Dice Shame - 5 | 'Hit the Hay'

Episode Date: November 14, 2019

A bad call means trouble when the team realizes they're stuck between a rock and... well, you know. 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.

Shall I shave you? Shave me. I'm hit. I'm hit again. Oh, shit. I understand magic. Doran was here. Second level, guys.

Second level. I just rolled a natural 20 and a natural one. And with two hands, sticks it into his side. And he's dead. I'm never alone. How, what, I don't. In my heart. I'm going to roll butt perception.

If that's not to be our fate, know that I love you. Welcome back to Dight Shame, episode 5, hit the hay. This week's MVP is Mr. Adam Davis for the amazing artwork, including our Dyshame logo, that he has done. He has a talent for sure. I love it. Also, BreakoutCon is coming up. If you're in Toronto, March 20 to 22nd, head to BreakoutCon.com and get your tickets. They actually have a special early bird.

full weekend pass on sale until January 20th for the price of a two day pass. Nice. Yeah, you should check them out. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, at BreakoutCon. You get news about the show. Shall we see what happened to Nightstone? Let's do it. All right. The temple floor is scattered with shards of colored broken glass, spilt blood, and loose straw. Doran, Jack, and Red drag Kraloth's body through the front door.

He's six, seven, and it's fully a three-person job. Moonlight streams to the windows, and the only sound you hear is the graveyard crickets. Come on, buddy. Jack, tell me you can do something with him. We've done all we can.

He's going to take some time to rest. He's stable for the moment. We just need to find him somewhere comfortable to rest. I think Red's just going to like, hug the body for a moment. And then embarrassingly stand up and like brushes coat down buildings. Yes.

Yeah. So you already rolled your D4 to see how many hours that you would need to stabilize? One hour. One hour. Okay. What time of day is it roughly?

It's night time. It's like 9 or 10 p.m. Nighttime and nightstone. All right. There's a bed in the back room here. We'll drag him over there. Yeah, I think we drag him in the back room. We shut that little door, put him on that torn bed.

And then just shut the door quietly. And, uh, okay, Jack Doran. I'll get some rest. Yeah, I think we need a rest. You're only, what, like three hit points or something, aren't you? Oh, I'm injured, yes, but still standing. That was a very, very difficult battle. Yes, I think that was not the brightest way to do it. But on the plus side, they're in the keep right now. I'm wondering if we shouldn't make sure they stay in there. So I was thinking about this. I mean, Jack has been talking to Lady Valroza.

The whole time they were building this keep, he knows lots about maps and thinking about that sort of stuff. I'm wondering if he might be able to figure out or remember Lady Nandar, talking about a secret backway in, a secret back way out, any other ways to get into this keep other than the drawbridge, or if it's, or maybe even out of the city, I'm not sure, just anything he remembers about other ways in or out other than the obvious ones. She was proud to mention to you the defensibility of the keep specifically, that it is elevated out of this 30-foot deep river. She also mentioned to you that the slope that surrounds the mott, the funnel-shaped hill is a rocky and covered with loose shale that she didn't expect

anyone to be climbing these walls because even just getting up to the base of the walls that encircle the keep would necessitate clambering up the sides of this steep hill and that they're likely just going to be dumped back into the water so we can't get in right now it sounds like yeah i'm you know what in all of talking with lady nander about this place it's the most defensible it could possibly be that was a big part of it when they designed it I'd seen some of the plans in our letters back and forth it looks like you know you're going to climb that

shale on the outside you're going to fall right down the river's 30 feet deep this moat were but that means that they're stuck in there my heart goes out to those four I hope they're still alive in there we can't think about them right now right now we have creillant down door is barely standing I'm more than standing but yes

I mean you got what four foot listen here to back me shall I shave you shave me why are we even bothering to go back into the castle. Jack wants to save them. There's four soldiers in there loyal to the end who had communicated us. We said we were going to help them as best we could and we've trapped them there. But I think we need to face facts. And with Kralov the way he is and with an indefensible position like they have, I think we need to rest, recoup, and think about it in the morning. I can take the first watch out the window just to see what's going on at the bridge.

I'll take the second watch. Then if you're taking first and you're taking second watch, then I'll take the third watch. Morning breaks clear and blue Over the sound of rushing water from the stream That surrounds Nightstone You hear songbirds And the four of you Gain a level

Oh yeah Level up Second level guys, second level That's big news I mean not really It's kind of I mean it's big In my limited time of playing D&D I've never leveled up

Well really Here we are. Congratulations. I was just always the maximum character. Oh, you just started at level 20. Okay, let's go around the table and talk about our favorite aspects of our new shiny second level of characters. Justin, you're playing Krayloff, the cleric. Yes.

So my favorite aspect is that I have more HP now, that I'm not going to be taken down by one hit by a warg. Two, that'll do it. But no, and actually, I'll say that my favorite aspect, so while I was unconscious, this is the second time in the past 24 hours that I've been knocked out close to death and experiencing that gravity of my soul not knowing whether to leave my body or to stay. And while I was unconscious, my soul must have been on some sort of journey because when I awoke, I had this internal knowing, being so close to death. that I can create that sensation in an enemy that I'm facing and, like gravity, guide their life force into the direction of the grave. Whoa.

Spooky. This is a channel divinity for Level 2. It's called Path to the Grave. Choose one creature you can see within 30 feet of you, cursing it until the end of your next turn. The next time you or an ally of yours hits the cursed creature with an attack, the creature has vulnerability to all of that attacks damage, and then the curse ends. That's sick.

What does that mean vulnerability? Double damage. Correct. Oh, wow. Double? Boi-oy-oy-oy-all-ya-o-y-old. Harlan, what's your new favorite thing about red, the tabaxi? I only got one thing, and my archery is plus two.

Yay. That's it. I gained plus two to a time. But which is nice, because now my hit is plus seven. That is just a hit. Oh, sorry, and I should say I get spells. So I have hunters, mark, and cure wounds. So now I finally do some healing, which is really important.

That's handy. Yeah. And Hunter's Mark. So I can target a character with, I think, it's 60 feet. And basically, they take an extra 1D6 damage. And, like, I'm really interested. What's Red's relationship with magic like? Yeah, great call.

Like, how does he reach out and touch that stuff? In his mind, when he holds his hands over someone to cure wounds, you know, he's just meticulously looking at that wound and not understanding that it's healing because of magic. but more so because of his understanding with nature and things like that. And Hunter's Mark is based on the skill that he's developed over the years. So it just feels naturally Tabaxi to be able to, like, put a stop bleeding and put a wood back together. Yes, it feels like second nature to him. Alex, tell me about Doran, the dwarf fighters' second level achievements.

Well, Doran is kind of fed up with the single action that he could take. So in level two, I get an action surge, which essentially means I can take an additional. action on top of my regular action. I like the idea of us developing these skills. Like this is a move that you've been working on. That's right. In practicing. I'm like,

I'm moving too slowly. I need to do more to battle these guys. For him, it feels more like it's like recalling information rather than like training. I think like you're like, I picture you like tightening your wraps or whatever and you're like. Muscle memory. Yeah, exactly.

Like I didn't. I think I was going back in a battle so quickly, but I should have known. And now I'm getting back in a fighting form. You're fighting into war. To me, that makes sense for Doran. It feels like you're getting back in that form. Rob, tell me about Jack. Yeah, I mean, I think it's been a night of sudden inspiration.

He's got a lot of writing to do tonight. He has become a lore master wizard or a savant, which he gets spell secrets, which are, they're almost like improvising magic on the fly a little bit. I think it's an understanding of how magic works intuitively. almost so anytime he's casting a spell with a spell slot he can change the type of damage of it so for one type so if it's ice he can make it force or necrotic or whatever or necrotic he can make radiant you reweave the nature of the spell as you're casting it understanding it like oh no this needs to be something else I know how this works you just tweak this that the other and lightning

instead of fire damage that's got to be so handy and once poor short or long rest he can change the sort of save that a spell requires and then it's the bunch of like there's a bunch of stuff, like, reflavor this to be about something else. So if it's, if it's grease and it's like dexterity on the ground or whatever, he'd be like, no, no, no, it's actually an illusion and it's, it's, you know, hands trying to pull you down and trip you up and you just need to disbelieve it in order to not get tripped up instead of whatever, or it's actually, I change gravity. And so it's like force pulling you to the ground and you need to strength out of that force.

Wow. Well, that'll be really good, too, like, depending on what characters were against, because it's kind of obvious that, like, a wolf's dexterity is going to be really good. To save against that is kind of bad, right? But they're not the smartest creatures. Exactly. And kind of goes with, you know, giants come. And it also requires an innate understanding of the monsters that you're up against,

which I think Jack would necessarily be, you know, good at. I'm excited for that. So in addition to having this night full of like, oh, shit, I understand magic. I'm ready to like get a little bit improvised with it. He had two really great ideas for spells and scribed in his spellbook, grease and ice knife. Oh, sick. And so, and wrote a letter. So he did a lot of writing.

You wrote a letter? I did write a letter. I don't know. I wanted to send a letter. Can we do a scene where you're writing the letter? You're on your rest and you're like sitting in a pool. Do you read the letter? I do.

So I want to hear your best narration voice. I'm picturing Jack sitting in a pool of moonlight on a wide window sill of this temple, watching over his slumbering companions as he looks at the window over the fog in the graveyard. yard. The letter is dated Nightstone Evening, Elaine 25, 1492. It's addressed to Torin Cheldrick from the Copper Cup Fest Hall and Dockward Waterdeep. My dearest Torren, I wish this were the sort of letter that carried the sweet words and poetry that so often grace our correspondence, but the topic is dire and there is none more than you that I trust to diligently read my words and act with due haste. I traveled to Nightstone to visit my friend Lady Velroza Nandar, with

stalwart companions, Krayloth, Doran, and Red. When we arrived, we found the town was in a state of disarray. The townspeople were missing. The structures had been bombarded by boulders, we suspected, dropped by giants from a floating cloud castle, and the nightstone itself is missing. To make matters worse, the bones of the village were being picked, gleaned by goblins, and the keep had been occupied by Adence of the Centaurum,

led by a pair named Kella and Zolkin. We have just barely survived an encounter with these bandits, and are retreating to find safety. We have learned from Bito, a goblin, scavenger of a cave near here where the villagers may be taking shelter or being held captive by Bito's master Hark. I've enclosed a map to the cave as Bito has described it to us. We had word from the keep before the last loyal guards were murdered by the Zantarum bandits that Lady Nandar died from a boulder dropped during the giant's attack. Please inform her family

and offer them my deepest condolences. Please also inform the Waterdeep City Guard of this attack. Perhaps they have a patrol on the road to Daggerford that could be diverted to lend aid or help reclaim the village? If you find the time, you might also inform my father of our peril, but I fear you may find the matters of my well-being are among the worldly concerns he only rarely budgets time for. I will be recalling Kieran to my side at sunset tomorrow. If you have any correspondence you wished return to me, please ensure it's within my

familiar's care before then. I hope to see your face again soon that we may stroll along the docks, arm and arm and share tales of this harrowing adventure. If that's not to be our fate, know that I love you. Doran's like carving in the floor. Doran was here. Has morning come? Morning, morning is broken.

Kralov opens his eyes and is surprised to be opening his eyes. And he finds himself on this straw bed in a temple and looks around. I think the doors open, probably the rest of us are in that cleared some of the glass off the floor in that sort of altar space outside that door. You hear purring from under the bed. Just on the foot of the bed, maybe just like on your feet? I just have a moment taken in the sereneness of the morning, the birds chirping, and my friends all sleeping. I see Jack kind of passed out on the desk and Doran's in there and sleeping as well. Actually, I guess Doran's on watch.

And I just sit down to really appreciate the fact that I'm alive again and surrounded by friends. And I'm like, like a fur ball balls out of my mouth. Good morning, everyone! So I was thinking about this last night. What the plan is to move for? Now, I don't think it's a bright idea to try to attack it unless we had the help of the villages in the cave. The idea of greeting those people in the keep

and potentially getting into another fight with them is much less appealing than going to the cave where there are peaceful citizens, proposedly, who might need our help. Absolutely. And some who will be, of course, with us and attacking this castle. Exactly.

However, the other side of my brain says this. Before we bring these townspeople back in, we should A, make sure they're no more hiding out in the buildings, and B, make sure the goblins are out of here before they come back in. We don't want some young child running up ahead to their home and finding a goblin in their bed, killing them. So I sent a letter to Waterdeep.

With luck, maybe they will send some aid. They've got patrols on that road. We turned off of their... If they get the letter, they should have got it this morning. You know, maybe that gives them, you know, a day and a half March, two days march to get here, if we were going to get reinforcements, they may never come, but if we were, that would be sort of when to expect them. But why don't we take a look through the rest of the town, just see what resources we have here?

So you're currently in the temple of Maliki and Lathander. That's the closest, largest building to the drawbridge, which is in the west of Nightstone, moving clockwise around the map to the north and right in the same. center of town that's the inn it's the largest building by far in the settlement at about one o'clock so continuing on to the east you can see out the door of the temple and across the square there is the stable house and attached to the stable house that's where the barn and the chicken coop is right continuing to the south just to the east there are a number of farms and a building that is hung with the sign it's blue and gold it says lion shield coster you can just see it now in the morning light this is a trading post there is also a windmill

to the south of town couple more farms and then the bridge which is out and as you look out the windows of the temple. You hear the sound of carpentry. Oh, so they could be repairing the bridge. All right. Well, I think we should move through the town relatively quickly. We'll start off at the stables, then go to Kevin Costner, and instead head just out to the windmill, and maybe we can see what people are doing. Kevin Costner? I don't think the goblins are too difficult faring. I think what I'll do is, why don't I climb up to the roof? I give a good bird's eye view, and then you sweep around from the north and maybe see if you can peacefully scoot them. If not, we'll engage our fire from an advantage. position and we'll continue

going around the clock face. Let's do it. So Red's going to leave, I'm going to head over to the inn and I'm going to scale to the roof into an advantageous position and I'm going to... Would you like to do that stealthily? Sure, why not? With a... Wow, look at that.

So I roll it with disadvantage. I just rolled a natural 20 and a natural one. You should take a photo of that on our Instagram. Incredible. So yeah, Red opens the door to the church. and it's like, what?

And then continues to move across the square. And then climbs up the side of the inn and gets about halfway before like some loose sod brings them back down. And then continues back up. It's like the loudest thing ever. And then your pants fall down. So as you enter the square,

you see the two bodies of wargs, festering lightly in the morning sunlight. And you cross the square making lots of silly, ridiculous noises. I will do actually a general perception while I'm up there, might as well, because I have a turnstill, and I do not see anything with a two. Wow. You can see down the straight path that bisects nightstone and ends in the bridge toward the keep.

You see two of the Zentarm agents on the southern end of the bridge, trying to rebuild this bridge. Did we search Keller's room before we left last time? We did not, I don't think. So maybe there's some more searching in the inn through the back door there

and then... I left Bito in the wardrobe, though. Oh, shit, yeah. Maybe we should check on Bito then. Yeah. There's also a hole in the roof that you can hop down into. Remember?

Yeah, that's right. I don't think there's any point in being stealthy. They know we're here. We just got to go search the place and do it. You're going to come... You're going through the front door?

Yeah. Might as well. It's the closest. You guys, I'm like, be safe. Be safe. Whatever. For the natural one. So as Kralath, Jack, and Doren enter Nightstone in with red on the roof?

You know what? I mean, there's no sense. There's no one approaching. I'm going to hop into that hole in the roof and join in the looting because I want to have some fun too. And that hole drops into Keller's room, right? That's right. So as Kraloff is opening the door, like quietly, there's just this thud sound and there's red right in front of them. You hear rattling from within a wardrobe.

I'm going to go over to the wardrobe and open it up. A goblin pops out. Whoa, whoa, whoa, Bido. It's okay. It's just me. You? Yeah. You said you would release me. And we have. You treacherous.

You're not tied up, are you? Bito is free. Bito's free. I just wanted to give you a warning. Out of my way. You're not the only people in this town anymore. The Zantarum have arrived. What's that? The Zentarum.

They're an enemy force that don't like goblins very much. Talk to, duck up, piggy. Stay out of my way. And he backs out of the door and scampers down the stairs. Good luck. I'll climb back up on the roof and watch where he goes from the outside. And so as the goblin scrambles down the stairs and out the front door, almost like a frightened bird, is like scrambling. There's Doran behind the bar, washing his morning breath.

with some beer out of the, out of a keg. I'll save you guys the time. The first pass-through you made of the inn was very successful and thorough. All right, let's head back through the, let's go through the back door. Yeah, I'm glad to get, you let Beto out. It would be bad to leave them locked up there. Oh, of course. Red, as you climbed your way back up onto the roof of the inn,

you watched as Beito scampered through the front door of the inn, looked all directions. around him to try to gain his perspective and lays eyes on the dead wargs in the corner of the square he slowly trudges toward them and goes

me and you next I shout out his head snaps up where he sees you looking down on him from the roof give him a little wave he runs full speed into the stables into the stables slams the door behind him

Kreloff opens the back door and gestures for Doran, Jack, to follow. To the stables? Yeah, to the stables. The back door of the inn looks out toward the north of Nightstone. There is a second graveyard. Yeah, and then I swing a right and kind of at a casual crouch. Nothing too intense.

What is the casual crows? It's like a slight lean. Just a slight lean. Kraloft Doran and Jack begin. making their way to the stable. I think I'd catch Crayloth's eye. For some reason, now deciding to be quiet and make hand signals gesturing that Bito went inside the tour.

Okay. All of a sudden, I'm in combat mode. As you, you're walking toward the cottage and the chicken coop area and the stable, as you walk through the grassy meadows, the lawns that separate these buildings, you see two pigs at the base. of the watchtower, just nosing around in the long grass looking for stuff to eat. Clearly, they've been liberated from wherever they had been kept when there were still people living in this settlement.

So Kraloth draws his shield. He's had his shield out the whole time. And instead of his mace, though, he's got his tambourine out. And he goes up to the door as Doran approaches from behind. And he's going to knock a couple of times. try the door handle, see if it's open. It is. And say, I'm coming in.

There's three of us. We don't want to hurt you. We're just scanning through the town. And we need you to move on. As you are standing at the door of the stable, you hear the nervous wickering and whinnying of horses within. If we're moving in and there's nothing on the outside, I'd probably scale down and join them because there's no advantageous.

Yeah, yeah. Well, I would give you the all as clear tambourine symbol. Perfect. What does that sound like? That sounds like this. Nice. So I scale down very quickly and I head over. Open it.

And when you open it, I step in front of the door with my bow drawn. Okay. And I also ready for any goblins leaving. If they try to leave, I'm going to trip them or snatch them. So Doran's on one side of the door. You're opening on the other side of the door. And I'm going to stand in front of it with my bow drawn. Jack, you're what sort of crouch next to Krayloff?

I think Jack's standing a few feet back just watching it happen. I don't think he's particularly taking a lot of cover or crouching or anything. It's just a stable door. Better than an stable door. Go on. You open the doors to the barn and you see a dirt floor. You see on either side of this stable, there are stalls where some draft horses and riding horses are confined. They are tossing their heads and their mains around with the wild eyes.

And you also notice that there are two ladders leading up into a hayloft that circles the perimeter of the second floor. Does it look like there's a window from the hayloft to the outside? Yes. So there is a second door that leads out on the ground floor of the barn. It's on the south wall. And there's also some light coming in through a window that's in the hayloft. I gestured a Krayloth and give him the old up signal and I scale the side. Okay.

I'm going to get to the hayloft. So you are scaling the building from the outside. Correct. Okay. Well, then I'm going to walk in and I know that he's looking after the hayloft. So I'm just going to go in and I'm just going to try to calm some horses. This whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, it's all right. As you enter the barn with your hands outstretched to try to calm these horses,

an arrow flies out of the hayloft and narrowly misses you skidding by your foot. Everyone roll for initiative. Krayloth. I got a 16. Jack? 17. One upper. Doran.

Well, I got a eight, seven. Red? 11. Jack, you see this arrow skid by Kraloth's feet as he enters the barn. What do you do? I think Jack's just going to shout out in common, guessing that it's Bito. You know you're outnumbered. You know we've just fought the five Zenteram to a standstill.

Put your bow down and surrender. We don't want to fight you. We just want to take a look through here. Don't throw your lives away for this. That's a good idea. Do goblins understand common? From your time with the goblins when you were enslaved by them or when they had captured you, you know that some of them do speak common.

Okay, cool. Yeah, so I'm just going to sort of step up behind Kralath and sort of give that shout out to them. Okay, Kralath. I'm going to cast thaumaturgy, and I'm going to, can I just, like, completely repeat what, like, Jack's voice, but make it come from the hayloft? Yeah, of course you can. Okay, so I'm just going to repeat it. And exactly what Jack said, I'm just going to replay it from the top of the hayloft and make it a little bit booming and intimidating and hopefully shake them out of attacking. Yeah, you hear the panicked voice of Bido, who you are now familiar with.

He says in Goblin, I'll come down, I'll come down. All right, I'm putting my weapon away. Don't fire at me, Bido. Bido climbs down the northernmost ladder as another shot fires out of the hayloft at you, Krayloff. That's 19 to hit. That's a hit. Ouch. Eight piercing damage. Dying.

Holy moly. I'm hit. I'm hit again. Red just like climbing the side. He's like, of course. I feel like we're all. It wouldn't be a fucking Tuesday.

We're all saying that. She rolls so well against me though. Like this is like, I mean, I missed you the first time. That's true. Well, at least Bito's cool. Yeah.

So he climbs down the ladder and makes his way past you basically to where the doors are of the stable on his turn. All right. Red. I'm going to come straight up to the roof. And so you climb up the stable wall up the roof. Do I see the shooter?

Do I see any goblins? You can make a perception check. 12. You don't see anyone. I will take the hide action. Krala? Yeah. What's your health out right now?

11. Oh, boy. Doran. Doran suspects that there are goblins in the stalls as well, based on the reactions of the horses. I think you went to one, you started to go to one stall. I started to go to one, yeah. I'm going to circle around the south where there's the other door.

Is that door open or closed? It's closed. I will open it. Great. You open the door and you perceive the other side of the stable. I enter through that door expecting maybe there might be some whizzing arrows coming flying at me, but heading towards one of the stall doors. Okay.

Because what I'm going to do is if I reach the stall door without an arrow coming flying me, I'll kick the stall door in, regardless of if there's a horse there or not. and look around for goblins. So you enter the stable, there are no arrows whizzing, you kick open one stall door, and a black stallion rears up at you. You perceive no goblins. Jack.

So we can't see any goblins, so I think he's got to... Apart from Beito, who is apparently trying to run away. Jack's got to take a look around then. He's got to see if he can find where these people are. Sure. How do we feel about 14 for perception? You do not perceive any combatants apart from the four of you. So seeing no goblin's there, he's going to go try and find some cover, maybe in a stall or somewhere to dash somewhere he can shelter.

Sure. Yeah, you can move into the stable and under the hayloft. Crayloft, what happens? Okay, so I'm going to cast cure wounds on myself. Okay. That is four plus halfback. Your back of a full. Yeah.

Nice. And I'm going to take cover behind one of the. stalls and then I'm going to roll perception, see if I can spot where that arrow came from. Roll perception. 20. Hidden deep within the straw, the top of the hayloft, there you see a goblet butt poking out. Okay. And I'm going to...

But you can't tell the difference between it or its face. Okay. So ugly. But face. In the hay bale and the top and I'm going to point out where it is to red. Red, what happens now? I'm going to pop out and I'm going to fire at the... The butt?

Well, actually, do you perceive it? Maybe roll with advantage. But perception. I'm going to roll butt perception. I've been rolling shite. Dirty 20. That's not bad. I mean, I know.

It was two separate thoughts. Only a 20. You see the goblin buried in the straw. You also, from your vantage point on the roof, see three humans walking toward the stables. So you still want to fire at him with your boat? Yes. Great.

Roll the hit. Right? Kill the thing. For sure. Natural 20. Nice. This is Chester, by the way. This is the guy they got first shamed.

Since coming back, today alone, he's rolled two natural 20s. He's trying to make it up to you. I appreciate it very much. Yeah, you kill a goblin. How does it look? Kind of sad, actually, because I fire into like a, up, Up, this makes me really sad. This reminds me of the Ewok's death in, like, Return of the Jedi where he doesn't get up.

I just, like, fire into the hay, and it's just like, this little, like, twitching butt is like, and it just stops moving. I noticed that the Zentai one coming, so I'm going to lean in. I'm going to say, three Zantan coming from the south. I'm going to get to an advantageous position on the roof. Why don't you try to engage kindly? I mean, do they look, I don't know if they're, I mean, I would have seen them. Did they approach with weapons drawn, or are they like?

So you actually You saw three humans Two of them You would presume to be Zantaram agents One of them looks to be differently armored Okay

So either way I'm going to Kill the Goblin And then I'm going to crawl to the West of the Stable And I'm going to hide If I can

Hang out there Right? Sure And I'm going to watch them Coming After I tell them all this Yeah Yeah

I exchange nervous Looks with Dorin and um jack yeah it's it's no good um i think jack's pretty nervous about those guys what do the three of you do you're in the stables there's about 10 horses in here with you and there are some enemies approaching i look at crayloth and i give a nod like let's take them i'm picturing you guys looking over i mean actually you see the doren can't look over the top of a stable at all Maybe looking underneath the stable? Yeah, I'm thinking there's...

He calls down. I kind of poke my head out of the stall. Well, first of all, I didn't really step into the stall. I kicked the door open and there was a horse and I didn't see a goblin. And the stable door closed again. Sure. The stall door just closed.

And then I see everything kind of go on. And then I look at Kralath. And this is kind of when I give a nod. And Kralov, the eye contact from Kralov has a slightly different meaning. This goes back to our conversation that we have under the tree. where I'm following your lead. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then...

Which is not necessarily always my lead, but it's a agreed upon. At this point, I'm just kind of like, okay, my instinct would be to run out there. Right. But I think in this case, I am going to nod, and then I'm going to slowly crouch down, take position beside the door. Ah, good thinking. And get the jump on them. And mine was to run out. So, you know what?

I look at you and you crouch down and I follow you and I say, You know what? That's a better idea. So looking out at these folks, there's one who's wearing something different. Are you looking out the door at them? Yeah. I think I'm going to come somewhere, get a close. I'm not particularly trying to be stealthy about it, but I do want to see, like, do they have bows or crossbows they're going to point at us?

And then can I figure out anything about this other person, anything about their things they're wearing, they're something that would differentiate them, why they're here? You watch as Bito runs from the stables across the square. and one of these robed humans pulls out a crossbow and kills him. No! Kind of in a way that's disappointing but also

kind of not, but kind of disappointing? The third human, the one that is not dressed like the others, is wearing the regalia of Nightstone. Ah. She, as they approach, you see, she's a female human, and she's between the other two. And they are looking from side to side. Does she look like a prisoner? It's hard to tell from your distance.

The one in the middle there is from Nightstone. And you know what? With that kind of, you started saying it, and I looked at Kuryloth, and I shake my head like, no. And I step right out into the doorway, making myself fully. apparent to the approaching three people. They killed Bido in cold blood. It wasn't his time. It takes a moment for them to notice you when their eyes slide across you.

Then one of them raises a hand in salutation and says, hail, we weren't sure if you would stay. And then Doren so aptly response, Well, you didn't think we would run, did you? We thought we left you on the ground. ground bleeding out. Well, you thought wrong. Now, what are you doing here?

Clearing out the town. Clearing out the town of what? Goblins and the likes of you. And if we should decide not to leave? Well, then you'll have to surrender. I'm on the roof. Am I hidden? I think I wanted to hide.

I think you're on the far side of the peak of the roof. So you're on the down slope, whereas they're sort of over the other side of the roof. Cool. Okay. So I can, I can see them? You can hear them. Can I get into a position where I could fire potentially? You can definitely poke your head up over the crest of the roof and watch what's going on.

I will do so. Okay. Jack and Kralath, you are still in the stables listening to this exchange. Kralath is ducking down full cover. They haven't seen him yet just beside one of the stable doors. The other Zendharam speaks up. And where are your friends? My companions are spread around this village.

So you're alone I'm never alone What? What? What's that I mean? In my heart. Moriden, Moriden is always with you? Yes. My God.

That's right. Unexpected religion. Moritin is always with me. Surrender, dwarf. I'll never surrender. And I clang my battle axe with my shield. I'll never surrender.

Well, then I suppose you'll die. And Dora just lets out a big laugh. Ha ha ha. Can I fire? They don't know you're there. You can absolutely take a surprise round. Might as well. Yeah, I'm going to attack.

Do it. Roll initiative. All right. Here we go. Jack, what did you roll? Seven. And Krala? Nine.

Red? Dirty 20. But is it better than a 10? No. Yes. Much better than a 10. But surprisingly, I'm second. Red, you said you wanted to fire at one of the two Zendharam agents who are crossing

in the square. Yeah. They're about 30 feet away from Doren right now and approaching. That's my wheelhouse within 30 feet. Roll to hit. I'm going to try rolling Chester. 13. That hits.

Hey. There to go, Chester. Oh, that is max damage. That is 13. You strike her in the throat and she keels over bleeding. It's your turn again. I'm going to attack again. Does she look bloody or I guess not?

She's fucking dead. Oh, I'll attack you. Dead. This is a Zantari? That isn't a 15 to hit. Suddenly, Red can aim. Yeah, 10 damage. You catch him in the side of the shoulder,

and he spins around looking for the source of the arrow, spots you on the roof, and then turns to the guard beside him, and says, Erase my browser history. Alara, go for help. How does she look? She looks so good.

No, no, but is she, I mean, obviously she's a nightstone, something. Yeah, she looks at him a little bit befuddled and kind of shocked and then looks up at you, red. Why don't you roll Insight? Yeah, I kind of, I'm going to, I want to say something too before my turn ends because I haven't moved or anything like that, but I definitely want to talk. Uh, insight with a, uh, 12. She seems unsure of what to do. Yeah, I'm gonna just say, we fight for Knightstone. You do not need to side with these Antarum.

He hisses at her. You swore fealty to us. And she looks. Look at the crest on your shirt. You swore legions to Nightstone. Very wisely, this is good. This is good. Roll persuasion.

Oh, happily. Persuade her. Now we get to see the strength. of my actual character, 16. She pulls her spear off of her back and with two hands sticks it into his side.

Fuck, yeah! This woman, she looks from left to right at the two dead bandits on either side of her. And then she quickly crosses the square door and towards you.

Yes. She swiftly runs past you and tries to close the stable door. She comes in and I make it very obvious that I'm welcoming and not no longer a threat to her. And that's the first thing that I say is, oh, the rest of the guards alive. No, I was the only one. So they've killed the rest of them. Yes. Are you all right?

Are you hurting anyway? No, I'm fine. My name's Alara. I had to promise to go along with him. Well, you don't need to promise that anymore. Thank you for what you did. You've done nice stone of service. Thank you for sheltering me.

I'm going to be watching up the pathway, by the way, in case any more are coming. Roll perception. 14. Nothing so far. How many of the Zetarum are still back at the keep? Kella and Zolkin stayed back there. Keller wanted to sleep in. She rolls her eyes.

So there's only two left? Yes. The other two were out salvaging what they could from the buildings around. We could probably get to drop on those two. They're just wandering the town, are they? I don't know. Where they are, I haven't seen them in. a little while. We've been traveling the three of us. I join the others as she's continuing to talk

and I say, well, we should bring the bodies in and they don't know that you've turned. That could be advantageous. And I'm going to go help with the bodies. They were keeping a close eye on me because I've turned my back on Nightstone, so. I'm thinking bait. I think if she runs out and you, you know, they'll follow. Sorry. I mean, not you being bait. Me? What? No, nothing. A bait. You know, fishing lures. And I turn to the guard, and I kind of put the guard's concern at ease. And I say, you may have decided to turn your back on Knightstone at one point. But surely you've proved yourself the other way.

And you're now part of the fight for Knight's Stone again. The resistance. The team awesome, as we call ourselves. Come on, Red. Let's get these bodies in, like you say. Did Lady Nandar ever mentioned Alera in any letters? You know, she's a... No, this is a mundane guard of no importance.

This bitch, Allerra will not stop. She chews so annoyingly. You never know. She eats ice. Kralath and I are just going to drag the guards to the side and cover some hay. Cover them with some hay. And just search them quickly as well. Oh, yeah.

Either than a leather armor? Ooh. They do have leather armor, but the armor is less useful than fresh leather armor would be. If you're taking stuff from monsters, it's not as of high quality as it would be. if you were buying it from an armory, which means it's not going to be as effective or useful. It's probably been found off another body, which was found off another body,

right, and it's not going to be worth as much if you were to sell it. So mechanically, just because we've breached the subject, what would the disadvantage be if I wore their leather armor? What would it be like? Less AC. Okay. You find three silver and eight copper pieces

between the two of them. I'll just write those down here and then we can... Clerics need money, yo. Here, buddy, do you need some money? I take the other one's pockets and, like, it to you. Lara, which way were the other guards headed? Did you see where they're at? The Zentarum. Bandits? Yeah, the bandits. They were reconstructing the bridge. I think they've about finished that, probably. I don't know where

they are. Well, it sounds like that bridge might be fixed. Is that the case? Yes. I say we delay no more and go and see our good friends, Kara and... Kela? Kila and... Zokin? Zolan. Zolin? Zorkin. Zorkin. I do think we should...

Those two. I mean, Kralath and I return from covering the bodies. I say, I do think we should kill the other guards first before approaching. We don't want anyone coming up from behind us. Oh, yes. Why don't I see if I can scout something from the roof and I'll climb up and all? Red, you scale the roof of the stables and you look out on the square? I'm just looking around the town.

You hear a sound carried to you on the wind. It is the sound of marching. So red is sort of scanning the nightstone and a marching perks up his severed ear. And sort of reality really just comes crashing for a second because that is totally foreign to him. Where's the marching coming from? Coming from the north? Beyond the walls? Yes.

He like perches right up on top of the chimney and stretches his eyes to look out towards the north beyond the walls. You see something that. chills your blood more than a score of orcs. Is the score? 20. Fuck.

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