High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #23 | Trouble in the Tunnels (Part 2)

Episode Date: May 30, 2024

The gang dive into the sewers of the city to get to the catacombs! HIGH ROLLERS LIVE in London on the 17th September 2024! Tickets live now: https://www.aegpresents.co.uk/event/high-rollers/ Add the Heroes of Altheya Minis to your TTRPG collection here: https://only-games.co/collections/high-rollers Enhance your bath time experience with the official Altheya themed DiceBombs at https://geekyclean.com/! Check out https://www.highrollersdnd.com/ for all the latest HR News! Love the podcast? Give us a glittering 5 star review! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/high-rollers-dnd/id1401508198?see-all=reviews Support the High Rollers on Patreon and get early access to Podcast episodes, vods and more: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound, TCT Adventures (Solasta: Crown of the Magisters), Monument Studios and Jolene Khor! Check out Jolene Khor and all her wonderful work on High Rollers on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1WX3ICiTmf4GpHwImnQMs6 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. Or bring your classes with you for outdoor runs, walks, and hikes led by expert instructors on the Peloton app. Call yourself a runner. Peloton All Access membership separate. Learn more at onepeloton.ca slash running. So what's it like to buy your first cryptocurrency on Kraken? Well, let's say I'm at a food truck I've never tried before. Am I going to go all in on the loaded taco? No, sir. I'm keeping it simple. Am I going to go all in on the loaded taco? No, sir.

I'm keeping it simple. Starting small. That's trading on Kraken. Pick from over 190 assets and start with the 10 bucks in your pocket. Easy. Go to kraken.com and see what crypto can be. 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. Hello and welcome back to part two of Ulthea the Dragon Empire. Previously, our heroes, having reunited with Ophelia, have discussed her return. They have also began making inquiries into their investigation into the Lamplighter's Guild.

They have uncovered plans of Ashen Rest, including schematics of an old sewer system and the catacombs beneath Bright Shadow Cathedral. Yes. And now the plan is to gather maybe some allies and then to investigate said tunnels and catacombs. Yes. And that is where we are right now.

But we've got a load of coffee. You do indeed. You have now met back up. I believe Ophelia was trying coffee for the very first time. Yes. Have you actually had any yet in the time since we've met the others? I like, well, also, like, what do you think Ophelia's reaction to coffee would be?

Because I know Rhiannon loves coffee. I love it. Yeah, but would Ophelia love it? It's not wine, is it? It's not wine. And it's hot. It's, like, hot. Yeah. But would Ophelia love it? It's not wine, is it? It's not wine. And it's hot. It's like hot. Yeah.

It's like hot. Has it got like a lid? Can you actually see? No, it's not a Starbucks cup. No, I, yeah. There's no lid. It's served in like a pretty plain mug. If you don't bring your own,

you can buy that wooden cup. It's like a foamy. There's a bit of, yeah, there's like a foaminess to it. Yeah, I imagine she'd kind of be off-put by that. Because she did like... Well, milk would also not be a big thing in all of this. No.

So it's like this weird, like, thick, foamy thing. House of Bones must have milk. They have strong bones. Magical bones. They get calcium in other sources. Okay. House of Bones sponsored by milk. Big milk, yeah.

I hate all of you so much. Do you know what? You have to trust me, Ophelia. It's lovely. But it's like, oh, it's like separated. It's like, there's this

furry, foamy, oh, it's the bitch. You just see Maeve looking really sad that you don't like her drink. Oh, no, no, no, it's not. No, it's fine. It's not for everyone. It might be like the foam on the top.

It might be like this white foam. I should stop talking. Just try the foam on its own. Trust me, it's good. Okay. And then have a little bit of the drink underneath that. Okay. And then try it together, and trust me,

you'll feel great. Okay. Does Ophelia like sweet things? Like, sweet, because sweets would be a thing. Yeah, she probably would, like having fruits and stuff. Yeah, like candied fruits and things like that. I think it would be like a thing that the Countess maybe, in a kind of bit of a Narnia way, the Countess probably like gives like candied fruits and things like that. I think it would be like a thing that the Countess maybe, in a kind of bit of a Narnia way,

the Countess probably gives candied sweets and sort of Turkish delights out to her favoured servants and things. Sugary almonds. Yeah. So I could see that, yeah. Yeah, so I think that there is an inherent sweetness to the drink that might appeal to Ophelia, but it's definitely strange. That's a 10.

It's unusual, but it's... I understand, I suppose, why this might be appealing. Sorry. No, not you. It was Mark doing the n-n-n-n-n-n noise. The cat. The fucking spoon. Creamy flavour. That's a ten.

Nobody's going to know what we're talking about. We shouldn't make this dumb joke. Someone does. I know. We all know. I was going to say it's a really good job that we're about to go in the sewers because I feel like that's where we all belong today.

That's a ten. That's a ten. We just belong in the gutter. Well, anyway, while Ophelia is trying the delicacies of Kaldra, are we intending to meet with Gryhold? Knight Gryhold? Sir Gryhold? Oh, I really hope so. Maybe they can help us get into the catacombs.

What did you find, by the way? Oh, we found that the catacombs actually align with the old sewers. And I think I found an entry point. Rowan, can you manipulate stone? Manipulate stone? I would never do such a thing to such a precious, innocent rock. Right, okay, I've upset him. Why would I manipulate a rock when all it speaks is truth?

Can you ask rock to move? I'll move rock. Yes it speaks is truth? Can you ask a rock to move? A move rock? Yes. With some strength, sure. Would you be up for doing that? I guess, yes. Lifting rocks. I'm not actually on the same page at all here. I've got no idea what's going on. I was just thinking if we go down in the old sewers, find where it aligns with the catacombs, we'd need to-

Find a breach point. Yes, we need to push some rocks out of the way to break through. Yes, that's fine. Right. I can do that, I'm kind of strong. You're a big boy. Yes.

Big boy-o. Big strong arms. I'm pretty big. Wait, we're going into the sewers now. The old sewers of Ashen's Rest are built adjacent to the catacombs. It's so much so that the catacombs had to be altered in their plans to go alongside the sewers

as the diagonal point with which they almost cross. For the greater good, for the greater good, for the greater good. We're going in the sewers. Old sewers, not these. Did we say sewers? I meant... lovely smelling tunnels. An underground...

knife. Sesh pit. Life. Ship pipe. It's okay, it's for the greater good. With justice, we'll be done, no matter what. It's for the greater good. For the greater good, for the greater good. We must stop these demons.

For the greater good. And where are we planning on jumping into nice smelling tunnels? I calculated from what the stonemason showed us. I calculated from what the stone mason showed us. I found a point. The closest sewer access point from the surface. That's a good question. Do you want the closest sewer point

to the catacombs where the two match up? Or do you want the closest sewer point to you right now? What's the most subtle? It would definitely be easier to find one that's like down an alleyway in between the middle of the streets. The one that's close to the Bright Shadow Cathedral

and the Duskrise District is like out in the open. It's on like a big street. It would be kind of difficult to get in there subtly without being seen um there is one which is further away that is tucked between buildings that you could probably easily slip into that one but that will then you'll have to navigate the old sewers to get to the point you want to get to but you're pretty confident that you can do that that one okay yeah because it's daytime, so we'll get... It's easy to spot us if we're going in somewhere obvious. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Like, yeah, it's... If you've seen the scene in Ghostbusters 2 where they have to... Hey! Hey, yeah, yeah. It'd be similar to that. What are you doing? Whereas, like, finding one which is off to the side,

you'll just have to navigate these old sewer tunnels to get there. It's all right. I know it like the back of my paw. And if, for whatever reason, sewer tunnels to get there. It's all right, I know it like the back of my paw. And if, for whatever reason, I can't move enough stones to get a full-sized adult through, we might have to resort to a kitten. What a shame. Oh, that'd be terrible.

To squeeze through these tiny rocks. If only there was someone that can do that. What a shame. Someone... Well, where's the closest then, Gruffydd? It would be in the... I don't actually have my little actions right now. It's right in front of you.

It's there, on the pedestal. No, that's... I have a... You've got a secret one? That's the secret one! I can use this one. Oh! That's a secret one! Secret tunnel! I can use this one. Oh! Secret tunnel!

Yeah, it would probably be in the Greyforge district, tucked in like a little alleyway, sort of over, sort of here-ish, maybe. Okay, so we're in the bottom left corner right now, southwest, and we need to go. Yeah, you're down over here. Head up here. To the northern.

Sort of in between like this little alleyway here, and then it will worm its way over this area so we could you didn't know what troll was doing everything you could to do podcast descriptions now and you just went yeah yeah here there southwest to the north yeah the podcast i don't mean that podcast i'm sorry yes. We love you. Yes, you are currently in the southwest corner over here. Great Forge District is in the north. The alleyway is kind of tucked in close to the Great Forge Gate, and then you would be making your way northeast from there.

Towards the cathedral. Towards the cathedral on the Duskrise District. Nice. Nice. Excellent. Um, nice. Excellent. All right. Do you still plan to go and speak to Ser Gry'ald? You know where he is right now? Do we have some means of contacting Ser Gry'ald?

I could just pretend we're in danger and he comes and rescues us. I am very meek and firm and vulnerable. Oh, you are. You really are. Thank you. I just stand out in the open and knights crowd around me. Protect this vulnerable boy!

We didn't see Sir Gael. God, he's so pathetic! Around our tavern or anything like that. Not yet, no. I mean, it is still like, it's only just barely midday. He wasn't with the duke

when the duke landed at the tavern, was he? He was not there. They basically said that they would have Sir Gryll basically come and be a sort of bodyguard, but that was literally last night, and you've only been a few hours. Like, if he's doing other stuff, they might not have had a chance to send him over yet. Sir Gryll and stuff. Could we leave a message for him and his eyes only,

updating him on our situation. But I don't have the means to do that. Anyone else magically send messages or? We'll leave one here in the tavern is what I'm suggesting. Why do I feel like we got a scroll of sending? I do. You do?

Yes. The blade was given to you by the High Authoriter, right? Yes. Aside from that, I can't tell. I feel like that's for emergencies. Yeah. Maybe we can send that if we are in danger and we need a knight. Aye, but it might take some time for him

to make his way down to wherever we are. Then it's us. I think trying to find Ser Gry'od at this point might take longer than us just... We would know rough places that knights are stationed throughout. He is a knight of the realm, so he's probably at the Dominus Ignarum,

or he would be at the forge, the fortress, the sort of barracks of the town. Those are the two places that he would be. I guess if we go up towards, yeah, en route, can we just pop our heads in and be like, hey, brah, it's not far from out there. Yeah, you can make it on your way there, yeah. If you head up the heart's way towards the centre of town,

sort of come down here, head up here, you go past the forge. The Dominus Ignorum is off the beaten track, though. And to be honest, if he's at the Dominus Ignorum, you're not really going to get in there to ask him. But you could stop by the forge, ask if he's there, and then carry on and then make your way up to the Greyforge district. All right. That's our plan.

Okay. Good plan. All right, you guys set out. Are you taking Percival with you, Ophelia, or are you gonna leave him in the inn? I will leave him here for safety. Okay, do you give him any instructions whilst you're away? Just maybe just guard the perimeter,

not guard the perimeter, but just keep watch. Keep watch, all right. He will, he stands in the middle of the room and stares at the door and keeps his head, and he just rotates every one. He just, like, spins and then resets, and then he spins and he resets. That might be enough to ward off anyone that wants to. Well, it's also, like, he can only follow basic instructions, right?

And, like, to keep watch, to him, the best way he can do that is to stand there and then every so often just check all around him. I also feel like this is the kind of instruction where if someone turned up and set fire to the inn, he's just going to... He'll just watch. He'll just watch. He's like, carry on.

100%, by the way, keeping watch does not mean intervening anyway. He will basically keep watch and then try and send word to you in some way or find you or something. It's like a golden Labrador. They'll just watch as the burglar just steals all your stuff. But yeah, he might be a good deterrent, but he will certainly stay there and keep watch as much as he can. He'll patrol around.

He won't do that. He'll patrol around. Retriever, not a lot of people. He just bows his head. How embarrassing. Won't it be long? Bows his head. Yep.

And maybe smooths down your outfit and sort of tightens your hair before you leave. And you guys make your way. You pass by the forge. Roll, seeing as it's Kim, roll a D100 for me. And I'm going to say that there is a 50-50 chance of Sir Gryol being there.

I mean, this is the obvious one from the Bag of Chaos. Bag of Chaos. The D100 is, of course. Bag of Chaos. Bag of Chaos. My big, bald D100. How do you even know what that lands on? Wow.

It's a good question, and it's for you to find out. Roll this D100 for me, please. This is horrible. Everyone knows about this one. This is a sphere. This is a classic. So 50 or lower. It's still rolling.

Oh, it did land on something. Top one. 87? Very, very top one. 87. So Grield is not at the forge. I was going to say, 50 or lower.

Please throw that at me. Please don't. I feel like 87 is good, though. It was just a 50. It was a way to determine a 50-50. There was a 50 chance that he was going to be there. I can't say if it was 50 or lower. He was going to be at the forge.

11. 50 or higher, he was going to be at Dominus Ignorum. No, you already rolled it once. Can I roll it with a proper dice and not this golf ball? No. You can, however, take that golf ball so Tom never has access to it again what that's yours to use now that replaces your d-hundred it does not themselves i don't make the rules yeah i don't know where it is oh i paid a lot of money for that one specifically you inquire i'd say it's probably

bliss out on god you know no actually bliss wouldn't be on guard duty um so it would be what happened to bliss it would just be a random... Where are they? It would be a random sergeant. Mark, why won't you make eye contact with me? It is a random sergeant on gate who, when you inquire, will just say, like, no, no, I'm afraid that Sir Gryold isn't here at the moment. I believe, I don't know if he's up at the Dominus Ignorum or out in the town,

but he's certainly not in the barracks, I'm afraid. If you're asking for it, would you like me to leave a message for Sir Grield if he comes by? Uh, me? I'm sorry, I'm going to roll something. Oh yeah, I'm here. Oh yeah, you're dead.

Yeah, this guy doesn't know who you are, so he's just like, oh yeah, you're travelling. But there's a chance that he might be like, aren't you the lady who got killed the other night? She got better, I suppose. She got better. We do want to leave a message. All right, we're just going to take a quick huddle.

Okay, that's fine. Do we want to make a subtle message that only Nick Reholt would understand? I don't think he would understand it, because why would we be doing it? We are pursuing our demons. Our demons. We could just say, head to the catacombs.

Head to the smelliest place, with which. Yes. But the old ones of those smelly. Yes. The oldie smell. Okay, I'm just gonna write down, head to the catacombs. No, no, no, the old smell. I mean, if you're going to write it down, seal it, give it to this guy, tell him not to open it. Yeah, he's the only one who's going to see it.

Cool. What are you writing it on and how are you sealing it? Write it on my back. I'll stay. Tell him this. Like, the guy doesn't, it's not like he's got a pen and paper and some envelopes on him, do you know what I mean? Can we just tell him? I have a pen and paper. You can tell him, but yeah. I have a pen and paper and some envelopes on him, you know what I mean? I have a pen and paper.

You can tell him, but yeah. I have a pen and paper on me. Sure, okay. You can't, so you haven't got anything to seal it in, but you could write it down. No, but I could write it down. I sealed with a curse. There you go, I wrote it down.

Okay, write down. We should probably say who it's from as well. We still need a team name. From Daisy and Xanthius and Crefith of Tremoro and Rowan and Sister Ophelia de la Rosa of the House of Blood in brackets, Yes, I'm Alive Now. Back now, yes. Is that okay? Right back now, yeah.

I like that, yes. We're heading into... How about that? That's my title. We're following a lead. Okay. Have you written that? Yeah. Oh, okay, you just, your pen didn't move.

No, don't even say that, just say we're headed to the catacombs. Scratch that out. Not the entire thing, just the following a lead bit. Okay. Catacombs. Bloody hell. Meet us at the catacombs. Yeah, okay, great. We good?

Do we put a kiss, or is it too... I was going to ask, yes. I'm going to do it. I mean, I was... Probably a bit forward, Daisy. I already did it. Does Daisy wear lipstick to make her leave a kiss on an envelope? So you just draw a pair of lips?

Just an X. Oh, yeah, they wouldn't, yeah. Would they have, like, a little X? Would they do that? Just write brackets. Kiss. Brackets. You could do an X, but I don't think it would necessarily mean a kiss in this world. Threatening. It's a sign of death.

It's a sign of death. Okay, that'll do. Just fold that up. P.S. Okay. You're really cool. Bloody hell, you can't just come out and say that, Daisy. Why not? Because it's just too forward, isn't it? No.

So what is the exact message you are leaving for Sir Gryhold? I wrote down what he told me to write down. So what is that? All of our names. Yep. In brackets, after Ophelia, Delaros in the House of Blood. Yep. She's back.

Okay. And then Catacombs. Catacombs. After some sentences scratched out above that. Yeah, some sentences scratched out and then just catacombs.

So just to confirm, there's no other text that just says catacombs. So it's name, name, name, name, name, sister affiliate of the house of blood in brackets. She's back.

Closed bracket. Yes. Catacombs. Some scratches. Scratches out. That's quite a lot of information. We've gone to. We've gone to. Catacombs. We've. Scratches out. That's quite a lot of information. What about we've gone to? We've gone to.

Catacombs. We've gone to. And then a tiny little arrow that says we've gone to just before the word catacombs. Oh, this is going to backfire on us so badly. Daisy's going to screw up the bit of paper and just write, if you're looking for us, we are at the catacombs, and then I will write all of our names.

I'll write Gruffydd and friends, who you probably don't know. P.S. I think you're cool. P.S. I think you're cool. You can't bloody hear my scientific coming from me! All right, scratch, scratch. That one's gone as well. New piece of paper. No.

These are all coming out of your journal, by the way. P.S. I think you're cool. This is Daisy, by the way. Gru.S. I think you're cool. This is Daisy, by the way. Gruffydd did not say that. Okay. But I'm pretty sure he thinks you're cool, too. Oh, my God. And I will give that to him.

Okay. That's it. You are aging me. I was going to say, because these are all portions out of your journal, so like back pages, basically. That's it. He watches you guys stand on the corner.

Sorry, we're almost done. I'm getting white hairs from this. Daisy, then you go up and hand him the note. Yes, there you go. Okay, he's like... His eyes only. Okay. He holds a piece of paper and folds it again

and puts it in his pocket. Thank you. Sure. Okay, yeah. Yeah, no problem. Good. Guy, we're on the same page. Thank you.

Let me make a roll. Does this guy look at the message? Interesting. Right. Well, that's... If he looks at it, it's just a lot of shit. He doesn't know that. How's he going to know that?

He won't know that until he reads it. Oh, he's going to come out. I'm so bellend. All right. And what is a bellend? Oh, no, no. What's that? Yeah, bellend would still work.

Okay. All right, so let's go to the... It's a proper ice heart insult. I was about to say, in front of this guy, now let's go to the catacomb. What, the place to be tossed to Creole, we know? Fire the sewers. You know, with Ophelia.

We're going to break in. We're going to go take down the church. The lady who was dead, who's now back. We're going to take down the church, the whole church. Go fight them demons. God, you can tell we've not played for two weeks, can't you? Right, you guys make your way. Gruff leads you to the small alleyway in the Greyforge district,

and you find, like I said, there's no manhole covers or things like that. It is basically, what you find is probably a small stone grate that's built into the gutter, basically. And it looks like it's been cleared away. It's maybe got some leaves and some debris and stuff in there. But it doesn't look like it's in use. This part of the street doesn't seem to be actively actively used for like draining sewage or anything like that anymore like it was probably back in the day used to just throw it out their window and it would you know come down the street with the rainwater and stuff um but this looks all dried up um it is it is like

a stone grate though so it's you're talking about maybe two and a half feet stone sort of like um holes that have been cut into it. How are you going to get through this? Like are you either going to have to break it open or... It's kitten time. Yeah, it's, you know, we are talking about a couple of, you know, a few inches wide in between these bars. Like if you broke it, you can make it big enough to squeeze down. Time to become a worm.

Oh, no. But that would only get one of you down. It's okay, though. I'd still love down. I'm a worm! Oh, no. But that would only get one of you down. It's okay, though. I still love you. You're a worm. Jesus. What do we do? This place is, it backs onto what appears to be like a tannery and maybe a residential building, so it's like

a townhouse building and then like a tannery next to it. So it's loud enough there's a big street nearby, so there is like the murmur of trade and chatter, but really loud noises are probably still gonna be heard. Just cough really loud. I could. Do we want to try and bust this open?

That would be preferable, aye. To what? You becoming a tiny little creature? What am I going to do if I become a tiny creature and go down there? Uh, maybe find an alternative entrance. There's no ladder as well. You can see a bottom. It's about a sort of seven feet drop from the street level down into this tunnel beneath. Well, this might be the moving stone thing we were talking about.

Okay. And was that a magical thing, or were you talking about? Oh, okay, you were literally talking about ripping stone, okay. Yes, that's what I said. I thought there might have been some magic involved. No, he said it's right.

Yeah, okay. So you want to just reach down, Rowan, grab this stone carved grate and just try and break it. Okay, strength roll for me, please. Athletics. The DC is exceptionally high. Can I rage and help? You can help, yeah.

Well, so if you rage, you would already have advantage on it yeah um so you don't need to rage to help him you can just help him and give him advantage yeah so rather than waste your rage we can say that you are sort of raging but don't use up one take a fate as well but uh okay yeah you want to spend a fate point watch this drive can i bardic inspire myself i can't can i you can I? You can. Get them stacks, get them stacks. Yeah, so you have advantage, you're spending a fate,

and you're adding Bardic Inspiration. Yeah. I'm going to say, by the way, if you, on this roll, because you're spending fate on it, which makes it a bit more narratively important, right? If you roll badly, this is going to be very audible and you might, like, you know, put your

back out on something like that. It's more that, like, you're probably going to draw attention if you roll really badly. If you roll well, like, keep in mind the DC is very high. Very high. Strength. Yeah. Athletics.

Specifically athletics. Yeah. Well, athletics. Specifically athletics. Yeah. Well that's good, because it's plus three. All right, so all of this plus three. Okay. You have advantage, you can reroll the 20. 20. Well you got advantage, you can reroll the 20.

I've rolled two. Oh, you rolled two. 27. 27. 27. 27. Oh, goddammit. There is no way. There is no way.

I think so. I had set the DC amount, I was like 25 to 30, basically. So you succeed. I am going to say, though, that there is, like, it takes you a while. Like, this is not just one big heft. This is, like, wiggling it. Like, Ophelia is probably helping at the same time, maybe wedging something in there, like, prying it up with a piece of wood or, like, finding, like, a steel piece, a piece of metal or something

that you can wedge in there and kind of, like, leverage it up. What you actually find is that it's easier to like scrape away and pull up the flagstone itself rather than breaking the stone, which is going to be impossible. You spend a bit of time like eking out the edges and then with a great heft, you pull out this thick flagstone, lift it completely up, throw it to the side. It makes a bit of noise, but not enough to draw any attention.

What you are left with is maybe a sort of three foot diameter square shaft that goes about seven to eight feet straight down there's no ladder um and you will basically have to squeeze down it basically like rowan is definitely you're gonna struggle to get down there um but you can do it okay i can't believe it But you can do it. Okay. I can't believe it. You did it. Well done, Rowan.

Good job. Well, you helped as well. You did all the heavy lifting there, friend. I need some magic to move stone. But you did it. Okay, we can go down. Quickly now. Okay, do you want to go first or?

Sure. I take my loot off, bring this down gently. I will, I will. I'm going to squeeze down. Okay, yeah. So can you give me an acrobatics check but with disadvantage because you are specifically like not really able to. I'll widen the hole for you.

Disadvantage. I rolled a two. Two. An eight. So yeah. So that's three. I rolled a three. That is going to be four points of damage

as you basically... Rape through. You hurt, you scrape all of your shoulders, but you don't have any chance to try and brace yourself before you hit the hard stone at the bottom, and you kind of trip over your feet, your ankles kind of take most of the impact. It's painful, but you do manage to fit down you now find yourself in a stone an old stone tunnel

there is a dry bed of what probably would have once been like sewer water but it's now dried out there's there's you know it's just stone there now um there's like uh dried uh detritus you know twigs and branches and things like that, things that have fallen down from up above, you know, a long time ago. The tunnel itself, Rowan, you have to stoop. The whole time you are down in these tunnels, you are going to be basically moving at half speed and squeezing because you are having to basically hunch over and crawl around

rather than being able to walk up. That's going to be true. I think Gruff is also quite tall, aren't you? So you're also going to have the same thing if you're going to be squeezing, basically, because you're going to be walking around hunched like that most of the time. How is it down there? Well, it's dry.

Oh, good. How's the smell? It's got like that old, you know, like a manure that's dried out. And so it has a whiff. It has like a pungency, but it's dried. Oh, it's really not too bad. Oh, good. It's okay.

Yeah, okay. Do you want your lute? Yes, gently. Okay. Hold it down to him. It's like seven foot. Yeah, you. Do you want your loot? Yes, gently. Okay. Hold it down to him. It's like seven foot. Yeah, you can just reach up and take it down. My hand comes out.

Yeah. Yeah, I'd say if Rowan helps you down, the rest of you don't have to make that acrobatics check because Rowan can physically just reach up and, like, pull you down, basically. Yeah. So the rest of you make your way down, and you find yourselves, yeah, in these very narrow...

It's just going... How is the smell, really? North to south at the moment. It's old, right? These are old tunnels, so they haven't been used in decades, so it's not super pungent or smelly or wet or anything like that. There is just that kind of old, dried thing.

You've also not had too much rain recently, so it's not kind of muddied it all up down here. Okay. See? Not too bad. Not too bad. Could be a lot worse. Could be worse. I suppose. Now, Gruffydd, from this vantage point, do you remember

which way to go? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You can recall it. You're currently like north to south and you remember if you head south, there's a junction which will start leading you towards the east. And then from there, you can start making your way and finding it. You do remember looking at the schematics, Ruffeth, that there is like elevation changes and stuff as well.

Like sometimes it drops down. Other areas you'll have to go back up as it would sloop down into like a cistern and things like that. And also where the catacombs are, there's, you know, different, like you're going to have to rise up to meet those and things like that. The sewers are probably lower than the catacomb tunnels, so you'll probably have to look at digging, breaking up into the catacombs from these tunnels.

Like a little diglet. Yeah. Is it dark? Down here, you have the shaft that's just been opened up, so there is some light coming down, but it is pretty, looking further to the south, once you get out of range of the ambient light falling down it's pitch black there's no light down here

whatsoever um so you've got dark vision dark vision um i'd say where you are at the entrance by the way you can at this point shuffle your order round but i am going to need to know the exact order that you are traveling down these tunnels. And the only time you can change it is at, like, junctions. Because it's the only part where you have space to be like, all right, Rowan, like, you get there and I'm going to move past you. But once you start going down these tunnels, they are narrow. Like, you are really cramped in here, especially for Rowan and Gruffydd, basically.

OK. Gruffydd first as he is navigating. I do have a means to create light. So do I. Although risky to produce flame. I was gonna say, so what? I can go with this. Could be like pockets of gas down here, yeah.

Like old methane and stuff like that maybe. I can go behind Gruffydd. I also have a means to throw that fire. Sorry? I can go behind Gruffydd and I'll cast light on my dagger. Okay, so Gruffydd is gonna go first. So you can see then. Okay, and then Daisy behind in second.

I guess Ophelia will go in the middle. Ophelia in the middle. I think I should go last because I'm just going to block. That's true, but if we need to turn around for any reason... Yeah. So I'll reverse the order, basically, if you're turning around. It's fine. You go to the back. Yeah.

All right, so Xanthius in fourth. Yes. And then Rowan is last in the current direction of travel. I'll let everyone know if he's trailing behind. Okay. Yeah, you can keep speed, like, as long as you purposely move at Rowan's speed. Yeah, Gruffydd is also at half speed.

The rest of you, it is cramped you are able you're still having to hunch and things like that but these tunnels were built for crews to come in and sort of like scrub things down and stuff like that so there is at least wiggle room for those of you who are sort of between five and six feet like you can stand up you're not like on all fours or anything like that it's just for gruff and rowan who are significantly taller and a bit bulkier as well. It's a bit, yeah, a bit tricky. But yeah, Gruffydd, you start making your way. You don't need to make any checks

because you've got so high on your survival as you begin leading people down. Can I get perception checks from everybody, please? Sure. Sure thing. Disadvantage to everybody, please. Sure. Sure team. Disadvantage to everybody behind Daisy. So rougher than Daisy, you get to roll normally. Disadvantage for Ophelia, Xanthius and Rowan currently.

Go back, Bea. Go back, Bea. Nat one for me. Nat one. I've got a four. A four. Zero. Zero for Xanthias. I hear a natural 20. 21 total. So 21 total, but a natural 20. 24. 24, nice. I'm doing well today.

All right, as you guys are kind of making your way down, it takes some time. Moving at half speed, this is slow going. The little light from Daisy's dagger, Nim's like kind of illuminating the thing, kind of casting shadows down. You begin making your way down these narrow corridors. One thing that Gruffydd and Daisy you pick up on is you take this L junction, you start heading east, you then have to drop down, move along, you come back up again. It then heads north, and you're having to make this kind of like circumvent.

You're having to follow these old tunnels to get to where you want. You pass a T junction. It kind of splits off. Gruff, you have no problem finding the direction you're going. But you notice something. Gruffeth especially, but with the Nat 20 Daisy, you would pick up on this as well.

It begins to get remarkably clean. Like all the detrius, all the debris, like any lingering smell, all of it's gone as you're making your way. So one thing that that little halfling spoke about was gelatinous cubes that we use to clean the tunnels. Gelatinous who's? Xanthius, is Gruff saying something?

Yes, said something about, what was it? What? Gelatinous? Gelatinous cubes. Cubes. Gelatinous cubes. Anyone know anything about them? No. Would we know anything about them? I would say that you know in stories of vaults and vaultspawn,

sometimes apparently some wizards found in a vault these sentient oozes and slimes. And they took them, they studied them, and from them they developed, yeah, these magical creatures that are used for, normally for alchemical purposes. They cultivate fluids and different elements to themselves that are used in things like potions and alchemy um some of them supposedly have created

ones that can clean sewer systems and so they don't need to worry about sort of filth and disease like they just roll them all up and they scoop it all up and dissolve it um i will they probably wouldn't be called gelatinous cubes they would just be called like magical oozes or slimes and things like that magical Magical slime. Okay. But you've heard stories about them. I mean, anybody who's grown up... Again, for Ophelia, it would be a bit different, because obviously Osseous is a different culture.

They don't use slimes in that way here. But in the Empire, yeah, slimes are used as these sewers. They're like natural disinfectants and cleaners, basically. So this goo, are you scared? Should we be worried about them? Well, this tunnel's getting this goo, are you scared? What's, what are they, should we be worried about them? Well, this tunnel's getting rather clean, isn't it? Thankfully.

So it suggests to me there might be an ooze in the area. Probably. Is that a bad thing? Are they dangerous? Maybe. And if they can clear fecal matter and debris, I just wouldn't want to be stuck in the middle of one. I don't think I'm going to finish this pastry.

All right, you carry on for a little bit, and you come to another kind of T-junction. You need to head south in Gruff. With a 24, it's not long. You kind of move along this very short corridor, and up ahead, to you it looks like a, you know, to the others it looks like a perfectly clear tunnel. But for Gruffydd and Daisy, you see that light from the shadow.

It doesn't hit right. There is like a ripple in the air, and you can see that there is something transparent ahead of you. Right, you know those oozes that I was talking about? Yes, not ten seconds ago, yeah. Right, there's one right in front of us. Oh, okay. Well, how do we clear it? How do we get it out of the way? Ask it nicely.

As you were talking, Gruffydd, that shimmer starts moving towards... Right, the ooze is coming towards us. Okay. As in, we need to get rid of it? We need to go. Back, back, back. Is there a junction back there? Go to the nearest junction. Well, Rowan is currently the one who is now at the head of the pipe.

We need to go the other way. Yeah, just as quick as possible. If you could pick up speed, please, that would be lovely. Goo. What's Ruff saying? Goo. That's a slimy creature. Slime.

I turn around. Okay. Scraping my head. It's getting quite close to Goo. Oh. That's a slimy creature. Slime. I turn around. Okay. Scraping my head. It gets quite close to me. Careful, careful. It moves. So at this point, you guys are in a tunnel that goes north to south. We were heading north.

You were. Let's say I'm going to put you in the middle. So PCs. The slime began about 30 feet away from you. How much progress in one turn? And it's about 70 feet back towards that junction. Oh, good. Great. In the time it took for Rowan to turn around,

if you have a conversation, the slime moved 15 feet closer. Okay. Oh, Christ. So it is now 15 feet away from you. That's as much as I can move as well at half speed. Okay, so we just keep going. It's as fast as you are. Yeah, currently.

Could I technically dash? You can, but the creature can also dash. And it seems to be sensing that. At my best, I can maintain the same distance. So, Rowan, you start making your way back towards that junction. Cool. Can i get a perception check from everybody and xanthius and rowan you don't have disadvantage the rest of the party do have disadvantage do you have a light source as well um i was thinking because i did

have a bullseye lantern but i'm pretty sure i left it somewhere okay on a battlefield sure if you don't have a light source right so right so you and Xanthius both do have a disadvantage. I'm also behind Rowan. Yeah, no, you can still peek through it easily enough. Another two, plus one, three. So disadvantage. Okay, I got a 15. 15 with disadvantage?

With disadvantage. Okay. A 13. And a minus one. All right. As you are making your way in the middle of that junction, Xanthius, and you're so lucky you got that 15, because as you get closer, about 30 feet ahead of you,

you peer through, and even in the darkness, something tells you there is something in the middle of the junction dead ahead of you, like dead ahead. There's like a shimmer to the light. There's like a shift of like an undulating clear material and there is another one of these things which is oh wait rowan rowan slow down uh everyone else slow down as well there's another one the other side so we just have to fight him though we're surrounded right is what i'm saying i can't see it it's right ahead of us you see the shimmering... So at this point, we're going to roll initiative.

Because you guys have these. You've got one behind you. You've got one in front of you to decide what you're going to do. Cool. Okay. I'm going to roll two different initiatives because these creatures are acting independently to one another. 19.

So 19 for Gruffydd. Daisy? 21. 21 for Daisy. Ophelia? 18. 18 for Ophelia. Xanthius?

7. 7 for Rowan. 11. 11. 7, 11. So slime, we're going to call it rear slime

and front slime. Front is currently the one that Xanthius, you were moving towards thatime. Front is currently the one that... Because we're all facing that one. Because you were moving towards that one. Front Slime only has an initiative... If we turn around, are you going to rename them? Oh, my God.

Front Slime... Yeah, well, no, actually, that's a good point. I will call it North Slime and South Slime. Yeah. South Slime. I'm on South Slime's side. Well, you're on North Slime's side. North Slime represent...

North Slime gets a zero initiative. Yay! Wow. And South Slime gets an initiative of four. Still slower than everyone, I think? Yeah, basically, these things are going last. So, Daisy is first. Daisy, the one between,

like, you have Gruff between you and Gruff, but the South Slime is 15 feet away from Gruff. What would you like to do? I guess, that one's already sensed us and is moving towards us. Yes. So I guess I will attack with a radiant... Radiant blade?

All right, go for it. I think... Radiant Blade. All right, go for it. I think... He's created another slime. Also keep in mind, because Rowan and Gruffydd, you are squeezing, you are currently disadvantaged on attack rolls as well. So just keep that in mind.

25 to hit. 25 will easily hit. As a point, I have no mind telling you this, it's armor class is six. Oh, wow, I have no mind telling you this, its armor class is six. Oh wow, okay. Might actually hit it this time. It does take up the entire tunnel. It does take up the entire tunnel.

That makes sense. Watch this. Watch this. Punch myself in the face. Nine points of damage. Nine points of damage to South Slime. And then, bonus action, I will attack again. That's an 11 plus six.

Yes, yep. Da da da da da da da da da. Four. Ow. Yeah. All of these are going into Xanthus's bag. Six points. So you watch as these radiant blades cut into the transparent shape.

You can see it because you have enough light back there. Like the light, unfortunately, as it extends forward is not enough for the other two. But the light for the south side, you watch as these blades of radiant light impact into the gelatinous surface of this slime and it burns it and bubbles it and sizzles it and you can see there is clearly something there.

But what effect it has, you don't know. That is Daisy. You cannot move anywhere at this point unless you want to try and squeeze past your companions, which you can try and do. It's just very, very difficult. Nope. All right, in that case, we go to Gruffydd next.

Can I try something a bit weird? Yeah, this is exactly what I... I'm going to eat the slime. Yeah, absolutely. I'm going to eat the slime. I'm going to eat the slime. Yeah, absolutely. I'm going to eat the slime. I'm going to become the slime. Then we go to the slime. Darkness asks us to come to it.

Oh, God. How weird. I'm kind of like, what is the water composition of a slime? That's a great question. Make an arcana check. As he quickly Googles. As he Googles. Two.

A two. It looks pretty watery. Like, it looks like a jellyfish. There's a lot of water in them. You've seen jellyfish. You've seen one of them. Yeah. Because I kind of want to try and destroy water.

Okay. It is the spell that allows me to, sorry, did I say create? I meant destroy. Yeah. Yeah, it's the same spell. And I want to use it to destroy up to 10 gallons of water. Or I can destroy fog in a 30 foot cube. Okay.

And where are you targeting it? On the cube? Cube. Just as much in the cube? Just as much of the cube. Like, I just look at the cube cube cube just as much in the cube just as much of the cube like I just look at the cube and I direct the spell at the cube how do I action this I don't want to say no okay you don't want to say yes I don't I feel like if I say yes now then every there will be like destroy water on every slime ever I mean how manyimes are in this adventure?

Maybe, who knows? It might have some effect, doesn't it? I think it's going to have some effect. Does it have any, in the rules, does it say anything about damaging creatures made of water or anything like that? It says if you are a slime that's in the sewer. Fuck off.

No, it says nothing at all. All right. So here's how we're going to rule this. It says nothing. All right. So here's how we're going to rule this. I am going to say that you cast a spell. So it costs a spell slot.

What level spell slot are you going to cast it at? First. First level. Then I will say it will do... 2d8 of damage. Oh. I am going to... This is going to cost a fate point, by the way, because this is basically a devil's bargain.

Like, can I use this weird spell in a weird way? So it costs a fate point. Looking at the internet briefly, it's... I don't give a shit what the internet says. There's no raw answer, so it's up to... Yeah. So I'm going to say it will cost a fake point because it's a devil's bargain.

It's going to do 2d8 of damage. Okay. I'm not going to half it or anything like that. It's going to take 2d8 of damage. This thing is not... It has water components to it, and it's maybe going to affect its viscosity. Ooh, that's a big word.

So it will... I'm going to do another effect on this. You'll do some damage to it, but it's going to have another effect. It's going to make it harder with its pseudopod attack, but its engulf is going to be worse because it's less viscous.

Because you've drained some of the liquid out. It's going to make it more solid. So you're turning it into another creature entirely. Well, I'm about to get engulfed by it. I like it, though. I like it. Ten points of damage. Ten points of damage to south. So, yeah, I mean, so you watch as, like,

and it shrinks a bit in size, and you watch all this water just evaporate out of it, and then it just turns into steam, and it just dissipates into the air. You channel the primal energy of magic, calling upon that natural connection that you have, watching as the water drains out of this thing. But it does seem to become more solid.

It now has a bluish-green tinge. You can see it. It's less transparent now, but it seems to almost shrivel up, shrink down, and almost become more angry as it rushes towards you, reaching out with a pseudopod. Right, is there any room back there? Because I think I've pissed it off.

Oh, yeah. Language. But great stuff, I love it. Really pissed it off. Very lovely. By the way, it's extra damage for its pseudopod. It's going to cost me fate dice. So I'm going to have it so I can spend fate dice to do more damage.

So you use a fate dice, yeah. Yes. Thank you for being a benevolent and loving alien. No, no, no. This is what the game's about. I love it. So it's like when you leave an alien egg for a few feet. Ophelia will point her non-gaunted hand towards the slime.

Okay. Which one? North or south? The one that Kim just hit. Yep. The one that Gruff just attacked. South boy. South boy.

Yep. And she'll just say, I will not die in a sewer! And she will cast Toll the Dead at the slime. All right, this is the first time we've seen a few use magic here in this realm. So what does this, does it look like? Is there an effect? Do we see, like, light or anything like that? You know, it's Toll the Bell,

so there's probably some sort of sound element to it. Yeah, like the bell ringing. I think, like, her, maybe, like, the red, like, spreads up her hand a little bit. She casts Spell Almost Engulfing and sort of mirroring her gauntlet, in a way. And she just, yeah, points her nailed finger towards this thing.

You hear this, like, church bell almost. Yeah. In a sea tunnel. And what do I do? So, it is... Wisdom saving throw. Wisdom saving D12. Five. Five. And it's missing hit points. Wisdom saving D12. Five.

Five. And it's missing hit points. It is hurt, yep. Takes one D12 necrotic damage. Sure does. I don't know, I'm going to roll the D20, get lost. Ah, two. Oh, wow, wow.

Bugger. Yeah. Oh, yeah, we do hear this kind of dolorous. It doesn't echo, though, because it's magic. It doesn't, like, reverberate or echo, but you hear this dolorous, it doesn't echo though, because it's magic, it doesn't like reverberate or echo, but you hear this dolorous bell tone, and you see the creature kind of quiver for a moment, but it still onrushes towards Gruff, unfortunately, Ophelia.

Because you are in the middle, Ophelia, you cannot move anywhere, because there's not enough space for you to actually move past somebody to a free space. Only the people that are directly behind the leaders can move ahead of the leaders at this point. Okay. Xanthius, did you hear that? What?

The bell. Yes, I heard the bell, I don't know what it was. The church is onto us already. Oh good, we need to get out of here. Rowan. I try and get out my longsword. Yeah, I mean you can draw the weapon, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, the front, so you've the weapon, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, the fancy... You have disadvantage on attack rolls, because you are squeezing. I'm just going to try and slice it, because... All right, it is 30 feet ahead of you at the moment. I'm going to move up 15. Okay. And prepare, ready an attack, for if it comes within range of my attack, I will attack it.

Okay, all right, sounds good. So you move up, you ready in action, ready for it to attack. In that case, I'm gonna go to Xanthius. You actually have a bit of space ahead of you now, Xanthius. You've got 15 feet of space ahead of you. Okay, I'll move up behind Rowan, and I will cast a firebolt cantrip at this,

the one that Rowan is about to slice up. I wanna try out fire. Let's see, am I just gonna blow up everyone? Maybe. Oh Christ. Gas pocket. That dice is gone. Okay, I love it. I want to try out fire. Let's see, we're going to, I'm just going to blow up everyone, maybe. Oh Christ. Gas pocket. That dice is gone. He's a d100.

That takes forever to stop rolling. It takes forever. Okay, so plus five, 15, well I'm not. 15 hits. There is no explosion of gases. Nice. D10 damage, that is a 10. 10 points of damage.

The flame bubbles and boils some of this transparent slime ahead of you. And that is pretty much me. All right, end of turn? End of turn. All righty, the slimes go. Well, actually, can I move back like 10 feet just in case Rowan wants to nudge back a bit away from this thing?

So you want to move back 10 feet now? Yes. Okay, yep. That's a bit more of a go. So you would have moved 15 feet ahead and then, yep, so you're now basically where you were. Yes. Alright, okay.

The slimes go. The one that is going to rush towards Gruff is just going to come at you with its pseudopod. Its engulf is basically pointless, it can't sort of absorb you now, but it is going just gonna come at you with its pseudopod. Its engulf is basically pointless, it can't sort of absorb you now, but it is gonna try and whack you with its pseudopod. That is gonna be a 15 to hit. Just exactly so.

Just exactly hits. I've given it a slightly higher attack bonus to represent it being more solid as well. So this is gonna be, plus I am gonna add a point of fate for damage to this attack. It's going to hit pretty hard. That's going to be 12 points of bludgeoning damage, Graff. As this now more solid slime slams into you.

It's only attack that makes that attack so it kind of reaches out and slams into you. I think we're all in full. I'm not. No. I'm not. No. I'm not. Yeah, we had a fight with ghosts this morning. Yep, we did. Yeah, I haven't got a fight with ghosts. You guys could have taken a short rest.

I'll let you retroactively if you want to spend, because you did have the Latte Fun short rest. I will take a short rest. Yeah, because then you can spend hit dice. Yeah, I'm on full. Let's do that before... That would have taken me full anyway, but it would reset my spell slot.

No. No, it doesn't. Long rest for spell slots. Does it reset my world shape? Not yet, I don't believe. It does. Oh, it does. It's worth taking then. Not that world shape is being used.

Well, it's used for your armor of Oakenthorne, so. I'm just letting the children know. Mechanically it's being used. It's getting used. I do need Rowan to finish before I attack him. Okay. Weird request. Oh, Sextant. I'm here. I'm ready.

You good? Right, so the slime... Do I get the attack from it? Your attack will go off because it is going to try and engulf you. Hell yeah. I'm a little chump. Yeah. You a snack. Good thing I'm pink.

At least he's huge. Well, this thing is technically bigger because it fills a large space, but it's obviously squeezed into it. So this is... first of all, you make your attack opportunity. You do have disadvantage though. Oh. But it's AC 6, man. all, you make your attack opportunity. You do have disadvantage, though. Oh. But it's AC six, man.

Yeah, I'm fine. Yeah. Thirteen's the lowest. So, a D10 with two hands. Yes. And it's only five points of damage. Five points of damage. And then this thing is going to try and engulf you,

so I need a dexterity saving throw from it. Oh, bugger me. Oh, that's pretty good 21 21 so you are pushed five feet back so you're now ten feet in front of Xanthias you managed to kind of backpedal enough as this thing tries to surge forward and absorb you in so let me just do a... I think I'll move back. Yeah. Otherwise I would've tripped on you. You did good. You did good.

I would've been dead. Hell yeah. Digested. Ten feet. A snack. Did you watch me coom? What? What did you say?

Did I watch you what? Alrighty. So we jump back up to Daisy. Top of the brand new round. Hello. I will say, Kim's idea to use the destroy water to stop this thing engulfing,

because what would have happened is it would have pushed you, and if you'd made the saving throw, Daisy would have to move back five feet, then Ophelia, then Rowan, and these two would slowly trap you guys in the middle throw, Daisy would have to move back five feet, then Ophelia, then Rowan, and these two would slowly trap you guys in the middle. Because it can't engulf you now,

you can just fight this thing, but Rowan is still being pushed back. But if you can destroy this one in front of you guys now, then you're buying yourself some time. Is it within five feet of Gruff now? It is, yeah. Okay, well, I think that's...

I will do the same thing again okay i love it um 14 plus six yeah it hits yeah uh oh i rolled two sixes uh 12 30 40 15 16 17, 18, 19 points of damage. 19 points of damage. Radiant. Yeah, I mean, yeah, the damage is all going through this thing. You see the light bubble away, kind of cut through its now more firmer, less viscous body. Are there things in it, like twigs?

No, no, it's completely transparent, completely clear. Oh, interesting. Because it dissolves them over time. Right. 14 to hit on my 14 hits uh four points of damage four points of damage hey it all adds up uh yeah that one is now looking pretty rough like you can see pieces of it have carved away it's a lot smaller uh the pieces that are like cut away from it just kind of evaporate They turn into like a water and then they, you know, not water, like a liquid and then they dissolve away, basically.

Alrighty. So that's Daisy's turn. We then go to Gruff. I will cast Shalegleg. Yep. Shalegleg. Shalegleg. And hit it.

21 a hit. It hits. Nine points of damage. Nine points of damage to that one nice nice whack again like you're slamming this thing trying to break it apart but it's staying together and it's still you know able to attack you um we then go to ophelia i don't think i would have because it i made it he said do i get do i get disadvantaged but i don't think I would have because I made it less vicious. He said, do I get disadvantaged? But I don't because I can see it though, right?

Why would she get disadvantaged? Oh, because you were squeezing. You do have disadvantage, yeah. Because you're large. Yes, thank you. We'll put our fate point. Oh, that's right.

Yes, thank you. I rolled an actual 20. Oh, there you go. There you go. She's disadvantaged, so it's a man. But yeah, you do slam it, cause pieces of it to break off.

It's still intact. So Ophelia. Wasted. um i think ophelia is gonna try and use her whip and move up yeah you've got reach with it right so you can technically now you do have a daisy and a gruff in the way and using a whip it's kind of interesting what's the range on the whip uh it's an extra 10 feet of reach so it would just hit i would say i would say it would just hit i would say you would have disadvantage to use the whip in this scenario like whipping past daisy but it's a it's a massive ooze right you can like catch it in the corner and stuff so daisy's only small she'll duck yeah i'll give it a fake i love it i love it to this i am married duck I love it. I am married. Duck!

No slime. 19, 17, 20. It's AC of six. AC of six. Yeah, it hits. Destroy this thing. Finally, we're irrelevant. Here we go, rock and roll.

Ah, that's the wrong dice, what am I doing? Yeah, it's your whip, not your rapier. Ah, four damage. damage yeah and then can i use my offhand veracity yes ah you can't because you're not within five feet yeah you can't you're too far away that's why the whip was necessary no all right end of turnophilia end of of my turn, please. All right, then we go to Rowan. Rowan's just going to... You have ten feet between you and Xanthius.

It's hard to gauge what this slime is doing. I've sliced it, and it's got, like... You definitely felt it connect, and it's cut pieces of it away. You saw the fire affect it. It's just so massive you there's no like pain you can't see its reactions to things um it is continually just pushing forward i'm just going to keep slicing i think all right i'm going to move up slice you don't need to it's right next to you so yeah it's trying to eat you bro yeah it's just pushing you in you can move

back 20 natural 20. You do have a disadvantage. It was actually a crit. Yeah, it was, yeah. Oh! But you did get disadvantage. Five plus ten. Still hits. Six.

It's just not a crit. No crit. I rolled an eight plus two, ten. Another ten points of damage. So you slice into this thing. More pieces of it come carving off. You could, in in theory move back it will get its opportunity attack though or you can stay next to it it's just an opportunity

attack it can't engulf uh yeah no i don't think so then i will move back all right i will make an opportunity attack against you 22. yeah yeah yeah beats that yep uh that is gonna be seven points of bludgeoning damage. Acid damage, sorry. Ooh. That would have been the same for you as well, Kim. It would have been acid damage, not bludgeoning. Not there. Okay.

Yeah, this pseudopod slams into you as you rush back. How far back do you want to go? Right in front of Xanthius? Basically, yeah. All right, so now there's ten feet between you and the slime. Yeah. All right, so you move back, turn around, readying yourself. It's trying to eat me.

Okay, okay. Xanthius. Um, I mean, we look like we're not doing much damage to this thing anyway, right? No, you're definitely having an effect on it. You did a decent amount. Yeah, you are. I did 10. Yeah, you are.

It's carving away, these things are tough. They're big creatures. Yeah, they are. Big-age peoples. I'm looking behind, I just saw you do like 26 damage and it's still standing. That's just because I'm really fucking cool. No lie detected.

I'm gonna do a Scorching Ray. Alrighty, three rays. South, well, the one that we've been fighting. North. North. North, yes. So three separate rays. I mean, even if I roll a one... Natural one's always this.

Okay, fine. Well, that is a 16. Oh, actually, no, they don't. What am I talking about? No, they don't. 22 and a 18, so we all hit. That is one, two... 66, basically. 66 of damage. Do you need D6s?

Um, sure, I'll do it in one go. I need one more. I got one. Do you want a gelatinous cube D6? I do, actually, yeah. It probably will. It knows who its master is. On one of them, can I enhance it?

It's heard its master's call. It can. So an extra D10 on one of them. So it's six D6 and a D10. He's hungry for this damage. Watch this. Wow. It did. It rolled a one. extra detail on one of them so it's 66 and a detail he's hungry for this damage watch this wow it did it rolled a one the slime yeah the slime one is working against us well that is uh six twelve thirteen seventeen okay but i did get you two twenty uh twenty four twenty seven

27 damage. Oh, shoot. That's where I was counting, guys. So you watch as Xanthius, hands full of flames, just lays into the pommels of this thing with blasts of fire, and you watch as one of those blasts seems to be full of that black and gold and red energy,

different to just the red hot flames of his normal magic, one of them channeling, and this time, now that you're all aware, you see that glow in the chest as it becomes enhanced by the crowns. Are you still alive? Can you roll a d6 for me, please? D6, not four? D6.

The first one. D6. Motherfuck. You have... Four. Four points of psychic damage. Okay, so it's permanently enhanced now. I've made a terrible mistake in my life.

This. Rowan looks back. Calm down. It's okay. We need it dead. We need it gone. Calm down. You watch as the flames annihilate this thing.

Big chunks of it kind of bubble and boil and pop and slough onto the floor, but it is still standing. Good job, though. I'll also essence rune myself as well. Yes, essence rune. I thought you said ruin yourself. Is that a bonus action for you? I'll ruin myself.

You've already done that. Bonus action to make a rune. Yes, because you didn't spend a bit of magic. Bonus action, yeah, two essence runes, yes. Okay, nice. In that case, it is thee. Yes. Because you didn't spend a meta magic. So, bonus action, yeah, two essence runes, yes. Okay, nice. In that case, it is the Slimes go. I'm going to do the north one first

because it is going to move and engulf, but because of its size, it can engulf both Rowan and Xanthius. So, I need you both to make dexterity saving throws. There is a fate die if you need it. In fact, no, you can't.

Because even if you succeed, you would have to move five feet backwards. Because you have a creature in front of Graf, the others cannot move any further backwards. I didn't move all the way to Ophelia. I was five feet. Yeah, there's still a gap. You were five feet. Okay, so this is the last chance that you have.

That's right, you did. There was a five-foot gap. There was a five-foot gap. You this is the last chance that you have. That's right, you did. There was a five-foot gap. There was a five-foot gap. You left at ten feet, that's right. We both have to move five foot back. But we do both have... Yeah, this is now the last movement we have. If you fail, then I can't...

Yes, so if Xanthius fails this, then he can't move back. There's a fake die if you need... Twelve plus two, fourteen. Okay. That's me. I mean, I'm not very good at decks, so I will. Fate it up. I will fate it up. All righty.

Get me up inside. Can't fate, oh! I've got max fate, okay! Did you use fate dice for slapping me with the pseudopod? Yeah, I did, but it caught it, yeah. 21. 21. All right. Thanks 21 all right I think you both do succeed so you managed to kind of hop yourselves back just barely but you managed to pull yourselves

back scrambling away xanthius pulls back five feet uh which gives you just enough space um Rowan in fact actually no so xanthius moves back five feet you would then go into Xanthius' space, which is still in the cube, unfortunately, Rowan, because it engulfed both of you. So you can't escape at this point. Xanthius can move five feet back, but Rowan, you are caught in the cube. So I'm hand soloed. You are inside.

You are still conscious. You're going to take some damage. But unfortunately, because Xanthius can move five feet back, you would then take Xanthius' space. But because the creature is so big, it engulfed both of you originally. So yeah, you are still stuck in its space, unfortunately. Xanthus, I think it's going to...

Yeah, so you turn, you're about to leap back, and then you realise there's no room, and this thing just engulfs you. Oh, God. Okay, so you take damage now. Does it form a bubble? It probably does. It makes a bubble and just stops before it breaks.

And then you take 10 acid damage now, Rowan. Oh, man. Okay. You are engulfed, you can't breathe, you are restrained, and you take damage at the start of the cube's turn. The cube's turn, okay. All right, all right.

You can try to escape by making an action, by using an action. No, that just, oh no. But you have to, oh no, on a success, you could escape and enter a space of its choice so you could go out the other side of the cube. It's an action

to do that on your turn. All right. All right. And I still have to do a check for that as well. It's a strength check. Okay. So, all right.

But that is the cube set. The other cube is going to make a pseudopod attack against Gruff as a natural one. Cool. That hits. Cube sent the other cube, it's gonna make a pseudopod attack against Gruff as a natural one. Cool.

That hits. Daisy. Hello. I'm gonna do the same thing. Yeah, yeah, the one that you're facing on the south side is looking pretty rough. Gruff. 13 to hit.

13 hits, yeah, sneak attack. Yes. Get all the benefits. Poor Rowan is now, it's now a race against the clock, or like, can Rowan escape in time? 15 damage. 15 points of damage, damn. It's close. Then I rolled a 9 plus 6, so it'll hit. Still hits.

So 6 points of damage on the other one. Is enough. Yeah, it's just literally to the hit point. So you watch as Daisy throws one of these blades of light, catching the creature in its core, shattering it, and whatever semi-viscous kind of goopy slime is left just breaks apart and just fills the area with its kind of sticky residue.

As the slime is left. Coating your boots. I will push past Gruff. You can push past Gruff now, yes. To create more space. Watch my tail. I'll move forward as much as I can to create as much space as possible.

You give about 20 feet of space, basically. Yeah, I'll do that. So then Gruff can move. All right, so then it is Gruff's turn. If I use Ice Knife, do I have to roll at disadvantageos? No, I would say you wouldn't. No, because it's Magic Spell.

In which case, I'm going to cast Ice Knife at North Slime. Okay. Enemy Slime. All righty. 19 plus 6 that will hit the slime can I then have Xanthias Rowan and the slime make dexterity saving throws well the slime fails way too much fun. Nine. You said Dexterity, sorry. Dexterity, yeah.

Also, still tell me your piercing damage as well, Kim. Is he disadvantaged because he's restrained? He's restrained, yeah, so I don't believe he can at all. Because he is inside the slime. Yeah. And the ice life explodes and shatters it. You know you have disadvantage. Nine points of piercing on the...

Nine? On the slim. Yep. of piercing on the slim. And then... You fail. Five. Two. It's cold damage. Because also remember, it's like you're being frozen,

you know, blasted by ice as you're inside the thing. Six points of ice? Six points of ice damage to the slime. Did you fail? I got an 18. 18, so you succeeded. So you'll take half so three i'm gonna use stubborn endurance to mitigate that damage okay d12 sorry i got too

excited no that's great though like the gruff would panic he'd be like oh i need to free my friends oh no i rolled a six so i got six points back. So you take no damage, basically? I take no damage from that. Nice! So I imagine that Gruff turns around, thinking he's being heroic, throws the ice dive, and then as it's out of his evil... As it hits and it shatters, you're like, Oh bloody hell, no! Throw it!

Just watch as he gets all frosty from the inside. Oh, no. Gruff, would you like to move on your turn? You've got 20 feet of movement behind you now to catch up with Daisy. Yeah, okay. All righty. Ophelia. Yeah, Ophelia will start backing up as well.

Okay. A bit of space. Do you want to help out before you move, or...? I was thinking, if I cast a spell and it hits the slime, it won't hit... Will it hit Rowan? It depends if it has, like, an AoE effect, basically. Right, okay.

So can I do... Because Rowan is currently inside the slime. Okay. Can I cast Chill Touch as a cantrip? I'd say you can... Well, the only problem with that is you've got Xanthius between you and the thing. You need... But no, Chill Touch is ranged, actually.

Yeah, that's true. So yeah, you can just target the cube with that, I would say. Yeah, okay. I'll do that. Okay, do I need to do a thing? It is... I think it's just a spell attack. Ranged spell attack. So yeah, you can just target the cube with that, I would say. Okay, I'll do that. Okay, do I need to do a thing? It is, I think it's just a spell attack, ranged spell attack. Okay, so you make this. Nat 20, baby!

Whoa! Yay! So it's normally what, D8? D8, yeah. So eight plus another D8. Nice. Pfft. Ten, fourteen total.

Fourteen points in total, nice. Nice. And then it stays on the slime until my next turn. Yeah, and it prevents it healing. But does this look like a bony kind of like bone hand, like reaches out, grabs onto this thing, and you watch as like black energy begins draining life force out of it. So it's latched onto the slime.

The slime is, you can feel it vibrating over you Rowan, as it is. It's going to almost fall apart. You feel like this thing is on the verge of breaking apart basically. Right, so do you want to back off as well to give some room as well? Yeah, then I'll back off. Alright, in that case we go to Rowan. It's your turn. So remember, you take damage on the cube's turn. Yeah, I'll do this turn, if you can. Can I rip it apart from the inside?

You can make an attack. You have disadvantage on attacks because you're restrained, but you can make an attack roll. Remember, it's AC is only six, so even with disadvantage, you've got a really good chance of hitting this thing. Yeah. 18. 16.

16's still a hit. You've got your longsword in two hands. You're just... Slow motion. Stirring. Vibrate. Two points. No! Two points of damage.

Are you serious? I got one on a d10. No! Okay. You managed to make some room Inside the thing You just like But it's not enough You don't get enough leverage

To really take this thing But it does This thing looks so fragile Like a pane of glass It's cracked and broken It's so close to shattering Can you shatter it Before he dies the next round?

You got bonus actions I'll heal in the world myself You can't speak, Rowan. You are suffocating. Well, yeah, it's V. Yeah, verbal. So you can't, because you can't speak.

You are suffocating. Okay. What's your con modifier, by the way? My con mod is... I think it's quite high, right? Staring at him. Plus two. So you actually only have

two more rounds of oxygen. Okay. In two more rounds, you will go to zero and suffocate, basically. You're like... So we go to Xanthius. For some reason, I thought it was minutes. If you hold your breath, you can hold your breath equal to a number of minutes

equal to your con mod plus one. But if something steals your breath, like you run out of breath, it goes to rounds, basically. Right. You need to repair, yeah. Yeah, I think so. That's how I'm going to rule it in this case, because this thing took you by surprise.

You didn't have a chance to go... and take a big lungful of edge, you know what I mean? Telling me to calm down and get engulfed by a slime. Firebolt. That's 15. Hits. I'm right next to it, though, so disadvantage. It would be technically disadvantage, yeah. I've got a plus five, two, seven. engulfed by a slime firebolt. That's 15. Hits. I'm right next to it though, so disadvantage.

It would be technically disadvantage, yeah. I've got a plus five, two, seven. Just barely hit. You were so cocky about that as well. I don't think I can miss though, because like. Yeah, it's a natural one still. This, d10. Six.

Six. Dammit. You hit this thing with fire, point blank, and you watch as it melts away from Rowan. The fire, you watch as this blast of fire, luckily the slime absorbs most of it. I'm going to say that Rowan's going to take the damage of the thing that's left after you kill this thing. How much damage did you do?

Six. Six, yes. So how much health did it have? It had one hit point left. No! So he watches one hit point to where the fire gets taken. The slime breaks apart

and then the rest of the flame just hits Rowan in the face. Rowan, no! What for, guys? I'll spend a fate point to make that happen. I feel like we did the most damage to our friends.

Oh! Oh! I was frozen and then burned. I feel like we did the most damage to our friends. Oh, whoa. I was frozen and then burned. And suffocating. And acid, you were being melted as well. I was being melted by acid. Extreme cold is how they make flubber.

That's what these are. Yeah, you watch as this last slime collapses. There is residue of these slimes left, by the way. There is this kind of thick gloop that now fills the basin of the bottom of the sewer where you guys currently are. There's nothing inside them. They dissolved any materials left over. No, in fact, because they don't dissolve metal,

I don't believe. So I'm gonna roll. See if there's like, how much coinage is there? Ooh! It's not that exciting. I'm going to roll. See if there's like, how much coinage is there? Ooh. Ooh. It's not that exciting. There is 12 silver pieces and 8 gold pieces.

Ooh. And that was only from one. That is just one of them. That was only from one. And then in the other one, it's two silver pieces and ten gold pieces. Which one's north and which one's south? The second one would have been south, so the first one would have been north. Do you want to take the...

What was it? I'll scoop it. You know in Crystal Maze... I don't remember what I just said. Ten golds and two silver for me. That's for the south one. Eight silver and two golds? Twelve.

Oh, yeah, it would have been twelve silver and eight gold in the first one. That's right. Thank you. You know in Crystal Maze when they have to pick up the silver slips and gold slips? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do people do that in Althea where they just jump into slimes and they have to grab all the gold they can? Before they dissolve.

What a way to make a living. You need a little vent, like the slot to post it through. Yeah. But no. So, yeah, you find find a scattering of coins, because that's just coins that would have fallen into these old tunnels and been scooped up by these slimes. Nothing really else.

Maybe some odd trinkets, like a part of a metal key, like a broken key. Maybe an insignia badge of something, like a guild badge, like a stonemason's badge or a blacksmiths guild badge that's fallen down here Like any metal objects basically the only things that survive But yeah, the swine residue itself is also here Empty coffee cup lying around You could have had a coffee cup. Yeah, it's not just a point. It's not a Starbucks cup. It does not have a lid

It's not a Starbucks cup, it does not have a lid. It's like a tankard right? It's going to dissolve the cup though, surely. Well this is residue, so it's not as acidic. I'm going to say that it does not melt the coffee cup. But you don't have a lid for it. Don't make a mistake and drink that instead of thinking you have a coffee. You can say that you have one sample of slime. Yes!

Slime sample. Why? Maybe Blackwing or someone can look at it and find out where they've come from or like if anyone's sent them to be a reagent you can make an arcana check for me you remember the scene in the matrix when neo is ejected from the matrix yeah 18. um aphelia you would probably know this having listened in on Magic Lessons with Countess Orser and things like that.

Slime Rit, like, a lot of magical creatures, their body parts are valuable. They are used as monster spell components or used in alchemy. You suspect that a sample of this slime, and you've gathered up one, you probably would ruin... There's not enough slime.

By the time you finish scooping it up, that slime's disappeared. It's probably worth 25, 50 gold to the right person. They could grow it. Scoop it up. Literally gold on the ground. I mean, you have to find the right buyer for it,

but yeah, it's worth between 25 and 50 gold. Slime sample. Precious resource. Or it could be used in alchemy. Like, if you found a talented alchemist, they might be able to turn it into a cool potion. Yeah. And there is an alchemist in town. Find a way of keeping it safe.

Yeah, write that down, though. Make sure you have it. Nice. Slime sample. Slime sample. I can find that in my inventory. Yeah, please do. If it's not in your inventory, you don't have it.

Slime sample. And with that, Gruff can continue on and lead you deeper down into these old sewer tunnels towards the catacombs. But that is where we are going to wrap things up

for today's episode. Okey-doke. A real classic D&D bit. Trapped in the lake. Two slimes. In the sewer. That was technically a corridor. And we didn't die to a corridor.

We did it. You did it. We did it. Well, the real challenge will be when there's a door, though. Yeah, that's true. There better not be a door. A door in a corridor. Oh, my God.

Can you imagine if I put a door in there? We'd die. All right. Okay. This guy's trying to kill us. Okay, Gary Gygax. Put us back in the tomb of horrors that's a real nerd joke

right with that thank you so much everybody that is going to be it for today's episode we're happy to be back I think that was a good sort of slow start

to get us back into it after a little bit of a break and yeah that's it thank you so much for joining us and we're going to head off take care bye bye

see ya have a good week bye yeah and we're gonna head off take care bye bye see ya have a good week bye now