D&D is For Nerds - Barovia IV #9 On the Hunt

Episode Date: October 4, 2025

On the Hunt Must be quick. Druid power grow stronger. Must fight. Must destroy. Must kill.Editor's note: around the 40 minute mark we switched microphones for a session, turns out that wasn't a: great choice. Apologies for the next few eps xx oIf 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 Boom A tremendous explosion blasts One end of the bridge, Pip

The rope bridge Swings around Everyone's going to need to make a check not to fall Cavend dishes first and Cavendish makes his athletics check He's so good at this He's so good at this thing He's so good at this thing

Is there like a cantrip that could help me out here Molderth I think that's a cantrip Blade Ward Yeah yeah If you spend that to use the cantrip to Mold Earth I'll give you I'll let you give him advantage on this check

Let's do it dude All right spend the card Okay He rolled a lot better. He accidentally lets go of the rope bridge and then lands on a little rock that you jut out for him to stand on. Cavendish looks at you with gratitude. I don't know how I did that.

All right. Then it is the engineer's turn. The engineer makes an athletics check. The engineer's fine. Then it's Pip, your turn. You will make, because you have a climb speed, you make this with advantage. Get a good boy card

Yes Then Iona But I never want to say Because Adam will take it from me Uh oh Iona's in trouble Can I use a good boy card on her?

What's the good boy card? I learnt it from you If another play succeeded on a skill check In the last minute You succeed in the same skill check She succeeds Okay And then a tapos

I'm running all good boy cards Dude so please Let them all make it And I think Gorbon Lushin are going to be fine as well. Okay. That's crazy. It's crazy that Gorb and Lushin can be in any way graceful. Well, like, I assume that they're...

It's not about grace. It's not, yeah. They just clamped into the... Yeah. You see the wood buckle as they grip it tight. Mm-hmm. Awesome. All right.

That was one of the druids's turn. Fuck, dude. You don't see what the other druids are doing, but you can't imagine it's good. The spiders are... Are they still... mid-swing? No, the rope bridge has hit the other side. Okay. Yeah.

Because my concern would be that the druids are about to cut the ropes at the beginning. The others, the still-attached side of the rope bridge. They would never do that. And we need to stop that. Good friends, the spiders are there. That's true. That's true. All right. One spider attacks the lead, Cavendish.

Another spider attacks the rear. What would that be? Who said they wanted to be at the rear? Who said they wanted to be at the back? Uh-oh. Who said, and who knew that they were going to say that they wanted to be? be at the back and designed this encounter specifically that way.

I believe Adam it was if I had to guess and I don't know I'm the wizard but I believe it was me myself Jackson Bailey letting you know Jack if I were a Hannah Berbera cartoon or a Hannah-Barbara cartoon even I'd be I'd be

budda-da-da-durring right now is that good? I got a good laugh I like that dude I got a good laugh but-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-oh anyway What I do like also about you being in the back there is that you actually have a least amount of space to fall. That's true, actually. It's probably like 95 feet.

Yeah, yeah. Oh, happy day. Cavendish is going to be fine. Okay. Hip. Yes. Unfortunately. He's also going to be fine. I think the spider got a good boy card. By which I mean a critical hit.

The best boy card. Uh-oh, spaghetti, oh. Something slipped or shish kebab? Which would you prefer, Pip? Oh, fuck. I think something slipped means they get a second attack on me. I think it's just, if you fail a thing, maybe you just, you're on your ass for a bit.

Both of them are pretty bad for unique reasons. Shish kebab feels like it's going to hurt the most. I feel Shish Kabat's like, I feel that one that's just, Shish Kababab is going to pierce you. They're going to go through you. Oh. Personal.

Yeah, I'm thinking... Read into this what you will. Personally, I hope you pick Shish Kabab. Okay. Read into that what you will. I was thinking Shish Kabab, because if it's their pincers, and it's going through you, that means they can't pump their poisoning here. They pump the poison into the air.

It's in a fence. Because there you have a big gaping wound straight through. But Adam wants Shish Kabababab. That's so bad. I think it's funny. That's why. I don't think it's necessarily going to do extra damage. I just think it's funny.

All right, let's go Shish Kabab. Shish Kabab. I trust you, Adam. Triple damage. And if this was a melee attack, the weapon is lodged in your body. Oh, no. You are into the spider's jaws. Oh, no.

All right, first off. I should have got slipped disc or whatever it was. The slip disc sounds so much nicer. It's quadruple damage and would have reduced your AC by a D-10 for a D-10 round. Probably Shish-Kabab was the move. It's just now you've got a spider. you. All right.

You need to make... At least it can't go anywhere else. Yeah. A concept... You fail your constitution saving. Throw it. Pip, do you have anything for this? I have...

Something good happens to you. DM's choice. You can play that if you want. It's not going to save you. Something good happens to you. What happens to me, Diem? Yeah. Nothing good.

Yeah. I'll play it. Okay. You play that. Give me one sec to think about that. First off. Let's figure out how many hit points you're about to lose before we figure out what's a good thing.

thing is. So, first off, Hen. Is this before or after it has been tripled? This is before. I might just be about to go to zero. What is your max? Well, you're in full health. Yeah, my max at the moment is like 37. Okay, so if he gets, it gets a little bit more.

24. Oh, shit. 26 times four. Well, times four. I thought it was times three. And a triple down? Oh, sorry, times three. You're right. I mean, the difference is negligible, but At this point So this is like So it's

So what was the max So it was And then it was times three Right Now now Does that mean Because it's been a long time Since I've done

Usually I'm just able to You know duplicate the number This is the first time I've had to like Write it out You know what I mean So usually it's like

If you take a Take damage That's like Double your hit points Yeah Something like that I forget what Adam was using But now you'd have a permanent

Wing Oh yes that's true So This might be permanent wound territory. Your current maximum hit points are 39. Okay. Okay. Now, forget taking a wound. This could kill you.

What's the rule? The rule is, if there is enough damage left over after I have subtracted your hit points, that it passes your maximum hit points, the attack instantly kills you. Okay. Oh, fuck, dude. Something good happens to me.

10 times three. Remember something good happens to me. Alright, Pip, your maximum hit points are 39. Okay. You're reduced to zero. And there's quite a bit left over. Oh.

So, the number to beat is 39. And extra damage in total is 31. Oh, fuck, dude. Is that permanent wound territory? Oh, yeah. Let me pull it out. Fuck, dude. What was the rules of permanent wound territory?

I don't recall. Wasn't it like, because it was like a lot of damage. once. Was it like half your hit points in one hit? Was it? No, it's, there's, yeah, it depends on how much damage you've taken and it depends on, yeah. Okay, fuck, dude. Always forget, yeah, yeah.

This could be really, really bad. It's also just, it's so funny to imagine that sequence of events of like, fump, just picking up here and just crawling away. Oh, well, it's going to be a gutt's. wound too. It's not even cool. I bet it's going to be something's going to fuck up my lungs or something. It's leading out.

Oh, God, damn. Until the character finishes a short rest. Oh, my God. A short rest is not so bad. Although Adam's face makes me think, yes, it is. A short rest. Until you finish a short rest, you take 10 points of damage whenever you start your turn while conscious. Adam. While at zero hit points,

you make death saving throws with disadvantage. Adam. Hip, you're in so much trouble. Adam, what the fuck are you doing? What about the good thing? Adam, the famous good thing. Adam, the good thing. Remember the famous good thing.

Holy shit, grip, am I about to kill you? Remember the famous good thing, Adam from earlier? All right, so the good thing is, I think this is how it's supposed to work anyway, but I'm definitely going to confirm that. Because it says while you start, turn, while conscious, oh, when you're not at zero hit points. Yeah. Okay. All right. Okay. So I'm just making death saving throws. Yeah. All right.

So normally you would fall to your death. Yeah. Yeah. But I will say that because of the shish kebab, you are stuck on the spider's claws. And the spider's teeth are stretching the definition of a good thing. What a good thing, dude. At least I'm not falling. I will say in addition to not falling to your death, this is a pretty fucking good thing.

You're at the bottom. No one is there to catch you, dude. You're right, you're right. Shut up. You're right. You're right. No one is there to catch you. He's right.

So, being stuck to the spider, a pretty good thing, actually, I think. And also, I'm gonna say that spider can't make bite attacks. Okay. All right. If it tried to open its teeth, it would... But it can make pip attacks. And ram other people with you. Flaying my body out of them.

So, because you're unconscious, this fight is functionally done. I'll roll what happens. I mean, there's here. healers in there, they can heal him better. All right, well, we could do that then. Maybe, I don't know. It's Cavendish's turn. Right.

Fuck, dude. Cavendish. That's better. We're going to get captured by the druids, dude. You wish you were going to get captured by the druids. They're on orders to kill you on sight, dude. You're going to get like a spider, like a man who is a spider to lay their eggs in you. Yeah, that's fucking.

get like mine spider eggs in you, dude. Tarpos is getting taken alive. The rest of you are dead as far as they're concerned. Okay. Oh, thank God you managed to get out with the spiders, what you need to do with the spiders as well. Oh, that's lucky. Okay. Talk about a good

thing. Yeah. It's great. All right. Cavendish, it's the engineer's turn. There's the engineer in the thing. Oh, the engineer is right above you. Yep. Maybe he'll reach down with his... Some kind of gadget. Well, he can't heal you as the thing.

Some kind of apparatus of his... The engineer. Pip, death saving throws at disadvantage. That's shockingly a failed saving throw. No way. Yeah, crazy. Bro. All right, then it's Iona's turn.

What do I do? What do I do? What do I do, dude? Iona, okay. Fuck, does she have a way to help you right now? My fucking dangling floppy body. He can't help you right now. Can't help.

Someone throw a fucking healing potion at me. Oh, Karpos might be able to help. Let it break on your thick skull. Those scales and seep in. I'm still bleeding out. When I come conscious, I lose 10 hit points. Yeah. Yeah.

Gorham and Lushin are not helping. Yeah, as of them. I'm going to make, I'm going to think, think, think. I got to think, pink, think. Hmm. We'll come back to this. Oh, man. Hector, you

distantly, while, well, first of actually, is there anything you would like to do here in Van Recton's Tower? Wow, I keep calling it Van Recton's Tower. In the Tower of Van Rikton used, Ex-Athander's Tower, really. No, I think that's like it. We've been here so many times. Yeah. So, like, you know, this has already been pilfered.

It's already been looted. We've already done everything we humanly can here. Absolutely. We were here, I guess, to grab a Gogash's dagger. And honestly, I never thought we'd be back here again. So, yeah, whatever, a nice little telescope. Yeah. Look at some sky.

Look at some cloud. We'll head back to the carriage. As you're moving to get onto the elevator to take that back down, you, let me quickly roll, you don't see it, but you hear Gretchen give a gasp. I look at her and follow her eye line to where she's looking. At one of the windows, from your vantage point, you can see on the other side of Lake Baratok, there is a figure who is quietly just staring at the tower. I use my telescope. Well, you could. That's a good idea.

Well, you, from your vantage point there, because you're looking through a window, you have a much better view of him than he has a view. If you want, you can attempt to non. You don't know. He doesn't know that you've spotted him yet. If you want, you can nonchalantly try to view him with the telescope. Yeah. I'll make that a stealth check. I have you.

I think you're freaking... I think you do that as technically, you're supposed to do that at disadvantage because you're wearing a hammer. But I will allow it without disadvantage. Too heavy to look through a telescope. I think the idea... Too loud. Yes, yeah, of course.

Okay. You manage to maneuver the telescope in such a way. that you can look through it at this person. This telescope is useful. Yeah, keep it on you. You don't get, you've used it one day. And it's useful. Honestly, I thought we were going to use this no time.

Yeah, exactly. Gazing through the telescope, you get a much better view of this person. They're wearing, it's maybe a he, you're not sure, but they're wearing a shawl that is wrapped around them. It appears to be the only piece of clothing that they're worn, that they're wearing. The shawl is ratty and torn and, mangy. It doesn't properly cover them. And you can see, you would imagine that they would be terribly cold in just this, but they're not shivering at all. You can see they maybe once were

a human, but they don't look like they're a human anymore. Or I should say humans. There are scars, surgical scars all over their face, which you recognize as different bodies which have been stitched together. Oh. Like, oh. Oh, damn. Is this very reminiscent of Gorbon Lushin? It's very reminiscent of Gorob and Lushin of the bride that the angel made.

Yeah, right. Okay. So look, look, okay, so it's... Okay. Perhaps the angel made more of... I, like, I... After a little bit of looking, the creature realizes you're looking at it. You see fright, terror, crosses.

its face and then it retreats into the forest away. Okay, I was going to let Gretchen have a look. I don't think you, I don't think you should have done that. Fair enough. Well, I'm glad it didn't happen. Yeah. Right. I lowered the eyeglass. The first night I was here, I saw a deer, but it was not a deer. There are many strange things

out in the woods. Would it be, would it be more respectful, I guess? Calling Gretchen Sir Gretchen or just Gretchen or what's the appropriate? I imagine as a squire, you wouldn't be. Are you imagining your relationship as Squire and Knight right now? Because there's different things for different. If it was Squire and Knight, it would be...

You would call her maybe apprentice. You wouldn't call her Sir. Okay. You would call her like apprentice, apprentice Gretchen. Or you might say just Gretchen. You could do that if you wanted to. to be kind of informal about it and different sects

will have different titles that they give. Your, oh wow, get a good boy card. Your sect for a trainee call them fire. So you would say, if you were if she worshipped, if she was a knight of the cloth, a night of penia, you would call her fire

and you happen to know that in hers you would say inquisitor. Okay. And yeah, because she introduced herself as like sir. Is that weird? Because they are not. To anyone who is not, it's a different relationship for a knight and apprentice, anyone else would call her sir, even though she is just a squire. She's still considered, she still has the backing of her order. Okay, cool. That's

very funny. Well, that's all to say, I think, which is Gretchen for the time being, I'll ask them later if they would like to prefer. Interesting law if you wanted to know. Yeah. yes when I was first at this terror I saw a deer I thought it was a deer I thought a deer

was about to get ambushed by but it ended up standing on its back legs and it kind of had hands like a mare anyway there are many incredibly strange things in this land

in Kresik one of the towns who were near before there was an abbey that was run by a fallen angel

he did not think he was following. He did experiments on the township made a dwarf with two heads one of his biggest mistakes I think not mistakes

what are like biggest that just hit me that's very funny one of his greatest mistakes one of his greatest areas

perhaps his yeah one of the he made a he called it a bride of strad I think he wanted

to try to carry his favor or something he got a few of the um the bodies around and uh sewed them up different parts to make one being that looked like that i wonder if he had made many more creations that escaped something to note i guess raha din comes down maybe he notices that you're talking maybe actually he noticed the telescope and he he asks may i inquire as to the of your investigation. Yes, we saw someone across the lake. I do not know how much you had dealings with the angel in the abbey of Creswick.

He was creating creatures out of other... Lesh, Golem, I have heard the term. Yes, yes, I think that is what it is. Rahadin gives you a very serious, maybe stern look, not... at you just his look is stern as he says this bodes poorly for us perhaps there is uh a further job to be done here did more of would you terribly mind if we trod a little ways from the beaten path i guess not did um forgive me of course did did the angel make more creations no have escaped It is the angel learnt of these sorts of creations from there are many dark lands that border Barovia.

There is, as hard as it may be, to believe, things beyond the mists. They encroach, invite themselves to Barovia. It is part of the master's duties to keep them at bay. Why would... It taxes him grievous. him greatly. Raha Din gives you a very sad look, like he's very upset that this is such a trouble for Strad. I don't really say all I'm thinking is like, why would you come here? Yeah, what's in Borovia for you? How bad do the other places have to be? That Borovia is like a

fucking holiday. Yeah. Yeah. That's all I'm thinking. Yeah. I'm not vocalizing any of it. Come here by choice. There are... Are you sure? There are land. to the north of here. Do not ask me their names. I have no interest in repeating such things. And I have no interest in learning such things. But their caretaker, a woman by the name of Ivana Borizzi, she has on many occasions attempted to claim parts of Barovia as her own.

she is a stern woman incapable of flexibility bending on her goals she is a skilled chemist and flesh crafter like the idea of someone encroaching on these lands is just now something extremely foreign to heck like hector is very puzzled fair enough samut's very puzzled I look of like Bo? So this she encroaches

Is this a land grab? Rahadin nods It is unfortunate That something so crude Could happen here Yes As Strad serves a master Madam Borizzi serves another

And Madam Borizzi chooses to serve in a manner that causes conflict with the master. They are at war with each. She wishes claim over Valakai, and if she gets it, she will use its inhabitants as experiments in her flesh craftery. She will tear them apart and stitch them anew. In a similar way of what Ludmilla was doing.

Ludmilla used magic. Madam Borizzi uses only chemistry and science. That makes it better. I would imagine a minion of hers perhaps is not too far behind this entity. We should scout this for the master. Please, I would have your assistance, if possible. Yes, of course. What would you like us to do?

I wish not to cause conflict. This invasion, land grab, as you said, could be as small as a few agents, but it could be as large as a whole army. I guess we need to find that. Rahadin nods. And lead the way. Rahadin takes you back down out of the tower and you slowly, to begin your search, you slowly make your way around Lake. Baratok, where you found that flesh golem. Meanwhile.

Yeah. Uh-huh. Yes. The spider's turn. Oh, no. Hey, Pip, here's this wonderful card I recently acquired. Oh, yes, dude. What's the card? Oh, yes, dude. Not dead yet.

Three, if you are unconscious and need to roll death-saving throws, you may gain the benefits of a short rest. Beach! All right. And that means you're not bleeding out. Oh, thank God. You have 10D10 that you could roll. How many would you like to roll?

Let's get five. Five? Five D10 it is. Brother. You recover five. Come on. Come the fuck on. 11.

20 hit points. You're on a total of 20 hit points. Hey, it's pretty good. When I open my eyes, what do I see? It's disorientating. You look up. at the engineer, as you can see, the spider is crawling over its mech, and you're basically nearly face-to-face with the engineer. You can see he's furiously trying to work with the

engine, sorry, with the mech's big arms, he's trying to keep the spider off him, and with his, I was about to say little arms, with his arms, he is trying to grab and pull you off the spider's fangs. Okay. And, well, it's, uh, the spider's just, had their turn. You can't see beyond that what's happening. Cool. It's Cavendish's turn. Cavendish takes very, very careful aim. Thank God.

Okay. Well, he whiffs it a bunch, but the one hit he does get is pretty good. Okay. And since I know what these say, find an opening or press the advantage, which would you prefer? Press the advantage. Quadruple damage.

Yes. And if, oh, well, it's not a attack. All right. Would you rather take the new one between the shoulders or would you rather keep press the advantage

knowing that it gained, its bonus is partially based on a melee attack, which is not what he did. Let's go for the first one between the shoulders.

Okay, maximum damage. It's still good. That's still good. For Cavendish, that'll be 27 points of damage on one attack, which might be

game over for the spider holding you because it's already been hit. Okay. That would be nice to get off it. Although, actually, would that be good? Or does that mean the spider falls and me with it? The spider's head explodes.

Good. Bad. You feel inertia hit you as you start falling away from the engineer. Oh, fuck, dude. Oh, fuck. Oh, you're lucky. Okay. The engineer grabs your arms.

You grab his arms. And the weight of the spider pulls its fangs out of your back. The spider falls away It's bond mate I say It's gonna be frenzying You look up at the engineer

As the engineer looks down at you And he says That was it frenzying It's bond mate's already dead Oh thank God Oh thank God You're pretty badly wounded We should get you

Medical care straight away No shit Okay Weirdly though I don't think you Oh, that badly wounded. Yeah, I've healed up magically from my sleep. Language.

And then the engineer pulls you up and, you know, puts you in a place where you can easily hold onto the mech. You look up, sure enough, the other spider has been dealt with. That was. Cavendish, the engineer, maybe kind of throwing you over his back, starts climbing the side. You watch those mech arms reach up, kind of positioning themselves a little bit higher, but then the meck itself. And then it punches, it fires, sorry, the fist into the wall

and uses that to drag itself up and then repeats the process slowly climbing up like that. The mec, the holes that it punches with its fists, it uses with its legs as it climbs. The mech gets over the edge, actually. You're on the other side. There are five druids here, but that's the mech's turn. Oh, Pip, it's your turn.

Particular shot, dude. Shots with advantage from the back of the engineer. Twang! Twang! And let's make them lightning, why not? All right, you're just shooting... Let's see what happens with the first shot. That's a hit.

Nice. You deal... Oh, nice. You deal 21 points of damage with the first hit. Yes. Second hits are critical. Yeah, maybe. With a sharp stick or pierced ear.

Oh, damn. I'm so intrigued. by with a sharp stick. Let's go with a sharp stick. Triple damage and the target must make a DC-14 dexterity-saving throw. On a failed save, the target loses an eye. GM decides which one. Triple damage.

So, this is going to hurt. That, it would have hurt if you've rolled well. I mean, it's still triple damage. Yeah, yeah. 15 times three is 45. That you kill a druid. Hell yeah. Eye pops out.

Which one? which one out of DM's discretion left nice all right yeah good to know down to four druids then that was pip it's iona's turn iona's going to start climbing up that's her turn tarpos tarpos climbs up ion is still climbing up the canyon in inner wall but tarpos manages to climb her way up and over the lip that is also her turn though so tarposs can't act it's Gorobin lusian's turn boom they kind of Hulk style throw their way up they can attack this turn and they charge

they weighed into it screaming Always glad to have them on the You know Miss critical miss Foss Gotta eat my fucking woof My bad Reh

Oh no What's up dude Odds or evens Odds You sure about that one? Yeah Because you tricked me last time I did

My bad ROR this attack With advantage against an eye Within 5 feet of view And the original target Instead Wow you called it right So it's going to be the engineer

Instead Oh fuck dude He loves to get shot by allies That hits the engineer The engineer Takes Head Oh my god

Uh oh 21 22 27 points of damage To the engineer Oh he really needed those hit points. Do I get knocked by him

taking damage given him on his back? The engineer himself is getting hit not the mech. Yeah, okay. So the mech is actually technically a separate entity. Cool, cool, cool, cool. So you see as the engineer and then blood splatters all up and all down the mech as Gorob and Lushin swing way too wide. Oh God, Gorbon Lushin,

no. They start arguing with each other. Look what you've done, you fool? What I did? What I did? I did. And that was Gorvan Lushin. It's the Druid's turn. There's four of them. Pipp.

One of them it grabs a vine from a tree. And then using it like a whip, it wraps around, or they try to wrap it around your neck. They fail to do so. Another one of them slams a foot into the ground

and roots explode out from beneath you and try to grab your legs, Everyone in your formation needs to make a dexterity saving throw That is ion is not there yet Oh, Tarpos is immune to this That is Cavendish isn't here yet Gorbon Lushin

Pass The engineer Fails And you pip Pass I guess I'm on top of the engineer I'm out of the way the roots All right

Another one Starts Rithing and thrashing around as its skin begins to stretch and split one of the druids turns into a bear and charges the engineer duck out the way duck out the way

the bear puts two giant paws on the mech's chest and shoves as hard as it can uh oh oh the mec moves back five feet but doesn't fall off yet You, Pip, look back

You can see the mech is like Right at the edge Heels and then I can see like Iona and Cavendish Who will absolutely get hit When you get shocked And then the other druid Pff Ah

Two bears, that's fine, that's fine That's fine, that's fine, that's fine It's so easy to imagine them with the same animation When they transfer off That bear bo bo bo bo fuck tries to do the exact same thing but this time the mec grab

the engineer is ready for it this time and the mech's arm which is longer than the bear's reach wraps around the bear's neck and the mech has one bear by the neck and is another hand another arm or whatever is plunged deep into the other bear's chest trying to keep both of them at bay okay that is the druids's turn

the spiders are all dead it is cavendish's turn he's going to have he's climbing yeah I was thinking he could take a really tough shot He's gonna climb Yeah, that's right Cavendish climbs and then climbs over the edge He makes a decadity saving throw He as soon as he steps foot

Yeah You see Cavendish, like shock is on his face As the vines grab him and fix him in place He gets trapped in And he, looking around He calls out, what the hell kind of magic is this? Oh, that's right, he doesn't know about Druids I have explained Druids to him though

He's not seen the one thing to explain a fireball There's no thing to fucking see it That's true, that's true Jesus Christ It's why people has no friends It's funny after he's been judging towards you It's the engineer's turn The engineer attempts the funniest

Roll Reversal around Oh One of the bears The bear Which the mech has a hand wrapped around its throat. The mech just, whoop. For is it, you watch as the bear, Pip, sails clear over your head, and then

Rhoffles into the cavern. Oh, that's such a sad noise. I'm going to call that dead. It's so very funny that it would just turn back into a man the moment it impacts. Hit the ground as a bear and dies a man. Pip, you maybe look, yeah, you look back and you watch as, thunk, thunk. It hits the walls two times. the third hit back to a man

donk, donk, fourth hit, fifth hit, the screaming stopped. Okay. Can it do that twice? Probably. Let me check. It could do that twice. It tries with the other bear, we'll see. It was a lucky roll the first time, and it's a

lucky roll again. I feel this is just like you step aside. Yeah, I baby this. Yeah. For the other bear, the engineer says you first and then steps aside and the bear had been putting all of its weight on the mech so when the mec releases it it falls that's awesome he's getting a sense of humor

he's having a quip out that's nice true druids left they're bonding you know that whole group yeah exactly that whole group your turn pep yeah actually yeah you know what when the when the engineer says you first yeah Cavendish looks around at the engineer and says, I told you it's not that hard.

It's no big deal, dude. NBD. NBD to pit my head. And then, what would you like to do? I'll do another meticulous shot. Twang, twang. Hits. Hit.

All right, let me resolve that first one. 15 points of damage. And then your second one. Oh, oh, baby. 10, 18, 22 points of damage. You down another druid. There's one druid left? There's one druid left.

You fire low for the first one, getting the druid in the guts, causing him to double over, and your second shot hits him right in the crown of his head as he doubles over. Awesome. What a fucked way to die. It's quick. Right in the middle of the brain. Yeah, but, oh. I just see it, you're about the remaining druid.

Yeah. Looks over and sees that. Like, that's just, fuck this, dude. I'm going on. That's just something you'd just never expect. Yeah. Well, you know, don't know. Donked in the head with an error.

Iona climbs up over the edge and she thankfully does not get caught in the area of effect of the vines the vines, yeah, roots, sorry it is, whispers something under her breath and one of the druids says, what did you say? That's 76.

Oh, God. I think the man is just like, you know, dissonate whispers or like that vicious mockery but he just didn't quite hear her, but now he's so paranoid and concerned that maybe they had said something they really want to know, which just causes psychic damage.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, they go, is that me? They're talking about me. You've got to tell me. You've got to tell me. What you say? Behind my back, people are talking about me. You're always talking about it.

And it's killed me. I missed. That last druid? Yeah. What did you say? What are you saying? As the, that last druid starts panicking,

you watch his blood starts dripping out of his nose and then both of his tear ducts. Oh, God. Is he dead? No. That sounds even worse. It's worse. It's not worse.

turn. She throws the spear from, she was holding the spear in such a way that she would be using it in melee. She throws it up into the air and catches it in an overarm throwing position and then

Tarpos throws that fucking spear. Nice. Straight in the guy's chest dealing 10 plus another 10, 20 points of damage. That druid the spear goes straight through the druid and impales

a tree behind the druid. He topples over backwards, hits the dirt. The druids on the other side, you watch as they scatter into the tree line, and combat is done. All right, I'll get off the meck, get down on my knees, clutch my guts, and be like,

I need to lie down. The roots slowly recede back into the dirt. Pip. Yes. What toy would you least like to own? What toy would you least like to own? This one that stabs you a bunch right what can you give me a selection of toys or do i need to um just

come up with one on this spot you know i like this this is good okay um what toy as an adult dragon born man or as a child as an adult dragon born man okay so what would pip no as a child sorry okay that makes one okay okay what as a child what toy would pip not want to own probably like a scary porcelain doll something very delicate and fragile I don't think he would like to own something you have to really like take care of yeah it's like not really a toy

not like it's like a fragile what about um like a play set of like a cleaning play set like a toy broom like that kind of thing to remind you of all the work you need to do yes that would be bad too But I think as a child, Pip would be like, well, it's just more of the same.

That's true. But some delicate porcelain or doll is like, it's an extra responsibility. What are? Like a human? Yeah. Like a total? Yeah. Like a little porcelain total doll or dragonborn doll or something like that.

That's my final answer. Total or dragonborn doesn't matter? Yeah. Or anything, really. Just a porcelain, fragile, delicate porcelain doll. this is a crazy game of D&D we're playing

this is not typically Adam I don't know if you remember you say Heise or Lowe's that's like your normal thing

to ask me yeah this is yeah thrown me somewhat yeah okay well

you and your party Pipp are on the other side of that chasm and the river far below yeah Tarpos has been

leading you thus far your I've yeah not you you someone else let's say

Cavendish That would make sense Cavendish calls for a breather Okay yeah You know what I would appreciate that I got stabbed quite a bit in the belly Alright then I'll just find a tree to rest against And sort of clutch my stomach

To try and recuperate a little bit Alright Maybe can I sit kind of near Tarpos So I can ask her like how far away from Kelova's tomb or from the from the

the Lordstone do you think we are Tarpos looks at you her eyes search your face for a brief moment

not far maybe Tarpos looks up at the sun or you know the cloud covering the sun she looks

she searches for the sun in the clouds and after a moment she looks down at you and says before night

yes that's Oh, that's good. That's good to hear Tarpos. Should, hopefully. No more delays. Yeah, well, I don't think this will be a particularly long breather. It never is. No, delays from... And she points to one of the druid corpses. Oh, how, in what way, what do you mean? No, as we get closer to grove, druid's power are stronger.

More easy for them to find and fight. They will try to stop. Yeah, right. That to me, Tarpos, maybe I'm crazy. That makes me think there'll be more delays. Tarpos looks a little confused for a moment and then turns to you and says, is what saying? You were saying, it's fine. Nightfall, if no delay. I thought she said, yeah, any, okay, Tarpos, thank you very much. Nightfall, no delay. Yeah, right, okay. She turns away, she looks upset as well.

I don't know what the hell that was. I mean, she's also hiding. something from me, from memory. So, you know, whatever. Whatever. Yeah. I guess I laps into a kind of surly silence up against the tree. You hear a gentle, kind of humming noise, which is Tarpos entering into kind of like a trance-like state as she meditates where she's sitting. You watch Gorob and Lushin are standing, kind of, I would say hovering almost nearby Taukos, not willing to

be too far or let her out of their sight. You can see as Cavendish and the Engineer, they are doing a little lap around, it's not a clearing that you're in, it's more like a tree line where it meets the chasm. You can see as the two of them

walk along that tree line and are having a quiet conversation with each other. And you see... Iona. What's she doing? Well, I was going to say. You see as Iona standing near the chasm in, not in like a, like a, like a manner that gives you the impression that she might be afraid of heights. Oh, okay. Like standing near the chasm, quite clearly in a position where, like, almost as if she's afraid that the, the ground is going to crumble away. That's funny. Get away from the chasm if you're scared of it, Iona. What are you doing?

She's looking down into it and you can see she has a, she has many different instruments that she keeps on her. she has a flute which she is slowly kind of like idly how you might play with a coin she's playing with the flute okay and is she like is she like a tune which is she plucking she's plucking she's noodling yeah it's a flute yeah i know well you you could go on okay you know it's the equivalent of plucking or noodling oh you can noodle on a flute doing the fingering yeah yeah she's not doing the fingering no she's like like you'd roll a coin along your fingers she's rolling the flute in between her fingers she's rolling the flute in between her Oh, cool. Okay, so she's doing like tricks and shit. Yeah. Flute tricks.

Yeah. Kind of, yes. Like spinning it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's impressive. That's cool. Flutes are like big. It would be a very small flute for her. I don't know the name of it. Like a tin flute? Is that what it's called? Yeah, like the little one. Yeah, yeah. She's got like a little one.

Okay. That's what I'm imagining at least. I'll pull out my... Slide whistle. Oh, barred with a slide whistle. There's an idea. I'll pull out my loot and just start like not any particular tune, but kind of just throm in it while I wait for everybody

for all of us to recuperate. If you start plucking at your loot, Iona stops just playing with it and she every now and then brings it to her lips and she gives like a couple notes in with yours. And then at a certain point, as their walk takes them as far away as they're comfortable going and they turn back around,

Cavendish and the engineer, as they approach back, you see Cavendish he takes a what would he have I guess actually let me check if I've written it down some kind of little drum he gives me little drum vibes you know like some kind of like a

marching drum yeah absolutely he takes no I haven't written it down good yeah he takes a little drum out from behind him from his kit and with the drum sticks my brain was like surely there's a different name but no

it is drum stick dude. He starts playing a little marching tune as well and you can hear every now and then Cavendish as well he calls over the music that your camp is playing. He calls like some lilting marching tune that he knows. I imagine

kind of, because Pips sort of I would imagine I'm humming, that song that I sung a lot earlier. I haven't sung in a while but that song my lover he is a sailor man or whatever and then I like to imagine maybe I owner singing a different song as well. We're all kind of playing different tunes but

It's sort of also jamming. Yes. Yeah. Kind of, it feels like we're doing this in such a way where nobody wants to acknowledge that we are playing together, but we are playing together. And also somewhere in Pip's head,

I think I'm being like, are we deluding people to our presence? But hey, you know, that's life. It's entirely within the realm of reason that several different musical melodies at once would be suspicious. to anything else. In the same way that you don't respond at night

to voices in the darkness, the animals of Barovia know not to respond to music. Yeah, exactly. Keeps mid-bay. Yeah, it's nice. After about an hour of resting like this, the camp, well, for lack of a bit of term,

yeah, your camp packs up and you set off further into the forest. Great. Okay. Is Tarpos leading, but I've will still nonetheless, Pip, have you make a section check. Okay. Nailing it, I think. Yeah, that's what I

have to assume, dude, I'm killing it over here. Also, hey, highs are lows. For all the times' sake. Yeah, dude. I like this question way bad on, okay? Hyes? Yeah. As you're walking over the next couple of hours, it starts slowly, but then

the familiar Barovian rain comes down upon you and you are all pretty sodden by the end of the next three hours never dry in Barovia doesn't happen often yeah it's a rarity to rarity While you're walking You and you said you had nothing for a perception Yeah unfortunately not You get the impression that you're being watched

But it's just like a feeling of unease Like you can't see anything It just feels like you're being watched That would make sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I imagine we are being watched. Like, can I deliberately scan, like, the tree line around us? Or is that you can try?

It's like a thing is, going towards the grotto, which is where this undead tree is. Like, I'm kind of assuming. And, you know, as Tarpos said, the closer you get, the more powerful the druids are. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're all going to be squirrels or, like, the Barovian fucked up squirrel in the tree.

Yeah, every animal is watching us, I have to assume. You start properly searching or, yeah, you maybe, you were just kind of eyeing the trees off for a moment before. But maybe this time you actually call for the procession to come to a halt. Everyone holds up. Cavendish gives you a quizzical look like what's going on. I mean, maybe this is just normal. Maybe this is to be expected. But I feel like something's watching us.

This feels like you have been in Borovia for long enough, Pip. This feels like more than just the usual sense of money. This is above the ambient being watched that comes with being in Brovia. Yeah. Yeah, cool. As you're looking around, the ground beneath you is mud. It's coming up to your ankles at this point. Every step is like a...

Every step. You, in the mud, you feel something shift. I step away and like aim my crossbow down at where the shifting was. You look down and you see nothing in the mud. There's something in the mud, I say. There's something in the mud. Is there anything approaching dry land here? Is that...

You could climb a tree. Okay. Yeah, I let everybody know. Something's shifting in the mud. And then I'd like to just try and track it to see where it is. Everyone, except Tarpos. Yeah. Gorob and Lushin, actually, I suppose, they just don't move far.

Maybe they rush over to Tarpos. My lady, we will protect you from whatever this issue may be. Good, good. Love these guys. Cavendish. Iona. and the engineer all look basically Pip in the same way you do

in that they're like trying to search for dry land and I'll say the engineer puts one of the in the mech suit that he wears he aims one arm up and fires a fucking grappling hook off which wraps around a tree and he just

he and his mech slowly lift up into the air you hear a tremendous as his two boots of his meck come out of the mud awesome. Cavendish and Iona probably just stand near trees

such that if they need to they can just like... Well, not even that. You think neither one of them feels confident about trying to climb a tree. You think they just both it's because of the root network of the trees, you think if they stood or they think clearly if they stood

near the trees, they're kind of the most elevated out of the mud that they could be without trying to climb. What would you like to do, Pip? I guess. Oh, and you also, sorry, you also watch as Tarpos gets down, after you say that, she gets down to her knees and puts both of her hands

into the mud. I wait to see what Tarpos says. All right, you give Tarpos a moment to a set. Oh, good job, Tarpos. And decent job appeal. You can feel, it's like snakes writhing in the mud. It's not like you're surrounded

and a constant feeling. Just every now and then, you feel like as something moves in the mud, something long and maybe thin but hard moves in the mud. Can I try and grab it? Sure. Well, I feel like we're going to fucking figure out what it is. Is it always?

I'm like, it's cooking vines. Is it snakes? Is it just kind of like you're in the Druid grotto? It'll be an enemy. Lowe's? You sure? Hise, I meant. You're positive?

Now I'm sure. yeah now you're certain now i'm certain okay so a good thing a bad thing and a really bad thing happened I thought it was going to be a bad thing sandwich good thing you grab the

bad thing you didn't want that the really bad thing is the second you grab it you're no longer standing in the forest Thank you.