High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #16 | Possession of a Dhampyr (Part 1)

Episode Date: March 19, 2024

The Scarred Lady appears in the Enticing Devil and has taken control of our dear Dhampyr Ophelia! ANNOUNCEMENTS: HIGH ROLLERS LIVE in LONDON! We're hosting our first ever High Rollers show in the Adelphi Theatre in London on the 17th September 2024! Sign up now to get access to tickets the moment they go live here: https://www.aegpresents.co.uk/high-rollers-presale/ 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

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It was the Church of Emmerdale, a show that all of our audience, Rhiannon, definitely know. Listen, gang, you guys are home. I'm pointing at the screen, podcast listeners. Wow. Before we get into it, we've got a couple of announcements, but one of them is particularly special. We are super excited to announce that we are going to be doing a three-hour live

show in a proper London West End theatre. Just for High Rollers, this is our show. It is our thing. It's something that we're working really, really hard on. We've done shows at conventions and things like that before, but this is us.

All us, baby. All us. We are partnered up with a great company called AEG who did do the recent Critical Role live show in London. If you went along to that, you might know. We're in safe hands. We're in very safe hands. But yeah, this is just us. It is going to be an evening of just High Rollers Live.

It's in an awesome theatre. And it's potentially probably the largest event I think we've ever really planned to do. Oh, yeah. There's going to be exclusive merch at the event. There's going to be VIP tickets that include a special meet and greet and the best seats in the house as well. We're also seeing this as a chance for you guys, the High Rollers community,

to come together, meet up before the show, to hang out, have a drink, come in cosplay, generally celebrate High Rollers and how far things have come. We do know that times are tight but if you can afford to come to London or the UK and make a little holiday out of the trip, we would love it. You get to meet all of your fellow High Rollers fans and also come see an awesome, awesome show. Right now you can sign up at the link in chat or the video description which will take you to a pre-registration page where if you give your email you'll get a notification of when the tickets go live, as well as updates about the show. We would highly recommend that you sign up for this so you don't miss out on any news about

High Rollers Live, the tour. And this is the thing I want to make. If this does well, if we sell out, if we can, you know, fill this theatre, this could be the first stage in us doing a UK tour, maybe going and doing shows in Europe, maybe doing shows in America, but this needs to be a success for us to do all of that other stuff, so this is the time that I put it to you, Hyrule's community, if you can come together and drag your friends

along, if they've never seen an episode of Hyrule, the live show is going to be the perfect time to bring them along, have a fun night out and get them to come and watch our live show. But yeah, that's it. I mean, I'm pretty excited about it. I'm super excited about it. Yeah, woo!

And what was that date again? That date again was the 17th of September. Really incredible opportunity. This is something, you know, I think like for me, especially being a theatre kid and going to see West End shows and things like that, the idea that we're going to be in an actual West End theatre where they do comedy gigs and they do like like, musicals

and stuff like that is kind of crazy to me. And, yeah, this is going to be really fun. And our first, like, full-length live show as well. This is going to be, like, a full two-and-a-half, two-hours, 45-minute kind of show. Like, yeah, and it's, you know, the set's going to be amazing. AG did an amazing job with that. You know, costumes might be...

There's going to be a load of fun stuff. There's going to be a load of fun stuff. I'm commissioning a furry suit right now. Right, yeah, there we go. On which note, Mark, are you allowed to give us a hint

as to the setting? It is going to be set in Ulfea, so it's going to be set in Ulfea, in Elmira, the Dragon Empire, with these current

characters from the current campaign. So, Graf, Daisy, Xanthius, Rowan, and Ophelia. If we make it, lol. If we make it,

but yeah. Heracross might die, Mark. Well, then maybe, Anophelia. If we make it, lol. If we make it, yeah. But this is... Characters might die, Mark. Well, then maybe they'll come back. Or there'll be new characters. I mean, we want this to be open for anyone to be able to go and see. It'll be accessible for new players. Tell your friends, if you want to just have an awesome evening watching some nerds play D&D,

then that's the place to do it. A hundred percent. And that's what I saw. I went to see the Critical Role live show, and there was a lot of that. There was a lot of people who had never watched the D&D thing in their life. They took their partners.

They took their friends. They took their family. They all sat down. They had a jolly good time because it is just a fun bit of entertainment, isn't it? It's a fun night out, isn't it? Yeah. Go to the pub, have a couple of drinks,

watch a show, love the time. You've watched D&D? You're in London. Oh, what? Pissed? Honestly, but anyways. No. But that's the big thing.

Please do, like I said, go and register for that. Put your email into that sign-up because that's a really good indicator for us of how many people are interested. But also spread the word. Get your friends to sign up. And then, yeah, tickets. You'll get information about tickets very, very soon.

Right. With that, though, that is all of my announcements done. Well done. Which means it's time for our intro so we can crack on with today's episode hello and welcome back to Ulthea, the Dragon Empire. After presenting their favor to the Draconic Duke Ignarius Ignarum, our heroes were presented with a deed to an abandoned tavern

in the prosperous town of Ashen Rest. Upon visiting their new property, they discovered that there was more to the building than first appeared, a mysterious and gruesome past, and haunting rumors of a spirit that lingers and does not seem to appreciate visitors. As the party gathered outside to discuss their plans, they were approached by two strangers

who asked for them by name. The two strangers revealed themselves to be Sister Inquisitor Maladie and Sister Inquisitor Malady and Sister Inquisitor Benedicta of the Ecliptic Order, a religious faction devoted to seeking out and eliminating planar and otherworldly threats to the Empire. The odd pair of twins, one tall and healthy, the other shorter and sickly, took the party to the nearby cafe and questioned them about the incident in the village of Burnell. Sister Inquisitor Malady also spoke with Xanthius, Oregon, in private, seemingly knowing a great deal about

him and his situation, offering her hand as an ally against a common enemy. After the Sister Inquisitor left, the party investigated the spirit of the abandoned inn they now owned, as well as its past. After gathering all of the information, or a day fishing in Gruffydd's case, they met back up at the inn and at sunset in the hopes of meeting the spirit themselves. Sister Ophelia de la Rosa of the House of Blood, unafraid of undead, had attempted to establish a rapport with the spirit and was the first to approach her spectral form. But as Ophelia reached out with kindness, the ghost reached back and was the first to approach her spectral form. But as Ophelia reached out with kindness, the ghost reached back and was pulled into Ophelia's body, possessing her.

Now, a possessed Ophelia stands at the top of the stairs, eyes wild with rage and fear. That is where we're going to pick things up today. A couple of things before things get started. One, I needed to mention that we had a little video in the introduction there announcing our High Rollers live show. I forgot to mention that the beautiful music,

the piano theme of the Alfea theme that you heard was done by the wonderful Jolene Corral, who does a lot about music and things like that. A very hasty turnaround. Jolene made that for me in like a day. That was incredible. Very, very cool. And it was a very pretty little piano. Thank you, Jolene. And I'm sorry, Jolene, that for me in like a day. That's incredible. Very, very cool. And it was a very pretty little piece.

Thank you, Jolene. And I'm sorry, Jolene, I forgot to mention it at the time. I was caught up in the excitement. The next thing is, and this is going to be a very important one for today specifically, it is time to see where fate lands. Let's roll the D6s.

So I need a D6 from everybody, and this is to establish, if you're brand new to watching, if you're not familiar, we have this system we call the Crucible of Fate. We have a victory on one side. It's a five! So one d6 goes into the, what we call the player's side of fate, the player's pool.

It's a four, bitch! It's a four, two dice in the player's side. It's a four, bitch! It's a four, two dice in the player's side. It's a five, bitch! Three dice in the player's side. A six! Four dice in the player's side. A six! And a six! Oh my god!

Five dice in the player's side. Well, let's see if this is gonna turn around. I've gotta roll my dice for it, and I'll roll it publicly so you guys can see. It's a five. That was great. It's a six luck on our side. It is a full house of fate.

TPK coming. I am spendable. It is a very good thing. I am going to tell you now. I'm going to tell you now. I would highly recommend that you spend fate. Because before we get into the nitty-gritty mechanics and things like that, I'm going to tell you that one thing I'm going to be doing in Ulthea

is you may occasionally come across what I'm going to call elite enemies. Elite enemies, their saving throw DCs are generally a little bit higher. Their AC is generally a little bit higher. And they often will have abilities that will manipulate the pools of fate. Cool. These are kind of like almost destined encounters for your party that, you know, destiny has kind of brought these forces together. And often they have their own sort of destiny and power

and things connected to it as well. So there may be abilities where they can drain dice out of your pool if they don't have any, or if they have too many, they'll have abilities where they can spend them to do special abilities and things like that as well, all right? So just keep them in mind, because I know sometimes it's very easy to forget the fate dice. We often, you know, you get wrapped up

in what you're gonna do. Just remember you can add them to attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws, and you can also spend them to generate small things like I want cover or I want to find you know a healers kit or something like that you can use them in sort of you know creative ways as. So, let us begin by rolling initiative. Oh boy. This is a straight into initiative kind of thing. Okey-doke, okey-doke, okey-doke.

Wait, Ophelia, is Ophelia rolling initiative? I would like Ophelia to roll initiative as well, please. Yeah. Oh god. Yep, yep, yep. So, just because I wanna kind of get this in my head, does anybody have above a 20? No.

No. No, right. In that case, the lair action will be at the top of the initiative order. Oh, wow. Anybody have 15 or higher? No. 17. Daisy on a 17.

All right, who has won after 17? Who's got the next highest potentially? No one knows what anyone has. Oh, true. That's a very good point. Anybody have between 10 and 15? Yes. All right, let's start around. What did you get, Kim?

14. 14, 12, 11. So 14 out of three is highest. In order. So Gruff is on a 14. What a bunch of cuties. And then, sorry, what did you get, Rowan? 12. 12.

12. And then 11 for Ophelia. Yep. That's very interesting. The spirit is at 10. Oh, cool, OK. And then, Xanthias, I'm assuming you are lower than 10. I got a six.

A six, Xanthias. A six. Ah, yadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadad Ghostly Lady on number six. Number six, okay. Nice. All right. So, to set the scene a little bit, it is dark. The sun has fully set. Some of you have some light sources.

I believe that Xanthius had lit a number of torches. They're flickering flames. They're orange-like flames filling this abandoned, broken inn with that orange glow. Daisy has a little golden light coming from the dagger tucked in her belt. But at the top of the stairs leading into the master bedroom,

you see Ophelia stood there, having turned around. Her eyes are filled with a very slight glowing spectral haze, but apart from that, she appears as Ophelia does. Her face is twisted into a mixture of rage and fear, especially when looking towards Xanthius. There is this lack of recognition and a mixture of fear and terror. The inn itself is eerily quiet.

The flickering of the flames just barely there. Gruffydd and Xanthius still remaining at the top of the stairs where Ophelia had gone up, but Daisy and Rowan in a panic, I believe, had run downstairs. Yeah, it was scary. You just left. I believe that they legged in downstairs. You Scooby-Doo'd it. I stand by my decision. No, it's fine.

I can't remember. The big boy left. I left. I can't remember if we were aware of any sort of possession thing going on. I don't think we are. We heard noises. The door had opened on its own. We were speaking to someone in the room, but we didn't see.

Yeah. We haven't seen the spirit at all yet. No. You guys heard a door open on its own. Maybe. Gruff and Xanthius, I would say Gruff and Xanthius, you can both be very much aware.

Now, how much your characters would know about possessions and things like that, that I leave to you. Well, we have information. Rowan did do some research. Yeah, that they could possess. your characters would know about possessions and things like that that i leave to you okay rowan did do some research yeah yeah yeah that they could possess that they can possess bodies yes so the two of you can be very aware of what's happened to you um ophelia now we'll get more to this on your turn you blacked out when you reached out with a hand the spirit reached out with a hand and as soon as it touched your body you fell unconscious or it felt like it like you blacked out when your eyes flutter open you are within the enticing devil but it is no longer abandoned and in ruins.

It is what you imagine it might have been like when it opened. It is repaired. The windows are not broken. There is no dust or broken furniture. You pick yourself up from the top of the stairs and you are looking into the master bedroom where everything is in its place. But you... Your mind is filled with a fog. You have a vague idea of who you are,

but very little else you can recall immediately. You know that something is kind of obscuring your memory, but you don't know what it's obscuring. Okay. When you look, almost kind of picking yourself up, you are not wearing Ophelia's clothes. You are dressed in the clothes that you saw the spirit wearing. It's kind of like very homely innkeeper's kind of, you know,

tavern outfit, basically. Kind of little bodice, blouse, skirt, long skirt kind of thing. Kind of similar to what Daisy wears, but a bit more sort of worn, not as nice-looking kind of thing. You are still you, but you're almost in this other woman's clothing and you find yourself in this strange place. All right. Cool.

All right. The rest of you at the very top of the round, it is the house itself. Oh, cool. You watch Rowan and daisy down below you would notice this more all of the shutters of the windows slam shut the door you hear it lock uh everything closes every window and door in the inn is now locked and is being held by some supernatural force closed. All right. Dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum.

That's hilarious. Daisy. What would you like to drink? I'm going to open a can of drink. I do not want anyone to laugh. I'm going to open a can of drink. I do not want anyone to laugh. I'm going to open a can of whoop-ass now upon this party. What part of the talent makes that noise? The door's locked.

The window's slammed shut. The can opens. My God. Just a single can on the end. Left over bar. A little can of tuna. Just opened a can of whoop-ass. So, yeah, Daisy.

You can see commotion, because there is enough lighting you can see up here. Yeah. Is Ophelia, is that spirit still within the doorway? You can't quite see. She's at the top of the stairs, tucked around a corner. Obviously on the map, we can see her for map purposes. But yeah, basically the last person you can see is Gruuff you can't see xanthius and philia

the staircase kind of blocks them imagine there's like another staircase kind of here like a wall uh so you can just see gruff and graph is going to jump on Rowan's back and just cling on. Okay. And hold the dagger up. And just go, the door's locked! Everything's locked! Everything's locked. Oh my god! All right. And then I will hold my action that if anything attacks me or Rowan, I will do a swipe at it. But basically, she's in full defense mode. Rowan, protect me.

Jump on the back. Oh my goodness, ghosts. Sure, absolutely. All righty, perfect. In that case, we go to Gruff. Gruffeth. Gruffeth of Tremoro. Hello, my name is Gruff. Perfect. In that case, we go to Gruff. Gruffeth. Gruffeth of Tremoro. Hello, my name is Gruff.

Hello, my name is Gruff. Oh, bloody hell. I think in a panic, I will cast Armor of Oakenthorne. Okay. So we watch this green spectral kind of armor manifest over your body, kind of woven from wood and roots and things like that. Yeah, and it becomes... So at the end of the last episode, you, as the ghost,

said something along the lines of, where is he? Yes. Yeah. Okay. That is the last thing the ghost said. Well, through Ophelia's mouth, but it was not Ophelia's voice. He'll try and reason and probably say, you know,

oh, bloody hell. Oh, Mistress Tyria, your man's not here. He left. He left for the big city. When you say that, that look of fear and kind of anger as well contorts. Is there anything else you'd like to do? You see it almost deepen.

Like, the- Am I allowed to say anything else? Six seconds, probably not that much. Like, you've got enough, you know, you've kind of said that, is there, it that. It depends, what else were you aiming for? You can make a single noise. Peace. We only want to help you.

That's probably about where it is. You can make an insight check for me. Yeah, no. That's a seven. Oh, plus three, ten. Ten? You can see that it has not fully come into play yet, but this spirit that has possessed Ophelia's body, you've seen Ophelia in battle before, and when she gets angry, there's almost this almost this like her veins kind of swell up and almost there's this aura about her and you feel that that is building um you have a feeling for now make a persuasion check for me six six your words check for me. Six. Six.

Your words, there's maybe a chance that they, you know, you're like, you know, please, peace, but then you see that that rage is incoming. And once that rage hits, probably words are not going to affect them until that rage ends. But for now, unfortunately, your words fall on deaf ears.

And I'd say that's probably an action. You'd say, oh, okay. Yeah, to do all of that is probably an action. Oh. I mean... No, I mean, like, you said the right things, but it's... I mean, it depends. Well, I could make it a free action, maybe.

What were you planning to do? Either grab Xanthius and yeet him backwards, or I was going to say something a bit more gruffy and knightly about Justin. You can say that. Okay. Can I do it while yeeting him backwards? I think that, like, you wouldn't have known at the start of turn, like, how this was going to go, so probably not yet.

I'm going to say, is your action to do all this talking for now? Okay. But you'll have your movement afterwards if you want to move afterwards. Yeah, bye, Xanth. Bye. Yeah, see ya. I'm unyeetable. I think I would, Gruff being Gruff, would say um... Listen, mistress, I'm trying to be a knight, Listen mistress

I'm trying to be a knight and one of my virtues is about justice and I swear to you by the signs and saints above I will find you justice Justice? Justice? You know nothing

of justice It's so unfair He's not even here. He's not even here. It's unfair. That's where your turn's gonna end. Unless you would like to do any movement. Um... Bye. Please go. I guess I can't push in front of Xanthias, can I? There, he is kind of blocking the way. You can move through him, but Ophelia is right next to him, basically. You'd have to occupy the same space as Xanth. So I'd say, unfortunately, you're not going to be able to swap places with him just yet.

Unless you've got an ability that lets you swap places or anything. I don't think you do. Oh look, it's swap places with Xanthias. Oh my god, that is such a specific rule for that very specific class. What a weird ability. No one else playing that class understands what it's for. It's weird. No, I don't suppose I get another persuasion roll

with that little speech, no? You made your persuasion roll, I'm afraid. Should I use a fake dice? Oh well. Do I have six of them? Yeah. I will... We also have three hours, so... Yeah.

No, I'm... I'm gonna back up so that Xanthias has space to get past me, but I'm not gonna leave him. No, so you just take a five foot step back. Yeah, so it's not difficult for him to get past me. Okay. Yeah, she is not... She hasn't drawn Ophelia's whip yet,

so I'm not going to make an opportunity attack with you. Keep in mind, if Ophelia had her whip, you would technically be leaving her threat range at that point. But she hasn't drawn the whip. She is, however, holding. You can see, because Ophelia had it on her person at the time, she has this rusty, bloody kitchen knife that Hylia found, and she's holding that.

And that's what she's got in her hands right now. All right, then we go to Rowan. Gruff, you definitely did not waste a turn, because there's potentially information that you learned there. So don't feel bad. You're probably the best one to say those things to her. And he doesn't lock it out entirely. If she's raging, I will tell you for lock it out entirely. Just if she's raging,

I will tell you for that insight of a 10, if she's raging, charisma checks won't work. While she's raiding. While she's raging. She's raiding. Yeah. But yeah, Rowan. Rowan is going to try and bolster some confidence.

Okay. Some bravery. You look over, Percival has just stood in the corner. He is now here, just looking at you. Rolling shivers. And he's going to, with Daisy on his back, go upstairs. Sure, you're actually a yacht near. I don't wanna, I don't wanna. I'm not gonna slow you down.

Me neither, I don't want to either. But we gotta help someone. Five, 10, fifteen, twenty. What's going on up here? Thirty. You get to the little landing on the stairs. What's happening? I've had my speaky turn.

I mean, you can respond to stuff like that, but yeah. If you want to do a quick, like, uh. Or Xanthius can as well. All right, there you go. I don't want to use my time. This is great. Okay. I'm going to cast... They're stunned by fear, Ryan.

I rolled a four. I'm not even sure the combat's even started. I'm going to touch Daisy's knee and say, We can do this. And cast Heroism on you as my action. You go first. Remind cast Heroism on you as my action. Okay. You go first. What is, remind what Heroism does? Heroism does a willing creature is imbued with bravery.

Creatures immune to being frightened gains temporary hit points equal to, so you get three. Three temporary hit points. But you get that at the start of each turn, I believe, as long as you're concentrating. As long as I keep that up. Yep. Great, okay. And then, yeah. All right, so so yeah you kind of try and instill some bravery into daisy you begin

making your way up the stairs um as you do so alrighty ophelia hello so you find yourself in this strange place dressed dressed in strange clothing. You vaguely remember your name is Ophelia. You know you come from a strange land. There is a faith there. Like, imagine all the details of Ophelia are wiped away and they're hidden behind fog. But you have these vague recollections.

What do you do? You are looking into the bedroom. Everything looks pristine. The hairbrush is on the desk. The bed is probably made. Sunlight is kind of streaming in. Everything's kind of misty, almost like even inside the room,

there's this faint grey translucent mist. And you hear from downstairs this dark, angry, otherworldly voice. Tyria, hurry up. We've got work to do. I think Ophelia would, I guess, just nervously head towards it. Yeah? Yes. this is her job. This is what she has to do right now.

Imagine that we have kind of in another place, Ophelia, you step out onto the balcony and looking down, that mist is filling the entire tavern and you can see vague shapes of people sat at tables, but there's like one or two in this whole place You can see vague shapes of people sat at tables, but there's like one or two in this whole place. And you can feel this horrible presence down at the bar. That is the source of the voice.

Who are you? Where am I? When you speak out, the voice is like, don't be stupid. You've got work to do. Can you make an intelligence saving throw for me, please? As you say, as you're like, yeah, you can absolutely spend a point of fate here. Would you like the V6?

Yes, please. Absolutely. As you kind of say, like, what's going on, like, who are you, almost trying to remember and like trying to recall your own memory here. 18. 18 is a success. Oh, the ticker's going down. Move the tracker down to five.

Yeah, you're, like you begin to remember, you don't work here. You don't work. That's not what you do. You have a greater purpose. You're Ophelia. You serve something. You serve someone greater than this, whatever this is. And your memory starts to return.

And the tavern itself, parts of it begin to slightly change. And those kind of rundown benches and chairs shift into more ornate red and gold and bone white. One chair looks like it's made of bones itself and they feel right. They feel like you. The rest of this place is not you.

Cool. That's going to be your turn. That's awesome. That's so cool. The spirit's turn. Oh, no. Bye, everyone. As a bonus action.

I moved out of the way slightly. The spirit is going to use Ophelia's rage ability. Oh, man. The spirit begins to rage. You see just that face now after what Gruffydd said. Just screams, it's not fair! With that, Gruffydd, I need you to make a, sorry, no, this is a ranged,

no, this is, can you make a strength ability check? So d20 plus your strength, please. What's a seven? A seven. You watch as Ophelia's hand reaches out, get away from me, and throws you off the balcony with a telekinetic force. Ooh!

Five. 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. I have advantage on saving throws against being knocked, prone, pushed, or pulled. Then you may remake that strength check. It's not a saving throw, it is a check, but I'll let this ability would absolutely play. It's a five.

So you kind of, the roots try and dig in to the floorboards, but the wood of this inn is almost rebelling against you. Whatever malign spirit, you find no natural power here for your druidic magic to connect with, and you are flung 30 feet through the air. It is approximately, I would say, probably about a 20-foot drop, so you're going to take 2d6 bludgeoning damage from this. It's only seven points of bludgeoning.

As you are thrown, but you are thrown off the balcony. You smash through the kind of wood-rotted balustrade, and you come smashing into the ground um and you are knocked prone by that as well so you are currently prone then xanthius hey what up you watch as uh and uh that was not a melee attack so she does not gain blood fury points as per ophelia's class ability um so he's going to try and just shank you with this knife. Okay. And he's screaming at you, get away from me, get away from me.

I won't let you hurt me. It's like screaming things like this as she swipes at you. Okay, okay, okay. However, I think that's going to be a miss on my end because that is only going to be a 10. Nice. Yeah. That's a miss.

So you dodge to the side as this bloody, rusted knife just swings through the air. Yeah, I mean, I would literally jump back if it's a horizontal swipe, just leap backwards a bit, kind of fighting on the stairs, like backpedaling, kind of trying to bend off with your magic and stuff like that as well. Cool. That is going to be, for now, the spirit's turn.

So we go to Xanthius so I mean I was thinking of casting the spell friends however it's a creature that

a creature prone to violence might attack me still and I imagine this is a creature prone to violence being a ghost that has attacked everyone in the

well is there any gruff that's aware that charisma checks won't work? Yes, yeah. And it's, yeah, it's not necessarily charisma, it's like attempts to talk and persuade them whilst they're around. But Gruff

is the only one who knows that currently. And I'm rolling around on the floor. Yeah. Unless Gruff is like, I mean, you can just say, like, I would say I don't, you know, you can say on your turn, like, I don't think she's going to listen to words right now, we need to, like, calm her down. You can say something like that, and then everyone will know. I feel like I started saying that, and then I got eaten off by me.

Eaten off, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so, I mean, it's a cantrip. I think I was going to attempt that anyway, to cast friends, which would give me advantage on charisma saves. But it's a charm effect, isn't it? I believe it is. It's a concentration, I can tell you that much.

Yeah, I believe it's a charmed effect. Wait, when the spell ends, the can tell you that much. Yeah, I believe it's a Charmed effect. Uh... Wait, when the spell ends, the creature realizes that you used magic to influence it and becomes hostile towards me. I'm gonna do a different thing. Sure, yeah, take your time, dude. We've not done combat in a while as well.

I almost, I would attempt to speak to Ophelia, I think, still. You can definitely try that, yep. Like, it's Ophelia turning around. I was low on the initiative. She turned around right in front of me. I saw her talking. Like, I'm still kind of of a mind

that it's Ophelia locked in someone's body, right? Sure, sure, sure. So I would try to address Ophelia and say, Ophelia, I don't want to hurt you, Ophelia. I certainly don't want to hurt Tyria. We're just trying to help, but I know that you are still in there, Ophelia, and you don't want to hurt me.

Fantastic. Can you give me a persuasion check? And the DC for this is going to be 13. Persuasion, 13, okay, okay. Fate dice? I do want a fate dice. We've got so many. I mean, I say we've got so many, like I'll just use this one.

Yeah, you can use one. Just that. Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho! I think you roll really well. Five on the d20, three on the thing, two on my persuasion. I got a 10. A 10, my boy.

Not enough, it was DC 13, unfortunately. Ophelia, you hear, you can hear a muffled thing, but it's so faint you can't make out the words. Okay. There is a chance that if you can reach Ophelia, there's a possibility there. It was a voice outside the tavern for you.

Yeah. Okay. Anything else on your turn? That would be your action. That's my action. Okay. I... I want to back up. Okay. Yeah.

You can't do this without provoking an opportunity attack. That's okay. I mean, she's not got a Blood Whip out. Nope, she's got a dagger. And it's just a dagger, right? So five, ten. Which is a blip. How far do you wanna go? Oh, blip.

I wanna go, I guess, back to the corner. 520, 530, you can get hit. Yeah, but this is all in like hands up, mean no harm, not casting spells, I don't have a weapon, that sort of thing. There is still gonna be a lash out towards you and unfortunately I think this one is going to hit. Okay.

That is gonna be a 16 to hit. That hits and I can't shield it, so yeah, that hits. That is gonna be a hit. That is gonna be seven points of piercing damage and she will gain a blood fury point. She's got all of Ophelia's abilities. She's got all of Ophelia's abilities, yeah. Does the ghost know that Ophelia has teeth?

Maybe. Maybe the longer the fight goes on. I mean, that's what I'm more scared of. Maybe the longer the fight goes on, the more she gets used to being in that body and knows how to do more things. Because rage is instinctual, right? She isn't actively doing this right now. It just happens. It just happens. Okay, okay.

All right. Okay. Okie dokie. Xanthius, that is the end of your turn. That is indeed. Brings us to the top of a brand new initiative, which means it's the lair. Uh-huh.

Every single non-magical light goes out as the entire inn is plunged into darkness. Daisy, your little magical light, it functions, but it's halved to just dim light. So it's 20 feet of dim light currently. Still enough for you and Rowan to see by, but it is incredibly dark. The whole inn, every kind of torch.

I'm really glad you set those up, buddy. I know. I mean, I was hoping it would give me a little bit more time than that. That's how it goes. All of the lights go out, and you feel in that darkness. Anybody who is not in dim light or if anybody who is in darkness, which is currently Xanthius and Gruffydd, you feel a kind of morose feeling, kind of a weight pressing down on you, all right?

Okay. Daisy, we go to you. So I guess I don't know fully that she's been possessed yet, do I? Or could I gather that from what's been going on? Everything you've just seen. Xanthius is backed up and is holding his hands up, he's shouting, like, Ophelia, I know you're in there, blah blah blah. Blah blah blah? I'm not going to remember exactly what you said.

That was probably the best roleplaying I've ever done. Blah, blah, blah. Yeah, blah, blah, blah. Can I... In my head, can I ask Nim? Yes. How do you stop someone being possessed by a ghost? Have you seen this before? Help, oh my god.

Nim will say to you, like, little one, I'm sorry that when we fought undead before, they cannot possess my, they could not possess celestial bodies. This is something only mortals can deal with. I've never encountered this before. Perhaps if you can render her unconscious, that might help.

But I don't know, I'm sorry. Okay. Can I? After Daisy, it will be Gruff and then Rowan, by the way, just to keep your minds in where you are turn-wise. Peepers peepin'. Peepers peepin'. Did you say keep those poopers peepin'?

No, I said peepers. I don't know what you heard in your head. Keep pooping. Keep pooping. Everybody keep pooping. I got some with it. Yeah, I'm just visualising what that might look like. Peepy pooping.

Oh, no. Pooper peeping. Can I choose Rowan and Xanthius, and can I activate Psychic Whispers? You absolutely can. Is that an action to do? It's an action, and I roll the dice to see how many hours. So three hours. Technically they're Psychic die, but we call them Radiant die or Spirit die or something for Daisy. Celestially.

So for three hours, I can speak telepathically with you and you can speak telepathically with me. So this is Rowan and Xanthius? Yes. Okay. Because I'm closest to them at the moment. Okay. So I'm gonna go, guys, sorry. I forgot I didn't do this to you before.

Oh, what's happening? It's just me, it's fine, it's just me. It's just me, it's just me. Yep, done this before, yep. Yeah, I think, I don't do this to you before. Oh, what's happening? It's just me. It's fine. It's just me. It's just me. It's just me. Yep, done this before. Yeah. I think, I don't want to say it out loud because I don't want to anger her, but do you think we need to, like,

knock her out to get Ophelia back? You're in my head. Yeah, but it's fine. It will only anger the ghost further until we can knock her out and Ophelia famously un-knockoutable. Well, not famously. Famously.

Well, I didn't want to say it out loud because I don't want her to get even more annoyed if we're going to start doing that. But I don't know. I don't want to hit Ophelia. I don't want to do it. That's probably going to be the limit. That's pretty much what I wanted to say to them,

but I didn't want. Knock out the ghost. I didn't want the ghost to hear me say it. All's pretty much what I wanted to say to them, but I didn't want. Knock out the ghost. I didn't want the ghost to hear me say it. All right, so action. Would you like to move or are you going to stay clung to Rowan's back? I'll probably stay with Rowan because I've got the light

so I can actually provide him with light. The two of you are currently in the only light in this entire room. So this corner is kind of lit up by about 20 feet of dim light. So it's just hitting this kind of area. Or I might move just ever so slightly more towards Xanthias so that he can see the light.

So I'll still keep rowing within, but move maybe two squares. So you get off his back and then go half way down the stairs. I can see the light right at the end of the way. Just so that I'm halfway... I'll put you here just so we know that you're on the corner of the stairs. All right, great. In that case, we then go to Gruffith of Tremoro.

Swearing, cursing, grumbling. I stand up. Okay. It's pitch black, though, isn't it? You are currently in pitch black darkness. Because you start your turn in darkness, I'm going to... Do you want to roll it, or do you want me to roll it?

I'd like to roll it. Can you roll me to roll it i'd like to roll it can you roll a d6 a d3 for me so one two three four five six give me your weird dice a d3 you said oh yeah sorry do you have three d3 don't you go okay three uh so the number three. Yeah, fuck me up, Daddy. No! You take three fate away. Oh my god. You feel destiny and hope. Three dice, holy shit. It was a D3 and Kim rolled a three, man. Like, what do you want? I'm never rolling your stupid tic tac dice again.

I think it might be a three again. It's a three! That dice is fucked. I don't know what to tell you. Roll an actual d6. I gave you the offer, I gave you the choice. He's already done it. My bag of chaos delivers again.

You feel just this impending sense of doom that this is not gonna go in your favor. And yeah, three player side fate dice are moved over to the GM pool. The bad luck side. I like to think that he feels that as he's lying on the floor and as every single bone and joint cracks as he gets up and he's like, oh, bloody hell.

Gruthus are you okay I've just fallen from a two story building yeah I saw I saw oh bloody head's a little bit sore

it's bloody I don't even know where you are I can't see you you can't because this is light you've got light around them you can't even

bloody see me uh can I make so I have 35 foot of movement but halved because of yes you got 15 5 10 15 which will put you in the just about the radius of the light so you are currently in dim light um while i'm doing that and grumbling to myself as i walk over i'm going to cast shillelagh on the. Okay. And makes your weapon magic damage, right? Yeah. Good to know.

Because non-magical damage does nothing. To a ghost in ghostly form. Ophelia in a physical form probably would still affect. Although, actually no, because they, Barbarian Rage, they're resistant to bludgeoning anyway. Bloody everything, bloody everything. I can't see Ophelia from where I am can I um no no what she's in darkness yeah Ophelia rages doesn't she maybe it's just a dramatic thing does

she admit readily okay yep maybe in your mind maybe like there's a magic but in the darkness you can't see keep in mind as well if he leaves anyone who can actually see fully in the dark as well sweet oh it's like we see from the ghost the little heartbeats of dishonored modes you know that vision yeah all right anything else gruff with on your turn move shillelagh can I shout yeah action because because I've got nothing else. Sure. Ophelia de la Rosa. Your friend Percival needs you. Think of him.

Great. Can you give me a... I will let this be, because it's quite bold. You're shouting it. You're kind of commanding. This can be persuasion or intimidate because this is you know you're speaking quite forcefully yeah do you want to not use that so as you know do you have an ability that lets you reroll sick all week and I feel a bit sad about myself.

You know what? We'll cut this bit. Yeah? From the VOD. Okay, yeah. Roll it. Oh yeah, sorry. This isn't actually how it goes in the script.

So yeah, we'll let you re-roll it. No. Sadly, that moment of that kind of darkness and that feeling of things going, it just kind of steals away some of that impact. And again, Ophelia, you hear a kind of muffled shout but you can't you don't know who it is you can't hear it or anything else all right yep uh anything else go for the new turn no i'm just casting shillelagh counters my activating the temp hp on um you did not attack or cast a spell that restores hit points so you do not get your temporary hit points from armor

of oak and thorn i'm afraid one of the downsides of that class you have to cast a spell that restores hit points or attack a creature can i attack myself no to heal yourself our creature i feel like so no this is one of the downsides you have to be constantly engaged right so being thrown away is really bad um at the end of your turn gruff come at me i'm gonna spend a point of fate to activate a legendary action of fate ability. Okay. So legendary actions now cost me fate to try and use. Oh, okay.

Nice. But I can do multiple of them. Nope. The first thing that Ophelia is going to do, or the spirit is going to do, is rush 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 towards you, Xanthius, and with this dagger, just like, get out, get out, kind of swiping at you. Is it Ophelia's voice? It is not.

It is another voice. It is a harsh, raspy other woman's voice. That is a natural one, though, Xanthius. Great. That hits. No, it doesn't. No, got you. So instead... You can kick me off the show.

I try, I try, but every week you get in here. You've been trying for years. I'm going to spend another fate to then use the poltergeist's telekinesis and Rowan I'm gonna throw a chair at you It's a steel chair, I'm bro, I'm gonna swap my d20 out cuz that one's rolling awfully. Yeah, that is a 10 so this little chair whoosh, smashes into the wall. Goddamn chair. Out of nowhere.

Very Darth Vader just pulling it over like whoosh. But no, it fails to hit you, so yeah, nothing more I can do on that. So that was at the end of Gruff's turn. Rowan. Rowan is going to look at Gruffydd and cast Healing Word on you. Oh, bless you, my son. Dada? Dad, is that you?

Five. Just, sorry, first level, lol. And as my other action, as my main action, I'm going to go up the stairs to meet with Daisy. And then i'm seeing xanthius under attack 15 so that was my action i don't know that was your bonus section healing words bonus action in my think i'm still out of range of light though yes i'm still in darkness with five ten can i make a bonus action just an action would they have had advantage against me? They would have. Thank you, Tom. I also forgot reckless.

Like every barbarian, I forgot reckless attack. But it's fine. Would a 12 have hit you? It would have. I will have cast shield. Ah, then you would have blocked it, but you mark off spell slot. Yes.

Yep, there you go. So you cast the spell shield. I cast the spell shield. All right. In that case, done and done. I can't use a bonus action as an action, can I? Nope. Can't swap a bonus action for an action or an action for a bonus action, I'm afraid. You get one of each.

I'm going to use my action to defend. So if anything comes... Yep, take the dodge action. So you get disadvantage. Yeah, I'm gonna dodge. Attacks against you have disadvantage. So you're just kind of prepping yourself, looking around frantically into the darkness, trying to see what's going to happen.

Okay, great. Then we go to Ophelia. You are beginning to recover this sensation. Still, details are foggy, but you know this is not where you belong. You know you're not meant to be here. You're not... Something is wrong, right? What do you do? What is Ophelia's kind of mindset here?

I think knowing that that voice was trying to command her and get her to do what she wants, she's going to be pissed. Yeah. So she'll just say like, how dare you command me? I am a sister chosen to follow the house of blood. I do not serve you. Take me home.

All right. Can I get a intimidation check or a charisma saving throw instead? Yeah, mama. I'll let you, whichever one is higher. You have three to spend. Yeah, that's how I'll spend one. Please do.

Please do. Well, we'll do the bar, he steals them, so we as well use them. Well, there's conditions for me to steal. Twelve! Twelve? Yeah. With a twelve, you bark out these orders, and you feel this presence downstairs grows angrier, and almost like black smoke begins to come and spill up and fills the inn.

How dare you speak to me like that? It's your fault. Your fault. You. They all look at you. And this presence becomes more evil, but that steals you even stronger. Like, you...

No, this is wrong. You can feel your mind beginning to understand more what it is. But as that spirit grows angrier, you have drawn its attention now fully and you begin to hear boom, boom, boom, as whatever is downstairs is now making its way upstairs towards you. You also begin to feel another presence

almost trying to, not a voice in your head, but, like, something's trying to smother your brain. Like, that fog is trying to, like, get in and make you forget all the things that you're remembering again. And you almost feel like it's a woman's hands, like, around your, like, head, kind of, like, trying to press you down almost. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.

Unfortunately, with a 12, no change on the tracker, but you are definitely becoming more and more aware. More of the inn becomes this lavish, gorgeous kind of courtroom almost. Nice. And again, you see blood red banners and tapestries and ornate sculptures of these beautiful men and women and long things, but their teeth are abnormally sharp

and things like that. Nice. And it's kind of shifting. But then parts of the inn that you had changed, like that skull chair, reverts back to being this inn chair, almost like something's fighting you to make this space what it is. Cool.

Make sense? Yep. Cool. Cool. Awesome. We then go to the spirit's turn. I am now going to properly remember abilities. Oh. I'm going to try to. I'm going to recklessly attack Xander.

Okey dokey. All right. Lay it on me, big boy. So this is a slash with a knife. That is gonna be a 20 to hit. Not a natural 20. I've still got shield, which doesn't help. I'll use Tracy by five. That hits.

All right, that hits. I'm going to spend my blood fury point, add a D6 to damage. I'm also going to spend a fate point to add a D6 to damage. Yeah, okay. You're dead. to add a d6 to the damage. Yeah, yeah, okay. You're dead. You're just hearing screaming from the darkness. 14 points of piercing damage. Thanks.

Which will give me my blood fury point back as well. Yeah. He's really loud. Just kind of slashes at the face. Is that connect? Like, get away, get out, this is my inn. It's mine! Slicing at you.

Mm-hmm. Just filled with rage. Like, you can see that this spirit that's possessing Ophelia's body is making the spirit more angry

than it should be, right? Yeah. Like, the nature of Ophelia's blood and whatever magic empowers her in this bloody rage is almost making

the spirit worse than what it should be. Oh. Right. And then we go to Xanthius. This bloody rage is almost making the spirit worse than what it should be. Um... Phew. Right. Uh, and then we go to Xanthius. I don't know, man. Disengage and run away? Yeah, I think I'm gonna have to.

Disengage is an action, right? It is an action, yeah. Yeah. No opportunity attack. I'll have to take it, because my health is, uh, rough. Um, so yeah, I'll take the take it because my health is rough. So yeah, I'll take the disengage and I will... 20, 25, 30. Run into the light towards my pals and I'll...

How much movement do I have? 30. Was that 30? That was 30 movement. Okay, so I'm still in front of everyone else. I will point out, you did start your turn in darkness, but because I have three fate already in my pool, I don't take any from your pool, all right? Ice.

Oh, okay. As you can see the mechanics, if you start in darkness and I have less than three fate, I can steal a d3, right? So you want to spend yours, but also if I spend too much of mine, I can steal it back. Very cool. Channel that.

Okay. Yeah, but in the light, that doesn steal it back. Very cool. Channel that. Okay. Yeah, but in the light, that doesn't affect you. You're kind of protected by the light. We should be able to steal from you then. No. In the light. No. I'm the GM.

Battle mechanics. Right. But yeah, so action. Bonus action. I want to convert a sorcery point into two runes. Okie dokie. Fantastic stuff. All right, in that case, we jump up to the top of a new round.

The lairs go. The house is going to animate, and I'm going to make a telekinesis attack against who is down on the ground. Is that Gruffydd still? Oh, Gruffydd, you're going to get a table thrown at your face, I think. Or Percy. Percy is completely ignored by all of this, by the way. The spirit does not even seem to know that Percy is there.

That is gonna be a 22 to hit you, I'm afraid. Doesn't hit me. No. Doesn't hit you. No. I think it does. Come on, bro, one hit me. He's gonna take Fate Dice for lying. Aww. I'm gonna add a d6 to my damage roll. Okay. Thanks. Thanks, for lying. Oh. I add a d6 to my damage roll.

Well, thank you. Thanks, thanks, Trot, thanks. 12 points of bludgeoning damage. Okay. This table here, wham, it breaks and shatters, but does slam into you. Everyone else needs more square downstairs. So from mine and Gruff's perspective,

these tables and chairs, they're definitely coming from Percy, right? They could be. It could be Percival. Percival could just be throwing furniture at your direction, absolutely. We're going to kill him. Out of the darkness, this table just slams into you, Gruffeth.

But that is the later action. Everyone else hears some very loud swearing from downstairs. Like what? Like really Welsh stuff, right? Cornwall. Hello. Hello. Everyone's tried to reason

with it, and it's not listening. Well, yeah. Right now. Right now, definitely. Looking at the way that the spirit attacks Antheus, this is just that kind of cornered animal, kind of frightened rage, do you know what I mean? Like a honey badger that's being pushed into the corner

and is just desperately trying to fight the kill. I don't know, honey badgers are always operating at other levels. Yeah, they are. I also enter the light fleeing from this thing with, like, blood on my face. Ah! So I'm just going to try and knock her out and hope that that saves Ophelia,

because that's what Daisy thinks is the only thing. And now Xanthias is super mega hurt, so... Yeah. This spirit is not holding back against you. You won't be able to do non-lethal with radiant damage, but you can, you know, until it gets to low hit points. Yeah, but I also don't have sneak attack anyway, so it's not going to probably do.

You would get sneak attack because you currently have advantage against it because I recklessly attacked. Any attacks against her until next turn is advantage against her. Well done. 23 to hit. 23 will definitely hit.

Okay. Does seem to almost move a little bit quicker than Ophelia. Her AC is higher than Ophelia's normally would be, so. So, my normal damage, that's five, six, and eight. Sneak attack, plus seven, so eight plus seven. Eight plus seven, 15? Yes. 15 points of damage.

Let me just check if he has HP. It's radiant, she's not resistant to it. You watch as this radiant blade, Daisy, hurls out of our hands, streaks through across the balcony, thuds into Ophelia's shoulder, instantly bloodies Ophelia, knocks her down to below half HP. And you just see this, like, spirit hyperventilating in Ophelia's body,

and her eyes just lock on this group now. I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Ophelia! But we need you to come back! No, please! Uh, great stuff. But great attack. Anything else on your turn, Daisy? That was just your action. It's cool as hell.

Duck back down the stairs a tiny bit. Yeah, yeah. That's it. You'll have cover, basically, from her. I could hit her again, but I don't think Daisy would, I think she's testing the waters because she's hurting her friend. Sure. So I don't know if would, I think she's testing the waters because she's hurting her friend. Sure.

So I don't know if she'd do her second attack. Okay. Would she? You tell me. We have Gruffydd and then Rowan next. Okay, I will. Okay. I'll try. All right. It might not hit. It might not hit.

Might be a miss. 17. 17 still hits, yeah. But it's only. Does try to dodge, but yeah, d4 damage. It's not hit. It might not hit. It might be a miss. 17. 17 still hits, yeah. But it's only... Does try to dodge, but yeah, the default damage. It's only one. Okay, so another one point of damage.

So like second radiant blade kind of, but this time the ghost almost dodges to the side, pulling Ophelia's body. You almost see as the body moves, there's almost like a translucent, like the spirit moves first and then the body follows. You see like this kind of shimmered, other scarred, torn up face, and then ophelia's body kind of moves nice um but yeah

makes for a point of damage um daisy if you're done we then would normally go to gruff i'm gonna spend two points and i'm gonna activate a legendary action oh oh oh i've got a lot of feedback yes a legendary action. Uh-oh, uh-oh. I've got all our fate back. Yeah, it's in front of me. Oh, there's one, it's just there. Got six fate again. Six fate again, so you're fully topped out.

We're topped out. But I'm empty. That means, yeah. And he starts in darkness, like if anyone starts in darkness. Yeah, like me, next go. You're in mine, you're in my light. Just about, yes, because you're on the stairs.

Yeah, just about. You're about to fuck me up, though. Maybe. You watch as she is gonna turn with now all of you basically within visible range and lets out a terrible howl, a scream, a terrifying visage as Ophelia's face morphs into the scarred lady's face and just scream, I need everybody to make a wisdom saving throw.

Obviously, is it frightening? Is it frightening? This is frightening. So Daisy, you are immune to this effect. So Daisy, you are the only one who doesn't need to make a saving throw and you are completely immune to this effect. And I'm the one who made a freaking to make a saving throw, and you are completely immune to this effect. And I'm the one who made a freaking Henry! Can we use fate dice on this?

They are saving throws, you absolutely can. I'm going to use a fate dice. Me too. Oh, please do! I really want to, because my health is in a turlet. Do it. So, yes, that would be awesome. The whole point of these is, like, they're moving constantly.

They're moving around. And, like, I could potentially, I could have just got a bunch back anyway. So that's three that would be awesome. The whole point of these is, like, they're moving constantly. They're moving around. And, like, I could potentially, I could have just got a bunch back anyway. So that's three fate spent on this. Three fate spent, but that's what they're there for. No, no, we had six. Yeah, 22. 22 is success.

23. 23 is success. That's not a success. That is a... I need to know exactly what you roll. Exactly. If you fail by five or more, there is an additional effect. What's the number?

You tell me. You tell me. You tell me. Hey, come on. I'll take your mind. I got a seven. That's not the face you want to see. No, it's not the face I want to see. That is more than five below the face.

I was going to say, if it's like 14, I'm in trouble. Rowan and Gruffydd, you both take five psychic damage for succeeding. You are not frightened. Five for succeeding? Five for succeeding, because you only got five. You take 10 psychic. I'm down. I would've been down if I succeeded.

So for Xanthius, if you get back up again, you are still gonna be frightened by this. This is like a persisting frightening effect. Okay, okay. You'll need to save on your turn, so just keep in mind that if you get back up again, you are still going to be frightened by this. This is like a persisting frightening effect. Okay. I'm going to need to save on your turn, so just keep in mind that if you get healed up, you will awaken with this fear. It's like a supernatural fear.

Yeah, that's how I wake up every day. I also need you to remember that you failed this saving throw. I'll never forget. I'm doing my blockers in the, like I said, the toilet. The toilet? Yeah. So those of you who can see Xanthius, which I think is like Daisy and Rowan at this point,

when this scream echoes out, like Rowan, for you and Gruff, like Gruff I imagine this is like the nightly virtues, right? You remember what you've sworn to do. You remember the stories of all the knights standing up to Manticores and Chimeras and all these, and Vaultspawn, and it steals your heart against this. You need to help your friend. Rowan, what would it be that, like, steals you against this? Seeing Xanthius being hurt and Gruff being hurt,

it's like the idea. I've got a lot of fear, but I also need to stand up and defend. Love it, you've got to be the pillar You've got to be the pillar The foundations, right? But for Xanthius this scream, not only is it terrifying to you, seeing Ophelia suddenly you are filled with this

sense of dread of your own impending mortality and just before you black out there is almost a moment there where the form own impending mortality and just before you black out there is almost a moment there where the form twists and in your mind it is not Ophelia or the ghost stood there you see a version of yourself twisted horns and spikes growing out of one grotesque, massive arm, your face, demonic, burning, just constantly on fire. Yes, father. And then you pass out.

What have you done? Yeah. He's gone. Yeah. Funnily enough, Tom is under the table. Yeah. Again. That was the legendary action, the fate action, so Gruff.

Um. Oh, bloody hell. He slipped the deck! He's down! Sorry. I'm gonna slowly but surely keep walking up these stairs. You've got your full movement now. Yeah, thanks you. Five, ten. I'm gonna slowly but surely keep walking up these stairs. You've got your full movement now.

Yeah, 35 foot. He's muttering the virtues under his breath. Is it dark? Do I see Xanthius? You are now in the light. You are in Daisy's light. You're in my light. You did start in the darkness, but I have three fates, so I can't gain any more. Is Xanthius within touching range? Can I touch him?

He is not within touching range. He's technically on this square. He's five feet away. Five feet away, yeah. I'll let him die for a turn. He can be infirm for six seconds. It's fine. He's very vulnerable. I'm so vulnerable right now. Owie. Stop that. He's fine. He's very vulnerable. I'm so vulnerable right now.

Owie. Stop that, stop that. I'm never healing you again. Oopsie, so meek. Can you do something about him? We wish. Kim. We wish. I've spent like seven years, there's nothing I can do about him at We wish. Kim. We wish. I've spent, like, seven years. There's nothing I can do about him at this point.

He controls the game. He doesn't control the table. Just, like, take some dice and push him off the... Push his mini up top. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I could kill him. Yeah, I mean, I'll try. I'll do my best. I mean, he is trying.

Yeah, I'm giving it a good go. So, Wiry. I can't... So, okay, I could spend an action to go ahead So wiry. I can't... Sorry, okay. I could spend an action to go ahead, but... But then you wouldn't, yeah. Yeah. You could get in the way.

You could at least move up and sort of block this corridor, right? Yeah, the thing is, I'm on quite low health as well, so... Heal yourself? Physician heal myself. Yeah, I just... I want to get him, but he's wriggly. He's fine. Fucking, I just want to get him, but he's wriggly! He's fine. He's fucking...

I will... Fish. I'm going to heal myself because there's nothing really else I can do in this situation. First of all, second level. Second level, 2d8. Yep, sounds good. Plus your wisdom. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.

13 HP back. Great. 13. What was that? Sorry, what spell was that? Plus kill wings. I've been casting it a lot. The one where you need to... 13 HP back, great. 13. What was that? Sorry, what spell was that? Plus Cure Wounds.

I've been casting it a lot. Just never seen a low-level Cure Wounds do so well. Yeah, it's got a full 8. That's pretty cool. Yeah, I got an 8 and a 2, plus 3. Not me. That's action, bonus action. I don't think I can do anything.

Can I shout again about a feel? No. It's Ashen, yeah. There's just a lot of swearing coming from Gruff. Are they all like the Welsh swearing phrases that you came up with? I've got a list. They're actually Cornwall phrases.

And you go through the entire list like it's the PokéRap. No, but I've got to, we gotta move on. Okay, okay. Rowan. Rowan is going to go past Xanthias, healing him en route. 10, 15, 20.

Are you healing word or kill wounds? Healing word. Okay, so you can move past, yep. I wish I had a heal that was an action, but I don't, so here we go. D4. You can get one next time you level up an action, but I don't. So here we go. D4. You can get one next time you level up or whatever. Get kill wounds.

Seven. Oh wow. For a level one as well. It's a pretty good turn. Turns out it's just Quill. It's just Quill. It's just Tom. Scarred lady, hurt my friends no more.

Step out of my friend. There is, with the rage going, your words do not reach. Then we must battle. I get out my longsword. Okay. Draw the sword at your back. That sort of sense of threat she locks onto you, Rowan,

just locks eyes onto you. Good, good, good. End of turn? That is me. Ooh, because it's not an action, can I ready an action that if she comes within range, I can attack her? Yes, I will say that, yeah, you're speaking to her because you would have known from Gruff

that speaking to her wouldn't work. I don't want you to waste your action. So yeah, you can ready an action if she comes towards you. Swipe. Absolutely. All right. Okay, Ophelia, you find yourself in this place. Something is coming up the stairs.

You are currently sort of on this balcony area. You can hear but can't see it. There's this, like, grey mist, but something terrifying and strong and violent is coming up those stairs towards you. Meanwhile, you are beginning to get a sense of what is going on here. Your memories are beginning to come back. You remember the spirit. You remember them touching you and then you woke up here. You remember who you are. You remember something about companions,

some people that you met, some greater purpose, but a lot of that is still kind of obfuscated. But you are aware now that something has happened and that the spirit maybe sent you here or did something to you, and that maybe this place isn't quite real. Like, you've definitely picked up on that, that your thoughts and your memory seem to affect this place, but also your actions.

Like, you've got, like, Tyria's clothing on. Like, you're not wearing what you should be wearing. There's a ring on your finger that's not your ring. What do you want to do in this place? So do I know that I am Tyria, but... No, you know exactly the opposite. You know you're not Tyria. I'm not Tyria. You're not supposed to be here.

She's put you... Or you've been put into this other person's place and you're not her. Okay. This ring is not yours. These clothes are not yours. You're not supposed to be this. I just, I guess speak out, I guess.

Tyria, I see your fear. You are not this fear. You are stronger than this tiny man in front of you. I can help you defeat him. All right, can you give me a persuasion check on this, please? Would you like to... Fake, fake, fake, fake, fake, fake, fake, fake, fake, fake, fake. You got any 36 you can add?

16. 16 is a success. Oh, the tracker goes down on four now? Yeah. The tracker is reduced down to four. That stomping of the footsteps grows less heavy and almost more distant, and now you see stood at the top of the stairs

where you were, you see a woman wearing clothes that you know are your clothes, like your armor stood in your place where you should be. And she is a fairly quite good-looking but kind of very homely kind of like a woman that would work in a tavern, like, you know. And she's got her hair tied up, but it's kind of messy. She looks quite ragged and thin,

like she's overworked and underfed. And she is looking at you and she just says, I need what you have. I need revenge. It's unfair. It's not fair. Let me have this. Against him, not my friends. I need revenge. It's unfair. It's not fair. Let me have this.

Against him, not my friends. All right. And that's as far as we're going to get on that. But you definitely now, and again, more memories come back, right? And at this point, most of the inn, like all of the downstairs, you are now looking down onto and you remember it this is one of the rooms in the in the countess's chamber you know this is this is one of her audience chambers and you're on the balcony looking down but the balcony is like a rundown in balcony not the gorgeous black and gold and red that you remember from Osseous.

And you remember Osseous and you remember everything else. But that's almost becoming your realm. But up here, you're still connected to Tyria's realm. Do you know what I mean? Cool. Yeah. Spirit's turn. The spirit looks down and looks at you, Rowan, and you see her hand reaches the whip on Ophelia's belt.

She holds the knife in her other hand, and I forgot I do have a blood fury point as well, and she just looks at you, and then just with kind of animalistic rage, like bestial rage, just flies at you and then just with kind of animalistic rage like bestial rage just flies at you. She's going to keep within her whip range

and with the crack of the blood whip kind of whips it across your face. Get out! Get out! Get out! I'm going to reckless attack.

You shot the gauze. I know. Yeah. She doesn't make sense. That is a 19 to hit you with a blood whip. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That is going to be... I'm not going to spend a blood fury point,

but I will spend a fate dice. Bring you guys back up to three. Nice, thank you. One of these. Yes. That is going to be five, six, seven, nine points of slashing damage. And then she now has two blood fury kits. I'm going to use stubborn endurance.

To reduce that down. Reduce the damage with a d12. Yeah, unfortunately you're readied action. She's not moved within range for her attacker, so. Nice. I'm going to reduce it by nine. So yeah, so literally down to zero. Wow.

And then you see her kind of with the whip, and then with her offhand with the knife, it's like she looks at it, and that rusted blood on the blade bubbles and becomes like a coating over it, and she swipes, but it's like she throws the knife, and I'm going to spend a blood-free point to allow her to throw the knife

and add to the damage for it, so. So cute. You guys are gonna get a fake point, I'm gonna get 2d6. Hey, what's your health at? Fine. That is gonna be seven, eight, nine, 10, 14 points of piercing.

Oh! As this blood knife blade snaps into you he's not fine not good ow yep that is

the spirit's turn just keeping that distance almost like looking at Ophelia's body like beginning to realise its potential and then she opens

her mouth and the fangs oh no oh Xanthius And then she opens her mouth. And the fangs. Oh no! Xanthius, you are up. I'm up, I'm frightened. Yes. So... You cannot move closer to her.

Disadvantage on attack rolls. I'm gonna spend half my movement to stand up, obviously. Very good. I'm gonna... Yeah, my movement to stand up, obviously. Very good. I'm going to... Yeah, I think I will still... Oh, I don't want to leave Rowan there alone, but my health is so bad and Rowan's health is so bad, so I'll back up a little bit to get behind Gruff.

I don't think there's anything I can do to help Rowan, though. I also don't want to kill Ophelia, right? She's certainly not holding back from killing you and your friends. But I don't wanna kill her, because it's not Ophelia right now. No, it's not. Can...

You just have to choose your damage. Yeah, can psychic damage... Psychic damage can knock out, I would say. Non-lethal. Yeah, I'd say psychic damage can be non-lethal. Yeah, I'd say psychic damage can be non-lethal. In that case, I will drive a Mind Sliver into Ophelia's skull. Okay. They have to make...

What did you say to that? Huh? He did say it in a really, like, creepy way. What saving throw am I supposed to do? It's called Mind Sliver, goes into your dang skull. It's an intelligence saving throw. Intelligence saving throw am I doing? It's called Mind Sliver. It goes into your dang skull. It's an intelligence saving throw. 17. That does not...

It uses the ghost's intelligence. Ah, I see. No, that's cool. Great. Just resist it. Whatever is fueling this spirit, your spell just glances off, not able to find purchase in the tempest of this spirit's mind. Yes.

Oh, actually, can I spend sorcery points on that? I can't. That's me. I'm good, I'm done. In that case, it would be a brand new round. Just before we go to our break, one thing for the lair action. So Daisy, Gruff, and Rowanan as you guys are closest to the edge

the whole inn begins to shake i need all three of you to make acrobatics checks is this a um a push pull prone um i will say it is because it is technically going to result in you being thrown off and prone so it it's like a stability thing, right? The armor of Oak and Thorn is to help you stay where you are. I rolled a 19. So I will allow you to have advantage on it, even though it's an acrobatics check, because it's keeping your balance, right?

24. 24 is a success. 20. 20 is a success. 15. 15 is just barely a success. If I got knocked down again, I was going to rage on it. So thanks to your armor of Oak and Thorn,

maybe the armor like the boots the greaves that the magic is creating kind of wrap around like roots and keep you from just going off the edge

pulling you back into place with that that is the top of a brand new round we will take our break there everybody the ghost is learning

the ghost is learning we get into Ophelia and that's the scariest part ghost is learning we will see you very shortly for part 2 take care and we'll see you then bye bye hello we've got a fan art video I think a brand new fan art video

right? correct we've got a brand new fan art video as well and hey just before we go live I want to mention once again the very exciting Brand new fan art video, right? Correct. Correct. We've got a brand new fan art video as well. And, hey, just before we go live, I want to mention once again the very exciting news that we have just announced High Rollers Live, a tour. We've only got one date in one location, but we are doing our first Just Us live show. It's a three-hour live show at the Adelphi Theatre in London's West End.

It's on the 17th of September. If you go to the link in chat or in the video description right now, you can actually go and sign up for the pre-registration emails, which will let you know when tickets go on sale for pre-sale. You can also get information and updates about the show as it comes out. We highly recommend that you go and sign this up because it helps us out massively, and you'll get all the information about the show as well. We've partnered up with a great company called AEG who did the recent Critical Role live show as well. It's going to be a great time. We're really hyped for it. It's a really big deal for us because if this is a success, we can do more stuff like this. Maybe we can go to Europe. Maybe we can go to America and we can do more and more.

We can go to other venues in the UK. So this needs to be a success. So we would love to America and we can do more and more we can go to other venues in the UK so this needs to be a success so we would love to see you there check it out but yeah that's it we're going to go to break enjoy the fan art and we will see you

for part two bye