High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #25 | Ashes to Ashes (Part 1)

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

A green shroud encases Ashen Rest as the Lamplighter's plot comes to fruition! HIGH ROLLERS LIVE in London on the 17th September 2024! Tickets live now: https://www.aegpresents.co.uk/event/high-rollers/ Boost your Charisma with some HR merch! https://highrollersdnd.teemill.com/ 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. That's crypto on Kraken. Powerful crypto tools backed by 24-7 support and multi-layered security. Go to kraken.com and see what crypto can be. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. See kraken.com slash legal slash ca dash pru dash disclaimer for info on Kraken's undertaking to register in Canada. Hello and welcome back to Althea, the Dragon Empire. Our heroes explored the tunnels beneath Ash and Rest, discovering that the catacombs beneath Brightshadow Cathedral and the Old Sewers had been joined at some point in time. Unable to find signs of Morris Goldsite or the lamplighters in the catacombs, the party frantically scoured the Old Sewers and set off a devious trap involving explosive demonic

fuel before running into a trio of mercenaries that had been positioned in an old water cistern. As the battle turned brutal for both sides, the mercenaries decided to parley, agreeing to end the conflict and leave without further bloodshed. The heroes paid them to reveal some additional information before they left, however, and the mercenaries, a band called the Iron Crows, revealed that they were paid by Tobias Leto of the Lamplighters Guild to protect Morris Goldsite and aid them with some plan to effect the large Everlights built into the town's watchtowers. Morris was alerted to the party's search of the tunnels and fled with a couple of

other mercenary guards to the final tower he had to work on. Injured and having already sent magical messages to Ser Gryold, Knight of Northvale, the party decided to head back to the catacombs and the cathedral, hoping to meet with the knight and gain aid. They encountered Ser Glory, a holy knight of Pyrrhus who mistook Ophelia for an undead creature, but quickly clarified the situation. Escorted, they headed to the town and met with Ser Gryold, but before any action could be taken the everlights of the lamplighters guild switched on as night fell with that a sickly yellow green light descended and engulfed the town in a dome of magic that is where we pick up today you are all stood just

outside of bright shadow cathedral having uh literally planning to make your way to the duke to assemble the the town's guard uh to uh go and investigate these watch towns to find morris and maybe stop them when you see this happen as you stand outside on the elevated part of the town called dusk rise District, you can see Ashen Rest spread out before you. The sickly green-yellow dome having encompassed it entirely, and now you see trails of light descending down from the dome like smoke from a campfire, but in reverse. Those trails lead into the dozens and dozens and dozens of Everlight spread throughout Ashen's Rest. You see that the Pharos, the headquarters of the Lamplighters Guild, near the center of town,

a shape is beginning to try and form. Some great, massive collection of smoke and light, in which you see flashes of some large demonic face, even at this distance, this mass of smoke and light so large. Can I also ask everyone to make a perception check for me, please? Yes.

Do we wanna roll for fate first? Yes, actually, good point. Thank you very much, Kim. Good reminder, let's do fate rolls. Okey-doke. Can I get fate dice for that? No, good point. Thank you very much, Kim. Good reminder, let's do fate roll. Okey-doke. Can I get a fate dice for that? No, you can roll. I roll a six.

A six, that is a dice for you. No, you roll a bloody six. That's a dice for you. A four. That's a dice for you. Wait, I just commented, but I did get a four. Well, then that's... I got a three.

That's a dice for me. And then finally, my roll. Chris Trotkin observed this. Two. It's a two, it's a dice for me. It finally my role chris truck can observe this two two it's nice for me it's a two to three all those sides were two nice uh so it's a two to three so fate slightly leans in your favor yeah um but yeah perception check please and 23 23 15 15. 15. 15.

5. 16. 16. Everybody but Xanthius. Oh, right. You would all notice, looking at this scene of sort of horror in front of you, Ophelia and Rowan, you notice that in the streets, because you are elevated up on Duskrise,

that the only thing that is on an equal level is really some of the tall towers, like the Pharos and the Coil of the Empress, but also the Ducal Palace. They're kind of on the same level as Duskrise, but the rest of the town is lower. And in amongst the little alleyways and the streets, you can see some of these Everlights where the smoke is trailing down, almost like tendrils reaching down from the dome. You are seeing a familiar sight that some of you have seen before where pieces of that smoke

are almost coming out of those lights and forming into shapes and creatures are beginning to emerge across all of Ashen's Rest. They are using these lights as portals to send creatures to this realm. Gruffydd, 23 you got, right? Great stuff.

You see all of that as well, but your eye catches to one of the watchtowers on the Great Wall. And in fact, you remember it because it's the one that changed colour last. It was the last one to turn to this sickly yellow-green green light and it's from where the you know this mass of power these domes first emerged but this one which is on the far side of

the town i'll indicate it on the map shortly every now and then it flickers like it's unstable okay uh and for your reference as well, you guys are up here at Duskrise. Super north. Sorry, podcast listeners, I don't have a, you know, yeah, it's basically sort of north-east. The tower that is flickering is on the far

western wall. It is this one, near the tawny field. So between us and that, there's one, two, three, four, five lights we'd have to get through if we went along the wall if you went along the wall yes you could also come down through the town passing things like black wings tower the central plaza um the forge which is the barracks where most of the guards are um and in fact yeah and then making your way through there we would we would also be passing Pharos, right?

Pharos is number five. Yeah. So it is here on the map. So if you, depends on how close, you could go through the central plaza and sort of avoid it, or you could come through the alleyways and go through there. I'm actually going to pass this to Ryan to keep near you in case you want to reference like locations and directions and things like that.

There's no way we can go past the Pharos. That's got to be the worst part of the maps, guys. Oh, no. But that is... But Gruff is the only one to notice that watchtower. And like I said, it is... Sure, yeah. You watch it for a moment, Gruff,

and it's maybe like once every 20 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, it flickers as if the smoke is struggling, like something's blocking some of the smoke pouring out of it. Okay. And then it refills back up. And again, it was the last one to change as well. Okay.

Ron's gripping his head. What do we do? I have... I don't know what we do. Okay. No, I've got nothing. I've got nothing either. Demons.

They're forming. I can see the smoke. They're everywhere. They. The town reeks. One thing we must... Hello, my name is Graf. Introduce yourself. My name is Graf. I'm from a little village called Tremoro. One thing we must do is have heart.

We know. We know these demons, they are summoned by fear. They feed on fear. There's so many... To send energy back and bring more. No, Rowan, you must be brave. Brave, courageous. Think of what makes you happy. You guys.

There you go. You're here. When, I think, Gruff, you kind of do in this very heroic speech, that's the kind of point where you do see poor Daisy is struggling immensely, just overcome with fear. She has like tucked herself, either stood behind Gruff or Rowan, like she is terrified, she's trembling with fear. And you just hear like, there's just too many, and you can see her starting to really freak out. Behind them, you see that the others, there was Sir Gryold with a couple of soldiers, he'd brought them up with him, as well as Ser Glory,

the half-elf woman who is a Holy Knight of Pyrrhus and some acolytes. They are just taking in the scene, kind of stunned a little bit by what's happening, but it doesn't take long for a kind of veteran knight like Ser Gryold to kind of take a bit more of a command. He kind of snaps out of it. He's like, we need to get word to the... They've definitely noticed this. You said that these...

The creatures coming out of them, they're demons. Yes. Well, no, they might not be. We know that they're linked to the twin pits, and we were trying to figure out which pit it was. But I think we might have it the fair light it's linked to diablos diablos is the pit of suffering can anyone remember if that means it was demons or devils blackwing was talking to us about it demons i believe it was

demons anybody can make an arcana check if you want to be sure. 16. You can also just assume that what you know is true, but if you want to gain knowledge... 16. 19. 13. Yeah, anybody who got over 15, yeah, Rowan is correct. Diablos is the Pit of Suffering and is where demons come from, one of the two twin pits of the Hevian throne.

So we know what... I even counted them. We know about demons. Someone told me something about demons. Sir Glory will. How to send them back? They were, one of them lies and make deals, one is malicious, something about that.

One of them makes deals. You would hear Sir Glory, the half-elf woman, the knight, will say, devils make deals, though never favorably. Demons are creatures of chaos, destruction, suffering. They do still make... Any planar creature can make a deal with mortals. Devils are simply more bound by contracts and laws. They honor agreements.

Demons are more fickle, chaotic, destructive. But they still all make deals with people. This is one of the things the Church of the Scion seeks to try and avoid. We try and teach people not to buy into these powers. The cathedral will be safe. It is consecrated ground. They cannot come here. No everlights? There are everlights nearby. You can actually see on Duskrise. And in fact, there are Everlights nearby. You can actually see on Duskrise across the way, there's like a courtyard,

but then there's shops and houses, and over there you can see Everlights. And even within your range, you can see a couple of these Everlights, little creatures. Some of them humanoid in shape, some of them smaller with wings. Some of them almost appear to be made of them smaller with like wings some of them almost

appear to be made of living light and smoke itself they're beginning to emerge and they're just attacking buildings they're like smashing windows they're getting inside houses you can hear people like crying out and things already um as they do that one of them kind of peels away and sees this group of you outside the cathedral. And this, like, little, almost like a, almost has, like, a little creature, like a furry body, almost like an animal, like some sort of beaver or gopher. But it has these wings and then these giant teeth and clawed hands. And it...

Oh, that was cute. It flies towards the cathedral and then just seems to impact against an invisible barrier and bounces off and it like... And then it gets bored and flies off to somewhere else. Doesn't injure it? No, it doesn't injure it. So, Glory, how many people can we fit in your cathedral?

The cathedral can fit many people if we can get them here. We need to get the word out and bring people here that this place is safe. I do not know how... I mean, it has never been tested. Perhaps if there was a significantly strong enough creature, it may be able to overcome the consecration, but it is protected against undead,

against fae, against fiends, any of the planar creatures. Okay. I assume Sir Griot. Aye, boy. We can at least help you rally the civilians to this cathedral.

We need to decide on a plan of action. We can bring people here, aye? And you can see he's already like, you three, there's people in those buildings. Those creatures are attacking them. Go get them and bring them here now. And he sends his guards off. And they're like, aye,, there's people in those buildings. Those creatures are attacking them. Go get them and bring them here now. And he sends his guards off. And they're like, I disagree. And they basically charge off in the direction of,

you saw those creatures. He immediately sends them out to try and rescue those people here. He's like, that's fine. We can send word. The Lord Marshal will rally the town's guard, the Duke's guard already. I'm sure that he's already preparing what forces we have. There's maybe 40 or so guards here in Ashen's Rest with a few elites.

We can muster them, but these things are everywhere. Maybe there's a way to disrupt this dome. That's the thing, you seem to know more about all of this. We need to find a way to stop whatever is happening, or get this dome. Does it keep people in? Does it keep things out? How does it work?

One thing we know is that the lamplighters have been fixing these magical disks in the Everlights, and that's part of this summoning, opening this gateway. So we need to smash the Everlights, including those big ones on the wall. They were the last ones they put up. That's where Morris was going. They needed to do this dome. Can I put a little bit of time into...

I got a schematic for the kind of discs they were putting into the larger lanterns. Could I put some time into figuring out... Well, remember, it was only partially recovered because it was burnt. It was partially burnt. You can try. It's going to be difficult, though. I was wondering if I can either find a way of, like, the effect of disrupting it, I suppose, over, Yeah.

Or just smashing it, what would happen if you smashed it? Lung force trauma. Yeah, absolutely. It would be a arcana check. It is gonna be a disadvantage because the schematics are damaged. Yes, that makes sense. Basically, Lung force trauma or finesse.

I'm gonna remind you, you do have three points of fate as well. If you want. Oh, we have three. Oh, sorry, you flipped them around. It confused me. I'm not really aware of that. I will use... My fate.

You're sick. Because I think the proper way of actually dismantling these bigger lanterns is important. So, yeah, disadvantage of card. Did you spend one? Sorry. Yeah, he has. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow, a card. Did you spend one, sorry? Yeah, he has. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow, that's rough.

I got a seven. Total. Seven total. Oh boy. I rolled. The solo on every dice. The schematics are too badly damaged. I mean, even with a seven, there's things that you'll know,

but how much of this information is reliable or how much, yeah, it's all kind of, but. Okay. One thing I will say that you would suspect is the, looking at these watchtowers now, it is not going to be just a case of just destroying them or things like that, especially the ones that are fully powered or, like, fully activated. They're probably not going to be so simple.

Now that you look at them and, like, you them and you see the same thing Gruff does, one of them seems unstable. And that one you think if any of them have a chance of maybe being disrupted, that one's probably the most likely. But how exactly you go about it, you're not even sure. You don't know what the dome does. The other thing you can tell is things are building to something.

That storm of smoke and light around the Pharos with this face is becoming more solid and changing shape and growing. You don't know how much time or anything else. But Sir Gryold will just continue. He will basically say, I imagine that the Lord Marshal and his forces, they'll be focusing on trying to protect the civilians

from these things. And he points down into the city where you can see packs of demons are now like chasing civilians and things like that and kind of attacking en masse. Fires are starting to break out everywhere. The Lord Marshal will focus themselves on protecting them. He'll gather them in places that can be defended.

But that will only go so far. There's only so many troops. We can't dedicate everybody. If we abandon the people to go and destroy the Watchtowers, we'll lose people, a lot of people. I think it's, honestly, in my tactical assumption, right now let's assume that us here and Sir Glory and the people of the cathedral, we're probably the only ones who have any capacity to take down these watchtowers.

Let's assume that the Lord, now hopefully Duke Ignatius, he'll take care of this. Whatever is going on, and he points to the pharaohs, whatever is happening there, the duke and his children will deal with that. But if there's a chance that these watchtowers need some other magical knowledge or something like that, we may need to go and do something about it. Okay. I think our greatest chances is with that last light

that came on, the one that's flickering. There's something wrong with it. Well, then we've got a couple of, we either need to go through the city, through the town to get there, or we go along the walls, but I'm not so sure about that last one. Those things, and you can see that on the watchtowers,

like, these are the biggest, there are other shapes, like, there are shapes coming out of those as well. Like, there are demons coming out of the big watchtower lights as well. Group huddle. Ron puts out his arms. Okay.

With Gryold? No. Okay. Gryold will turn his arms. Okay. With Gryhold? No. Okay. Gryhold will turn his attention. You'll see that Sir Gryhold and Sir Glory start conversing about what they're going to do, basically. What are you thinking? Hello. Hi.

How's everyone doing? Do I smell? Terribly, terribly, but it's fine. I smell terribly. No, no, no, you're great. I'm not terribly, but you smell fine. Trying to see the bright side, trying to stay positive, like you said. I had a thought.

Okay. Okay. We're exhausted. We need to rest. Yes. I can't rest. Not with the time that we have. But time's funny in Blackwing's Tower.

I wonder if it can be funny in our favour. It's slower or quicker, whatever it is. I don't know what it was, but it felt weird. When you went in and came out, it was a blip. I was in there for a long time and came out after a short time. Maybe we could get there, but that's the other side of the city. It's kind of, we come down here. It is very close to us, actually, you're right.

And we go to Blackwing on the way to the flickering watchtower on the west. I mean, we also have the felite that Blackwing was looking for. Maybe we can ask for some assistance there. Maybe Blackwing can help us. It might be in their best interest, considering their tower is here and covered in a green dome, that they want to help. We might be able to spend some time there to rest, but we need to stay to recover all of our energy.

We need to be there for a long time, around eight hours. Either way, we could use them as an ally. It doesn't hurt. It's on the way. Yes. And worst case, we just keep going towards the watchtower and try and bring it down. It may have some kind of healing. What do you all think? There might be able to be,

like some of the priest here might be able to heal us or something as well. We could ask them before we go. Okay. It's more my magical ability is dwindling. What about this shield thing that stopped that creature coming in? Is there any way that can be expanded? It can be

moved? It can be... It's holy ground. It's the power of prayer, the power of saints and scions. I don't think it can be moved. Okay, well, at least there's one place... Unless you have a prayer in your heart. Are you converting? No. You're actually going to say your prayers now? Let's not talk about my heart.

You see, this is what... Oh, my great father. This is the power of faith, my boy. Well... Have you convinced your sins? You have, actually, so... At one point. Okay.

So we could try... If we find anyone, we might be able to carve some kind of path. I mean, it seems like any demons that get defeated just come pouring out of the same lantern. But breaking the lanterns will stop them from coming out from that place. Yes, break them as we go. So we can find a way to at least carve a path. Anyone we see, civilians we can find along the way, we send them back here.

That's safety for them. But we must push forward. Yes. But Blackwing might be able to offer some kind of assistance. Maybe not. But once we're at Blackwing's tower, we need to make our way to that tower in the distance. And that means going through the city.

We can't go along the walls. Can we? Not if you want to fight a whole bunch of demons. They might be the biggest entrances of them all for the demons. I mean, yeah, just based on the size of the lights, by the way. So imagine like an everlight on the street lamp is kind of like a street lantern size. Well, mind you.

Yeah, they're kind of similar to these kind of size, maybe a little bit bigger. The ones on the tower are like Lord of the Rings, the beacons are like massive. They're not quite similar, but they're big watchtower lights. They are significantly larger, and whether that means bigger demons can come through or more demons, it doesn't take an Arcana check to maybe come to that conclusion

that they are going to be more dangerous. We also know the main roads have the most lights. There were a few paths, even some in this direction, where there were broken lights or areas that had no lights at all. We can try to navigate using those pockets of the city. They would be the safest. So alleyways, back routes, the sewers? With Gruff and Rowan, it's quite slow

because they have to move at half speed. Like you, Ophelia and Daisy could move through them at normal speed, but Gruff and Rowan have to's quite slow because they have to move at half speed. Like you, Ophelia and Daisy could move through them at normal speed, but Gruff and Rowan have to move at half speed the whole time. So it's significantly slower. You actually took ages to get to the cathedral when you were going through them. Yeah, that's fair. You could use them because there's no lights down there, or maybe you could direct other people to use them, but it is slow.

It could be a place for people to hide as well, potentially. But you also know there were slimes down there as well. And traps as well. You don't know if there are any traps there. Also, we would just get lost down there again. Okay. But we know there's a route we can take. We can't go through the main roads.

We can go nowhere near the pharaohs. Throughout all of this, think daisy has been very quiet and she's trembling she's like i can't go in there i can't i can't go back into the town i i want to stay here where it's safe and she's like but there's something different like almost like you've seen daisy go quiet and clearly like she's like holding her head and she's almost kind of talking to herself like no i can't like talking to somebody that isn't there like she's almost kind of talking to herself like, no, I can't, like, talking to somebody that isn't there. Like, she's kind of, like, really freaking out. Daisy, if this is too much, and I understand, I'm scared too, this place is safe.

Can I stay here? I want to stay here. It's safe here. Or you can come with us to the Blackwing, but we don't know if they're going to bring you in or not. I'm trying to remember if... Because Daisy didn't quite trust Blackwing. I think... Because Blackwing saw... Yeah, because she knew something about what was going on.

I think I'm going to say, because also Kate is not here, I don't want to have people controlling Kate's care. I think Daisy's like, I'll stay here and I can't find you if I want to, but I feel safe here and right now I just need to not, I can't go down there. It's okay. You've seen there's a protection stopping these things from getting in. When people arrive, when civilians arrive, the best you can do is try to keep them calm.

I'll try and help them. I just can't. I can't. It's okay. You'll be safe. All right. We need a team name. Now?

We can do this. Just trying to think of ways to bolster our courage and our motivation. Demon Slayers! Demon Deniers. A temporary name, Demon Slayers. Yes! I mean, I think that works. Pretty cool.

Pretty cool. We'll think about this later, because I'm not sold on it right now, but for now, it seems apt. Demon Slayers. The Grey Father will be very happy. Light. Kappas. You can't stay Demon Slayers,

because I can't make the campaign all about demons. It can't all be demon slaying, but temporary. We'll turn down every job that doesn't involve demons. All right. When you guys kind of finish your little huddle, you can see that Sigrild and Sigori have been chatting, and the soldiers that he had sent out, a couple of them bearing some scratches and burns,

come back with a number of well-dressed-looking civilians. You can also see that chasing off in the distance, kind of looming around around not being attacked by the demons you see some townsfolk and you remember a similar thing smoke blaring out of their eyes and mouths almost lurching around zombie like um when the soldiers come back in they're like so grilled we grabbed as many people as we could but some of them are i don't know this like they're possessed or something like they're possessed or something. Like they got scared or they got angry and then something came over them

and then we had to leave them. But we gathered as many people as we could. You can see a number of huddled citizens are being sort of ushered into the cathedral by the acolytes and things like that. Like you need to be, if you're going out there, be careful. It might be more people like that taking over. We saw this before. If people become overcome with fear or emotion,

that's what the demons feed on. And it's somehow linked to the lights and it creates a path back to the pits to bring something back. So you need to... Destroy the lights. You need to bolster everyone. You need to keep them not happy, but brave,

but positive emotion. No offence, mate, but that's pretty hard to do when there's demons attacking everywhere. Do you want more demons, though? Listen, I... Because this is how you get more demons. I get it, but you try convincing a bunch of civilians to stay calm when they're being attacked by these things.

Destroy the lights. That will help. All right, OK, we'll try. Where's Teresa? And I asked for Sir Glory. Uh, Sir Glory... Do you know? Uh, who? Who's that? She was a halfling that we brought in to, uh, Arden.

The... The night, uh... I've sent to wake up, uh, the Speaker of Secrets. He... You know, he... Normally, he's awake during all the evening, but he should be joining us shortly, but, uh, I don't know who that is. I'm sorry.

She was possessed by one of these demons. It fought us. We killed it. But something happened to her. She... She's not right anymore. I'm worried because the Speaker of Secrets, he said that he's worried her soul

was still touched by a demon. Sends a psion to preserve her. I hope that that is not true. Whatever this is, I wish I could help you more. Just saying, we need to find out if she's here and make sure she's open. There's certainly no halfling of that name here. I know all of the acolytes here.

She was not in the cathedral. Okay, we need to make sure that wherever she is, she's being watched, because that might be a doorway that's still open. I think she'd been arrested, or from what I could remember, she was taken. That was the High Authority? Yes.

Then she would be at the forge, if that is the case, the barracks, where the guards and the High Authority are stationed. My acolytes and I, we are going to remain here and help whoever we can. I have some limited healing, and the Speaker of Secrets should have some magical if you need some assistance now. I think it best, if you go with Sir Gryold, we will, the Acolytes and I, will try and defend this area as best as we can.

We'll clear out the stairway, give a clear path for anyone that you can send to us. But send them here, and we will protect them. I wish I could join you. I wish I could help you, but I feel that it is far better for me to stay here and protect those that remain. The remaining, oh, most of the Acolytes who are war-trained went with the Sun Sword earlier today.

Oh, no. Most of them are priests. We have some magical ability, but I'm the only real fighter here. Scions and saints, forgive me for saying this. You can't trust Dilkara Sun Sword. She's a part of this. That's not possible. The Sun Sword would not align herself with this.

I'm sorry. I do not believe you.'s not possible. The Sun Sword would not align herself with this. I'm sorry. I do not believe you. I've trained under the Sun Sword. She's been a devotee of Pyrrhus all of her life. She hates the Planar Realms. Just, I'm not saying move against her, but if you see her, if she comes here, just be careful.

The truth will be out by the end of this day. I promise you. Then I will wait to see it. But you are asking me to betray decades of trust just on the word of someone I don't know. I'm sorry. We have our task at hand. We need to get going.

Find anyone you find. Send them here. This, whatever it is, the consecration seems to be protecting people from this influence, this possession. We don't have any other lights nearby, so if they are here, they should be safe. Send them here. Can you heal me? Yeah, they gather up some of the acolytes,

and they all have rudimentary healing spells, so I'm going to say they have enough to... They would want to save some of their magical power for the battle to come. I'll tell you what, there's going to be four acolytes. They can each cast Cure Wounds. So I will do a Cure Wounds on whoever needs it. I'm at half health.

I'm at 20 out of 34. I'm 13 out of 35. All right, well, they'll start with Gruff. So that is going to be, one of them is going to cast it. That will be nine points of healing to Gruff. Do you want them to keep healing you? I wouldn't mind it because I am kind of on the front line. You do get a lot of temp HP.

I was gaming it. Yeah, I think you take another one, and then me and Rowan get 20. That's a deal, right? It's going to be another eight to Gruff. Thank you. And then one for Rowan. It's only going to be six to Rowan.

Okay. I've got two more. Two more. Oh, there's five, yeah. Well, I'll take one. Santhias, that's going to be nine. Nine. I'm quite well on these kill wounds.

I know. So there's one acolyte left who has kill wounds. I'm in a good place. I think as good a place as Ophelia now. Yeah. Because I think as good a place as Ophelia now. Yeah. Because I think Sir Glory already healed someone. No. What, last episode? Yeah.

Am I confusing it? Oh, in that, yeah, okay. In that case, Sir Glory would have... She tried to banish Ophelia. That's right. She tried to turn you. That's right. So Sir Glory has ten hit points of lay on hands

that she can provide as well. Nice, cool. I mean, I've got seven left to heal. How much has Gruff got left? Five to heal, four. Then she'll, I guess, like five each. She'll give you five each. Cool.

But yeah, so the Acolytes are like, I'm so sorry, but if more of the, we have magic, but I want to save it in case other civilians are injured or if people are, we have to fight those things. It's okay. I think we have to fight those things. It's okay. I think we have a first stop. Blackwing, breaking any lights along the way. Pray for some kind of assistance there, and if not, we have to cross the city.

With Sir Greyhold. Yeah, Sir Greyhold is just like the elf in the tower. I know that they have some friendship with the duke. You have, you know how to communicate with them, you know how to... We've been granted access to their tower. Good, well, let's see if we can get their help. Hang on, he's Scottish. Let's see if we can get their help.

Disgusting. Yeah, that's it. Disgusting. Let's see if we can get their help. He will, he readies his crossbow. He's going to turn to his drake mount, because he brought obsidian with him, and he's going to say,

Sinti fights no place for you, and he's going to say Sidney fights no place for you and he's going to say you stay here. Sends the mount into the cathedral. Very specifically not Obsidius No, Obsidian. And I'm annoyed at myself for calling his mount Obsidian for that very reason. But maybe he's just a big fan. Maybe he's just a

big fan. I believe that of all the people, Kimberly Richards should have this. As a battle ally, you will have Sir Gryolt. Control of Sir Gryolt. Oh, my God. So he is going to work as a battle ally. The way that this is going to work is on Gruff's initiative,

you will choose if Sir Gryolt goes before or after you. He can do move actions, actions, bonus actions. His main action is his signature attack, or he can use one of his abilities. One of them, I believe, is a bonus action. So he doesn't take like a full turn, like a play? He kind of gets like a full turn, but he has very limited choices in what he can do.

He has like skills, he has saving throws, he has everything else, he has hit points. Is he like a paladin or a hunter? No, he's kind of like a fighter. He has like throws, he has everything else, he has hit points. Is he like a paladin or a hunter? No, he's kind of like a fighter. He has limited ability. He has a crossbow with his signature attack. He can do like a marksman shot where he does more damage, but then his speed becomes zero until the end of his next turn.

So it's like he has to like, you know, lie on the floor or set up and take a shot. And then he can also do nightly inspiration. So he can give you temporary hit points as a bonus action. He was the guy on the roof. No, the guy on the roof was the guy on the roof. Roofman. I'll never reveal. He has a crossbow.

I'll never reveal. The only person, we've only seen two people with a crossbow. But he is. They have to be the same. Was he a dwarf, though, on the roof? You don't know? Can't tell. He was a mysterious figure.

He was. He does have a good AC, and he has good hit points because he is a fighter-y type as well. Yeah. But yeah. He also will make death-saving throws and things like that as normal, so he's not like a monster. He will get to make death-saving throws and things like that.

Okay. I'm going to say that Sir Gryll cannot be affected by fate dice, though. So you can't add fateice to any of his attacks or his saving throws or anything like that. Does that mean it can't be used against him? Uh, no. Okay, fine, sure. But, like, you guys can't spend...

This is your character's resource. It's your resource, right? Whereas, for me, it's... So, ill Fate might befall Sir Gryll. Okay, that makes sense. All right. How dare you say that? I would slap you, sir.

I know. But he is going to join you, so you have control of him. And like I said, Gruff, he will act on your initiative, and you choose if he goes before or after you, basically. Just to simplify initiative and stuff like that. Okay, well, welcome to the temporarily named Demon Slayers group. Warriors of Light, Champions of Darkness. I hate all of those suggestions. Yeah, me too.

Good. I think they're all copywritten. What about Lightbringers? No. How about we just stick to getting out of this? And then you can decide. Getting out of this group. Getting over it.

Getting over it. The escape route. With Xanthia's war gun. The escape's war gun. Sometimes you have to fail to succeed. We beat the escape goats. Escape goats. Sure, we're the escape goats now. Right. Do you want to get something for her?

Yeah? Yeah. So, my question is, for this purpose. Precious of all time. Goats, goats. You have the map of the town. It's multi-layered.

Primary river, bro. You, if you're travelling, so my, I'm assuming that you want to head to Blackwing's Tower, Ravenstar Spire first.

It should be pretty. It is. Like very, very close. Just down, not down, just down the stairs. It's like ten minutes away. It's just there.

Just down the road. We'll just pop to shots. Pop to shots. We're going to go down the steps of Dust Rise. And then basically straight to the there. Just down the road. We'll just pop to shots. Pop to shots. We're going to go down the steps of Dust Rise. And then basically straight to the tower. Straight to the tower. Now, obviously, that is a short distance on the map.

It still represents a few minutes of travel and things like that. Because the town is currently in the state of turmoil that it is in, whenever you travel from a location to another location, there's going to be a couple of steps to this. The first thing we need to do is decide if there are any waypoints along the path. So say you said we want to go from, there's going to be a couple of steps to this. The first thing we need to do is decide if there are any waypoints along the path. So say you said we want to go from

Blackwing's Tower to the Watchtower. Sure. I would want you to show me exactly the path you're taking and if it's, say, like, oh, we go past the Grumpy Hog, that might become a waypoint, right?

So, you know, we split the journey down. I was going to say, do we want to pick up allies like your little kobold friend? That's on the coast. Who's that? Your kobold friend.

No, your kobold friend. I'm sorry. I never met him. I'm sorry. Riverside is where they are, which is really far. Yeah, that's quite far out. But yeah, this is a good point. If you guys want to go to any other places, keep in mind,

and again, I know this is a lot of stress. There's a lot going on. It's quite stressful. Things like if you don't go to the, what is it called? The tavern? Clever. Clever Toad. If you don't go there, there is a chance that bad things might happen.

It is a chance, right? It depends on how long you take. It depends on other things that happen. I'm trying to remember. That sort of area of the city, though, was very lampless, wasn't it? They had started putting more lamps in it, because that's where you went to to start installing them.

So this side of the city is safer than... I'm going to tell you that I would not count areas as being safer or safer. Nowhere is safe. I know, I know. I just mean, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is very much going to be down to... But we also can't stop everywhere.

No, this is exactly it. You have to pick where you want to go. If you, say, want to grab allies, where are you going, who are you going to try and grab? Those allies might be in a situation that needs you to help them before they can join you. Or you might need to rescue them. Or you might get waylaid along the way.

I am wary. Not to video game it a little bit, but this is going to be like a, you know, moving around the map and stuff. I am wary that the sister inquisitors are wiped out post-ritual. Malady was very wiped out, yes. So, like, were they staying in the town? Grumpy Heart, yes.

In the centre. Oh! Put them in the tavern? In the center. Oh! But they would probably be allies that would be most at threat, I would say. Yeah, probably. Benedicta would help. True. But wouldn't leave Malady, probably. Where was Pharos again?

Pharos is number five. So sort of... It's very close by. Right next to the center, but in between the centre and the tower we're going for things like the Stonemasons Guild like the Oracle

at Stonemasons Guild things like the Forge you know the High Authorities Arantechis is there we need to get coffee a latte fun available on merch

keep going now I'm not saying that like if you don't go somewhere, they're all going to die, it's going to be the worst thing possible. There is just going to be a chance that things happen. We can remedy stuff. Yeah.

But we know that the first job is you're going to Blackwing. We're going to Blackwing. So what I need is for you to decide, every time you make one of these journeys between points, between waypoints or between locations, I need you to tell me who's going to be the vanguard. this is the person who is at the front maybe they're leading the way maybe they're scouting ahead with stealth things like that gruffeth everyone's pointing at me i was looking at the map i wasn't looking i was

actually very vanguard to me i guess I was already scattered. So Gruff and technically Sir Gryold will be acting as the Vanguards, right? You and Sir Gryold at the front. That means whoever the Vanguard is is going to be the one that if you encounter something, they're the one who has to make checks to deal with it first, basically, right? Okay.

Then the... And so the Vanguard also gets to decide on the pace that you set in between these places. You can choose to go quickly, cautiously, or move normally, basically. Okay. So quickly is you're going to get there very quickly. It means that you're going to have disadvantage

on things like perception checks, stealth checks, that kind of thing. But it also might mean that you can accomplish it much faster. If you move cautiously, you move significantly slower, but you'll have advantage on things like stealth, perception checks to spot dangers, and things like that. Normal is just no change. It's just you roll with one normal roll,

and you also move at a normal speed. So I think this is gonna be our safest waypoint. So if speed is of the essence, I think fast. we should do fast for this one. Yeah. I presume also with the size of the city, if we just choose fast every single time.

Well, the way it's going to work is if you choose fast, you'll not only get to your destination quicker, but there's less chance of a random event, basically, because you're moving quicker. If you move cautiously, there's more chances of random events taking place because you're going slower, but you also have a greater chance of reacting random event, basically, because you're moving quicker. If you move cautiously, there's more chances of random events taking place because you're going slower, but you also have a greater chance of reacting to them quicker.

Whereas if you move quickly and I roll a random event, you might stumble into it and be completely surprised or ambushed or bumble into something. But I'm just wondering if exhaustion is a thing. Yeah, and that's the other thing. If you keep moving quickly, you will slowly build up exhaustion.

Well, I think it makes sense to... We want to get to Blackwing as fast as we can so we can take a good rest. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, think of this one as like the trial journey

because you're so close. The time dilation rest. Yeah, it's not as relevant. I'll be honest, it's not as relevant for this first journey to Blackwing, but I just want to establish the rules. Yeah, yeah, no, that's fine.

Cool. I'm into it. Go fast, speed bro so disadvantage uh only if you have to make a check i have to roll to see if anything happens first um so we won't see but it's crazy we're clearing this journey in 30 seconds the fastest anyone has ever done i'm already there you yeah with haste you make your way down the steps from Duskrise, from the Duskrise district, and you quickly run along the streets. You do find one of these Everlights that is spewing smoke along the way. What do you guys do about it, like, as you pass it? Like, you said you wanted to destroy them.

Yeah. Okay, so does, like, Ophelia just charge in, like, try and wreck this thing? Yeah, just try and smash his hips. So what you would find is, unlike before, like the lanterns that are actually corrupted, some of the Everlights clearly don't have these discs in because they're not being affected at all. The ones that are almost have like smoke trailing off them

like a candle and it connects to the dome. So imagine like these lines all pulling up into the dome. So you can see the ones easily which are affected. When you go to strike it that smoke almost rebuffs you like it is it is it is making it um you cannot damage it with a mundane weapon as you are trying to strike it with uh with with this attack the smoke is protecting it veracity and mundane uh veracity is a magic actually that's a good point veracity is a magical weapon so but it doesn't apply

like any radiant energy or anything like that. It's just a magical weapon. I mean, I would certainly try to firebolt it from a distance. Yeah. Combined efforts,

you guys can destroy them. It takes time. Okay. So through working together, firebolts, magical weapons, you can destroy them. This one didn't have any creatures around it immediately.

Maybe they've run off somewhere. It is possible to destroy them. There is a chance if you stop to destroy them. This one didn't have any creatures around it immediately. Maybe they've run off somewhere. It is possible to destroy them. There is a chance if you stop to destroy them, they will spawn enemies. And it does take extra time for you to destroy them. So I'm gonna mark off one time, basically, segment. I think we, yeah, we would definitely take the time to finish it off.

Yeah. Yep. I don't suppose in some... I know this is one lantern across maybe hundreds across the city, but, like, does it have any impact on the trail that hits the dome? Not these small ones, no. The dome itself seems unaffected.

Sure. But it does mean that, basically, yeah, this one is, you know, you've basically cleared the safe route back. Yeah. So if you encounter any civilians, you can send them back and you don't have to worry about them maybe being at risk, basically.

But yeah, you make your way to Ravenstar Spire. No encounter, no events happen. You reach there. What you do see is Ravenstar Spire itself. When you arrive there, you can see a pack of these demon-y creatures, similar to the ones before, almost bestial like their bodies. Some of them have like rabbit-like

bodies, some of them like kind of short furry creatures, these hideous kind of demonic wings, big mouth teeth. Some of them almost look to be like living smoke and light in the shape of almost like an impish mephit-like creature. Some of them are the more humanoid ones that you guys fought before,

like the actual kind of devils with the pale, sickly yellow-green, pale skin, armour, weapons, that sort of thing. You see a group of them are almost walking past the tower, ignoring it. You know, they're just almost as if they can't see the tower itself. And as they move close towards it, they are descended upon by a swarm of ravens that just tear into these demons when they get close, causing the others to flee and run off somewhere into the town.

And then the ravens flap back to rest on the nearby buildings and the tower, just watching. Griold almost brings up his crossbow and is pointing them at these birds like, I don't know about that. It's okay. It's Blackwing's defence, I assume. Yes, it absolutely is.

Is it worth shouting at? It doesn't matter. Blackwing, we intend to enter the tower. If that's okay, send us away if not. You see the door. All of you see that illusion of the pure, unbroken wall morphs and shifts, and a door appears. And Sir Gryhold kind of cocks his eye as he sees it as well.

Oh. Okay, we can go in here. Time will be a little bit different, slower, hopefully. We can talk with Blackwing, figure things out. Good? I'm going in. Bye. Yeah, you step in, you have that same sensation of you open the door and step in and that same sensation of being pulled to a different place, being sort of sucked into a place that you weren't.

Everything goes black and then you find yourself in that translucent, blue, ethereal living space. The strange, silvery, white, wooden furniture, soft cushions, gauzy drapes. You can see the little herbarium and flower garden that's been set up on one corner of the round room. And when you enter,

there's this faint, eth ethereal elven music playing. It's so much different to the sort of chaos that is beginning to emerge, the turmoil outside, as you arrive in this utterly calm environment. And you hear a voice from up the sort of spiral staircase. Welcome, one and all. Blackwing, long time no see. Sorry for charging in like this.

No doubt you can see the chaos that's happening outside. Oh, yes, I am well aware. We were hoping to ask for your aid in quelling this threat before it takes over the city. We know that time works... You're laughing, okay. You see the sort of long, slender legs, the long, black cloak

as the figure sort of descends the stairway. Again, that kind of whatever your characters think of as an elf is what initially appears. But as they cross through some of these moonbeams and the shifting lights, their appearance almost seems to shift and change as they descend their way down. You see Sir Gryhold's kind of eyes go wide.

He probably has never actually met this person before. But yeah, Blackwing descends and says, I believe I told you, Xanthius Oregon. I have very little concern of matters beyond my walls. I am making sure that these foul things do not interfere in my sanctum. But I have no intention being involved. This is not my business.

But I consider you a friend and I have promised you all aid and sanctuary, so you are welcome to remain here if you wish. Do you not... Do you not care about the rest of the city at all? No. I have lived more than lifetimes. I have been in worlds. I have faced these creatures before.

I am only here in your realm because I had no choice. I care for very, very little anymore. I respect the honesty, I suppose. We could offer something. Yes. I am happy to trade assistance. You are welcome to rest here

and seek sanctuary if that is what you want. I ask no price for that. I have given you my friendship. But my aid, well, that would require something. If we rest here, do you know how much time will pass outside? I can make it so that... I can make it that I do not have complete control of time here. But I know spells and enchantments.

I can... An hour's rest here will feel like eight. I will enhance your sleep using enchantments and spells. You will feel refreshed, as if awaking from a day's rest. I suppose it will take about, it will take one hour of time beyond these walls. Sure.

I don't know if we have an hour. I mean, we do need all the resources we can get. Ser Gryll will probably say, the Duke's Guard can probably hold out for an hour. I mean, there will be damage, but that is inevitable in something like this. I don't think, if it's going to make a difference to us, to you, being able to fight, I think that it might be worth taking.

Okay. The Duke's Guard, you know, being able to fight, I think that it might be worth taking. Okay. The Duke's Guard, you know, we're not... The Duke's Guard are trained soldiers. They'll do their best to protect it. And there's a few elites and there's mages and things like that amongst their number, but they just can't hold out for long. It's not bad.

It's the best we have. It'll take time for things to get bad. I think we'll have to take it. We do, yeah. I'm also trying to think, Tom speaking, about the fellite thing as well. Sorry, not here. They offered to make an item that would tell us the enchantment of the lights. It's basically a compass, right?

Yeah, so I don't know if it is still useful. I mean, that's what... It still probably would have been more useful before all of this happened to help track down and maybe destroy them or disable them or something like that. You can, when you looked outside, you can see what lights are connected to. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's there, it's there. We can see all, yeah, they're all green. But, you know, there could still be other things. Like, it's up to you if you want to bring it up. But, like, yeah, the specific thing that he suggested, or they, sorry, suggested was some sort of device to help you locate the corrupted light. They were specifically looking for a fair light

and we can trade that for something. No, no. They said they needed it to build the thing to help you locate them. Is there anything you can offer us, obviously as a trade, to banish demons? I do not have any scrolls or magic that would aid you in that manner, no. I could give you one of my birds.

They are fine warriors. They would aid you in battle against these creatures. What would that cost us? A promise. I would like you to retrieve the essence of whatever demon is responsible for this. And one of those discs

from the lights. I wish to study them. Fascinating magic. From the larger lanterns on the walls, or...? Or one of the smaller ones. But something for me to keep. Something for me to study. The demons were a long enemy of my people and the Feywild. Perhaps there is something I could glean from this

to help my people defeat them in the future. If we can ever return to our realm. Can you glean anything from me? I was defeated by one. I can see that you have been changed, Lady of Death. I have. You have gone to the realm of your beloved grave, Father. I have.

And there is very little of the demons left upon you beyond the physical marks. I sense their eyes fall on veracity. How beautiful. Isn't it just? I sense a power hidden within it. Latent, sleeping, dormant. Finely made.

A beautiful thing isn't it just sadly there is nothing I can glean from you I'm afraid whatever injury you sustained the wounds have simply faded how do we gather the essence

scoop it up or put it in a container yes whenever if the gather the essence, just scoop it up or put it in a container? Yes. Whenever, if the demon is defeated or if it is banished or simply leaves this plane, it will leave behind a residue. Most planar creatures will when they leave this place.

If you have fought these things before, you may have encountered something similar. But yes, a vial, a pouch, something of its nature. And what's the terms of this promise? What if we don't manage to get the essence? Well, then you would have broken your promise. And what happens?

A consequence. How serious a consequence are we talking? Blackwing just cocks their head. Significant enough. I do not take kindly to those who break promises to me. Blackwing just cocks their head. Significant enough. I do not take kindly to those who break promises to me. Oh, I don't intend to break it. It's just whether or not, I don't know, something happens, like all the devices disappear or...

Well, then you should ensure that they do not. I am no devil. I do not bake in. I do not form contracts. I do not have loopholes. This is a promise between individuals. I trust that you will seek to deliver it to the best of your ability. If I feel that you have been tricked out of fulfilling the promise, then I will not hold that against you, but against those who have done misdeeds against you. Don't get me wrong, I'm just clarifying because I take promises very seriously.

As do I. It seems that we are aligned on that. I'm just trying to tick all the parameters to make sure I can deliver on this promise. Your heart's promise is what matters to me most. I mean, we do have some of those discs secure enough with the authorities. So maybe they'll suffice. Well, if you want to say to the I, Arthur,

that we want to get some evidence out of her evidence locker and give it to this boyo, or... No, not boyo. This person over here, you can try and do that, but I think the easiest one is to get an everlight out of the lights. I mean, as a reward for the person that helped us destroy the lantern on the walls that stopped the dome from appearing, I think it's... Oh, but you know, she's going to say she's going to go on and on about evidence.

We'll... It's something I think we can achieve, and something I think we might need. Right. I have your promise. How do you make this promise? You want me to spit on my paw? That's how we do it up in North. If that is your custom, I am happy to engage. Gruff will spit on his paw. So you are the one who wishes to make this promise. I will hold one of you accountable.

Oh, hold me accountable. No, you've got enough going on. Ignore him. You've got enough going on. Ignore him. Blackwing is like looking at your hand and their hand and is like, oh, is this how you mortals kind of do it? They're definitely like, they've never probably shaken hands before.

I've also just spat on my paws. Oh, yeah, Blackwing spits into it as well. It smells very beautiful. It smells like floral perfume, yeah. I smell like cat food. There is a sensation of magic, binding magic, when you shake hands, like you feel it gruff. You have a primal connection with magic,

so you can feel that there is something magical and otherworldly that sticks to you. It's not just the saliva as your hands part, there is something left behind. And you see all of the birds, all of the ravens and the crows in the room look at you all at once, just as they hone in on you.

It's fine. And Gruff's like, yeah, he shakes. It's a firm handshake, and he's looking at Blackwing straight in the eye. He knows the weight of this. And with Gruff, because this is important, because this is a fae you're making a deal with, this is a, your heart's intent is to fulfill the promise,

and the promise is you will basically provide them with the demon's essence and one of these light discs, right? This isn't a devil contract where it's, like, written out in loopholes and things like that. As long as you fulfill the intent of the promise, then Blackwing will consider it done. If it does turn out that you can't get the essence and it's really genuinely not your fault,

you're probably okay. Blackwing might ask you for something else to make up for it, but generally you'll be all right. With that, they reach over to their beautiful mantle of black feathers, and they pluck one of them. And you watch as they begin whispering to it in Elven. They begin this beautiful, And as they do, you see that one feather,

multiples begin, like spectral ones, begin to form around, and then they become thick and dark black real feathers as a large raven is manifested. I didn't catch that. And that's what the raven says? That's what the raven says. I didn't catch that. Fucking silly.

But you watch as this bird takes shape and then in Blackwing's hand, they come to life. The bird's sort of like, as if woken up from a nap. It kind of twists its head. It kind of makes that crow, that sort of, you know, that kind of croaky crow raven noise. And, yeah, we'll set the bird free. Although you've made the promise, Gruff,

you already have Sir Gryold's one. I already have Sir Gryold's. So who would like to control this other ally? I can give it a go. Yeah? Give it to the goth, yeah. So it functions the same. Wait, is that ready?

Yeah. Oh. So it functions the same as Sir Gryold. So on Ophelia's turn, you will have, you choose whether the raven acts before or after you, Ophelia. Cool, okay. Same works, it has all the same actions, basic actions, the only difference is,

actually no, I'm gonna say for this, it just acts on its own initiative, it's smart enough to do its own thing and stuff. All right, so it's got its own actions, it's got its own hit points. What? Actually no, there is one difference. This thing does not make death saving throws or anything. If it's got its own actions, it's got its own hit points. What? Actually, no, there is one difference. This thing does not make

death saving throws or anything. If it goes to zero hit points, it will vanish. Okay, cool. It will puff out. It might come back, and as long as the battle is ongoing,

it might take some time, but it might reform. You'll have to see. All right. What happens? Why are you so confused, Tom? This was our decision, right? What do you mean?

We've been playing D&D with him for eight plus years now. He knows what we do. Maybe he manipulated us. I mean, not really. But I had a feeling that you would ask for help. Did I fall into his game? Who am I?

Just before we started streaming, literally like minutes before, he couldn't have written that stat. There's no way. What do you mean? Of course I could. He's a genius. I mean, the tower is right there as well. He played us like a damn fiddle. No, it's also I just know what

options there are and I planned for all of the options. If you hadn't gone to Blackwing's tower, then I just wouldn't have used it. It's like you're playing in our DM's world. It's almost like he knows this shit. You got a little sheet there for the Swal Ball? Maybe.

You know we're gonna have to use that. Okay, so this works the same as Griot, then? Yes. So this is a Feywrought Raven. It is a spectral raven. It is a small creature. And yeah, it has actions. It has attacks. I believe its signature attack is just like a beak it has an ability

to do a distracting strike so it makes an attack and if it hits the next attack against that target has advantage and then it also has an ability

to move without provoking opportunity attacks so it can do like a hit and run strike it can like fly in attack and then bonus action

move off fly somewhere else they can only do those three times a day, and Grailed's abilities are also three times a day. Okay. Nice. All right. These are based on the MCDM retainer rules, by the way. I've taken them and tweaked a little bit. Cool. All right.

Similar. Very similar. All right. So Blackwing will turn to you and say, Now, you also require rest, comfort, food, that sort of thing. Please, I will make sure that you will be safe here. You need not fear or worry. Thank you. Yes, if it's just an hour that passes out there,

I think that's time we can use to recover all our resources. Yeah. I will say, perhaps you think me callous and uncaring, and I am in a way. But I do... I am fond of this town, and I hope that you are successful. I would like to remain here. We know of your work to assist the Duke.

We know that you have some commitment to this place. I don't think of you as... Commitment is not a word one uses with the elves. Xanthius Aurobarn. It is...the Duke pays me for my services. I like the vibrancy of this place. In the smallest possible way, it reminds me of the villages and cities of my home. But nothing, nothing will ever compare. Now come.

With a wave of their hand, the furniture that's like these beautiful silvery wood, like whitewood chairs and cushions and things like that, it all twists and reshapes itself into like long, almost like chaise long kind of chairs that you can rest on. One is lengthened for Rowan specifically. The others are a bit more sort of normalized sizing. There are plates of food and carafts of wine

just appear in the tower. As Blackwing says, Please eat. It is part of the magic that will enable you to rest. Drink, eat, and then close your eyes and rest. I sleep with my eyes wide open. I don't know. I sleep with my eyes wide open. I don't know. I love Blackwing.

It's that thing of, right, they're a very alien being, right? Like, they are very otherworldly. This is just not their world. Yeah, and they just don't care. Like, they're just like, why would I care about it? You know, it's... I've lost my... I'm no longer immortal,

and I've just lost everything I care about. Completely, like, true and neutral. Yeah. Yeah, I think Gruff gets it. I'm no longer immortal and I've just lost everything I care about. Completely like true and neutral. Yeah. Yeah. I think Gruff gets it. Yeah. Just like you know

met people like that before come to an age where it's like yeah some people just that's their agenda and you're not going to convince them otherwise so just get on with it.

So he gets on with it and starts eating. Yeah. Yeah. The food is fresh and crisp and delicious. You drink it. It's wine or water

or juice, whatever you really kind of imagine Blackwing conjures it. One for a battle. All of you, so Creole happily enjoys himself.

He's like, big goblet of wine, drinks that. Oh, not very good, really. He's like, it's not bad,

that. Helps himself, like there's sort of plucked, you know, chicken meats and things like that and happily helps himself

to whatever food is there. Do we have any perception of the outside world while we're here? Not while in here. There are windows, but outside them, if you look, they're normally covered in a gauzy curtain. And it's very hard to see through it. The outside world is very, very blurry. You have to focus your minds to look out of it.

So if any of you do want to look out, it is actually a charisma saving throw oh wow um yeah i mean i guess even just the blurry visage of it it's like it's not things moving swiftly outside some sort of forest in a in a landscape that looks so alien and and weird to you um oh i see it's not even a city, right? It doesn't look like it, no. Okay. Whether or not you are there

or if it's an illusion, you have no idea. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, no, I think we could take the rest. Yeah, Rowan indulges. Yeah, yeah. And rests well.

Yeah, basically, as soon as you guys finish eating and drinking, you sit or lay down on these sofas or these couches or in these chairs, and it's like within a second you're asleep. You close your eyes, and then you are just out. And your dreams, all of you dream. Even if you have abilities or reasons that you don't normally dream,

you dream here in this part of this ritual, part of this magic spell. And the dreams are very very vivid they feel very real they are full of whatever your characters would have as elements of liveliness of life things especially artistic pursuits dance song painting craftsmanship lovemaking you, anything like that, basically. Any sort of element of life. Listen, it's part of the elven culture. I had an image.

Yeah, that's fine. I am not sharing. That's fine. You know, playing games with friends. Yeah, maybe. Playing games with friends, dancing, any of these kind of pursuits of living, right? Yeah.

You have dreams of doing those kinds of things. It takes place, all of the dreams, though, one thing that is a commonality is they take place in a kind of woodland realm that is, it's always that dusk, dawn, half-light time, right? It might be a forest that you've been to before it might be like a wintry forest but it still has that kind of like it's not quite night time it's not quite day time it's that in between the lighting is perfect but it might be a foresty one for ice heart it might be like an imagined forest like or a forest near osseous if such a thing

is maybe all the trees are dead and withered or things like that um it might be a forest near Ossius, if such a thing is. Maybe all the trees are dead and withered, or things like that. It might be a forest near Rusten that you remember as a child, Xanthius. Playing a game with a red dragonborn. Yeah, there you go. For Rowan, it might be a forest like when you were out on, you know, travelling the world, like something that you've come across before. But it is always

that kind of foresty environment and that element. And yeah, anything that... Whatever your character feels represents living life, you know know something that they hold precious as a part of life um whatever that might be i'm not going to ask everybody uh what their dreams are because i'm worried about this trot yeah he said he was a rock yeah there you go drilled a hole in it just went to town you just got lucky and just found the right... Yeah. This ruins Rowan's character. Nobody draw this. Listen, yeah.

Nobody draw this. Not without consent. You know, funny way to bring up the dream. Rowan is almost like a Disney musical. So he's like playing his music amongst his forest and the trees and the rocks and the lake are all contributing. Bling, bling, bling.

Like little googly eyes song. Hey Rowan, you having a dream? Hey Rowan, good to see you pal. I love you Moss. Scoops Moss. Oh hey. They're all voiced by well-known voice actors like Patrick Waldo.

Hey, what's wrong Rowan? Hey Rowan, what are you doing? One of the Alan Tidock. Yeah, Alan, he's in everything. Gee, Rowan, you look down. You're right. Things are pretty bad in Ashton's Rest. Well, don't be so wrong.

No way. Play us a song. Yeah. Play us a song, Rowan. Play us a song, Rowan. Yeah, I'd be impressed if you knew. Okay. I love rocks and rocks love me.

We're a big family. Hard fucking rock. Oh, yeah, Rowan, yeah. I love you, Rowan. I love you, man. Just all of these trees watching. I'll let you have it. You know what? I'm going to let you have it. You know what?

I'm going to let you have the silly moment. Errol's crying. Stop. Cut the screen. Don't cut the screen, Sam. Get rid of it. I want to point out, Tommy's literally crying. He has tears in his eyes.

Cancel us now. No, you can break it. They love this shit, Kim. They love it. What can I say except you're welcome. You're welcome, you're tricky. They love this shit, Kim. They love it. What can I say except, you're welcome. You're welcome. You're welcome.

Damn. That's my dream. There you go. Lovely. Lovely. I really like the nice, wholesome Disney bit. Let's focus on that. The other bit is non-canon.

That's non-canon. There you go. Disney after dark. Kim, if you want to move it Kim if you want to move it on a really good ways just to say what your dream actually is there is two are gone. They're done. We'll carry on for, like, another ten minutes, then we'll take a break.

My brain's just gone empty. I can't think of anything. It's fine. They're just going to keep getting set off. This is the worst it's ever been. Maybe we should take another break. You can't look at him, can you? Can you even look at Trot?

No, you can't. I've never heard Tom hit that pitch. It's like streaming. That's a new pitch. That's the funniest fucking thing. He's gone bright red. He's like not breathing properly. Ready to go.

Oh, God. You're right there, Rhys had some tears. I'm all good, I'm all good. I'm sorry, carry on. Yeah, I mean I'd love to. There's no carrying on from this. Well we can just skip ahead and have everyone wake up. I can put you back into the horrible demon place. I'll wake up smiling.

Like a cigarette! demon I'm trying not to cry because I got my eye shadow so perfect today he's just got a gruff pipe in his mouth no you put that pipe down do you know the scene in Wayne's World 2?

Good morning, darling! It's just like in a dressing gown. It's got like a goblet of brandy. Hello, my friends. Hello. Oh, God. That's a good dream. All right, good dream.

Good dreams. Good dreams, everybody. Yes, so Gryll wakes up and is like, I was fucking wrong. You too? No! No, he wasn't. Yeah, I did that for a cheap laugh.

That was a cheap laugh, I'm sorry. That's all that's gone. All right, I'll tell you what let us take an early break we're going to take an early break and then when we come back we're going to carry on

because I think it's going to get a bit more serious in the second half there's a dead fly in my book she's spotted a dead fly in her book

what the fuck is wrong with you is that was it in the paper? It's in front of him. Oh, shit. So, like, from the factory? Yeah, it's just that lol rip dude.

Justin Pettis. Right, we definitely need an early break. We've got to get these gigs out. We will see you in part two, everybody. We'll see you then. See you next time. Lol rip dude. ripped, dude.