High Rollers DnD - Altheya: Side Quest! | The Night of Veils: Live at Insomnia 72

Episode Date: April 13, 2024

The gang meet some delightful fairies and investigate a masquerade ball in the first Altheya Side Quest! Filmed live in front of an awesome Insomnia 72 audience! A HUGE thank you to the always wonderful Jennifer English and Aliona Baranova for joining the show! Love the podcast? Give us a glittering 5 star review! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/high-rollers-dnd/id1401508198?see-all=reviews Support the High Rollers on Patreon and get early access to Podcast episodes, vods and more: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound, TCT Adventures (Solasta: Crown of the Magisters), Monument Studios and Jolene Khor! Check out Jolene Khor and all her wonderful work on High Rollers on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1WX3ICiTmf4GpHwImnQMs6 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. That sounds like human food, not dog treats. But they're only $10. $10? You know I love to spoil my little fur babies. Put them in the cart. Deal so good, everyone approves. Only at HomeSense. So what's it like to buy your first cryptocurrency on Kraken? Well, let's say I'm at a food truck I've never tried before.

Am I going to go all in on the loaded taco? No, sir. I'm keeping it simple, starting small. That's trading on Kraken. Pick from over 190 assets and start with the 10 bucks in your pocket. Easy. Go to Kraken.com and see what crypto can be. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. See Kraken.com slash legal slash ca dash pru dash disclaimer for info on Kraken's undertaking to register in Canada. Welcome to High Rollers Althean SideQuest, a special one-shot show. Introducing for the first time our special guests, God's favorite princess, Jennifer English. God's favorite princess, Jennifer English! And Alena Baranova, performance director for Baldur's Gate 3! And then finally, your dungeon master,

who's already here, look behind you. Surprise round. Yes, carry me, my minions, to the stage. An Ulfhean side quest is about to begin. Yes. Here we go, Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello, everyone. Well. That was a bit cool, wasn't it? That was a bit much, wasn't it?

Ridiculous. Ridiculous. Ridiculous. It was quite ridiculous. But welcome, everybody. This is the time where we have to fill a bit of time as I have to get my DM screen and laptop and things like that. Yeah.

Yeah. So, we're going to do a little bit of a quiz. We're going to do a little bit of a quiz. We're going to do a little bit of a quiz. We're going to do a little bit of a quiz. We're going to do a little bit of a quiz. We're going to do a little bit of a quiz. We're going to do a little bit of a quiz. We're going to do a little bit of a quiz. We're going time where we have to fill a bit of time as I have to get my DM screen and laptop and things like that. So, yeah, let's set things up.

Welcome. For those of you who do not know, we are High Rollers. We are a D&D show. We stream on Sundays. We have a podcast. We have YouTube, all of that kind of good stuff. And this is our side quest. A sort of special one shot that is canonical to our campaign, but there is not a set time exactly when this takes place. So this could be in the middle

of an important arc, it could be at the end, but we'll see where it all goes. Okay. I'm ready, Daddy Mark. Oh, thank you. Thank you, my son. You had to go straight there. And look, I think they deserve another big round of applause, but thank you, our very special guests, for joining us. Because

this is not just special guests, but Jennifer and Alonja, this is well, for Alonja, this is your first time ever playing D&D. First time. Be easy on me, please. And Jennifer, our second time. Only the second time.

But also you are playing original characters. We are. Yes, which is going to be very, very exciting. Today, we find ourselves in the world of Alfea, a place of magic and mystery, a sanctuary from the eternal wars of the planar realms. Above Alfea hangs the crown, a shattered and broken moon that is said to be the prison of a powerful divine being called Sovereign. Hidden

across Alfea are the proto-magi vaults, relics of a forgotten age and a species wiped out by sovereigns' divine wrath. The dragon empire of Elmera is a lush and diverse continent where dragons rule as powerful feudal leaders over regions that are shaped and influenced by the dragon's magic and their presence. It is in the province of Caldra, land of the red dragons, that our story takes place. The beautiful walled town of Ashen Rest, with its impressive towers of ash stone and red tiled roofs. The streets are bustling with merchants, tourists, artisans, and soldiers. And as we weave our way through the open plazas and narrow side streets,

the looming townhouses and beautiful shrines, we come across the Ducal Palace, the Dominus Ignarum, home of the dragon duke Ignarius and his draconic children. And waiting inside one of these grand audience chambers, waiting to meet with the Duke's daughter, Emberissa, we find five adventurers. Chris Trott. Oh yeah, he's looking at me, yeah.

Could you please tell us who you are playing and describe your character? I am playing Rowan, who is a really big boy. He's a big himbo, let's be honest. Oh, yeah. He's a half giant. He's got gray skin. And along his arms, you can see these intricate geometric

patterns. And there are no reason for those. And that will be revealed later in Althea, campaign three. But he's a lovely, bubbly, happy half-giant that loves to play his lute. He's a bard. Perfect. That's Rowan. Thank you very much. Let's jump over.

Rhiannon. Hello. Could you please tell us who you're playing and describe your character for us, please? I am playing Sister Ophelia de la Rosa of the House of Blood. And she is standing very prim and proper, sort of maybe looking at her nails a little bit, not looking particularly interested. She is a very slender female figure.

She has a deep blood red face paint covering her top half of her face. Long black hair with white in the fringe. And she has a beautiful intricate dancer's dress with sort of bat wings and like vampiric armor adorned all over her.

And she has a blood red whip at her side. And she is, yeah, standing just sort of looking at the surroundings, just taking it all in. Wonderful. Just don't mind me, I have a lot of minis to set up. Kim, could you tell us who you're playing and describe your character for us, please?

Okay, I have to do the thing. Okay. Hello, my name is Gref, and I'm from a little village called Remoro. I love it, I love it. There's actual Welsh people in the audience, and it'm from a little village called Tremorro. I love it. There's actual Welsh people in the audience, and it's just in my head right now. So I'm playing Gruffydd of Tremorro, who is a big leonin or a wild heart. So if you imagine a big lion, black fur speckled with white,

and masses of white curly hair spilling from his head. And he, if you imagine the Beast from Beauty and the Beast in the ballroom scene, so navy and gold outfit, except with Gruff, he's not buttoned it right. He looks really uncomfortable in it. It's pinching him in places he didn't really know he had. He's already shut... There's a cape, and he's already shut it in a door and, like, torn it a little bit. And his beard, his mane has been braided,

but it's coming out... He's already, like, kind of accidentally knocked out one of the braids, and it's coming loose. It's a bit of a disaster. He looks very uncomfortable and out of place and not sure. He keeps bowing at things, but not really knowing why. It's just his default, like... Wonderful.

Thank you very much. Kit, jumping back over. Katie, can you tell us who you're playing and describe your character for us, please? Yes, hello. I am playing Daisy Thistleheart. She is a human. She is a rogue.

She's very Hobbit-y inspired in appearance. She's got big blonde curls, a nice bodice with embroidery on it and florals, a burnt orange skirt. She's very, she's like a very sweet little girl, but she does have quite a nasty-looking dagger on her hip. And that's Daisy. Wonderful. Tom. Hello.

Tell us who you're playing and describe your character for us, please. Today I'm playing Xanthius Aurigan. Thank you very much. A gold dragonborn, but very human-like or elf-like in his appearance. He is looking very happy and comfortable in his cauldron robes. And there's nothing wrong with him at all. He's not tormented in any way. He's just a chill, cool guy.

He just wants to heal the world. Oh, I love it. Just a normal man. Here to make friends. Just an innocent man. Just an normal man. Here to make friends. Just an innocent man. Just an innocent man. Just an innocent man.

A regular man. Just innocent men. Well, the five of you have been summoned to the Dominus Ignarum to meet with Lady Emberissa, the red dragon daughter of Duke Ignarius, whom you have had the pleasure of meeting before. And when you arrive, you are brought into this grand assembly room, and within a few moments, coming from these enormous double doors at the end of the chamber, which are flung open,

comes a young red dragon. Her horns are decorated with golden jewelry. She has drapes of silks and fabrics over her draconic form, and she moves in with grace and nobility to her as she moves. And she sort of gestures with these giant claws, please sit. And you see a number of chairs are brought in for you and she begins to transform as magic swirls around her body and she shrinks to a nine foot tall humanoid woman still with the big draconic horns, still with these red scales kind of dotted all over her body,

dressed in gold and red silks and pinks, all these colors of flame, but still standing like nine feet tall, very fit and muscular, and she kind of gestures to you all, before we begin adventures, I would like to introduce you to two companions of mine. I would seek you to work with them in a service to me.

Oh, I suppose we could do that. Oh, yeah. Two new friends. I would be most gracious to you. Please, my dears, come in. And she gestures behind her. As we see, well, let's start, with lovely orange skin and big pink, fiery pink hair, like flowing around her, and with beautiful pink and orange and white wings. Lovely. And we see next to this little dazzling fairy, Aliana, would you describe what we see as well? Holding hands with the previous

fairy. Another similar sized gay fairy. Very important to get that descriptive tag in there. A gay fairy. With, hold on, let me remember, blue hair, bisexual With, hold on, let me remember. Blue hair.

Just bisexual flag. Love it. Purple skin. Lilac, would you say that's lilac? Lilac, yeah. Lilac skin. And pink wings. But not like a dainty fairy, like a strong fairy.

Nice. Hench fairy. No, no, no, not hench. Like fit. Fit. Like a fit fairy. Like a gay fairy would look, you know. A gay fit fairy.

A gay woman fairy. Oh, yeah, no, I'm seeing it. I'm seeing that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's in there. And we see these fairies kind of float, fly in beside Lady Emberissa. And she says, would you introduce yourselves? These are some wonderful adventurers from the town. Hello. My name is Phlox.

So lovely to meet you. This is my wife, Nevi. And no, she does not have an infection. She's just a little underdeveloped in her nasal passages, okay? Hello. Rowan starts crying. The message is okay. Hello. Rowan starts crying. By the sounds, they're so adorable.

She's not going to lie. Hello. Adorable. I'm not adorable. I should have said that. I'm so sorry. I am a warrior. Yes, you are so strong and brave and so cute. Do forgive Rowan here. He tends to be a little touched in his emotions. Okay. I don't know

what you mean. Calm down, sweetie. Breathe through your nose. Out through the mouth. It's her cholesterol, you see. Fairies have to take their cholesterol very seriously. Well, you have a moment to sort of make acquaintances, for I have a request for the seven of you.

Tonight, here in the palace, I will be hosting a masquerade ball, the Night of Veils. And I would like the seven of you to attend as my guests, but I have a favour to ask of you. A number of, there will be three guests in particular. I would like you to find these guests and gather information from them. Gather information from them. For you see, one of them has recently, well, my friends, shall we call them,

have recently learned that one of these three guests has come into possession of something of great value or power. I do not know exactly what, but I would very much like to know. Would you like us to steal this thing back? My dear, not at all. Such an uncouth thing. No, I simply wish to know what it is and who has it. Oh, okay. And Daisy, go on, Daisy.

I do like this hands up thing. Yes, please. Hi. If we're going to a ball, does that mean we get to wear pretty dresses? Oh, my dear, it is a masquerade ball. Everyone will be in costumes and masks, and I can have anything you wish made for you before the ball this evening.

Oh, delightful. Pretty dresses! We get to dress up! Oh, no. This I'm going to like. My dear, yes? And once we find this person in question, are we allowed to kill him?

Well, I may ask you to stay your hand for now, but perhaps that may be a service I come to ask in the future, perhaps. Excellent. Depending on what this thing that they have acquired is, if it is dangerous, if it poses a threat to the Empire or my father, well, then perhaps they may need to be dealt with, shall we say. That sounds dangerous. But yes, please think what you might wish to wear,

and I will have it made for you. But I should warn you, because it is a masquerade ball, and many of my guests will be using magic and costumes to disguise themselves, you will need to locate these three in particular from the crowd. I have very limited information on how you can identify them. How many guests are attending in total? Oh, a number of them. A number?

A number of them. Oh, okay. More than three? Yes, more than three. Okay. Perhaps one might say less than 30, but more than three. Okay, okay. That solves nothing. It solves nothing.

But I do have some information for you. The three guests that I would like you to find, and ascertain if they have this object or wealth or, I don't even know what it is, but they have something of value There is Adelaine Dante a prominent weapons and armor merchant from Caldra They will be wearing a costume with red elements to it is all I happen to know They are very proud and outspoken and they have a great admiration of warriors knights and skilled craftsmanship That's you. What?

Oh, Gruff! Gruff! Knights! Hello. I like knights. Yes, they have a strong love of knights. I could talk to them about knights. Yeah!

By all means. I know a lot about knights. There will also be Professor Kelwynn of the Imperial Academia. The professor should be wearing a purple costume. They are a radical teacher of planar theory from the capital, and they have a love of theatre and music. And then finally, there is Zayden Bastion, a wealthy child of an influential merchant from the Suncrest Isles.

Unfortunately, I have no information on their costume, but they are said to be quite the scoundrel. They are a known flirt and take an interest in bold, charming individuals who like to drink and dance. They don't need hair, is what you're saying. Sorry? You're saying they prefer people without hair. Bold.

Bold, not bald, my dear. Yes, bold. Yes. Perhaps you can't hear my majestic voice enough. It's my fault. It is, you're right, yes. Yes. So that is what I would like you to find.

Find out which of these three guests in particular has this secret object or power or whatever it is. Okay. And then learn about it. That is all. Okay. But you will need to find them from amongst the crowd of my other guests. A red outfit, a purple outfit, a scoundrel, isn't he? And a scoundrel.

Yes, my dear. Forgive me, but what if something were to go wrong and we fail your mission? to go wrong and we fail your mission. Well, then I suppose I would judge you immensely and you would earn the disfavor of my draconic house and likely be branded as failures for my long, long life. Oh, I don't want that to happen. No, I don't think we should. I suggest you do not.

Don't worry, Flux and Nevi, you'll be fine. We're good friends. What? I know. But yes, the ball is this evening. I can have costumes and that made for you. I will be departing about halfway through to discuss important draconic matters, but this should give you the perfect opportunity to mingle with the crowd and introduce yourself to the many guests.

How much time do we have? Oh, maybe 57 minutes or so. 57 minutes. Okay. 57 minutes. And four seconds. Three, two, one. But do you have any questions, my dears? Are we meant to be taking notes? They can make notes. You don't have to make notes,

but you absolutely can if you would like to. This is going to be what happens. I take notes and then Trot goes... I'm on a table of Trots right now. Yeah, Trot's got notes. I'm doing notes. He's been... Kim, you know what?

He's been a very good boy this time. I am, Mark. Thank you. We're just copying homework. You can copy my homework. Thank you. But yes, any questions or further details you wish to know, my dears? I'm loving this.

Well, of course. I love you. You. I'm loving this. Well, of course. I love you. You. What does Nevi's little fairy fan look like?

Is it an exact replica of this? Exact replica. Perfect. We love it. We love it. But yes, with that in mind, you basically have free reign to think of a masquerade costume that you might wear, and I'll give you an opportunity to describe that in a moment. Okay. But we're going to sort of jump ahead to the evening with you guys arriving at the grand ceremony for the ball,

and I'm going to place your minis here on our map, and you guys can decide where you would like to go. Now, the colours of your minis don't exactly match, but I did my best. He did get crafty and put fairy wings onto some miniatures. I did. I did glue fairy wings at 9am in the morning yesterday. We did get asked. Okay, so how are we going to find these people?

Well, you just go up to them and ask. Are you Bastien? Adelaine,, et cetera? That's not very subtle, Graf. It's also not how masquerade balls work. Well, I've never been to one, so I don't know. I just, it's not the honest thing to do. Go after you.

You're that guy that has that thing. Can we have it? New friends? Yes. New friends. New friends. I love making friends. We have new friends.

Do you know anything about the masquerade balls? All I know is that if you maybe just try attacking a few people, then you just see who fights back the hardest, and maybe they're the guilty ones. I like this one. This is good logic. I like this one. I like this. I feel like we'll get in trouble. I want to rage. We're going to get in trouble. We'll get in trouble. I want to rage.

We're going to get in trouble if we do that. We're going to start fights. Although if someone does fight us, I will fight back, but I don't think that's a good... So I'm allowed to fight at this, am I? If someone fights us, Gruff, you can fight them. Okay, no fighting first. Okay. For now, it definitely seems to have a kind of calm, serene atmosphere. I'll sort of give you an overview of what you guys see.

The sort of grand ballroom of the Ducal Palace is decorated with silk drapes of purple and deep blue, and magical starlight has been conjured to hang in the high ceilings to softly illuminate the room. You can see that there is a grand set of stairs that lead down into the main floor. There are two balconies that kind of jut out into the room, one of which has a little group of musicians

who are sort of gently playing music for everyone to join in with. The other seems to be filled with very regal, noble-looking costumed guests in deep discussion. You can see that there is a bar with drinks, very beautiful, very unusual-looking drinks of all different colours, set to one side, with tables and chairs on the other side where people are sort of sitting down, having little chats and things like that. The centre of the room is dominated by a raised dance floor,

upon which you can see several couples waltzing together, sort of enjoying this beautiful, serene moment. And then on the same side as the table and chairs, the wall is decorated with all different beautiful weapon displays, beautiful pieces of weaponry and armour, all hung up on the wall in a grand sort of motif, all on one side. What's that?

Quick access. Quick access. What's that? Quick access. Quick access to weapons and things like that if you need them, absolutely. They do look quite beautifully made. Some might be ceremonial, but some definitely look like they've maybe seen action, maybe historical pieces and things like that. The music is very soft and gentle and everyone's kind of doing that soft murmuring that you get in a big gathering and everyone's kind of in conversation, giving you an opportunity.

You guys can look around. For those of you who can see the map, this is very representative of the kind of outfits that people are wearing, the colours especially. So if somebody is, if a miniature is red, they are wearing a red costume. If they are a miniature is purple, they are wearing a purple costume. All right. But yeah. So we're going to go round.

I'll make this a bit easier, because obviously we don't want to jump in at once. I'll kind of ask where people want to go, unless you guys want to jump in, and if you've got any ideas. I just wanted to tell our new friend something. Oh, please. My wife, Floxifera, is in angry, hairy fairy, that are scary management for fairies who carry.

Oh, okay. Well, thank you for telling us. It's a long process. We'll be wary. Thank you. I've got just the thing, and I bring out a tiny pebble. This always calms me down in times of need. I want you to have it.

It's a bit heavy. I should point out, Rowan is about eight feet tall. He's massive. He's a fairy. Big hands, hand a huge, but it's like a rock to you. Yeah, it's the boulder. It was small in my hand. I'm so sorry.

That's all right. I'll forgive you. But you're so strong and warrior-like, you can hold that. I am, but where am I going to put it? I need to have a drink. I'll take it back. I'll hold it for you. It was a nice gesture. You're welcome.

No problem. We're best friends now, I think. I quite like him. Oh, good. Great. Well, Gruff, I think, what's Gruff kind of responding to this, Kim? Because this is quite outside of Gruff's usual affair, right? Panic. Nice. Pure panic.

He's staring at every... I mean, he's in a castle, right? He doesn't... He's never been in a castle. He tries leaning on a pillar and then is like, oh, no, don't touch that. Almost knocks over a vase. Yeah. Somebody's coming by with drinks, nearly bumps into them. Yeah, and he's like, oh, no.

What kind of outfit or mask is Gruff wearing? There are two voices in me. The first one went, a fish. Because Gruff is a fisherman. And the second one, the saner one, went when it would look like a cormorant. It's a side quest. I think we go with one. Okay.

It's a cormorant. You want the fish? I want a fish. We'll go with the fish then. I want a big cod head, like a mascot. Little tail, like a mermaid. Palescent scales. Yeah.

Yeah. And I guess, like, because it would be a mask, right? Yeah, it's a masquerade ball. How do you make a fish mask look good? Like a masquerade. It's like Magikarp. Yeah. Big Magikarp face.

Yeah, Magikarp face. Magikarp. At least don't sue us, Nintendo. What kind of outfit is Nevi wearing? What kind of, like, masquerade ball outfit might Nevi wear? She's dressed as a red imp. Nice. Nice.

Yeah, go on. With a little Adventurers Mart hat on. Nice. A little bow tie. Nice. Little red wings on the nose. I love it. Does it make a sound?

Yeah, it does make a sound. What's the sound? She's got the T-shirt. I like how she's got the T-shirt. I love it. Does it make a sound? Yeah, it does make a sound. What's the sound? She's got the teeth. I like how she's got the teeth. To anyone else, that might look a bit strange, you just looking down your top. There we go.

It's a little bing bong. High classic. Yeah. We see this kind of like little, you know, little impish. And these outfits can be magical as well, by the way. So maybe the fairy wings are temporarily magically disguised or something like that or you could have both sets if you like you know this is a great idea i'll go with that i like that um all right flux right yeah what what kind of outfit is gone um she's wearing her own she's gonna give a but

she is also wearing uh like a green lizardy lizardy half mask with like a tiny, teeny, tiny nose. Nice, I like it. Economic nose. Economic nose. Nice, okay, perfect. And then what does Rowan do for a masquerade costume? Rowan's got a stalagmite for a mask. So it's just a point.

He loves rocks. He loves rocks. He loves rocks. So it's like a big pointy stone hat. And like he's got a long cloak which just looks like cave water. Okay. Oh. And that's it.

Just looking around like a stalagmite. So like a stone cloak and a stalagmite on his head. No, it's cave water. Okay. Oh, cave water. And a stalagmite on his own. Got you. Got you.

Has anyone seen Rowan recently? I can only see this babbling brook. Hello. What kind of outfit does Xanthius have? Got you, got you, got you. Has anyone seen Rowan recently? I can only see this babbling brook. What kind of outfit does Xanthius have? You said, please don't sue us, Nintendo. I've got a Mario mask. The famous cauldron philosopher. Yes, exactly.

Mario, Mario. The big nose, the giant eyes, the red cap. Yeah. Red is a cauldron color. It's the red dragon province. Yeah, okay. All right, I'll allow it. I'm going to remember this.

Katie, what kind of outfit does Daisy have? She's probably just very floral themed. Big Daisy face? No. Like a toddler going to a ghost house. A toddler Halloween. No, she's probably wearing a burnt orange gown with lots of florals and an elegant floral mask. Love it.

Very nature-y. Perfect. Yeah. All right. I really hope I've saved the best for last. Oh, gosh. Rhiannon, what is Ophelia wearing to this masquerade ball? I imagine Ophelia's got her hair up in, like, a French twist,

pinned in with, like, bone silver hairpins with, like, red droplet jewels hanging off of them. And then she's got a half skull mask made of porcelain. And then her gown is black with blood red sleeves blending into the black and it's a long floor-length trailing full drama gown and she has a silver armour over the top and she is just basking in the ball, loving life.

I love it. We live for it. A good fit. You're a good guy, right? Yeah! Okay. So I'm going to throw it to you guys now. So everybody sees you enter. A few heads turn around. Ooh, kind of whispering, pointing in your direction.

Where do people want to go first? Like, there's different areas. Let's start off good old Rowan. Chris, trot straight in there. The stalagmite drifts towards the band stage ominously. Okay. Yeah? Yeah, that checks out.

That's where I'm going. You begin making your way over, Rowan. There's like a set of stairs? Yeah, that checks out. That's where I'm going. You begin making your way over, Rowan. There's like a set of stairs to the side that lead up, and you kind of, the musicians take a brief break. They're kind of taking a small moment, a little bit of rest as you kind of step out onto the balcony with them. Rowan's clapping the last performance they do.

It's like, ha ha ha! Phenomenal. Amazing. Oh, thank you so much, my man. Hello. I'm not a stalagmite. It's me, Rowan. Oh! Hello, Rowan. I'm not a rock. I'm a giant. Looking up at you, they're like,

yes, what a marvelous costume. I just want to say, your performance is stellar. Oh, well, thank you very much. And I don't often put myself out there, but I do have a lute. I was going to say, you have a most beautiful instrument. Oh, you think so? Yes, of course, it is incredibly well made. So would you care to join us for a spell?

I couldn't possibly, yes, I will, absolutely. We're just taking a brief moment, but I think the Master of Ceremonies is going to do a formal dance in a moment. Would you care to play with us for the formal dance? What tempo is it? What BPM? Well, it depends on which one the Master of Ceremonies chooses. I hope he doesn't go too fast.

I haven't warmed up my fingies. All right, well, we'll see what happens. How about that? Maybe we can just tune up. I'm a stalagmite again. Oh, where's Rowan gone? Where am I? They look very awkward.

So Rowan moves his way up onto the stage, and you can see the band is starting to tune up, getting ready. What about anybody else? Anybody else got any ideas? Daisy? Yeah, let's jump over here. Is there a buffet?

There is. Yeah, there is. You can see that there's a table on the far side. It's laden with beautiful food and snacks all laid out. And you can see there's a couple of guests kind of milling around that area as well. Daisy's going to go to the buffet. Okay. All right.

She wants a snack. So Daisy makes her way. Moving past a couple of these guests, you overhear a few conversations. And you can see that over here here there are two gentleman guests. One is dressed as, is almost dressed as a black dragon. You can see that they've donned this beautiful like black draconic mask, they've got these long purple and black robes, almost looking like a sorcerer, and they are just shoveling food into their mouth in the same way that you are in that kind of like fast-paced thing. And next to him is a gentleman

who has just a very simple black domino mask on and appears to be wearing just a normal, regular-looking black suit, very plain compared to everybody else. And he's just sort of stood to one side, sipping a little drink, sort of observing everything else. But the black dragon next to you just looks over and he's just like, This is really good, baby! Yeah!

He's going to look at what he's doing, realize that she's eating too quick, and kind of compose herself a little bit and not do what he's doing. You're going to miss out. I'm going to look at what he's doing, realize that she's eating too quick, and kind of compose herself a little bit and not do what he's doing. You're going to move around. I'm going to eat all of this. Huh? Huh? Huh? And just consumes, hoovering up the food.

She's just going to stand at the side of the dance floor and just do a little sweep, see who's around. Like, see if I can sort of look for potential targets to go and talk sure let's make a perception check let's get our first roll done for the for the evening so this is going to be d20 plus your perception skill modifier and this is kind of the basics of dnd for those of you who aren't familiar that's a 13 a 13 so you stand to the side you're kind of looking at everything but it's quite crowded the dance floor is kind of shifting around people are getting ready You probably would be able to pick out that there are a few different guests all in different places You definitely identify all the people in the red and purple costumes

But it looks like over at the bar a kind of very heated kind of like Discussion is happening over by the bar on the other side But as you're kind of like looking at this, the guy in the plain suit and the black domino mask will just sort of approach you and just kind of say, hey, how are you doing? Nice to meet you. What's your name? Oh, hello. She's got...

Nice to meet you. You've got a little cake there, but I'm not going to mind it. It's fine. Sorry, it's a really good cake. Hi, I'm Daisy. Well, pleasure to meet you, Daisy. My name, I'm Mr. Toombs. Pleasure to meet you.

Sorry, what was your name? Mr. Toombs, Malcolm Toombs. Malcolm Toombs, okay. Are you a guest of the lady? Yes, yes. Oh, wonderful. First Masquerade Ball. I didn't know there was going to be free food.

It's great. Forgive me. I try and make it a... It's part of... It's sort of a curiosity of mine. You recently helped with some matters here in Ashen's Rest, right? There's been some matters that you've been involved in. Yeah.

We stay at the haunted place. I did hear about that, yeah. That's our home, I guess. A very fascinating thing. And he pulls out a business card and he says, I run a printing house and we are often looking for stories and research topics and things like that. If you and your friends are ever interested in talking about opportunities, I'd love to work with you. And he hands you this business card, and it says Tombs & Co. Printing House. Hmm.

All right. And he just hands you that, he engages you with a little bit of idle conversation, and then we're going to move on. Daisy's feeling really proud of herself because she's now made another friend. Sure. So she's going to... friend. So she's going to

gather up some pastries and then just kind of try and hold them maybe in a ruffle of her skirt and scoot around to near the bar where it seems to be. So you start making your way there. We'll jump across to somebody else. Anybody else have something that they would like to jump in and do?

You can see that the bar is laden with these brightly coloured drinks. You can see that the people are starting to gather maybe for a formal dance, but it hasn't quite happened just yet. But any ideas of anybody who would like to go? I think, I don't know about you, but I think the two of us, we'd be flitting around. Yeah. Like, we're in business mode now.

And I think we'd be near each other, but, you know, kind of going under tables, listening to conversation. Ducking and weaving. Or trying to sneak in and listen in. Like skirts, not in a creepy way. But, you know, like kind of like... Is there a non-creepy way?

Yeah, I know. I'm taking that back. Cut that bit out. It's fine. Under cloaks and things like that. There's like curtains, drapes that you can hide in, little pillars that you can sneak around.

Even like under the tables, like you can duck under those and listen in. Yeah, absolutely. I'm still panicking though. Like mainly I'm following her. She's doing it. Yeah, absolutely.

And I'm like, oh no, oh no, don't go too far. Yeah. Well, I think that like one thing, so as you're doing this, if we have Flux make a perception check to see if you overhear anything, right, as you're kind of flittering around.

Yeah. And then Nevi, you can make the same check as well. So it's a D20 plus your perception bonus. It's a D20. The big one. It's the big boy. It's the big one. That one, yeah, that one, that one.

Yeah. So roll that, and then you add your perception bonus. Mine's six plus one, so not... Seven, bonus. Mine's six plus one, so not three. Seven, okay. Mine's ten plus three. Ten plus three, so a 13. All right, so as you're kind of flitting around, Flux, you're getting distracted because as you flight near these tables, you look up and hanging on the wall is this big spiky

hammer and you just look at it and it's gold and it's engraved with fire and you're just like ooh and you just like eyes light up as you see it and you kind of forget about listening in on it. Oh she's gone she's gone bye but as you're doing that Nevi as you're kind of listening in you overhear

a couple of people kind of saying like oh have you seen Adelaine around oh yes I think that she's I think that she might be over there talking up on the balcony. And you overhear some gossip. But you also see, running along the edge of the wall, a little trio of mice,

just like kind of like, you know, trailing along. And they look like they're trying to find little scraps of food. They're like sneaking around the buffet tables. All the food that Daisy shoved in her pockets, all the crumbs that fell out. The mice are running in, grabbing it. I like to think that she got the dress built with pockets in it for snacks specifically.

I respect that. As you're moving away, you're leaving like a little trail. And the mice are kind of like chasing after it. So I forgot to mention that I was a druid fairy. So, does that mean I need to druid? You can do whatever you like, and that's the wonders of this game. If you have the spell Speak With Animals,

I highly recommend that. You do. It's all on there. There's a lot of words on here, Mark. It's a lot of words. You can definitely de-speak with it. So, all your spells are listed at the bottom there. But I've already heard them saying the thing about the balcony. Yeah, they think that, well, these people think that Adelaine might be up there.

But these mics have, like, looks like they've got, like, a good periphery of the whole place. If you wanted to speak to them, you could. Yes, I'd like to speak with... Sure, okay. So what you do is you would cast that spell. So one of your first level spells you use up. So you just mark off that you've used one of your first level spells.

It's just at the bottom, Kim. I've put them all down there. I see. This is sweet, isn't it? Look, we've got lovely mother Kim helping out. It's very lovely. But really what that is, is what does it look like for Nevi when you cast magic,

when you use magical spells? You know, there's almost an element here of you channeling some sort of power. So what does that look like? So it's like purple glitter that comes from within. Yeah. But like gay glitter. Gay, purple glitter.

Of course. So it's a bit shinier, it's got a bit of like different tints and colors, like a bit silver in it as well. Is it a bit holographic? Yeah. A little bit holographic. Yes! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Love it. So we see that kind of fall overic. A little bit holographic. Yes! Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Love it. So we see that kind of fall over you. A cloud of it. And when you do that, you hear, you can now hear the mice, the little squeaks and chits and things like that become actual words, and it becomes, Hey, boss, they got some really good cheese over here. Oh, that's really good to know, Tony.

Yeah, let's go get that cheese, yeah. All right, boss, yeah, I've got a to know, Tony. I'm going to, yeah, let's go get that cheese, yeah. All right, boss, yeah, I've got a big wedge over here. Okay. Okay. And they kind of like, hey, is that fairy looking at us? I don't know. Hey, fairy, you looking at me?

Do I look funny to you? Do I make you laugh? So Nevi just hides behind the fan and starts searching for Flux. Flux? Flux. What? Well, I just overheard some mice and, well, they were acting the way mice probably would. Oh, speak to them, Nevi.

They might be useful. They're quite big. They only come up to your hip. You're fine. We've seen bigger mice. Okay. Go on. I believe in you, Nevi. Can I do this? You can do this, Nevi. I can do this. I think she's having a bit of a crisis. Okay.

Go on, Nevi. Hey, it's all right. Hey, we're not scary. We're nice mice. Nice mice. We're nice mice. Nice mice? We're nice mice. Nice mice, okay. Hey, listen. I'm Tony, and this is my boss, Tony. Easy to remember.

Yeah. Okay. Have you two seen anything sus? Oh, sussy. Yeah. Oh, there's a lot of that going around here. All these people, they're dressed up as other things. That's kind of weird, isn't it?

Yeah. Like you're dressed as like some sort of thing, but you're a fairy. I am, yes. Whoa, you are a fairy. Whoa. Well, yeah, I mean, we've seen a few things. There's one guy. I think he's over there and he's drinking the funny drinks.

And there's something odd about him. Something weird about him. It's like there's a weird smell. Do you know what I mean? Absolutely. Yeah, he's got a weird smell about him. I don't like him. Maybe I'll send the boys to take care of him.

A lot of the oversized folk have got a weird smell about them. Yeah. But this one's particularly weird. It's like a weird smell. It's not like, uh, it's not, you know, people smell like food, but he smells like not

food. That's definitely sus. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And he keeps, I don't know, he keeps talking about all these shiny things. Shiny things. Okay. Great. I'm gonna tell my wife about this. Beautiful. I'm not gonna do anything. We things. Okay, great. I'm going to tell my wife about this. Beautiful.

I'm not going to do anything. We'll love to see it. Thank you. Allies. Yeah. I'm going to tell my wife, because I'm a little bit more nervous in this mortal realm.

What are you nervous about? Dying. Oh, yeah, that's a good one to be nervous about, yeah. Yeah, perfectly understandable. Where we're from, we're immortal, but now we're here and it's mortal. Oh, yeah, that's a good one to be nervous about. Yeah. Yeah perfectly understandable where we're from We're immortal, but now we're here and it's mortal and oh that sucks So, sorry, really, yeah, you know we're mice we live like a few years and then we die It's a nice attitude to have about that. Hey, you got to embrace it All about presents. Yeah

See wait, you have a lovely time. Thank you very much. We're gonna go eat loads of cheese. I respect that deeply. Thank you. I would do the same in your shoes, in your paws. OK, I'm gonna tell my wife. All right.

The mice told me that there's someone sus. I don't remember all the details, cos I was quite nervous. OK. I've never spoken to mice before. Which one? Can you point them out? The guy that smells bad. The guy that smells bad. It doesn't smell like food. Something, something smells unusual.

Somewhere over there. Should we ask the rock man? Yes. Rock man, can you, how's your sense of smell? As you guys, I'm just going to interject a little bit because as you guys have had this conversation, Rowan and the band up on the balcony, he's kind of moved up there now. And as you turn, I'm just going to interject a little bit, because as you guys are having this conversation, Rowan and the band up on the balcony, he's kind of moved up there now,

and as you turn to look towards Rowan and make your way up to him, those of you, so Ophelia, Xanthius, and Gruff, you guys are still at the kind of front area of the thing, and this gentleman comes out, and he's like, oh, ladies and gentlemen, it is time for one of the great dances of the evening. Please fetch your partners,

as it is time to indulge in the Kelskarren waltz. And you see that everyone begins partnering up to do this great big dance. So the two fairies are already there. We'll dance. Yeah, we'll dance. Me and Ophelia partner up. Okay.

Gruff, as you're stood there, you see this dwarven lady kind of make her way over to you. Big sort of braided things. She's dressed up to almost have like a, like a water nymph kind of outfit, very flowing. And she kind of goes up to you and goes, I see that you're a fish. I suppose I am.

Yes. I haven't had a bath in the week. Oh. Ah. I was going to ask you to dance, but now I might not. Oh, but you said I smell fresh. I said you're a fish. Oh, a fish?

Yeah. Aye, I am. I'm water. Wouldl ffres? I said you're a fish. Oh, a fish? Yeah. Aye, I am. I'm water. Would you care to dance? Oh, bloody hell. Oh, mistress, I'd be honoured to dance. You're really bad at this. Oh, I've never been to a baller before. All right. Well, tell her what Just try and not to... I'll lead and you just go with it, alright?

Take your paw. She steps on her dress. Tears it a little bit. Maybe this was not the best idea. She begins dragging you over towards it. Those of you who are interested in dancing, this big ball begins to take place.

Daisy, you're weaving your way through towards the bar area. She's dancing while she weaves through. Sure, sure. And you begin to sort of like, this coordinated dance begins to take effect. What I would like is for everybody who is dancing to give me either a performance or acrobatic skill roll.

So this is a d20 for Jenny. This is a d20 plus your acrobatics or your performance skill. All right. Rowan, I'd like you to make a performance check to see how well you play with the band. Can I just say Rowan is panicking with the band. He's got a group huddle with the band. Right. What is a what?

Are we talking 3-4, 4-4? Just listen and try and follow along, big guy. Don't worry about it. I'm sure you've got this. I'm a strong... Mainly because Mark doesn't know what tempo waltz is. But yeah, so let's get some of those dice rolls. So let's start with Rhiannon.

What do we get for our roll? 10. A 10? Acceptable, yeah, okay. Twenty-one. Twenty-one. Daisy is weaving her way through. While eating snacks.

Yeah, like you've kind of got like a little hobbit shuffle kind of going on. It's great. What about Xanthius as you are partnered up with Rhiannon? I'm sorry, Ophelia. I got a five. Oh. I feel like it's like Ophelia and Xanthius dragging each other along. How do you do this in Othius? This is nothing like Cosmo.

No, clockwise, clockwise. Don't go near my chest. Anti-clockwise. You're hopeless. You're hopeless. I'm hopeless? Oh, the nerve. We're going to come back to this argument in a minute.

You would lose that fight. I'd lose that fight. I'm dead as hell. Gruffydd, what did we get on our roll for Gruffydd? This big, awkward lion rolled a 17. A 17. We love to see it. So actually, do you know what, Gruff? There is a moment where, and if you don't like this,

feel free to go with me, but as soon as you start moving, this dwarf has such a grace to her, and you realize, oh, watching the birds, watching your ice diver birds, the flow of the ice flow, you begin to kind of get a vibe for this, and you begin to take the lead, and you twirl her around, and you really make a bit of impression. You and Daisy definitely are standing out as you're moving through. I'm going to come to you i'm coming back okay you dip her and she's like oh she definitely kind of like gets a bit flustered as you dip her down uh what about our fairy couple how do we do over here we both got six oh well you i tell you what why don't you guys tell me that's bad what does

that look like you can tell that's bad what was the question what does what what how what does that look like this terrible dance that you two have done we just keep on getting distracted and and flying into people so leaving like a trail of glittery fairy dust as you guys like like when a fly tries to get out of a window we're gonna come back to that because i feel like that's going to interact with ophelia and xanthius yeah but last day our musician rowan. How did Rowan do? Rowan did all right. He got a 19. A 19. Can I also? Yes. Noticing this whole fly situation.

Yeah. Can I throw out a bardic inspiration through my performance at these two? Well, I'm going to do you one better than that, Chris Stroll. Because your music is so good, I'm going to say that everybody here basically gets a bardic inspiration dice from you. This is a D6. Nice. You get to hold on to it.

Rowan's music, you see the band, they're very good. But as Rowan pulls out this beautiful stone-carved lute, he really takes centre stage. And the music flows over the dance floor and everybody's just enamoured by this music. They begin looking up in your direction. Oh, wow. Totally taken in by this. What can I say? Sorry. Yeah, wow. Totally taken in by this. What can I say?

Sorry. Yeah, no. I'm just indulging. And then all of you feel this kind of like the music of Rowan just seems to resonate with you and inspires you to maybe do better. The pixies bump into Xanthius and Ophelia, kind of sparking the argument of like, you guys kind of striking.

And that's when we see one of the gentlemen who's kind of dancinging the argument of like, you guys kind of striking. And that's when we see one of the gentlemen who's kind of dancing with you. The two of you bump into Xanthius and Ophelia, who then bump into this basically kind of, he is a orc gentleman, and he's dressed to be a bit of a bandit. Like he has like a highwayman's mask on. He's got like leather armor and things like that on.

And he very drunkenly is like, what are you guys doing? I'm trying to dance. At least I am. I'm trying to dance. You are both awful. Oh? And you nearly made me drop my very shiny thing that I've bought. Shiny thing, you say?

shiny thing that I've bought. Shiny thing, you say. And you see that he holds up a kind of silvery key with rods embedded into the side of it. And you watch as he holds it up the fairies and their fairy magic trails over

this silvery key and something happens. Does it? Red lightning shocks along this strange alien-looking key. And then suddenly it explodes outwards. And several of the nearby guests are struck by this red lightning as this key begins to swell and grow in size. And you watch as the people struck by the red lightning,

including the gentleman who was holding it their arms and their face becomes covered in this red crystal as you see this ancient device turns them into strange creatures this was easy oh no i think we found it. Your terrible dancing has revealed something. I was doing wonderfully. I was doing wonderfully. Oh, no. Look at Mark's cute little box. Wait, look at that.

How many things are you putting down there? Oh, don't worry about that. He's got quite a few minis. Yeah? Yeah. I've got a box full of minis. I've got a box of them. Why did you bring so many?

Because he shouldn't have given you that big box. I should have checked what he brought with him. He put this box in the boot of the car and I was like... Hey, Mark, stop. Maybe next time you leave it in the boot of the car. You can stop now. Mark, stop. That's enough minis.

No, Mark, stop. I want them all. No, Mark, please. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. All right, that's good. Can we see one up close? You then see the weapons wall of the weapons that you were admiring earlier. A number of those weapons are also struck by the red lightning.

They animate flying off of the wall, and they begin to spin out of control. Right. And that, my friends, is where we're going to roll initiative. Oh, good. Mark's trying to kill us today. Yes, I am. That's a lot of minis. Right.

You want to re-evaluate this before we continue? Let me go down. So let's start with Chris Trott-Rowan. What did we get? I got a 14. Rowan at 14. Jen? 10.

10 for Flux. Alena. 12. 12 for Nevi. Nevi, 12. What do we get for Gruff? A dirty 20. A dirty 20. So dirty. So dirty. Xanthius.

Natural 20. Natural 20. Okay. Daisy. 11. 11 for Daisy, and then Ophelia. A natural seven. A natural seven.

I'm going to roll for our bad guys. So we have the animated weapons at five. We have the corrupted guests at 12. Okay, corrupted guests. And then finally, the artifact. 18. Uh-oh. So,

you see in the middle this key, this strange device, and Rowan, now that you see it, as it swells in size, Oh, yeah. there is something

Easy. Easy. There is something. We've got 20 minutes, my guy. The artifact. Yeah, go on. There is something... Easy. Easy. There is something... We've got 20 minutes, my guy. The artifact. Yeah, go on. There is something oddly familiar,

because you have seen something similar of this before. Yes, I have. You know this artifact is from a proto-magic vault. Why would I know that? Why would you know that, indeed? Why, indeed? The proto-magic vaults are these things of long dead mages that once lived here on this world and were wiped out and they left behind these vaults of treasures and power

that nobody really understands. So you see this thing and it begins to pulse. Boom, boom, boom. But the first person to act is going to be Xanthius. I don't want to. You won. I don't want to. So Raph is going to be Xanthius. I don't want to. You won. I don't want to. So Raph is going to be up here

with our friends. This is the thing about getting Nat 20 on initiative. You've got to be the decisive one. Yeah, I should have lied. One. Sorry. Our two fairies are going to be

over here as well, dancing. Daisy will be making her way over here. Rowan's up on the stage. Perfect. Right, so Xanthius, hit me. What? No. Hit me, baby.

There's too many things here. I'm leaving. Bye. See you. I'm running. I'm getting out of here. Okay. I'm trying to untangle myself from the messy dancing of Ophelia.

Yep. And I'm leaving. Okay. You're going to run to the entrance? Bye. Bye. 5, 10, 15, 20, leaving. Okay. You're going to run to the entrance. Bye! Five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty, sixty.

You're leaving? I'm going to cast Mage Armor. You're going to cast Mage Armor on yourself. Yeah. Okay, so you cast Mage Armor, you begin running. One of these corrupted guests, though, as you run past is going to get a swipe at you. That is going to be a 23 to hit. Close. Yeah, way above. That is going to be a 23 to hit. Close. Yeah, way above.

I hit. So even with your mage armor, you're going to take five points of damage, and I need a dexterity saving throw from you. Oh, okay. 14. 14 is just enough. So as it swipes you, it kind of catches your your arm and some of that red crystalline substance Tries to like grab on to you. Oh, but you managed to quickly dodge away

That is your action and movement and if you would like to do yeah Alrighty in that case welcome everyone dirty dirty 20 gruff. I'm so dirty Sorry Second voice. Griffith is going to turn to his dance partner. Yes. Madam, it has been a great honour, but for now, get yourself to safety.

I'm going to go hit that thing. Ah! And he turns towards the... Is that the artefact? Yeah, this big thing in the middle is the artifact. And as he squares up and starts marching towards it in a grumpy fashion, armor of oak and thorns start sprouting. So we see this armor of wood and vines begins to form like a knight's armor over Gruffydd, made of nature and plants.

And I'm going to hit it. Great, go for it. Just a little bit. Bardic Inspiration, I think I'm going to... Extra D6, you can add two. Okay, I'm going to do that. You can choose to add it after you've rolled. I rolled a three.

Yeah. Plus two, plus a six. That's an eight. Plus six. I rolled a six on my Bardic Inspiration. Yeah, so it would be 11. That? Yeah.

This thing is immobile, so an 11 actually hits it. Oh, amazing. Yeah. You can see that it's just hanging in the middle, but it's pulsing, and that pulsing is getting quicker and quicker. Eight points of damage. Eight points of damage, great to know. Spins his staff and just gives it a great, great whack.

Yeah. So you see the staff collides into it and kind of fragments a part of it, kind of breaks off, and you see that it pulses more angrily. That's your movement and action, Gruff and bonus action, right? You're done. That's all I got. All right, at the end of two characters' turns, the artifact lets out a pulse, and I'm going to generate a random effect for it. Oh. Random effects.

So I need all of you to make a strength saving throw. That's my best turn. Plus your strength modifier. It's not going to be good for you, I'm going to be honest with you. So strength saving throw from Xanthias. Three. Three, excellent. Daisy.

Six. Six. Ophelia. Fourteen. Fourteen is the success. Yes. I missed five. Five is a failure.

What do we get for Nevi? I take offense to this minus one here. You've got to have something that's going to be weak. For yours, it's your strength. You're very wise and powerful. Seven. Seven, unfortunately a failure. What about Flux?

Nine. Nine is also a failure for Flux. And then for Rowan? Eleven. Is a failure. That's everybody but, I believe, a failure. We are rubbish. High rollers.

You are all five, ten, fifteen. A bunch of you are pulled closer to this artifact. I'm trying to run away, guys. Pulled in. Gruff, you're already there. Daisy, 5, 10, 15. I'm in danger. Where have we got everyone else?

Ophelia wasn't pulled, actually. I believe that's everybody. All of the guests are, like like thrown in and knocked to the ground screaming ah what's happening um as they fall down anybody who comes within five feet of this uh artifact you see that that same crystalline substance kind of falls over them um all of you who failed are going to take seven points of necrotic damage. So you're going to take seven damage. That's spicy.

So on your hit points, there should be like an area for you to mark down like damage that you take and things like that. All right. Tell us to bring pens. There's going to be danger.

Oh, sorry. As you're all kind of sucked in as this vortex of force kind of pulls you all in. I have resistance to necrotic damage. Then you take only half, Daisy. Good stuff.

Then we next have, so after Gruffydd, it would then be Rowan. Hello, I'm Rowan. Rowan is going to spend his entire action doing the following. He gets pulled forward. The stalagmite goes up. Stalagmite flies off his face. You can see the fear behind his eyes

at seeing this artifact from the proto-magi. Yeah. The geometric patterns on his arms are rippling with a sort of energy, and he's going to spend his entire turn in fear. Okay. Very fitting for what happened to you in the mysterious past.

But yeah, you remember the flashes of the light and explosion. No, please. Not again. You know what, Chris Trott? I'm going to give you inspiration because that's really great role-playing for your background.

You can have inspiration. That was pretty good role-playing there, Mark. That was good. You're playing to your character. You're playing to your character. We love to see it. I ran in fear, too. Yeah, but this is not relevant to your character.

No, no, you've done too much. That was just being a coward. You've done too much. All right, next up, we're going to have Nevi, and then the corrupted guests are going to go. So, Nevi, you're going to be the next one to act. So, you can do movement, you can take an action, and a bonus action.

What would you like to do? What would Nevi do in this situation? Now, the thing is, we spoke about invisibility, but it's not on this piece of paper here. Yeah, it's a special ability you have, so you can turn invisible as an action. Great. How do I do that? You just tell me that's what you do.

I do that. D&D, everybody. So, yeah, we see that same kind of glittery pixie magic, right? And you just vanish from sight. Vup, as you immediately, just in fear response, vanish, turn invisible,op! As you immediately, just in fear response, vanish, turn invisible. And now you can move or if you have any other bonus actions,

you can do those as well. Can I move closer to my wife? You absolutely can. You guys are currently next to each other. Oh. But you can definitely kind of like, because I'm assuming you want to get away from the big scary thing.

Yes. So you can scoot behind, keeping your distance, but still staying a little bit close. Heal yourself. Ooh, can I heal myself? You can if you're in your animal form, yes. In animal form, sorry.

Oh, no. But you could turn into an animal now if you wanted to, an invisible one. You want to be an invisible animal? Yes. What kind of animal would you turn into? A giant spider. A giant spider. That's a nightmare,? A giant spider. A giant spider.

That's a nightmare, an invisible giant spider. The one me I forgot to bring. It will look like a wolf, but you are a giant spider now. And you are invisible. Yes. So you kind of feel your form as you turn into a giant spider. But that is going to be the end of your turn. Sorry if anyone's arachnophobic.

That's all right. All of the sort of minions are going to just attack whoever's around them. So Daisy, unfortunately, one's going to come towards you. One's going to attack a civilian. This one's going to run towards Rowan. This one is going to run towards Rowan. This one is going to run towards Gruff. This one's going to come after Flux, and then these

two are going to turn on some other folks back here. They're just straight up dead. And then this one. As they just come rushing in. So Daisy. Oh, hello. That is going to be a 13 to hit you. A 13?

Yes. No. Misses. You dodge out of the way. Rowan, that is going to be a 8 to hit you. No. So in your trembling fear, you manage to defend yourself. Flux, this is going to be attack against you.

That is going to be a 22 to hit you. Oh. Big hit. Yeah. That is going to be 7 points of damage to you as it strikes into you with its slashing claws. And then I need you to make

a dexterity saving throw for me, please. Big d20 plus your dexterity saving throw. 18. Easily enough. Plus 2, so 20. So again, the same thing. It strikes you, but before these red crystals can jump onto you, pull yourself away and avoid being corrupted by whatever this is.

You manage to pull yourself away. I think the rest all attacked NPCs, so we don't have to worry about those. They're dead. We then jump to Daisy. I am going to keep my distance, but Gruff is... One is right next to you. From the big...

From the big artifact, yes. That does seem to be the source of this power, by the way. Whatever is affecting the guests is coming from that thing. Gruff is next to it, so I get sneak attack. Yeah. So I'm going to summon a blade made out of radiant light, and I'm going to throw it at the big thing. You see this blade of light and then you lob it towards the big artifact.

Let's go for it. It's AC is 10. That is a 14 to hit. That is going to hit, and you can apply sneak attack damage. 14 damage. 14 points of damage. This radiant blade strikes the artifact, and its silvery metal that it's made from seems to crack, and it seems to break away and almost shrink a little bit in size, and the red lightning blasts out.

Anything else on your turn, Daisy? I'm going to summon a smaller dagger as my bonus action. Not bad. For that as well. That is only a nine to hit, though, so I don't hit. That is unfortunately going to miss, the first blow taking the big thing. After you do all of that, the artifact is going to pulse again,

and this time all of you, no saving throw, all take five necrotic damage. As this thing kind of just... Like, lets out this blast of almost like an odd tone, like... As it zaps everything. Then we come to Flux. Do you want to do the thing?

Oh, no. She is crass. Yeah. Ready so rage raging no first first first first first she's going to move away from her invisible giant spider wife she's going to go to she's going to fly up yep and aim for the top of the artifact. She's going to rage like fury. Oh, you've done it now. So what does it look like when Flux rages? She sets on fire.

Everything is on fire. Her eyeballs, her hair, her toes. Eyeballs. Eyeballs are on fire. Yep. I was thinking I could try and balance you on top. So cool. But yeah, this flaming fairy just flies up to the thing. You bring out your big mace and then, yeah, you're going to do a big hit.

Yeah, my big spiky mace. All righty. Well, the artifact automatically takes two fire damage from you raging. So you see that kind of that cracking and blacking of the top of the artifact seems to almost prepare itself ready for the attack. So this is an attack roll, d20, plus your attack bonus. Attack bonus... That's five.

Oh, 18 plus five, so 23. Big hit, yeah, the hammer comes slamming down. So now you get to roll the damage and don't forget to add the extra two from rage. Which one? Main attack. 2d6. So two regular attacks. It should be plus five with the rage.

2d6 plus three plus two for rage. These ones. Oh, I don't have... It's not going to be good for a blood pressure. Oh, my apologies. Okay. A three. And a five. Plus five as well.

Plus five, so... So eight, so 13 points of damage. The hammer comes slamming down, and you watch as that top cracks and splits open. The artifact not quite destroyed, but such a heavy hit, dealing a massive blow to this thing as it kind of splits open.

As you do, that would have been two other goes. So you watch as the artifact pulses once more, and you see these little guests, these little corrupted guests. Yeah! And they come running towards the source of their rage. What are these little noises? Yeah!

As all of the little minions are going to get a free attack against all of you. So Rowan, 16 to hit. That will hit. It's going to be another five points of damage. I'm going to use my stubborn endurance to stop that. Love it. Let's go roll it and let's see what we get. No.

No. Okay. Yeah, one sec. Oh, it's cocked. 10 plus two. I mean, yeah, five points. You negate all of it. Your body hardens as the blow hits you.

Yeah, it does. Ophelia. Yo. 24. Yep. You're going to take eight points of damage as this thing slams its fist into you. Flux, the first attack is going to be an 11 to hit you.

What's your AC? AC is what? The armor? Oh, 14. 14. It misses you. There's a second one. It goes to strike you as well. That's a 12. So these two things try and strike you. You're flying up in the air. They just can't get to you at all as you move around. And then Daisy and Gruff, we've got a couple against you.

16 Daisy. Yep. And then a 17 Daisy. Yes. What type of damage is it? It is going to be 6 slashing and then 4 slashing. So 10 total. Okay.

And then finally Gruff. That is going to be a 16 to hit you. It does not. It does not. It does not hit you. You deflect it with your armor of Oak and Thorns. So you kind of send off all of these guards as they're rushing to attack you. Let's see.

Flux. It is Ophelia. Ophelia will... Did you need to hit Xanthius just out of interest? No, he doesn't have an enemy next to him. Damn it. Oh, no, wait. There's one I forgot.

21. Oh, yeah, that does there's one I forgot. 21. Oh, yeah, that does it. Don't blow at me. Seven points of slashing damage. I'm down. I'm actually down. So as this thing pounces on you as it makes a leaping attack, it knocks you to the ground, Xanthias.

How is that? I don't know. As these insane guests corrupted by some proto-magic magic does that. But then we're going to jump to Ophelia. Ophelia will raise her blood whip and walk until she's within about 10 feet to the big red pillar thing.

Yeah, you can do that without provoking an opportunity attack as well. Awesome. And she'll just say, cursed relic, you'll pay for ruining my night. And she'll rage., cursed relic, you'll pay for ruining my night. And she'll rage. Rage as well. We've got the two barbarians.

So when Ophelia rages, we see like blood almost kind of pulse through her body. And like, you know, the almost heartbeat sound. The fangs elongate, the eyes turn red, just fury over her face. Great. What are we doing with the attack? So I'm going to, yeah, I'm going to attack, and I'm going to do a reckless attack, so I have advantage. Eight on the first, nine plus.

Four, thirteen. Four, thirteen to hit? Yeah. Is it hit? Yeah, this thing's immobile. It's very easy to hit, but it seems quite tough. All righty, oned4 plus 2. Oh, my God. 5, 6, 7 points.

7 points of damage. This artifact is so close to breaking as the whip kind of wraps around the bit where it's split and pulls. A part of it breaks away, and you see that the weapons that were animated just clatter to the ground. It's ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, as you've damaged it enough or whatever power,

but these corrupted guests, their eyes seem to almost become red glowing orbs as they're like... And then they almost become ready to surge again. You see lightning forks off the artifact. And all of you, can you make a strength saving throw for me, please? You are down. Don't worry about it.

Am I going to take damage here? We'll find out. We're about to find out if this is canonical. So another strength saving throw from everybody. Let's start down here. We'll start with Gruff. 14. Is a success.

What do we get for Nevi? 5. Flux? 14. 14 is a get for Nevi? Five. Five. Flux? Fourteen. Fourteen is a success. Rowan? Eighteen. Eighteen is a success.

Xanthius is down. Fourteen. Fourteen, success. Twenty. Twenty? Yep. Success. So it is only poor Nevi.

Who's a giant spider. Who is a giant spider invisible, gets thrown 15 feet back. And Nevi, you are going to take six points of bludgeoning damage. Okay. So as you slam back, the pain sort of coming through your body, but in that spider-like form, you kind of land on your back, flip over. Shake it off. Shake it off.

Woke it off. Hey. Yes? What happens to me? You will take an automatic death saving okay because you take damage from being thrown back unfortunately one of three yeah and i'm also going to move your miniature i'm just slapping around this ballroom at this point throw me against the wall you get thrown at daisy instead. Oh, that's actually very convenient. It's very convenient. In fact, Xanthius, you are the first to go in a brand new round of initiative. So that means we make a death saving throw to see if Xanthius dies.

Yay. Hey, if I roll a one, though. If you roll a one right now, this isn't canonical. Can you imagine? Watch this drive. 14. It's a success. Good. You are still dying, but you are getting better. Yeah. I'm about to make some huge moves, though.

I'd love to see it. Gruffydd. I'll attack again. Six plus five. Eleven. So meek. So does that hit? That does hit if you're hitting the artifact. I'm hitting the artifact, yeah.

So five, six, seven, eight points of damage. Eight points of damage. Help me. We see the artifact is crumbling away, nearly destroyed. You see that several of these creatures as it's being damaged almost the the corruption around them begins to vanish and they turn back into the guests that they had been earlier um as we see several sort of like reappear as they once were they're still making that weird noise though yeah the people on the ground

They're still making that weird noise, though. Yeah, the people on the ground. So Gruff, if that was your turn, we then go to Rowan. Rowan steals himself, and he gets out the pebble that he gifted. Allies forever. And throws it at the other. I love it. Let's see how he does. That's a natural 20. throws it at the office. I love it. Let's see how he does. That's a natural 20. Oh!

Oh! Oh! Oh! Not Valentina. You watch as the stone strikes the artifact, shattering it, breaking apart. And in its place hovers a red sort of unusual, like being of energy, kind of just hovering in place.

It seems weakened. It's there, but it's not there. It's kind of half between this world and another as it just hovers in place. The artifact shattered. Whatever remnant of power, it is on this. It's this last vestige of thing. And we go to Nevi.

Oh, shh. What happens now? You're a spider. You are a big spider. Maybe just attack. This energy being is hovering there. It seems to be the source of whatever is doing this. Okay, okay, okay.

I really don't want to do this. But maybe I melee attack. Yes. Not that one. So roll a d20. Okay, I really don't want to do this, but maybe I melee attack? Yes. Not that one, so roll a d20. Okay, okay. So the giant spider comes skittering along, and you're invisible, Nevi, so you have advantage, which means you get to roll twice and take the highest one. Shwa, shwa, shwa.

Shwa, shwa, shwa. You're blessed. Bye. I said I didn't want to do this. That's a one and that's a seven. Seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Alright, so we use the seven. Twelve is enough to hit.

It's enough to hit. This thing is immobile and ground. So now you roll the damage for that attack. Three, two, one, go. Nine. Nine points of damage. Now, if I'm correct, it also does some poison damage as well. Could you please make a DC 11 con saving throw? Natural one.

Yay! I don't know what's happening. Yay! So I'll tell you. So as the giant spider bites into this being, seemingly it's physical enough that your venomous fangs of the spider inject poison into it, and it becomes wracked in pain, and you now roll the extra poison damage.

Baby, look at me. It's got me. Can it roll again? No, you can't. I'll allow it. I mean, it's a special show. He'll allow it, he'll allow it. I'll allow it. I mean, it's a special snow. He'll allow it. I'll allow it. Give me some good luck.

Oh, much better. 12. With the previous damage you dealt, just enough as this energy being vanishes as the poison seems to send it back to some other place and the corruption affecting the guests recedes, forming like a red sand that pulls off their body and lands in the floor as Nevi, you strike the final blow,

and the guests are saved. Big congratulations. And with that, that is going to be, as the party is saved, by all of you guys, you're fine. Can I just make a death save? Sure. Ten, I'm back.

You're fine. We see the party you're heralded as heroes. Lady Imbressa thanks you. The mystery of exactly what happened. I actually rolled the rest of my death saves, I'm dead. You're dead. Well, luckily, Gruff and Daisy would have been able to hear you. I would have killed you.

Watch out for the key, guys. But whatever mystery, whoever the person who brought this was, whatever it was, that's maybe a mystery for another time. But you are lauded as heroes. Lady Ember, I'm so grateful that you saved her masquerade ball. Many of the guests here, very grateful and thankful for your aid, as that is the success, and that's all we've got time for.

And my violent wife is really proud of me. Very proud. I think a big round of applause for both of our guests. Yeah! You did very, very well. But yeah, that is unfortunately, everybody, all we have time for today. Thank you all so much for joining us for this Althean side quest

in Somnia 72. Thank you all so much. Well, let's do a round of applause for Chris, Kim, Rhiannon, Katie, and Tom. Thank you. And another big round of applause for our special guests, Jennifer and Alena. And a huge round of applause for our DMs. Oh, thank you very much.

And please come and watch Alfea the Dragon Empire every Sunday, 5pm UK time on twitch.tv forward slash High Rollers D&D and YouTube High Rollers D&D, or available as a podcast as well. Please come and check it out. Check out Jen and Alena's streams as well. You can watch them play through many different games. A little known game called Baldur's Gate 3.

Absolutely. And one last thing. If you were able to play again, would you be up for coming and playing again? Absolutely. I need to know what happens. I want to keep going. But thank you all so much. We hope you have a lovely night. Thank you very much, Insomnia. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, everyone.