. If you guys haven't seen it, the awesome leather-bound, set up with the awesome dragon design.

Are those bronze rings? Leather bronze rings? They're so pretty. The image, I don't know if you can see it here, but it's like an awesome dragon carved into the leather. It's so pretty. The image, I don't know if you can see it here, but it's like an awesome dragon carved into the leather. It's really nice. It's specifically designed for DMs of any level with helpful prompts that are in the margins

to help make it easy for you to plan out and track your deep, engaging sessions for your campaign. It comes with a Worldbuilder's Kit. It's got a whole planner built out here for you. Cool interior with setup and character information and NPC information that you can put out there. It's actually pretty damn handy. Oh wait, you always use it.

Well, it's like this one right here maybe, but you have to go and find it. So yeah, check this out, guys. This set is an oiled leather Shroud of Secrets, it's called. Pre-orders are now open and available at therookandtheraven.com slash Critical Role. So check them out there, because they're pretty badass. All right, also as a heads up, guys,

we have five hours left in our Kickstarter campaign for The Legend of Vox Machina animated series. Please visit critrole.com slash animated to find out the information about the project if you haven't seen it so far. Be sure to stay tuned after tonight's episode at 1130 p.m. Pacific, we're going to have a special Kickstarter campaign and party here.

We cannot thank you guys enough for all your support, and we have a fantastic friend who's come tonight to help us celebrate. If you don't mind joining me on stage here, Joe Hodgson. This is so great. I'm so grateful to be here. Mighty Nein, I'm so happy to be here with you.

Thank you so much. It's so wonderful and you guys are so great. And this little thing, this little trinket, I'm happy to be here with you. It's so wonderful and you guys are so great and this little thing, this little trinket, might be yours if everything goes right at the end of the night in the next five hours. Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed. Cheers, y'all.

Critters, Mistys, I'm singing for you, too. Yeah! All right. Thank you so much. Woo! Woo! This is for life! Yeah, so do make sure, I know, this is insane. So please do stay tuned after the episode tonight,

1130 p.m. Pacific time, for our half an hour roundup, final countdown to the end of Kickstarter with our friend Joel. Well, it's going to be amazing, and we hope you guys can join us. Can we go now? Cringe hugs with me. This is my GM right here. Oh yeah.

Yay! Thank you! Have a great game, creators. Thank you. Cheers, guys. What's going on? What's that happen? They'll be back.

That's real, right? That's really happening? Damn right it did. Oh my god. Oh. I'm shaking. Oh my god. Oh. I'm shaking. I'm shaking. You guys, I hugged him before the show.

Oh my god. He's so nice. It took me four times to walk over and say hi. I kept finding something else to go get. I was like, I'm going to do that in a second. I think you and Brittany both were just doing rounds. Yep, Brittany and I were circling. He got to tell me that his son was making a blood hunter,

and I thought that was amazing. I told him, very cool. I'll look for updates down the road. Anyway. On that insane note, let's go ahead and dive in to tonight's episode of Critical Role. I see it, man! I see it! to tonight's episode of Critical Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, Role play, And they rise from the flames for the battles ahead Villains beware cause you're about to be dead They got magic and flair

They got falchions and cunning They don't see over there There's a monster incoming Inspiration is waiting Rise up, don't think twice Put your fate in your hands Take a chance, roll the dice Roll the dice

Critical Roll the dice Critical Roll the dice Critical Roll the dice Critical Can you answer the call?

Digging deep in your soul As the legend unfolds Now it's your turn to roll And welcome back. What? Surrounded by children. Anyway, last we left off, the Mighty Nein had traversed the dangers of Xhorhas

behind enemy lines in the struggle that currently resides, the war between the Empire and the Kryn Dynasty. You made friends, it seems, with the Bright Queen. In a moment of what seemed to be a dangerous downward spiral, you presented the beacon of which you had carried since the beginning, and in doing so, gained quite a lot of favor with the Dynasty.

You were sent to a place to stay. You were basically given a direction as to possibly prove yourself further within their eyes and make yourself strong allies within their side of this conflict. In doing so, you spoke with Professor Wako of the Marble Tomes Conservatory, and were told of what seemed to be an issue,

where one of the, what was called the Steelworks that had been developing and designing and building a lot of the war machines for use in the struggle had undergone some sort of a giant-based incursion and had halted production, and that was problematic for both her interests in research and for the overall effort against the Empire. You guys were to go and get rid of these giants

and possibly along the way, for a little bonus, embarrass a rival of hers there as much as possible, the foreman. You proceeded to embarrass him fairly well in that first meeting, thankfully, at the hand of the forceful personality that is Fjord. Love you. You hired a guide and made your way

through the Vermaloc Wildwood, this lush forest of purplewood trees with vibrant red and brown and maroon leaves all around you. Are you okay, Sam? Yeah, apparently I'm having a heart attack. My watch is trying to save my life for some reason. Are you okay? I don't know what that was.

You can feel your adrenaline. Yeah. This can't be natural. Sam, calm the fuck down. Yeah. You traveled deep into these woods and discover the outskirts of the steelworks, which themselves were built and attached to a mining camp there that pulls a number of materials out

that are then transferred throughout the Dynasty, but largely in the construction of these machines. There, upon stealthing your way through the front gates, the outer perimeter of this, you seem to have been noticed, or at least Yasha was, by one of these stone giants that resides within the interior. A boulder was thrown in your direction,

which was not avoided. You shrugged off some of it, stopped it in place, and the entity seems to be aware of at least your presence. The rest of you, out of sight. As far as you know, you're moorbounders off in the wood not far from you. You can hear behind the wooden perimeter fence of this location, the shifting and moving

of the stone giants preparing in some way for whatever lurks out there in the wood. What are you doing? Do they go back behind the walls of the fort? They haven't come around the walls. You've just seen one of them peek out and through a boulder. And then he walked away.

And then he backed up out of sight. At their closest to the fence, when they threw the boulder, how far were they from Yasha? From Yasha? About 60 or 70 feet. And did we all make it super far away from where she was? Did we fan out? You guys began to fan out, I'd say, about 30 feet between the two groups

before the giant took notice and threw the boulder, so you're not that far from each other. 60 feet, huh? How high are the walls? The walls themselves are about between 12 and 15 feet tall. The fact that you can see the giant's head poking over it means they're somewhere between 15 to 18 feet. We were going to stealth in, but it seems like that's moot at this point.

We pull back and let things calm down for a minute. We could. I could just pretend it's just me. You could be the distraction. I don't know. You would do that? Sacrifice yourself for the greater good? Or we could just try and take them right now. No, let's lay low.

We were trying to scout and figure out how many there actually were. Let's have this conversation while moving away from the. You hear the creaking and shifting of rock on rock as two of the figures have lifted up two more boulders over the side and are both chucking them in the direction of Yasha once more.

I'm going to start running. Away or towards? Uh, ooh, towards. Yeah! Okay. So in this moment, as the two heads peak up, the rocks being lifted up, Yasha, split decision, head down, charges headlong out of cover

towards the front of this. I will break cover and run from the tree line at the same time as you do. Oh no, okay. All right, well, we are now in initiative order then. Oh boy. Go ahead and roll initiative, guys. No! Guys, that's now in initiative order, then. Go ahead and roll initiative, guys.

Guys, that's not what we planned at all. Guys, since we are going into combat, I should tell everyone that this combat is powered by Dwarven Forge. They currently have a 406-page free PDF module tied to their Dungeons of Doom products available now on their website, and you'll see why right now.

Oh! All right. It's the shit. Tones of Autumn. Yasha, you are back here. The rest of you decide amongst the sides where you would like to be back in the wood. Shit.

Oh boy. If you don't mind. But that was the first. Beyond this board is the treeline. It's a wood. Oh boy. If you don't mind. That was the tree? Beyond this board is the tree line. Where are you, Fjord? I'm in the same distance that Yasha is from you. On this side? On that side.

To the right over there. It split. We started going other ways. I'll go over there. I think we were that way. Yeah, you were with that. I'll be there with Beau. And Caleb?

Yeah, I was with Beau because I was in there. Do I have a figurine somewhere? Right over here. Not Caleb? Yeah, I was with Beau because. Do I have a figurine somewhere? Right over here. Not anymore. Yeah, I think so too. I'll switch. Is that okay, Matt? I switched, Yasha. We made a choice. Put me near Jessie. That's fine. Is that all right?

Jessie's in the trees. Initiative order, guys? Okay, so we have 25 to 20. 20. All right. Beauregard first. Yes. All right, that would be now 20 to 15.

18. 18. Ooh, perfect. Works with Yasha. Story and everything. I made it in arts. But I did it, too. Works with Yasha. Story and everything. I made it in arts. But I did it, too. 17. 17 for Caduceus. Yeah.

15 to 10. 10 to five. Mighty nine. All right, so. Add a natural one, which makes it five. Okay. All right, so we have Caleb. Two of those, two of those.

Jester. Okay. Then Nott. All righty. So top of the round, Beauregard. You see now Yasha begins darting out of the wood and you see Fjord making a split decision and then going to join. What are you doing on your turn? I go, be patient, listen. We find shit out. All that shit the Dairon said, and then I take off running as well. Okay. Can I do some parkour shit and see if I can vault off this and vault off this and make a go? Make an acrobatics check.

Hand me the mini. What if there's like 10 of them in there? Hand me the mini, please. That's more of us to kill. So that's going to be five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 to try and vault up there. Go ahead and roll an acrobatics check for me, if you don't mind.

Roll for acrobatics. Yes. 14. 14? You will get up to the top, but it'll cost you 15 feet of movement to do so. So you dart off the rock, up the side, and you climb up. So that's now at 35 feet, at top there.

Your full speed is what, 45? 45. You have 10 more feet to move. Ooh, shit. You can't hit him. Well, you have Reign now. Can you just run along the top of the wall? Oh yeah, that would be awesome.

That's cool. Yeah, I'll do that. I'll do what Laura said. I'm going to run along and try and go here, split the difference, and do patient defense. This is stupid as fuck. Okay. Balancing on a beam? That's so fucking cool.

I got the crane pose going on, my foot's wedged in between the posts. Okay, so as you're standing there, toe on toe on top, getting ready, you use your ki point to do patient defense as a bonus action, correct? Yeah. You also glance ki point to do patient defense as a bonus action, correct? Yeah. You also glance forward and notice the third giant

that is in the back. Seems slightly smaller than the other two and is currently holding a staff in their arms that is covered in, looks like, knotted furs and bone trinkets that are dangling from it from different threads of leather. Oh, there's a third to the rest of the group. All right, that ends Beau's turn. Yes.

Are giants considered humanoid? They're considered giants. That's a no. Question. They look like humans, only big? Correct, but they're considered giants, sorry. You got it, you got it. Just checking.

That's okay. From my perspective, since I'm three feet tall, have I ever seen the giants? Actually, you've seen them when they come up to the edge to see Asha and when they throw the boulders because they're leaning over to chuck them. So you have seen them, yes. Okay, but right now I'm like.

Right now you're like, ah, they're somewhere. Yeah, you just see Beau jump up there and go, uh. Okay, cool. Can I use my 30 feet of movement to continue my path towards the wall, I'm over here. Looks like that's 25. And I will use my bonus action, Misty Step, to bamf up 40 feet above, actually just to the top

of the fence so that I have visual range on. Let's go right up here. Here? Yeah. Okay. I'd like to be within 30 feet of both of them. You've got, this will be within 30 feet of both of them. This will be a trick I learned from Brennan.

Now I have a question for you, Mr. Mercer. Because none of us have attacked them yet, are we considered, are we fighting them? You have initiated combat. They're aware there is a threat, and you guys are coming at them in a threatening manner, so this would be considered combat. YOLO.

I will cast Charm Monster at 5th-level and target both of them. Charm Monster to both of them? Yeah. Which is a wisdom saving throw of 17 and lasts for an hour. They get advantage because we're fighting them. Okay. I was thinking about doing it before we were fighting them, but it should happen. First one, the natural one, and a 14.

This one does not succeed. No way. This one, neither of them succeed. Oh! You were locked in the house! Woo! You made friends! I did spells real good! Oh my god. You were locked in the house! Woo! You made friends! I did spells real good!

Oh my god. So, as you leap up on top, with your falchion to one side, you reach your hand out and you watch this sickly green energy gather and then spiral out towards both of them. It wraps into their eyes and their ears and inside their mouth and nose, and they inhale the energy. As they do, their physical demeanor goes from defensive

to drop to just confuse. Hey boys, what do you say we play real nice? And they just chill. Yeah, they both put down their aggressiveness towards you, but they still look towards Beau. Like, they're not aggressive towards you right now. Okay. Regulating me, right, shit, okay, cool.

Never done that before! Okay, that finishes your turn, Fjord? Yes. Yasha, what are you doing? Okay, so. That was awesome. Okay. Somebody that can still fight, but just not against Fjord?

How does this work? I don't know. We don't know. They treat Fjord as a valued ally. Yeah, for an hour. Which means you can give directions to them as an ally when it comes around to it, and they'll probably listen to you to a certain degree unless it goes against their better judgment and personal sense of self-preservation. Right, their moral code.

If they speak up. Which you'll find out soon. Yeehaw, shit. Welcome to the Yeehaw Game Ranch. Beware the rift. So Yasha. All right, so I'm going to make my movement and try to get to the inside top of the fence, like where the little lip is.

10, 15, straight towards it. 20. Go ahead and make an athletics or acrobatics check. Athletics to try and just climb up the side. 19. 19, yeah. You go ahead and you leap, make most of the way, and then clamber up the rest of the distance,

drawing Magician's Judge as you do so, getting up onto the top. So with that movement there, you have five more feet. You could hop down, because there is a walkway on the other side of the fence. I'll hop down to the walkway. All right. And then. So that's your movement.

I would like to rage. Okay, bonus action rage, you got it. And then as an action, can I drink this healing potion? Oh, because you got hit. Then, as an action, can I drink this healing potion? Oh, because you got hit. I got hit, I forgot until just right now. Yeah, go ahead. Charm monster is not concentrated. Correct.

I thought you were saying if it was concentration. Oh no, sorry. No, I was saying it above. Gotcha. Because she fell off the fence. Yeah, you're good. I'm just finishing. All right, so Yasha, Yeah, you're good. I'm finishing. All right, so Yasha, is that your turn?

That's my turn. Your potion is spent. Yes. You got it. Aw, that's so nice, though. It's really nice. That's bad. Buy more? That's better, that's better, that's better. Okay, that finishes Yasha's go.

We're up to Caduceus, it's your turn. Oh boy, I don't understand anything that's going on. That all happened real quick. I guess I'm going to make my way to behind the fence. I'm just going to run up to the fence and try and get cover there. 20, 25, 30. Yeah, so.

Okay, you do not have a visual on anything beyond that fence. It's too high for you to see. But I can see Beau and I can see, is that Yasha? You can just barely see the top of Yasha, maybe like three inches at the top of her head, but she is within visual range. I have Beau and Yasha. Okay, just to make sure that things are good.

Oh, and I can, can I see Fjord, too? Yeah, you all can see Fjord. Fjord's on top of the main gate. I'm just going to do a quick Bless on the three of them, just so everything's all coped out. Sure, go for it. All right. Let's cast Bless.

So that means that you guys now have you guys have added d4 to your attack rolls and saving throws. Hell yeah. Sweet. All righty. That ends your turn track, Caduceus? Yeah, I think that's everything I just bonused. Attack and saving throws?

Yeah, attacks and saving throws. The giant in the back takes their turn. You can see now, at a better visual range, this one appears to be a female giant, female stone giant, steps forward and starts shouting. Does anybody here speak giant? Looking. I do.

You do? I do. Yes, you do. So you, you guys, the rest of you here, you hear the translation being saying, the two of you, protect us, knock them back. They sound smart. But the two of you protect us. They sound smart, I don't know.

It's going to go ahead and, let's see here. Oh god, they're going to try and hit us. Okay. The one back there, looking up into the open sky above, the clouds already there, is going to... What? Actually, no, it's not going to do that. Instead, it's going to go ahead and cast Disrupting Earth.

Oh, what? Disrupting Earth. Going to cast what? Disrupting Earth. That's some druid shit. Your amount. That's right. So, looking... Your spells are even bigger. No, there's not enough people on the ground.

So instead... That is a little short. And easy, isn't it? Instead, it's going to cast Hold Person. Oh. At a third-level. Oh shit. That's a little short. Instead, it's going to cast Hold Person. At a third level. Oh shit. Which is a third level slot.

I will need both Fjord and Yasha, both of you guys to make wisdom saving throws, please. With a d4. An additional d4 added to it because you just got blessed. Thank you, thank you. No worries. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh.

Ooh, 11. That's a failure. Well. Add your d4. Drip the jab. You can't give instructions to the giants now. That's true, actually. Shit. So it's 18.

Mm-hmm. You take minus one. Yes. 18. 18, you succeed. So Fjord, you find, as they both turn, you go, all right, and your lungs lock up, you can barely breathe, all of your focus

is going toward just making your lungs expand and contract and bring air in. Please tell me I'm on a balanced position before I lock up and I'm not just slowly. Yes, because you were straddling the peak of it to keep balance, so yeah, you're still locked in place. It's a little precarious. If a heavy wind were to blow, we'd have to start rolling,

but so far, it's a little still in the sky. Oh god. You, however, do resist it. The rage in your mind manages you to shrug it off without issue. That won't do. All you're still seeing is the red filter over everything in front of you.

With that, the giant's going to go ahead and move over this way. Actually, yeah, about there, the 40 feet. And it's starting to just move away from the rest of them. Ending its turn, Caleb, you're up. Okay, well, I do not know what happened to them, so I'm going to continue with my plan, which is to march straight towards the door.

Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and on the way, I am pulling out the flower from a catmint plant and crushing it in my hand and muttering to myself, and for a split second, there is a vision of a curled frumpkin hovering in the air, and it explodes out into a gigantic cat's claw that is orangish-brown burnt umber, and that claw is going to rend the shit out of the gates

and try to open it. Okay, what spell is this? This is? Cat's ire we discussed. Oh, right, yes, yes indeed. Cat's ire we discussed. Is that a real spell? Are we off the map, are we off the grid, what's going on?

We discussed B-I-S-G. So this? Sure. All right. Meow. Meow. So go ahead and roll for an attack on the door. I rolled a 19. Yeah, that hits five, so go ahead and roll full damage.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The cat's claw is made out of dirt. That's his dirty pussy. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I've suddenly said better about my coat now. Thank you, that was so good. I'm sorry. Well, I've suddenly said better about my coat now. Thank you, that was so good.

23. 23 points of damage. All right, the door splinters. It actually breaks inward, but from what you can tell, one, there is a slat held in place that is partially cracked, and from a little gap you can see there is actually a pile of stones that have been pressed up against the door, which means one more round you could probably break through, but this is

reinforced specifically to hold back quite a bit of damage. End of my turn. All right, that ends Caleb's go. Jester, you're up. Okay, I'm going to turn to Nott and I'm going to say, do you trust me? Oh boy. Fluffernutter. I do not, and I'm going to say, do you trust me? Oh boy. Fluffernutter. I'm going to cast Dimension Door and bring us up to the top of this, like inside.

Okay, up in the very, very top? Or in the middle place? In the very, very top. All right. Does that come with the fucking eyes? Go ahead and hand me your minis if you don't mind. Do you trust me? I can open your eyes.

Both of you guys are currently up now inside this floor up here. You can see there is a... There are windows, right? Little slits? Yeah, little slits you can see through. There is a ladder that leads down into the lower regions of this tower. Okay.

That's your dimension or it's your action. That's my dimension. You haven't moved, if you had movement at all, you wanted to use her bonus action. I'm going to go up and look through the window. All right, so you survey and you have a very clear view of this and you see the rest of the layout, too. This is a large field and you can see there's blacksmithies,

there's partially built machines that are in ruins. It looks like they've been pulled apart and big plates of metal have been yanked off. You get a better look at the giants, too. They have pieces of metal affixed to them that are tied on rope, haphazard armor. Yeah, it looks like they're pulling whatever scraps in the area and are starting to find ways

to better defend themselves. Behind it, there's another fence quite a ways back where you can see the actual mining camp begins, but that's quite a ways this way. All you can see right now, actually make a perception check for me. Glancing over there. Oh!

Natural twin. Yay! Awesome. These are large creatures. Huge, technically, when you consider the size dynamic. These are the only three you see in the camp currently. Okay. Currently.

Is Nott tall enough to see through the slits? Nott could probably use a little boost. Okay, then for my bonus action, I'm going to boost Nott up. Okay. Stop. Your feet are dangling off the ground as Jester's swole arm grabs you by the scruff of the cloak and lifts you up to see.

No, I've got my arms around her waist. Perfect. All right, that finishes. Jester's go. Nott and the giants are going simultaneously. Nott, you have a higher dexterity than they do, so I'm letting you act first. I'm shooting at the important one in back. I will just fire my crossbow bolt. Okay, you have advantage, it does not know you're there. I assume so. Advantage to hit? To hit, yes. That's a cocked.

I didn't know if it was a Tony Stark or a Clansky Aftershedge. That's a 26 to hit. 26 definitely hits, yeah. Ooh. Sneak attack damage. Yes. Okay.

I could have picked some all of them together. Yes. Two. Yes. 26 points of damage. I'll add on to that fury of the small. That's an extra, are we level nine now? Yes.

Extra nine points. Ooh! 35 points. Damn. Concentration check. No, fail. Hey! Yay!

You're back! You regain control. As the bolt strikes, you watch as the giant grabs the chest, looks up in the direction where it came from, and just barely sees where you both are inside. However, the look is intense, then fear, and you can see the eyes looking at the other giants,

and there's a sense of desperation clicking in. Oh. Wow. Are they afraid of goblins? It's worrying. All right, so that finishes your turn now. Are you going to move? That's right. Fire again.

Not as good, 19. Still big. For giants, they're live. Their bodies are muscular, but they're thin and elongated. They're still pretty big, pretty easy to hit. Another 11 points of damage. Do they look thin, like emaciated, or do they look thin?

They just look compared to what you're used to knowing about giants. You have fought a hill giant before. They're just meaty. These things are going to be slender and elongated in their features. With my movement, can I just, there was a ladder in there, right?

Correct. Can I just go down a little bit and just see what's in the bottom floor? Sure. And then come back up? So peeking within, you can see another chamber with a trapdoor on the inside that seems to go further down to a third floor inside.

But no one's in there. No one's in there. Okay, that's all, and then back up to Jester. All right, there you go. And there's Jester's placement right there. So if they're scared, they're doing this out of desperation. So that finishes your turn.

These two giants now, this one's going to walk up and this one's going to go ahead and walk up there, pushing through. One of them's going to go ahead, because they do have a reach of 15 feet with their clubs. First one's going to go against, they both get two attacks, one against Beau and one against Yasha. The first one against Beau has disadvantage, which is great because the first roll is a natural 20. The second one is an 18 to hit. Miss. Misses. What?

I just jump in, switch feet. Yes, and as you leap in the air, I'm considering one strike. The two attacks are one strike as it takes one giant baseball bat swing against you. You jump out of the way and the full might goes towards Yasha. Yasha, that is going to be 21 to hit.

Uh-huh. All right. One of those obstacle course notes. First kid gets out of the way, second one's like, hi, Bob! Exactly. Wipeout? Yeah. When it gets in their stomach

and then they just cartwheel into the water. They make that great noise. 26 points of bludgeoning damage. Oh, wait, but I'm just, yes. Reduced to 13 because you are raging. Okay. So it cracks you on the side, but you hold fast and shrug it off

as it withdraws the club. You see it angry, looking at it, it's now facing you. You can see the eyes themselves, white with pupils in there, very intense and heavy breathing. It is bearing down. The other one is taking two swings at you because you're the one that, well, you know it can't take it because it's charmed. It looks at you and gives a nod.

High five, bro. High fives you and pushes you off the side. Instead, it's going to move in, step over the side, and he's going to go twice for Yasha, because it's not going to attack you, because you charmed it. First attack, well, that's actually a 12. Okay, that doesn't hit. That does not hit. Yeah, that was a three plus nine. Other attack against you, that is a 22, though.

That hits. All right, so the next strike, 20 points of bludgeoning damage, reduced to 10. Okay. So it slams down the wood splinters as you dodge out of the way of the first one. It breaks up part of the flooring and you're having to back up and find a way to keep yourself standing

with all that splintered wood jagged up in your direction. As you look up, the second one hits you in the shoulder and you shoulder a majority of the damage. You you look up, the second one hits you in the shoulder and you shoulder the majority of the damage. You feel a crack in the back of your shoulder blade, but you move up with the sword and push it off. That ends both of those giants' turn. Top of the round, Beau, you're up. All right, I'm going to do a sick leap down

and I'm going to come over here. If I'm on this wagon wheel, am I within range? Yes, you are within melee range. Okay. Is she spinning around? The wheel is shifting slightly. I kick off and I use that momentum to do a spinning roundhouse with the wheel,

like those spinning stripper poles, you know? Yeah. You know? Yeah. You straight up Tatsumaki Senpou Kiyak these guys. All right, that's awesome. Yeah, whatever you just said. Street Fighter, it's Hurricane Kick.

I'm a Street Fighter nerd, you know this. So yeah. I'll take that. 16 plus three plus six, 25. That definitely hits. These guys are undamaged currently. Oh wait, I said I'd use my foot. Ew, gross.

That's a great visual. Oh wait, no, I always do that. That would have actually been 30 to hit. Still, it's even more. It hits, it's seven points of damage. You got it. Stunning Strike. Oh, gotcha.

I was going to say that's going to be 19. 14 plus five. Fuck. So resist the stun. Damn it. Again, again. This time I'm going to take my staff and while the wheel is slowly, I lose a little momentum and I just turn a little bit and then do it with the staff. Go for it. Roll from the tag. Add your d4. That's 22 plus four. I'm going to turn a little bit and then do it with the staff. Go for it, roll from the tag. Add your d4.

Great. That's 22 plus four. Roll damage on the second one. Big stick. And Fjord and Yasha, you guys are on deck. Eight damage. Eight points of damage. Stunning Strike.

All righty. Do that again? Natural one. It's stunned. I can do it as many times as I want, as long as I hit. You just cast a ki point every time she does it. Just cast a ki point. Until she's out of quarters.

Essentially. So that one, as you turn around with the staff, you go right for the throat and you hit where it's Adam's apple is and. It drops the club for a second and grabs his throat and is like. So it's stunned. I feel it.

Flurry of Blows, pop pop. The same one? Yep. All right, advantage on both attacks, because it's stunned, go for it. With your d4. That is the same as before, 26 with one, and then the other 17 plus three, so 20.

Did you roll advantage for each? No, I rolled for both of them. Right, they both attacks have advantage. Oh. Because you stunned it. Don't tell me what you were doing. That's better. So one would be like 26.

Just saying, it's additional chance for a crit, so you don't want to mess up on that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I hit. Yeah, all right, so damage on both of those, go for it. All right, that's something. So 12 plus three, 15, plus another four, 19. Extract Aspects. All righty.

So you learn they have no condition immunities, they have no resistances, they have no vulnerabilities, so it's good to know. They've got no vulnerabilities? No vulnerabilities, no resistances, and not immune to any condition effects either, which is good. Not immune. Correct. They can stun, paralyze, everything else. Poisoned, okay. You're basic.

No resistances, no immunities, no vulnerabilities. Correct. Basically. That's my turn. All right, that finishes your go. All right, Yasha, Fjord, what are you guys doing? I look at the giants and I say, my wise and handsome friends,

these fine folks are our allies and here to help. When you are able, please make your way to the right side of this here camp and take a load off. Take a seat and the danger will pass. Mm-hmm. Okay. Both of them look up at you and one of them's going, . They'll attack if provoked, but they are free.

They make a persuasion check with disadvantage. Disadvantage? New York City? Is it because I just punched him in the face? He doesn't speak German. Nine. They're not backing away, but they are confused. They do not seem to understand the words you're saying. Oh, butt.

Oh shit. But they're certainly avoiding you. Mm-hmm. That's good. I will use my movement to come to the edge of this roof and I will hop down in between them. Like down this way? Yeah, down to where Beau is.

So I'm right next to Beau, if there's any purchase. Right there? Yeah. All right, cool, we'll put you down right there. That's really cool. You got him. So you leap down, ankles a little bit, but you're like, I'm fine, I'm fine. They look up and now the shadow of the looming giants

is staring down at you. All I heard is blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah, blah blah blah. Cool, that's my turn. You have their attention, but they don't understand what you're saying. Because that's my action to say all that, right? I would say, if you can include it as,

if it was short enough where you can include it with an action if you had one. It was not short. It was pretty lengthy. All right, yeah, we'll go with it. So that ends your go, Yasha? Okay, so I'm going to try and take a stabby at the one closest to me.

I can't see over the tower, so. Can I reach? You cannot reach, you'd have to move to get to them. Okay, you know what I'm going to do? You can move next to where Beau is on the other wheel. Sure. Yeah, I'll do that. All right. And. You are both slowly spinning on these wheels.

Yeah, that's awesome. Just like. It's like in Thor Ragnarok. Hold on, hold on. Okay, so I'm going to attack with my magician's judge. You have advantage on these strikes because it is currently stunned. And you get a d4 added to them as well. Correct. Your blessing.

Because your hashtag was. And then, yeah. Plus? Plus, also plus the d4. Caduceus, you're on deck, by the way. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Two.

Hmm. 25. That hits. Okay. So, oh boy, what is all my things? Okay, so plus Divine Fury. Correct, so you do 3d6. Oh boy.

So seven, eight. I should have told them to listen to you. You don't know I speak giant. I did make a comment, but you're not listening. Oh, you had to talk, right? Well, they said something, and I commented of what they were doing, but you're not listening. Oh, you had to talk, right? Well, I said something and I commented of what they were doing, but that's as far as. 16 points of damage.

Nice. All right, so as you land on the wheel, you swing, carving right through part of its shoulder and it bends with the damage and you, oh shit, you go for a second strike as you spin around if you want to do the next attack. Wait, hold on. Oh shit, you go for a second strike as you spin around if you're going to do the next attack. Roll the CD head first. Wait, hold on.

Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. You'll probably hit because you have advantage. Ooh, that's clapped. Okay, well, natural 20. Oh, well, okay, you have Brutal Critical, so you get to roll an additional die for your damage because you're level nine. Yes!

Oh my god. I bear you. Oh, I hate these. Okay, hold on. Wait, I have, once per turn, when you roll damage from melee weapon attack, you can reroll the weapon's damage dice and use either total. Okay, I'm using Savage Attacker, so I'm going to reroll these.

You got it. And I can use either total, so I'm going to use other dice. Nice job. I'm trying to make a bet. Miss. Yep, yep, yep, yep. Nice. These roll better. Getting back in it, you get the best. Yep, yep, yep, yep. Nice. Getting back in it, getting back in it.

Getting back in it. Staying off of that road. Never going to get in it. Never going to give you up. That's better. That's way better. Okay. So it's 3d6.

Next, the Brutal Critical. Is anything? Well, you double two of the dice, and then you add the additional third. It's a critical hit. Oh, so I rolled a 12 total. Wait, double two of the dice? Yes, because the third is what you add on to it at the end.

Okay, so I should roll it again. Yeah, yeah. Okay. There you go. Okay, fine. Nine, so 18 plus four, so that's... 22. Yes. 38 points of damage in one round. Nice. The momentum from that wheel was enough,

so you swing wide the second time. The blade actually stops, because it cuts into the side of its chest and ledges in a bit. You can see the side of its tunic of meat patched together with leather is starting to grow thick with its own blood. You see it starting to regain itself a little bit,

and its eyes flicker back towards you, anger and fury in its face. That finishes your turn? All right, Kuz, it's your turn. Hmm, okay. Let's see, I'm going to see if I can back up a little bit and see the head of this one that's a little out of it. If I step back a little bit,

can I see the one that everyone seems to be beating off of? If you step back a little bit? Yeah, step back a little bit. Yes, you can see the top of both of their heads right now. I'm going to just call out if I can. You surrender, we can settle this amicably in giant. Okay.

And then I'm just going to hit it with a quick Sacred Flame. Amicably. So I'm going to pop a Sacred Flame at the giant. Okay. Which one, the one on the left or the one on the right? The one that everyone's beaten on. Okay, then go for it.

That's a dex save. Dex save. It's stunned, so it automatically fails it. Yes. Oh, wow, that's nice. I mean, I say that, it just feels kind of mean, but here we are. That's 14, that's 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 points of damage. Points of damage from a second frame, nice.

I've got that thing where I get the plus five. It's crazy, crazy time in Banana Pants. And then I'm going to use the rest of my movement to kind of, let's see, I've got five, 10, 15. Make a persuasion check with disadvantage. Oh, that's fair. Attack it while you were shouting this. I did, I did.

That's fair. Persuasion with disadvantage. That ain't bad. 16. 16, okay. So, you know, my attempt at reasonable surrender. Then I'm going to... I'm going to move just about where, like, yeah.

I'm going to move right over there by that little stone pile against the wood. Here? Yeah, like right there. Okay. And that's where I'm going to try and hide from the next thing that happens. Okay, you've got it. All right, so that finishes your Caduceus? Yep. All right.

It is now this giant's turn. Watching one of its companions being bludgeoned and cut, hearing you shout across the way, its eyes are going wild, and it shouts out a retort to you. The rest of you here is just hear more giant guttural noises being shouted. You hear a translation that says,

No, you attack us. We're defending. Come in and you die. All right. Ain't wrong. Make an insight check. All right. Wow, that's a 27.

Maybe this is night. That's what Caduceus is for. Whisper, first Whisper of the Night. This Whisper brought to you by Dwarven Forge. Also. Maybe. They look hungry. I feel like with Caduceus' wisdom,

we should just have a pair of soup cans that go from Matt to Taliesin to save you. Corbin Forge has a 406-page PDF. I can't respond until my turn. Okay, that's fair. As it says that, it takes its staff and slams it into the ground. There's a rumble, and from over there,

suddenly the ground around this portion of the wall and the gate explodes as sharp shards of earth and rock go punching out of it from all different directions. Yasha, Beau, Fjord, I need you guys, actually it's a 20-foot cube. Are we still blessed? That would be, you're still blessed.

That would be Caduceus as well. Need you guys to all make dexterity saving throws, please. And you have a d4 to add to that, say. You do. Is the door surviving this? The door is. This sucks. Oh, yes.

Honey. All right, all right. This here is torn asunder. Oh, really? This part of the wall is blown apart. It is rubble and ruin on that side there. So, what'd you get? 30.

Oh shit! What? Shit! I rolled a 19 plus a plus. That'll do it. A d4. Yeah, all right. 21. Nice. 13. 13. 16. 16, all right. Everyone but Caduceus succeeded.

So on that, Caduceus, you take, that is 28 points of bludgeoning damage. Everyone else takes 14. 28 points of bludgeoning damage. I still take 14? Yes. And what's the concentration check on that? This whole space here, by the way, this is obliterated.

Everything you guys are standing on is destroyed. All of this is gone, and this whole space is considered rough terrain. As you land in the middle of this giant area, there's just rock shards everywhere. I've got to roll a concentration check really quickly. For 28 points. Actually, technically, Caduceus,

looking at it now, where you guys were placed, you would be out of the queue. Oh, well, that's nice, never mind. I'm looking at that now. Thank you. You're welcome. It knew where the three of you were, and I just thought you were in the vicinity, but looking at this, no.

What's happening now? You just step out of the way as the stone misses the three of you were, and I just thought you were in the vicinity, but looking at this, no. What's happening now? You just step out of the way as the stone misses the front of your face. The rock crumbles into this giant pile and there's just jagged stone everywhere in that space. Okay. Wow. As that happens, this figure's going to move back

over to here and is reaching down for, looks to be a boulder on the ground. That finishes its go. Caleb, you're up. Okay, so the wall just erupted next to me and that all looks like hell, so I am just going to use, describe the crack opening in the doorway, so the giant cat's claw is just going to reach into that and try to rip the door away.

Okay, go for it. So go ahead and roll for damage on that. Roll for attack and damage. Attack and damage, yeah. There's no wall anymore, why are you still trying to open the gate? I have a reason. Just an 11 on the door to hit.

It still hits, it's a door. Okay, that's what I was hoping. Not just good when it comes to doors. Yeah, sure. Doors are arch nemesis. Doors have been a problem in the past. 20 force damage. Okay, yeah, that will be enough.

You watch as this gate and the boulders in the vicinity just explode out of the way, causing this area also to be considered rough terrain. Yeah. In that moment, I quickly scan and size up the situation, and I take full movement backwards while the claw starts to move towards the giant in the back. All right. Move 20 feet? And we'll go up, it can go 60 feet. Oh, right. And it's going to go on an upward trajectory,

so it's floating maybe 20 or 30 feet in the air above this giant. Yay! I'm glad those are working. Claws out. You got it. Whoever you are. And you're moving back this way?

Yeah, straight back, so I can still see my. Can you punch with that thing? Yeah. Meow. All righty. Meow meow. That ends your turn, Caleb? Meow.

Jester, you're up. Okay. Well, I see the giant cat claw, and I see the wall that exploded. And then when I reach through the little slit and go like, no, no, no, no, and then when I cast Polymorph on the big giant that's casting spells.

Okay. No, no, no, no. No, no, no. That's a natural five. I don't think it's a plus six on the save. That doesn't hit 17. No, it does not. What do you turn it into?

I'm going to say, I hope you like the ocean, and I'm going to turn him into a killer whale. Okay. I don't have a killer whale minion. Why not? I know. What a failure. So I'll just consider the horse as the,

there you go. Wow. And you watch as it's grabbing the rock, and you see the giant cackle coming towards it, and its eyes darting around. It grabs its staff, and you can see it beginning to cast some sort of incantation through its fingers on the staff, and then just

flopping around on the floor. That's a good killer whale sound. Ooh, ooh. When they're not underwater, it doesn't sound as majestic. Not really. Just like. All right.

So that's your action. That's my action. Cast Spell. Then I guess I'm going to turn my focus over to the other guys, and then I don't have any really bonus actions I can do. Okay. Yeah, so I'm going to just stay there.

That finishes your turn, Jester. All right, Nott. I have a Minor Clarification. I'm going to lift Nott up so that I'm going to use my bonus to boost Nott up. Okay. Minor Clarification, I had meant for that cat's claw to be 15 or 20 feet higher in the sky.

Than that? Yeah. Sure. Thank you. Nice. We have waves. There you go. Thank you. No worries. All right, Nott.

Boy, so are we trying to kill these guys, or what? Oh boy. I've got to make an an endless loop because even if I say, listen to Caduceus, it sounds like. That's true. Damn. They've probably got a lot of hit points, too. Have we done some damage looking out at these guys? This one's untouched.

This one's taken a fair amount of damage. It's looking cut up and it's looking like it's taken some hits. The one back there has also taken a little bit of damage, but is now a giant whale. Yeah, sure, sure. All right, I guess I'll target, I don't know what to do.

I guess I'll target the one that hasn't been touched yet. Okay. And I will cast Phantasmal Force on it. Okay. I will just rub a little bit of fleece and cast Phantasmal Force, and if it succeeds, let's find out, it has to make an intelligence save of 15. No, it does not.

That is a four. We're in D rolls in our whole lives, man. This is nice. It's in your favor, this game, apparently. I'm going to say that, ah, shit, that the club in its hand, no. No! What are you doing?

What would make it run away? I don't know. The club in its hand, it now perceives to just be on fire, and the fire is licking it, and actually that will cause some damage, too. Okay, go for it. The damage is 1d6, I think. Yes, it's 6. Okay, three points of fire, well, psychic damage. Right, three points of psychic damage, and it has two... That's it. It just thinks that its club is on fire

and hurting it. Okay, good, well, it's its turn. And yeah, no, it takes its club and just goes, and throws the club to the ground. So its club is currently, it's not even touching it, it's sort of backing away. It looks over towards you and it's looking down at you and is like, what do I do? It spends its action throwing the club on the ground and freaking out and trying to figure out, what do you want?

I'm going to run down the steps, shake free of Jester. Run down the steps. Can I get all the way to the bottom floor? There's a trap door. You want to open the trap door? Yes, please. Okay. Go ahead and open it. It's not locked. It opens up. There's another ladder, and you leap down inside. Now you are inside this chamber. The door is partially open. You can step out if you want to. I will bonus action dash down and out. All right. You are now out on this battlefield. you want to, with your full movement there at 35?

I don't want to be in the open, just peeking around. Okay. That's it. So if you want to be outside, you can dart down behind the steps. That sounds good. Oh no! Jester!

Jester, dead or forever, start the ritual. Yeehaw, Jester dead. All right. That finishes your turn, Nott. Finishes the giant's go. It's crooked-y. There you go. Things will settle as crooked-y. There you go. Things will settle as the earth moves.

There we go. Yeah, one of them's stunned. The other one threw its club to the ground. It's looking at Fjord, doesn't know what to do. Sees you guys are still there angrily attacking. Her Caduceus yelling, generally confused, and it's seeing Caleb casting shit. Ah. Ah. and he uses yelling, generally confused, and it's seeing Caleb casting shit.

Yeah, no, it's succumbing to the illusion and it's just going to slowly back away. Hooper-dooper! As it does, both Fjord and Beau. Beau's a little too far away, unfortunately. No, you did land there. Beau, you can take an attack of opportunity if you'd like. I will not.

Okay, Fjord? I will not. Okay. He's going to step back, then he turns and looks at the whale on the ground and goes, very confused now. Fjord out, Fjord out, Fjord out. The giant floating cat's clocked into you guys.

All right, that finishes their go top of the round. Beau, your turn. I am going to hold my turn until Fjord talks to them one last time, and if they look aggro, then I attack. Okay, and if your turn, this guy is no longer stunned, he is hurt. Holding his club, he begins coughing. I wait for Fjord and I just go

to him. Okay. I hold my action. All right, what are you holding your action for? I'm going to wait for Fjord to talk. And if things go poorly? And if things go poorly, then I go. You got it. Then I'll fuck him up.

Yeah. Fjord, Yasha, it's your turn. Yeah, I do my best like stewardess impression and I say, Make a persuasion check. Come on, come on. Yeah, that's going to work, 16.

All right. All right, so both of them looking at the whale and looking back at you. Oh, yeah. Are you still blessed? Only for saves and attacks. Yeah, not ability checks. Let's try that.

So that one looks back and they both look at you and it's like, as the club and it's ready to just bear down on Beau, the eyes meet and then it looks at you. Looks back at the whale. They look at the whale. They look at each other. One takes its club and just sets it there and sits down on the ground. The other one that doesn't have its club

looks a little frazzled and like. Sits, but eyes are still wide. The whale's. We got about 54 minutes left. I assume the whale will lose its breath before that, wail before that, and come back to life as a giant. They're mammals. They breathe air. They breathe air?!

They're mammals! But don't they need water to live or something? as a giant? They're mammals. They breathe air. They breathe air? They're mammals! But don't they need water to live or something? Yeah, maybe like open source. That was an hour. What are you, being beached? Water is such a mysterious thing. We got a solid hour.

Okay, okay, okay. Conjure water. So Caduceus. Yasha, anything? I'm actually going to walk out into this. Yasha, the hero's before you, actually. Oh yeah. Yeah. You know what, I'm going to, oh, I already am on the ground.

Yes, you're just standing amongst all the rubble. Is this one's club anywhere close by? Yeah, it's right in front of Fjord. Okay, so I'm just going to grab it and make sure I keep it so I can't pick it back up in case something happens. The other giant goes like and puts its hand up because it watches you

grab a burning club and just carry it off. I just, you know, it's okay, it's okay. It's impressed how you're just withstanding this roaring inferno that you're clutching in your arms, but is not actually there. Okay. Okay, and are you moving? Yeah, because I don't see.

Or are you just? Yeah, actually, I want to move a little bit closer this way, like towards the bigger one, just in case. I mean, still close to the wall. Okay, just like this one. But just in case. You got it. For a next step, if something happens.

Okay, that finishes your go. It reduces. I'm going to try and walk out into this, unthreateningly. That's awesome. 25, 30, you'll get about there. Perfect. I'm just very quickly going to do the,

everybody give it a second, one second, and in giant, I'm going to put out there, this seems very unnecessary. I get the sense that this is a misunderstanding, and we would be happy to talk about whatever situation is going on here. Nothing bad has to happen here. This feels wrong. Make a persuasion check.

Yeah. Good. Very good. There we go. Six. With advantages? No, no advantages. Does he speak sacred?

They're listening. The moods haven't shifted necessarily. Who's in charge? You say that? Yeah. Both of them sit and look over towards the whale. Do you mind sitting quietly for a little while while we figure this out?

One of them looks confused, the other looks particularly freaked and is still staring straight at Yasha. From its perspective, it's just holding a pyre in her arms that should be burning her into ashes. She's like, she's almost as scared of you as you are of her. I mean, almost.

All right, the rest of you guys. Effectively, while you're holding Polymorph and there's nothing breaking it, combat at the moment has come to a halt. I'll come down out of the tower then. Okay. I'm going to go towards the other tower and just keep an eye on the rest of the camp

to see if any other giants walk our way. Cool. Okay, so you're going to the other tower? Not up it, just over there in that other corner of the volume. Okay. I'm going to walk over to the whale and pet it. I'm really sorry that I had to come to this.

We're really sorry. The head moves towards you. From what you can see in the dark eye that protrudes from the side of the blubber, having never seen a whale before, you can't read its emotions. You seem like a really nice kind of host. Oh yay. Cat's ire is gone by now, I would assume. Wow.

Yeah, right? It's probably been at this point as you guys are coming in and getting to the end of it. Things are slowing down. Nine! Nine, okay. You have no idea what emotions the whale has. It's a whale and it's flailing about.

Yeah. But you pet it, it can't assault you. It makes sure I stay clear of its tail and fins and shit. All right, we've got about 50-some odd minutes. We should check the rest of the camp, see what's what. We got to find a way to get these felks out of here. Well, I don't know. I feel like we're missing part of the situation.

I feel like we're missing part of the story here. I'd really like to. This seems weird, right? Like, what are they doing? Maybe ask them what they need. Caduceus, yeah, talk to them. They don't look happy. Why are they here?

While you do that, I'm going to scavenge. I'll stay with Caduceus. Everybody on that bar. Yeah, please. I look around, looking for this busted cart, and start scavenging. Okay, make an investigation check. I'll put my arm around Caduceus

as he starts to elucidate. Okay. I'm very tall. Rolled a natural 19, so 25. 25, okay, scavenging around the space here. There's a lot of things used to defend the outskirts of a fort, plenty of bolts and arrows, and you can see, resting

in the corners, longbows, shortbows, heavy crossbows. The further in you get and look over in this space, you can see there's raw ingots of iron and copper. You can see other buildings in here now are smelters. The steelworks here is designed to smelt down alloys into a steel and then craft weapons. You can see far off the machines that are partially constructed are impressive, though only partially made. Some of them have been pulled apart and elements of it scavenged by these giants, it looks like. Oh man, their chests. This is a red dead shit. I know. I'm like, what about these chests? What about that box over there?

What about that red thing? That red thing looks important. Smelting shit. Yeah, you go and open the box, and you can see within there, there's raw ore that hasn't been smelted yet. Rough ore that's been carved and mined and brought here that is currently waiting to be next to that.

You get the sense that this space isn't like a, it isn't an open middle of forest vault. It is a steelworks. Talk to these assholes. While he's talking, I have moved closer, much closer to the whale, watching Jester pet the whale, and I'm just, in case this thing turns back into a giant, I am readying some ideas.

I'm so sorry, what are your two names, if you don't mind? The one that's closest to you, because I'm Duin. Duin, Mr. Duin, I work for Mr. Fjord here. I help him deal with different, through me, help him deal with certain issues that arise. We have a mission here today, but we feel like

that maybe part of that mission could be helping you with, obviously, what are you guys doing here? This is weird. The giant, which, even at your full height and it's sitting, is still looking down at you at this point. Soren would be the one with more information and points towards the whale that goes, We ran away from our home up the mountain.

Something terrible was happening there. We came here because we needed a place to stay and our weapons weren't as effective against these things. So we came for metal, hoping it would help. But then the people in here fought as well and well, they're gone now. And so we're going to stay here. Well, I relay all that to you.

Yeah. It's the trouble with people is they may go for a time, but they come back and there's a lot more of them, so. Let them come. Yeah, you're, I don't know why, but Mr. Fjord, Mr. Fjord has definitely taken the Shining to you, too, and we feel like we want to help. We feel like this is not a good situation for anyone,

and I feel like this could probably be resolved pretty reasonably in a positive way for everybody. Do you think your friend over there who's flopping, what is that again? That's some sort of... I don't understand what you're saying. What is that again? That's some sort of... I don't understand what you're saying. What is that? What kind of animal is that?

It's a whale. I don't know how to say whale in giant, so it hardly matters. Say it like a big fish. Yeah, big fish. That real big fish. Welcome. To Tonka. To Tonka.

Thank you. Do you think you could help us keep him calm for a second while we discuss things? We can try. She's a bit wound up. What was her name one more time? Zuna. Zuna. Miss Zuna, all right.

Mr. Fjord, I'm out of game relaying all this information to you. You think this is a good plan? I trust your heart, Caduceus. It's in a good place. I'm curious about what's in these mountains. All right. Ask them what it is in the mountains.

I don't think they really, do you have a name for what's in the mountains? I don't know they really, do you have a name for what's in the mountains? I don't know. We were, we live in a small valley in the mountain we call Bran, which you recognize in giant means belly. All right. Kealo began to hear something

and this terrible low hum, like wind through the trees, but it didn't stop. Relaying all this to everybody? These things came out of the shadows with wings and long faces. We tried to swat them, but instead they all went after Cialo, watched his life wither, and then more started coming, smaller.

Feeling the strength draw from us, we were confused and scared, so we ran. Only Soorna went back, and she returned, said never to go back. So here we are. Well, I would say that we could go aid them in a fight, but it doesn't sound like, A, they would want to go back, and B, me neither.

Maybe we just ask him to find a different place to hold up? Well, there's a lot of options here. There's definitely going and seeing what the commotion is about, because I don't like things, I don't like the sound of any of that. How big are the things that are attacking them? You may have to talk to the, let's maybe talk to the big fish.

The whale is not charmed. That's fine. Nope, I don't know. But she's hearing everything that's going on, right? Yeah. Yeah, I wouldn't. The whale might be, you don't know. Maybe we don't do that just yet.

Maybe if her friends told her that we were nice and stuff. She sees we are not attacking. Much different than lying out of a cage. Well, that is difficult. The other option, of course, is that we do convince them to leave, and if we can do that, there's also more options for humiliation and the butthole of our friend back at the camp.

We can't convince them to leave without their friend. They're not going to leave without the whale, so we're going to have to bring the whale back. Plus, there are more of them here. It's not like these are the only three. Ask them how many of them are there. Oh yeah. Talk to Gael when there's only three of them,

not seven. How many friends do you have staying here right now? You know, when they ask you. Eight total. The rest are out in the hunting party. When will they be back? Any time.

Oh shit. Yeah, or be back? Any time. Oh shit. Yeah, or I should say, yeah. I'm going to walk over and I'm going to very calmly, you know, to the two that are charmed, I'm going to move Killer Whale's staff to the side, just for now. That would have shlurped. Yeah, the staff has actually came into the form of a whale.

Inside of her, never mind. So you look for it, you're like, I don't understand magic. Where'd the staff go? We relay that we don't like anyone being displaced from their home, and if they will have us, we will help them reclaim. I'm relaying this information.

They both look over at the whale and go like, we'd like to go home. Do you think you can help us make sure that she doesn't restart a conflict that is possibly more than the three of you can handle right now? They both look at each other and look at the whale, and you can see that she's definitely like, a higher hierarchy than both of them,

and they go, we can try. Is the whale still flopping around a lot, or is the whale calm? The whale is calm. Also note, at the end of this hour, they know that I charmed them, so we better hope that this is really landing somewhere genuine, otherwise it's a rowdy time.

Sure. Caduceus, based off of everything you have said, I feel like we could pick these three off and then be ready for the next. We seem to have outmatched these, but if we are to deal with their problem, can you ascertain if they are willing to back us up? That would be a conversation. I get the sense they don't want to be here.

Yeah. And I get the sense they don't want to be here. Yeah. And I get the sense also that we could probably have a conversation about maybe finding, either finding something more permanent that isn't this, or figuring out what this thing is. Well, I'll tell you, altruism is nice, but it would be better with eight giants at our back. That's fair.

I mean, they're still members of the Xhorhasian community, right? We're trying to help? I don't know. Yeah, we've seen giants walking around, right? I know I can be a little on the soft end of things in here, and I understand that that's not always

the best decision, but I'll leave it to the group. I think we can have that conversation, at least. I think having an awesome community of giants as our allies could be super cool. You're right, that's a good idea. That is a no brainer. Let's do this. Flip the whale.

Let's flip the whale. Tell them straight up that you charmed them. Maybe let them know, just so that we could make it calmer, so that we could tell them that we should. And also try talking to the whale while I'm still here. We have used a little bit of magic to keep you from getting too angry too quickly at this conversation, but please understand that everything

that we've attempted to explain is genuine. They both look over at Fjord and kind of, good idea. It's going to turn in a minute, but sure. All right. All right. They both stand up, walk over to the whale, and both confused,

put their hand on the whale, lean into it. The whale is just like, is done. What is the whale's name again? Oh. Suna? Suna? Suna? Suna.

Surn. S-O-R-N-A. Surn. Surn. Surn. Surn. I am going to turn you back into you, okay? So just know that we're your friends and that we're not going to turn you back into you, okay? So just know that we're your friends

and that we're not going to hurt you and that please don't hurt us and don't scream or anything. And I think your bald head looks really cool and you should just keep going with that because you look really nice and stuff, okay? Maybe back up his spell. I'm right up there.

I ready an action just in case. I'm hiding and readying an action spell. Make persuasion check, Jester. No, it's okay. I am readying a cocoon for Polymorph myself. 11. Okay. I'm going to stand next to Jester just in case.

Okay. As the two giants are there flanking it, and you guys back up and find your place, do you release the spell? I hold up my Traveler and my go, loo, loo, loo, loo, loo, okay. The form shifts back into the stone giant. You see as the female giant is now resting on the ground, looks at the rest of you see as the female giant

is now resting on the ground, looks at the rest of you, and immediately instinctually flinches a bit, and the body tenses, the staff is placed hard on the ground to get up off of where she was sitting. She stands up to loom over you, and it's now the three shoulder to shoulder, she looks at the other two. If you mean to help, then show us.

But we do not trust the word of outsiders. We trust the actions. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean. Can she speak common or is she still speaking? She's speaking giant. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's very fair, although I should point out that this didn't have to, this could have ended a lot of different ways,

and I hope that you take that into account. It could have been to the death, and I think that would have been a waste on everybody's end. Either way. Your tricks keep us docile, but strength against strength, you would still be smashed. Strength against strength, that's fair.

So. Jesus. Tell me about what drove you from your home, if you don't mind. If we have a minute, I will, when everything is said and done, help heal you and your friends. You see a thousand-yard stare from Sorna. No, wait.

Sorry, excuse me. That's okay. I'll relay this all to everybody. She begins to say, as they said, it was the hum. The hum. The droning. Through the halls of Arbran. The creatures, buzzing and flying, piercing our friends, siphoning away their spirits and life.

They wither. At first, before all of this, we didn't know where the smell was coming, but from the bone pit, a strange, a strange glow was discovered by Umbad, my brother. Strange glow. But we didn't think anything of it until the small nightmares began to come.

We tried to fight, but our clubs and rocks glanced off of their beastly horned hides, and I know better than to know that something small does not make it not dangerous. Very wise. So, when they pierced my brother and pulled the life from his veins, I gave the command to flee.

We regrouped, lost two more as we exited the cave. It was just the eight of us. After we had some time to collect our thoughts and prepare to return, we walked back to the front of Brann. And there I saw my brother waiting, Ombat. He who I saw die before me, just smiled back, and I knew it wasn't him. Oh no.

I knew we could not go back. They begin to give chase once more, and we ran. We ran from the mountain, we ran through the woods, and we ran into this encampment. Then people here fought back, angry and cut, and we protected ourselves. Any of us wounded, but we survived and they fled.

We decided to make this camp ours. If the things that took our home were to pursue, this would be where we make our stand. And if not, we would rebuild. But if what you say is true and you have interest in helping us reclaim our home. And you do. And we have no use of this place for small people. We've served life. The things you describe are

quite literally the opposite of that. We have an enemy in common. Your plan was very sound to stay here and hold a final stand. Perhaps together we can do something about these people who've taken your home. How small were they, smaller than us? She puts her hands forward and she says,

different sizes, the ones that fly, and she makes a ball shape with her hands forward and she says, okay, different sizes, the ones that fly, and she makes a ball shape with her hands that's about twice the size of Caduceus. Oh, that's pretty big. It's pretty big. That's pretty big. Twice the size of Caduceus? There were smaller, thinner ones with tails and a horn. They feasted on the corpses.

Yeah, boy. There's some little scales. Undead demon shit. Well. Undead demons? Oh, one of the giants was killed and brought back to life. He's his own.

Oh no. That's... Got a grave there. Caduceus, have you asked them if they wouldn't mind just living somewhere else? No, I haven't. Do you think they would? I don't know.

Or do we have to really, we have to go back with them and help them? Yeah, but then they still don't have a home. Well. It's also possible. How long have they been here for? How long ago did you make your way here? Say, eight sun cycles.

And they still haven't found you yet, these things. Well. Well, we'll have them on our side if we go back, right? To fight these undead creature-y things? If they are feeling that is the correct course of action. Or if they don't want to join us, we take a little rest, their hunting party comes back, does not smash us.

That would be nice. And then we can go try and play exterminator. I mean, any type of invasion is only going to get worse, right? I don't like these things walking to the land that does not sit well with me. Plus, it's either work for these guys or work for some sort of Xhorhasian bureaucrats.

Yeah, we are still measuring what we want to do here. We serve ourselves. Is this what you want to do? I have some fear, but this feels noble. Caduceus, what are you looking for again? Does this have any play in that?

I don't know, but probably. That was very clear of you. Thank you. Probably. I am looking for answers, and the fact that something like this is out there is definitely, feels important. We've been brought here.

We've been presented with this opportunity. That seems special. It seems particular. Let's do it, come on. I'm surprised, but thank you. Why? Mr. Fjord is normally what I consider to be the voice of caution.

I think we are doing something more dangerous than what we have in front of us. We could probably exterminate the giants here. We are definitely trading up to a bigger fish, so to speak. Just because it's the easiest route doesn't mean it's the best one, though. There's also eight more coming back. Yeah, but we could.

I'm not saying, all right, that's not what we're going to do, but we could, we could deal with these things easily, I believe, but... If we need. The goal here was to empty out this fort. We're going to do it one way or another. We are going to walk with our new friends to this problem and deal with it,

or if it's too much for us, we can also fall back and leave them, leave them. Do you think Wako would accept proof of the situation being handled Wacko? Yeah. You think Wacko would accept proof of the situation being handled, other than the head of a giant? Well, if the smelter operation starts up again, then he'll be happy. We could even tell him that there were barely

any giants there and they just ran away immediately at the first sign of people. It was barely anything. This fort being empty would be the proof that they reclined. Have we healed these giants yet? Maybe that would be a show of good faith? I've been waiting for everybody to.

Let's do that, and then we'll wait for their hunting party to be done. Who needs healing? All of them need healing, right? I mean, of us as well. Oh, of us? I'm good. I'm a little down, but not a lot.

I'm going to relay a little bit of this to her. Here's what we're thinking of doing, is staying the night waiting for the rest of your party to return, and if you're amiable, having a conversation about either all of us going, which would be preferable, or we can go and take a look at at least Scout and see what this is. But we feel like together,

we maybe could help you get your home back. Make a persuasion check. It's going to be a terrible roll, isn't it? No, it's not. It's just a big roll. Big money. That's terrible, that's 19. That's big. So bad.

19. 19. Sorna, looking down at you, for the first time, you see the scowl fade a moment and the chin turn up a bit, surprised. We cannot abandon this. For the moment we do, those people return and take it back. I will go with you.

The rest will stay. Not one friend of yours as well, just you? I'll talk to the rest when they return, but I trust you. I don't know if I trust them, and I definitely don't trust them. You watch her head peer back towards the east where the fleeing members

of this camp are. You are very wise for a giant, if that's your feelings. That's why I am the Landspeaker of them. The Landspeaker? That's fantastic. I'm going to relay, she's game. Maybe we can convince one more to come with us, but they are hesitant to abandon the fort.

The rest are hesitant to abandon the fort to just be taken back. That's fine, it's decent. Two giants on our side is pretty good. I feel good about that. One or two, we'll see how they feel. Yep. I'm going to heal everybody really quickly,

so I'm just going to do that. I would say make sure they don't, you can't hurt anybody while we're gone. Try not to. Try not to. Try not to. If they attack, obviously, there's nothing. I mean, I'm not going to tell people not to defend themselves. You're not wrong.

Let's just do a... Do I want to burn my fifth? Let's burn a fourth. That's a little crazy. Let's do a mass healing word, or a prayer of healing. Let's do a 10-minute prayer of healing for everybody here. So that's the three of you. You are in there. Who else needs a little bit of?

You're in there. I got to heal a little bit. We're also taking a short rest, yeah? Yeah, this will at least just get everybody up and running. So that's a. A short rest, or are we bedding down for the night? We're going to probably bend down for the night. We want them to talk.

We'll have a meal, we'll talk. What time is it? Well, Sam, it's, what time is it? Right now it is. In the day. Oh, in the day. Because you can look at your phone. What time is it? Showtime. Showtime.

I get a whole different response to that question. At this time of day, it would be. I know, I know. I don't know if you would. I'd say at this point, it's mid-afternoon, by the time you guys travel through the forest to prepare for this battle and take in the time to settle them, it's like four or five o'clock in the afternoon.

You're looking at dusk in the next hour or two. Oh hey, Caduceus, just one more question. Yeah, of course. How far is it walk to their camp? Why is your voice so low? I mean, why is it? How far is it? Wait, wait, wait.

How far is the? Here you go, Nott. How far is it to their camp by foot? How long of a walk would you say? After we've been down tonight, what do you expect our walk to be? She looks up and from her perspective, she stands up, she can see, the rest of you see

the trees are too thick and too tall, and she glances up. It's about a three-hour journey at your speed. That's not bad. Okay, okay, okay. Can we check the rest of the camp, that abode over there, that tent? Just to make sure nobody had any, you know. Yeah, make an investigation check.

Oh, let's find what's-his-name tent. Whoever wants to help with that. See if there's any incriminating evidence. Oh yeah, what is his name? The guy we're supposed to embarrass. Natural 20. Natural 20, what is his name? The guy we're supposed to embarrass. Natural 20. Natural 20, a total of? 26.

Yeah. Nice. It's a nice bump. Damn, boy. Find something embarrassing. You should. So as you're rummaging through, once again, a lot of materials, errant weapons and such,

you do find in one of these major towers that are placed in the center of the Steelworks encampment, there is a small hidden trapdoor, about four foot by three foot. It's underneath a little carpeted area there. The carpet got tossed a bit, you can just see the corner and you're like, huh. You go ahead and open it up and on the inside you can see there is a small box that is locked and you can see what looks to be a small pouch that contains three glass vials. Nice.

I'll take the pouch and the box out to the others. Okay. I take a short rest. What'd you find? Well, there's this little hidden spot in the tower over there, and there's this three vials of something sloshy, and this box. Is it locked?

Is it locked? Box is locked. It's locked. Get it, Nott. So, make a dexterity check with your proficiency modifier. Yes. Ooh, terrible. For you, but as a rogue.

Just 16. Just 16? Does not open. Ooh! It's resistant to your work. This is a fairly fine lock. Yasha! I was going to say, when the fine instruments fail. I'd recommend a spell. Yeah. Okay, well, how do we know it's not going to say, when the fine instruments fail.

I'd recommend a spell. Yeah. Okay, well, how do we know it's not going to take us? Doesn't matter! Crush it, kill it! Is there anything going to explode off of that, or poof out a fart, or you know? Yeah, does it look like a thing? I will check for traps.

All right, go ahead and make an investigation check as you're pouring over it. 16. 16, doesn't appear to be trapped check as you're pouring over it. 16. 16, doesn't appear to be trapped from what you can tell. Kill it, crush it! Okay, so I'm going to take the tip of my sword, just where the lock is, so I don't break anything inside. All right, go ahead and make a strength check.

Roll a d20, add your strength modifier. Okay. Come on, Beast Mode. Yasha! Oh no. 15. 15. Oh man.

It's not piercing through. It's a well-made box. Wow! You're one of our giant friends. No, no, Lavorre. I pick it up and carry it over. Crack this nut. I mean, if Yasha couldn't do it, I probably couldn't.

You could do it, you're very strong. I've seen, look've looked at the muscles. Make a strength check. Okay. Good god, we're never going to open this box. I know. Just leave it! Yasha was trying to use Vaness, go beast mode.

No, no, I'm playing Moa. Oh, but, but, but, but, but, what if I use my painting tools and I'm going to paint a hole on the lock? Oh, that's but, but, but, but, what if I use my painting tools and I'm going to paint a hole on the lock? Oh, that's a good idea. Okay, so you use a little bit of the paint and you paint a little hole, and all of a sudden your finger goes through

and your finger can reach inside the box. Yes! You kind of and you open it and you can go inside. Yes! I did it! What do we find? You have a box with a hole in it. What's the hole in it? You have a box with a hole in it.

What's all of this? It's a box with a hole in it. Exactly. That would be so sad. No, there is a locket of a platinum chain. It's decently made. Ooh. And a folded letter. The locket, it opens up and there's a picture inside.

There's a picture. Who is it? Who is it of? I look over on her shoulder. Okay. What does the picture? Who is it? Who is it of? I look over her shoulder. Okay. What does the letter say? The letter is not written in common. Do any of you speak under common? Fuck!

Give it to me, I will tell you what it says. It's a love letter. What does the locket have in it? It's a rig roll. Inside, there is a somewhat debaucherous image of a dark elf woman who's barely covered. Yes. It looks like it's been very, very carefully painted by hand.

Ooh. Never going to give you up. Never going to let you down. I'll be in my mining fort bunk. Caleb sits on the ground and begins to, he pulls out the one book and begins to make sure it's not magical. He's doing his thing. Is it magical, Caleb?

Ten minutes later, he's ignoring Jester. Give him a second. Caleb, is it magic, though? Is it magic? Can you tell if it's magical? I have a very unique brain. I can push it. Jester, read it. Just to read it. Just to read what? I want to read it out loud. I can't read it. Just to read it. To read it, just to read it. Just to read what? I want to read it out loud. Well, but it's, I can't understand it.

Just read it, just read it. The three giants are right outside going. Caleb is just like. We're shouting over top of each other. So you're casting? Comprehend Language. Comprehend Language, okay, and you can read it. Yeah, ten minutes later.

What's that? It reads, my dear, sweet, Bodo. Hot stuff. Oh, it's Bodo! We got all the embarrassment shit we need. Keep going. We already did it, but triple the embarrassment. It is difficult without you at my side these days.

It goes into a lengthy description of their It is difficult without you at my side these days. It goes into a lengthy description of their torrid affair and the importance of keeping it secret. Ooh! How did Bodo like it? Bodo seemed to enjoy it. Any way you could get it. No, but where did Bodo like it? Oh god.

You learn this lascivious union that they've carried on for quite some time. I need specifics, man. What's the woman's name? They were into food stuff, weren't they? Oh yeah, what's it signed like? It's just signed as a V, that's all. As a V?

Yeah, there's elements of it that are kept somewhat vague. You get the sense that this communication is designed to be as much as they can on the DL. Mm. Oh. It's balloon porn. Yeah, go ahead. All right, we've got some apodonche.

Is this magical? Is this magical, is this locket magical, is the locket magical? It's a titty picture. Just in case, well, perhaps it is. Maybe it's a magic titty picture. Just in case, well, perhaps it is. Ritual cast, another 10 minutes go by with everybody yammering. It is not magical.

It is. Sweet. It gives you access to balloon porn. What is balloon porn? No, no, no, no, why, why, no. I want to know. Stop it. Google will help you later on.

Stop it. Don't encourage this. The ultimate comprehend language. Oh god. The SEO for balloon proof goes up 500%. I don't want to be responsible for that. Not King Shame. But, all right, so. Another hour of you guys doing this passes.

The sun begins to, the sky, clouded as it is, begins to turn towards the oranges and reds of sunset. As you hear a dull horn in the distance just blare and the giants look over in that direction and they say to you, they were turning. Are we safe? Are we safe? Yeah, make sure they don't kill us. Should we duck out?

Should we maybe go in? Can we go in the bubble or something so they can't hurt us in case they don't like us? That takes too much time, probably, at this point. We have the good favor of their leader, we'll be fine. Let's step inside one of these tents until they can discuss. Okay, so you guys all dodge inside one of the tents,

make a stealth check, all of you all dodge inside one of the tents. Make a stealth check, all of you, just as part of this. Should I stay out as a representative? Have you taken your moorbounders in with you or are they still out in the forest? The moorbounders. They're way out in the trees. We should get them.

No, because the hunting party's going to see them and they're going to hunt them. Leave your animals behind for one stinking minute. If they get killed, I'm going to kill you. No, you're not, you love me. Okay. Really? National 20.

Nice. Self roll. Is that the other one? That's terrible. That's a one, so that's a two. Oh, good. Two, zero, that's a 20 for me. Nice. 30.

12. Fjell. 15. Same. Okay. Interesting spread there. 12. Fear. 15. Same. Okay. Interesting spread there. Yeah. So you hear the heavy footfalls

and some conversation happening from the other side of the heavy gate that bisects this open yard, where it leads into the actual mining camp that the steelworks are built around. You can see one of the heavy gates swing open and five giants come in, all covered in metal plates. It's roughshod metal armor. It looks like scale mail if you tried to make it

after somebody described to you what scale mail was. You're like, I can make that, and you haphazardly piece it together. It's not well-crafted. They're not used to metalwork. They're much more of a stone carving people. But whatever it is, spooked them enough to start adopting metal in hopes of being a better defense forces,

whatever forced them out of their home. One of them in particular is, while they're all pretty lithe in their bodies, one of them appears to be bigger than the rest, and seems to be the one that led the hunting party. You can see them as they come in, they're dragging behind what looks to be the one that led the hunting party. You can see them as they come in, they're dragging behind what looks to be four wolf corpses, their heads all smashed,

and another one's carrying what looks to be three giant spiders that have also had the tops of their heads smashed. Nice. Oh, interesting. They begin throwing a bunch of errant furniture into a pile, whatever it's wood in the vicinity, and you watch as Sorna approaches the leader, and raising her hand causes a flame to

burn into a bright bonfire. They begin to prepare the animals for cooking and eating. While this happens, Sorna approaches the heavier one, and they begin talking. They're far enough away, they're about 100 feet away from you at this point, unless you want to make a perception check to listen in. I'll try.

Let's see what we get. Natural 20, so that's 29. I'm just meditating. We are whispering. Yeah. So even at this distance, you. Does my voice carry? Shh, keep it down, okay?

No one can hear us now. You hear them arguing over the direction to go. Sorna is presenting the idea of returning and reclaiming. The other one is arguing it's a lost cause. Let's stay here, take what we can, and rebuild. Maybe a few more months, and then maybe build somewhere else in the mountains. Soorna says, we don't have time for that.

The people who came here want to come back also. And begins to say, we were attacked. And he says, what? Did you kill them? And she said, no. They've presented an option to help us. And he responds with, no, they've presented an option to help us. And he responds with, no, you cannot trust folks smaller than your shoulder. She goes, I understand, but who of us claims the leadership here? And he gets really tense and up into her

face, and he stands a good three feet over her. Wish I had some popcorn. There's a moment of tension. I open my bag. He defuses and goes, You bring the fire, we bring the muscle, we work together to survive. She goes, Exactly.

You remembered my words. They say they wish to help. I will go with them. Do any of you wish to come as well? He says, We just returned. We're tired. To be honest, if you want to trust small folk, you can go. Because if you don't come back, I can lead us to the next stage of our reign.

She gets tense about it. She's going to hold out that hand. She's going to grab it. Control that. She goes, well, leave them be. Keep your eyes. I trust one of them. He nods.

Where are they? At which point you hear Sö someone's voice ring out and says, You can show yourselves. I'll come out first. And I'll walk up. And I suppose that means the decision has been reached. The one with all the heavier armor,

who's taller, goes, You weren't kidding. Oh, you're bigger than most moorfolk. That's what they tell me, thank you. I'll just go up next. I'll go out. They all go. They have a hearty chuckle, the comparison.

If any of you turn on Sona, we will find you. That's fair. There's been enough fighting, and I think everyone deserves their home. And there are people who feel strongly for this place, and they will come back and fight for it because it belongs to them. So in turn, we will fight for what's yours because it belongs to you.

Nice. One of the other giants there leans into the other leader and is like, I'm not going back. He goes, we're not going back. They are. The fact that you killed all that and are afraid of what's there is definitely worrisome.

Indeed. You should be. Ask how many of the people got killed in the attack. Was it just the one, or was it multiple? I hope this isn't a sore subject, but what were your numbers before the attack? We were 12. Okay. Okay.

Okay. I'm sorry. How high in the sky did these things go? Roughly. How high? Just the giants, how much bigger than Caduceus? Oh, they're about between 18 to 20 feet tall. Yeah.

I mean, you can see. 15. Well, let's get some rest, and then we'll go in the morning. We'll go take a look in the morning. Sorna looks back and gives a nod, tends to the fire to begin to cook the food. The smell is surprisingly tasty smelling, especially when it comes to the wolf meat

and whatever spider meat. You've not seen somebody pull spider meat from a spider this large and prepare it for eating uniquely white-type stringy meat pulled from the inside of the shell. It looks like mozzarella. Kind of, yeah. Is there anything left, or is it all in the fire?

I mean, it's all being placed on areas right above the fire, not directly into it, necessarily. You can see they've taken some of the metal pikes and weapons and stuff, and they've built a small lattice to cook on top of. They're intelligent giants. They're not the dumb hill giants you've encountered before. They seem to be at least of average intelligence, some of them more.

Sorna particularly seems to be a little more head-driven than maybe the others. But as food is not offered to you, all of them seem to be very intent on just watching your goings about. So while they do not make any aggressive actions, there isn't a moment that you're traversing out in the open that you don't have at least six sets of eyes

staring at you from 15 or more feet above. I pass out Boba to the group. Ooh. Do I, based on the descriptions that we've got and the studies that I've had at the reserve, do any of the descriptions match with any demonic creatures or devil creatures that I would know?

Arcana. Arcana check for you. Yucky, okay. Roll high, I don't know. 17, not bad. 17. I would say you... From the way they describe the flying creature, the only one that you really got a clear description of, you've read something about a demonic entity

known as a Khazmei. All that you know is they're generally pretty terrifying. They look like a massive bloated mosquito, bluish in color, with weird humanoid-type elements, like hair and things that protrude from it. You don't know much more than that.

You know you've come across it, and the way they described it, and the proboscis-type point in the face. It's definitely a mullet. You're like, proboscis. You're like, they said a long face that pierced and siphoned, and you're like, I remember the image, and the image in your studies

comes to mind, and you're like, oh, I hope it's not that. That's all you remember. I hope it's not that. That's all you remember. I hope it's not that. Well, hope it's not what? You were just looking up at the sky. Oh, sorry, I thought I was talking out loud. Yeah, I remember I might have fallen asleep in class,

or I might have been hungover, but I think I remember this time that we learned about these demon creatures and they were like giant mosquitoes with people faces and bad mullets. Are you fighting mullets right now? No. Very specific.

I'm definitely sketching this in my journal. It's very specific. They were called kasame's. Kasame. Yeah, the S is a dollar sign, according to Liam. Silly. Yeah, like Kesha, but Kasame. Sleight of judgment.

So they're flying Keshas. They're flying Keshas. Oh my god. My god. Knitter everywhere. Ugh. Ugh. Above my own spells.

So, do you guys feel rushed for the evening? Yes. Are we going to go in the bubble, I assume? Yes, you assumed correctly. Yes, we are not going to let that happen. I wonder if I could ask them for some of that spider meat. It's my favorite food. Do it, man.

If only we've had spider meat in Florida. This is like a little bit of a loss. Go ask them. You could use gestures to communicate. You could use gesture to communicate. That's me. So as you guys are all bedding up, you head over to the bonfire?

We head over to the bonfire. And I'm making the bubble wash, it does that. Okay, so as you guys are preparing for dinner, or for the evening to bed down, the dark sky overhead, no stars above, the clouds that largely cover Zorahas from the most part, but you're very familiar with are above.

It's a bit of the clearing here in the middle of the forest, the Vermaloc. As you step through the barrier of the two areas, the gates open, you can see the big burning bonfire. It's probably 15 feet on any given side, and it's burning up 30 feet in the air. You see ashes and cinders floating up. You can see, not all of the giants,

five of them are still sitting around the fire and they're conversing and having conversations and they're pulling off meat and eating it. As you approach, they all stop talking and look over towards you, all eyes on you as you step up towards the fire, taking your place among the circle. Can I have some of this?

They all look at each other. They gesture towards it. I pull off the juiciest leg. It's partially in the fire, so you reach into the flame for a minute. You pull it off, it snaps and dangles a little bit as you pull it out, and they all begin to lean in. They all lean in to watch. I've missed this. Oh yeah.

It's been a while and it is delicious. It's been a while! I hate you all so much. I hate you all so much. Sitting on that. Oh. That is a reaction spell. I finish the leg, I lick my fingers,

and I walk back to the bubble. But thank you very much, that was very good. Got a gesture, and they say a few things in giant. Like,. Yep. You missed me. You walk back. Does he taste like Yasha? Oh, do you want to try?

Oh, oh, okay. I walk back over. And just. Their amusement seems to have dissipated slightly as you've now come back for seconds on what is a meal that they spent most of the day hunting. I'm leaving. Teeny bite.

One of them reaches forward and picks off this teeny-tiny little piece and flicks it towards you, Jester, which a tiny piece for them is still a handful. Go ahead and make a dexterity saving throw. Saving throw? Yes. Catch it, catch it, catch it. Oh, that was not bad.

That was almost really awesome, 11. 11, you go to catch it and gets you right in the face. You tumble back and pass over a tea kettle onto the ground and reach up and pull the still juicy spider meat from your face.

It's actually a very good piece, so if you don't eat it all, I will have it. However, you do not eat. It's good, yeah? It's not too bad. It's reminiscent of a tougher crab. That's what I was thinking it was going to taste like. It tastes like a tougher crab.

It's like instead of seafood,'s what I was thinking it was going to taste like. It tastes like a tougher crab. It's like instead of seafood, it's land food. Those are really good, yeah. Shot here. Okay, I'll have the rest. I will ask you both to make a constitution-taking choice. Uh-oh. Oh no.

Before you become spiders. Wait, is this one of his jokey times? No, there's poison in it. It's a real time. It's a real time. Nine. Oh god. 25's a real time. I want to fucking salvage the poison. Nine! Oh god. 25. Nine.

25. Yeah. You eat it and it's delicious, and you're like, yeah, I did it, and you both go back to bed. You recall the spiders of the Vermaloc. They're massive and they're venomous. Terrible diarrhea.

Jester, you start getting a little bit of that sound in your stomach. You are considered poison for the next hour. Oh! I feel like I'm going to get the spins. The spins? Yeah. What's a spin? Oh, the spins.

It's where you're told what you have to throw up at the same time. Oh god! If you are going to squirt, do not do it inside of the dome. Get out of the dome! No, but they'll want to step on me if I leave. Like a lawn spray. No, no, just get out of the dome. I accompany Jester and hold her hair back.

Hey. That might not be what you're saying. How does that help her ass? I hold her hair back, and it's super awkward while she's squatting. Yeah. Boosh! Okay. A bonding.

A bond, yeah. Rest in digitation, please! An evening of- Just lavender. Lavender scents. Just Harry Potter it up. Every time before I have to fart, I use thaumaturgy to make it sound like birds chirping

so nobody can hear it. What do I fart with? Definitely one of the most unique uses of thaumaturgy, I think, in my experience so far. Okay, so after an evening of bonding, a full night's rest is gained. It takes you a little longer to recover by the morning, but you had your spider meat, you tried spider meat.

Hey! The cold morning greets you as you emerge from the hut. There's that morning frost that's gathered across As you emerge from the hut, there's that morning frost that's gathered across bits of the foliage and dead leaves that cover the open ground here within the steelworks. Most of the giants are still sleeping. There's two of them that are awake. They're all passed out on the ground

around where the bonfire was, which is now this low cinder. There's still smoke them that are awake. They're all passed out on the ground around where the bonfire was, which is now this low cinder. There's still smoke pouring up from it. You can see the embers and the elements that were once the furniture and other things that were gathered for it. Some shapes are still recognizable inside the bonfire, but it's mostly burned out.

Sure. You hear some rustling, and across the way, by the southern gate, you can see Sorna currently has placed a big cloak over her shoulder and is gathering and putting, looks like rocks inside a big heavy satchel on the side. Takes the staff and mounts it and turns around and looks at the rest of you.

Let's go. Okay. You want to call your... Oh, more bounders? Yeah, I thought we were going to get them, but. To ride them, yeah. We grab them on the way out. Yeah, okay.

We have, yeah. So you guys grab more bounders, and as you ride them in, Sorna looks a bit... Just looks to you and goes, I'm not familiar with these beasts, but keep them controlled. You are best. She's a bit skittish.

We're friends. Friends. Friend. All right. Careybell's like, She knows. Serna is not comfortable with these things, but definitely seems to, just let them be your problem for now.

Opening the southern gate, you all exit and begin to make your way into the Vermaloc Forest. At her behest, you see Sorna is now guiding the path, the Landspeaker taking you towards where this problem all seemed to start. And that's where we'll take a break here. Yeah! Matthew, right?

So fun! We got a giant fighting with us! You do, you do. You have a giant druid fighting with you. You what? I only came with her. No, they're not going to leave this space. They're like, we'll lose one of our kind,

and the one that seems to have the most faith in you all. The rest of us either don't want to go back or don't want to possibly let the rest of the humans have an opportunity to take this back while you're missing. The one with the biggest brain. So we'll be back here in just a few minutes. Before we come back, we do have our Wyrmwood giveaway, my friends at Wyrmwood.

Tonight, our, if you can look at this, this is a fantastic, the tabletop tile sets that they've been making. These are various Wyrmwood. Tonight, our, if you can look at this, this is a fantastic, the tabletop tile sets that they've been making. These are various Wyrmwood types. You can see all the different types of wood available in this cluster here. Be sure to check out Wyrmwood's Kickstarter campaign to pick up your own set if you're interested. They have all different uses, like a tiny dice roller set, a tiny dice prison, trackers for spells and stuff, it's pretty badass, so check it out, take it to something you like.

But we have this to be given away to one of you folks when we return here from the break. Tonight's password is grateful, because we are. It is grateful. Enter it once in the chat, any more than that and you'll be disqualified for our friends in the U.S. and Canada excluding Quebec who are applicable. We'll return here from the break and have a winner shortly. See you in a minute. Hello, Critters. This is Ashley Johnson, president of the Critical Role Foundation,

our 501c3 nonprofit organization with a mission that might sound familiar, to leave the world better than we found it. We partner with other nonprofits to raise funds supporting causes that mean a lot to us. And we allocate 10% of all donations to an emergency relief fund that allows us to provide immediate assistance in the case of natural disasters

or other unexpected emergencies that require quick action. To learn more about the Critical Role Foundation and to donate, visit criticalrolefoundation.org. Hello, everyone, and welcome back. Before we get into the game, we have our winner. The winner of our Wyrmwood giveaway is Nitsuj27. Congratulations, Nitsuj.. Congratulations, Nitsuj.

Might have been Nitsu-J, but Nitsuj it is, 27. We'll get their information and get your win to you as soon as possible. Congrats. So, Mighty Nein, as you set out from the mining camp into the depths of the Vermaloc, at the behest of the Landspeaker. You continue onward for the next hour or so.

As we ride, I'm going to, I'm on the one with Caleb, I'm just going to say. I'm just going to lean over to him and say, Caleb, I'm feeling uneasy. Why today? Because what the fuck am I doing here? I just was reunited with my husband, and we were given a chance to go on an adventure,

and I jumped at it like that. Am I a bad person? I just left him, I ditched my husband in a den of monsters to go adventuring with you. Well, I think partially you are an addict like the rest of us, but no. Don't think in the micro, think in the macro. You want to make where you are from, our home,

the Empire, safe again, and to do that, we have a certain number of steps ahead of us. We have to cozy up to the people that we are staying with, and work that to our advantage, and turn the world on its head. cozy up to the people that we are staying with and work that to our advantage and turn the world on its head. You don't think I'm just delaying the inevitable, scared of

going back to my old life or anything? Would you prefer I call you Nott or Veth when we are apart from your husband? I don't know anymore. I guess let's just keep it with Nott. All right. I just don't know, is he going to even like me anymore? I'm so different, not just physically. I do different things now. Well, the way that he talked to you, I would not have anything to worry about. That was just, well, he was just happy to see me alive,

but, you know. I think you might be wrong. I can't say I'm 100% certain, but I think you might be. But will I like it? I've gotten a taste of adventure and seeing the world, and now I got to go back and be a housewife again? Question, is Beauregard here as well? You're all walking together. We're walking, oh, we're not on.

Oh, sorry, on your moorbounders, correct. Because we had brewed together in the past, so it's up to Beauregard. Let me go to be with us if she wants to? Whatever. It's up to you. I'm on a morebounders. Are you with them or are you with Jester and Yasha?

With Jester and Yasha? I would have balanced it out. It was me and Fjord. Oh, you and Fjord. It was a roll for it. Yeah, we were two of us. Yeah, well, I guess I would do with you. Dundee. Is that weird? Yeah.

I'm not listening until this point, though. Wait, are you with us, then, is that? Yeah. She is, yes. Okay, well, Nott, I don't know, I think you have to find those answers, but. Can't you just help me? I cannot, Nott. But I am glad you're here.

You don't think I'm terrible for just leaving him But I am glad you're here. You don't think I'm terrible for just leaving him in a hotel room? Do I think that some amount of time after you drowned and were changed into something other than you are and have ridden halfway across the world, and are in enemy territory, and you are acting strangely, are you asking me if I judge you, or if you should judge yourself

for the way you are acting right now? Because I don't. Thank you. That makes me feel a little better. I think that we are actually working towards something. Are you awake? No, she's fine, she's actively not listening. I'm not listening at all. Actively not listening.

She's very skilled, but I think she's listening. Nope, not listening. Not at all. Nope, not listening. Not at all. Nope. I think that we are working towards something very good. And we could just fritter our life away and just abandon hope, you and I. But you're not, you are working towards something good. And your son needs a world to grow up in, with parents who love him.

So you're feeling poorly, you're doubting yourself. I understand that very well. But I don't share your opinion of you. Or this group. Well, thank you. Beau, what did he just say? He doesn't share your opinion. You're not supposed to be listening!

You're not supposed to be listening! I mean, he said, cacao, cacao! Atreya! What about that Caduceus, though? He's good. What about him? He's good. Wait, are you actively talking to me now? You're engaged to the couple.

I'm pulling you in. Yeah. What do you mean? He turned all of that around. That could have been nothing but death and the stench of killing. To be fair, we don't know what he said in giant. It could have all been dick jokes or something. Maybe it was terrible what he said. We have no idea. But you can't argue with the results.

That's right. Whatever he said worked. Worked. Maybe they like those dick jokes. They are not crushing in our scouts. Unless he's planning some weird elaborate trap and he's developed some sort of scheme with the giants and he's leading us astray and he's planning to corner us and kill us in those caves where no one would ever find our bodies again, I don't think he's doing that, though. I look over at Caduceus, what's he doing?

Now. Thank you, thank you. Fuck, I know what I'm going to do. Old time. Just too nice. I mean, demons, am I right? Have a cookie basket. I don't know.

Fjord, as you rummage through the remnants of the rest of that satchel you had found. Oh! No! Yes! Oh shit. For your 20 on an investigation check. Greater? What is that?

One greater and two regulars. Ooh, creepy. Ooh, you're rummaging through that while you're on the moorbounder with me, Fjord. Yep. What do you find? I hear clinking. That is hot looking through a pharmacy bag.

Just found some what looks to be healing potions. Oh really, that'll be useful. Yep, for the non clerics, it'll go a long way. That was really cool how you found that stuff. Oh, thanks, yeah. I mean, I figured it was just probably sitting there waiting to be discovered, just needed a keen eye. That's true, that's true.

It's old school. Who do you think needs these healing potions the most? Oh. I don't know, Caleb's pretty weak. He goes down a lot. I've heard that. Who else? You know, I mean, I guess, I guess I could use one.

I don't have any. You don't have any healing potions, Jester? Well, no, but I have spells, so, you know. Beau could probably use one, too. She's always up in the front. Yeah, it's true. Lowbrouch. Oh, shit.

I tell you what. How about we use this regular for Caleb. Okay. We use this regular for Caleb. Okay. We use this regular for Beau. Okay. And we'll give you this super powerful one. Four. Do you have any healing potions?

Nah, but you always look out for everybody, so you might as well have it. Yeah, but what if I can't get to you? You keep it for yourself, and when you take it, just think of it as a spell from me, okay? Okay. Okay. You sure? Yeah.

And also, have you seen this fucking locket? Look at it. That's a very risque photo, Jester. Would you close it? Fucking birds! What? Nothing. We just haven't talked a lot lately, that's all. Yep.

Seems like Yarnball has got a good, you know, relationship with you. What do you call it? Yarnball? Yep. It's a good dog, horse, cat. Fjord, you're being really awkward. No, I'm not. Yes, you are. I'm disarming you.

You're being so awkward with me. Yee-pah! You hear the voice of Soorna up ahead, holding her staff forward, and the red trees that you've been used to seeing, the beautiful, but generally unchanging scenery begins to shift, as you can see, beyond this immediate cluster.

The coloration goes a bit gray. It loses its saturation, and the texture catches your eye a second. You can see now there are scattered webs that begin to stretch between the trees ahead. Well, I guess the buffet's ahead, right, Yasha? Spiders. Yes, did you try any last night?

No, I did not. It's very, very tasty. They are not as tasty as she makes them sound. Well, it's an acquired taste type of a thing. It's kind of like, it takes a little bit of time to really, you know, get to it. To not poop every time you eat them. Yeah, I was going to say,

you look kind of pale this morning. I didn't quite notice when you first got here. I wasn't pooping or anything. But some people, I hear poop when they go. You can get the shits with it, yeah. For sure, if certain parts of it. Certainly not me, because I don't do that. Yep.

I only heard birds last night. They were exceptionally loud last night. They were exceptionally loud last night. They were so loud. And in percussive helicopter bursts. Yeah, I didn't even know that they were around here that much in the night. They sounded really charming. Yeah.

Charming. Cobra! You guys are having this conversation. You watch as Sorna begins to circle her staff and a ball of fire apparates in the air in front of her, drops it on the ground and begins to roll forward. You watch as it rolls and pours into the first web, the web burning back. You hear as all these spiders begin to skitter up. You see, they're in a similar size. These are spiders where the abdomen is about the size of Fjord. They are very large, begin to pull away

and scatter amongst the boughs and canopies of the trees. The ball continues to roll forward, setting one web on flame, another one, another burning a path, and Sorna turns back to the rest of you. Ellari, were you here? Follow. We don't need to hear about that.

Ellari. What? Fighters. Fighters. What'd you say? Ellari? Fighters. Ellari. So is that what? As you walk through the flame,

the webs have burned back to the point where they're not going to be a danger to you. You can feel the heat and the moorbounders are a little bit reticent to move forward, but you usher them through, and as you look up, particularly Caduceus and Beauregard, Caleb and Jester, you guys can see the clusters of eyes reflecting the flames in them as they're about

15 feet above you, elements of the... Stop it. Hey. Have a nice day. Continuing to move forward. Eventually climbing through the web-infested forest, the deep aspect of these woods, you come to the base of the Penumbra Range, the ominous mountains steep as they climb from the floor,

sculpted by the elements to resemble jagged stairs for an impossibly large behemoth. He clusters the vermalot trees protrude from pockets of earth that appear to be wedged or have found purchase within these somewhat shifty mountain bases. You can see bits of color against the darker stone as these trees have found, at least along the base,

elements where they can still grow. Caduceus, you notice before Sorna points in that direction, that following the shapes of the range, you can see hidden slopes that wind up the side. Your eyes catch the mouth of a divide about a quarter mile up. A million.

About in the side of the cliff, you can see an element where this cleft exists and pushes into the mountain, and there's a small, looks to be a shallow ravine that's just out of sight beyond the angle you're looking. As you take notice, Megan points one of those gestures to the staff up. All right, what do you got?

As you guys follow Sorn up these hidden switchback paths up the side of the mountain, the temperature goes colder. It's not raining, but you can see storm clouds beginning to come and mount, the sky itself growing darker. The rain's going to be probably a heavy rain for the next day or two. You can see the dark storm clouds go on and on endlessly, so you have to gear in

for a wet week to come. Stepping up towards the gap in the cliff, you can already see the small canyon that's nestled in the mountainside has built within it this alcove, the front of a fortress of rough slabs and placed stones, designed for beings far larger than you. The sides of it have decorations of tattered leather

and sculpted bone that frame the interior. Each side of the stronghold embeds itself into the sides of the wall of the mountain, and it seems shallow, so even just at first glance, it's either a very small stronghold, or a portion of it is built further into the actual mountain. The front doorway stands about 20 feet tall,

is wide open. You can already see, amongst this area, stains across the stone here, smattered, dark, dried blood. As you begin to step into the ravine and head towards the front of this stronghold, it's quiet. The wind picks up a bit and blows through, and the chill creeps across you,

and you feel the hair on the back of your neck stand up a bit. Sorna is moving forward, but with hesitance, and you can see with each step, she's having to steal her will and take another and another. What's your marching order, guys? We leave a?

Mage armor now. Okay, Mage armor is up. And before we go in, Caduceus, there seems to be some sort of undead connotation things going on here. Yeah. Is there something we can do to prevent against that? I can help a little bit, but I don't know.

There's also a lot of piercing imagery. I don't know if there's anything to resist against that, either. Are there still a shitload of spider webs everywhere? No, those dissipated with the forest, thankfully. Or home free. Improvisation is key, but Caduceus, I think in here you are the point person.

We will all look to you. All right. Just looking at a couple things. Marching order, you said? Yes. I'll go first. I'll go last. Are we off? Oh yeah, the giant, too.

The giant is flanking alongside, but is also letting you guys go a little bit ahead as well. I'll go up next. Next to Fjord? I'll watch for you. I'd like to be next to you, if that's all right. I'll go up front with Caduceus after that. Okay, so you guys are behind them?

Yeah, right there. I guess I'll stick back with Nott and Caleb then. Okay, Nott, are you holding up your ear? I'll hold up the rear and cast Mage Hand. Okay, so you have your Mage Hand in front of you. All right. See if there's anything we should have. Any other spells or anything you need to prepare in advance?

Just looking, just looking. Fireball on the party. I knew I could count on you. Three episodes. He gets a little itchy and has to just blow his friends up. Caleb! Yeah, that's nothing, I got a thing that I'll cast if we get into trouble, but I'm just paying very close attention and I'm going to

occasionally do a little detect undead. I'm going to run Eyes of the Grave every now and then. Certainly just stepping in, I want to, right when we start stepping in, I want to cast Eyes of the Grave just to take a gander. Okay. Poop. So.

Did you say poop? I did. It's the sound of popping on the Eyes of the Grave. It's poop. Oh, okay. As you step on the threshold of the grave. Oh, okay. As you step on the threshold of the main chamber doorway, the first thing that gets you is the scent. It grabs your senses immediately.

It's like bile and rot. Yeah. You can see more dark stains across the stone floor ahead of you, along with small piles of drying organic matter. Somebody's been eating spider legs. The entertainment room is quite large. In fact, let me go ahead and show you.

Oh no! This battle is brought to you by, this combat is powered by Dwarven Forge. Flagle, flaggle. Russ and Ferdinand. There's a PDF module tied to their Dungeons of Doom products available now on their website. I don't know if I'm supposed to do this every time,

but guys, there's some sort of battle cam that's supposed to be amazing. I've never actually seen it. It's great. What? I don't know, they just keep coming. Oh man, do we have to greet these? No, somebody ordered these.

I know, but do we have to? I don't know why you brought them in. I don't know either. Oh yeah! You ordered shakes from nobody in particular. We'll leave them. There's no limit. This is the perfect time to have your notions.

We're out here now. Nobody in particular. Cool, well, okay. They're spoons. I did not mean to throw this chaos into you in the middle of the game, but here we are. This was for after the stream. All right, so.

Put that shit out. That's not mine. Oh god, it's everywhere. So, entering the main chamber. Oh no, I'll have a wellness one. There's one underneath you. Oh shit, we're in a chamber? Oh god.

This is the front door you guys entered through. No one has ever done that. We're cool, we're cool. There are stairs. This is a pile of stone. Okay. This is a one-story structure. Okay, there's nothing.

The ceiling stands about 25 feet tall. That's incorrect. Nott goes in front of the coward. You know, I said I was in the coward. You said he was in the back, but you guys can change it. I said I was in the back. You want to argue about it? Sure.

I'm from Parchmentiers. One, two, three, shoot. Oh. One, two, three, shoot. One, two, three, shoot. One, two, three, shoot. Jesus. One, two, three, shoot.

I'm going to hate that guy. Okay, fine. I'm going to hit you. Thank god. Okay, fine. I'm so brave. That's good to have someone behind you. Don't worry, Caleb, I'll put that down. Sorna, is any hidden contraptions or anything we should be aware of in here? Sorna, whose eyes are looking up

into the darkened hallway ahead, which continues onward. This is going to be my first use of Eyes of the Graves. Okay, which is a range of? 60 feet. 60 feet? Nothing catches your attention. Sorna, looking ahead to this hallway, eyes wide and focused. You can see the fear around the eyes. Do you just get brain freeze, Sam? Yeah.

Oh, buddy. Okay, it's gone. All right. He'll be back. She leans off to the side. There are no traps. They're weighing her out. It's just the way in.

All right. Can you ask her how far she got before stuff went down last time? I think they made a, did they make it this far last time? Were you still fighting them here? Oh, when I returned, we didn't even enter. They were standing at the door.

The fact that they're not in this chamber makes me uneasy. Darkvision is 60 feet, can I see anything? Correct. So, 60 feet, you can see a hall that continues onward. From your position, you can see what looks to be a basin of some kind, and the chamber goes to the right and the left. A basin?

Oh, okay. It's like a fountain-y thing over there. It looks like there's a little T, or a little cross junction. Hold on a second. Frumpkin is on the ground. Okay. And I pull.

The Frumpkin figure got somehow smashed? Don't tell me that. That Frumpkin. Don't tell me that. Let's also, what does everybody have? I'm going to TPK this entire table. Question, do we want to unclump into two groups? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sure, that's a good idea. We'll say your Dancing Lights is Frumpkin. That's Puff. Sure. And this is your Mage Hand. Let's unclump maybe very quietly. Yeah, no doubt. One group in this little chunks, one group just over to the right of the door.

Just going to split. Split down the middle. Or to go over to your left, Matt. You're going this way? Yeah. Continuing forward? No, no, no, just up in his head. If things happen, we're not in a big spray arc.

Yeah, we got it. So in this moment, then I'm going to plant my hand in the center of the shoulder blades of Caduceus, since he is the leader here. But before that, I pull, because I always have mud in the center of the shoulder blades of Caduceus, since he is the leader here. But before that, I pull, because I always have mud in my pockets, and I grab Frumpkin, and I just smear it all over him to make him look like a disgusting, ratty creature.

Frumpkin does not appreciate it. But telepathically, buddy boy, go look around, do your thing. I put my hand on Caduceus' back, and I can't hear or see anything. I am Frumpkin. Okay. I sent him walking in.

Okay, roll a perception check with disadvantage. Yeah, veering to the left. Disadvantage. Goddamn it, they were the opposite of the die! Six. Time to shh. Goddamn it. They were the opposite of the die. Six. Okay, Frumpkin turns the corner. It's fairly dark. What you do see in the chamber,

it appears to be a crafting room of some kind. There are large tools, there's a large table that has some materials used for stone crafting and stone cutting. You do see on the floor a skeletal corpse over here, a stone giant that is mostly bone. It has just been picked clean of most of its meat. There are piles of whatever organs and stuff might still remain. The shreds that were left over have fallen through and slotted off the skeleton and consumed the pile there, but that's what Frumpkin sees.

I whisper to Caduceus, Tell your big friend that one of our family is very dead ahead. One of your people is dead in the room to the left. Very dead, apparently. Appreciate the information. There's one.

If Frumpkin has done his best to look around the room, I would command him to cross the hallway. Roll another perception check with a disadvantage. Didn't the dead come back to play? Sometimes. Same two rolls. Yep. Both times, both times I rolled a 17 and a two.

Oh, but it's a six. In that order. In that order, right? Buddy. So Frumpkin looks inside here. Like that. Oh. It's a six. It's a six. The best that Frumpkin sees inside here. Like that. Oh. It's a sample, I see. The best that Frumpkin sees is a few shapes.

They look to be large stone tables of some kind. There is a heavy pit across the way that just drops out of sight there. You see what looks to be another corpse. In the corner. That's fine, they're dead. What can they do? You see what looks to be another corpse. Oh no. That's fine, they're dead. What can they do? A lot.

I tell Frumpkin to look at the ceiling. Okay, Frumpkin looks up. Doesn't see anything. How high is it? The ceiling's about 30 feet up. 25 to 30 feet. I tell Frumpkin to go up to the pool and dab the water. It's not water. As Frumpkin goes up to the edge and can now have a better view, looking inside, what little bit of light that Frumpkin has here without darkvision, it's a pit. It's a pit that goes far lower than Frumpkin can see. Frumpkin can only,

Frumpkin does not have darkvision, if I remember correctly. I will check, but I snap my fingers and bamf him out of there. Okay. Double check. You're in that hallway, and that hallway just goes. Creature's up there. Creature, cat. Keen, just keen smell. Says nothing about vision. Correct, so Frum can definitely, can smell rot from that pit. Some of it old, old rot, like decay from a long time ago.

Okay, then I would, to my group at least, quietly say that there's two chambers, seemingly nothing alive, and a hole to the right. There's a large hole and there are two bodies, though. Bodies are dangerous. Are they dead or are they sleeping? We don't know. Yeah, Frommkin's gone. I took him out of the existence entirely.

Okay, so. Let's go investigate these corpses. How about the deader one? Is there a deader one? They're equally dead as far as I could tell. This one is very skeletal. This one, from what Trump can see, also is dead, but didn't get quite the same beat,

because it didn't get all the way up to it. Skeletal. Skeletal, okay. Party on the left will start moseying around. Yeah. Party on the right will go to the right. Once I'm within view of the body, I'm also going to do another detect.

Decapit. Another Eyes of the Grave. Okay. Once I can, and if I can. Especially with you? I will. I'll probably recast it, it's probably been a minute. Are you, so, is she hanging back, or? Who's hanging back? I will. I'll probably recast it. It's probably been a minute.

So. Is she hanging back? Who's hanging back? I mean, is she? Big girl, Sorna. Sorna is approaching and kind of. Gently. Yeah, Sorna is with you, but Sorna also,

honestly, is keeping you guys between you and whatever might be there. That's fair. She's not a frontline tank from her perspective, and honestly, the reason she's here is she believes that you're going to prove yourselves by helping and being a buffer to whatever you can see the fear in her eyes is causing that look of dread. All right, once I'm within range of these two bodies, I'm going to

Were you inspecting this one here? I'm going to do a quick Eyes of the Grave just to see and then do a little look around quickly. 60 feet, anything undead should light up. Right. That's not like. When you're close to this point, Eyes of the Grave, nothing catches your attention. Do you make a perception check? Come on.

That's good. That's 25. Great. There is no light source here, and you do not have darkvision. No. I have darkvision. Yasha does. So Yasha glances there, and you both see this at first.

That pile of flesh that's slogged to the ground is a slight bit of movement. It's not giving me a, it's not giving me a, it's not setting up high as the grave.. No, and you hear this scraping sound. I'm backing up just a little bit. As you guys notice, you can see three figures that are hunched down amongst the remnants of the skeleton. The one that's in the back.

Right here. You see they look humanoid and medium-sized. They're as large as a lot of your troop, but their limbs are long, clawed. You can see this black, leathery skin that wraps around the bones very tight. The head, you can see these pointed teeth that come out of an almost blackened skeletal expression, pupillous yellow eyes from underneath. The back of the head is elongated and curbs up into a singular horn. Each of them has a long, thin tail that whips and curls behind it,

and they're scraping whatever flesh they can off the body and shoveling it into their mouth, and then all three of them look over towards you at once, but a little bit of light that's coming in from outside flashes in their eyes. They just. I see Caduceus, and I move towards him. I'm just going to tap Beau,

and you're about to light you up. Okay. Roll initiative. I tap before initiative? As you were holding, having this conversation to get ready, they're going to charge in, so we're in initiative. There's no surprise here. So I'm using these as them, because I don't have the actual minis for the creature.

I'm in fudgers. Give me a high roll. Damn it. 12. Okay. Ugh. My other tie, man. Uh uh uh uh uh.

Uh uh uh uh uh. Uh uh uh uh uh. Yep. Uh uh uh uh uh. Uh uh uh uh uh. Bah bah bah bah bah. All righty. Have you seen this demon? Oh. All righty. Have you seen this demon? So 25 to 20.

Ew, gross. 20 to 15? 15. I cannot be the highest at 15. I'm the highest at 15? All right. Aw, man, this is fucking my shit. All righty, 15 to 10. fucking my shit. All righty.

15 to 10. 13. 12. 13. 10. 11. Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on. 30, the last one, stop, stop, stop, stop. So wait, it was Caleb? There were two 13s.

I'm 13 as well. Jester. Caleb, 10. 12. Jester. Caduceus is 12. Fjord is 11. Fjord is 11. Fjord at 11. Okay. 10 to five.

I was a 10. What are you? Seven with advantage, that was. Oh, girl. Hey, man, you are nothing if not consistent. And landspeaker rolled a six. Steadfast. Ooh.

Wait. Top of the round, these creatures immediately, after just standing and staring at Caduceus and Yasha, the moment Caduceus begins to speak to Beau and put his hand back, they and just lunge towards you. Beau, you're up first. You see the movement out of the corner of your eye. What are you doing?

I go, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? Help touch me. Yeah, I'm fine. And I hold my action until Caduceus goes. Well, I said hold touch me. I was like, you need to be within.

No, no, no, I'm there. You didn't have time to get that out, unfortunately. No, no, no, I'm there, and I'm holding Caduceus, and then I hold my action until after Caduceus' turn. Okay, so you move up where around Caduceus? Right there. There? Yep. Okay.

Oh gosh. I'm like, what was that? Fuck, man, here we go. That finishes Beau's turn, holding your action to do what? After Caduceus' turn to attack. Attack whatever comes by? Yes. You got it. All right, now it's those creatures' turn.

Oh no. Yep, these lithe, demon-esque creatures all with unnatural speed and leap forward. Oh no. This one rushes to Yasha. Oh no. This one rushes to Caduceus. And this one also rushes to Caduceus.

Are those guys in there? They just chat pushing around the way. From what I can see, they look like the aliens in Rick and Morty. Against Yasha. That is going to be, it takes two attacks with its claws. It takes two, baby. You should really not be eating these things.

And she has 14 to hit. 14 just hits. Okay, second attack. I have not taken a bite of that. That's going to be 16 to hit. Why? I took a bite. You did? Yeah.

16 to hit. I just steal it back up. I said it's both hit. Okay, you take seven points of slashing damage. Another seven points of slashing damage. Another seven points of slashing damage. As it slashes into you, you look into its eyes, the shining eyes, and there's this green flash in your head, and you feel your muscles suddenly go tired.

Make a constitution saving go for me, please. Oh yay. Oh good, oh good, oh good. Oh no. Is that a one? It's a six. Is that with the constitution saving? Yeah, it's just a four plus two. Six. Six, okay. You feel your body like.

Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. 10, 10, 10. Still a failure, unfortunately. Wait, advantage on dex. No, you said constitution. Never mind. Sorry. Good looking out, good looking out. Just to let you know, I have advantage on dex.

The two both against Caduceus, because you were one of the first to walk out there. That's going to be a 14 to hit. That misses, and I'm going to use that to have to use the Shield of Retribution on that first one. Okay. So what's it have to roll? You need to succeed a strength saving throw.

Strength saving throw. That is going to be a 20, exactly. I don't know what it's saving against. It's probably your spell DCA. Oh, yeah, my spell DCA is bad. I'll save for now. I know this would be supposed to be something in the item, so it succeeds.

It does? Yeah. So it takes half damage, but it's not pushed, right? No, it still takes damage, but it's not pushed. Okay, so go ahead and check on that. That sucks, but that's okay. And the other attack was a 20. That does hit. Okay. That takes an eight.

18 points of force damage. Okay, 18 points of force damage. It pulls back and then goes in angrily and strikes you for 14 points of slashing damage. Ooh, rough, rough. And this one glances up at you, make a constitution saving throw. Oh no, oh no. Constitution saving throw, here we go.

14. 14, okay. You do manage to shrug off, No. Constitution saving throw, here we go. 14. 14, okay. You do manage to shrug off what the effect is. You blink it out of your mind. The last one is also going to attack you twice. As Beau rushes in, because you were the first one to step out there, it just might have to do it once.

What do you see, what do you see? That's going to be a 12 and a 23. One that 23 hits. 23 hits, that's going to be 12 points of slashing damage. That's going to be a 12 and a 23. 23 hits. 23 hits, that's going to be 12 points of slashing damage. That's fine. That ends their turn. Now it is Jester and Caleb's go. I'll go.

Caleb starts walking that way and seeing three of his friends pressed up against these things. His mind quickly does the math of it and scans the dimensions of the room, and bat guano and sulfur come out. Oh god! And a wall of fire appears behind these things in the space five feet over from them and forms a U that stretches back around whatever that altar or platform is. So they are getting burned from behind and are stuck between fire and danger.

And dust. That's cool. I will say they're gotten there, right? We'll say they're in the wall right now. Yay. I was aiming for behind them. No, no, they're in it. Well, in it, okay.

If you're aiming out, you mean you're putting it behind them and pushing towards them for the 10 feet? But it damages things 10 feet out, and my friends are within that 10 feet. Okay, I understand, I misunderstood you initially. Yeah. My apologies. Okay. Enough to toast their asses, but not my friends.

Then the U is, nice. Is it 10 feet is the range? 10 feet is the range, so I would know to not put it within 10 feet of my friends. Correct, we'll put it there. Okay, so the chamber burns. The giant corpse there is smoldering now. You can see the elements of the bones

now black against the flames. The shadow of its presence is giving this interesting visual. As you hear the demons shriek from the pain, go ahead and roll damage. What's the saving throw for them? It's a dek 17. That is a 24 for, no, sorry. No, that is a 21 on one of them.

That saves. It's a seven on the other, it's a fail. The other one rolled well, that's a 21 on one of them. That saves. It's a seven on the other, it's a fail. The other one rolled well, that's another 21. So two successes and one fail. The one on the side succeeded, the one in the middle. Not that great. 20 total, so 20 and 10. All right, so 10, 10, 20.

All right, the one in the center, the one that was damaged by Caduceus, is the one that also took the most amount of damage from this, and because they, all right, the one in the center, the one that was damaged by Caduceus, is the one that also took the most amount of damage from this, and because they're all burning, you can see the heat causing elements of their leathery body to dry out almost, and this mist rises off from the corners of their shoulders. Does that finish your go, Caleb?

That is correct. Jester. Okay. Where am I? There I am. I'm going to step forward behind Caleb-ish. I mean, behind Caduceus, like, yeah, right about there. Okay. I'm going to close my eyes and hold out my hand, and I'm going to cast Spiritual Guardians.

Okay. Ooh. To attack anything that isn't part of our party. Right, that is within the range around you? What's the radius? That's a 15 feet radius around me, so I would be within 15 feet of them, hopefully. That's where I was aiming for. Okay, if you want to get all of them,

you probably have to go there. Okay. That you can get them all in. Okay, so you cast it. It happens at the start of their turn. They flit around me when you cast a spell, and their speed is halved. Where the fuck does it say?

Right under that. When a creature enters the area or starts its turn there, it must make a wisdom saving throw. So it's on their turn that the effect happens. You got it. All right, so you cast Spirit Guardians, the cloud of somewhat spectral, but happily leaping around unicorns

suddenly begin to swirl around Jester, giving a faint glow to the vicinity of this dark enchanted. Pinkish purple beauty. All right, is that your turn? Yeah. Caduceus, you're up. The question is, do we launch the nuke now or do we launch the nuke later?

I'm holding onto you, going, what? I've been wanting to try something. I'm going to try this because I've been meaning to try it. Fuck it. The creatures are in range, by the way, if you wanted to use your reaction. Are you waiting for him? Yes. Use my reaction.

I'm waiting for him. Yeah, this lasts an hour. This will be fun. And we're not being sneaky anymore. I'm going to cast Holy Weapon. Let's see how this goes. What does that mean? Okay. What does that mean? I'm burning a big one.

It's a lollipop. It's a lollipop. So now you are our light source. Okay. Are you touching the staff or her fists? Her fists, I believe. So as he's, yeah, the fists. As Caduceus reaches out and grabs you, you watch as both of your hands

begin to give off this divine glow, like a faint candlelight around you that gets brighter and brighter. Your hands feel warm, almost like you placed them into a hot spring, and you can see this sparkling sheen across your flesh and every knuckle. Add 2d8 radiant to every attack.

What? I only know what this means because of Liatel. Yeah, it's a really cool move. Radiant to every attack? To every attack. Oh! That's awesome. It's concentration for an hour,

so you have it for an hour. An hour? Or until you lose concentration. Yeah, and I've got some other stuff I can do with it, too, but that's very late. That's great. And reaction. The best around. Into all of my action time.

All right, so you get two attacks. Action time. Two attacks on that guy there, or the one in the middle, up to you. Because the one that's hurt really bad, or the two that are, the one that's been hurt the most, and the two that have been slightly hurt. Wait, who's been hurt the most?

The middle one there. I think you used it on someone else. Aw, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Well, yeah, we'll do one to the middle guy and one to the side guy. First attack. What is that, what is that? Horrible.

It was terrible. Uh, 12. 12 misses. Fuck you, Jell. You're so distracted by this cool motion that you go and go to swing and the creature dodges out of the way. Why not, one more time.

Its tail whips around and almost catches you in the cheek. Wow. No. She blinded herself with her own hands. It's the same thing, it's the same thing. As you duck out of the way for its tail, it goes wide and you go to try and do the other punch. It glistens, you go I promise I won't disappoint you.

You try and punch it, it's just out of range. Flurry of Blows. You can't do a bonus action. It's just the action that you held. But I have a reaction? It's your reaction to then do the action, but you only get the bonus action on your turn. I don't lose concentration.

I will fix this. Next round. Next round. Next round. Okay, so that finishes your turn, Caduceus? I have a bonus action and a move, but they have reactions against me if I were to move. Probably, you have two of them that are immediately

against you. Then just for fun, you know, actually, I don't really have a good Then, just for fun, yeah, you know, actually, I don't really have a good bonus action, I guess I'm just going to, yeah. There's not really any good bonus actions. Yeah, I'm not finding any of my stuff. Okay, that finishes your turn. Yeah, that finishes my turn.

Fjord, you're up. I will use my movement to enter into this chamber behind Caleb and myself. Okay. 30 feet in. Okay, we'll put you about there. Great, and I will turn and send two blasts of Eldritch Blast towards the one in front of Beau and the one in front of Caduceus.

You got it. It's been a blast! It's been a blast! Caduceus. 18 to hit. It hits. Oh, that's nice. That is 12 points of force damage.

Second one. That one's looking crazy. Eldritch places. And 17 to hit on the second one. That hits. Oh, great, okay. That is nine points of force damage. Nine points. The one that's in front of Caduceus

is looking pretty rough. Okay. The other two are looking somewhere in terror, but they're still holding up okay. That finish your turn? Yes. All right. That brings us to Nott and Yasha, you're on deck. So there's one that's worse than the others?

Yes, the one that's in front of Caduceus. I will skitter towards Fjord, actually, and as I run, phew, fire off a shot. I'm going to go just short of where Fjord is, actually near that basin thing. Oh, there? Or you can go there if you want to. Sure, yeah, that's good.

That's as far as you can get right there. Fire off a shot at the one that looks the worst. That's one from Caduceus, go for it. Ooh, terrible. Stop. 14. 14 misses, or it hits, but you watch it glide off of its leather armor.

Its actual body is built to be pretty sturdy, pretty tough. Bonus action, fire again. Go for it. Much better, 29. That hits, and because it is in Melee with Caduceus, you do sneak attack. Yeah, sneak attack. I've heard it's bad.

Oh my god. It's just disgusting. Rogues, man. Oh, these are terrible rolls. That's average, that's average. Yeah, it's average. Average to kind of. 24. Not a piece of shit.

24. 24 points of damage. Still alive? Yeah, still alive. Damn! You see black blood dripping out of its lower, jagged, broken teeth that are protruding from its skull-like face. It's still holding on.

I don't have any other bonuses or anything, but. You move to action and bonus action. I can't see into the basin at all? You'll have to take that next turn. Cool. You've just finished spending your whole turn looking forward, so you begin to turn towards the basin. That brings us now to Yasha.

I would like to rage. All right, bonus action rage. I would like to rage. And I'm a little obscured by the fire flame, so I can't see, but there does seem one that's bigger than the other. I'll say right now this corpse is mostly burned away, so I'll just take it out of there

so you have a better chance to see. Okay. There's one that's more hurt than the other. There's not one that's bigger than the other. This one here is hurt the most. Both of them have been damaged a little. Okay, so the one closest to me, which I guess is the one that's hurt than this. This one here is hurt the most. Both of them have been damaged a little. Okay, so the one closest to me, which I guess is the one that's hurt the most,

does that sound right? Both of these are right up against you, so if you want to go for the one that's hurt the most, and there's one to your left that's... Yes, okay. Go for it, roll for an attack. Come on. That's cocked, that's weird, sorry.

Yeah, I know. That landed on the thing. 22. That hits. You want to roll, Dani? All right. Let's do... Ooh. I'm going to roll those again.

That's right, Bad Attacker, go for it. Hey. That's better. Okay, so 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. 26. 26 damage. You carve through and your body is just not giving the oomph that it once did, so you do damage, but it's not as much as you thought.

Ugh. Son of a bitch. Son of a biscuit. What do damage, but it's not as much as you thought. Ugh. Son of a bitch. Son of a biscuit. What do I, okay. Rajay. If you'd like. She's Rajay. I'm Rajay.

I'm Rajay. Okay, so I'll take my other. And Rajay. Attack? I have another attack? Rajay, Rajay, Rajay. Yeah, do we know what that is? Is that poison?

Rajay, Rajay, Rajay. Wait, I have another attack. You do, you have a attack. Rajay, Rajay, Rajay. Do we know what's wrong, or is it poison? Rajay. Rajay, Rajay. Wait, I have another attack. You do, you have a show attack. Okay, Rajay, Rajay. Do we know what's wrong, or is it poison? Natural 20. Oh! Woo-hoo!

Go ahead and roll your dice and double the dice, and then add an additional 2d6. And then add an additional d6. Double, double your. 22. 22. Still doing not as much damage as you'd hoped, but it is enough to cleave the creature entirely in two.

As you take the blade and with a second strike, jam it into its abdomen and then just lift upward and collapses to the ground, stumbles back a few feet, then collapses into the wall of fire and begins to burn away. Okay. Yes. One down.

Go fuck yourself, Kazumae. Why? What's happening to me? Why am I not, why didn't it? Make another constitution saving throw, please. What? Another one? What? I believe in you, Yasha. 17. 17.

Whatever sickly feeling has taken hold in your body fades and your strength returns. That spider. Shouldn't have eaten that spider. Yeah, maybe that's what it was. Okay, top of the round. That brings us to the buzzing sound.

What? I thought we were fighting the buzzing sound. Oh no. These creatures were just making growling noises. You hear a sound that begins to just echo, seeming sourcelessly from up above. As you're casting spells and you guys don't really know where it's coming from and forward,

as you finish throwing your two bolts, you glance up just in time to see something shadowy dive down from above. Oh no. Oh. Oh. What is that? Oh!

Oh! I don't like it, I don't like it! Those are the Keshis! If I wasn't so scared in this moment, I would say that that monster looks ridiculous. It's one of the more ridiculous looking demons. But it's also about to get the drop on your warlock. I have scary, abuse-y hair.

Look, I straight up drew them as a joke, and it looks like that. You chose the form of our destroyer well done. Very abusive. The one demon of the abyss that gets picked on the most, trust me, it can still do some fun stuff. Oh no! So that sound is just filling the space around it.

It's actually going to dive down, I don't know, over here, actually. Yeah, Nott's far more an easier meal than me. Oh, I hadn't seen it from the front. Way too close to this. It's going to dick nose. That's not hibiscus. Which, as it swoops down,

its long, pointed, rapier-like face jams towards you. That's going to be 19 to hit. Yeah, that hits. All righty. Look at that juicy butt. Oh boy. So you take...

Jeez. Oh, Buster! I think it's the hair. The hair makes this thing look ridiculous. It's inside the old bedroom. And Landspeaker's going after this. You take... Give me that butt.

Give it to me. 16 points of piercing damage as it jams into your clavicle and pierces inside. You reach up with the other hand, try and grab it and keep it from piercing too deeply inside, but it hurts like a motherfucker. Yeah. Clavicle stabbing never feels good.

Now it's about to do some sucking. What? You take an additional... You better not be fighting him. 30 points of damage. 28 points of necrotic damage. Oh shit. Your hit point maximum is reduced by the same amount. Oh shit.

Oh shit, got really, really bad. Temporary minus 28. Minus 28. So your maximum hit points are reduced by 28 and you take 28 damage. Are you Caleb levels now? I'm at 60. Holy shit. Not quite, not quite.

Ooh. Wait, what? In the same range. Boom. I made a wet toilet paper. Oh no! Holy shit. That finishes its turn.

It is now Landspeaker's turn. Landspeaker, seeing the creatures come out there, begins to prepare and sees the chasm fall and goes, No, no, no, no. What you hear is and brings up her staff and is going to go ahead and Bring the pain. He's going to grab onto the rocks out of the side of the satchel and chuck it straight towards it. This is what the electric swatter is for. That is...

No, actually, that's a 16 to hit, which does hit. Good to know. Dealing... Feeling better about that. 4d10 plus six damage. Yeah, way to go. Begging a giant friend is not bad. All 10s. Here they come, 10, 10, 10, 10.

Close, three sevens and a nine. Yeah. That's great. That's out to 30, 36 points of damage. Good friend to have. Yeah, and this is going to go ahead and, after throwing it and beating the creature, that buzzing sound. SAM and LAURA, SAM and LAURA, and SAM and LAURA,

Yeah, I think he is. All right. SAM and LAURA, SAM and LAURA, seeing it return to its space and head turn up in the direction of the Landspeaker, Sorna gets that look of fear in the eyes and then uses her movement to back around this corner to protect herself by reaching in

to find another boulder in her hand. Top of the round, Beau, you're up. All right, I'm going to do a barrel roll. I'm going to get in between the two of these guys. Okay, nice to see you. And unleash a pure. Make a dexterity saving throw. Why?

Because you step into the heat of the Wall of Fire. You roll it and you're like, oh, that burns! That's toasty. It's 23. Okay, so take half damage. Go ahead and roll damage on that form. Oh my gosh, new damage? Okay. I didn't anticipate this. Oh, I rolled so high.

Why would you say that? 26. Okay, so you take 13 points of fire damage. Worth it. That's fine. Your hands are fire. I look awesome. And they're glowing, and I've got a wall of fire backlighting me. Yep. Frontlighting you, actually.

Generally lighting you. It depends on your perspective. That's true. Depends on which side the camera's on. From Caduceus' standpoint, it looks lighting you. It depends on your perspective. That's true. Depends on which side the camera's on. From Caduceus' standpoint, it looks pretty cool. It looks pretty cool. And pop pop to the one to my right first. Okay, go for it. First one, eight, 20.

20 hits. Second one, yeah, 24. Both hit. Okay, 24. Both hit. Okay. Roll both these damage. So initial, ooh, yeah. 22. Plus the 2d6.

Plus my 2d8. Sorry, 2d8 per attack. So what did I say, 22 plus? Oh! It's seven to eight, so 15 plus. 37. Not as cool, eight. 45.

45 points of damage to that in the round. Are they involved? Is the radiant damage doing some? Stunning Strike. Stunning Strike, okay. Ooh, wait, on the one? On the one. All right. Stunning Strike, okay. Ooh, wait, on the one?

All right. Let's try to keep my eyes on the second. I'm going to keep one too, okay? Nine. These are considered magical attacks. Yeah, they are magical attacks. Yeah, so you don't see the radiant burning through it by any means, but the splashes of divine energy with each strike just flash throughout

the entire chamber. It's like seeing these bursts of light with each impact. You said you're doing stunning strike? Yep, on that one. That's going to be a 16. Somebody get her some boots of haste. What's your DC? Fucking ballsacks save. Okay, so it succeeds.

You still have your bonus action. I'm going to the very anime-esque concentrate the ball of holy radiant chi, and I'm going to go boom boom, Ip Man style to the one to my left. Yeah. With a flurry of bows. Both of these.

Yeah, I know. Right there. 19 for one. Oh wait, that's not right. Oh, 19 and 21. Both hit, roll damage. This is on the other one. This is on the other one. This is on the other one.

So initial damage is 10 plus nine, so 19, plus. Oh, still going? Holy weapon in a monk, man. Yeah! Is that a, no, that's a three. Very high level spell. Plus seven, plus, yeah, it's an eight and a six.

Plus 21. Right? Oh my god. 21. What was the original attack damage? The original was 21, plus seven, plus... Somebody should be writing this down. I know, my brain's...

21, plus seven, plus seven plus, no, because I rolled two 11s combined. 21 plus seven is 28. Plus an eight and a six for this last roll. 21 plus seven plus? 14. 14, thank you. 21, seven, 14.

Gotcha, so 42. Yeah. Woo hoo! Flurry of blows. All right, so to one, and then wham, back, so both of them, you just blast into each. They're both looking prettier. You also, as extracting aspects, pull from them

that they are resistant to cold, fire, and lightning, as well as bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from non-magical attacks. Okay. So I just shout really fast? They are immune to poison, and they cannot be poisoned. So you learn that as you focus your chi

and pull out elements of their physicality and learn those fastness in the back of your mind. Non-magic immune, and then cold. Fire and lightning. Fire, lightning, and poison. Point of clarification. For future reference, people who end their turn within 10 feet of the firewall get burned,

so on a future turn, she could jump in, punch, punch, punch, and jump out, risk attacks of opportunity, but escape the burn if she jumped in and out. Because the burning happens at the end of your turn if you get into it. I think there's an espionage, or the first time you enter it. I know.

So, Jaden, you take a wall of fucking pain and hurt. If I can, though, can I take a step? When the wall appears, each creature makes the throw, but then after it appears, it's at the end of your, I mean, it's barely different, but it would be at the end of Beau's turn in the future. I think right now she should burn because it's funny. Or when it enters the wall for the first time on a turn.

First time on their turn? Yes. So when you enter it, meaning if somebody's already in the fire, they don't take it at the top of their turn, they have a chance to leave it. Can I take five feet back and not leave their range? Yes, you can. You still take the damage, but you can back out.

That's fine. That guy does take attack of opportunity on you, though. I said not leave the range, but that's fine. Well, you have to if you're going to take a step back. Fine. Are you going to do it or not? Yep. Take the attack of opportunity.

Like it. You guys are going to reach out and slice at you with this claw and rolls a natural two. He misses. Fair. Just slap it out of the way with your divine hand. Ah, bitch! That finishes your turn, Beau? Slice at you with his claw. Rolls a natural two. He misses. Just slap it out of the way with your divine hand. Bitch. That finishes your turn, Beau?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That felt good? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, now it's their turn. Oh, this should happen. They take. Wisdom saving throw. Yes, they do.

And fire. Two plus five, seven on one, and 13 on the other. Ha ha, they both fail. Yeah! Hurt them. Yeah. Make them squirm in their own skin. Hmm.

12 points of radiant damage. Up to each, nice. What are they going to do? They're both assaulted, all the floating unicorns go and just burst into them both and piercing them in different places. If you're in one of those paint fights, you know with the powder paint that's like.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. The color runs, that's what they're called. This one's going to go ahead and move out of the flames here and move around to get in between Jester and Caduceus and stay in range with Beau. You do get an attack opportunity, technically, Caduceus, if you want to swing with your staff. I do, I actually can use a spell.

Oh, because you took Warncaster. Yeah, you can do it. I will take, I'm not going to do anything too fancy, I'm just going to take a Sacred, no, I can't do Sacred Flame, can I? It's a spell, can't you? Yeah, all right. That rolled a... 10 on its DC, so you have damage.

Go for it. Yeah, that doesn't hurt. So that's pretty good. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. That's 19 points of radiant damage. 19 points of radiant damage. Ooh, it's going to hurt. It's like.

And it's going to unload into you. It just blasted as it was going to go around towards Jester, but then as you hit it, it turns towards you and it's going to unleash both of its slashing attacks. Mm-hmm. Oh, did not roll well. That's going to be a 10. No.

And a 16. No. You just knock away the shield. I'm feeling it, I've got a zone. This one here's going to move in. Going into, yeah. It's going to try and leave the, that's fine, fire, fire doesn't bother it too much.

It's going to go ahead and, after watching you blast into its friends, it's going to go both strikes against you. No. Come at me, bro. 23. Come at me, Beauregard. Come at me, Beauregard. Come at me, Beau. 23.

Two 23s in a row. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The first strike is going to be 12 points of slashing damage and 10 points of slashing damage, so a total of 22. Just blood spatter on the ground as it claws across one side of Beau's face and the other side goes across

the arm and the shoulder, tearing down. There's now this red slowly pouring out of the side and down the side of her cheek. The creature runs its dark tongue across its teeth after it gets the blood. It's going to make a weakening gaze against you. I woke up like this. Weakening gaze.

Constitution saving throw? It doesn't look safe. It looks fine. Definitely sparing it on my arm. Yeah, as long as it's on my face. That would be a one. The weakness overtakes you once more. Oh no! Drained of its energy and life.

Yashley! It's going to sit there and endure the flames the rest of its turn. That ends its go. Jester and Caleb, you guys are up. I went first the last time. Okay, well then, kind of. You take the turn. Okay.

I'm sure I'm going to have to concentrate. Oh yeah. I'm going to see the dude coming down and attacking Fjord. Yes. I'm going to cast Spiritual Weapon at it. All right. Yay, Blondie Pop.

Go ahead and roll for the attack. Okay. Okay, actually, this is a valid point. I have to remember this. Beau and Jester, can I have you both make a constitution saving throw for me, please? Saving throw? Yes.

Okay. Why? Yeah, why? You'll find out later. Yours is not to know. Have the buggy things attacked yet? 18. God, that was almost so good.

11. Gotcha, so 18. That buzzing sound that's filling the chamber, you're like, there's something about it that's getting in your ear, but you just shrug it off. Jester, your spiritual weapon does not get cast, because as you turn to cast it, that buzzing noise fills your mind,

your eyes lull, and you fall unconscious. No! What the fuck happened? Not zero hit points, but fall unconscious. Just fall unconscious. Not zero hits, but you're unconscious. Wouldn't I have to make that same move? When we get to your turn, yes.

Oh, okay. Which we do right now. I have a question, though. Did the three bug critters have their turn, right? Yes, they did. There's one that's still in range of that fire wall. Yes, he does, so go ahead and roll damage for it. Saving throw does not make it, so.

No, it was just two. Why us? From him or from the face? 30 total. 30 total? You had just moved and she was about to move, and it'll probably happen to Caleb, too, when it's his turn. I guess whenever, but it was Caleb.

That was looking real bad, that was looking real bad. Who is? The one that sits behind Caduceus, the one that just got burned by the flames in there. Are they buzzing as well, or are the buzzings coming from Nosy? It's coming from Nosyface. Wait, was that? Is it the end of your turn?

They're both looking pretty rough. Here's my question, is it at the end of your turn or at the beginning of your turn? Beginning of your turn. So all the stuff that Beau did. Would have gone back if she had not made the save. Got it. Okay, so I didn't even try to cast a spell,

I just immediately went and cast it. You just had the opportunity, yeah. Kill Noseyface. Yeah. Creature that starts this turn within 30 feet of the chasm. Wait, was it a wisdom or a constitution? Constitution.

Damn. So, just or false, Caleb, make constitution saving throw. Okay, so with my transmuter stone, I have advantage, and I add my con and my proficiency. Wait, you give advantage on it because? Because of the transmuter stone. Gives you both? Do you get to add your proficiency or do you get advantage?

I have D&D Beyond to sink advantage, made to maintain, oh, Warcaster. Warcaster gives you to maintain spells, this isn't about that. What is this? You get advantage to maintain concentration. Oh, okay. But you don't get it to every.

This is just constitution. Correct, so you just roll a constitution and you add your proficiency bonus. Okay. Because you're stuck. This is a problem. 15. 15, you resist it, so you're stuck. This is a problem. 15. 15, you resisted, so you slide return.

Oh man. But for a second, you're like, your vision begins to go dull, and you're like, oh god, you refocus and turn back towards the flames to the side. Looking left and right, I leave the wall up, I pull out the adder's bladder, and I draw back and loose an acid arrow

towards this thing near Fjord. All right. That's an attack. Attack roll. 14. 14 does not hit. But it will still be, what does it do? It takes half damage. Excuse me one second. Digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga.

Digga digga. Are you unconscious or just weak? On a hit, the target takes 44 acid damage immediately and 2d4 the next turn. On a miss, the arrow splashes the target with acid for half as much. So roll 2d4 acid damage. Yeah, and nothing on the next turn.

Correct. So that is just three. Three acid damage, which is nothing. And I will move that way, just out of sight beyond that wall. I'll hug the wall. 15, 20, 25, 30. Too far.

Maybe 10 feet past the edge. There? Yeah, and that's where I will end. Okay, cool, that ends your turn, Caleb. Caduceus, it's your turn. I need you to make a constitution save with the phone. Oh no, I'm so nervous now. You should be, my constitution is not great.

Am I really within 30 feet of them? You are just within 30 feet. Come on. Come on. Hey! 15. 15, you manage to shrug off the effects of its demonic wing beating that is causing your brain

to shut down. Oh no, that's not okay. All right. Kill it. I am engaged with two of these things right now, right? Do mark, though, for Beau, Caleb, and Caduceus, you guys are immune to the effect for the next 24 hours, now that you've succeeded. Oh. Oh! However, Beau, Caleb, and Caduceus, you guys are immune to the effect for the next 24 hours, now that you've succeeded.

Oh. Oh! So just mark that as a note. I will just remember it. So, what do you have? Well, I'm engaged with these two right now, aren't I? You are. They actually have you...

They have you pincered. They have me pincered. Are they looking rough or are they not looking rough? They're both looking pretty rough, yeah. Between Beau's bludgeoning both of them terribly, the flames burning from one side, they're both looking pretty good. Okay, there's nothing I can really do

to both of them right now, is there? I'm going to do a, I really don't have a lot of options here. I guess Sacred Flame is what I got right now. Okay, to which one? Let's do the one to my right. The one that's actually over here, yeah. Okay. That's a natural 20, so he succeeds.

We'll go ahead and roll damage. He still takes half damage, right? Yes. All right. That's okay. 10, 15. 15? Yeah. Yeah, he's done. Yeah!

He was hurt pretty bad, and as soon as you turn back, you move your shield out of the way, staff goes forward, you release the energy, and you watch as the flames burn around it. Its leathery body just suddenly begins to shrivel up, and it shrieks as it crumples into a ball of ash and across the ground. Okay, I cannot cast a spell as a bonus action right now,

or even unless it's a cantrip, I assume. Well, no, you can, because you just did Sacred Flame, which is a cantrip. So your bonus action, you can cast the spell you want. I'm just going to do a little, I don't know if I can wake her up. He gets an attack of opportunity also, if I try and walk away from him.

He does. You're fucking brilliant at dice, so you're fine. She is... You know what? I'm so sorry I'm taking so long with this. Yeah, I'm just going to... Am I touching Jester? No. You are next, Doria. I can't remove curse, that is. Okay.

Is it a curse? I'm just going to try a little, just to see if it wakes her up, a little mass healing word, just to see if it does it. Oh wait, that's level, that's too big. Just a little, yeah. There it is. Cure wounds, there it is. I'm going to try and give her a quick cure wounds if I can. Okay, go ahead and roll for healing. Have you taken any damage, Jester? Okay, so you release the spell. Nothing.

Fudge, it was worth trying. Goddamn it. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Probably needs a restoration or something. Yeah. Is that your turn to do this? Yeah, that's my, I can't.

Fjord. You should make a constitution saving throw. Is that your turn, Caduceus? Yeah, that's my, I can't risk getting hit. Fjord, you should make a constitution saving throw. Ewww. Goddamn it. It's not too hard. Natural one? Yes. Fjord.

You immediately just fall onto the ground, everything going dark. How the fuck do you wake up? I'm dropping my clothes. Here we go. Fuck. We are in the grinder right now. That ends your turn.

Are you sure? Mm-hmm. Oh, fuck. Okay. Fuck. It's because we called him Gary Busey. So that brings us to Nott. Nott, how much did you make on saving throw?

20. 20. You watch as he falls to the ground unconscious, Fjord just out, and the droning hits your ears, and the panicking sets in. Nah, nah, you're fine, you're fine, you got this. Is he no longer engaged with Fjord? Correct.

Shit. Shitballs. Fuck you, shit, fuck you, fuck shit. I think so much of joy is poking that from you. Got to get that sneak attack. Can't just attack, got to get that sneak, or else it's not worth it. I was going to say that you can, I mean.

All right, then I'll turn and shoot the guy next to Caduceus. Go for it, roll for the attack. 18. 18 hits. That's a million points of damage. We cursed it, we cursed it. We talked about it. 29.

Fuck. 28. You hit it and it goes and it's thrown back from the burst of the bolt, throws it into the wall of fire, and you watch it just incinerate in the flame. Okay, those things are gone? Yes.

That's your action. Help. Bonus action disengage. Okay, here we go. Run the other way. I'm going to actually step on Fjord's body and over it and keep running as far as I can. Oh no, don't. Hopefully, maybe my stepping on him will wake him up.

Wake up! There you go. You stop at the edge of this pit, which with your darkvision looking down, you can see about 15 feet down in the pit, it's just bones, just bones and bones, ones of all creature types, all animals and all sorts of things.

You can't even at a glance make out, but it is a lot of bones. Some of them look very old. The smell hits you. And there's the cool. The bone pit, they talked about that. The smell of the bone pit, yeah. So does that finish your turn?

That's it. All right, Yasha, you're up. Okay. Con safe, or? You're just out of the range. No, I mean from the previous... The strength, or is that gone because they're dead? That happens at the end of your turn.

Oh. It happens at the end. Is it gone because they're dead? Nope, the effect's still on you. Okay. Well, Okay. I'm not going to do anything with Jester. I'm going to try to drag her out of there.

Okay, I'm going to start going to Gary Busey because... First nightmare, butt wounds. So you rush up towards it, dragging the weapon. Go for your strikes. Poke ass. Get it. I lost. I lost.

Oh no. I rolled a one. Misfire, your sword explodes. You go to swing and the creature dodges out of the way and your blade strikes the side of the base and the scraping sound causes your ears to swell up ever so slightly and you see the spark

of the blade hitting the stone. The water's now disturbed and rocking. Make your second attack. What if our kickstarter ends and we TPK? I'll do reckless because my armor's so low. Oh, that's great. Okay. Any thoughts on how to wake these motherfuckers up?

I don't know. 26. 26? Yeah. No, that's got to be it. Oh, that was higher. Yeah, 2700 is the same. 26, okay, that hits, go to roll damage.

Two down. That's not bad. No. Okay. That's only two d6, right? Because the divine was for the first one? Correct. Well, no, no, no, it's the first one that hits,

so if the first one misses, the second one gets the additional d6. Oh, yeah. Great, okay, so. Like sneak attack, you can do it once per round as the first one that hits. 21. Nice. The first one hits the metal,

the second time you swing upward and. It takes the impact and you can see underneath its proboscis there's this tiny little jaw that opens up, slobber, pours out, and you see elements of what was Fjord's blood spill out and spatter into the basin and the ground right next to you. Sheesh.

Okay. Is it your turn? Nope. Is anyone in 10 feet of me? Just a... No. Oh, no? Nope. Not conscious.

I will... Let's see if this works. I'm going to poof out my- Is it an action or a bonus action? It is a... I'm... Hold on. As long as I don't let it run until you end it,

it's gone. Never mind, never mind, never mind, it's not. Never mind, it's not. It's an action? Oh, this is an action. I thought it's not a bonus action, but I can end it as a bonus action. You can end it as a bonus action.

Apologies. That's all good. I'm still raging. Yep, still raging. Okay, so then that's it. That Apologies. That's all good. I'm still raging. Yep, still raging. Okay, so then that's it. That'll do. That's your turn. That'll do, pig. Do I need to roll for anything?

Nope. No, we're on the top of your turn. The chasmaze turn now. As you strike it, you strike it and it goes looking towards you, but it's already had a taste. No! No!

No! I'm anemic! Maddy Mercer. Do I get an attack of opportunity since it turned away from me? It does, because of your sentinel, because it's attacking somebody else in the space, I believe.

With advantage, that's going to be, well, the four and a 19, So it's a 24 to hit. On who? On you. Aren't I unconscious? Yes. That's a natural, didn't that two failed saving throws? You're unconscious, but you're not dead. You're unconscious, you're not at zero hit points.

You're just sleepy. Sorry, okay. You just fell asleep. But it is an auto-crit. Okay. Can I dispel that auto-crit from where I am? Are you within range of it? I'm within 30 feet of him? Yes, you can. Then I can dispel that auto crit.

Yeah, you can. You're just within 30 feet. Okay. Fuck that shit. The second one hits. Well, no, yeah, the second one, yeah. Is he depleting hit points, or is he rolling for death saves now? No, no, no, no death saves. Just hit points. He's unconscious,

so it's a critical hit against an unconscious creature to hit them. And I get to roll an attack on him? Any attack that hits the creature is a critical hit to the attacker within five feet of the creature. I get to roll an attack on him? You do. But let me roll the damage on Travis first.

So it's not a critical hit because Caduceus just saved your fucking ass. So you take 12 points of piercing damage. As it pierces in your chest, that would be 24. Here's the big roll. Yeah, that would be 24. And then the necrotic would have been double two. Oh my god.

That's a lot of dice. Yep. Do you guys see that thing where it's in the video? 22 points of necrotic damage. Okay. Your maximum hit points is reduced by another 22. Sam's the biggest casino. Oh shit, okay.

So mark that. That would have been another 44 if you hadn't stopped that. Ooh, are you alive? Barely. Are his hit points lowered by that much? Yes, reduced by another 22. Just putting it out there, you reducing that critical hit probably saved his life,

because if that attack reduces him to maximum hit points, they die. Yeah, I know. We got to get him off that right away. There would have been no death saves. Oh, you just almost died. Almost died, no death saves, fuck you, four down. Caduceus is your best friend, no death saves, fuck you, four gone.

Caduceus is your best friend, buddy. What do you mean, why, why, why? He canceled the critical hit? Because the hit point maximum would have gone to zero. With the nature of what this thing is. So, saving dust and kicks. Cool, cool, super cool. Go ahead and roll your damage, Yasha.

Make your save, by the way, to see if you, it's not a turn yet, it's still, I know, I mean, for the previous turn, though. Fuck you! No, I rolled a 10. Still my hand. Still your 10? Yeah, so you're full of half. Um, um, um, um.

Okay, okay, okay. 16, does 16 hit? 16 does hit. Okay. So you can go ahead and roll damage on this extra reaction attack as it went forward. 16 points of damage. 16 points of damage. Half that, so it takes eight damage.

Because of that effect from the weakening gaze. All right. He was so good in the Buddy Holly story! Now the Landspeaker peeks out from behind and grabs another stone and chucks it at the creature, shouting a curse in giant, which says, shit face die. Fair call.

Holy shit. That's going to be 15, just barely hits. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Information is good. 15. That'll be 4d10. Come on, 4d10. 10.

8999, I'm not even joking. Yes! You are charming your NPC allies' attacks. Dammit! Oh my god. I'm so afraid I'm beaten to a pulp. 41 points of bludgeoning damage. Say it.

How do you want to do this? Yeah! What? Landspeaker's sore enough. The NPC got out. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank god we align ourselves with some giants. Oh!

Really, I'm taking credit for this win. Yeah. Of course you are. You should describe it for the giant. Yeah. Wow, that's really funny. So as Landspeaker pulls around and curses and chucks the rock, you see now the bleeding proboscis of the chasmé dripping off Gorr

after piercing a second time Fjord's chest. You can see both wounds now open and gaping. The creature spins around towards Yasha. It's like tiny little crusty arms clawed and reaching out towards you, and suddenly, and just full on splat against the side of the wall. The rock rolls off of it, hits the ground, and the creature is this giant mess across the stone side.

Yes. Great! Peels off and falls into the water basin. It's now floating in the water. You can see the water is now turning this dark, brackish black-brown color as it's unmoving and just dead. Smash. Drop the chasm-ay.

Strong. Okay. Wrong. Yeah, is there anything coming up from that hallway? Make a perception check. I'm making a perception check right now. I'm going to look down the bone alley or whatever. Natural 20. Okay. Natural one. You glance down the hallway.

Yep. Oh, wait, what? Move this back a bit if you don't mind. It ain't done yet. Wait, what, what, what? There's not many minus 17s. There's more map? There is.

That's super cool. This combat is still brought to you by Dwarven Forge. How the fuck am I going to wake you up? We got to also. You got it, you're good. No, they have to know that this combat is sponsored by Dwarven Forge!

All right. You're the best. Oh god, do we need more space? We do. We may. What the fuck, Matt? Move that back just a little bit. Can we touch the camera?

Steve? Steve's right next to you. He's literally behind you. He's literally behind you. I need an adult. We did it, we did it. I don't like this at all. Looking down the hallway there, Caduceus.

I'm sorry, I'm looking up. You see a few portions of the stone carved, the stone carved walls begin to get a little more rough. You see what looks to be a rather narrow entrance to a chamber across the way, and a path goes into two different directions. But nothing's coming down yet?

Nothing is coming down. And I don't hear anything. Has the buzzing stopped? The buzzing has stopped. I'm immediately grabbing Jester, moving her to the side and trying to wake her up as I pull her to the side and she's out. I'm moving, watch her, I'm running over to Fjord

and I'm going to just blast some healing into him. Okay. Fjord, you are conscious, by the way. Oh, you are conscious? You wake up, the pain is what knocked you out of it. The piercing of the proboscis managed to bring you to consciousness, and you're just like, Oh, my fucking chest!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Seeing that, I run over to Jester, and I just go, poof. All right, a little damage. Sorry, Jester. With the holy weapon hand. Oh no! Wait, just straight damage? Yeah, or yes, Jester. With the holy weapon hand. Oh no! Wait, just straight damage? Yeah, or yes.

Did you hit her with a glowing fist or with your stick or something? You want to just give her a love tap? It will kick in the fucking gut. Okay, 11, 11 damage. I'll say you can pull your punch a bit. Yeah, I'm not going to let you, like, sorry, Jester, whack!

Just a little to wake her up. I'll say elbow. You elbow her a bit. I'll elbow her across the jaw. So you take a point of damage. Across the jaw! She's fine. Not in the arm like you're for him.

Not how it went with Kynan. Not how it went with Kynan. Nope. Am I awake? Blood out the eyes. Well, you were going for unconsciousness on that one. That's true. There's a difference between waking you up and going,

I want this guy out in one hit. You're 100% correct. So you come to consciousness after Beau cracks you in the face with a shoulder. I might have broken a molar, I'm real sorry. Beau is corrupted, kill her! No! Did that really happen?

Are you corrupted? How bad are you corrupt, man? How bad are you? What happened? I had a nightmare about the mosquito. Fjord looks bad! He's bleeding from the ears and eyes! What's eight?

Let's very quietly pull into the corner, and I'm going to do a quick 10 minute thing. What corner are you pulling to? That one over there. Okay. Yeah, we are getting a far way from anything. You corner are you pulling towards? That one over there. Okay. Yeah, we are getting a far away from you, right? So you guys move over to this far corner. Caleb is punching down and watching.

Okay. So the rest of you are over here. Where's my, usually? As they gather, I'm going to search the giant for loot. The one over here? Yeah. Okay. Well, a couple things, first off. As you enter the chamber, Caduceus,

you notice this. Underneath one of these stone tables, there's a faint glow that catches your eye. You glance over, and there underneath the table, you see a jagged line drawn in the air, a faint dull reddish purple glow. Can you take care of this? I think so. I'll do it. Wait, before you get rid of it, just examine it to see if it goes to the same place. Does it

look the same as the one we saw before? It looks like a similar tear. That's just at your head, at the left. Can we see through to the other side? Make a perception check. Me? I'm terrible at this. 14. That's pretty good. 14, right? You look through.

I don't even know if I saw the last one. This one, it's a different perspective. What you saw previously was a dark reddish rocky interior. This side is a forest, a very, very deep forest. It's odd because the trees are moving, the branches shift, and what you can see is the tips of these branches are snake heads. The branches of these trees are large snakes.

They all look in your direction. Close it, close it. Close it, close it, I don't like this! I don't like this! I used the spell magic and I tried to close it. Go ahead and roll a d20 and add your wisdom modifier. Oh shit. Do I do that?

Terrible, terrible. Why am I rolling so bad tonight? Wisdom modifier. 10. 10, the spell magic hits, and you see it shrink slightly, but it's still holding. Can I try to use Magician's Judge to dispel the rest of it?

Go ahead and roll a d20 for me. Jash-o-ly. Uh-huh. Do I add anything to it? I'll tell you this. Take that. That's pretty good. Natural 20.

Whoa! Oh, bish! That's much better. Go to Jester. As Jester diminishes a part of this portal, leaving it in a somewhat unstable position, Ashley steps forward, holds forth Magician of the Judge. No, not Yasha, Ashley.

She's going to diminish it, too! She breaks through the fourth wall. It's Ace Ventura out of the... You watch as Yasha steps forward and, much like the Eye of Thundera, takes Magician's Judge in front and focuses and concentrates. There's a flash of arcane energy off the runes that begin to glow and emanate up the front of the blade. You watch as the light focuses into a singular beam that blasts the center of this. Jester's seeing this, refocuses her to spell magic,

and the combination of the two of you at once causes the rift to and vanish. Nice. 13 hit points to you. Oh yeah. You, two, I have three more to give out. Give another one to Fjord.

13? But he's got a max. I also feel like my normal, healthy self has been diminished by quite a fuck-ton. Maybe you just sit out the next round. How do we heal that? How do we make you better, Fjord? Can we restore? Can you restore? That's you, that's you, come on.

I don't have that spell. Sure you do. Of course, all clerics prepare some sort of restoration spell before anything. Is this a thing that would be lesser or greater restoration? Make a wisdom check for me. I don't think I have either.

Not wisdom. Actually, no, make a medicine check, because you're inspecting the wounds and the corruption within. The literal worst. I'm helping him with it, because help me. All right, I the corruption within. The literal worst. 12. I'm helping him with it, because help me. All right, I'll allow it.

I'll allow it. Usually you got to say beforehand. All right, 20. Where does it hurt? Whatever the corruption within these wounds is pretty intense. It is fiendish by nature, and you gather this would probably require more than a lesser.

It would be a greater restoration. It would be a greater restoration. It would be a greater restoration to correct this. I don't have greater restoration right now. Why don't we just sit you out for the next round of this stuff? But I want to play. No, you're right, I'm a sub. There's nothing we can do.

Just stay here for the moment. We'll see what the rest of this place has. I'll make sure nobody makes it past you. How about that? Yeah, I burned my fifth already, because we only have like 40 more minutes of you with the. I could scout, I could, I mean, I don't want to go in. We should all move together, but I think.

Caleb here smell or see anything from where he is? Make a perception check. Okay. I was checking out the body. Yeah, shit. Make a perception check. Okay. I was checking out the body. Oh shit. Yeah, make a perception check as well. Total shit, eight. You don't see anything.

Perception or investigation? Perception at first. 16. 16, okay. You approach the body, and the body itself is torn into, it's nowhere near as pulled apart as the other one, but there is still a good amount of flesh on this. You approach it, and this little bit of light catches your eye and you're like,

oh, there's another rift and you look up and there's this beautiful little jellyfish. Oh. This jellyfish that emerges out of the wall. Mm-mm. It drifts and then touches and enters the body. No, goddammit. Of who, of what?

Of the corpse and you watch the giant's head go. Uh-oh. Guys, guys. And look right towards you with this terrible grin that begins to tear. Its jaw unhinges to the point where the flesh tears at the core. It's a wide, twisted smile.

No, no. That's where we'll pick up. No! Because it's almost 11 o'clock. Yeah. No! I'm into it, I'm into it. Yes.

We cool, we cool, we cool. That said, if you go down, you're just going to get up again. We ain't never going to keep you down. That was such a damn good game. We're still going. We're still going. I'm excited, I'm built for this room. I'm going to tear some shit up, man.

You can fight from a far distance, right? Like 120 feet. That's cool. I'll pull a wizard. Get the fuck out. What's that thing? It was one of the various structures that were built in this crafting room.

You can see a statue that's partially made. Sometimes it's just parts. Yeah, there's a lot of things in there that are partially made and sculpted, stonework. This room was used for stone crafting. That's the big boss, that one tells us. Could be. Is that the big boss?

Yeah. That looks like the statue he moved to unlock another potion. That's the big booty. Is that the big boss? Yeah. That looks like the statue he moved to unlock another potion. That's the big booty. That's just the big booty. Should we take a picture of where we were and stuff? Yeah, let's photograph for a little bit. What a game.

Well, you would've been over here not relaxing with the tablecloth. Got it. I'm going to ruin everything. Got it. You got it? Got it. All right, and we'll leave this here for next week.

We'll pick up from there. In the meantime, guys, we're going to take a little half an hour break here, get ourselves situated, and then at 1130, about 30 minutes from now, approximately, yeah, 34 minutes from now, we're going to be closing out the Kickstarter with a countdown, hanging out, watching the final moments with our friend Joel Hodgson from Mystery Science Theater will be here with us. Super excited. I know, it's crazy to say that! What the shit is life? I don't even know. Anyway, we'll see you guys hopefully here shortly. Because some of you have to go and because it's the end of episode,

I'll say thank you so much. We love you very much. Is it Thursday yet? No, it's not. Good night. See you soon. Thank you so much for joining us on this adventure to help new listeners discover the show. Please give us a rating and review on whatever podcasting app you're listening on until next time. Is it Thursday yet?