High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #3 | Into the Depths (Part 1)

Episode Date: November 21, 2023

The party work together to delve deep into the Blackrock Mine! 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) 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. Pickaxe. Pickaxe. Our fledgling adventurers have come to the village of Burnell, each following their own path with their own goals in mind. And after staying the night in the rustic cauldron village, they awake to find that the road south has been closed off as local Draconic Nobles army is searching for criminals in the area. noble's army is searching for criminals in the area having found clues and a lead onto what happened they believe the criminals and their conspirator ally to be hiding in black rock mine north of the village and as the army prepares to go after them the pcs move ahead to try and deal with the individuals themselves learn the truth and perhaps earn themselves some gold and the favor of the draconic duke the process. At the mine entrance, the

party witnesses miners fleeing for their lives as strange creatures chase after them. Rescuing some of the unlucky miners from these creatures, the wounded party are visited by an unusual Tiefling who appears out of the earth. Caliphras claims to be an agent of someone who owns a magical artifact the criminals stole and have brought it to the mine, offering them healing potions and other rewards if the party agreed to return it to them. After a brief discussion and conversation, the majority of the party declined the offer and head into Blackrock Mine itself. And that is where we pick up today, is where we pick up today, my friends.

Oh, boy. I do want to offer a brief moment to one of the few who remained, I believe, in the area, with Gruff having sort of taken the lead in leading, I believe, most of you into Blackrock Mine. But I do remember that Xanthius... Yes. I almost just called you Xan then. Xanthius, you had I almost just called you Xan then. Xan! Xantheus,

you had sort of lingered for a moment. Yeah. And if you want to, you can just follow your party down into the mine. So who, well, Gruff, I think, and Gruff most certainly is gone. Did you head in as well?

I don't think I did just yet. Okay. Because my, well, I wasn't totally, well, I'm against totally, well, no, I'm against the deal. I'm not against

the trade. Well, let's re-establish the scene a little bit. So right now we have Gruff kind of making their way into the mine.

Who is following Gruff at this point? Because it might be important to know who is around to listen in on what Xanthius' conversation is.

Daisy is looking at Gruff and looking at Xanthius going, okay. You're kind of caught between the two. To make it clear as well, looking at Gruff and looking at Xanthius going, okay. You're kind of caught between the two. To make it clear as well, Gruff going into the mine

and saying no was very much a, he's not, it wasn't a like, none of us should be talking. Absolutely. It was a, I am not talking to you.

I think you made that very clear. I think that was 100% clear. This is Gruff's morals, like, I am not going to do this. I'm going to go help these people. So Gruff's making their way. What about Ophelia?

What's Ophelia doing? I think she'd probably be trying. Maybe she'd be thinking about going in. Okay. So still hanging back a little bit. Hanging back a little. All right. And then Rowan, the same thing, sort of hanging around,

looking after Gruff, who's making their way in. Just in the middle going dithering. Ophelia, did you, because you, so for the trade, the tiefling trade, it was the frozen corpse of this thing. We'll get into that, don't worry about that. I'm just trying to remember, Ophelia, you had like this healing potion, did you leave it behind? I gave it back. You gave it back, okay. Alright, fair enough.

Alright, so to reestablish the scene, we have this mine entrance and it is night time. You guys made your way up here, by the time you reach here the sun is basically set you know it's dark out you've just got the dim glow of maybe a couple of hanging lanterns outside this very classic fantasy wooden sort of structured mine entrance with rocks and things around it there are some tables and chairs outside looks like the miners had like a small camp here um and sat on like a rock uh leaning back who first appeared, this Typhling first appeared to you in a sort of much more male looking kind of persona. They have like green skin, their horns almost have like a rocky appearance.

You can see lots of jewelry, gold and gemstones, very richly dressed in fabrics. But now they seem to almost just magically, their body shifted and changed and they now have a much more feminine looking kind of body shape, longer hair, that sort of thing, taking on this kind of thing um and sort of like looks over sees like gruff and sort of is waving goodbye absently with a with a hand in the air almost as if on a chaise longue on a rock um and it's kind of idly her her tail now sort of whipping backwards and forwards

holding the potions the two potions of healing that she had offered uh this caliphras um but now holding them and spinning them in her fingers like she's literally doing the old pen trick kind of swirling them around in her fingers um we see zen uh kind of still there looking down you have the corpse of this creature the belemorph um that caliphras kind of gave you some information about um frozen uh kind of thawed from the magical ice now, but perfectly preserved. And yeah, that's the scene that we see. Okay.

I mean, I'll... Yeah, I'm sort of going to be looking after Gruff as well, after what Gruff sort of said, and it would sort of strike a chord, I think, with Xanthius, that I should be acting with honor, basically, that kind of vibe, I suppose. But Xanthius doesn't really act with honor. So, trade's still on, if you're interested. Oh, my dear, my dear.

This thing, this frozen thing. My master and the other people that I work with, we have no interest in this. This thing, this is a creature of your realm and is connected to a being that I'd rather not trifle with. Oh, but you can turn turn into a lovely bag. Such a trifle really has no value to me. Maybe to one of your minor wizards,

or one of the minor wizards. She would say the minor wizard, she wouldn't say your minor wizard. Sure. That's Mark screwing up there. That's not a secret gotcha. Like, ha! That's just Mark.

He said the. Yeah. Perhaps worth something to a wizard or something like that, but really, the cost of that I have in spades, my darling. No, I'm afraid not. Oh, what about... I'm trying to... What do you want?

Xanthius, wasn't it? It is. Well, primarily, I'm wary that some of these people are marching in with little by way of resources and little by way of survival. So I'm not against taking one of those healing potions. And as I mentioned, maybe a little blood if you happen to have any for the one over there. happen to have any for the one over there. She thinks, she kind of puts a long, she's got these long golden nails, like almost like claws, but they're very, you know,

finely crafted nails, beautifully painted. Puts one on like her lips. Almost like exaggerating her contemplating it. I'll tell you what, I did offer these potions, almost freely, but it seems your friends didn't want to take them. Almost freely? How about this?

I'll give you a healing potion, and I can help provide some blood. I'd be glad to offer up some of mine, if your friend is desperate enough. I just want one thing, and I think it's very fair. Okay. How fair? I want a drop of your blood.

My blood? Hey, blood for blood. And I'm giving it, I'm throwing in a healing potion for free. I just... I'm, uh... I decline, actually, in that case. It's a shame. I sure hope you and your friends don't need any potions of healing down there.

And she points in the mine. Oh, no, I think we do. It's just... You don't want my blood, I'm afraid. Oh, I'm sure I do. Just a drop. Look, I'll even... And she pulls out, like, a little, like, charm.

She pops it open, and it's got a container which would hold a tiny amount of blood. Just enough to fill something like this. Ophelia, dear, how, um... How thirsty we right now? And by we, I mean you. For blood. Well, I'm thirsty for blood all the time, but I don't...

Oh. And she... You see she almost, like, you see she almost pulls her tunic aside. No, don't tempt me. I don't want to be rused into serving under somebody else. I already serve somebody. You wouldn't be serving anybody. I don't know if I can trust that. That is the crux of it, isn't it? Trust is such a hard thing to gain and so easy to lose.

Look, you want blood. I'm throwing in a hit. All I want is a drop, and you can drink until your thirst is quenched. Ophelia, so we're on the same page here. I don't want to give up my blood. So we're on the same page here. I don't want to give up my blood. So we're on the same page here. Daisy's moving further towards Groff.

Just like, uh... What's Rowan doing at this point? I want to check in with everybody so everyone's got a fair moment. Rowan is looking really suspiciously and kind of scared at this conversation going forward, like the discussion of how much blood does Ophelia want, et cetera, et cetera,

but also glancing into the mines. I'd like to know how far Gruff is in the mines. Gruff is in darkness now because it is dark on the inside. Do you have low light? Because we changed it. So folks know I've got rid of a lot of dark vision for a lot of characters. So now there is a thing called low light, because we changed it. So folks know I've got rid of a lot of dark vision for characters. So now there is a thing called low light vision for some characters instead.

I have whatever, yeah, low light vision. Yeah. So you would need a source of light. You cannot see in pure darkness. I do have a lantern. Yeah. So you would gruff of let that as you start making your way in. Because there's maybe just enough light outside from the moon,

from the crown, and from the lanterns and torches outside. But once you get into this mine, it becomes almost pitch black. I have a torch, not a lantern. Okay, so Gruff would pull out a torch. Start lighting. So you can see this light that Gruff's lit in, but he's getting further and further away, and it's probably Gruff you start to turn

and follow these kind of winding paths and as soon as you do that, Gruff's kind of out of vision at that point. I probably wouldn't go too far. Too far in. Stay within some range. I'm not too proud. I'd probably just be scouting ahead.

Sure, sure, sure. Okay, good to know. So you can still see Gruff, but they are far into the mine. So Rowan's making noises and stuff, but it's not enough to interrupt the conversation. It's like, we should go, we should,

we should roll this up. Possible gruff. Ophelia? Do you mind if we have a second huddle? I'll, let's, let's, she can hear anyway. Fine. This blood thing...

Are you huddling with just Ophelia? Or are you coming towards us? Daisy! Do you want to hear any of this, Daisy? No, because if you come towards us, I'll take a step away from Ophelia right now! Because Daisy is scared of her. Okay, just, um... real quick. Do you drink blood? Yes.

How often? As often as I need to. And where do you get blood? I don't know where it comes from. It just is given to me whenever I request it. If you requested it now, would it arrive? No. How?

Because I'm not at home. Okay, so how long have you been here? A few days. And how long since you needed, you know? A few days? Is that in practice? You also, just keep in mind that anytime you look at Ophelia, there is just this black hooded monk figure just looming behind her as well,

as Percival is just never a few, more than a few steps away. Ophelia, no, I don't, I am not trying to get on your wrong side here. Just, what's your plan? Full blood. I didn't have one. Okay. But I suppose small creatures, I could nibble on a squirrel or two, perhaps.

Oh no. I wouldn't bite people unless they asked me to. Okay, okay, good. I'm not going to bite you in the night, if that's what you're implying. No, that's almost exactly what I'm implying, actually. Unless... Oh? Don't tempt me.

I'm not tempting! I'll come, no, look, I'll come when it... You don't have permission! You don't have permission! Oh, this night's air is just so... Well, I don't have all day, I'm afraid, darling. I am going to need an answer. Deal's off. Deal's off. All right.

What do you want out of this? Out of what? This deal. Healing. Supplies so that we can survive down there. I don't know what's in there. I'm tapped out just from the things that came out from the there. I don't know what's in there. I'm tapped out just from the things that came out from the mines.

I don't, something. You seem a proficient fighter. It's just, I don't want you to go in there bloodless and weak. We will figure it out. Okay, good. And I'm not weak. Not, I- how dare you i daisy i'm gonna need a scarf

you do see as as gruff and daisy maybe begin to shuffle away you do see as you walk past percival when uh ophelia got angry the a skeletal hand clutches at a short sword hanging off their belt and is holding it, but it hasn't done anything. But as you walk past, Caliphras will say, things are getting a bit too tense for me.

So fair enough. No deal. Good luck. If you, well, I'd say if you need help, call. But I think that boat sailed. So goodbye. And she just steps into the shadows and seems to disappear.

She casts a spell. With that. Daisy is really quickly walking towards Gruff. Yeah, well, it's, and she's pulling Rowan along, and then she'll probably say to him, do you have any extra scarves? Because I don't think I can go to bed at night. All right, all right, I don't have any.

You can have this one, I take my huge scarf off. It just bundles it around. It like wraps around you like a dress almost. You can just hear, do you think that she can still get me? I'm so sorry, I can't hear what you're saying. Do you think that she can still bite me if I have the scarf?

Don't worry, I'll protect you. Thank you! And I remember that! And Ro looks really nervously back over his shoulder at Ophelia. He kind of scoots into the cave. Let me catch up with Gruff then. So, Gruff, you kind of left that conversation. It's not been too long, it's been a few minutes or whatever.

But just scouting out this initial part of the mine. Who also, I remember telling you that you guys found like a very crude map of the mines outside on the table. Who took the map? I think I looked at it to try and memorize it. We'll say that Daisy has it for now. But I think I'll give the physical map to,

I think I gave it to someone else. I think I gave it to you. Because I think it was, I was having the conversation with the mine worker over the fallen fin and she said by the way we have this

and then Daisy took it. Just take a note then. Sure. Got it in my head but Sure. Oh yeah, I've literally got it

written down here. Perfect. Looking at this looking at this map graph and like looking at this initial part of the mine you probably can

see that if you kind of step in although it gets dark you know looking down you kind of go around the corner you can peer down in this is a labyrinth of tunnels like this is a mine that has just sprawled out they've it's probably been worked for centuries so it's it's quite expansive um there are the occasional lanterns you know flickering with dim sallow yellow lights uh from years of burning away at the oil you know they might not even last much longer but there is occasional pockets of light here and there mainly at junctions and intersections of these labyrinthian tunnels everywhere you look there's this worn wooden strut scaffolding kind of like holding up the ceiling it's very rough there aren't

necessarily tracks but you see like wagon ruts there's not mine carts but it does look like hand wagons and hand carts are pulled here and there uh throughout the mine itself um uh looking in you immediately gruff know that this is complex like Like this is a very expansive mine and unless you really know where you're going or where you wanna go, that's gonna be tricky. And the map that you have is crude. It's not a complete like, you know, perfect detailed map of these mines.

It is hand drawn, very rough. Like, you know, there's markings on it. Things like, oh, new vein vein here question mark uh try this area and you can see that it's marked that there are several levels to the mine as well like it goes deep down um so you kind of get to scout it out when you step further in as well these guys as they're beginning to catch up with you there are odd noises coming and it's it's just echoing through this mind like you can't tell exactly where it's coming from but there is noises of like skittering there is this kind of deep kind of like thrumming you know noise like this bassy reverberance. And Rowan, as you get closer, you would begin to hear this kind of disturbance,

almost like a cry of pain from the earth itself. I think just before everyone catches up, there would be a moment in the dark where Gruff's kind of just looking around, looking at the map, looking around, listening to the skittering. And if anyone was there, they would see his kind of just looking around, looking at the map, looking around, listening to the skittering. And if anyone was there, they would see his kind of confident, like, you know, when he was just, like, giving his big speech about honour

and not, like, dealing with tricksters and stuff like that. And walking in, you know, he had that big, confident, wide set stance. And it would just shrink for a minute. And then he'd just go, oh, bugger. And then as the gang catch up, he would again be like, looking at the map, holding the torch. Yeah, this is definitely, I like to imagine that we almost kind of see a little, not necessarily flashback, but in Gruff's mind,

a kind of like back in Tremoro and like, I'm going to go on an adventure and I'm going to be, you know, I'm going to do all this stuff and it's going to be great and I'm going to help people. And then we come back to like this terrifying darkness. The reality sells in. Can I, before we go on any further RP, I'd like to get everyone's passive perception checks.

Do you want to see my pee-pee? Wow, you don't have to phrase it that way. But sure. Please, wow. You don't have to phrase it that way, but sure. Please, Chris Trott, show me your pee-pee. Do you want me to roll for it? No, not yet. No, no, no, no. It's only when everybody sees it that we roll for it.

Oh, that pee-pee. Yeah. No, this is your passive pee-pee. This is your passive perception. So are you 12, Rowan? Yes. Ophelia? 13. 13. Ophelia? 13.

13. Gruff? I'm pretty sure mine is already higher than Nova's, and it's 15. Wow. 15? Nice. Dan? Nine.

Nine. That's such a gorgeous PP. 11. 11. So Gruff is the most perceptive of them all. Hey. Nice. All righty. 15.

Biggest PP. God damn, huge. All right. She's like, where am I? That's what you do. Xanthius, O righty. 15. Biggest pee-pee. Goddamn, huge. She's like, where am I? That's what you do with it. Xanthius, Ophelia. Yep. The others.

Rowan and Daisy have abandoned this conversation and now catch up with Gruff. What happens? Is there a conclusion to this little moment? I think if we are starting to walk into the mine. See, the others certainly go off left. Yeah. Like, the conversation as we sort of cross the threshold, I suppose, becomes like this whispered thing,

but I guess in the caves, everyone can hear this, like these hushed, like harsh S's and stuff like that. Just so we're on the same page again, I don't want, I keep saying that, but we're on the same team here. I, I, I- I'm aware of that. Good. I'm just, I'm'm aware of that. I... Good. I'm just... I'm not aware of Osseus and your customs.

And just as much as you are willing to learn about Alfea and our customs, I just don't know how things work. I didn't mean to imply you were weak. I know you're not. I just meant weakened. I regret it at the moment I said it. I'm apologising for that. I'm so sorry.

It's fine. It's fine. It's okay. It's okay. We'll just get this done, okay? Okay. Percival lets go of the sword heel. Thank you, Percival. Thank you, Percival.

Daisy will probably, if this is echoing, just say to Rowan, I think he's making good with the scary lady. I hope so. I think he's for the best. I don't want her to bite all of us. I don't want her to bite us. So finally, Ophelia, I'll offer a handout.

Samtheus Horrigan, pleasure to meet you. Pleasure to meet you, Ophelia de la Rosa, House of Blood. House of Blood. House of Blood, House of Blood. Here's my business card. I feel like she should have a business card. Seeing this kind of very formal exchange, and you know this handshake is a very old thing,

custom kind of thing, a skeletal hand will emerge. With a business card. My right hand is shaking, Ophelia's. Oh, left hand. Pleasure to meet you also, Percival. Does he not speak? No. Okay. Very good, Percival. Does he not speak? No.

Okay. Very good, Percival. Well done. Very good. Just bows. For podcast listeners, I was shaking hands with her. Percival offered a skeletal hand and then bowed to Ophelia. I have to remember that Percival can't speak,

so podcast listeners need to know what I'm doing. If I turn away, my left hand just touched that of a bony skeletal hand, so I'm a little bit like... Very clean. Very clean. Perfectly clean. But it's still a skeletal hand, so I'm a little bit like... And there's that unnatural thing with animated skeletons where the bones shouldn't be held together because there's no sinew,

but they're just magically in place and unholding together in that kind of regard. And there is this kind of cold, kind of dusty feeling, but it is very clean. One thing you notice about Percival, he's a very clean skeleton. Clean boy. You're on the same page.

Yes, same page. Yes. I'm glad they have that phrase in Ossius 2. Earning favour with the Draconic Empire. Sorry? Earning favour with the Draconic Empire. The Drac, yes, the Dukes, yes. Yes.

Ignorance, yes. Good, yes. Good. Good. Wonderful. Let's go... Yes, the Dukes, yes. Yes. Ignorance, yes. Good, yes. Good. Good. Wonderful. Let's go, then. Nice to meet you. And you.

On the way? Yes. And that's the point where you will gather together, because these two won't stop unless I do. This is why they're not allowed to sit on the center of the table. But yeah, at that point, Rowan, Daisy, Xanthius, and Ophelia come up behind, and Gruff, you are now all together.

And Gruff is... I mean, presumably has the map out and is, like, shining a lantern, like... Trying to look heroic. Yeah, very much so. Probably would look very heroic, like staff and shield. That's a good point. If you have your lantern and map,

just keep in mind that your shield and staff are on the back, yeah. So you don't have your shield out, your staff either at the moment. Yeah, you guys see this labyrinthian mine. You have this crude map. My question is, what's the plan? What are you doing? What's the aim here? Hello, Gruff.

Hello, Rowan. It's good to see you. You look shaken, are you okay? There was a little kerfuffle back there. Oh. You see Daisy's wrapped up in Rowan's scarf that's way too big, and you can just see her eyes above the scarf,

and she's just looking scared beside him. Are you cold, little one? Yes, she is cold. But you have a map, you have knowledge. I'm ready for you to guide us, Gruff. I am. We can do this together. Guide you, I shall.

It's a crude map. Elevation and distance. Question for Gruff. Are you... Bullshitting? Yes. Are you proficient in masonry or anything like that? No. No. So there's a lot of symbols.

I'm a fisherman. No, that's clarifying it for the audience's benefit. So there's a lot of symbols on this map. Like, the map is really just outlines of tunnels, and then there are tons of these symbols that mean nothing to you. You can tell that, like, okay, it seems to be they refer to several different levels and there's,

I think, eight levels of this mine and it branches out in all these different ways. But there are also like weird boxes and like symbols and designs on the map

that you just don't really know. Is there like mining language? It would be like a kind of like lingo or like shorthand or like,

you know, like when you see a road sign, if you don't know, you know, there are certain road signs where like if you don't learn them, you wouldn't know what they are. It's kind of a lot of that language. I don't know, there are certain road signs where if you don't learn them,

you wouldn't know what they are. It's kind of a lot of that language. I don't know half of them. Yeah. That's dangerous. I'm reporting you to them. I can't talk with this tool, so I can add to this, man.

I would probably say, yeah. You're a man of the earth. You know about pebbles and rocks and that. Do you know what these symbols mean? Do you mind? Yeah. So with cartography proficiency, you definitely can read the map, you can actually use the map.

Gruff can't really, like, he can look at it, but it's so easy to get turned around in which way, but you can actually use this map to help you navigate. I turned it upside down yeah it was upside down yes because there's a very kind of like simply drawn compass

but it doesn't it's not the kind of compass that you're used to and I think as well Gruff would have been like I think we need to go this way this way

and like trying to like be very confident maybe it's not upside down it's like to the side so you like rotate one degree absolutely yes but a lot of these symbols

just they don't mean anything to you because it is like a masons or miners kind of shorthand. So they're not common map symbols. They're specific for miners. But you can use this map to navigate. If you need to move around these mines, if you make any sort of navigational checks, you'll have advantage as long as you can use the map with cartography.

So you'll actually have advantage on rolls like that. Great. I don't want to take the lead or anything on this, but I can read this much like you can. But you make the decisions. I honestly

I bow to your knowledge. Oh, that's so kind of you. Thank you. This is where we are, by the way. Oh, oh, yeah, yes. Not over there. Not over, okay, yes, I must have. And we're heading up that way.

Okay, I can lead, yes. And, uh. I know you can. Like I said, there are about eight levels. Eight seems to be the lowest level. And one thing I will tell you that I think Rowan, give me a survival check, Rowan, actually. Let's see if you can see, let's see kind of how much your knowledge will apply to this.

That's a three. Three. What? Three, six. Six. At best, you can figure out that, like, I mean, you know, you can use some common sense, right? The deeper the mind goes,

the lowest levels are the newest minds, right? So they would dig down and, like, you know, explore further out and expand out the branches and things like that but looking at this like yeah like you've got a vague idea of how to get around but you don't know what any of these symbols mean you don't know any any more detail than what i've already told you basically all i can say is let's keep our wits about us whenever there's a, assume it's bad or hazardous. That's all I can say. But I'll keep an ear to the ground.

And see how the ground is feeling. A wise action. Anything? Where's little Xanthius? Probably at this point you'll hear the tail end of our conversation. Yes? Yes. Yep.

This way? Yep. Yes? Yes. Yep. Nice way. Yep. Okay, good. Have you two been fighting? Fighting? No. No, no.

Nothing of the sort, no. Just discussing. Discussing? Yes. Talking about customs, Ossian traditions. Are we all still friends? Yes. Yes.

Friend... Friends, yes. Allies? Allies, yes. Companions. Travelling partners. And mine emptiers. Right? Is that the plan? Did you make a deal with the trickster? In the end, no. I did attempt to get some potions of healing for us. I thought that would be useful, but no. I'm proud of you, Xanthius.

Why? You shouldn't make deal with tricksters. Oh, I wasn't, I was making a trade, not a deal. Although she did want your blood. What? Did try to take a drop of my blood. I wanted to get some blood for this one here, Ophelia. But no, they wanted some of mine in trade and I didn't want to give it.

A wise action. I thought so, I thought so. I'm glad you all agree. I scarf. It's my scarf. Yeah, it is. I don't want to be bitten. Oh!

Oh, my dear, I'm so sorry. I will not, don't worry, there's nothing to be afraid of. Mr. P is next to Rowan again. There's nothing to be afraid of. I won't bite you unless you specifically request I do so. I was going to say, if you're really struggling. It's, Rowan, that's very kind kind but no don't worry i can i can control myself i have a lot of blood i'm sure you do i'm sure just in case you've not picked up like

because obviously we've all seen the character but i think this is the first time like rowan's like like really like his arms very visible and in this low light you can see that rowan's uh kind of gray purple skin becomes this blackened almost burnt burnt-like, but it's not charred, there's no scarring, but just almost blackened skin in the hands. And all these patterns, these kind of geometric shaped lines, faintly glow with this green light here in the dim light. There is this very unusual patterning, which for Ophelia, maybe this is just, you know, he's clearly bigger, maybe he's some sort of race here in Ulfea, but this is probably the first time

where you're holding that arm out, Rowan, that everybody can really- Bulging forearm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And in the dim light, that glowing is more prominent as well. In the daylight, it's not as visible, but in underground, it's much more visible.

I'm just looking away. The markings on your arms they're rowan they're quite remarkable i uh i shy away from that oh i'm sorry i didn't mean to point them out they were sorry they were just drawing the eye thank you carry on i'm sorry that's okay where are we going this way daisy as they're having this conversation you've got the scarf you're just watching this maybe you know up to you whether Okay, where are we going? This way. Daisy, as they're having this conversation, you've got the scarf, you're just watching this. Maybe, you know, I'll tell you whether you feel calmed

by what Ophelia was saying. You do hear Nim. Little one, there is a strange presence here. It's far away, but the touch of the plains is strong here. I feel the presence of something from the Primordial Courts. I do not have much experience against them, but I can feel their presence nearby. Uh, bad presence? With the Primordial Court, it is difficult to say. They were my enemies, but whether they will be yours, I do not know.

But it is powerful, though. For me to feel it at this distance, it must be quite potent. Okay. Is there anything that, that, if, if, you know, we have to fight, is there anything that would be particularly effective? I will not know until I know what we face. The warriors of the Primordial Court and their lords, the Djinn, they can come in different forms, elemental in nature,

but until we know which court it is, I will not know. We are in a mine, yes? Yes. I suspect it is someone from the Earth Court then that we must deal with. They will be toughened and they perhaps have control over Earth and stone and enhance durability. No obvious weaknesses to what I know. But as I said, I did not fight against them very often

in my time. Mainly I fought against the Hellion. That voice has like a bitterness to it when they say it. If we get close enough, then maybe just check back in again. Maybe we'll just see how it goes. Of course I will, little one. I will always look out for you and give you what I know. We'll just see how it goes. Of course I will, little one.

I will always look out for you and give you what I know. Also, if Ophelia tries to bite me in my sleep... Oh, do not worry. Okay. Do you think it's okay if I take the scarf off, then? Yes. Okay, I'll give it to you. Whether or not her... I do not know what her intentions are,

but I can promise you that she will be in for a painful experience, should she try. But now I can't walk it. You don't know this. Maybe my idea. All up in the brain. Just for future reference, all these conversations when you have, are they out loud?

Unless they say it's out loud, it's not out loud. So you can have. What do you look like when you're doing them? This is... Is it like an inerrant when we're all doing Messenger? Probably not as bad, but in this environment, it's dark enough and people are having...

And I would probably be while you guys were having the conversation. Keep in mind that, yeah. She's probably just, like, keeping to herself for a minute. Yeah. But, yeah, sometimes I think she, so if she's completely on her own or if she feels safe, she'll probably,

she finds it nice to talk out loud, but the rest of the time it'll be. You can, okay. So I can, but it'll, it's safe to assume you probably won't hear it unless I tell you you do. Yeah, okay. Nice.

And also, yeah, keep in mind that, like, while you guys are having conversations, this is... Oh, no, I didn't think I was going to hear it. It's also, I mean, if it was out loud, scarf is for us. Yeah, you're just mumbling. So, after that, Daisy will unwrap the scarf

and hold it up to Rowan and be like, thank you. If you're cold, you can keep it. No, that's okay, I feel better now. Okay. It's a bagel. It's a bagel. And I've put light on my dagger again. Okay. So that I've got light.

Rowan also put the scarf over the front a little bit so that his hands are covered up. I think Daisy's kind of sensed that he wanted to cover his arms a little bit. I think Daisy's kind of sensed that he wanted to cover his arms a little bit. To ramp, yeah. Alrighty. Okay.

So, my question still remains though. This is a big, big mine. What is the plan? Do you have somewhere in mind? Are you trying to go somewhere specific? Or are you just gonna start exploring? Because it depends on what you want to do. Rowan?

I think we should go this way forward, delicately. Why are you whispering? Just so that you can tell everybody, because you're the leader. He's so sweet. Groff stiffens at that like you know how like when dads

can't express emotion and we'll do everything to lock emotion down bury it deep inside getting real real red in the face well red in the fur

yeah red in the fur I know there's a little mistiness in his eyes. Yeah. Um. I think we should go this way. This way? Yes.

A fine choice. What's this way? Mine's. Oh, good. Would you like me to go ahead. I don't need a torch to see, so I could keep our, keep, I could look ahead and keep us quite stealthy. Oh, I do have a torch somewhere.

Right now you have Gruff's torch, and with the light spell from Daisy's dagger, you actually have about 40 feet of light around you currently, like if you move together as a group. So right now there's plenty of light for you guys to see by. It's pretty much like 20 feet of light around you currently, like if you move together as a group. So right now, there's plenty of light for you guys to see by. It's pretty much like 20 feet of bright light and then 20 feet of dim light. Keeping in mind in dim light,

if you don't have low light vision, you are at a disadvantage and a minus five penalty to passive. Those of you who have low light ignore the penalties for dim light. So you have about 40 foot of vision. I have my little bullseye lantern as well. If you want to light that, you absolutely can do. Are you doing that, Trot? I am doing that. I have my little bullseye lantern as well. If you want to light that, you absolutely can do. Are you doing that, Trot, or just because I'm keeping track?

I am doing that. I think I did that on the way. Yep, I believe you did. So that is a 60 foot cone of bright. Oh, wow. And then 60 feet of dim. So do you have full-ass dark vision? Full-ass dark vision.

Well, being a vampire. Ass vision. Is it all red? It's like predator vision. Yeah, I guess. What is it for Ophelia? Does it have like a red colour to it? Or is it normal light? Actually, no, because it's darkvision,

so it's shades of black and white. That's right. It does have the restriction of normal darkvision. Like infrared. Like a dog. Does it make noise when you activate it? Great. So just keep in mind, noise when you activate it? Great. So just keep in mind, those of you who do have a light source,

like Daisy, you have to hold it. It's your dagger anyway, so you'll probably hold that. Rowan, one of your hands is holding a lantern, and one of your hands, Gruff, is holding a torch. Just keep that in mind. I'm going to be a lot more on stuff like that this time around. I also have a torch, but it's not lit. It was lit on the way here, but...

Are you holding it, though? It's in my bag. It's in your bag, right. It's around. It sounds like you guys... All of the old things. This burns. And then Xantius burns.

So it sounds like you guys don't necessarily have it. You're just going to start exploring. Right, in that case... They're just going to start exploring. All right. In that case... We're sticking together, though, right? Yeah. Together, yeah. So in that case, we're going to use some journey rules.

This is what is basically a short journey, so it's going to be within a location rather than going from town to town. But the rules are going to be very similar, and if any of you watched our playthrough of the Lord of the Rings role-playing game, I've actually taken a lot of the mechanics from that and we're gonna be using those in that homebrew uh so the way this is going to work is there are four roles guide scout quartermaster and lookout all four roles must be filled um taking on multiple roles incurs a penalty i'm not going to tell you the necessary skills that are going to be related, but the

guide's job is to navigate and to find, basically guide you on the main journey. The guide is kind of the leader of the journey, right? The scout's job is to keep an eye out for things like shortcuts, potential dangers, like in the landscape and stuff like that, you know, kind of let you know of anything else. The quartermaster is to look after supplies. Now on a long journey, that'll be like rations and food and water, on a short journey like this, where light is a big factor, it's gonna be monitoring your torches, how long they last. Torches only last an hour, lantern only last six hours.

Making sure you've got enough oil, making sure that you've got ropes and things, that if you need them, it's gonna be responsible for doing that stuff. And then the lookout's job is literally to look out for enemies and potential dangers and stuff like that. All right. Well, lookout makes sense to be you with dark vision.

Sure. I think I'd either scout because I've got the survival instinct. Maybe. I will say that if you are the one, because you have cartography things you'll have advantage on reading maps and that will help you as the guide a guide is like the one who's reading the map and figuring out where to go I will go look out guide so we need quartermaster and the scale probably

good as either look out or scout for so if you have somebody left over you got nothing i don't know um you can help someone as well i'm moral support yes you can help you can offer the help action i think but all four roles must be filled given there's five of us someone's gonna have to take help right and i thought you've got perception out the ass so i've got quite high ass perception and survival. Maybe you can help with... So lookout, scout, and quartermaster is left. I feel like Gruff could fit into either. Maybe quartermaster? Yeah.

You've got cat eyes? So Ophelia's going to be lookout, just so I've got this down already. All right, so yeah, you've got Scout and Quartermaster to go. I'll do Scout. All right, Daisy for Scout. So I'll do Quartermaster, and then you can help who you fancy. I will help.

Rowan is already getting advantage because he can read the map, because you have a map of the mine. I think I'll help Daisy. Hello. All righty. All right, so you make your way, and you begin wandering through Blackrock Mine. Unable to read the strange language

and codes of the miner's map, you have to rely simply on your own instincts to begin to explore around, finding ways to look for clues or listen out for signs of where Marion and these criminals might be, what might be happening here. Rowan, you have the map in hand with your lantern.

You are the guide. I need you to make a survival check, please, with advantage as you have the map. That's the natural one. Ooh! Good job you have advantage. That's a 17, 20. 20? What a swing.

All right. Because these are mechanics I'm gonna use a lot and I want you guys to learn it, so we're gonna make journeys easier in the future. The DC in general for a journey like this is 15, so Warren succeeds. Because you got a 20, means you succeeded by more than five or more so you've

got five or more above so what that means is you've earned uh three progress in this journey okay very cool and we won't know our progress i'll tell you don't worry um so you've earned three progress and then you'll encounter an event right so you if you got just a normal success if you'd only be in just the 15 if you got like 15 to 19 you'd earn two progress and then have an event right so you if you got just a normal success if you'd only be in just the 15 if you got like 15 to 19 you'd earn two progress and then have an event right if you fail the check you get one progress and have an event and if you fail it by more than five you get no progress and still have to pay an event right so there's always going to be an event every time you make a journey cram it with progress beforehand right now this is a simple journey because it's in one location.

So the difficulty on this is only two. So you only needed two progress to succeed, but you are going to have an event along the way, regardless. Right? So Rowan's done that automatically. Out of interest. Yes. How, I mean, if we're using this rule set also,

I just want to clarify for everyone. How rigid are the roles for this like could a scout try and wrangle like so so this is the thing so the guide will always be a survival check unless it's something like maybe it's a journey in a city i might suddenly be like actually you know survival's not necessarily going to help you in this city yeah you need to know people it's actually going to be a persuasion check on this chain i might change it around for stuff like that okay but if it's for stuff like that. Okay. But if it's in the wilderness, that's what survival does, right?

That's all about it. So we can use that judgment on a lot of these. Absolutely, absolutely. Now, where the scout, quartermaster, and lookout come in is when an event takes place, because I'm going to randomly determine who has to deal with the event. Okay. And these are normally like a little narrative thing.

It might lead into an encounter. It might lead into like a puzzle or something like that. But generally, it'll be a thing that we do do so i can tell you that you're going to reach your destination but along the way something happens um chris drop can you roll a d4 for me please yeah it's a boost it's a four a four in that case it is our lookout uh who encounters an event firsthand there's's the lookout again? Ophelia. Ophelia.

Hello. So Ophelia, this is going to be a perception check. Now luckily, because you have a darkvision, this is not a disadvantage. Okay. It's good on perception. Yeah, perception. What do I roll two dice for? I don't know.

This is normal. No advantage. Do you want to roll again? Just with one? I'll take the lowest. No lowest no no you could just roll just roll one again i don't because like there's there's odds and stuff involved so 21 21 great success um so uh what you encounter affiliates as you're making your way through these mines uh as you begin to journey you're beginning to get a sense and you're beginning to understand some of these symbols. Oh, this symbol means this is a dead end. Oh, this symbol means it's a vein that's being closed off.

Oh, this symbol means that this area is unsafe. And that's one of the things that you find out. As you're making your way just ahead of the group, you start moving down a corridor, this kind of worked mineshaft, and suddenly underneath all of you, there is this deep kind of reverberation. It's thum, and it causes, you know, pebbles and stones and dust to fall from above. And you see the struts and normally in darkness,

even with light, it might be quite easy to miss this. You see the struts crack and you actually see that this whole corridor that you're about to head down could have easily turned into a collapse. And so you stop everybody, and after a few moments, there is this other and the whole thing and you and Lursalula are kind of holding everybody back.

You double back, you find another way round, but you avoid that potential trap that could have harmed the whole party. Damn. All right. Oh, good spot over here. Now, every time you do an event, every time you do an event, if you succeed,

you avoid problems or maybe you find a treasure or you find something else that's gonna happen, but it will always cost you stamina. And stamina is gonna add to a DC at the end of the journey, which will give you exhaustion levels if you fail it and all that kind of stuff. Very similar to what we did in Lord of the Rings. Right? Love it.

Failing it, though, will not only cost you stamina, but also cause other issues, like everybody taking, you know, 2d10 bludgeoning damage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, and this is just going to cost one stamina for this. So, for this event. Falling down a chasm. And so.

I'm into it. I'm into it. I'm into it. 2d10 bludgeoning damage. Is that what that would... Yeah, absolutely it would. So it could have outright killed us. Yeah. It's okay.

Not all of you. Roll to 21. Not all of you. I would have determined the marching order and maybe the first couple of people would get buried in the mine. Percival dead. But what I need everybody,

because Rowan succeeded on his check, is you complete the journey. I need everybody to make a constitution saving throw. DC is 11. Oh, I'm good at these. Oh, I'm...

Natural 20. Oh, I'm so glad you used that now. I know, me too. That's the constitution I wanted it on. That's 14. 14 success.

DC 11. So we got success from... 18. 18. 5. 5 from Rowan. 17. So Rowan, this trip through the mines,

maybe... Rowan's used to being outside on the dales, on the hills, in forests, along lakes. You're getting deep underground now and whilst you feel that connection, that song that you can hear, this screaming torturous kind of agony of the earth, it really begins to grate on you,

and it's exhausting. There's probably a point where you have to almost hold up a thing for the others to go under, and you do, unfortunately, start to feel a bit tired. It's going to be one level of exhaustion, which is new exhaustion, so it's minus one to attacks, ability checks,

and your spell DC save. Okay. So minus one to those things. You probably can't adjust it on D&D. I will make a note that you currently have exhaustion. Tweaked exhaustion rules too? Does this man ever stop? These are the new ones that they were testing out.

So I'll put one exhaustion for you. But what you do reach is through Rowan's guiding and like rowan's taking the brunt of it he's really like the one who's like reading the map kind of stressing leading everybody around but eventually rowan you kind of find the thing this is going to take you a long time if you just keep like winding your way through these mines it's going to take you hours to maybe find out where marion is but you figure some stuff out on the journey. On the map, and you find your way to this kind of central area, you think that you've come across a symbol on the map

which might indicate some sort of like elevator, like a kind of wooden clockwork elevator that can get you up and down. And you think you're fairly confident that Marian and these criminals have made their way to the bottom levels. Just by like exploring around, you see signs that like nobody else has really gone through the other tunnels.

You're finding signs that you think your quarry is at the bottom of Blackrock Mine. And you make your way to this large cavern with this mine shaft in it. And give me a second here. Oh, oh, oh, map time, map reveal. I had a couple of them spared, depending on where you guys went. Oh, cool. You've just got to give me a second here, because I've got to build stuff.

Sweet. Talk amongst yourselves, role play, please, or something. I'm tired. I'm very tired. You did a very good job, Rowan, guiding us through using the map. I didn't know you could read those. Oh, it was mostly Gruff giving me guidance.

Well, in that case, Gruff, great job guiding. Great job, Gruff. It would be dishonorable for me to take take the gratitude for a job I did not do. All of the map reading was done by Rowan. Well, we're hours deep into this mine. Whoever wants my thanks can take it. Rowan.

Thanks. Thank you. Thanks, all of you, for joining me today. This has been a lovely adventure. Has it? Very tight. Well, I mean, there's been acid blood monsters skittering around in the mines.

There's been thrumming and vibrating. That cave almost got us. Nice spot, Ophelia. Thank you, thank you. But we're still here thanks Nice spot, Ophelia. Thank you, thank you. We're still here thanks to that, so. We're still here thanks to you. There we go, we're having a great time. We're also very thankful.

Everyone's here because of everybody. We're all thankful. Very thankful, yes. And I'm pretty sure if we were to take this, this upy, down... Elevator. Yes. Elevator, yes.

It would lead us...to them. To Marion? I should hope so. I've been here for what feels like 15 minutes. Time flies when you're having fun. It's been much longer than that. Can we have our hands, please? You will in a minute. I'll give you your hands. Be patient.

Where did you get that one from? For context. I missed one. When I was confiscating them, I missed one. For context, we have some grabby hands so that we can move stuff around the map. Yes! And they are skeletal.

That was my one I shoved up my nose, so you probably don't want to touch it. You had what colours? You had black. Purple, please. Purple. Thank you. That was my one I shoved up my nose, so you probably don't want to touch it. You had what colours? You had black. Purple, please. Fluffy. Thank you. Tommy Wombus.

Whatever's left. Do you want blue or pink? I'll have the blue one. I'll have pink. I don't mind pink. I would give this to you, Bob. Yeah, I shoved it in my face last week. I pet Angus with it.

I pet my cat with them. So Crispy donated us these tiny extender hands. Tiny extender hands. So we can actually reach the mat. Sort of. We'll see. Can we not? Just give it a minute.

This is why I took them. And what did I tell you? I said if you misbehave with them, I'm taking them back. Yeah. No, we're just showing them that we can now reach the mat. Yeah, good. Well, you've shown them now. You've shown them now. You've shown them now.

I'll slap you with the tiny hand. Right, Kim's taking my dice. Okay, take Kim's. Just Kim's. I'm behaving. So, when you guys enter, it is through the cone-shaped, your torch, by the way, Gruff, has gone out.

So your torch is out. Light, you can just keep recasting, so it's not a problem. Rowan, your lantern has five hours remaining. Five. But a torch... So that was an hour. Torch lasts one hour. And then do I do anything to refresh it,

or is it just like that torch is dead? That torch is burnt out. Yeah, it's gone. So I need to do that. Yeah, you need multiple torches. Oh, how many have I got? Oh, I have nine. Nine?

Yeah, everyone should... I think everyone has ten, usually. Well, it need multiple torches. How many have I got? Oh, I have nine. Nine? Yeah, everyone should, I think everyone has ten usually. Well, it depends on if you start, what you start with. In the usual pack, it starts with ten, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. So I have another one,

but I'll leave it for now because I think... Right now you've got this huge cone that Rowan is pointing around. How big is this bag? Ten torches? What? That's a lot of torches.

Have you ever looked at the basic inventory? It's a basic inventory. Yeah. Literally every... They're not just a stick. Do you know what? No, Tom makes a good point.

Everybody only has five torches now, so you're down to four. Look what you've done now. That was the standard that you get in a D&D adventure. And you just cut us. I don't want to say the standard's incorrect, but ten's a lot of torches. You just fucked us over.

You make a fabulous point. Thank you so much. Here are my torches. So I've got four torches now. I've got five to give out. You don't have any torches. There's no way you would have any. You don't need them. No, wait, please. Can I have yours? I need ten. Thanks, Tom.

Thanks, Tom. You fucked it. I didn't fuck it. You've got light. He's got a lantern thing. Yeah, but some people don't have light. All right, anyway, enough arguing about the torches. Tends a lot. What you guys, so from your current position, as you enter into this large kind of central chamber, is you see a central circular mineshaft that leads down.

You can see that there is this kind of stone and wooden structure that's built around it with iron bars that completely engulf the whole thing. It looks like a cage, basically, that the lift is contained in. There is a large wooden winch and wheel that attaches to a pulley system that connects to it. The lift platform is not there. The ropes go down, but they're right to the edges you know thick kind of ropes and they go all the way down uh there is no lift platform there you can just about see if i count my squares one two five ten fifteen twenty twenty five thirty eight five forty

forty five fifty fifty sixty you can just about see that there are like some barrels and sacks and things like that on the other side anywhere else if it's blocked by walls of the cavern which are these kind of black segments here on the map um the light obviously doesn't pass through them so you will need to move around to explore there might be other things in the rest of the mine that you've not seen right now your cone illuminates uh this kind of like section central section here. Yeah. And then if Rowan spins it, you can see these initial areas to the sides as well.

All right? Okay. That is what you see before you. And at this point, I hand it back over to you guys. And we're still at the top of the... You are in the top level of the mine, yes. Yeah. Well, shall we take a look around? I think so Okay

Signs of where they've been, what they're doing That sort of thing Yes And maybe a mechanism or something to get the thing we stand on Elevator Oh, I think it's that wheelie thing over there That'll do it But it will be loud and they'll probably know we're coming.

That's true. Boy, is this a video game? So, okay, I'm happy to light a torch and have a wander. Who's coming where? Careful, you've only got five of those. You've only got four. Which side are you taking? I'll take the opposite side. Oh, I'll head round to the left.

All right, that'll be all right. Whoever wants to come with me. I'll use my tinder box and light a torch. So you want to kind of go off which way? Off to the, well, this way to the left. The nethery shredded west side of the... Do you want to go up and round or through? It looks like there are these kind of like very narrow looking squeeze through corridors and debris.

This is all difficult terrain. It's like collapsed pieces of rock and stuff like that. Yeah, I mean, I'm going slow. Like if I get to the edge of... Yeah, if I'm only doing 30, I want to get to the edge of that circle there, that wall, and... I think go 35. Oh, you can go 35. Just in case there's something hidden around the corner, you know?

Mm-hmm. I think Graf will go... We'll just do one movement for now. ...Santhius, just because he worries about Santhius. So, five, ten. This is stupid. There are so many... I hate this. So five, ten. This is stupid. There are so many. I hate this.

I hate this already. We're using the metal hands, but I'm also looking at the screen and it is just so many metal bars going across. Only one person needs to move it. Just there. Just there. Just have him there next to you.

Spinning around. It's because everyone's trying to help. Yeah. What about Ronan and Daisy? It worked perfectly for me and I didn't bang my head on the microphone. Ronan and Daisy, where are you heading? This is happening again.

It's two different parties. Ophelia, do you need assistance? Apollo will accept help. Feel free to come this way. Oh, there is one point, one thing I have to go and fetch. You guys figure out what to do. Is it a giant, skittering spider? Percival.

Oh. Oh yeah, of course. Percy, Percy! I'm just waiting for him to bring out the Mega Minis. Percy is, help! Don't need your help! Not the table! You have a thing against this table.

You just did it again! That's a third one now. You actually did it! This is coming out of your paycheck. Okay, that's the second time these skeletal hands have dented the table. I'm putting mine away. No, it's it.

There's three dents on this table and all three of them have been you. He was helping. I didn't want to help. Oh yeah. He was coming with his little hands on a me. I'm gonna need to put a mitten on it or something. You could put mittens on it.

Put mittens on them, yeah. We've got Percival. The closest I have, he's a little ghoul. He's not a skeleton. I'm going to make a proper little Percival. I love him. But he would be with Ophelia. Yeah, my boy.

So he's technically slightly behind. He's not quite as fast as you, Ophelia. Do you have any mittens that your bab's grown out of? Yeah. Is that what I might do, actually? Yeah, I might do actually. Please bring them in. I will. Daisy's going to go as much as she would have stuck with Rowan.

Rowan went towards Ophelia, so Daisy's still being quite unsure. So just first of all, every movement you make, he's just your shadow. He will follow Ophelia unless he's given a command to do something else. All right. So those of you kind of beginning making your way around, so over on Xanthius and Gruff's side, we have Xanthius, you've lit a torch, right? And we have Daisy's light, and we have Rowan's cone there as well.

Okay. So yeah, you ignore the central area and you're just kind of exploring the sides at this point, right? Yeah, I mean, we're getting closer to it. Okay, sure. All right, yeah, so from your current position, you guys see more of these kind of collapsed mines and caves. You can see that a lot of the rock here

has fallen and crumbled away. It looks like a lot of it's been heavily, heavily mined long ago. You see no signs. You don't see anything out of the ordinary just yet. Yeah. Rowan is regretting his decision. Because he's next to Percival now in the dark, and he's trying to like not shine a light on him because it's casting like a skeletal like a skeletal shank, freaking him out. Can we go back with the others now? Are you okay?

Yes, I'm fine. What's up there? What's wrong, Rowan? You can tell me, what's wrong? It's just the cave, that's all. It's just a bit dark. You've got your lantern? Yep. Shady hands. That's all, it's just a bit dark. You've got your lantern. Yep. Yep. Shady hands. You'll be okay, Rowan, don't worry, we're together.

It's okay. That's part of the problem. If you wish to go back, you're more than welcome. Daisy might go back towards the middle and again be like... Looking between two groups. Sure. Because I think she's like anybody who wants to move make a move right now like you guys can sort of you know as long as we're sort of

keeping rough track of you know not you know people are running 100 feet or whatever as long as we're kind of keeping it vaguely in a 30 feet movement like turn like we're moving up to those crates right yeah slowly but surely just go around the side yeah around the perimeter i think i'll probably request Percival to stay back for now, just in case. I'm assuming you're avoiding the difficult terrain. Yeah. 25.

Yeah, where's Percival staying? He's staying here. No, no, oh, you've told him to stay there? I told him to stay. Okay, but he will. Stay with Rowan. I do a really awkward wave for Percival as I leave. One person, one person.

That's why I was doing it. One person. You knocked this one person. That's why I was doing it. One person. You knocked this one over, is the point. You'll be just behind because Ophelia has faster movement speed than you. Percival's loitering in this little alley. Mm-hmm, okay. Blocking it off. It's nice and safe there.

Oh, yes. For now. What about Xanthius and Gruff? I'm happy to press forward, unless you have something to say. I think it's just muttering like a nothing, nothing over there. You see anything? No? Okay, good.

As a point for Xanthius and Graf, there is either you have to kind of squeeze through this narrow channel or make your way over the disturbed stone. There's like a difficult terrain, so you have this kind of

small section here that you can squeeze through or you would be walking over the disturbed rock and stone. After you. Please, you first. I love how everyone's just like, why is Mark pointing out that this is... Gruff would be in front of you anyway

so Gruff would be leading the way. Carry on. And he will squeeze through the... So yeah, 5, 15, 25, I have 35. Oh, 35 so you can get to here i have just 30 so where what about you xanthius you're gonna squeeze through yeah if i can avoid the uh rough terrain i suppose 30 just get to the other side so you're kind of still like like you're trying to avoid this like big landslide of disturbed earth whereas gr as Gruff you've kind of stepped a little ahead

from your position. The two of you, Gruff and Xanthius, now that you can see 20 feet, just in the dim light, you have low light vision, so you ignore that. So for you it's 40 feet of light. You do begin to see scatterings of, you see some more tables over here

with some crates stacked on top. And you begin to see. Oh no. You begin to see blood. Oh. On the ground, in the light. And maybe a. Ophelia!

Ophelia! Have you been this way, darling? You see just on the corner here, in the very distant edges of your vision before it gets too dark, you think you can see an arm just sort of sticking out on the ground out of the darkness.

It'll be just an arm, won't it? He's armless. He'll be just an arm, won't he? Yeah, he's armless. Um... Boom! Uh... Gruff, do you see anything? Squeezing through this.

How... how squeamish are you, Xandius? Squeamish? Why, what do you see? Oh, no! It's a little bit out of your range, but if you kind of step up to next to Gruff... In the movement, the consistent slow movement here. Yeah. Uh, what about, uh, Rowan and Ophelia? What do you think? and just step up to next to the bluff. In the movement, the consistent slow movement here. Yeah, what about Rowan and Ophelia? What do you think?

I think Ophelia would start making her way towards the crate and the little bags and bits, yeah. Yeah, I'm just slinking on behind. 25, 30, easily enough. And then Rowan, you can get there as well. I'm select. Sure. Are you searching?

Yeah, give me an investigation check okie dokie both of you can you're both there that's a four total seven

well I think for Ophelia rummaging around doing things is work human that's that's

undead work yeah you look over it the crate you know just seems to be maybe full of broken pickaxes and things like that. It doesn't look particularly interesting. The barrel's sealed. You don't know what's in there.

Opening it requires effort. The sacks appear to just be like sandbags. They're just used maybe to weigh things down, maybe this lift platform or something like that. And Rowan, for you, you just glance around. You don't have anything to open that barrel with. The crates don't seem to be anything. You don't see anything of importance.

The two of you do notice this large winch device, and you do see that it is basically uncoiled, so it looks like whatever it is, you'd have to wind it to load it up. Immediately, you can tell that this winch absolutely controls the lift. It needs to be basically activated and turned to get the lift moving,

and it might need to be done for different stages of the elevator, basically, the lift. Easily enough to tell that. You can see that otherwise the shaft just goes straight down. That's it, that's what you see from that position. Daisy, what about you doing in the middle? I was gonna move around next to the lift. Sure.

To sort of around. Can I just have like a peer down and see if is that feeling of like that sound and everything coming from down there? Yeah, Nim will tell you

yes, whatever it is, it's down there. And you can see on the map there is this kind of faint light, and at the very bottom of the mine, Daisy, as you peer down, there is this faint purple light at the very bottom. Okay. Right, while you guys do that, Gruff and Rowan, sorry, Gruff and Xanthia, so I want to keep bouncing around.

Should we call the others over? They seem rather preoccupied over there. I can't see them. It's a bit of blood and there's an arm. Oh good, okay, what do you wanna do? I could cautiously, actually, there is maybe a little something I can do. Right.

And then I'll hold up my staff. I'm not entirely sure of the mechanics of this. You want to use the mage hand? Yeah, so I'll hold up my staff, which I guess previously all of you guys would have only just seen it as a staff.

Yeah. But I'll kind of tap it twice on the ground and green light starts to coalesce up the shaft of the staff, spiraling until it hits the top, where a green outline of a bird coalesces. In real-world terms, it looks like a cormorant.

Ice fisher, I think. Ice diver. Ice diver, that's it. Ice diver bird. But it's basically a cormorant. But it's an illusory one, so you can see through it. It glows with green light. And then I guess, Mark, like if we're using it... It basically functions as Mage Hand,

so it has a 30-foot range. It functions exactly as the spell Mage Hand. It is visible, and the Spirit Bird does have AC and hit points, so it can be destroyed by things. But unlike a Mage Hand, it can pick up a few... It can operate things as well.

Oh, so the bird itself is like the mage hand? Yeah. Oh, okay. What a nice flavor. Thank you. And yeah, Xanth, you'd probably see, Sorry. Jeez, I'm here.

You'd probably see Groff momentarily go a bit soft, like looking at the bird, like cooing a little bit, making a few sounds, like a little whistle under his breath and stuff like that. And then the bird will fly out under a little command towards the crates. And I guess for the moment it would just be a little explorer to see if something kind of pops out. Yeah, so with Mage Ant, these crates are too big and heavy for it to really do anything to,

but it kind of taps around. It tries to search around and things like that. It's not quite familiar. It's a little bit more like it's a projection of your will almost, but you make some noise around it. Nothing jumps out or anything like that. It just seems to be some crates and a table at this point.

Can I command it to kind of go down to the arm and maybe pull on it a little to kind of go down to the arm and maybe pull on it a little bit? So it flies down to the arm. I'll just use this little D4 to represent the mage hand or the ice diver. And it grabs the ice diver, the hand with its beak and its legs, and it's trying to pull it away,

but it's too heavy. It does look like it's attached to something. Okay, but yeah, but nothing's popping out, nothing's like... No attached to something. Okay. Yeah, but nothing's, like, popping out. Nothing's, like... No, seemingly not. No. Well, my little bird seems to have investigated and nothing's attacking it.

Your little bird? Aye. She's a likeness of one of my birds called Seren. Oh, back in... Back in Iceheart, in Tremoro. Okay. I mean, I suppose, like, an ice diver is not a cauldron sort of thing. Yeah.

I fish with birds. I have two birds. Okay. Wait. And you have... But it's in your staff. This is not them. This is a representation of them.

I could only afford one as well. I have two birds. Oh, okay. And it, uh... A kindly wizard enchanted my staff. A lovely wizard. Very nice. Was his name Zimz?

Oh, no. He came visiting our village. We don't get a lot of visitors. So that was strange in itself, but he was very kind. Now, I'm asking just what was the thought behind sending the bird out see if anything disturbed any anything was lurking in the dark in case something attacked it the bird you're happy with that this is not my bird this is an illusion we'll come back this is this is an illusion whilst you guys do that i just want to jump in and check in with uh the rest of the team

so we'll have uh rowan and ophelia and then we'll do Daisy. Rowan and Ophelia. So yeah, you look around these crates, brief glance, nothing of real import in this section. Nothing here. I sit on the sandbags and just get my breath back. Sure. Because I'm exhausted. It looks like Daisy's got something over there.

Maybe the winch. Maybe it's, give me a moment and then I can. Maybe the winch. Maybe it's... Give me a moment and then I can start pulling the lift up. Are you going to be okay to carry on? Are you... I'm fine. I just need a little moment. Well, if it's all clear here,

do you want me to see if we can have a little sit down for a while before we continue? Oh, no, I wouldn't want to stop the momentum. We're against the clock. Bad stuff's happening. Yeah, okay, and it's like you're tired. It's one level of exhaustion, so you're tired, but you can definitely still just do stuff.

I'll do a little sit. Yeah, a little sit. I'll be fine. Can you keep me posted? Posted. As in you let me know if you need help. Oh, yes. All right, Ophelia, if you need help. All right. Ophelia, do you want to do anything while Ryan's having a sit?

I'll have a look. I'll go over to Daisy and see what Daisy's up to. On her way, she'll be, like, sort of dancing her way over. Like, because she's just done a little bit of busy work, so she needs to do something. Ah, right. So you need to do a little bit of a running man. It's more like how ballet dancers,

when they sort of take steps, they sort of take very light, almost deer-like steps. Yeah, yeah. On point. On point, yeah. So she sort of points her way over. The pointy one. For the great father.

Hello, Daisy, how are you doing? So Daisy's been looking at this purple glowing light in there, and so she's just standing there, doesn't at all notice that Ophelia has danced up behind her, and then you hear, da da da. Yeah, the scream echoes through this mine, by the way. Like, it's like, Echoes all the way through.

Have you found anything? Sorry, hi. I'm not going to bite you, it's okay. I know, but you can't sneak up on me. I'm really... Forgive me. There's a glowing light, and it's really spooky, and then you sneak up.

Forgive me, I'm very sorry. I will try to be more... It's okay, it's really spooky and then you sneak up. Forgive me, I'm very sorry. I will try to be more mindful, I suppose, of that kind of behavior. I'm just a bit jumpy just now, it's fine. I appreciate it, it's okay. I don't know if, that's definitely where it's coming from, but it's glowing purple, so. As you point down, Daisy, you hear another one of those

whole cavern kind of shakes. It's like rock and dust kind of drops down. Can I make like an arcana check or something against that purple light? Absolutely, you can. Yeah, absolutely. Whiz. Four again. Never mind.

I mean, what was the total? Four. Four. So far away, magical light of some kind. Do we? It's all you. Yeah, yeah. Must be our fair stuff.

Yeah, I mean, maybe. I mean, yeah, just at this distance as well, there's not really any information. This must be what they call the sun. Yeah, the sun is down there. Let's not do the D&D trope of like, I rolled a one. I don't understand how physics works.

I know exactly nothing. I know less than nothing. Okay, so while you guys are having that look, let's jump back over there because Xanthius and Gruff looks like you guys have got something you're investigating. I'll go look at it.

Have you ever seen a dead body before? I haven't, but I feel as much as I appreciate your help. You have, right? Outside the mine. I have. Have you ever seen a dead body before? I haven't, but I feel as much as I appreciate your help. You have, right? Outside the mine. I have. You have just seen a dead body. Literally today. Literally today. Here's a day of firsts, eh?

If I had a penny for every dead body I'd seen today, I'd have two pennies. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice. Two copper pennies. Two copper pennies. I'll check. I feel I need to prove myself to you. I'm just going to keep talking, it's okay.

Just stand behind me a little bit, would you? No, I'm taking the lead on this one. You have very lovely birds. I'd love to... I'm getting closer to the body. Yeah, yeah. He did the smile that he does when he's like, I'm going with him, by the way.

I'm pacing with him. I'd love to meet them someday. Maybe when, if we ever go down to Iceland, we could. They'd love to meet you. So, as you guys make your way over. I'm sorry, I can't. This poor boy. It's a dead body.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. We're good. We poor boy. It's a dead body. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. We're good. We're good. Carry on. As you make your way over in the light of Xanthius's torch, you come across a corpse. Looks like they have pulled themselves up into what appears to be this

narrow dug tunnel, maybe about three foot wide. Rough. Doesn't look like a miner's tunnel, though. It's too low, too small. They're kind of pressed up against it. You see a dwarf, male dwarf. You can see that they have kind of the metal skin, the earth

skin bands all around their neck and down their arms. And there's a great gaping wound in their side like something has ripped and torn at the flesh and torn into their body almost, like kind of pulling and ripping and tearing. You can see that in one hand,

they actually hold a very elegant-looking matchlock pistol, a dragon fire pistol. So this is one of these, it's a new cauldron invention. It is a very simple firearm. Holds two shots, almost like a kind of double-barreled shotgun, like two pre-put bullets. It's holding it, holding their side, blood pouring from its eyes, from its mouth, from its ears.

Looks like they died in terrible, terrible pain. You can see that they do have like a miner's satchel, like a bag, and there's something metal in their hand, but they've got their hand closed around it, but you can see just the glint in the torchlight. Spicy. Gruff, you... No, what'd you guys do?

I think, uh... I mean, I think my initial thing would be to find out how it died. But that would be a medicine check. Yeah. Sorry, what did you want to do? Just while... The gaping hole in him. Yeah.

Sorry? The bleeding eyes and ears and mouth as well. He's just said what he's doing. He's doing a medicine check. But you also said he's bleeding from eyes and mouth. I did, yeah. Don't worry about it. You do your check, my guy. I was joking.

And what is Gruff doing whilst? I guess just while he's studying, Gruff would take a moment and just be like, may your soul listen to the stars in the name of the scions. Okay, nice. Just kind of a little. All right. What do we get? 19. Oh. 19. Just kind of a little. All right, what do we get? 19.

Oh. 19. You kneel down, because you have to get close to examine a body like this, like to try and figure out what killed it. Yeah, but I'm on the other side of the body from the hole. Oh, sure, like you're on the other side. You're like looking at the hole. Yeah, like, gosh, almost like,

the ripping and tearing, it's very fine and clearly this deal dealt terrible damage to the creature to this poor dwarf late you know maybe organ damage or buried into him but you don't think it was actually their cause of death it was bad wound but not enough to kill them and it's maybe sort of six inches so in diamonds it's big in this side but you think looking at the blood loss and like the condition of the eyes and the ears, the blood pouring from them, you don't think this is what killed them.

You think that all happened after this wound. Looking at the wound as well, almost like small teeth, like rats or something have bitten into it and, like, bitten into the creature. And you place your hand, like, against the body. You're trying to attempt to, like, how long has it been dead for? And as you place your hand against the body. You're trying to attempt to see how long has it been dead for.

And as you place your hand there, you feel something ripple and move on your skin. Oh, okay. As you do, something bursts from the body. I was going to say, is the wound from the inside out or the outside? Something in my head went alien, just as that. And I was like, is the wound inside out or outside in? I was worried it was going to be like,

is it the thing where he puts his hand against it and then it just goes into the thing? You watch as a swarm of miniature versions of the creatures you saw upstairs, these black carapaced belemorphs, these tiny swarm of them. And that is where we roll initiative.

Oh, that's horrible. I hate that. I hate that. I was literally about to say, does the wound, it comes from the inside out or the outside in? I was thinking chest boosters.

No. It actually looks like it goes in. Yeah, okay. But it looks like they've gone in and then nested in the body. And now they're bursting out. And now they're bursting out. The fact that like little, like little.

Not one! Woo! Well, let's start with Rowan, what's the total? Two. Two, Gruff. 17. 17, Daisy. Nine.

Nine, Xanthius. Seven. Seven, Ophelia. Seven. Seven. Ophelia. Eleven. Eleven. That's bad. As these creatures, just before we go to Gruff on the first turn, in fact, maybe we go for a little break and then we come back afterwards.

But before we do that, as these creatures burst and erupt and they let out this ear-piercing screech. Oh, no. You hear that skittering. Oh, no. You hear that skittering. Oh, no. Oh, the hive mind, yeah. Rowan, you are currently sat on the sacks, right? Oh, no.

You watch as the stone and the earth of the cave wall that you're currently resting against breaks as something digs through. No! They're in the walls! No! They're different to last corner, aren't they? Oh my god!

They're in the walls. Have we never seen a raptor? They are. That's mine. Oh my god. One near Rowan, one near Ophelia and Daisy, one around the corner. Oh, there's two. Oh my god.

Two nids. You watch, and these do look slightly different to the ones that you fought above, mainly because maybe Mark changed their stats a little bit. Ah, so they are the same. And changed them a little bit and also bought new minis for them because I wanted tyrannids. But that is what we see. So Rowan, before Gruff turns,

you are actually going to go first, Gruff. But just before that happens, Rowan, you feel this thing burst. And that's where we're going to take our break. See you in five minutes, everybody. Oh, no. Bye. Bye.