Dice Shame - 12 | 'Head in the Clouds'

Episode Date: January 1, 2020

After receiving some life altering news, the party encounters some questionable foes... Dice Shame is a podcast that welcomes its audience to the gaming table. There’s nothing quite like getting together with your close friends on game night, getting the snacks out, and rolling some dice together. Right now we’re playing through Storm King’s Thunder, an adventure for D&D 5th edition. Like the games we play at home, we try not to take ourselves too seriously. The show is entertaining, inclusive, and irreverent, while still taking the rules (somewhat) seriously. As for the eponymous Dice Shame? When the rolls get cold—well, you’ll have to tune in to find out! Episodes are released every Thursday at 1:20 am.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Walter! Sorry, I got a tip on my shoulder today. Can I see invisible shit? Yeah, there's something strange behind you. But if he doesn't drop his bag, then I'll cut off his fucking head. And then you, you want to hug? Jester! Jester!

Jester! It seems to me that these people want to annihilate our entire existence. I'm not their... What do you think I'm friends with these people for? Shh, keep it down. I don't like when people laugh at me when I'm intimidating. I'm... Hello all, and welcome back to Dice Shane, episode 12, head in the clouds.

MVP this week goes to Surly One on Twitter for his continuing support and wonderful thoughts on Doren. If you're a fan of our show, please make sure to check us out on Pod Chaser. Review a few episodes, leave your thoughts about the show, and give us a follow. All right, we ready to rock? Oh, yeah. Five, four, three, two, one. Happy New Year! A little pitchy there, guys.

Episode 12 of Dishame. Happy day, everyone. We are ringing it incorrectly in a little room full of nerdy friends. And lots of alcohol. Cheers! Oh, clink, clink. Oh, my head. I got to ask.

Did you guys make any New Year's resolutions? I'm going to roll more 20s this year. Yeah? Oh, I like that. It's my plan. I'm going to... You said that like red. Kill a giant.

I know. I don't know. They're the same person right now. Resolutions? No, I don't know. Keep playing D&D with my friends. Redsolutions? Redsolutions.

I don't know. I don't really have any major ones. What about you? I'm going to kill one of you. So these are all about the game. She looked directly at me when she said that. Joe, one of our characters? I'm going to kill one of your characters.

Oh, thank you. Okay, I just want to clarify. Shall you play some game? Yeah, yeah. Let's play some game. We left on a cliff hanger, a cloud hanger. Yes. Good one.

The four of you are out on the rim of the cloud bank with Zephros's giant wizard tower at your backs and the world at your feet. The sun is sinking lower in the sky, lighting the tops of the autumn trees below you in fiery shades of red and orange. Zephyros is inside with Rilix, having largely left you to your own devices since plucking you up out of the wilderness. You spot nine dark and winged figures growing closer, soaring towards you. As they approach you, discern they are giant vultures, their wings spreading an impressive 25 or 30 feet as they whip up bits of cloud stuff coming in for their landing. The riders atop them are thin and armored with black, helms that cover their eyes as they dismount their wicked looking birds you see one of them is carrying a strange shoulder bag should i shoot the shoulder strap off the bag wait a minute it's

probably not c4 is it where where are we standing so you're somewhere out on the cloud field okay um how many are there sorry there are nine nine holy crap that's a lot i mean do they look it's not quite a score can i roll insight of course you can see if they're like come in here for some anger. Of course. Of course. That's a note. It was a 17 that rolled back towards a three. Do they have any symbols or flags or heraldry or

anything that sort of suggests an alliance or They have pirate flags? They're not flying any flags. They don't have any team names stitched on their jerseys. Do they look angry? You can't see their faces. They have helms that cover their faces,

which is why... The helms look angry? The helms have these curved horns on top of them? That's not a good sign. Horns are always a bad guy. Vultures are really not a good sign. These are the biggest vultures you've ever seen. Where's Zephyros?

Zephyros is inside. Zavaros! Enemies off the port bow! I wonder if the vultures approaching go, who, who, who. Pickle, pickle! Vulture! Oh my God.

So there's nine vultures and there's nine riders. Uh-huh. That's a lot of things to fight. I don't know if we can fight these. Well, what if we talk to them first? Yeah. So they've landed in front of us, right? Not directly in front of you.

They're just on the edge of the cloud bank. And actually two of them, after they've dismounted their vultures, they begin to walk forward. The one has this strange shoulder bag, and he calls out, uh, where's the master of the house? What business do you have with them? I can pass a message along. Is it too late for you to use thematurgy and say that? We have no interest in dealing with you. I understand that, but the master of the house doesn't really love visitors

is kind of on his own plane of reality, so you've got to give him something to be interested in. What do you want? We're on private business. Yeah, I understand that, but... I mean, maybe he's expecting them. Let's not overthink it. Zephros!

I call it again. Is Zephros the name of the giant? Oh, fuck. Never mind. Obviously, they're not expecting him. You don't happen to have C4 in that satchel, do you? He looks you up and down, he says, Not your business.

Relax. Can I try to persuade him to just let us know what their business is? You can roll a persuasion check? Yeah, I'm just going to say to him, look, we're happy to help. We're happy to get the master for you. We're just curious as to why you might be here. We want to help you, friend, with a 15. I speak on behalf of Jan Sibin.

Do we recognize that name? You can roll a religion check. Let's do it. Oh, for fuck sakes. What is it? Well, Roland, my new lovely pallid and die, rolled a one. Oh, serious. Shame it.

Shame, shame, shame. You got to shame it. You know, I really loved the name and the puns so much. But, oh, Roland. That's the first pallet and die that we had rolled. And time out. I'm sorry. We can't.

We can't even. So nine. You have heard of Jan Sieben. Great. You know him to be the prince of the heir? Oh, yeah. Prince of Evil Air? Yeah, I remembered that bit.

That's all you really remember. No, that's fine. Hey, Red. Yes. I know you love making friends with evil cultists, but I need you to just understand. So much. Yancey Bin, the Prince of Evil Air, the Four Winds of the Apocalypse, wants to blow the world to smithereens.

Like, not friendly. Whoa, whoa, whoa. He's a prince. Yep. In case that wasn't quite audible at home, Rob did roll his eyes so hard they almost fell out of his head. He's just so princely. Yeah, apocalyptic.

What do you mean to evil? What do I mean? I can't explain the mechanics of the university right now because they're just over there. I mean to say that they didn't fire at us when they arrived. They can't be all that evil. Hostile and evil are different concepts. They really are.

Fair enough. Either way, if they want to speak to Zephyros, you don't think we should let them. I don't know. Why don't we see what he thinks? I'm going to go inside because Zephyros ain't answering. Yeah. You go inside and you are followed closely by

these two representatives of the group of people who had landed on the cloud. Is anyone coming in with me? Absolutely, yeah. I don't trust Red's gut judgment on like core concepts of what these people might be trying

to convince him of. I feel like they could sell him a line and Red would be following the Prince of Evil Air off to start the apocalypse any minute now. I just don't trust his guts. Are you saying this is Jack? Yeah, I think when Red's like,

well, why don't I go in? I'm not leaving you alone with them, Red. I just don't believe it. I'll go in. Red and I will go in. We'll get Zephyros. The two level-headed... I think... But I just don't think you understand worship

and why people would choose to worship evil gods and what that says about their character. I feel like you have a fundamental disconnect between what choosing to worship a God means and who that person is. All right, all right, all right. I don't see any reason why we can't all go in, okay? They got lots of people out here,

but we'll be fine if we all stick together. All right. Well, then let's go in and we'll look for Zephyros. The four of you enter the tower with these two representatives from this cult. And as you walk in, the man with the bag

shouts, Zephyros, a cloud giant. We wish to speak with you. And you hear this creaky sound of Zephyrose's bed from upstairs.

He's getting out of bed. And then you see his sandals descend through the hole in the ceiling as he touches down. He looks around. What's all this about then?

I have more visitors Small folk Wonderful And he looks around At the six of you Yes these riders came through the storm And they wanted to speak to you Cloud Giant

We come to you On behalf of Jan Sibin To return the world To its primordial state As it was at the dawn of history Red, that means they want to destroy the world. I'm not their... What do you think I'm friends with these people for?

Shh, keep it down. He kneels and then gestures at the other darkly armored man and the second man produces a satchel from inside of his armor and also kneels and offers this satchel out to Zephyros. This is a gift for you. Did he have a list? Yeah, yeah. Yes, he does.

I bet you there's gold in there. Doran's kind of licking his lips, looking at this satchel, wondering what sort of fancy gems in gold or... Zephros kneels down because everyone is so much smaller than him. He holds out his hand, this huge palm, the size of someone's chest, and the cultist stands up and places this tiny pouch inside of Zephros's hand. Thank you. I am intrigued by your offer

I accept your gift and invite you to stay here Hold on, Zephyrose, just to clarify When you say intrigued by their offer From Yon Sibin, the Prince of Evil Air Who Wants to Destroy the World, what exactly do you mean? I am curious about all things, Jack. I must ponder this offer.

I will retire to my room where I might contact other planes and see if this is a wise course of action. You need to reach out to the beings beyond to figure out if this is a wise course of action. Sorry, I got a chip on my shoulder today. Yeah, I was going to say. Could we talk, Zephyros? Do you mind? Could we have your counsel? Yes, of course.

If you don't mind, little ones, and the two armored men stand up, and they say, we'll be outside. Oh, geez, Jack, you got to be careful, you don't offend some of these people. No, but he's, he's perfectly right. I mean, Zephyros, you wanted to know about our people. You wanted to know about our species, right? You're curious about this. Of course. I mean, I don't know the situation as well as Jack.

but it seems to me that these people want to annihilate our entire existence. Then there will be no research for you. Yes, I suppose that's true. After all, though, Zephyros just took this satchel as a consideration. Like back in my day, when the dwarves were giving the king's extra money to allow us to dig deeper and pull out some more of the gems, You know, it doesn't necessarily mean they're always going to get her away, but... Are you saying this is a bribe? I don't think it's so much a bribe, more of a...

Well, the cultists definitely will expect something from you. That's right. More of a lot, more of lobbying, if you will. Understood. And I do appreciate your counsel. I would still feel best about this. If I could contact other planes for more advice. Of course.

Jack rolls his eyes just harder than he possibly can. He's got no time for Zephyros. It's every bit of his dad that sucks in like a giant form of dismissive nonsense who can't make a decision for himself. Like it's just... Jack's got deep-seated dad issues. Oh, man. He's got some troubles and Zephyross is pushing every one of his fucking buttons.

Zephyros, what's in the satchel? That's a great question. Let's take a look. And again, like, you know, Doran's eyes are kind of glinting with the thought of the prospect of gold. It's like, truels dripping into his beard. Take a look, shall he? And almost like, almost as of a child next to you is trying. Yeah.

You know, I'm kind of helping, helping him open the satchel. Yeah, Zephros actually just opens his palm beside you and he's still holding the pouch, but he lets you sort of clamber up and go to work. So I do. I clamber up on his hand. Yeah, it's, it's a brown leather pouch. that's tightly secured with some waxed twine. And when you open it up, there's some powder inside.

Oh. Like loose? Yes. Uh-oh. It's about two tablespoons worth. Dorn is not an idiot. He knows digging in the deep that there are certain things that if you crush up, you can die or get sick.

So he's not by any means. He looks and takes a respectful step back and says, I don't know. It's some sort of a powdery substance. Can I do a survival check on it? You would do an arcana check. Arcana check. This looks like it's out of my realm, Jack.

I don't know if you want to take a look there. Yeah, I'll come and cautiously peer in the bag. I want to see what sort of awful trick these people are going to play on Zephyros. Okay, it's not a one. It's a seven. But it was so close. That's a 15. This is definitely magical dust.

Oh. It's with a 15. it's going to be hard for you to figure out its effects. As you look at this shimmering powder, parts of it seem to phase in and out of existence. You recognize that this could potentially help you in casting spells or might have some other effects if sprinkled on something. Do I have a name that I would call it or something that I would...

In Jack's mind, this could be one of five or six things, and you're not sure until you get your hand. Is one of them super, super deadly poison? No. Doran is smiling. Do not eat it. Doran's thing, I'm sticking his hand in there. So, Dax's peering in, he hasn't quite touched it yet.

So to their credit, it's not actively hostile. It's a magical dust. I think it could, Zeprox, it could help power some spells. It could be, it could be. Interesting. Doren's, like, disappointed and defeated. He's sort of like, well, this is stupid. Yeah.

It walks away. I'm going to head outside. If Doren walks away and, like, just as he's, turns out. This would be very valuable on the market. And my ears perk back up. Oh, well, let's, uh, you'd be sure to take care of this now, Zephyros. Would you mind putting the string back on? No, no, no, not at all.

It's a little. Would you like me, would you like me to hold on to it for you for the time being? If you would like to. Oh, no problem, no problem. And Dorn puts it into his backpack. He might ask for it later, but for now he's cool with you just keeping. I'm just going to head outside and be like, What's the powder in the box thing?

Who are you? Red, what's your name? My name is Amarath. Hello, Amarath. Nice to meet you. Would you like to shake hands? He shakes your hand. Look, Zephros just wants to know what it is.

He sent me out here to ask you. Clearly, your leader wanted him to have it, and he wants to know what it is. It doesn't need to be difficult. Can I roll persuasion? Yeah. I just want to know. Ten. Tell me, Red.

Do you have any particular religious affiliation? You sound like Jack. No. I'm just curious if you've heard of elemental powers. No. You don't describe to the power of air, wind, fire, water. I know them very well. I can feel some of them right now.

It's like the wind tassels my fur. Yes, feel that wind. Feel the power of the air. Right. Doran knows a little bit about passing wind. Doran pipes up, well, you've delivered your bag. I guess you're on your way, then. No, we'll be waiting until we hear back from the giant.

What are you expecting to hear? To gain his allegiance and recruit him as one of our own. That's it. You drop off a bag of your elemental magic and expect someone to make a decision right then and there. Clearly, dwarf, you don't know a thing about giants. This is a cloud giant. He would naturally ally himself with the elements of the air and wind.

You're right. I don't know much about giants, but I do know a lot about war. And in war, it's very, very rare that you have someone turn around and give their allegiance in a matter of minutes. Perhaps he doesn't know he's at war. Are we at war? All the world is at war, little dwarf. I don't think Zephyros is going to do much of anything. I think if he's anything like wizards I know like him, he will go ask the outer plains for something. he will never make a decision he'll waffle on it, he'll decide he's more interested in writing a book somewhere else anyways and bugger off.

The question is, if he says no to the cultists, are they going to try to kill him? This is the thing. Right. And Doran overhears this conversation that you three are having kind of behind him. And I just say to the one of the two that I was speaking with earlier, I say,

And what if the giant decides not to join your alliance? Well, then we might choose to take control of this wonderful fortress. Hey, Redd, what kind of read do you get on those vultures? I was just going to ask, are they beasts? They are. So, yeah, I am going to use my prime evil awareness. Give me again those details, please.

I have the innate ability to communicate with beasts. They recognize me as a kindred spirit. Through sounds and gestures, I can communicate simple ideas to a beast as an action, and I can read its basic mood and intent. I learn its emotional state, whether it's affected my magic of any sort, its short-term needs, such as food and safety, and any actions I can take, if possible, to persuade it. it not to attack. First off, there are no magical effects on these vultures. That's good. You can

hear their thoughts in a manner of speaking, not the same way that Jack communicates with Kieran, but you gain insight into what they're feeling and who they're loyal to. And you recognize that these beasts aren't terribly intelligent. They're reacting favorably to the costuming of their handlers to the helmets especially. It seems like maybe they were raised from a chick, you would imagine, and they'd been conditioned to respect people dressed as these cultists are. Interesting. That if the cultists weren't wearing this armor,

they would probably attack you as soon as them. But this helmet, this horned helmet seems to be conferring a level of control. over the beasts. You would also know that these are hungry vultures, and if you guys get close enough, they will attack you. Brilliant. So I walk over to the guys, and I kind of pull them aside a little bit. It looks like these creatures respond more to the armor than the actual people riding them, which tells me a few things. That could be advantageous. I think whoever asked it, Doran, kind of hit the nail on their head. If they are going to kill our friend Zephyros, if he says no, then we should probably do something.

My thinking is, if we can wear the armor ourselves, maybe we can control the vultures. That's a pretty good idea, Red. I think while you guys are puzzling on that, Jack's going to go back just inside the door and sit down against the wall and move his consciousness into Kieran's body and fly up to see what Zephras is doing.

Nice. Zephros is meditating. He is sitting transfixed in front of his navigation orb, which is hovering above the floor. He seems to be projecting his mind into this orb as it's gone cloudy. It's no longer a reflection of the ground below, as it usually is. And he is in a trance. Am I able to get a sense?

Like, can I see anything in the orb as far? Like, that would suggest where his mind has traveled or what he's seeing? It's cloudy. Cloudy. Well, that's not helpful. Okay. I think if we decide to attack, I think we should absolutely lure at least four of these guardsmen away, kill them, and don at least the helmets before making any sort of assault,

because at the very least, the vultures won't be attacking us. Also, this wouldn't be the place to make our stand. It would be best if we went into the tower, created a bottleneck. Of course. How long do you wait? I mean, Jack's back in a few minutes, sort of shakes his head, Zephyras is off in the clouds. I don't know if he's coming back for a little bit. Well, he's, at the very least, a very formidable person. Maybe we should just wait till he says, no, and then have us on his side when he attacks. They're going to wait. Their whole orders are to wait. Just to understand the limits of Jack's illusion spell, minor illusion, could it change the color of their helmets? No. It's a pretty minor spell. Okay. Mostly I think Jack is just like

fuming, pissed that Zephras is off in the clouds and left us with these guys. Jack, you're so pissed off. Yeah. It's been a weird day, guys. Everything's all right? No, he just told us, hey, you four specifically. I reached out into the other realms. I know you four, there's a prophecy you're going to go re-shape the ordaining. But I don't give a shit about it. I'm going to go write a book about some dumb island. You guys sort it out. But I'm an all-powerful wizard. And I know way more than you.

There's nothing you could possibly teach me. But I'll go fuck off. Oh, here's an evil cultist. I wonder, they want me to destroy the world. I better go ask if that's a good idea. What the f-it's just madness. This guy can't make a decision to save his life. Red just holds out his arms. Give me a hug.

And then you. You want to hug? And then you, my, this town my friend built, Jack. Full of cultists of Asmodaeus, the prince of evil lies. And you're just like, yeah, it's fine. I won't even back your play when you think it's a bad. You left me hanging there, Red. You left me out to look like an idiot in front of Hiram and Doran's friend that there's this evil cult there.

And you didn't even, like, you didn't even understand that it's literally the fucking devil. And you said, that's fine, that's whatever. She's just the midwife. I'm sure she hasn't bewitched them all or something, had not even a concern. And that's the only legacy of my friend who died, and it's... I'm sorry. Look at me. Look at my little beady eyes.

I apologize. I don't understand this world. I come from the other side of the ocean. I don't get the good and the bad as well as you. I admit that, and I'm sorry. I hope you understand that I don't have any intention to want to see the end of the world. I don't have any intention not to back your play. And if that's what this boils down.

too. If I, if I wasn't supporting you in your time of me, I apologize. Please, let's hug. Thank you. And it's just at this moment where Doran stands up. He's actually beneath and between you two. So you guys go to hug and Doran stands up and like, he's sort of like, all right, I've got the battle plan ready. If we bottleneck them in here, I'm going to go into the kitchen.

I'll find some spare meat. Jack reaches over, Doran, and finishes the hug with red. This is outrageous. Then you hear the sound. of Zaphros's sandals hitting the ground inside of the tower. He walks outside. His eyes are a little bit bleary. He's just newly come from this catatonic meditative state.

And he says, I cannot believe you have come here with such impudence. Just the biggest no shit look on Jack's face. And I still have a hand on Jack and I'm like, I'll back your play from here on out, buddy. We're a team. A staff appears from nowhere in Zephyros' hand. This is a beautiful work of art.

It is crafted out of this dark, shiny material with a huge puff of cloud on the end, and he points it threateningly at the cultus, and he says, You should leave. Doren's face kind of his jaw drops it. These cultists kind of shit their pants a little bit. Oh, yes.

As they should. The one cultist with a fancy bag trembles, and he says, your decisions are foolish. We'll take on leave, but we'll be back. I think it might be a bag of holding, which I want so bad. Why don't I go kindly suggest they leave that bag? This is like a messenger bag that's draped around the shoulder of the cultist who's been mouthing off the most.

So maybe Jack will walk up to Amarath and discreetly sort of put his hand in his pouch and grab his orb and channel a little magic into it and suggest to Amarath, if you leave the bag you're carrying, perhaps Deferos will reconsider your offer and try and cast the suggestion spell to leave the bag with me. You suggest a course of activity and magically influence a creature you can see within range. Creatures that can't be charmed are immune to this effect. The suggestion may be worded in a...

Can't be charmed. So it is a charming effect. Yeah, it is. All right. Creatures that can't be charmed are immune to it, but so I imagine that suggested it is a charming effect. 20. He turns to you and sneers,

Wizard, my mind is too strong for you. And he clasps the bag more tightly around his body, and he says, this bag and what's in it are securely mine. I'm really glad for you. Doran looks at you all and, you know, kind of makes the facial expression dewy attack. Honestly, I think Red would look at Zephyros and be like, Zephyrus, they're coming back.

Do you want our help in this fight? Or do you think if they come back with greater numbers, you can handle it? I can handle myself, Red. Thank you for your offer. And he takes one threatening step towards the cultists. A couple of them mount their vultures. Can you make him leave his bag? Please.

I really want it. I'm not really in the habit of stealing, but... It's not stealing. We are the ordinators. What he has in that bag could be very useful for us to complete our quest. Is there a chance in your visions of us you saw us with a bag like that? Yes. Maybe.

Maybe you're right. Roll persuasion. Fuck, yes. I wish I had advantage to fuck. I mean, maybe I'm helping you if that would give you an advantage. If he's helping me, can I roll with advantage? Yeah, you can take the quote unquote help action. Woo-hoo!

Nice. 19. I don't see why not. Nice. This bag is going to be so useful. I can be like carrying all of our shit. I really hope we don't regret this. I really hope it's a bag holding.

I hope it's not just a regular bag. It's just a pretty bag. It's just a pretty bag. It's just a really cool bag. It is. I'll be happy anyway. Zephyros points his staff at the cultist with the bag, and he says, Dilan, saw.

And Amarath is immediately enclosed in an impenetrable sphere of energy. Roll for initiative. Yeah. Ah, six. Six for Kralov? Five, actually. Oh, boy. Because I got minus one.

Jack Doren 6 Red 18 You guys are all reading your spells And like what are you going to do And I'm like

Hmm How can I slice these things Which way can I slice these vultures? Oh yeah Like a Thanksgiving turkey This is insane guys This is a bad fight Five against 18

Yeah I'm hoping I get to go first You do Yeah I'm gonna I'm gonna talk I'm going to do an intimidation and be like, you are about to fight a cloud giant who just froze your captain with a whisper of words.

You have no chance. I suggest you leave your captain and return home while you still have the chance. Roll an intimidation check. Do it. Should have them not just leave, but drop. This is good. This is good.

Drop their weapons and stuff too. All right, here we go. This is Chester. Come on, Chester. Don't let us down. Chester, Chester. Natural 20! Chester!

Chester! Chester, Chester, Chester, Chester, Chester, Chester. We've got seven D-20s and seven checks. What do they have to roll above? Well, I'm going to use your 20 as the DC. Yeah, okay, it's 23 as my total. Like, I have plus three for intimidation. Okay.

Well, then none of them can succeed. Oh! They all quake in their boots for now. Jack, it's your turn. Yeah, I think Jack has a spell prepared in mind. And if they come forward to engage with Doren or Zephros, who seem to be up front, he's going to cast that spell. But otherwise, he's going to.

So what's your trigger? If anyone charges forward to get into melee range, yeah. He's going to wait until they clump together and throw a spell at him. Okay. And I'm going to move a little bit. Back towards the tower to get the tower at my back, just so I'm, you know, got one level. If Nivon's turn, the guy who had the leather bag. And the lisp.

So the guy with the shoulder bag is currently enclosed in an impenetrable sphere. And then the guy beside him is the one who gave Zephyros the pinch of powder bag. He turns around and he says, We want you to wawi a wound. Don't want a way. He says, the cause of Yonthe bin is not finished. Don't drop your weapons or there will be trouble. I mean, which was more intimidating, really?

You throw your staff over the edge of the cloud. And he waves his hands at Zephyros. Oh, command. Yeah, he's going to command Zephyros. Good luck. Maybe if he goes and confers. with the other plane he'll know not to throw

his staff over the edge. Just a moment. Oh yeah, he's fine. That's an 18. Fude. Zephros just Ha, ha, ha. That should add to our

intimidation role. The fact that this guy's like, don't do it, guys. And then he just like laughs at him. Do this. I feel like this should just make the natural 20. He says,

make me. Bitch. And for the cultist's turns, all of them mount their vultures. Yeah. Good so far. Well, I guess they're mounting. Kralath, if your turn. I'm just going to wait.

I'm going to hold steady. I'm going to watch. Doran. You can't ready a movement, right? No. Okay, you know what? Then I will defer. Okay.

It's Zephros' turn. He takes three large steps towards Amroth, who, he has enclosed in the sphere and he just picks up the sphere and you watch as the cultist inside struggles against the bonds that is his turn and he

turns with his staff toward Navon and he points it directly at Navon's chest and he says just try me bitch I heard things bitch

it's the Voltur's turns, they're all going to take to the air. Yeah. Doran's going to make a mental note of the, the look, shape, quality, make of the helmets, of the armor. Red. Does it look like this rally boy is intimidated? Navon?

Yeah. No. I'm going to just kind of walk a little closer to where the action's happening, but still keep my distance, and I'm going to double down and say, your entire party is leaving. We will let this man go once he has dropped his bag, and he'll be on his way, too. I think you should leave, friend. And I'll say it in a persuasive sense, not in threatening sense. Because, like, ultimately, even if all nine of them were there, I do feel this giant would fuck him up.

This guy's got no chance. So I'm going to say it, like, friendly, if that's possible. Okay. No, you don't have to roll. I don't have to roll? He's heard you. Nivan is going to get back to his vulture on the side of the cloud bank and mount it on his turn. He could provoke an attack of opportunity from Zephyros,

but I don't think Zephyros is the attacking attack of opportunity type. No. This is the first battle with a giant. Thankfully, you're on the same side as the giant. Perfect. So he leaves, are we still an initiative or? We are still an initiative. Okay.

You watch as Amrath struggles against his bubble. Oh, no. Dorn, it's come back around to your turn. I'm not one to take a crossbow shot at somebody who's leaving. Kray Loth, did you want to do anything? No, I'm just going to watch them leave. Now, can we drop out of initiative? Yeah, we absolutely can.

Amazing. The vultures all fly with their mounts and they land on top of the tower. What? Oh, they stay here? Well, they're not going to leave their captain. Well, that's fine. I mean, there's one vulture that's left because it's his vulture. All right, I mean, put it this way.

For expediency's sake, our plan, I believe, is to let this guy drop out, take his bag, and then send him on his way. I don't think we need to have bloodshed here. Is that fair to for everyone? Yeah, that's my... If he drops his bag. Yeah, but I mean, it's now us versus one guy. But if he doesn't drop his bag, then I'll cut off his fucking head.

So what happens? Zephyrhus puts Amrath in his sphere of force down onto the cloud in front of the four of you. And he says, Do you want me to dispel the force? Yes, that would be wonderful. Thank you, Zephyr. It's Zephyros.

Sorry. Zephyr operating system. Zephyros. And he waves his staff at the bubble, which pops. Hello, friend, oh, listen, we don't want to take any more of your time. If you could please drop your bag, like my friend here, Jack, requested. We'll send you on your way. He doesn't say a word to you. He slowly takes the shoulder strap off from where he's wearing it and lays the bag down on the ground.

Then with a flick of his wrist, he opens the bag and he says, These are my enemies. And he takes a few steps back. Roll for initiative. D-da-da-da-da-da. Kralath? Two. Jack?

11. Doren? 12. Red. 21. Oh, it's your turn, Red. Can I shut the bag? Yes.

Yeah, I'm just going to shut it and lock it. Red, 15 to hit you? Does that hit? No. So one hits. 13 bludgeoning damage. Red, you get slammed from behind. Ooh.

For shutting the bag? So you walked up to the bag, you shut it. Yeah. And then something that you cannot perceive hits you extremely hard in the back of the head. You take 13 bludgeoning damage. Oh, boy. Doran, what do you do? Doran sees Red get bludgeoned from behind by nothing?

Mm-hmm. Okay, Doran's going to run and threaten Amarith with his axe, sort of pointing the axe towards his throat and saying, what's attacking, my friend? I guess just intimidate. Sure, please roll. 14. You'll find out.

I don't like my boyfriend. people laugh at me when I'm intimidated. Jack is going to take a careful look around and try and figure out what the hell just happened. Please roll a perception. How do you like a three? I hate it. Me too. It's not my favorite.

So seeing nothing obvious, Jack's going to again back up until his backs against the wall of the tower. So at least he's only got looking in front of him, things in front of him to look at. So you move so that your back is against the tower? Yeah. Great. Kieran, can you figure out what's going on? Um, let me take to the air. And they fly in the air and take a quick circle around where the battle's taking place.

Huh, I don't see anything. Would their keen hearing or sight help them? Can I see invisible shit? I don't know, but they could hear invisible shit. I don't see anything, boss. Cool. It's Amarith's turn. I've kind of got my axe up too.

I know. He hates that. Make a wisdom saving throw for me, Doran. A wisdom saving throw? Yeah, he turns to you and holds out a hand and he says, Stop right there. Sorry. Four.

A nice round four. You are paralyzed. Kralath, it's your turn. I'm going to cast cure wounds on red. Thank you. And red is going to get eight plus six. Oh, brilliant. I'm back up to four.

Yes, you are. Amazing. I'm going to try to just stick my hand out. Just do like a wave behind red. See if I touch anything. Oh, interesting. So as your movement, you go around behind red where you saw. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, there's definitely something there. Your hands brush. It's so strange. It doesn't feel like anything you've ever felt before on the material plane. But there is a presence. All right. So I'm right in front of it, I guess. And I will wait.

Zephros, he goes, Ah! And he walks over to, Amarath. He is going to try to pick Amarath up, so the target must succeed on a DC-20 dexterity save.

Let's see how that works out for him. Fail. Zephros picks Amarath up and flings him off the side of the cloud. So he's going to spend this turn falling. Red.

I mean, you touch the thing right behind me. Yeah. Yeah, there's something strange behind you. I'm going to grab my short sword. I'm going to spin around. I'm going to slice. Slice and dice. Slice and dice.

Okay, so here's how you attack invisible attackers. First, because you can't know what square they're in, you have to just tell me where you're going to target. Because you can't target an invisible creature. For example, if the creature was far away from you, you would just guess a square on the battle map, and then you roll with disadvantage to hit. Oh, right.

And I'm going to grab a vial of oil. And I'm going to smash it on the square behind me, like at chest height. Assuming the oil is, like, colored. It's not like clear oil, right? Sure. Maybe that'll make it visible, right? So with blood? You're still going to have to roll a...

Yeah, with disadvantage. Yeah. But my thinking is, it's less important for me to hit it, more important that everyone can see. Yeah, there might not. It might have invisible blood, too, then. Yeah, make a ranged attack with disadvantage. Ooh, 11. The vial of oil crashes against the cloud stuff and cracks and breaks.

I wonder if it gets opportunity if I move out of a screen. Probably. Whatever. I'll move. Where are you moving to? I'm going to run to the fucking castle and climb it. You move to the tower. I'm going to run to the castle wall.

You're going to have to make a climb check because these walls are featureless and smooth. Very difficult to climb. Great. All right. I'll do that. A natural one. Chester. Oh, no.

I climb, but I am by the wall. Sure. Hey, right beside me. Kraloff. Oh, boy. You are attacked. Okay. A 14 misses you.

So you're hit once by an invisible force. Okay. Eleven points of damage. Yeah. So you're clobbered in the chest. Resounds in your chest cavity. Okay. Dorn, it's your turn.

I'm still paralyzed? So right now you can only take. take verbal or mental actions. Hmm. Ah. Well, would a mental or verbal action count as my commander's strike? Read the text of your commanding strike? When you take the attack action on your turn, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Sorry. When you take the attack action on your turn. I can't attack. You cannot. Okay, never mind. Cute idea, though. Very cute idea. Then, you know what?

Then I'll just verbally, I'll persuade the. invisible being. Your master is gone. Might as well show yourself before it's too late. And I roll in nine. You roll more nines than anything else. You hear a sound. You did it.

Maybe it's not invisible. Maybe it's a wind creature. Would you like to make a wisdom save to end your paralyization? Yes, I would. And a natural one does not do that. Do you want to save it? I am. No, I don't.

The concentration of this spell will end once that cultist hits the ground. Oh, yeah. It's a long way to fall. But I calculated it's two turns of falling. Right, right, right. The cultist falls on his turn. Kralath, it's your turn. I'm going to try to cast guiding bolt because then it'll make it visible to everything.

Can you read me the text of the spell? A flash of light streaks toward a creature of your choice. voice within range. Oh, thank God. Make arranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 46 radiant damage and the next attack role made against this target before the end of your turn has advantage, thanks to the mystical dim light glittering on the target until then. That's great. That's exactly, because it's not the picture you can see part. Yeah, you don't have to see it. Oh, that changes everything. Yeah. Not to mention there's a mystical

glittering on it. Yeah, yeah. Then we can see it. Which means anyone can see it. So it only last one round though so if there is a way for you guys to defer the hit to hit it and then make it visible for the rest moving forward the fact that you can make it seen huge all my spells are a target you can see and that's very tricky in this okay so you intend to make this creature visible to your friends you must make arranged spell attack with disadvantage so for me arranged spell attack So my spell attack bonus right now is five. That's a nine. No, sir.

The spell flies wide. Zephyros is going to try to banish it to another plane of existence. Oh, yeah. He has to try to touch it, make a melee spell attack against it. On a hit, the creature must make a charisma saving throw. So I have to hit it. Then the creature has to fail the save. So it's two different roles.

Zephyros is pretty good spell attack bonus Grey Loth is it here Right in front of me I say as I'm trying to dodge around Invisible attacks He is a plus 11 to hit Oof

Come on Zephyros That's a 14 and a 17 So 25 to hit He does hit This invisible creature Now the creature has to make A charisma saving throw Against Zephyros' spell save DC

which is a 17. Otherwise, he's banished to another plane of existence? Yes. That sucks even more than just... Please, please let me stay. Please. I'll be as charismatic as I can. You're banished.

I mean, yeah, he's banished to the Fay Wild. Fuck yeah. Doren, in about four seconds, you are released from your paralyization as the life of the falling cultist is snuffed out as his body. he's dashed upon the ground below you. What a wonderful splant.

Thank you for listening, and be sure to join our Facebook group to join in on the fun. Next week we enter Goldenfields. See you there.