D&D is For Nerds - Barovia IV #13 The Promise of Delicious Apple Pie

Episode Date: November 1, 2025

Loud ones make good herald. Voices carry. Strong. Like oak. Didn’t think little dragon man would do that. Only small problem. If need to, should be easy kill.If you're still wanting to pledge for the Jarren's Outpost Board Game you can right here! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

O'y, lads, did you miss out on the Jaron's Outpost Kickstarter and wish you weren't such a big doofus? Well, fear not. Late pledges are now open and they'll be open for a little while, so just head to Kickstarter search for D&D for Nerds or Jaron's Outpost and slam that late pledge button. No water anywhere. Still, we are arooned, stranded in Borovia. Mists around us.

like prison bars Strad are jailer We must escape We must kill Strad must die In the center of the rat's nest Is Kailover being knitted back together In the center of Kailova

Is gong Gagong Gagong Gagong a long dead But still forced to work dryad's heart you are a marksman I could take the shot you could take the shot which card did you get rid of

did you get rid of the critical hit or did you get rid of I didn't get rid of any card oh which right you didn't I didn't tell him shit that was the engineer's turn it's Raha Dyn's turn it's Raha Dyn's turn he explodes out of the surrounding forest and with his sword cane type weapon

he lunges forward at where human was standing and where hopefully this creature, or whatever it is, is. Oh, he gets three attacks. Okay. We got to get through the bad to get to the good. He gets a critical miss, but then he gets a hit. Okay.

Nice. Hey, sometimes, you know, you got to eat a piece of dog shit pie before you get to eat a slice of apple pie. Gross. I mean, I wouldn't necessarily... It's a classic saying. Say that. It's a famous saying.

I mean, you can do the whole, like, you've got to eat... the frog first. Yeah. You get to eat the dog shit pie first. No, I don't want to. You know what? No apple pie. Jackson, I'm here to tell you right now. No apple pie, worth it. That is true. That is, I agree. I agree. Hector. Yes. As the closest PC, I'm going to let you pick. Ooh. Your choices are. Is this the one that? This is a critical fumble. This is the fumble. So we want the voided warranty or on the rebound? Voided warranty. Okay. So voted warranty or wreck his weapon, We'll wreck his weapon, surely. On the rebound means he hits himself.

Yeah, yeah. Sure, he hits himself. So, I guess he kind of wanted to keep his weapon. Yeah, I'll say on the rebound, honestly. Yeah, let's go on the rebound. Yeah. Okay. Donk himself on the head.

He, his weapon bounces off something in the middle of, you can tell the second attack. So the first slash hits nothing but air. The second attack, you see, Hector, there is something. standing there, something physical, and Raha Dyn's blade bounces off it and smacks him in the fucking face, dealing nine points of damage to Raha Dinn. Damn, dang. Raha Dins' third, that was half damage, by the way.

Raha Dyn's third attack, however, strikes true. And something takes damage. Excellent. You can see as, it looks like air itself. the air itself has been rendered a sunder in a spot. And you can see it's a weird thing to, it's a weird thing to perceive. But you can see his air is bleeding air. Whoa, weird.

Does it just look like a series of little eddies kind of? Like little, yeah, cool. It looks like he is attacking a small whirlwind. But as Rahaddin makes that blow, you can see the air kind of slowly turns back to normal. Okay, okay, okay. Pip. Okay, do I think So I think I could

If my shot lands true I could just get the shot off now You could try, yeah This is what I'm gonna do And this maybe will annoy my teammates But let's be clever about this Okay, okay? I get down and I'm gonna make

A salve Okay, I'm gonna combine That'll be your action I know I'm gonna combine Formy and I To deform magic I'm gonna add in some

Unicorn Horn for legendary damage and then tree ant poison for plant bane. So I want to make something I can put on my arrows that is going to fuck up the magic monumentally in this tree. Okay. That's my plan. You successfully create five doses. Okay, fabulous.

That's my turn. I know that's my turn, but I've got to do it. Okay. That was Pip. It's Keshkar's turn. Keshkar standing up sees where you are, Pip. And then you watch as Keshkar takes. a small blade out of his, well, just produces one.

No, yeah, he literally gestures, and a root drags forward a stone blade, which he slashes down his arm, and lets himself bleed onto the roots as well. Yeah. As soon as blood touches the roots, they lash up, grab him, and Keshkar is dragged down into the earth. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. a moment later, Pip, you hear

and then Keshekar's stonehead produces itself from the roots near you Keshega drags himself out and with the stone's face turns to look at you and Keshekar points an accusing finger at you ready to fight. I shrug like, I don't know what you want from me, dude. That is Keshkar's turn.

Keshgar is currently blocking your shot Yeah, okay. It's Gretchen's turn. Gretchen also, not as gracefully as Raadin, explodes out of the surrounding wilderness and swings a mighty, double-handed blow and misses. It is the entity that you are fighting, Hector. It is its turn.

Okay. Highs or lows? Okay, let's go, hives. How do you feel about elf? I mean, uh... I don't really know these people but again, if this feels... Would you be sad if Elf died?

A little bit, yeah, of course. Did you say highs or lows? I said highs. Hyes? Do you want to stay highs? No. Do you want to change? You want to change the lows? Is that what you want?

Does you want to hurt me now? It's going to hurt me later. He always wants to hurt you. I actually didn't recommend anything. I think you'll notice. That's why I know. Yeah. I don't know.

It's just like, yeah, what does he... I think you can never know the darkness that exists within his heart. Darkness that exists within my heart. Because right now, like, no matter what happens, I feel that, like, if I say, like, oh, well, I'll change it's low, it's, like, fair enough. And then he doesn't hurt Elf. And it's like, yeah, because he's, you know, he wanted me not to hurt Elf. Exactly. And then he'll just make it that.

So, but then if I go Hise, well, well, yeah, he always wanted that to happen. Yeah, exactly. And then he'd be like, yeah, that's what he wants. Yeah. Either way he wins. You can't, you can't win. That's the trick. Yeah.

Let's stay, I guess, at highs, Adam. Stay at highs? Or was a wicked smile. I don't like that. Yeah, that's bad. No, he was reading something else. Okay. I think you're okay.

I think you're okay. Oh, it was a glimmer. Yeah, a blink in his eye. A little upturned, you know. Oh, no. A wicked curl to his grin. You watch, Hector. Mm-hmm.

Like I said, there's those little puffs of smoke that are coming from the embers of the flames. You watch as they shudder a little bit. It looks like they're tracking something. Something moves across the fireplace. Rahaddin and Gretchen both take wild. swings. All three of you are aware that this entity is moving, but none of you can see it, so you really can't hit it. You watch as it moves across the fire, and then you feel hands

wrapping themselves around your shoulders, and you feel an unseen dagger slip itself in between your ribs. We'll see, as much as I like Elf, I like me more. Yeah, if you'd known the choice between yourself and Elf. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh no. I don't like when he says those things. When Adam gets worried, that's concerning. This is so much damage. Hey, I got walk it off.

Hey, I get you an extra... Hey, it's okay. You might need that more than I do right now. I probably will. Okay? My current health, which is not at max. Yeah. But my current health, I feel, is double yours.

Yeah, but I believe my current max health is... A bit more. Yeah. 22 or something? I got 25. Oh, wait. Did I deal damage to you before and not? mark it off.

I don't think so. I don't think I got hit. Yeah. Yeah, you did. A javelin hit you. Oh, yeah. Whatever. You're on 25.

Yes. Count yourself lucky. Adam's glaring at me. I didn't even do anything. All right. Hector. Oh, God. Oh, that's so many D6.

Mm-hmm. 20. Okay. Oh, Jesus. Hey, Adam. Yeah? Oh, you shit. Can I cast shield, you piece of garbage?

It actually wouldn't have helped you? It wouldn't have worked at all. You son of a bitch. Your AC still was too low. All right then. Yeah, you're not arm it up. I forget that. Can I cast hellish rebuke then?

You can cast hellish rebuke. That will be as a reaction after this. If I'm still standard. 10, 20, 30, 40, 44. 44 points of damage, you take. You go from the healthiest member of that. To the least healthy member Is that a grievous wound?

No, I'm not, well... It might be, hang on. Maybe. Yeah. You are on 10 hit points by my count. Jesus Christ, dude. Well, my max is 80. And is a grievous wound

more than half your... It's not max, it's based on your... Sorry, it's not current, it's based on your max. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sorry, my max is 80. Yeah. And so is it... If it's over half, that's a grievous?

If it's over half, I'm not... I don't remember off the top of it. Sorry, I need to check the... Because then if so... It's definitely a wound. Yeah. Yeah. Brother, you're in trouble.

Welcome to my world. You're probably going to be in death saving throws. It's awesome. It's a way to be alive, dude. So your max HP is 80. Yeah. So you're currently in the 75 bracket. A set pack would have been 25.

Dangerous is 40. Handicap would have been 50. Oh, yeah. So you take a dangerous wound. A dangerous, you say. Okay. The Jaegis Wood. Winded.

The character may not take a reaction. Fuck you, buddy. And a bonus action in the same round until the end of the encounter. Okay, okay, okay, okay, all right, fair enough. Okay, at least I can actually do something. That's so funny. Let me find Winder. Oh, you're a hellish rebuke.

You said you want to do? Yeah. Hey, no, no, no, I don't think so. I don't reckon, actually. eat this dog shit pie go on exactly

okay and I got an apple pie at the end apple pie yeah right I never said you would your kitchen's still open yeah

yeah yeah oh yeah kitchen just closed we only have all this dog shit pie there yeah we'll have to

get perfectly behind all right so the character may not take a reaction and a bonus action in the same round until they finish a short rest

So, hey, that's something. Tomorrow you'll be better. So, would you like to have a reaction or a bonus action this round? So this, my reaction, is this considered as part of my next? This is the current turn. So if you take a react, if you cast hellish rebuke, you can't have a bonus action on your turn. Yeah, what bonus actions do I have? Whatever.

If I'll take all of your smites. Yeah. Yeah. Smite or hellish rebuke, buddy? You know what? I will wait. Okay. Again, I think a HALISRubu also requires a check from memory.

Yeah, yeah. I think we're rolling. It's a dexterity statement. Yeah. And the wind? Pretty dexterous. Yeah, I wouldn't risk it. If I was you, I wouldn't risk it.

I think wind's pretty dexterous. So you know what? Fine. I do know what you're fighting now. It has been confirmed. It's always here. It's always here. It's always here.

It's so funny. I don't, I think you should take it. I don't remember exactly what's written in the entry, but if it's, if what I think is written in the entry, you actually maybe want to hear this. It's okay. Okay. Alright.

I feel you... There's just a very easy solution to this scenario. It's okay. It's okay. I will need them. Yeah, that's what I mean. You know? You will need them.

Yeah. I mean, like, I could give up, but like, you, those are important. Yeah, it's true. Sure, sure, sure, to be sure, to be sure, to be sure, to be sure, to be sure, to be sure. Okay. All right, so that was its turn. It's I own his turn. Iona is still being grappled.

Okay, she actually frees herself. Oh, nice. She, Iona looks at John and, oh, as she twists around to look at John, John, they both look down and they can see that Iona has unmired herself from the ground. You don't hear Pip what John says, but John nods and whispers something or says something so that Iona can hear it. She nods, and she frees herself. She gets out of there, she leaves John behind. And Iona looking, oh, don't forget you have the...

Body inspiration, yeah, yeah. Don't forget you have that, because she can't do that again until you've spent it, I think. Oh, damn. Oh, wait, maybe she can, actually. I think she can. Yeah. She reaches out with one of her hands, and you hear her singing, you hear a distant voice singing. It doesn't sound familiar.

Okay, thank God. You just hear Iona singing. Yeah. And a explosion of light color. and sound bades a bunch of the druids. You hear them screaming, and a bunch of them start clutching at their faces. She has blinded some of them. And then she starts sprinting into the camp in between those little hovels.

And you recognize, potentially, this is part of John and Iona's plan, on account of the druid's attention seems to be really dividing. Yeah, okay. Then it is John's turn. he is unable to extract himself so you see he drops his cavalry saver loads his rifle and with haste he makes a bunch of shots hell yeah dude awesome

he is able to down four more druids so you are down from 28 to 24 we're getting there dude we're getting there and a bunch of those 24 are blinded oh nice then it is the druids's turn Their attention pretty divided They only a smattering of them Even have a shot at Iona

And the ones who do Both miss Then You watch Pip from your vantage point The druids who are focusing on Cavendish right now They produce thorn like whips Which they wrap around Each of them

Whip at Cavendish One arm lashed Another arm lashed His neck lashed Cavendish drops his rifle, falls to his knees, and is dragged down into the dirt. You watch as the thorns wrap and consume Cavendish. That's really bad. Cavendish is gone.

Okay. Okay. A moment later, you see as one of the roots connected to that rat's nest around Kelova. Something very big is moving through it. Okay. They're eating him. Just like they ate your horse. It's the engineer's turn.

The engineer, well, first off, that mech starts running or moving through the thorns. It is too big for the thorns to grab it. Awesome. Every time the thorns come up to try and grab at the mech, it just stamps on them, crushing them underfoot. And it gets to a bunch of the druids With one swing A god damn What the fuck is wrong with our party, dude?

Oh, okay. Few. I was going to say. All right. All right. Pip, as the closest one there, you get to pick. Yeah. Wrap on the knuckles or nighty night.

Is this a fumble or a critical hit? Critical hit. The mech gets a critical hit. Ninety night. Ninety night. Double damage. And the target must make a DC12 of con-saving throw on a failed save, they are knocked unconscious.

The mech swings one of its arms and turns a druid into paste. Awesome. There is nothing but internal organs. You don't even know where the druid's skin went. It is just a red smear. That's beautiful. And then inside the mech, the engineer grabs the arm that, he grabs the arm that did not just paste a druid. opens up a nozzle and then a flamethrower bursts into life

and bathes a couple of the druids. Beautiful stuff from the engineer, as always. Three druids go up in flames screaming. Nice. One of them dies, the other two are burned very badly. Nice as well. All right. And that is the engineer's turn.

It is Rahaddin's turn. Rahaddin moves to defend you, Hector. Oh, that's good. Stepping over the fireplace. He lunges forwards, and he is clever enough to attack at an angle to make sure that he does not stab you. But you see that he is just completely misjudged where this entity is, and he nearly falls over trying to attack. That is unfortunately his turn. Pip, Keshkar is blocking your shot.

That's okay. Okay, okay, I would like to I mean, I guess why not? I got five of them. I'm going to load my arrows. I'm going to fire one just not at Klova. I just want to fire it into the roots. Okay. I want to basically

send this deformed magic rebounding through the entire tree system. So that's one. Twang, and these are precise shots so they have advantage. Oh, okay, good. You needed that. Okay. Use your bardic as well. It's not for something, I don't know.

Yeah, yeah. And then I'll spin around and fire the second shot into Keshkar. All right. First shot strikes one of the roots. I'll say there are four major arteries leading towards this rat's nest. That artery, you fire into it and you watches it immediately withers and dies. Awesome. Then you fire a shot into Keshgar.

Is this still a plant bane? No, yeah, these are, yeah, it would be. These would still be. All right. That's not going to affect Keshgar, but it's deformed magic as well. Oh, deformed magic? That was my thinking It's to form magic and plant bane

So if I fire it into the root system I'm gonna fuck up Keele's over dead Oh Well that was easy Would you like an extra attack Yes please Okay

Spend it Done thank you You kill Kielkesh Can I then drop down onto one knee Place my crossbow This is gonna hurt me This should have also hurt me as well I should take 1D6 damage

You take six points of damage that I'd like to with my extra attack get down on one knee place my crossbow on Keshkar's stone head as a stabilizer and hell yes

and thunk try and make the shot all right I have to quickly load in the sort of wooden steak you miss fuck wait

oh no yeah I got nothing inspiration yeah Bartikins Adam I'd like to use my body inspiration aha I haven't do anything for you fuck

You've still missed Fuck Okay Oh that's funny I was about to be like The only way you could miss If you rolled up One

Do you have anything for a re-roll You have one more attack You've attacked three times thus far But you get four attacks With that extra attack Oh then I'll take my Oh wait No

It says extra attack Is part of attack action Doesn't it? I think it I fear it does unfortunately Yeah Well that means that you don't Take any further damage

though I'll take it Sort of strength-based check, is it? No. I lost. Exterity. And that's the steak gone. Okay.

But the steak, is it, the steak, just, can I see where it landed? In the roots? Yeah. Hyes are lows. Hyes. You sure? Lose. No, you can't see it.

I gotta get in there. I gotta get in there. That's okay. No, you think you've lost it. It got sucked up. The steak got sucked up by the root network. You think it's in... You don't think it's recoverable.

That's okay. I'll figure it out. I'll figure it out, dude. All right, Pip, that's your turn. Keshekar is dead. You severed his connection to the network, which kept him alive. Oh, yeah, I guess he had no head, hey. Yeah. I had just not considered you anti-magicking a man.

kept alive by magic. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's good. Wow, that's pretty clever, actually. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Kesha, that's... Man, that's fucked Tarpos's

personal quest. Wow. Well, that's unintentional. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. You have a legitimate claim to being the arch druid now. Well, that's... No, that's maybe good.

Anyway, it's Gretchen's time. Gretchen, is also going to try and swing, but Gretchen is not as confident a fighter and might hit you, Hector. Cool. Heise or lows. Ah, whatever you want, Adam. Well, Adam's a lie. You'd call it.

You make the choice. Gretchen slams her sword into your head then. Okay. Yeah, whatever. You take five points of damage. Great, thanks. You're on five hit points now, I'm assuming? Yep.

Fabulous stuff. All right. And that was Gretchen's turn. Oh, I'm so sorry, Hector, I accidentally skipped. I'm now just remembering, I accidentally skipped your turn. Oh, okay. Okay. Would you like to, in exchange?

Reminding me, wait a second. I should be fighting. Tell you what, Hector. As an apology, draw a good boy card. Oh, nice. That's very sweet. And take your turn now. Okay.

I would like to, do I think I know where the thing is, that stabbed me. You think it's like around. Around me, yeah. Can I, I guess, yeah, grab my spear and try and hit it? Sure. You can give it a walloping.

You have two attacks as part of an action. All right. Your first blow, oh, you're rolling with disadvantage. Your first blow is a miss. Okay. Your second is also a miss. Are they strength or is it?

It's a strength-based. It's not a check, though. It's an attack. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Apologies.

That's all right, Adam. Would you like to do anything else? I don't think I can, unfortunately. You can move away with an... So, here's your options. Yeah. You can move away. If you move away, Gretchen won't hit you and won't deal five points a down.

Oh, okay. But the entity will get an attack of opportunity. I am. Potentially will do far more than that. I guess, look, hey, I just got a carpet. Yeah. Okay. Hmm

Unless as a bonus action I cast sanctuary on myself What does sanctuary do again? It means she has to make a A role to hit you But she's not intentionally attacking Yeah, yeah, yeah Is it?

I would know, I would still say Because she's attacking Kind of recklessly I would actually allow that Oh, oh great, okay, cool I was just going to be Sanctuary for the thing that's attacking me I didn't

Also that Yeah, yeah, yeah, you get both Sick, yeah. Well, yeah, well, I will cast, thanks, Shiree, to hopefully avoid a hit. But then whatever, I guess I get hit. You get it. You take five points of damage, and now she can hit you. She's passed once, if she wanted to. But that does help you for this. So the entity...

Hyes or lows, I guess. Hyes? How much do you care about Elf? A lot, I guess, at this point now. I don't mind, my... You're pretty invested in Elf's future? I think it's, I feel, got to get something out of this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Highs, and you're invested in Elf.

Yeah. Okay. Give me a, who would you like, who would you like it to attack instead? No, I guess, Adam, just go for me. All right. You, you feel everyone takes a swing, everyone misses, as it moves past you, wraps itself around Elf. Oh, oh.

You should have said Lois. You hear it say that word again An elf's face explodes in flame Rest in peace elf And then it is Iona's turn And Iona continues to dodge In between the houses You can see as

Let me just double check that this doesn't fuck Oh wait, Cavendish is gone Can I use good boy cards on an MPC I'll allow it Not dead yet Ah If damage would reduce them to zero, they just fall to one HP instead.

All right. You, well, Elf still hits the ground, and you can see that smoke is curling out of its eyes, mouth, and nose, but elf twitches once, and you can tell it's not dead. Okay. Nicely done. And then, yes, then it's Iona's turn. Iona continues to dart in between buildings. You, Pip, you see a sprinkling of that haste spell again.

and you hear as Iona casts the spell, and then she really gets going. Okay, she's getting quick. I don't know where she's going because they left me out of this plan, which I think was probably a mistake. I mean, you don't have to like me, but for tactical reasons,

we should know what everyone's doing. But that's fine. Anyway, Iona is darting in between buildings, and you can see that she's keeping, she's taunting. Every now and then she calls out taunts to the door. druids who she seems to be doing a pretty decent job of distracting and it's hector your turn so it's a creature i know that much it's a living entity yes um can i try and use command on it you can attempt

and i guess is that a charisma or a wisdom saving throw i believe it is a wisdom saving throw and i want to say command what's the command. One word. What could it be, I guess there's a stop or, um, I love these suggestions was grovel. Uh, let's, let's go, let's go grovel. Okay. But not, like, how do you like, it's like, just drop, yeah, drop down. Because I don't think heck would ever say grovel. No, no, no, but weird. But, like, drop. But, yeah, drop, that is into drop down. Yeah. Okay. Maybe kneel. Yeah. Neal before me. Yeah. Raha'i didn't nod in his head.

Yes. I love this. Yes. Or a halt, actually. Halt. Maybe Halt's probably the best. Just one word. Stop. You cast command and you see as the... You feel a stillness in the air and then...

Something happened. Like a gust of wind blew through the space. That was Hector. Your turn? it's the druids The druids are busy with Iona and are unable to harass you. Fabulous.

It is... Oh, the engineer. Pip, you watch the engineer sprint towards where you are and then the mech begins trying to climb up towards you. Okay. That's all that the engineer does.

It's Raha Dyn's turn. Raha Dien, you see Hector, looks over it, you kind of like waiting for leadership and lowers his blade. When it stopped, is it just like, did it truff off?

Did it stay? Is it there? Like, because this would be like gesturing to Rahaddin. I'll give you a quick perception check. You're not sure. You didn't roll well enough for your information. Yeah, well, yeah, if it's like, we knew where it was, it attacked Elf. I'd just like to Rahadin to like, well, it's stopped.

It's either prone on whatever it is. Yeah. Attack. Rahadin lunges forwards and then, oh, he steps through the space entirely, looks back, and he says, it's gone. What was it? Rahadin shakes his head. I know not what beastie this was.

Something from another realm, perhaps, some creation of Ivana Boritsky and her ilk. I'll check the bodies of, well, I'll check, yeah, I'll check both human and elf. Then it is, it was Rahadin. Pip, it's your turn. You watch.

As the root network pushes Cavendish up, offering him to Caleover, the root network, Caleover doesn't actually seem properly conscious. You watch the root network pushes that skeletal mouth open and, bites down on Cavendish. You watch, she isn't drinking his blood. His blood is just washing over her. You watch as she begins knitting back faster and faster. Cavendish is now blocking your shirt.

shot. But the roots that have him, they're like holding him up, yeah? Can I fire at the roots to make them drop him? They're small, you could try. It's a precise shot. Okay, well... I'll use my next one. Okay. And do you still have plant beam? Yeah, I still got two. Okay. First shot. This is coming down to the modifiers. Fuck, dude. Come on. It's plus... Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. Okay, you barely hit the root network. What? Highs are lows, I think, for this one?

Hyes? Yeah? Yeah. Sure? I don't know. Dude. I changed... I rolled 24.

Change to lows. Okay, lows. Alright. Yeah. I changed the lows. I'm doing what you tell me. I'm putting my faith and trust in you. The crossbow bolt strikes at the biggest, notiest part of the...

Because it's a lot of small things wrapping themselves around Cavendish. But you find some nexus of them. Shoot that. Cavendish hits the ground. He rolls over and you can see he needs to wait for his turn. But you see he's like patting himself down looking for a weapon. Yeah. You see he pulls out from his boot.

He pulls out a little backup dagger. Cool. And then with my second shot, because I've just got two, can I... You take the shot? Yeah, but I don't have the steak anymore. True. I dropped it. Can I get in there?

Which one? Which there are we getting into? I want to go to Cavendish. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I want to... Oh, well, you start approaching Cavendish. Yeah. And...

The root network starts spitting out twig blights. Okay, cool. They get added to the initiative. Yeah, that's fine. They are blocking your path. No worries. And I still haven't fired off my second shot, too. So I'll fire that off at one of the big...

The four major routes. that are connected to Kolova. Let's get another one in there. Yes, that hits. Another one of them shrivels up and... That had plant bane, right? Yeah, yeah. Another one of them shrivels up and d'arge.

They're all plant bane and deform magic. Okay. You've got two more huge arteries leading to Kelova, and now you've got four twig blights in front of you. All good. Then, well, Pip, was that your turn? Yeah, and I should have taken a D6 damage. Oh, thanks for reminding me.

Hey, that's okay. You take one point of damage. It's not so bad. Perfect. Yeah. It's actually great My poor wrists, dude A D6 would kill me right now

Yeah, dude It could, it could kill you Sorry, it could kill me Yeah Four twigblights charge you Mm-hmm, fine Yeah, who cares Yeah, dude, it's awesome

Yeah, love it I like it Yeah, dude And what should I see Hmm Hmm Hits Mm-hmm

Hits, two hits Okay you take PIP 3, 5, 8 points of piercing damage Okay, that's fine I mean, it's not great, but it's... 10 hit points. It's fine. I'm on what, like 15? 10. I'm on 10. I thought I took 10.

Excuse me, forgive me. I'm not paying attention. Even if you take a 10, we... Oh, God. Okay, then that was the twig blights. They are crawling all over you, Pimp. One of them is grabbing and climbing up your arm.

Another one's wrapped around one of your legs. Another one slammed into your chest and is grappling around your chest. You feel they're not even like properly slashing at you. They're literally growing into you. And that's a cool. Remember that for later. Stop remembering things. Yeah, yeah.

Stop having ideas. Then, and it is John Cavend, Cavendish stands up. Did you give each of them a steak? They all made steaks without me. They've all got steaks. Cavendish looks at you, Pip, looks at where he's standing. Steak the fucker. Steak the fucker.

He drops his dagger, grabs the steak instead, and jams it into Keralova's heart. Keralover cries out and then slumps forward. You watch as Keralova's corpse begin slowly turning to ash. No, no, we're not out of combat. No, no, I don't know yet, brother.

All right, that, well, Kelover is dead. And then, Hector, we return to you. You feel something unrelated to your encounter happens as you're turning over this campsite. You, it may be...

I was just checking to see if they were we're alive. Yeah, yeah. Are you... Not turning over in... You're not... Turning over in... And now you're stealing from them.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have literally turned over... Not metaphorically. You've literally turned over both Human and Elf. You can see Human, its entire head has been basically hollowed out. There's nothing inside. You can see down in through its throat,

there was some, like, recess, some cavity in its chest where something once dwelled, it is gone. Okay. When you do that to elf, though, you can see that there is still viscera and bits inside of elf. Elf is still intact, but is unconscious. Or maybe inactive is a better way of phrasing it. Okay. So, like, they're still alive.

Yes. Right. So we have to do it. And that would probably, as you're kneeling over elf, making that assessment, that's probably when a breeze brushes through the... Breeze is a scary, dude. It's just scary. I brace myself. Yeah.

This one's too big to be. There was, it was too, it's the... Too big. That's even scarier. A giant one. It was some sort of localized entity from the breeze before. This is like a huge wind buffets. Well, not buffets.

A breeze, a huge breeze gently sways all the trees. Something feels different. Not better, just different. Okay. Well, what else has happened? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So many crazy things happen to you every day. You can't react to them all.

The old wounds start opening. Is that what's happened? Have I gotten skiff? Yeah, you, with a hand, you see, by the way, you see that elf has that same maker's mark, by the way. You can see elf besides that has no personal effects, no nothing. I believe elf, they're still alive.

They're not the same as I point to human. That is beyond. me um what do I have anything left Rahadin kneeling down next to you he says if we were to take this

back to the master he could perhaps extract information where we are unable but perhaps it would be better to extract incomplete information if it means

that we can act on it now. Well, there was, just give me a minute, Rahadin. Can I lay on hands? It, you can, the second you put a hand

on this, on elf, you understand that that's not going to work. Okay. Okay. Brother, you need electricity. Zapper back to,

zap them back to, well, life. The one, they have no tongue. The one human adjusted to the corpse. So there is an army,

a large army apparently it's a soldier and a maid I guess large army is is coming to attack I don't know when whatever that was attacked and he's hard to get information

from that one I find it unlikely that these two were able to coincidentally travel the mists to reach this place without assistance

I would say that perhaps Avana is not too far. He wasn't, I guess he, was he privy? Did he hear all the conversation that was happening, I guess? He seems to be acting like he did. Okay, cool. Sometimes he'd be like, they were, you know, they were escaping.

I guess. Gretchen, you can see, seems maybe not horrified. That might not be the right word. But Gretchen, you can see, does not think highly of these entities. They are gross. I mean, yes, but they were seeking help. Or they were seeking... Escape.

I attempt to pick up elf. Elf is quite slender. You're able to easily. Elf feels almost like picking up just a bundle of clothes, honestly. There's no more weight or difficulty to it. Well, I guess there's no point staying out here if that thing comes back. It's probably been pushing on pretty hard, haven't we? We haven't rested, have we?

No. You're quite tired, yeah. You feel almost like you can't do all of your actions in a turn. You're so tired. It's the middle of the night, too. It's the middle of night, right? Okay, I don't really want to stay here in case that thing comes back, but... They had, like, a somewhat of a shelter, or was it just out in the other thing?

No, no, yeah, they were just making camp. Yeah, there was just a campfire in a clearing. Well, you wouldn't even call it a clearing. It's just enough space to make a fire, really. That's it. You don't think you have enough time. Well, yeah, you think this might be the best place to stay. That's what I'm thinking.

Yeah. Look, it is very late. We're all very wounded. I guess let's just rest here and we'll have a thing to do in the morning. We'll head back to the tower. Interestingly, while the entities that live within Strad's realm know not to bother you while you are with Rahadin, you still need to roll for an encounter because there are other things. things now.

Oh, that's not good to hear. Interesting. Meanwhile, that was Hector. The druids are busy chasing Iona. The engineer... Yeah. Climb is his way up here with his mech. The engineer looks at you, Pip.

And you can see, it's kind of like, with a look, he's asking for permission. Go ahead. The nozzle chunk changes from flamethrower to cold thrower. Awesome. And are you resistant to cold? No, you're resistant to fire. Yeah, this is gonna suck. I really like me and the engineer

love to hurt each other. I feel like I'm always firing bolts into him and he's always setting me on fire. It's just a little thing we do. A fun little thing. It's a funny little game we play. Pranks between friends. Yeah.

You and, well, no, the Twigblades take half damage from this. The twig blights take five, you take 10 points of down. I'll walk it off. Regained hit points equal to 1D10 plus my level. Okay, so that's what you're sitting on. Yeah. So you're level 10, so you're currently on 15 hit points.

Nice. Hey. You're so healthy now. Yeah. The cold really just like... It woke me up, dude. It's kind of like, yeah, having, I guess, a cold plunge. Yeah, exactly. And, yes, the twig blights each take five points of damage.

No worries. Pip, it's your turn. I'd like to wheel around on as many twigblights as I can collect and use my flame breath. Do you know how many... It's 3D8, I think, at your level? So, because they've taken cold damage,

they take maximum fire damage, which will be doubled, so it'll be 8, 16, 24, 48 points of damage. Yeah, you incinerate them. All the twig blights are destroyed. Okay. Nice. Pipp.

Mm-hmm. Covered in blood and gore and dirt and so many other substances too many to identify in the dying light of the fires around the Druid Grove. Pipp, you, the engineer and Cavendish

watch Kaleova's body as it collapses slowly into ash. Her spirit finally freed from its torment. A weight, one of many, is lifted from your shoulders. Kelova, though only one of Strad's brides, is dead.

And you can tick this monumental task from your list of things to do. You savor the moment, and it is only a moment before the three of you turn back to helping Iona deal with the druids below. You can see that more and more are spilling in from the surrounding forest, either unaware of the deaths of their two leaders or uncaring. More and more, cultists pile into the fight as the eternal winter swirls outside, throwing their bodies upon the defenders like kindling onto a fire,

each one keen to die for their cause. Like a horde of the dead, they bang at the walls and doors and floors. Another one starts climbing through the window and Marquillet, like a snake strikes, slicing the man's fingers off and causing him to fall. Charming, Elaniel mutters, watching the loose fingers rolling around on the floor. How much time do we have left? Cribut, hiding with Keenings' unconscious form behind an overturned table, consults the pocket watch Keening left him. Big hand three, little hand, 20, quick hand, 34, 35, 36, 37.

A dark expression crosses Elaniel's face as she fires three arrows in quick succession into the door to the stairway. screaming on the other side indicates that her spell successfully finds at least two targets well we can't say here much longer my quillet mutters glancing back to Keening the lights and sounds of fighting are distant but still very present for Tarpos

Gorob and Lushin the main assault on the Druids Grove proves a valuable distraction allowing for the green knights to blaze a path for their queen through what defenders remain My lady, Gorub calls out, it is safe, cries Lushin. Tarpos gestures silently, and they kneel at the threshold.

Dead gnarled trees give way to an old growth. A clear line from where the land has always been strad to something older. A place the druid's guard, but no not why. At the same moment, Tarpos and Elaniel feel the ripple as Kaleover's body is finally consumed. Nothing but ash and memory. Kaleover, bride of strad, guardian of the lodestone,

heart of the forest is gone forever. Tarpos sighs. She had hoped to finish this before they slew Kaleover. The dryad's destruction is unfortunate, but under Tarpos's gentle stewardship, a new guardian will grow back. In time, the forest will return to life. Elaniel reads a sigh of relief.

One down. Marquillet seems confused. Holding back the door to the side room is called to nearly break it to splinters. One? Returning to the moment, Elaniel sees Marquillet nearly losing the fight for the side room door. She knocks another arrow and whispers words of the trees to the wood of the bow. Let them through. I shall put the air into them.

Marquillet nods and dives for cover next to cribbit. and a moment later the door falls from its hinges, spilling forth more cultists of Father Lemmick. A heartbeat later, and Elaniel's arrow explodes in their mist, sending thorns flying. Glancing briefly at the clock and then up at cribbit, my quillet says, You're up, dog strings. Cribut, passing Macquillet the clock and clutching his dashed gently wades into the fray. Okay. Pip, you and your party

have been playing hide and seek with the druids For about an hour now Weaving through huts and woods Hunting each other When you hear a mighty horn From the raised section of the Druids Grove Stunned by the audacity of this moment Both your party and the druids

Are unable to do anything other than watch As Gorob and Lushin Clad in their woodbark armor Lower a horn And call out Behold, Tarpos, daughter of Kavan, heir of woed, she of the forest, arch druid of Barovia. Tarpos steps forward, making herself visible to all. Only you, Pip, spot as she stumbles, looking down at everyone with a flash of uncertainty,

scared of the attention. You are also the only one to see as she takes a deep, breath, plants herself firmly, and speaks. When she speaks, though, all here is she talks for the forest, for the waters, for the rocks, and for the wind. Keshgar dead. She holds his lifeless head aloft. Kelova dead. I claim title of art druid. I speak for these lands. She stops looking around. If challenge, speak now. A strange silence falls over the druids. One by one, they look to you, Pip.

An unspoken knowledge seems to exist amongst them. They know you slew Keshkar. Cavendish locks eyes with you, and both of you raise your eyebrows at the same time. Do I understand what's going on? Like, do I know that because I slayed Keshkar, that there is an assumption that the druid, think I'm gonna challenge Tarpos?

If you don't pick up on that, you see Cavendish mouths basically that. He mouths like you killed Keshkar. Yeah, I didn't mean to. Cavendish kind of gives you a shrug. Nope, not challenging. All good. You have it, Tarpos. The Druids, one by one, kneel.

before Tarpos. Gorob and Lushin put the trump... Well, they have one trumpet and they fight for it. Yeah, of course. Eventually, Gorob puts it to his lips. Our lady, you are arch druid. They, from nowhere, produce a,

like a crown made out of woven leaves and sticks. It's obviously not an official thing. quite clearly made it themselves. A crown might not come with this title. They are not, they are not craftsmen, but they did as good a job as they know how. Good for them. That's good, good on them, you know. Tapos nods, and they quite clearly mean to put it on her head.

She couldn't lie down to be short enough for that. So instead, she takes it from them, and you see she's about to put it on her head, and then instead she pockets. Hey, that'll do. Smart. All right. Meanwhile, Hector. Right, yes. I guess before we fall asleep, I'm realizing I do have something to help with just a little hit points.

Hmm. Smart. Inspiring leader. So before I guess we fall asleep, we all get 15 temporary hit points. Okay. As I inspire them with my words of, I don't know what's happening. I'm so scared.

What was that? What hit us? I've never been more afraid. But more along the lines of, even though like, you know, I guess it would be, would hector would realize that this is on the boundaries, right? Hector would realize that we're not protected by.

No. Would Hector know this at all? Oh, what? Or would Rahdin be like, Rahadin knows this. And so Raha Dinn informs you the master's control extends only to creatures of this realm. Right.

And if there is an incursion of sorts, it would be prudent of us to set a watch should we wish to take sleep. Right. Because, you know, we are way, it's way too late. We're way too exhausted to even move anywhere further back to where it would be, quote, unquote, safe. Well, with that, it would be a, I understand that, but we've all seen combat. We're all very capable.

And trying to gas us all up in that regard to give us those 15 extra hit points because I'm at currently five. Yeah, very fair, dude. Very fair. I'd say with that gassing up, I'd say comes a bit of energy, maybe. Yeah, you could, I'd say you maybe feel like you have enough spirit,

enough of him to get back to the boat, if you'd like that. Okay, okay. Oh, well, how far would it be to travel in so that we are safe? Would it be? You don't know if the tower is safe, necessarily. Oh, really? Yeah. Okay, well, but...

You just don't know is the thing. Okay, okay. Well, yeah, it would be not clever to stay here is all I'm thinking. Yeah. Well, you could get back to the tower. You know, it'd be quite late by the time you got back, but that's not a huge deal. Yeah, we're already pushing it on here. I mean a better sleep if you sleep indoors.

Yeah. Well, all right. Okay. Well, with that, yeah, it would be probably like, look, we could stay here and but we did not know what we face. But, you know, being a knight of the cloth and with Gretchen being, you know, she's also another of the cloth, isn't she? Yeah. Different cloth. No, yes.

Yeah. Gulliver. And, you know, we have, this should be nothing to us. We have been used to drills. We have been used to pushing ourselves. well and truly pass what me immortals could or should do. I think it is prudent if we gather what we can and to get back to at least the safety of the tower. I'll take elf and let us make haste. Gretchen offers a prayer to Gulliver, a prayer of safe travels,

which I mean, you don't know if anyone's around to listen. Anyone's listening, yeah. Someone's there. Something's there, dude. Something's in the air. And you make your way back. Interesting. Okay. Okay. I have to look up. Don't pay attention to me.

It's fine. Okay. I'm not, dude. I'm not paying attention to you. I'm zoning out. Okay. All right, Hector. Who's leading?

Are you leading? Would you like? Rahadin has maybe just as good an idea of how to get back as you do. Gretchen, actually. No, you were Rahadin, you would imagine. Well, I'd be carrying Elf, so I guess Rahadin would be taking... I mean, Raha Din can carry Elf. Okay.

No, if you're going to carry Elf, put Rahdin in front. Elf weighs, I want to say, 50 kilos soaking wet. Oh, wow. All right. Well, okay, well, maybe Gretchen doesn't want to touch Elf. Fair enough. Gretchen will... Gretchen can hold Elf.

Okay. All right. I'll give Alf to Gretchen, and then... All right. Can Rahaden, Leed and I help assist in a weird way? Sure, yeah. As opposed to us rather than just one or the other, assist. At a certain point, you and Rahadin kind of blazing a path,

Rahadin looks over at you and you know, it's at a certain moment he looks over at you and you know exactly why he's looking at you. Both of you have had this slowly mounting suspicion that you are being watched. And you realize, at this point, Rahadin, when he stops, you can see he stopped on purpose

and you know why he stopped your entire procession stops you hear crunch crunch Rajden stops crunch crunch crunch you stopped crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch gritchin stops crunch crunch crunch something's following you look back you see nothing

but you know something's out there Thank you.