Dice Shame - 89 | 'Blood Runs Cold'

Episode Date: June 24, 2021

An eerie fog brings more than the party realizes as they spend the night in the ancient tower... Comedy, action and a whole lot of shaming come together in Dice Shame, an Actual Play Podcast of Storm King's Thunder by Wizards of the Coast! Join our GM Jo; her partner Harlan, his brother Alex & their best friends Justin and Rob as they tackle the daunting world of Faerun in this legendary adventure module! Dice Shame is a podcast that welcomes its audience to the gaming table. Like the games they play at home, they try not to take themselves too seriously. The show aims to be entertaining, inclusive, and irreverent, while still taking the rules (somewhat) seriously. Join us every Thursday morning for brand new episodes available on all major platforms including; Spotify, iTunes, Google Play and more! If you haven't checked it out yet... what are you waiting for?!? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whoa, hi, what's going on? I think there's something interesting going on. I don't think it's dangerous. Get out of here, Kralov. You're standing on my stomach. No! Zulkin, go help them. You don't walk you anymore!

I said a badass line and I'm ready to fuck shit up. I got no magic and I'm stuck in a bumble. What do you want from me? Doran, is red still down there? I don't know where he is. God, why am I color blind? Come on, buddy, come on. I don't think we're gonna make it up there.

I always wanted to die surrounded by my friends. Unfortunately, that won't be today. Welcome back to Dice Shame, episode 89, Blood Runs Cold. This week's MVP is Scott Grigsby, who joined us on Facebook. Nice to see you, Scott. Looking for something spooky and awesome and amazing? By now you must know our friends at Dimension Door. Liz and James are like family. But did you know they have a second show called Dimension Door Severed Fate? If you think that title sounds awesome, you have good taste. Check them out at Dimension Door Podcast.com

And if you haven't already, make sure you're listening to the OG Dimension Door. You know, to be cool. Love those guys. All right, shall we do this? Let's play some D and D. I want to know this week, to start out Dishame, what is everyone's very favorite kind of food? Candy. Oh, wow.

Candy. Sorry. We can't talk about candy again. Justin. I mean, pizza. Homemade parodies. Pizza. Pizza. Snake meat. Snake meat. Snake meat. Did you even hear Rob's suggestion? A galette? Perogies. I said homemade perogies. Really? That's your fave? Oh, my God. They're the, yeah, yeah. But they're also like traditional. They're nostalgic.

They're this like the Christmas Easter, like food where it's the production of everybody pinching parogis all day, drinking gin and tonic and hanging out. And so, but. Oh, yeah. It's like a family. But also they're... How old were you when you were drinking gin and tonic? Four. Way too young. When I was three. You had to learn to mix gin and tonics properly before you got to drink one. But you had to keep the parogi pinchers fueled. Don't worry. That's what our family was.

You need to, in our family, you needed to know how to make a martini at like, 10. You know, like, you need it. Because of everything. Gin and tonic was the parogi pinching drink. That's for sure. I like that. I mean, I love, love parogis. I think, obviously, I don't have a familial connection with them.

So obviously that boosts it. But, I mean, pizza for me is like a super anytime. I love it. And every time I don't, I'm like, pizza is so-so. And then I have it. I'm like, oh, no, pizza's everything. It's so good.

Well, funny, because last night I was eating a taco. And I was like, wow, it's really up there between tacos and pizza. Hard shell taco or soft-tail taco? Actually, it was a hard shell wrapped with a soft shell. That's the best way to do it. Hard shell with the soft on the outside. Late Cinco de Mayo. Actually, well, we had it a day before, the day after Cinco de Mayo.

Oh, you did a Cinco de Mayo sandwich. You know, the thing is, though, like, I've had tacos here and I've had tacos in Mexico, and they're brilliant both ways. Like, different, but I have to say I've had pizza in Italy and it's like pizza here. But pizza was invented in New York. What do you mean? Okay, fine. Well, I've had pizza in New York, too. I don't know. Pizza is the same everywhere. Cuba. I just find pizzas, like, you can have good pizza and bad pizza and all those places, but tacos are very different here in Canada than they are in even in. Well, pizza in Italy and Italy. pizzas is very different. I didn't think so. It's not, if you try to find like a slice of New York pizza

in like Italy, you're not really going to have the same thing. It's like fresh tomato and Rio Mozrella. Pizza fact. When do you think the first pizzeria

in Canada opened? Pizza fact. Is this a pizza fact or a pizza quiz? It's a question. I've got the answer. It's a pizza quiz. 1951.

1800. Seven. 1967. Ninety-eight was the first. I was two years off. I win. Pizzeries.

Napolitana in Montreal was the first pizzer in Canada. Justin, what's your favorite food? Lobster, hands down. You do love love. You're so funny. I love lobster. It's simple. It hasn't changed my entire life. It doesn't need to change. It doesn't need to change. Simple man with simple tastes.

I like a food that I can destroy an entire creature. I want it all of it. I love seafood. I'm all with you. No, I do too. Rather than just a little piece of a detail. I'm not saying that that's like bad thing. I totally, I like the feeling of like ripping this lobster's head off. It's efficient. You came over for a lobster dinner

on your birthday. We bought two lobsters. You taught me how to make lobster. You know I've completely forgotten. Oh shit. I was just remembering that little, uh, fucking crawfish boil we did for Chris's birthday. Oh, yeah. That was so good. Yeah. Crawfish is up there too. Except you don't get the same amount of meat. But they're so tiny. They're tiny. Yeah. How do you guys feel about oysters? Oh, love them. Love them. I like

them. Rob. I love them. I'm all for, like seafood and I thought it might be divisive, but never mind, we all love it. Nope. Fuck yeah. Nothing beats fresh caught or picked or plucked oysters off of the west. Harvested. Chiseled. Chiseled. Chiseled oysters.

Chiseled. Shovel? They're like taken off rocks. Yeah, walking along the intertidal zone in BC, just like picking them up and putting them over fire. Shucked. How about shucked? Well, shucked is, yeah.

Oh, yeah. What we need to do is once all this COVID's over, we do a cottage weekend where we all kitchen and do a big seafood feast steaming pot right please and we and we do like a lobster we do like oyster we do like oyster appetizer and then we do a dump out breakfast galettes I don't think I won't with with scallops in it we're having seafood all weekend all meals all weekend all meals Joe Joe what about your favorite food yeah I don't know I mean you're all making very convincing arguments I can't I can't pick one I like lobster that's my What's a food you like?

I love pizza and lobster and tacos and steak. Paroogies. And steak. I love steak a lot. Steak is the thing that you come home being like, man, I want a steak tonight. I need a steak tonight. I don't ever say I need a steak. Here's a question.

Joe, you used to be a vegetarian. I did. I was a vegan. You were a vegan. What was your favorite food when you were a vegan? Steak. She just couldn't have it. I was really, honestly, I really love a lot of vegetables.

I think my favorite vegetable is probably artichoke. So I really loved, like, steamed or roasted artichokes. So fucking good. Olives are also really up there for me. Love an olive. But those are like... Pickled anything is what I understood. Those are big.

Yeah. Well, I mean, we're not talking about like single elements. I thought we were talking about like a dish. Well, what genre of food do I like the most? I'm probably going to go with Italian. I demolish a pasta. I really, really love a lasagna. We don't eat pasta a lot at home because Harlan's not crazy about it,

but I think it's definitely one of my favorites. Yeah, and steak. We're really lucky in Toronto. There's just a ton of really amazing things happening culinary. Our food culture is pretty cool. Culinarily. Man, I don't know how we can record this.

episode because my mouth is watering so much. Let's just talk about food for another. Shall we play some D&D? Let's eat some monsters. Kralath, you are awakened by the insistent voice of Captain Trenneros calling to you from outside the hut. Sir Kralath, we are not alone here in the spire. Another presence calls to us from somewhere. Follow me.

And Kralath rubs his eyes, grabs. his shield and mace and follows his captain. The semi-translucent form of your captain descends the spiral staircase through the darkness, through this tower down. Do we hear him, like I have a passive perception of 20. Do I hear him stir? I don't think you automatically hear people as they wake up.

Kralath, did you want to wake any of your buddies? So Kralath, he gets up and he grabs his shield and his mace, and as he kind of stumbles out of the hut, he accidentally clangs his mace off of the side of Red's head. Ow! What the hell, Grayla! Oh, sorry, Redd. Go back to sleep. I'm just going out for a minute. What's going on? Why are you going out? Captain Treneros. He says there's a presence in the tower. I just wanted to go check it out,

but I don't think it's worth waking everybody up. Yeah, well, you'd be tough getting rid of me. I stand up, let's go. And I proceed out of the tent. And I follow, and just before I leave, I just kick Doran's foot a little bit, just so he's aware if something goes wrong. Yeah, and Doran rolls over and goes back to sleep.

Farts. Hell no. Very instinctively, an eye opens. You just see Red's eye and Red sort of nods, you know, Yeah, it's almost like instinct Like if I'm walking at night I don't suddenly jump I'd like become aware of my surroundings Because of my soldier training

I love the idea that Doren He's mid-snore and he wakes up And keeps snoring Like he's he opens his eyes But he fakes the sound I really like that Yeah like he doesn't miss a beat You know what I mean

I think that would be a really cool little And it's so true too So he does He keeps an eye and you're leaving The semi-translucent form of your captain descends the spiral staircase through the darkness, leading you Kralath and Red, you follow Kralath, not seeing where he's heading what he's following, but trusting your friend. And you head down two stories to the conservatory, bathed in moonlight coming out through the windows

that point east. You see a ghostly figure that stands. in this room at one of the windows, staring out at the darkness of the canyon. Its body is draped in flowing robes, ethereal and serene. Um, are you seeing this, Red? Yeah, I am. Did your captain lead us here? Yeah, he did. I'm sure it's all right. Red just leans back to the stairwell and just does a

to let the others know. Like I think this could be something they might want to experience too, right? As soon as I hear that little bit of a whistle, I like immediately turn over and grab Jack's leg and I shake him. Jack, wake up. What there?

Jack is not trained for combat and does not keep snoring when he wakes up. Mid-nightmare from all of the horrible things that have happened to him recently. Whoa, what's going on? Reds down there with Kraloth. I think there's something interesting going on. I don't think it's dangerous, not by the sound of the whistle.

Come with me. But Doran, as you stand up from Lehman's tiny hut, you look out at the night spangled with pinpricks of bright stars, and you see that below you, in the canyon, a crawling, grasping fog is rolling in. The mist billows and rolls like the sea, spreading out to every rocky crevasse and enveloping the base of the tower. Oh, hey, look at this.

I give a whistle back down to red, and they go, a bit of a heads up. It's a knowing whistle. Red nods. A knowing whistle. Sort of looks out the window and turns back towards Kralath, who's approached this thing. Zokin, are you awake now? Oh, is it morning?

It's not clear what's happening yet. Something. Dorn, why don't you go scope a little? but out, if I leave the safety of the camp, it goes away. But right now, we could all last here all night if we were under siegeed by something. So I'm... Okay. Until there's a real problem.

I'm going to go run down now, then. Keep an ear out for if there's anything crazy happening. Give us a signal, we'll be there. I just... All right. You've got a safe place to retreat, too. Yeah. No, good thinking.

Good thinking. And Doran kind of like scrambles out and a hushed whisper down the stairs. Dorn, you find your companions standing in this. Moonlit Conservatory. And Kralov steps forward and says, Hello, meth. I see you. And as you walk in,

you hear this figure begin to speak. Our company came to the tower late in the summer, having plundered the river and gained the ire of the barge-masters upstream. We fled up into the canyon, looking for a place to lay low and hide our spoils.

Finding this ruin felt like destiny. And after sewing our loot and posting a guard, we crowed about our fortune and collapsed into revelry. Our final night cloaked in the rapture of greed. The fog came in off the river then, curling around each bend, seeking us and finding our nest in the tower. Belrill woke us and bade us arm ourselves for the unnerving sound, unmaned him as it surrounded us. We took up positions to defend our lives and our bounty, a fool's endeavor.

We stood no chance against the horde. The swarm so vast it stripped the life from us in a mere instant. And she turns from the window where she looks out at the fall. The fog growing in the valley. The fog looms, mortal creature. I have watched it many times from my station in on death. Whenever this tower acts as shelter, it is always the same. You cannot fight, nor can you flee.

Even the surest footed horses are run down and torn to pieces. Hide. And from that instant, the tower. is mired in thick fog on all sides. From the fog, the distance sound of clicking echoes all around, getting closer, louder. You start to be able to discern shapes below through the windows, something moving in the darkness, many some things. We have to hide. Right. Red. We have to hide now. A chittering, clicking sound seeps out of the fog, and from your spot here in the conservatory, you begin to hear tapping on the walls of the tower

on all sides, climbing faster than you could possibly ascend the stairs like the probing of claws, something dark moving outside the tower all around you. I don't think we're going to make it up there. Doran, come on. And he runs to the stairs and heads one floor up and quickly holds the door open for Kralov and Doren to follow. Yeah, follow him in and close the door behind. Maybe we should bar the door and red sort of like,

motions for Krala to pick up a desk and like we sort of move it in front of the door. And Kralov does that, but then he also looks at the bottom of the door where there's a crack and he grabs a sheet of burlap and puts it down underneath to potentially stop it. And Red runs to the windows and like closes the drapes. Yeah, and Doren's pushing up the beds

and pushing the dressers in front of the windows as well. She said there was no chance. We need to do as much as we can. And he scurries under a bed and sort of leaves room for Doran. Because I think the two of them would fit under one bed. Kralath would probably fit under the other. Krayloff puts himself under a lampshade.

So yeah, Kralov is going to cower under a bed as well. And are you able to do that spell that makes us unheard and unseen red? And I'm going to cast silence. Ooh. You lose all perception of whether or not it is safe. for you inside this sphere as all of your senses are dampened. You can no longer hear these creatures crawling all over the tower. You have no idea whether they're still there or not.

Jack, from your spot on the roof, you hear tapping on the walls of the tower, on the walls of the canyon all around you, like the probing of claws. Yeah. And you start to be able to discern these shapes around you, moving on the walls in the darkness. What are we seeing? It's hard to tell. These are quick creatures that are moving spider-like,

climbing multi-legged creatures, hundreds of them. For lack of a better thing to do, Jack goes to his safe place, which is studying something, and so creates an illusion, like a minor illusion of the thing. And as he sees another detail, just picks something out, he tries and, like, molds it onto the things. So at the end of this, he'll have an idea of what, like, what he saw in the shadows. Mm-hmm. You feel something on your leg.

Yeah. As Jackson looks up at you nervously. Oh, I'll scoop him into my arms, absolutely, and rub the back of his head as I keep peering out into the darkness. You hear a terrible screeching racket as these creatures breach the tower. and begin their climb upwards toward you and as they crest the sides you see them nimbly shuffle towards you in the darkness red kralov doran as you stand in utter stillness not even hearing the sounds of your own hearts racing in your chests you see the burlap sack that kralov had stuffed underneath the crevice at the bottom of the door

get pulled backwards in the darkness as something snatches it away out into the hallway and then from your vantage underneath the beds you see the door begin to shudder as it is being broken down. Oh, but we don't even hear it. That's the thing. Red holds a finger up to his lips just like shaking his head. And I think he slowly pulls his.

rapier. The door shutters with increasing intensity, splinters and as you watch part of the door near the doorknob breaks open and you see this long spike

push through probing and then the door comes off its hinges all together. Something dark moves into the room climbing up the wall. Spider-like. It's followed in quick succession by eight or nine other creatures. Their spiked legs tapping the stone. You feel like you can almost feel the reverberations

through the ground. Six dark crab-like legs propelling a thick reptilian body and jack up on the roof, we see him sketching it onto this illusion fervently as he sees them climb all over the top of Liamon's tiny hut entirely covering everything he can see now. Their next curve, long hypermobile and they snap and hiss at each other through jaws of sharp white teeth rearing up tall as a horse on four legs and probing the air with their snout searching for the source of some trace they skitter through the room now you see their legs breaking the stone underfoot as they pace around the bed knocking at the remains of furniture furniture aside and stabbing them with their forecloths.

Doran just stares wide-eyed at the goings-on in this room. Kralath, you recognize the remains of the sheet that you used to cover the bodies earlier of the cadavers. It's being torn at by two or three of these creatures. They're fighting over the remain of something that once had blood on it. And then they start to leave. And we breathe silently for the first time. Seconds pass like minutes.

And slowly, slowly, Jack, the tapping on the outside of the tower recedes. The creatures leave you alone from where you are sitting underneath Lehman's tiny hunt. Once they're gone, I'll start sending messages in the direction Doren went trying to see if I can. Dornie, okay. after like a good minute, you know, maybe Doren starts to move and Red like holds a hand up. He's like, no, no, another minute. And then eventually, I think Red slinks up to the door and just looks out. And I think he nods to the other two.

And I think we head back up. As you begin to ascend the stairs, Red, you find yourself face to face with one of these six-legged, kite-covered reptiles. Oh, fuck. It hisses in delight and launches itself at you as three more creatures skitter out of the shadows and join it. Fuck. Everybody roll for initiative. It tricked you. That would be a natural one.

Oh, no. That's a four. Red was not ready. All right. Doran. Also a four. Who wants to go first? Red or Doran?

Red, please. Kralath, what did you get? I got 14. Jack rolled at 19 for what that's worth. Now, is it safe to say that we healed up? No. With short rests, no? Nope.

You guys did not roll hit dice. You did not have a short rest. You tried to take a long rest that was interrupted. Oh, I see. Health potions, people. This is going to be a short battle for red. All you need to do is get up to the top of the stairs. It's not going to matter.

I'm going to go down. All right. Jack, it's your turn. Doran, Red, Kralath, are you right? Right at the edge of the stairs, but not daring to leave the spear. Are we in silence still? Oh, yeah. We still have... All of this is in silence.

Oh, yeah. So they don't hear you. It's like this. It sounds like this. Stupid. Great. So it's the creature's turns. They swarm you, red.

All four of them. Yep. They come running towards you. So two of them are on either side of you as you look out from the doorway, and then two of them come down from the ceiling and drop onto the floor. They all stab out at you with these long pointed forecloths that look very much like crab's legs, but sicker and more deadly pointed. Not as good lobster. Too much work for reward, you know? Does 17 hit you?

Yes. Does 23 hit you? Yep. Does 10 hit you? Nope. Does 8 hit you? No. Does 7 hit you?

Nope. Does 14 hit you? No. Does 18 hit you? Yes. Does 12 hit you? No. So in a flurry of stabbing, these four creatures launch themselves at you, read, screaming in silence, and you take three good hit.

Ha ha! Five piercing, followed by another five piercing, and then eight piercing damage. So 18 altogether. Yeah, red goes down. Oof. It's your turn. You're standing behind your friend, and you watch him sustain these terrible injuries. Oh, and the silence winks out.

Right, of course. The silence winks out while Kralath is mid-shout. No! Krayloth rushes forward in between Red and these creatures. And as a bonus action, he's going to cast spiritual weapon. So a scythe appears behind one of these creatures. And he shouts to Doran, I'll try to draw their attacks. And I'm going to take the Dodge action.

Cool. And try to get as many of these things to try to attack me as possible. Come on. So you're standing on top of Red's body. essentially. Yeah, yeah, standing over and protecting him and trying to take the hits. Awesome. So make a melee spell attack against one of these dudes? That's a miss. My sith doesn't come through. It was a two. Yeah, no, you miss, unfortunately. Okay, but valiant action. So this misty sithe just

hovers above one of the creatures and takes a swipe and it skitters out of the way. Red, it's your turn. make a save against death, my love. God. Natural 20. Hey! Hey! That dice went from a 1 to a 20. That means you come back to one hit point.

You're back up with one hit point. Sweet. Technically, now that you're conscious, you and Kralov cannot occupy the same square, unfortunately, so I want you both to take 1D10 force damage. I'm kidding. Oof! Krahloff goes down. Just remember that you guys are going to have to deal with that as your turn.

I think we'll homebrew it that one of you is going to have to move next turn. You can't continue to occupy the space. Get out of here, Kralov. You're standing on my stomach. Oh, you're alive. Thank Kellenvoy. It's going to take more than that to kill old Red. It ain't your time yet, buddy.

Dorn, it's your turn. Red, just like, he's lying on the ground, Krelas above him, just protecting with his shield. And you watch, like, Red coughs up some blood and, like, turns weakly. I didn't cough anything. I said a badass line, and I'm ready to fuck shit up. Doran releases a gutter roll. Oh, watching a real, real, imagine it. Doran, you're alive. What's happening down there?

Oh, we were in a cloud of silence there, but we're being attacked by these gangly creatures. And as he's yelling this up to Jack, he dives through the doorway and I attack. So you leap through the doorway, two creatures just stab out at you with their long, stabby claws. Stabby claws. Does a 23 hit you? Yes. Does a 15 hit you? No. So you take four piercing damage.

Ow! That felt like a little pinprick. Maybe I underestimated the power of these things and he pulls his axe over top of his head and he brings it down. 26 to hit? Yes, you hit with a 26. Nice. Yeah, it's armor cracks underneath the weight of Ork Splitter as you wield her. Doing full damage. of 18.

Hell yeah, you do. Nice. And then I don't even change my focus, and I stay right on that one, and I take another hack at it with 19 to hit. Yep. 14 damage. Yeah, you fuck it up really good. Nice.

Your axe is still kind of buried in the back of its head, and it's screaming at you. This, like, reptilian face. I'm feeling lobster tonight, boys. Okay, great job. Jack, it's your turn. you hear the cries of your friends echoing up from downstairs. What do you do? Did I learn, they're just looking at these creatures all night as they fucking were around us. Did I learn anything I think could help these guys if I, if I yelled down at them?

I mean, you know for sure that they're well armored as you're watching them and hearing the sounds of their claws tap on the outside of Liam and's tiny hut. Yeah, barring that, I might just help Zulkin up and say, Zulkin, go help them. It's safe. You just drag them back up here. As soon as you get inside the barrier, we're safe. Um, Zolkin's like, all right, what are you going to do? If I leave the space, the shield drops. If I, I'm, I'm stuck here keeping the safe zone. If I go down there, then we could be overwhelmed. No, no, that makes sense. That makes sense. Uh, and then Zulkin picks up his scimitar and rushes downstairs. Uh, takes him basically all of his movement to get to the rear.

of the creature that is just to the north of red so Zulkin dashes for his turn and makes it into the fray breathing heavily and wielding his weapon just in time for the creature to turn on him

yeah it readies its sharp forecloths and pounces on him screaming luckily because of this narrow hallway Zulkin is not affected by the creature having access to its companions.

Unfortunately, Zulkin takes two hits from this creature. Both of its forecloths go straight through Zulkin's leg. He died a hero. Oh, he takes max damage. Yeah, Zulkin actually takes both of those hits through the abdomen and he starts bleeding out all over the place. He's still alive, but he's not looking great. Um, brave coming down here.

Yeah, Kralath, the two creatures that were standing over Red's body just ready to start eating him. They attack you instead as you were this beefy target protecting your friend now with your shield. They have disadvantage. The first creature attacks you twice with a 22 and a 23 to hit you. Definitely both. Both of them hit. And then the second creature attacks, uh, 15? That hits as well, yeah.

15 hits you? Yeah, I don't have my armor on. I'm in my knickers. Oh my gosh. They got a print on them or are they just like a leather or what you got going on? You're like the classic white with hearts. Yeah, I think that makes sense. But you've got your shield out, right?

I'm picturing like a heart balanced on a scale of Kellenvore. Oh, there we go. Oh, I like that. Merch idea. Um, you take 20 even. points of damage for those three hits. Oof. Okay. The final monster attacks Doren

wildly, even though Doren's axe is firmly buried inside of its brain. That's a natural 20. Oh, my God. Don't fight. Just run up here. I'm going to cancel it as a 20. Ah, yeah. Nice. So it's just a normal hit.

Fuck yeah. But I've used, I've used, that's the second one that I've used. That's five people. piercing damage, Doran. Thank you, Krayloth. Kralath, it's your turn. Whoa. Kralath moves out of the way of Red, shifts over, and says,

just get out of here. Don't worry about me. I'll figure it out. Red says bleeding. Bleeding. I always wanted to die surrounded by my friends. Unfortunately, that won't be today. But you can't die down there.

Get up here. I'm talking to Kraloch, Jack. You know? This is an issue with us. You always tend to put your nose where you shouldn't be. You're like struggled breath. You bleed out again from all the exertion of talking. You can die till we resolve our bullshit.

Get up here. We don't have the time. I'm going to slice at it. Excellent. That's 17 to hit? No, you miss. Wow, these things are tough. They are be armored.

They're be armored. they're de lovely they be armored yarr they're probably from yartar if not from yartar then jalanthar jalanthar jalanthar or rassalantar razzalantar or watar type it took me a while to parse that last one

in that case I'm going to I'm going to disengage and I'm going to as your action yes my action and red through tear-filled eyes it's just like Goodbye, my friend. I mean, these creatures are excited about eating something. Oh, shut up. You got another character on deck, don't you?

I'm... It's safe up here. Get up here. I'm trying to decide... White fang. Go! Get out of here. I don't need you anymore.

I don't want you anymore. God, I'm like... You're in headlights right now. Justin, your instinct is fine. I think you should disengage. I think you should get to the Lehman's Tiny Hut. That's what we should all be doing. And we're going to do that.

I'm going to do it. It's going to be fine. Okay. I'll just disengage. Run. It's fine. So Krayloff is going to disengage and he's going to say, come on, let's get upstairs. And he's going to move over. I can't occupy the same space as Red. And I'm going to move over to the stairwell. So you dodge past these creatures, past Doran, and you begin to ascend the stairs. Red, it's your turn. What do you do? Red, eyes welling with tears as his friend abandons him.

Shut up. You jerk. Red sees these creatures looming over him. And with a fear that has struck him to his core, he reaches into the bag of holding and pulls out a berry. And he slips into his mouth and says, God, I hope that's not one of the poison ones. And he's going to swallow the silver invisible berry. And now that he's invisible,

he's going to use his feline agility to move 90 feet all the way upstairs and back into Liamon's tiny hat. Awesome. Could you imagine, though? I just put the poison berry in my mouth. So you have the shits and then you die. And then I... Get into Liam and then the Kramm's tiny hut

and then the cramps start in your real trouble. Oh, boy. I took two berries. It's a handful of berries. I don't care what they were, but... God, why am I color blind? Doran, what do you do? Um, I attack.

The one that's in front of me. Oh, because if you attack, they can't provoke attack of opportunities. Then you can walk up, you can back up anyways. You're laughing. Right, that's true. That's the whole. mobile thing. You can do your multi-attack and then go back up the stairs. That just leaves Zulkin

by himself downstairs. He'll figure it out. He's got five hit points. Don't worry about it. Fuck. Okay, I'll just tackle one in front of me before thinking anymore. Do it. That is probably going to hit with a 26. Yep. Nice. Sweet. All right. 17. What does it look like when you kill the monster? Oh, I chop off its head and it's like neck and head kind of go wiggly, wiggly. And its legs are all chattering around looking for where it's picturing like a fountain of blood as this long neck whips back and forth. Yeah, yeah.

Evil Dead style. Check it, check it, check, check. And its legs are still like moving, like stabbing at the ground. That's exactly what I was thinking, yeah. Ugly blue horseshoe crab kind of blood. So as that's happening. Ugly.

Yeah, then I run around and I stand beside Zolkin at the bottom of the stairs. Okay. So you run to the other side and you take up position beside Zulkin. Yeah. and attack the creature that's standing in front of him. Yeah, man, do it.

I mean, this is very brave of you. Yeah, well, I'm trying to give everybody the best opportunity. Great. So, Doren, you take down this one monster and then you hustle around the bend. You hear your friends running up the stairs, but you don't follow them. No. You come around the corner and you see Zulkin. He's bleeding heavily from the stomach and he's beset by three more creatures.

What do you do? I attack the one that's standing directly in front of him. And I kind of get in between him and the creature. You like push your way between him. Yeah. And I put my hand on his chest and I say, get out of here. And I attack the one creature that's standing in front of me and I hit with a 27. Fuck yeah.

Nice. Doing 15. Hey. Great job. Splashing damage. Jack, it's your turn. You watch as, I mean, you don't watch as red does anything because he's invisible, but. Red must have.

dive right behind him and Jack's still like staring at the edge of this bubble down the stairs being like get up here everybody and just like frustrated as heck he's almost got like a little blinking illusion of an arrow being like come the fuck up it's all it's all he can do you hear red's voice he's like hey jack what's new and like behind you you just see blood like dripping out onto the floor shit red are you okay I'm fine one hit point I don't even have any healing potions to offer you take one from my bag please oh I'd love to grab one from your bag and feed it to you. Yeah, you can do that as your action for sure.

Definitely. You rifle through the bag of holding. You find one of the healing potions. Because it's also like, Red, where are you? You're invisible. Tell me where the bag is. You're pouring it on my face, Jack. You know what?

It's right in my eyes. Come on, man. In order to get it in Red's mouth, I feel like you have to like hug him. Oh, it's a very intimate, like, guide my hands kind of moment for sure. Yeah. It's kind of sexy. Downstairs, Zolkin clasps a hand to this wound that is just oozing blood all over the place. And he's like, Doren, are you sure?

You got this? Get out of here. So he disengages from the enemy and runs upstairs backwards, sort of keeping an eye on you, Doren. But you watch as he retreats. And he makes it almost to the top of the stairs. Excellent. It's the creature's turns. Doren, you are swarmed by three.

terrible monsters they attack you two times each with advantage each of them 15 to hit 18 to hit yes that's 22 to hit I thought that was damage I was really worried I was going to say what the fuck

and 10 to hit no 20 yeah so that means you take three hits from these three creatures one each lands a hit on you all together you take 23 piercing damage. Doran, you take these three terrible hits, jab, jab, jab. And these creatures are just chittering, screaming at you in their weird reptilian insectoid voices. Hungry for your flesh,

they're like tearing at you with their teeth kind of tentatively as you defend against them, blocking their arms. Cool. And I'm going to move and start heading up the stairs. Kralath, it's your turn. So Kralath sees Doren. coming up the stairs and Krayloff's right at the top. He says, come on, buddy, come on. And Kralov is going to cast channeled divinity. He's going to cast path to the grave on one of the chitterers that's been hit because he knows that when Doren doesn't attack, he will be able to dodge away successfully. So the next time this creature takes damage, it's going to be double. Okay. And then Kralov is going to book it to Liam and's tiny hut.

Excellent. Redd, it's your turn. You watch as Zolkin just drags himself up the stairs and you can hear Kralath moving up quickly after him. What do you do? I'm still invisible, right? Yeah. You haven't taken an attack action. Cool. I'll probably just... How much healing did you get? Seven hit points. I'm up to eight. Jack is cradling you. Thanks, Jack, but I don't want to have to tell Torn about this and I push myself out of his arms and I run over to Zolkin and I help him into the bubble. Oh, nice.

I'm like, come on, buddy. And this, like, invisible force puts his arms around Zolkin. And there's this whole, like, moment of, because I want to get out there and, like, help drag him in, but I stuck. If I leave the bubble, it goes away. So there's this, like, hanging right at the edge, trying to, you know, signal everybody in. Stopping yourself. You have to be justifying it. Guys, I can't leave, okay?

I swear I would, but I just, if I leave. Jack's actually, like, having a snack. He's got, I can't. I'm sorry. You know, what else was I going to do? You want to really make your time efficient. and that's the secrets of the masters, you know, is to find the best use of your time.

When you said he's having a snack, all I could picture is I'm having one of those, like, cheese dips with, like, the stick crackers. Snack fantasy chakouterie version of that where he's laying over and slicing up some cheese. No, in my mind, it's like literally that plastic pull and peel. He's got a lunchable. And you're dipping those sticks in the cheese.

You're like, oh, good. I can't help. I'm sorry. I got no magic and I'm stuck in a bubble. He's peeling the plastic off a fruit roll-up. Um, no, but, but Red puts his hands around Zolkin and brings him in as Zolkin sort of gets this feeling of like this invisible creature kind of sweeping him in. And I say, I'm like, I saw you came down for us, buddy. You did good. And Red, you, you help Zolkin into the safety of Lehman's tiny hut. And he collapses on the ground at Jack's feet. Doran, what do you do? Uh, so I imagine these creatures are chasing me up. Yeah, man. So I'm going to continue to attack and run. Cool. Dorin, it's your time. And I'm kind of like walking backwards up the stairs, chopping down. So I feel like I have advantage on these hits.

I don't think so, but nice try. He's got the high ground, though. Star Wars taught us anything. I know. I know. And I think we all established it didn't teach us anything. And of all the jokingness, it's like my dice were reading me or something. Does a 13 hit?

No. Oh. A swing and a miss. But I should hit with a 27. Fuck yeah. Yeah, that hits. Nice. Double damage.

Doing double damage? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because of the one two. The old one three. So you roll once and double it. 32 damage. Holy shit. Nice.

Yeah, you fucking kill it. Good. Nice. Yeah. I put my axe through its torso and it splits it kind of open in the legs, can't support its body in it. crumbles in half. Send these fuckers back to where they came from.

It actually starts rolling down the stairs. Right, yeah, because we're on the spiral staircase. It rolls downstairs and you don't see it anymore. It just leaves this trail of dark blood. And they run into the hut. You're the last one, okay. I think what's down? More of those creatures?

There are these, uh, yeah, these crawly-legged creatures with big fangs. And I don't know. I just killed a couple of them, but they seem to be doing a lot of damage to our party. Doren, is Red still down there? I don't know where he is. I'm here, boys. It's okay. And you feel like a little furry hand on your shoulder. Old Red

isn't going to go down that easy. It's just a hand, like a paw print of blood on here? Yeah. Thank Cullen for Red. I, I... Well, you can thank Thara for

those berries. Oh, is that what you ate? Oh. Anyway. And Red, you just see like the shifting of cloth as he crawls back into his bedroll. He's like, I think I just gonna risk my... The creatures are like run up from downstairs and just start battering the side of Lehman's tiny hut.

I think I want to take another 10 minutes to like re-up the spell to give us another eight hours. A top up. So these monsters, you know, throw themselves against the wall of the hut and then eventually lose interest and retreat back to where, they came from, and you're able to get some rest.

I feel like Doran, well, I feel like we would all be sitting there kind of like in this exhausted shamble and watching these creatures throw themselves at this invisible wall in front of us and just like, just kind of take it in and catch our breath as we watch these creatures exhaust themselves throwing, you know, it's like that image in my mind of them throwing themselves at nothing and kind of going, oh, the hell are they? losing interest in leaving, you know. Kralov is brows knit together in concentration and confusion as he fumbles at the ring on his finger.

Well, best if we get some rest. You're all going to be okay. You all feel patched up well enough. Yeah. Sleep will do me good. Zulkin is like, need rest. curls up in basically in shock

in his bed roll. After waiting for the adrenaline to subside, you're all eventually able to fall asleep. And why not? I'll let you guys get eight hours of rest.

You get your long rest. It feels like it doesn't happen too often these days. This might be the first rest Jack has had like the real one in a long time. And you can't call this a good night. That's for sure.

It dawns bright and clear but crisp. And actually on the outside of Lehman's tiny hut, it's not as translucent as you would expect because it's covered in a layer of frost. And I love the idea that we were sleeping for an hour and then got woken up. So like an hour before Jack assumes it's going to stop, we're all just looking up.

And the snow, it just goes, and all the snow falls on us. Yeah. We're like, ah, oh, I mean, there's something magical, though,

of looking up and just having this hoarfrost dome, like lattice work above us for just a minute before it collapses in on us. Oh, true, yeah, yeah.

Talk about a way to wake up. Oh, good morning, boys. I'm feeling much better. Ooh. Red sits up and starts rolling up his bed roll in the frosty morning. Oh, mm-hmm. I find a refurb.

How's everybody doing? I'm feeling much better, thank you. Really needed that rest. What the hell was that all about? Jack, when we went down there, there was a spectral creature speaking to us and warned us of the fog coming, and they told us to hide. This place has some terrible memories. I don't know. It said the name Bell Rill, but it didn't seem so much as a warning, but more of just a, maybe a kind spirit that hasn't passed yet.

Jack takes some notes down on actual paper for historical purposes and sort of says, let's hope the vultures survived. It's funny now that Liaman's tiny hut has been dismissed, the vultures are not in their stables downstairs, but they are all perched on the rim of the canyon looking down at you in the tower. It seems like they had escaped their captivity last night and made it clear, but they're still bound to this place by some instinct waiting for their masters. So they took to the air last night in response to this onslaught of monsters, and they're here like horses after a storm just waiting for you. Nice.

Cool. Red is reaching into the bag of holding and he's handing out all of the cowls. and to everybody to ride them. And as he gets to Zorkin, he hands the cow, and he says, Zulkin, I meant what I said to you yesterday down in the stables. There's a lot in you, and I hope you put it to good use. Here, and he reaches in, and he takes out his fair share of the gold, 300-ish, whatever it ends up being,

and hands him a big pile of it and says, no idea where you're off to now. I'm going to chase the sun. Don't get too close. I hear it's pretty hot. And he dons the helmet, looking darkly handsome with this pointed horns atop, this, like, metal crest. And he starts walking down, and he gives you guys a last salute and yells, farewell, Nightstone 4. So long, Zulkin.

Goodbye, Zulkin. And you watch as he sort of crawls up, ascends this canyon wall, makes a successful animal handling check. loops a leg over the back of a vulture and takes off into the morning light. You know, this is the first time I'm going to miss that, jerk. Yeah. You guys get set up. I'll just be a second. And Kralov goes off into one of the corners behind one of the raised areas.

And Kralath rubs the ring on his finger and then takes a at attention stance and says, Captain, you don't need to make yourself seen, but I just wanted to say thank you for alerting me to the presence of that Spectre last night. If it hadn't been for her, there's a good chance we would have tried to fight. So I appreciate you're looking out for me still after all these years. You don't see him, but you hear his voice in your ear. It's almost fatherly. Be safe. All right.

And Kralov salutes and heads back to the others. And I feel like we're trying to get Dorn on to one of the vultures. And Jack's on one side and I'm on the other side. Just hold here. Don't worry about it. The long as you got the helmet on, he's not going to bite him. And I keep on like going up and falling over the other side. Yeah.

All right here. And we're like lashing. Like we're lashing him on. Like I'm throwing it over. But it turns out to be. the saddle that's been partly cut through and by the moment that you have Doran just perfectly perched atop the saddle

then it breaks and then falls off. Dorian just picture it like a cliff face or a rock just hold on for dear life. You know, I can do that. And then all of a sudden I stick and I stick like glue. Hey, you go Kralath and I hand Kraylaught his helmet and put on my own.

Figure that this was going to be how you guys wanted to get out of here. So I'm going to cast calm emotions on myself. I thought you were going to cast blindness or deafness That's awesome I just don't want to see You know what they say don't look down Yeah I gotta cast calm emotions on myself

Strap yourself into that balloon pack Yeah And just like my whole face relaxes As I put the cowl on I say It's gonna be all right The animals Launch themselves into the air

Powerfully Their wings beating hard on either side of you, and you wheel once over the canyon, gaining this wild perspective that just shifts as the animal turns in the air, and the four of you wing north back towards Yarder. Back to Yarder. Thanks again to our wonderful Patreon supporters, Christopher Ryan Evans, Colin Burkhart, Daniel Doug, Jessica Orrett, Mary Karniski, Katie Orrett, Perrin Christi, and Merlin. Thank you so much. Hey, hey.

Hey, Kraylov goes off into one of the corners behind one of the raised areas. Hey, Doren, I think Krayloth needs to take a shit. You guys have never actually used the back in the long week. Krayloff, it takes you 45 minutes to empty your bladder. All right. Make sure, in fact, and when you're editing that, you guys should put in some silence. Because silence can be like really loud, especially when it's back. Just add some silence, silent. I'll add some silence.

I'll add a few layers. silence all that sounds we have some high quality silence yeah layer layer it so we get deep silence