High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #12 | Lights in the Dark (Part 1)

Episode Date: February 20, 2024

The Guilds team up against the Lamplighters as the team engage in a tense stand-off with the Blacksmiths! 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. Pick from over 190 assets and start with the $10 in your pocket. Easy. Go to Kraken.com and see what crypto can be. Non-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 back to Althea the Dragon Empire. Welcome back to Althea the Dragon Empire. As the sun sets on the bustling town of Ashen's Rest, our heroes have taken on a job for the wealthy Lamplighters Guild.

They are tasked with protecting one of their engineers, a halfling woman called Teresa Lavin's Dale, while she repairs three of the guild's magical lampposts. However, the task is complicated by the guild rivalries and politics within Ashenrest, as the group are soon harassed by a number of individuals from the Carpenters Guild who are extremely aggressive towards them. As blades, spells and teeth are bared, things only escalate. Whilst the majority of the Carpenters Guild are subdued, some are slain, and at least

one escapes into the network of alleyways in the area. And that is where we come back in this week, everybody. We are not going to jump straight into combat you guys had taken a sort of you had taken a short rest whilst Teresa was working on the Everlight these magical lampposts that the guild maintains throughout Ash Unrest um you had enough time some of you tending to your wounds your fight against the Carpenters Guild members um some of you have been struck by these like of bleeding, slashing strikes from their sickles and their carving knives

and hatchets and things like that. Some of you have taken the time to heal up, but I believe Gruff had taken the time to kind of drag one of these big, heavy wagons and block one of the alleyways that lead into the plaza, hopefully maybe slowing down maybe future waves of these assailants.

Assailants? Assailants? Aliens. Aliens. Aliens. Aliens. Assailants. Daisy, you had mentioned you had been searching around. I think you wanted to search around for something. I want to do an investigate around, see if I can find anything fun.

Sure. Before you roll that, we do have one thing to do, because we do do them every session. We're not... Do you do... That's a good one. Anyway, what are we doing? Sorry. That was a really bad one.

That just takes 40 points of damage. I'm joking, I'm joking. Oh, I'm dead. Rocks for you're dead. No, we do need to do our Crucible of Fate. Crucible! I sort of jostled with the idea of keeping the fate the same, but I do want to keep it every session we roll it,

and it gets reset, basically. Okay. Yeah. So. I'm happy to re-roll. I think we're on a move. I failed again. Yes, but I think we're going to keep it.

Is this every time? Every single time. Every time. Well, that is one for me. Ooh. Oh. I got a five. That is a success.

A one for... Well, they're not successes and failures. No, I mean... It's a dice from one. Fate for us. Oh. I got a five. That is a success. A one. Well, they're not successes and failures. No, I mean... It's a dice from one. Fate for us. Yes. Luck is on my side today. Yes.

Kimberly? Three. Three is a one for me. Chris Trott? Look, we all failed. A one for me. Oh, my God. Did we actually all fail?

A two. Wait, for real? Oh, my God. Well, we'll see what Mark gets. A four. Wait, for real? Oh, my God. Well, we'll see what Mark gets. A four! Yay! A one! You have two.

Hey, you're welcome, gamers. We have two? Yeah. I got one more, so... Oh, you got one. Just remember that. So we are currently operating at a two and four pool of fate. Now, remember, there are different ways.

I spend them slightly differently to you guys. I can use fate to add to damage. I can also use fate to... What's that face? The PTZ is lined up so you have just like a slightly longer torso. Oh yeah!

It's a little like that in front of you. I wish my waist was... Cinched. I wish my waist was... Cinched. I wish my waist was this cinched. I'll be honest. Sorry, podcast listeners, but just imagine it.

He's got a real long body right now. I love it. I'm like Jessica Rabbit right now. I can't stop looking at it. Anyway, yeah, but just a reminder, fate is spent in different ways. You guys can use your fate to boost attack rolls, saving throws, ability checks.

You can also use it to, and you do have a cheat sheet somewhere. You can also spend fate to do things like, for example, as you are investigating here, if there is a certain thing in particular you want, Daisy, like you were like, man, a healer's kit, because last time you guys didn't have a healer's kit and some of those medicine chips were really struggling.

If you were like, rather than risk an investigation role, because there just might, even if you roll well, there just might not be something here. You can spend a point of fate to just be like, we find a healer's kit, right? And you just narrate like, you know, this wagon that you're searching is probably the same. Considering mine and Groff's.

Yeah, I'll expend a fate dice and I'll find a healer's kit, please. All right, no problem. So I will take one of yours temporarily. This does unfortunately put you on one and me on five. So it might be a bit of a high damage, you know, going into it. But also, as you saw last time,

some of the enemies might have abilities that cost me fate to use now as well. So that's the thing I'm building into the monsters. That they have abilities that instead of it being like a recharge or a once per encounter, I have to spend fate giving you guys more dice and that sort of thing. All right, Chris Trott.

Now that we have short rested, it's been a full hour, right? It has, yes. Do we have any time to speak to the subdued commander that we manacled? That is a great question. They are currently unconscious, so unless you want to try and wake them,

but they are unconscious, so there are a couple of things I've got to do. You currently have... Hang on. So you manacled the lieutenant. There are a couple of unmoving dead bodies, unfortunately, of some of these Carpenter Guild members, but there were also quite a few of the others

who you knocked out as well. At least one of the other sort of more combat capable, the enforcers, one of those you knocked out as well, and several of the minions as well. I kicked a guy in the balls. You did. You did. Someone kicked someone in the minions as well. I kicked a guy in the balls. You did. You did. Someone kicked someone in the head as well.

I got an extra hour left with these manacles so we can keep them subdued for the next hour. Oh, it's not a permanent thing you create. That makes sense. So that mattress is gone. Yeah. Oh, gone. Shame.

Sorry. As a reminder as well, being a short rest, things like your blood fury points, Ophelia, reset, your rage ends, any ongoing effects like the armor of Oaken Thorns would also have ended in the short rest as well. If it has a duration. Rowan did a song of rest as well, right? You can use that. Because I needed it. I was on low HP.

Yes, I did song of rest. That just happens when we short rest. I'm not quite max yet. I think I leveled up too. You leveled up, yeah. I remember that. You said it last time. You definitely didn't level up. Maybe twice? Yeah, I think we all sacrificed.

No, why am I saying this? You leveled up twice. I'm level 10 now. And there were no strings attached. We will sort of retcon a little bit because I think at the end of the last episode I did have some of the bad guys arriving and setting them up.

We'll sort of go back in time a little bit and give you guys, because you guys didn't have time to properly go through your short rest um you i believe have currently one two three uh four five i believe five unconscious individuals and then the lieutenant who is currently manacled right yeah what do you guys do with them ophelia Ophelia. Yes! Did we knock out the enforcer as well?

Yeah, that's including that, yeah. Enforcer, lieutenant, and then someone. Quite a few of the minions were unfortunately actually dead dead. I had nothing to do with that. I'm not pointing any fingers. I am. I believe you also killed some. You did. Yes, you did.

At the start, no, I didn't. I used Earth Tremor. I knocked out three of them. You also did Chaos Belt. I would do the first kill. I want that to be known. This is not about pointing fingers. What I'm saying is that there are currently six unconscious individuals, including the lieutenant and one enforcer.

So four minions and an enforcer and the lieutenant. Rowan isn't suggesting these things because Rowan wouldn't think to do these things. However, yeah, you deal with that first. You have an hour. Those of you who are resting, you have enough time to probably drag the bodies, maybe tie them up.

There's not really a lot of time. If you're kind of resting, you can't do anything strenuous. So would waking up the lieutenant at least and trying to talk to him be a strenuous thing? Talking to him, I would say that, like, unless he does something to, like, cause a problem, then no. Talking to somebody is fine.

You can talk to somebody without it being too strenuous. And Teresa... Yes. Are they currently... They are, for the whole hour, they are working on this light. Okay, fair enough. They are engrossed in their work. She has, like, a little folding stepladder, Are they currently... The whole hour they are working on this light. Okay, fair enough. They are engrossed in their work.

She has a little folding stepladder, and she's placed it up against the lamppost, and she's currently tinkering with the magical crystals and elements of the artificer element that makes this lamppost work via magic. So she is completely engrossed in that. Teresa, sorry if this is... Oh, yes oh sorry

and she's you can see that she like kind of has like this big set of glasses with all these different lenses she's like oh yes Rowan isn't it

yes hello hello I appreciate the time is pressing and that we have more coming I have a suggestion maybe

do you really think you think that more are coming I have a suggestion. Maybe. Do you really think that more are coming? I have a sneaky suspicion. Oh, my goodness. I was hoping that would be the last of them, but all right. If this were to happen, I have a suggestion. All right.

I can create a version of you that looks just like you. Maybe we could use that as a ruse so that you could continue working on another one, but they think you're working on this one. I mean, possibly. I mean, I sort of mentioned this to you before when we sort of first arrived. I mean, I can try and work on them, but I mean, it takes me at least an hour

to fully repair one of these lanterns. I mean, you might buy me a few more, half a minute or a minute, if I try and work on it while fighting. But, I mean, if that's what you want to do, of course. But I'm not sure how much time that would actually buy me. Less about time, more about getting your consent to use your image for recreation purposes. Oh, I mean, yes, yes, I suppose.

If I was to make another version of you as a distraction. Yes, I have this, no, of course, yes. Great. That's fine. Yes, yes, no problem. Is that all? I really must get back. I've never done this before, so I'm having to follow instructions, so I'm just, it takes me...

Oh no, please, carry on, carry on with the repairs. Sure, goes back. What should we do? Should we try to find out what's actually happening here between all of these guilds? We could just wake up this lieutenant here, talk to him. It seems like anyone associated with the Lamplighters guild is hated here.

We don't know why. Now we're just doing a job. We're just getting paid. This has a question. Go. They didn't want to listen to that. I don't think they care. They didn't want to listen to it, no,

but I mean, we have this one. Context is important. We have this one. But it seems like everyone's really, really, really angry, and they said, you don't understand, little girl. That's exactly it. I want to understand, little girl. So I don't think that they are gonna, yeah, but there's not time to understand

if they're being all aggressive. Could this be something that Lord Ignarius might want to know about? That there's this unrest within his own town, these guilds? I mean, if there's open combat in the streets at night time between all these guilds, I'm sure people must be aware of it. I don't know. I mean, you can see that most of these buildings,

like, people live in them. They're residential houses. This one is a shop, but these ones on the side are actually residents. And you can probably see like the flickering of like candlelight and light, you know, behind curtains in the upper floors. It definitely does look like there are people in these buildings and they are keeping the doors shut and the curtains closed

is the impression you get. If people were attacked here not too long ago, a different group of people trying to repair these lamps, it's happened before, and it's probably not the first time even then. My worry is we've accepted something and we don't know which side we've just allied with. I hope it's for the benefit of Ash and Rest.

Well, I want to be on the right side. We just accepted the job for money, and we didn't think too much about teams. We didn't think there were teams. I will say that the lieutenant you have knocked out, I mean, these guys are out cold. Unless you heal them with hit points, no amount of slapping them around is really gonna wake them Right. No amount of, like, you know,

slapping them around is really going to wake them up. They are, like, unconscious, unconscious. What about some cold water to the face? I mean, because this isn't like they've fallen asleep and they're sleeping. They are, like, they have been knocked unconscious. Like, if you got hit by a bus... They are dangerously injured. ...and someone splashed water on you,

you're probably not going to wake up from that, right? Could I search, like, the lieutenant just to see if there's any... Yeah, you can pat their pockets down. ...inmissives or any notes on them that are like, screw these guys. Yeah. Screw these guys in particular. You pat his pockets down.

There's no notes. There's no written evidence of like, go get the boys and go fight these lamplighters, see? Yeah, Avengersgers there's not any like physical notes or anything like that you do find that um they have like probably like you know i'd say three or four gold in their coin pouch um which is not actually that it's not a huge amount of money um it's probably about right for a skilled worker and you know to have that on on them um they carry, like a hatchet.

They've got a kind of curved like wood carving knife, kind of like something that, you know, a wood carver might use. They don't, the only thing you can find is they carry a guild signia, which is like a pin badge, like a class badge, which shows a saw and a hatchet kind of crossed over a tree um and so you know indicating that they are a member of the carpentry guild um uh probably made from pewter and brass um there are dozens of scars not from carpentry i think gruff is been around enough to know that you get scars like calloused hands sure and this person has very rough

hands but they have like scars on their arms scars on their neck scars on their lip and on their cheek this person's a brawler like they this is these kind of street fights have happened and this person seems to be fairly you know familiar with that but no no evidence or like letters or like you know things like that and do all of them seem to have all these scars on them um most of them do i think the enforcer and the lieutenant do the minions you get the impression like and i say minions they're called like lackeys these are like lower members of the guild that have almost been drafted in or they're like street toughs who have basically been told right here's here's a few gold pieces. Come and fight with us.

They don't have the guild badge. Most of the lackeys don't have the guild badge, but the enforcer and the lieutenant do. Just a bunch of bugs. Yeah. Yeah. Can I ask? The scars, I would say, look recent.

They're not old scars. They're all fairly recent. Give me a medicine check, actually, Gruff. You are throwing that dice so aggressively lately. I'm just like, I have to look up and I'm just to make, I was trying to save time. 18. 18?

Yeah. I think, Gruff, you get a good look at these scars. After moving the wagon and sort of dragging things around, these are fairly fresh. Like, you think that this, judging by the scars, like, the calluses are old. Like, this person's worked their whole life. But the scars probably only go back, like, maybe a month, month and a half.

Even the oldest-looking scars, like, this is a new kerfuffle. Can I just quickly ask Teresa, like... OK, here's the voice. Come on. Hello, my name is Gruffydd. Hello, my name is Gruff. I'm from a little village in Thremoro. Teresa. Yes, and she's like,

I really must continue with the work. But yes, of course. This violence between the guilds, what have the lamplighters done to piss everybody off? Oh, I don't know. This is the thing. I'm an apprentice engineer. I joined the Guild a while ago,

but I've not really been involved in much. I've mainly been learning and doing things like that. And I've only recently been brought up to the position of engineer recently. And really this sort of thing is not my sort of wheelhouse. I mean, I've heard, I suppose, that there's been some rivalries, but it's not really something I know much about, I'm afraid. I'm really just a little engineer.

You could probably ask Miss Alicia. She might know more. She's more senior in the guild than I am. She's a bright eye, so she's sort of our middle rank, I suppose. There's also my direct sort of boss, the chief illuminator, Mr. Goldsight. He's a dwarven man. He's the one who taught me how to repair the lights

and he's the one who gave me this job. He might know more, I suppose. Have they increased the price of lighting the lamps recently? They haven't increased the price of it, but we've been... And she sort of thinks for a minute and she said, well, we have been making a lot more of them. It used to be that it was only the main streets and so, you know, it was only the shops and the houses

on the main streets that benefited from the lights and you know we charge a silver piece per night and most people are pretty happy with that for safe and peace of mind of safe streets and things like that and um but yes we've been sort of rapidly expanding and adding more lights all around the city and um i know that the guild also gets a payment from the duke for the the and she points and on the big walls around the town there are these huge towers with these big braziers and they actually kind of illuminate the lands you know kind of really make this a beacon

would be very useful were this town to be attacked to have these magical lights and you know not have to worry about them being put out and things like that the Duke does pay the guild as well for those but yes we've been rapidly sort of expanding adding more and more lights to the city um the head of the guild really has this big vision of this being a city of you know a grand bright light in in the province looking around this area yes uh having seen the radius of these lights before like

are there just way too many lights? No, there's just about the right amount. So as Teresa does this, you can probably see like the light is, as she's repairing it, the light begins to flicker less and is actually coming on full power. It's about a 40-foot radius of light around the post. And the way they're spaced out

is almost perfectly kind of illuminating the whole plaza. Okay. So it isn't like they are... But it is illuminating the whole area, right? Building up pointless ones. Yeah, like every house is going to be illuminated, you know, is going to have enough light. They can't get their dodgy dealings done anymore because the alleyways are all bright as hell. Is this Rowan?

No. I will say as well, these work like... These are like the light spell. So it's 20 feet of bright light and then it's 20 feet of dim light. So it still dims out as it gets further out into the outer reaches, but it's enough light that it's quite clearly illuminating the whole plaza. Where these two lights are no longer functioning, the city is...

There's enough ambient light in the city that's kind of reflecting down or from the stars that you can sort of see you're not in pitch blackness here but the shadows are so deep that more than just dim light seeing these darker areas looking into them as the sun is now fully set

now and we are at night time these areas are very dark this is like a next level beyond just dim light I'm going to call it shadowy these areas are very dark. This is like a next level beyond just dim light. I'm going to call it shadowy. These areas are quite shadowy. Well, if there's nothing untoward for the Lamplighter's Guild or these combats, at least from what you're aware, is there anything you've heard?

No, I don't think that there's anything untoward. Is there anything you know about the Carpenter's Guild? I'm really not the one to ask, Mr. Santheus. I'm just sort of an engineer. You know, I got hired to do this job, and I've been diligently... I mean, normally I work in the workshop at the Pharos, but, well, they needed more engineers, and I wanted a promotion, I wanted to make some more money, and so I volunteered.

But I'm afraid all this guild politics business is a little bit beyond me. No, I apologise. We are new to this. No, of course, I wish I had more answers for you. Well, we still intend... I really must get back to work. We still intend to protect you for the rest of the night. Please, yes, it would be good. One more question before you get back to work.

I do apologise. No, of course. You said you're putting up more lights. Who makes the lights? Do you make the lights, or do the other guilds erect these structures around the city? The lamp posts themselves? Yes.

Oh, no, no, no, we make everything. So you make everything? Yes, I do think that that might be where some of the rivalry with the blacksmith's guild come from, because, you know, the posts are made from metal, and the actual casings are all metal, but we make it all in the house now i see um ever since the blacksmiths guilds got sort of pushed out to the outer skirts of the the great forge district but um but yes no we make everything in house and there is a sort of um to sort of explain the magical elements to it

there are these sort of magical ley lines and the lights will feed off of them. It's why I can only repair them at night. We need the magic to be activated for me to finish the repairs. But they sort of have been laid out. The guild master and the other mages of the guild sort of laid out these sort of streams of power that we all feed off. And she points at the larger towers on the walls. They all sort of help funnel the energy into the city, into the town, and then we build the smaller lights to feed off of those. I see. OK.

And your guild is getting paid by the government to erect these lights? Well, we have permission to build them, and we charge the individual citizens who live here. The Duke doesn't pay us to do that. That is our own enterprise, as I understand it. Okay. Oh, I think you weren't here when we went

on the day when we saw them, so the lamplighters would go through town and every house has to pay a certain amount of gold. They were coming out and putting donations. Like, they were coming out and putting donations, like, a certain amount of gold. I think you did see it, but you saw it from the tavern whereas you guys were all together.

And it's a silver coin, basically, per household, per family in the buildings. So it's profitable. So the people who live in these buildings have to pay for the lights. It's sort of expected that they pay. There's certainly nothing enforcing them to pay. Sure.

A whore is there. But that's, yeah. So I think letting Teresa go back to her work, forcing them to pay. Sure. Her whore is there. But that's, yeah. Yeah, so I think letting Theresa go back to her work. Like Gruff's gonna kind of huddle with everyone and just be like, this doesn't feel good. No? This doesn't feel right.

At what point did it stop feeling good? Was it when we were attacked by all the carpenters? There's something bigger going on here and it feels like people are being put out of a job, and we're contributing to that. And I think that is going to be the point where we catch up to where we ended the last episode, and that is when the shadowy figures begin to emerge as the long rest. Because you guys did have to heal, and you've got the wagon and such for things. Did you write down that healer's kit, by the way, Daisy?

So a healer's kit has ten uses, it's important to note. It's ten uses. And what was the... No, it should be an actual item in the base game. Healer's kit. And that can stop, like, if we had the bleeding condition again? Yes, you can spend a use of it to remove one stack of bleeding. If you get the bleeding condition.

But yes, it is at this point. So I imagine that, as you've all been talking, Teresa, you've probably all gathered around roughly where you are on the battle map. You're all gathered around this far out Everlight, which is on the far outskirts of the plaza. But you begin to see at least a couple of figures, shadowy figures. You are able to see them, like I said, anything outside of a... The radius of light currently around the lamppost, as Teresa finishes it, is 40 feet.

20 feet of bright light, 20 feet of dim light. Anything beyond that radius is currently what I'm going to call shadowy. So it is dim light. You have disadvantage on perception checks. Okay. But also they basically gain the effect of cover. Anybody in that darkness gains the effect of cover because it is really hard to see the details.

Okay. So a stage between perfect darkness and dim light. Not quite. You can't see them. and that darkness gains the effect of cover because it is really hard to see the details. Okay. So a stage between perfect darkness and dim light. Exactly. Not quite. You can't see them, you can't target them, they're invisible. Nice, okay. A little bit further. You then see the figures as I mentioned.

You see a couple of them emerging from this alleyway over here. The exact opposite side of the plaza to us, that's good. Yes. And then I didn't add these guys to the last one as well, but another packet of mignons. Sauvignon. One, two, three, four. Sauvignon mignon. Five.

Yes, it's another pack of five over here. Six. It's a bundle. Eight individual boys. Nine. Eight individual boys. Nine. Nine individual boys. Because you've got this. You do also see a figure with a pointing a crossbow in your direction.

On the rooftops. And as they emerge, just as Gruff does deliver this kind of like, oh, this doesn't feel right. We've got embroiled in something here. It is at this point that I need you all to roll initiative okie dokie these ones as we said last time these are like not the blacksmiths right they you can yes even though it's quite dark you can see the glint off they look more armored they are carrying hammers some of them big two-handed sort of like sledgehammers some of them smaller blacksmith hammers um you can see this figure up on the rooftop has a quite crude uh looking crossbow but uh no you in fact i'm gonna say until you make a perception check that you can that's all

you can really see about them and then the same with this group of minions these lackeys they have like uh little short hammers um they've got like knives. Again, they look more like street toughs who have been hired on, basically. I've got an ingot cast. What are they gonna do with that? Gruff initiative. 17. 17 for Gruff. Daisy. 14.

14 for Daisy. Xanthius. 11. 11 for Xanthius. Rowan. 13. 13 for Rowan. And Ophelia. Three. Oh, there's going to be one. And Tom, can you give me a roll for Teresa,

because you still have her stats as well, please? Just add dexterity. 14. 14. Also, because this didn't come out a lot, it was something we mentioned last time, Teresa only has her signature attack and her reaction, but don't forget she can also use the help action to give somebody advantage on a check that she's making.

Oh, okay. So she can still give advantage to people as well um if you don't want her to directly attack somebody you can have a yeah that's cool good call all righty um so as this is all happening uh you do see these kind of figures begin to emerge um and uh they're kind of doing that thing of like they're kind of pounding their Hammers into their hands, very kind of Gangs of New York and sort of West Side Story as they look over.

And you see the lieutenant who is going to be the dwarf. You can see sort of wearing a big thick fur coat, has like several hammers and tools are hanging off a large leather belt, whispers and you overhear one of the others, one of the enforcers say to him like, they're the ones boss the one's working for the lamplighters looks like they've scared the carpenters off already and the dwarf just points and it's just like all right like sean we mean business uh and they are going to spring into action beginning with the lieutenant

themselves who is going to on it spend your time running towards us idiot yeah well he's gonna start making his way towards you uh and he is going to uh bring up a whistle to his lips oh and he is going to use his fate ability bring in the crew as a bonus action. I'm going to spend one fate. Oh, okay. So you get two. He calls in another pack of minions. Oh, nice. Another pack of minions. Just wait till Joker gets here.

Gotham is ours! There's certainly an element of that here, yes. This is a little bit of, very much if you think of the Michael Keaton Batman movies and things like that Yeah Still zip lining around everybody just a failure. Yeah, but yeah, he like blows his whistle. He's like get in here Take care of them and he's just gonna point in your direction another five boys. Yeah. Yeah, and then He as his action is to take the dodge action.

So any attacks against him have disadvantage. Smart bugger. Yeah, he's going to prepare himself for it. Looks up dodge action. Very clever boy. After the lieutenant goes, we then go to Gruff is going to be the first to act. I'm going to activate my armor of ash and thorn, but as I'm saying that, I'm going to say to everyone else,

I think we should go. We should take the lieutenant enforcer and go. For Valentino. I went and dyed your lipstick. Sorry. Someone else reacted. I totally missed the joke on that because I was like thinking of something else she's fully gone she's squeaking like a fucking I missed what you said

I said a perfectly reasonable thing he made the weird noise he was just being like basketball court floor. Whoa! He's going for the three-pointer! Three-pointer! I can't breathe!

Do you need a minute? Do you want to take a step away? That squeak was the perfect basketball. It was! To me, it sounded like you were doing Down With The Sickness. That's what I thought it was. Next time you say something, you're just, wah-wah! I'll give you a minute. As you say that, Gruff, the only thing is, as you say that, Teresa, who has finished working on the light,

it's like, you can't leave me here. They'll... Who knows what they'll do to me? Of course we'll take you with us, but look how many there are. I've got a job to do. This is my job. I'll lose my job if I don't complete these repairs. No, I've got a job to do. This is my job. I'll lose my job if I don't complete these repairs.

Well, why don't we try and talk to them? We might all lose our lives while you do these repairs. Yeah, I'll step up and I'm going to say to the lieutenant, we want to talk. We don't agree with this job they will look over towards you um bonus action i'd say that you know because you've had a bit of a discussion with your companions and things like that it's probably going to be about it in this turn yeah i'm just going to say i mean you could still like you know move if you want to but yeah this is i'll move probably the limits of how much we can get in a six six second also lieutenant took the dodge action so he can't hear you do you want to use dodging dodging my feelings use the mitten one

no because i'm responsible well i just broke my skeleton hands to move stuff around. And you got a mitten made for it as well. You broke it immediately. Anyway, we are... Show everyone the mitten that got made. We're so unprofessional. For podcast listeners, we have skeletal hands to push our minis around, and I have a mitten made for my one.

I just immediately ripped the hand off the arm. Thank you, Tash, for the mitten. I immediately destroyed it. There you go, that's my story. So you're just moving in front of Daisy, Gruff. Yeah, just kind of, I don't know. Yeah, protective. Central focal point.

Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Blah, blah, blah. Armour of Ashenthorn is up. Oakenthorn, Oakashenthorn, I don't know. But yeah, he's just... Can I ask you a question? Yeah, oh, hello, yeah. What is Gruff feeling right now?

Is this like... Are you afraid that you've gotten into the wrong thing? Is there an element of fear here? I don't think it's fear. I think it's more annoyed and like, you know, he keeps going back to his tenets of like, protect the vulnerable, meek and infirm. And there's just something about this that doesn't feel right.

So there's a bit of suspicion. Can you make a wisdom save for me? But because this is directly tied to your, you know, the things, your virtues, your knightly virtues that you aspire to, I am going to give you advantage on this saving throw. Hmm. No, I rolled two fives. Plus five, ten. It's, ten. Oh, yeah?

It's still ten. You say the words gruff, and you do mean them when you say them, but when you start thinking, you start doubting, and you start worrying that there's something more at work, and those paranoid elements really begin to get into your mind and there's something about it where you can just feel that tension and that paranoia building in you um you gain plus one to damage rolls and plus one to physical saving throws. There are other effects I'm not going to tell you. Plus one to damage throws. And plus one to physical saving throws,

so strength Dex Con. But I want to say that those feelings of paranoia begin to become entwined with aggression and fear and these other negative emotions begin to compound a little bit. I'm gonna need to act on it. It's not like a compulsion, but role play Gruff that Gruff's starting to feel

not just paranoid, but agitated. Average everyday Kim. Yeah, a little bit. Okay, I'm there. I'm divided by 10. But that's going to be Gruff's turn. Bring it down a little bit. Yeah, yeah.

After Gruff, you say that you want to talk, and you see the lieutenant is just like, I've got nothing to say to you. And then the two minion groups are just going to rush up. They're just going to move. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. They are basically going to come swarming.

And they take a pillar with them. Surrounding Ophelia as well. Yeah. Bring it, bring it, bring it, bring it, bring it. She's hungry, it's fine. Do they get to anyone else? Oh, one might be able to get to me actually. Oh yeah, the other pack too.

Yeah. 15, 20, 20, 30, 25, 30, no, 20, 20, 30, they are not able to make it. But they do get into the light. You can see that they are now. These are fully illuminated by the light of the emerald torch. Okay. I'm going to spread those out a little bit more.

Because I know they can't reach. Nice. All right. So we're surrounded now they are basically you just see running from the alleyways kind of imagine because you know obviously this is about imagine this is a much more tightly packed kind of very um renaissance star city the they just come swarming out of the alleyways over towards the fountain and now they're almost coming out of the shadows into the light that teresa has repaired and they're just brandishing these are cutthroats these are like street roughs who have been hired in there's no emblems there's no symbol of the guild here this is all you know sharpened knives and clubs um and you know uh chains and brass fists. These are gangsters. And they just come dash action.

That's it. That is their turn. Okay. They definitely, they almost seem a bit wild, right? They just come running and, just full of, like, frenzy and adrenaline, pumped up, ready to fight. After the minions go Daisy, Daisy is going to go,

then it's going to be Teresa. Can I... I want to walk over to the lieutenant. So start walking over? Mm-hmm. Okay. Feel free to move... Oh, do you need me to move you?

Might be easier. How far do you want to go? Thank you. You can move through. Maybe... 10, 15. Maybe I'll take my 30 feet and then I'll start. Okay.

It's about there. It's time to get into the outer areas of the light. I'll put light on my dagger, which is on my belt. So I won't draw it. I'll just put light on just so that he can see me. And I will just say to him, I don't know what's happening because nobody's talking to us, but we want to understand and we don't want to fight with people.

You say that. You cast Light, and this comes from Nim, right? Yeah. The Light? Yeah. You cast light. That's interesting. When you conjure light, what does it look like? What does it look like?

It's just like a... She just taps her dagger and it's just a golden... Like a warm golden light. It normally appears as like a warm golden light. Okay. You are on the very cusp of the Everlight's radius. So you're on the very cusp of the other light's radius. So you're on the very cusp of its dim light, basically.

Can you make a perception check for me? Free action, nothing to do. This is to see if you notice something. Eight. Eight? Yeah, but there is just a moment when you touch that and cast that light. It's like when you touch the dagger, like, oh, it's weird.

It was like a little tingle in your fingers. You've never had that before, but you don't notice anything, so maybe not a big deal. You say that to the lieutenant, and he kind of looks at you and sort of eyes you for a moment. Give me a persuasion check. She's trying to look all innocent.

Very innocent, sweet child. Sweet child. It was an 18 and it rolled over to a two, so four. So four. Unfortunately, he's just like, I'm not falling for your games. I know why you're here uh and he just seems to he seems to believe that you're this is like some sort of ploy you're like trying to trick

him or something by like approaching him in this way he just doesn't buy it unfortunately and that's just one wrong like it's not to say that that avenue's cut off but like you you you approaching him like you've got this light he's got like a glowing dagger he's just got his weapons out and he does not... He thinks that you're up to something for now as you try and approach him. Dice tell stories. Mm. Mm-hmm. Mm.

Can't roll for shit. Very interesting. Anything else you would like to do, Daisy? So it's probably going to be your action. So you have a bonus action. Can I just... Lay lines. Can I just... Lay lines. Can I sit down on the steps to the fountain and just...

I'll just put my dagger on the floor and just look at him. Okay, all right. I'd say if you do try and persuade him, if you don't have your weapon and you're sat down, because that's quite vulnerable. Your account is being prone, basically. I'll give you advantage on the persuasion check

the next time you try and do that. If you try and convince him that you don't mean any harm, I'll give you advantage on the ability check. All right? Sounds good. After this is Teresa. So she's by the lamp at the moment, having just... Is it help action?

It's not with range, is it? No, it has to be next to them, yeah. Actually, no, Teresa's like an artificer. I'd say that she can do it up to 30 feet. And the help action would just be... It just gives advantage on an attack roll, basically. Or an ability check. I think she would stay back and probably hide behind this lamp.

Mm-hmm. She would stay back and probably hide behind this lamp and give the help action to Rowan because there is a... I mean, or Ophelia, actually. Ophelia's got a load of people swarmed around her at the moment. So she's going to help Ophelia? Help Ophelia. Yeah, and this represents she's using artificer tricks or maybe things that she has to distract them.

Maybe she's picking up rocks and throwing them at these unrushing guys. Like, get away from her! And you see Teresa is trembling. She's quite frightened, and she's behind this thing, and she's like, oh, Lady Ophelia, Sister Ophelia, kill them! Get rid of them, they're going to rush us! She's panicking, basically, as these people rush towards her. But definitely is encouraging you to fight in that sense.

And yeah, I'll cycle her around so that she is hiding directly behind this lamppost from the majority of the plaza. It's a pillar on the mini-map. Imagine it more like a lamppost, so it's not going to provide cover. Oh, okay. Well, yeah, it's still... But it makes sense that she's trying to hide behind whatever she can. Yeah, it's a small barricade for now. Sure.

We then go to Rowan. Rowan's going to step right up to this pack here that's approaching us from that side. Yep, just rushed from the shadows. And he's just going to say to that group, if you take one step closer to my friends, I will defend them and I will not regret my actions. And I'm going to hold a thunderclap,

that if they step anywhere past me, I'm going to thunderclap. Okay, can you give me a wisdom saving throw, Rowan, as you are planning a violent action? Sure. That's a four there with a wisdom of one, so five. Okay. The same effect that Gruff currently has now also applies to you. You have plus one to damage rolls, plus one to physical saving throws,

and maybe other effects in place as well. As you feel, as they rush towards you, like, yeah, you're gonna defend your friends. These are your friends. You're gonna, if they try and hurt them, you're gonna hurt these guys back. Like, there's almost that kind of feeling of like, yeah, you're not gonna let these guys hurt anyone.

Cool. Almost preparing that thunderous force within you. Just a small thing. So in the last fight, I summoned Sah and my ice diver to protect rowan yes there's nothing on this that says like when they dissipate it just says for the day like until they've done their ability yeah so i will clarify it will probably be until a long rest so if you take a long rest they'll go away because then that way you can't just add yeah so if you take a long rest it goes away but it means that sarin's still active. Yeah, so Saren is still kind of,

I imagine Saren's almost perched on Rowan's shoulder. Yeah. Like this illusory. Don't you touch the bird. Don't touch the bird. Fantastic. So yeah, so yeah, Rowan has that, and that is your action is to ready that thunderclap.

If they take another step, what if they try and attack you? Because that would mean some of them are moving closer towards you. action is to ready that thunderclap if they take another step what if they try and attack you um because that would mean some of them are moving closer towards you yeah and that's a trigger as well okay i'll leave that to you it's your choice in that case we go to xanthius um i will uh so i will be provoking an attack of opportunity in the movement i'm planning here um from the guy directly in front of me but i want to move a little bit forward and then cycle around to the back of this pack that is now surrounding Ophelia. So that guy will go for me.

They will, and because they are a minion pack and you would provoke from one of them, I'll make this just a normal attack for him. I won't make this a group attack for him. Sure, okay. Normally, so the way that minions, I'm using the MCDM rules, is on their action, when they choose to attack, they can Sure, okay. Normally, so the way that minions, I'm using the MCDM rules, is on their action,

when they choose to attack, they can basically, people that are nearby can give up their attack to boost the attack of one of the minions, right? Right. So I'm not making five attack rolls,

I just do one. In this case, it's just the one. And this wouldn't use their collective reaction, I suppose. No, no, yeah. This is, that is going to probably be a hit, that's a 23 to hit.

Probably. Yeah, but it's only two points of damage. Hit me right in the heart. It's only two points of damage. And I will say to the lieutenant, there is no play here. You've never seen our faces before. We were hired today

by the Land Players Guild to protect the Engineer. We don't know what's going on here. All right, yeah, you say that. The Lieutenant, because the Lieutenant's also technically had his turn, so I can't converse too much with him, but he will look at you and basically say, then leave, leave the Engineer and go.

What do you do? Well, I'm also going to be preparing an offensive spell. All right, if you're preparing an offensive spell, can you give me a wisdom saving throw, please? Yes, indeed. Figured that was coming, but... Oh, wisdom. Minus one.

18. 18. Yeah, nothing happened. Great. And, yeah, the spell I'm preparing, it's a similar thing to what Rowan is doing, is I'm going to be preparing Earth Tremor. If any... I guess I can't really say if any of this pack attacks either me or Ophelia.

That's a bit broad, isn't it? You can say if anybody attacks my allies, I'm going to cast this spell. Okay. So yeah, there'll be an Earth earth tremor uh which will hit this entire pack if any of those attack and i'm concentrating on that all righty uh in that case uh i then go to the enforcers who are just gonna five ten fifteen twenty twenty five thirty five ten fifteen twenty twenty five thirty and then they're going to basically start moving up. I think actually they're going to probably just join their boss. I'm going to just kind of shuffle them around.

And they're also going to take the dodge action. So they're going to kind of move up to the side of their boss, kind of like pounding their hammers, letting the lackeys kind of rush forward to begin with. And they're just going to let that happen. And they are still in the sort of shadowy area currently. So that is the Enforcer's Coup. Poor Ophelia with a three.

You are unfortunately the last at the bottom of the round. As this crossbow man is gonna turn and has a target-rich environment. Daisy's currently set on the steps. You've put your weapon to the side. Gruff, you are kind of surrounded by this armour and you have a staff. I think that they are going to take a shot at you, unfortunately, Gruff. Seeing as you do seem to be the most... biggest threat right now.

So from the shadows, and it is this kind of dark shape on a rooftop, it's just going to... And it's going to take the shot. Take the shot! Yeah. I am concentrating on the spell right now. I don't know if that would change his targeting. These guys aren't really adapted in Magic to know what you're doing really.

Sure. They can see you and Rowan conjuring energy, but they don't know that that's going to go off. They don't really... I am also right in front of their allies as well, so it makes sense. You are right there though. I'll tell you what, I'm going to roll a d6. of their allies as well, so it makes sense. You are right there, though. I'll tell you what, I'm going to roll a d6.

I'm going to roll one, two is Xanthius, three, four is Gruff, five, six is... Oh, do you need a d3? Oh, no. Let me just open the bag real quick. Here you go. Podcast listeners, Tom has a bag of chaos, which he is rummaging right now. Yeah, I've got a d3 in here.

No, I don't. Yes, I do. Here you go. Here in rummage right now. Yeah, I've got a D3 in here. No, I don't. Yes, I do. Here you go. Here in rummage. You're welcome. I'll post a picture of this in Discord and on my Twitter. Don't like that. Oh, I hate this song.

This is horrible. It's a D3. Oh, that's disgusting. Isn't it? That is a D3, isn't it? Actually, it's kind of cool that it's an actual D3. Yeah, right? Don't give it that. Because it works, it works like a D't it kind of cool that it's an actual d3 yeah right because it works it

works like a d4 i actually think that one's legit it's kind of legit it's pretty legit right well it's three so actually i think you're right in that they can see because you are concentrating when you concentrate on a spell you are doing somatic components well does thunderclap have any uh somatic components actually som? Somatic components? Yeah. Probably. So it's normally listed as S, is that S-M-V? Mine absolutely does. It does? So you are kind of like swooping your hands

or you're doing some sort of gesture. It is obvious you are casting a spell and the mark, yes? Saren will protect and she takes the hit. Okay. On a successful hit. I was going to say, you want to wait until I roll it because then you you know you use it um okay all righty so it is gonna be a 15 yeah so that would normally hit um so sarin intercepts the bolt this does have an extra effect which is gonna still take effect uh so rather than damage so sarin intercepts the bolt um and it kind of

clatters the ground before it hits you. But the marksman taking that shot is kind of sending a message to his allies in the guild that Rowan is marked, and that they should take Rowan out. This huge UI. A big target around you. But yeah, you are marked until the start of the marksman's next turn, and that means that they have advantage on an attack against you.

Everything? Any of his guild allies. So the lackeys don't count, but the enforcers and the archers do. I just love the visual of the bolt flying through and Saren, just with a cry, flies just directly into him. Well, I imagine almost like a fish in the ice, it snatches the bolt

out of the air, but it's enough to tell the allies, like, get this right. Okay, so it's not Saren takes the hit and we literally see a bird die in front of us. It's also, it's a spirit.

She's spiritual and it keeps saying every week the illusory of a bird being hit by an arrow. It's a bird snatching the arrow

out of the sky. And then it sort of carries it away and then it dissipates and the bolt clasps down. That's cool. Can I do that? Very cool. No, okay. It's mine now. Can I see it? Can we see it? Can this side of the sky. And then it sort of carries it away, and then it dissipates. That's cool. Can I do that? Very cool.

No, it's mine now. Can I see it? Can we see it? Can the side of the table see it? Well, actually, I'm going to have Rhiannon go first, and then if Rhiannon starts laughing, it's her turn next. Okay, yeah, take your time. So, yes, Ophelia is up as the last in the round. Ophelia was going to try and take a more diplomatic approach,

but they've just taken a shot at Rowan, so I think her mind has changed. So you hear the kind of... And then Saren flies past yeah it's up to you it's your turn your turn Feeny's gonna see that look to the archer on the roof look to the lieutenant we just made a big mistake she's gonna rage all right we see the veins kind of bulge, the teeth elongate. Blood fury. Blood red light.

Look at me. I'm going to whiff this so bad. Look at me. I'm going to whiff this. Check this out. She's going to get her whip out with her gauntlet hand, try and whip one of the closest guys. All right.

You're making this reckless? I'm going to have to because I whiffed that. There we go. 16. 16 will hit, yeah. Roll full damage for me, and you will gain a blood fury point as well because you're attacking a new target as well.

Blood fury point. Roll full damage because it is a minion, but you might be able to do over damage. Five total damage. Is that with your rage bonus? Yep. Okay. So the first guy just drops.

Are you making this non-lethal or is this a killing blow? What kind of damage does a whip do? I'd say the blood whip is like a slashing damage. Yeah. I'd say that because it's kind of like a blood whip, you could make it non-lethal if you want to. I'll make it lethal. I'm sending want to. I'll make it lethal.

I'm sending a message. I'll make it lethal. I'm sending a message. Wow. Awesome, Nick. So, yeah, it literally slashes this dude's neck. And he stumbles to the ground. Can you make a wisdom saving throw for me, please,

if you will? 20. Unnatural. 20? Yeah. I mean, you're just in your rage. Yeah, you feel fine. Raging? 20 unnatural 20 yeah you've yeah I mean this is

you're just in your rage yeah you feel fine raging yeah feel fine I'm always striding in my lane I'm raging so

seeing their companion go down all the lackeys just immediately are like right fucking kill them now kind of like really rush to it Xanthius

I forgot as well with the marksman's bolt you did say if any of them attack your allies it was theanthius, I forgot as well, with the marksman's bolt, you did say if any of them attack your allies. It was the group around you. You specifically wanted that group around you, and I assume the same for you, Rowan, as well. All right, no problem. In that case, yeah,

we jump up to the top of a brand new turn with the lieutenant. Lieutenant. Walking up to Daisy. Yeah, he's going to walk up to Daisy. Seeing you with your kind of thing on the ground, he's going to look at you, kind of looks up, isn't going to attack you.

He's going to look at you, look towards Ophelia, who has just killed one of these lackeys, and just say, I'm going to give you a chance. He was Scottish. I'll give you a chance. He was Scottish. I'll give you a chance. You can leave.

You clearly don't know what you've gotten involved in. But he points at Teresa. But we're taking her back with us. You and your friends can leave, but we want the engineer. I can't let you do that, though, but we want the engineer. I can't let you do that, though, because she's another human, and we can't... She's done anything wrong. We'll see about that.

You've gotten... They're up to something, and I think she knows. Last chance. I have an audience with the Duke tomorrow. All right. We can talk things through without anybody getting hurt. That causes him enough pause. I'm not going to take an action with him he's just going to take the dodge action like prepare himself to defend himself but he's not going to take any offensive action he's going to look at the two behind him and just sort

of gesture for them to come closer um the the thugs that he's paid he's's like, whatever. Yeah, yeah. The rabble. The rabble are going to do what the rabble do. But you seem to have maybe intrigued. You've piqued his curiosity. Piqued his curiosity. Thank you. It's been piped.

It's been piped. It's been piped. Good call. Lieutenant. So we go to Gruff. I think his brain, mind, whole filling with all this anxiety and anger and aggression.

He's going... Just imagine any negative emotion that Gruff might have at this moment. Just level it up a bit. My suggestion to anybody who's had that effect, level up any negative emotions that you currently have. The insecurity there is like, is this right? This really feels wrong.

I don't like it. He's going to turn towards the group of goons that are interacting with Rowan. And I'm going to try a daunting roar. Cool. What's the range and stuff on this? I do need to move up next to Rowan. It is ten foot.

Doing that. Creatures of my choice within ten foot. Is there a way I can do it that I can catch as many of them as possible without... So you were here.

Yeah, I've got thirty-five foot movement. And it's ten feet around you? Yeah. You would be best going five, ten, fifteen, 20, 25. If you go here, then you'll catch two of them. Oh, 10 feet around you, right?

Yeah, so you catch all of them. Okay, so I'm gonna go there. I do diagonals, I don't care about Pythagoras. Overrated triangles, in my opinion. Well, okay, guess we're being canceled today. Yeah. I think there's a lot about you. And this is a wisdom saving throw?

Wisdom saving throw of 13. I am gonna, I do have to make this individual, even though they're minions, but I am gonna do this. So 13, first one, is a failure. Next one, failure. The third one, which is the one right next to you, succeeds. And then the two behind him, failure. And then hood man succeeds.

So three of them fail that means they're frightened right okay great cool uh you see the terror in their eyes as they look towards this bellowing and you see three of them just immediately terrified of you and that fear is mingling with their aggression and everything else and this storm of emotions is in them. Two of them manage to kind of keep their heads and now look at you as this potential threat towards you.

But yeah, three of them are now affected and that's frightened until... I think it's only until the next turn. Until the start of your next turn. Where the fuck did it go? Probably right. It's not pretty good. Sometimes it's like a minute. Until the start of your next turn? Uh, where the fuck did it go? Probably right. It's not pretty good.

Sometimes it's like a minute. Until the end of my next turn. Until the end of your next turn. Good to know, all right. So that means that they cannot move closer towards you, and as long as you are within sight, they have disadvantage on any attack rolls. All right?

And I think, yeah, I'm gonna strike out with my staff at the one that failed that was nearest to me. Directly in front of you currently on the mini map, yeah, I'm gonna strike out with my staff at the one that failed that was nearest to me. Yeah, directly in front of you currently on the mini map. Yeah, so there's one right in front of you that is in the middle. Yeah. Okay, make the attack, and then I am gonna need a wisdom saving throw from you.

17 to hit. That hits. Roll damage for me. Six points of damage. It's enough to, are you trying to knock him out? Knock him out, I'm not doing lethal damage. All right, cool, I will keep track of damage. It's enough to... Are you trying to knock him out? Knock him out. I'm not doing lethal damage. Cool. I will keep track of that.

Did he just attack you? Son of a... Well, also, before that, I need a wisdom saving throw from Gruff, as you did attack. I just... Nine, ten, eleven... No, hold on.

Fourteen. Fourteen. Yeah, even though... Yeah, you feel that these kind of negative emotions like rising in a storm in you and these kind of aggressive actions, but yeah, nothing changes. That technically would have been a 7 points damage. 7 points of damage, no, it's good to know. Not enough to cause any over damage, but good to know, good to remember as well. And then I believe, yeah, Rowan, your Thunderclap goes off.

Does it? Oh no, they didn't attack you yet, that's right. Good point. Gruff, anything else on your turn? That's Murder, She Wrote. That's all I can do. Alrighty. In that case, we go to... It is then the minions go. So the three who are frightened can't get any closer. This guy can. He's going to kind of step over his fallen comrade.

And, yeah, he does look like he's about to attack Gruff, so do you want to get that Thunderclap off? So they all basically move at the same time, right? Yeah, Rowan turns around in the twerking position. Yeah, and you see this guy, the one who's not frightened. Three of them are terrified, but you see one who's not frightened comes up with a knife, and it looks like he's going to try and shank Gruff

while the others are kind of distracting Gruff. I warned you. And it is a con save of 13, please. Con save of 13. First one fails. Everything in range, which is five feet. Yeah. And this deals damage, right?

This is just a straight damage effect. This will be damage. 1d6, yeah. Okay. All right. These guys are minions, so actually, yeah, this is just, yeah, it's going to hit all of them. Three of them do take half damage,

but I don't think that's going to matter because these guys are minions. Four. All right. Is this lethal, non-lethal? Non-lethal thunder? Yeah, I'd say thunder can be non-lethal. Yeah. So you knock with rough staff.

If I may be too, with my failed wisdom to... Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're not under any kind of compulsion. I just role-play imagine, imagine that your negative emotions are being sort of enhanced right now yep yep yep I've had four of them

you just watch as yeah Rowan is this like a strum on Sosonanto or is this like a clap

it's my ass cheeks he did say it it is the claps of my hands coming together it can be your ass cheeks if you really

want it to be no that's not where the geometric patterns are right okay otherwise it would slam your hands together ripples out and you just see coming together. It can be your ass cheeks if you really want it to be. No, that's not where the geometric patterns are. Right, okay. Otherwise it would... Slam your hands together,

ripples out, and you just see this wave of thunderous concussive force just knocks the four of these guys that were looking like, even though they were terrified, they looked like they were going to try and pounce on Gruff,

and yeah, just slams them to the ground. They're out cold. Are you okay, Gruff, of tomorrow? I feel better for being here with you, friend. And that was technically on their turn,

so that isn't even your turn. I am going to, however, have a bunch of them now take actions on the other side. They're about to attack, are they? Yes, they are. Okay. Well, luckily, I do have geometric patterns on my ass. Yeah, they do. Just arrows.

So I'm going to be like Mario. One does take a step away from you. I'm going to butt-stomp the ground. But you can't use your reaction because you're using your reaction to hold. That's fine, because Earth Tremor is 10 feet. She's got all of them. All of them? All of them.

So they make a dex save just 12 to beat this. 12. But this does damage, right? It does damage. So I will do a wisdom save as well. Yeah. Maybe. And is this lethal?

No, again, it's the bludgeoning damage, so it can be non-lethal. All four are knocked out unconscious. Nice. God damn, as this bursts. Hey, this is what wizards are meant to do, right? Is like big AoEs and like doing things like that. Yeah, nice. So you just watch as, yeah, four of them are just ripped the cobblestones in the ground slam into their bodies

Knocking them out. I imagine those two like blasts go for almost the same time Yeah, and then wisdom saving throw please. I got a 12 a 12 Which I it's probably not It feels really good. Like, it's like, you know, why are these guys attacking you? Like, you need to teach them that kind of, like, those aggressive feelings that conjure the spell.

Any kind of sense of, yeah, any negative emotion, anger, fear, jealousy, paranoia, any of these negative kind of feelings are slightly enhanced. You have the same effect, plus one to damage rolls, plus one to physical saving throws, and there might be other effects involved as well. Yeah, I was gonna say to Ophelia, try not to kill this one, double O-O.

Triple O, I guess. Ophelia O-O. But no, I, oh, it's not even my turn, is it? No, that was a reaction on their turn. Reaction, yes. They went step up and you slammed them down. Boom. They take their turn and there's a thunder wave and an earth tremor on either side.

Yeah, yeah. Sucks to be them. Dolby Atmos up in this bitch. And then it would go to Daisy and Teresa's turn. I'm still sitting on the steps. Yeah, this dwarf's looking down at you. It would go to Daisy and Teresa's turn. Christopher Nolan movie. I'm still sitting on the steps. Yeah, this dwarf's looking down at you.

You're kind of having this conversation with this dwarf. I'll just look both sides and go, well, I mean, now that they're dealt with for now, have a seat, and I'll just pat the ground next to me. He just shakes his head, he's just like, Fine. Tell me more about, you have a meeting with the Duke? We do, however, I just want to point out that that little, that little artifice over there,

she's not even been with the lamplighters for long, she doesn't know anything, we've already asked her. He looks over, he's like, even if she doesn't know anything we've already asked her he looks over it's like whether even if she doesn't know anything she's valuable that's not the way to get anything done though he just he rolls his eyes like very naive why don't we save you a spot in the line and you can talk to the Duke about all of this mess. He will say, young miss, do you not think that we've tried? I'm interested that you have the Dukes here

because maybe, just maybe, if outsiders can get to people to start thinking, that might help out. But we've tried to speak to the Duke. The lamplighters are wealthy. They know how to prevent certain word reaching his ears. Can I bring my friends over to talk without harm? He will say,

he'll look up towards the rooftop and he'll hold his hand up and he'll say, we'll be keeping our eye on things, but we can talk. But he is gonna gesture for the others. We're gonna pause combat. We're not gonna come out of combat, but we're gonna pause combat. Now I wanna make it very clear,

these boosted negative emotions remain in play. Rage and things like that, I'm gonna leave that up to Ophelia to decide how that manifests, but I'm gonna have it so that basically, unless you guys do anything different, like these two are going to basically come on either side. This guy with the crossbow, you can see loads of bolt

and keeps it aimed and is aiming probably towards Daisy at this point. And you can see these three have kind of got Daisy surrounded right now and this marksman thing. They are all going to ready to action. Like, they are willing to talk, but if any of you, they look like they're sitting on a powder keg, right? They are tense. Their muscles are bunched.

You can see that this crew, if anybody does anything aggressive or violent towards them, they are going to fight. And that will probably, there won't be any more talking. They'll just fight you. All right? But they are going to hold the combat. So I'd say that you can move, but any sort of action you need to declare.

We're going to jump out of initiative for now. We'll pause it on Daisy's turn, right? So we'll have Daisy take her turn, and then that will be where we kind of pause the combat um but yeah they will kind of bunch themselves up you can see that there is a um like a very dark skinned halfling not a gnome halfling uh a human man with a big tall double handed hammer the dwarf is a dwarf man um and then yeah you can't really tell much detail about this shadowy marksman up on the rooftop. Rowan

has been attempted hit at by the crossbowman. So he's going to walk very gently next to Daisy and stand in the trajectory of the vault. Well, you can stand next to her. You can try,

because from the angle, you can try and stand. Rowan's going to walk over looking up in that direction. Well, you can stand next to her. You can try, because, you know, from the angle, you can try and stand. I'm just going to, Rowan's going to walk over looking up in that direction. Yeah, sure. Kind of making it clear that he is not going to allow.

Anybody else want to move anyone? Gruffeth will walk and stand the other side of Daisy. Yeah, this is very much like a gang's squaring off against each other, right? This is like with a fountain behind them.

You can hear the little bubbling trickle of water coming from the fountain, the well. The three of them, the blacksmiths standing off. Now Rowan and Groff, the two biggest pun members of the party with a little daisy in the middle. And then you guys are, yeah, squaring off, basically. Whatever, I don't know if you had a place where you were going, Ophelia,

but I knew wherever you were going, I was to go like the opposite formation move to you i suppose like if you're going off to the side somewhere i would yeah be on the opposite side almost at the same time yeah yeah yeah yeah i'll go into flank on the side of rowan i'll uh move up to him okay i'll probably be up on this lake uh Yeah, it's like a fountain. It's not really anywhere to stand up. You would be sort of either on the steps like this. I could just go around the sides, yeah, yeah. So if...

Almost not like surrounding them as such, but like we've got our side of the plaza, they've got theirs. You're kind of like leaning on... You could like be leaning on the fountain maybe a little bit or sort of put your foot up on it to the side. A bit more casual

but definitely ready to strike if you need to. Flash myself with water a little bit. Yeah. Teresa is going to stay, well in fact actually Teresa will basically

move around our controller at this point. She will move around and she's like kind of not making her way towards this other light but she's kind of like oh should i um i don't know i mean given like what we heard them saying i'd almost say to her to like not come out right now because she will gladly hide yeah exactly yeah because there's an archer

on the rooftop yeah she will she will basically take full like she will get under the little wagon she's like okay and then she's like she she will get under the little wagon. She's like, okay. And then she's like, she's like hiding underneath the wagon. I'm like, wordlessly as I'm walking past to like put a hand to sort of say, get low or whatever or hide, rather than like,

yeah, sure, hide. Get low. Shorty, get low. She's a halfling. I haven't heard that before. So are we able to just talk now? Like I said, pause in combat. You guys can talk.

You can move around. If you want to do anything else, you can do. And if you want to try and do it subtly, it would be a sleight of hand. Sure. To try, if there's like, I want to cast a spell without noticing. This is a G1 standoff.

This is a bit of a standoff. You especially don't. He's your first. But also, I want you guys to play your characters, right? Like, if you feel that, like, yeah, to be honest, my character would like to act. Or if you think they're going to act, like, if you guys want to make insight checks to be like,

do I think they're about to, like, attack us? Like, I want to get the... Because if they change their mind, they, right now, they might be able to get the jump on you and get a surprise round, right? Because they'll just act. I feel like Roth was going to say something, right? Yeah, I be able to get the jump on you and get a surprise round, right? Because they'll just act. I feel like Rothen's going to say something, right? Yeah, I think that as I was walking,

like, as I get next to Daisy, I'd kind of look down and be like, you all right, Daisy? I was just telling our friends here that we have a place in line to meet with the Duke tomorrow, and maybe that would be a better avenue for discussion. You'd be wise to listen to her. Why would I be wise to listen to her?

Because it's the best chance you have at sorting whatever this mess out is. A bold claim considering you don't know what the mess is. We've been asking and no one's telling us. So maybe if you tell us, we can make the case for you with the Duke. But I'm getting a bit fed up of no one telling me what on earth is going on here. I eyes you up. Eyes you up and down. I'll make an insight check about you. Can you give me a intimidation?

Is this heightened at all from the emotion or...? I'd say you get a plus one. OK. Good. Eight, nine. Eight'd say you get a plus one. Okay. Good. Eight, nine. Eight, nine. It looks you up. Doesn't seem fazed by the anger.

This dwarf kind of stares you down coldly, lets you kind of burn out. He just smiles. I know how to deal with a hot bleed and a hot temper. You're clearly not with the guild. You're mercenaries that have been hired. The carpenters have been dealing with this longer than us, so it's no surprise that they didn't talk to you.

We've only recently become involved. He looks over to where Teresa is. You said that she's not been with them long. She's terrified. Looks like that. All right. The Lamplighters Guild are wealthy. They get money from the Duke.

They get money from the wealthiest citizens to install their lights. And that was fine for a long time we left them to their business we did ours we work on the barges we work on the buildings the masons tend to get most of the inner city work

but here on Riverside we tend to hold the hold the keys to buildings and things here and we work on the barges, important trade. Sorry, that's the competence guild. My guild's confused, apologies. Being the blacksmiths, our work, cauldrons like weapons and they like armor,

and so we had a lot of good work. And then people started to complain. Oh, the smog from the foundries, the tanner's smells, all of this. So we got pushed further and further out to Greyforge and outside of the walls. At first, we thought it was fair enough. Blacksmiths, you know, forges, tanneries, they make a smell, they make a lot of noise.

We could understand it. Then we found out that it was the lamplighters who'd been encouraging citizens to complain. It had been the merchants, led by the Merchants Association, encouraging people to send word to the Duke that maybe we should be outside the city walls. Cleaner air, nicer sound, that sort of thing.

And then the lamplighters started installing lights in other districts, not just around the main plaza, not just in the main thoroughfares, but going out to the residential districts. And they don't force anyone to pay, but it's encouraged. Again, we weren't in a position to challenge them. The Blacksmith's Guild doesn't have as much influence as the Lamplighters or the Merchants or the Masons. So we let them be.

And then things started to happen. Whenever the Guild put up a new light, something changed. It's like people just got angrier quicker. They got frightened or paranoid, started bickering with family, with friends. We can't prove anything,

but it didn't happen until the lamplighters installed those new lights. Out of interest, this isn't Xanthias talking. Sure. Now that things have quietened down, and I think everyone has almost collected themselves, is that emotion still? He said it was still there.

It's still there now. I'm just wondering if there's, like, if we're standing here tense, is, I almost want to, I think. Almost more, that tension is not going away, it's being elevated by this feeling. Like. It was only when she fixed the light.

Why, no, I just mean, at the mention of, you know, things change when they. This guy could be lying. Could be. How do you know this guy's not lying? Maybe he's waiting for more reinforcements to arrive. We're just on the edge. Okay.

At that, can Gruff kind of speak up and say, I'm feeling something. Can we just... This is going to be so weird. Can we try something for a second? No malice. Hands up. I want to carry on this conversation out of the range of that light.

He'll look over you and say... He'll take a few steps back. Basically back off a little bit. Back off into the shadows. Sort of allow you guys to kind of step forward. Yeah, so are we out of the range of the light now? Yeah, I'd say, well, even if I haven't moved you exactly out of the range, we'll say that it's enough.

Influence is still there. Okay. Are we in, are we in? Like I said, it's influencing negative emotions, so like even paranoia, like if you think that there's, like I said, I'm saying this as this character even paranoia. If you think that there's, like I said, I'm saying this as this character, and maybe as a DM you think, oh, the DM's giving us plot.

This guy could be lying, for all you know. You don't know. Is there anything different about Daisy's light, though? Is that changing anything? Make an Arcana check for me. Okay. Arcana or Perception? I think for me, maybe I don't necessarily 100% believe them,

but if I am still feeling this anger and this rage, which is lingering more than usual, like, I don't know, my hand is still almost kind of tickling. It doesn't even necessarily have to be anger and rage. This could be just like paranoia. It could be arrogance. Any sort of negative emotion.

Yeah. I think for Xanthius, I am... You guys arethius, I am... You guys are your characters. I am... trying to keep a hold of my emotion, maybe more so than most. Sure.

And trying to be more aware of any changes. That is a 19 plus my Arcana. 21. 21. Just before I come back to you, because this is going to be a big thing. Ophelia, Rowan, Daisy, is there anything you guys are saying?

Is there anything you want to do? Is there anything that your characters are interested in that you want to roll? Because obviously we've had people talking, I want to make sure everyone gets a fair bit of time. I think Rowan is just more questioning his own thoughts at the moment, and like, I do feel a bit strange.

Yeah. And he's just trying... Yeah, I'd say that now it's been pointed out, you can feel like maybe there is a bit of an influence going on, but it could be nothing. It could just be like, oh, it could be the adrenaline or something like that. But there's definitely something. You feel a bit off.

Rowan's feeling more focused on ensuring that no one's in immediate danger. Mm-hmm. So he's just focusing on that rather than dialogue. Mm-hmm. Okay. Ophelia? Daisy? Anything from you guys? Ophelia's just going to keep looking back to Teresa. Can you give me

an insight check? Five. You can barely see her. She's in the light, but she's like tucked underneath the wagon. I mean, she doesn't look harmed or anything like that. She just maybe looks like she's trembling, like she's a bit frightened. If you take Teresa,

this would never end. The cycle would just continue. We need information. We don't know what they're doing, what they've done. And even if she doesn't know, this is going to sound harsh, but a hostage would be useful. Maybe the Duke knows.

We can ask the Duke. The Duke is a great dragon, and I have great respect and faith in the Duke, but I think these other guilds are stopping our concerns from reaching him. When he says that to you and he's looking at you, that's, Amthias, the point when you notice two things. The first is, and this is maybe what Daisy missed

when she cast Light, is her light, where it's touching the edges of the light from the lamppost, it's like two waves. It's like you can see that her force of magic and the something in that magic of the light, it's like faint crackles or like sparks or cracks like they're clashing. The golden light is immediately diminishing

when it reaches whatever colour light this is. It's like it's clashing. It's not being overpowered or it's overpowering it, but it's like they're from different sources. And those two sources are especially violent to one another. Okay. And you kind of feel that. The other thing is in your chest you feel,

you notice it now, a similar sensation. There is something familiar about the light, the feeling and the magic of this lantern and what you know you carry is, there are similar elements at work here. Not the same, but there are touches of... it's a familiar sensation. Hmm.

Lamb lighter heart. Nim speaks to Daisy. Having, you know, kind of letting you take command of, like, the battle and the situation. But Nim will say in your mind, Daisy, Daisy, I cannot see or feel in the way that you can. But there is... Ever since you conjured my light to your dagger,

there is something. I can't explain it, but there is something unusual about that light behind you. And my own power. It is almost as if it is familiar to me. But not the light itself. As if it is...

I do not think there is something. It reminds me of in the bathhouse. The magic that was causing the water to be aggressive. It reminds me of that. Hmm. Interesting.

Gruff, anything, like, so yeah, he's like talking to you, you kind of step out of it and you do still feel agitated. You feel these negative emotions welling up um but once you step out of the light it does change you still have it but you don't feel it growing does that make sense like before you think if you had stayed in that light and you had kept fighting or if you had kept feeling anger or suspicion or something like that, if you had kept feeling those negative emotions in that light, you'd think that it could have grown and manifested.

Can I get everybody to make an insight check for me, please? Everybody but Ophelia has disadvantage on this. Disadvantage? Disadvantage? Disadvantage to everyone but Ophelia. I might as well have heard disadvantage. Sorry, insight. Er, yes. Or perception.

Or perception. Six. Oh, perception. Yeah, either or, sorry. My apologies. OK. Fifteen, sixteen, eighteen. Eleven. Eleven total. Nineteen.

Sixteen. With disadvantage? Nice. Sixteen with disadvantage. Sixteen with disadvantage. Six. Six. Eight. 19. With disadvantage? Nice. 16 with disadvantage. 16 with disadvantage? Six. Six? Eight. Eight.

Gruff and Xanthius. You guys and Gruff, I think it's actually very apt because you start going like, you have those thoughts and feelings like, if I kept fighting in that light, yeah, I think, and you're like, wait, anger, fear, and then you look back at Teresa, who was terrified, who's still in the light. And Xanthius, you kind of follow Ophelia's gaze,

who was the one who was looking towards Teresa. I mean, if I, yeah, if I'm recognising something. And you look back and you see that Teresa stumbles out from her hiding place and she's like clutching her head. No, they're all going to kill No, they're going to kill me. They're going to hurt me. I'm going to lose everything. And she's terrified.

She's trembling. And then she looks up, and you see her eyes become purplish-greenish flames. Fucking hell, dude. And she just looks over to you all, and that is where we're going to take our first break. Oh, come on! This is the coolest shit.

Cool, cool, cool. We will see you in part two. Take care. Bye-bye. Bye. See you.