High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #3 | Into the Depths (Part 2)

Episode Date: November 23, 2023

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Pickaxe. Hello everybody and welcome to part two of High Rollers Althea the Dragon Empire episode three. You join us as our party have descended into Blackrock Mine and navigating their way through using Rowan's expert sort of guiding skills and expertise with maps to lead the way. guiding skills and expertise with maps to lead the way. You have found yourself in a central chamber that contains a lift, an elevator that descends to all the different levels of the mine. Exploring around, the actual lift platform is not there currently.

And kind of exploring around, a dead body was found that seems to be holding a variety of different items but when Xanthius and Gruff went to examine it, it suddenly burst of creatures a swarm a swarm of these belemorphs, these tiny creatures

that seem to be somehow involved in what's going on here have burst through the creature's body and then following pursuit after hearing this kind of high-pitched screech more of these creatures the larger ones uh similar but different to the ones that you fought outside the mine entrance begin to appear burrowing their way through the rock and appearing in ambush um i am actually also i forgot to mention this as well, because of your passive perceptions, this is a surprise. I'll be surprised when it bursts out of my hand.

The only person that is not surprised, I'm going to give to Gruff, because your passive is 15, you are with Xanthius, so you are going to get to act, the monsters get to act, and then we're going to reset the turn, because the rest of you are like uh so gruff you are the first to act oh god okay so while they're um so xanthius is currently being swarmed with little they've just burst out the body and they're not on him they are not on him they are basically so because this is a swarm, swarms can occupy the same space as a creature

and you can occupy the same space as them. So right now, both you and Xanthius are in the middle of this swarm of creatures. They are all around your feet. They're crawling up your legs. They are on both of you right now. Like quicksand, they're in my mouth. I'm just thinking of-

You definitely don't want me to make that true. I'm thinking of The Mummy, you know, when- Oh yeah, yeah. One of my favorite movies ever. When the rock comes. Definitely not an inspiration for the particular thing. Don't talk about that one. So anyway, Gruffydd.

Don't talk about Scorpion King. A lot of stuff to get through. I would like to, I think just as an immediate reaction, he would fuck off. Podcast listeners, Trot is fucking around with my D&D Beyond. He would roar, so it was a bonus action. Do a daunting roar, which basically means

they need to succeed on a wisdom saving throw, DC 13, or become frightened. What does the rule sound like? Okay, as... Man rule. Like MGM. They do have advantage on this. MGM.

So that is going to be wisdom saving throw. Yeah. 16, unfortunately, with advantage. Because they are a swarm, it's hard, like, they are, like, individually frightened, but there seems to be something, like, almost, yeah, like maybe this hive mind is helping them resist the effects of it.

It did look like they could have been frightened, but they managed to overcome their fear. What's the range? So I believe that's a bonus action. Does that get the other one? Yeah, and what is the range? That's a good point. 10 foot.

They will not forget the others then, unfortunately. So is that a bonus action? That was my bonus. Okay. The armor of Oakenthorne is bonus action as well, isn't it? Yeah. Okay. In which case, I just don't...

I remember that this might not be the only fight as well, so don't feel like you should burn all your abilities. I already have. We already... Well, it's a problem then, isn't it? I've got no spells. We've got nothing. I've got nothing left. I've got some pretty banging cantrips,'t there? I've got no spells either. I've got nothing left.

I've got some pretty banging cantrips, but like... I've got two spell slots. But if I do a produce flame, which can be used to attack as well, would that attack us, like given that they're in the same space? No, no, no. In which case,

it's probably not the wisest, but I'm going with my gut instinct. He wants to try and burn them off, burn them away. So I would do a produce flame. Sure. I guess again, it would probably come from the staff. Sure. Let me just check one thing on produce flame here.

So cantrip, a flickering flame appears in your hand. The flame remains there for the duration. As you can also attack with the flame, although doing so will end the spell. When you cast the spell or as an action on a later turn, you can hurl the flame at a creature and make a ranged spell attack. So we'll be at disadvantage

because they are right next to you. That's the one thing I wanted to check. I mean, you can still do it. Just we'll be at disadvantage. Yeah. As you just try an instinctive thing, right? Yeah, okay, let's just go do it. Just will be at disadvantage. Yeah. As you just... Like an instinctive thing, right? Yeah.

Okay, let's just go with it. Let's go with it. Yeah, don't worry about it. Look, you have disadvantage, no big deal. Just roll high. What's that one? That's a shame. Listen, that was just bad timing, man.

Like, I just happened to say it as you rolled. In some ways, it was perfect timing because you said, just roll high, lol. Just bad timing, man. Like, I just happened to say it as you rolled. In some ways, it was perfect timing, because you said, just roll high, lol. Just roll high, lol. That drew one and a 15. Yeah, unfortunately, being so close, as they begin to swarm onto you, it just throws your aim off the flame

and golfs the stone next to you. No effect, unfortunately. I tried. See ya. Anything else on your turn? That's all I've got. I guess I would try and, like, because they're swarming us. You can move. i'll be trying to protect xanthius like okay you know like

same space role play wise you're definitely trying to like yeah tend to him first but unable to to really do anything just yet all right the belemorph rippers why are they called rippers because they have an action called rip and tear which No! Which they're gonna do to Xanthius. Yes. Doom. A 14 to hit you, Xanthius. Does hit. Does?

Does. Oh. So, they're at full strength, so this is gonna be. Oh Christ, that's a lot of dice. That's all right. That is gonna be five points of slashing damage. Okay. Additionally, I need you to make a strength saving throw, please.

Oh, no. Strength save? Mm-hmm. Huge. Seven. No, ten. Ten. So as these things bite and slash into you,

one of them has leapt up and is attached and is trying to burrow through. And now you see where that man's like into your side. So it's like burrowing in. It's probably like latched onto like, yeah, around your like kidney side area. And it's It's narrowing there and it's like latched on.

That is their turn. No! Little things, like little things. No! Little things. Yeah, big things are more open. Sorry, I realise I also still have a rune from the previous battle, which I would like to expend to reduce the damage on that. Yeah, sure. So it was five damage, right?

It was. I reduce it by two, so three damage. Okay, I'm actually gonna say, because that rune, the nature of how it works to protect you, it actually stops the creature from biting into you. Because the way it deflects off, like you're kind of using the runes

to project this force away, so it wouldn't be able to, because they're quite small, they're quite small, these creatures, so I'm gonna say it actually rebuffs it away, so it's not attached to you. Oh, good. Thank you very much. That it's not attached to you. Oh, good. Thank you very much. That's all right.

Love you. That's okay. Meanwhile, the rest of you... I know. In actual fact, I'm going to take back a set of movement here because of the nature of how these things work. Oh, my God. I'm being trick-or-peed by... Oh, my God. Oh, that's really... of these things work. Oh my god, I'm being trick or peed by. Oh my god.

Oh, that's really bad. So yeah, I'm gonna take some movement back. So these creatures, seeing Rowan, two of them immediately pounce on Rowan. The one that was closest to Gruff and Xanthias, you look over and it looks towards you, and then you almost hear this screech, and then it turns and it follows up

so that at least three of them charge towards Rowan. Oh. One on me, three on Rowan. They are, all three of them are gonna make an attack against Rowan. That is an 11 to hit Rowan on the first one. Yep.

11 hits? Yeah. What? Yep. Oh, dude. I got 11 AC. That is three points of piercing damage on the first one. The next one is a nine to hit.

And then the last one is a 19 to hit. Four points of piercing damage. As they rush up towards you, these kind of scything talons like picks, digging into you trying to get to you. Looks like this is what they use to dig through the stone. And then... Are we roleplaying pain now? No, this is not roleplaying. 22 to hit you.

One point of piercing damage. Just kind of straights on. Ow! Wow. Stop, immediately stop. So that is the surprise round. Everybody's initiative now kicks in. Gruff, we go back to Garbo.

Okay, so seeing, I think, being actually inspired by Xanthias and his protective rune would activate the armor of Oak and Thorn. So that kind of hardening, like, Oak and Thorn. Watch this, yeah, wood and plant matter kind of grow over you and form into this knight-like armour.

So that is my bonus action. So yeah, I'm going to attack and just try and like with this... There's a big boy right next to us, isn't there? Yes. What are you using to attack and what are you doing? So my quarterstaff.

So I had my quarterstaff out from when I was... You don't have Shillelagh on it yet, though. I don't have Shillelagh on it yet, though. Just a normal bonk. Just a normal bonk. That is an 11 to hit. Against which one?

The swarm. The swarm. Sadly not. No, the swarm itself. Nearly. But they kind of part ways, almost sensing the attack, kind of leaving this gap as the quarterstaff slams into the ground. I only have one

attack, don't I? Yuck. For now you do. And I think that's pretty much murder she wrote on all I can do right now. Although... Wait. You did attack, so you get your temporary hit points. Is Shalala... A bonus action. Okay, yeah. Sorry, I just had it under other and I was like, what?

It's a bonus action to do. But you did, I just had it under other and I was like, what? It's a bonus action to do. But you did attack, so you do get your temp HP from armor of Oak and Thorn. You just take the attack action. Thank you for reminding me. It's all right, it's a brand new thing that we've made up, so it's gonna take a while to get used to.

End of your turn, Gruff. End of my turn. Alrighty, the Rippers are being rebuffed from Xanthias and not seemingly to understand what's going on, they're going to attack Gruff this time. I'm just not into you. That is only going to be a five to hit. So kind of biting into the armor,

but being fended off by the new wooden armor that you've got surrounding you. We then go to the workers, which are the normal-sized Belemorphs. Rowan, they're going to do the same thing again, unfortunately to you. No Rowan, they're gonna do the same thing again, unfortunately to you. No! Yep, they are.

15 to hit on the first one. That is only a 12 to hit on the second one, but it still hits. And then the last one is a nine to hit. Okay, so two out of three. Two out of three. So two piercing damage, two more piercing damage. So two piercing damage, two more piercing damage.

But they are surrounding you, by the way, and as they do, because when it comes to your, in fact, I'll tell you on your turn, Xanthius against you, that is only a 12 to hit. No, miss. Nice, mage armor. Mage armor, yeah. Knocking them away. That's what blocks it. Nice.

That is all of their go. We then go to... Who's up first? Ophelia. Cool. I'm going to whip around, pull out my blood whip, and go for the...

Closest one to you. Closest one to me, yeah. Yep. Try and get Rowan a bit of a hand. Yep. One of the ones surrounding Rowan. All righty. I won't rage or anything at the moment.

Okey-dokey. Twelve to hit. Twelve. Now the carapace just deflects it dang it okay uh and bonus actions i know i can't really do anything so that's my turn i think i'll just move 10 feet i'll keep them i want to keep them in 10 foot range so basically i just want to move around to the side yeah yeah or do you want to go like down this way uh i'll move the first position where you had it oh this one yeah so they can't come behind me okay sure nice uh all right cool thank you so i feel you with the blood whip uh but unfortunately their carapace knocks it away daisy

oh hi um so i will seeing that rowan is in trouble. Yeah, Rowan is bleeding heavily as well. No, no, no, no, no! And I will get my short sword. I've already got my dagger in my hand, and I will go up to this one that's close, yeah, the one that's further away. I can go to the one that's further away, because Ophelia's over there.

So I will try and attack that with my short sword. Yeah, you come up behind it, shrieking with your blades. Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen to hit. Just hits. Oh, my God. Just slips through the carapace. What? No.

No advantage. You're getting confused with sneak attack and advantage and stuff again. Yeah. You don't gain advantage from having an ally within five feet. That's it. Am I within five feet of Rowan? You're not, but you're within five feet of the target. The target just has to be within, I think.

The thing that you're attacking has to be within five feet of an ally. So I get sneak attack. You do. Yeah. Six damage. Six points of damage. And I'm going to mark that one as C. Unfortunately, still barely alive, but it is bloody.

You can see this thick kind of green blood begins to bleed out of it, and as it does, there is a kind of slight sizzling, but not quite as powerful acid, but it does kind of sizzle as it hits the thing. Doesn't melt the stone, though, but yeah, you kind of plunge your blade in. Maybe on your short sword, there's like a faint sizzling,

but not enough to damage it. I dagger. A bonus action to dagger. Ooh, 18 plus five. Will hit. So this is just the d4 on its own. Oh, I didn't add my plus three, sorry. So it would be nine damage before.

Nine points of damage. I will add that three points of extra damage. Looking very hurt. Yeah, just the d4 on this one. Three. Three points of damage. With that last bit from Yeah, just the d4 on this one. Three. Three points of damage. With that last bit from the blade, as you plunge the sword sword in

and then bring the dagger down, almost hearing Nim in your head like, yes, now to the side, under its carapace, you're kind of hearing this like, help to think. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Oh, wow. This creature. That noise just kept going.

Very dramatic, these creatures. Daisy's just like, when she's fighting with the sword and the dagger, it's not like finesse. It's like, okay, okay, okay, I'm doing it. It's happening. Like, it's not. As you do, the blades stab in

and you see all the Icarus blood kind of fly over the way. There is this, as it dies, there is almost this kind of like, not cloud of poison or mist, but something kind of gets released, like an invisible gas or something. The other two Belemorphs nearby look towards you, immediately switch from Rowan to Daisy.

It's almost like some sort of pheromone or something as you feel it kind of coating yourself from the one that you killed. You have one stack of pheromones. Okay. All right. Is that the end of your turn, Daisy? Yeah, that's all I can do.

Xanthius. Okay, so I'd like to try and get away from these things in order to be able to do something. Well, that would require you to be disengaging. It would be, which is an action. However... I'll ask you a rouge. Yeah, true. A rouge.

I'm guessing both of these things, even the swarm has opportunity attack, right? Maybe. Yeah, I want to try and... Just book it? Move back away from these things because the only cantrips I have are ranged. So you want to provoke the opportunity attack? I do, yes.

I will say that you can do five, and then you're out, and then where would you want to go from there? I'll make my take-tips in a minute. I mean, I know that the other light, and I can get... You can see Rowan. I almost want to sort of slowly move towards that direction, but not so far away from Gruff that... No, I mean, you can still... You're still within range of...

30 feet. I will make my two opportunity attacks. Please do. Nine on the first one. And 19 on the next one. Miss. That is from the swarm, which the swarm is a bit meaner. That is going to be two, four.

Only four points of piercing damage, but I do need you to make that strength saving throw again. Well, I will be... No, wait. Sorry, I haven't actually conjured. I would have conjured this thing, but I didn need you to make that strength saving throw again. Well, I will be... No, wait. Sorry, I haven't actually conjured. I would have conjured this thing, but I didn't this turn. So I'll do it. I'll take it.

Strength. That is a 10 again. A 10. Unfortunately, the same thing happens. One of these things, this time actually finding purchase as it bites onto your leg this time, like onto the chunk of your thigh,

and it latches on there. So that's one from the swarm. The swarm is still in thigh and it latches on there. So that's one from the swarm. The swarm is still there. It's like an effect of when they attack, one of them sort of like latches onto you. Yeah. Well, bonus action, I want to use a sorcery point

to charge two runes. Yes. Watch as these doesn't illuminate just yet. They sort of glow, I guess, almost as much as Roland's arms. And I will Firebolt. Which one, the Swarm or the... Okay. Although, do I wanna...

No, yeah, Swarm. So, Firebolt. I need to do a hero check. Ooh, 23. That will hit. Would you like to add something to this? An extra roll? What is this temptress?

He's using his devil voice. Well, how? No, I don't actually. Okay. I don't, not this time. So it's just 1d10 of damage. You feel it building up. Oh, I will.

Just, it's not. There's a lot of them. I've got one attached to me. I've not got the best health. And I felt what it does to me. Okay. So I don't want to incur that wrath. That is a five fire damage.

Five fire damage. Fire damage seemingly having a big effect here as it burns several of these things away. They are vulnerable to fire damage, meaning they take double damage. Fire damage seemingly having a big effect here as it burns several of these things away. They are vulnerable to fire damage, meaning they take double damage. Ten points of damage. The flame kind of incinerates a bunch of them, burning them away.

Like a goddamn natural one. I know, right? But yeah, you watch this. Still alive. Still alive. Okay. Badly wounded, but not quite under half health, not bloodied yet. Oh. But hurt.

Bloodied. All right. Anything else on your turn, Xanthias? That's everything. Everything bonus. Rowan, now, until Daisy had killed that one, you were going to suffer from something called being overwhelmed. If you have three or more of these things around you,

your speed becomes zero, and you take damage at the start of your turn because they're basically pinning you in. But Daisy, just appearing from the shadows, plunging the blades in dragging one down frees you up and the other two immediately focus on her and it's now your turn all right I'm in danger I'm in danger I'm going to equip my longsword in preparation draw that it's a free action to draw it

I will point it at the closest Belemorph, cast Vicious Mockery. Okay. Your manners aren't good. That was sad. You tell him, Rowan! Wisdom 13, please. Wisdom seven through 13.

These are high minus, they have advantage. Still a fail, seven. That's three points of psychic damage. Three points of psychic damage. It's such a funny spell. You just watch this creature kind of like, turn its head and then look at you, but there's no understanding of what's happened.

It just like. And then I'm going to look at Ophelia and say, I believe in you. You can do this. Please help. I'm scared. And this is Bardic Inspiration.

Bardic Inspiration, d6. Okay, nice, thank you. I wanna give one to Lisa, she knows that she's got the Bardic Inspiration. This is Bardic Inspiration, d6. Okay, nice, thank you. Do you want to give one to Lisa, she knows that she's got the Bardic Inspiration. This is it. What is it on? What is Bardic Inspiration? Because it's different.

No, so it's attack rolls and ability checks, I believe. Ability, attack, and saving. Oh, and saving points. Nice, awesome. I can also do magical inspiration, so if you were to heal yourself or cast a healing spell, you could add that bonus to your spell. Wow. That's pretty good.

Yeah. And then depending on the type, if you have a bard subclass, sometimes that changes what you use. Yeah. But yeah, great stuff. So you can add it to attack rolls, ability checks and save throws.

Great stuff. Rowan, full turn. Would you like to try, I mean, you're penned in. They're going to get opportunity attacks. You're higher in the initiative than Daisy, right? Yes. I feel he goes before Daisy. All right. End of set. Yeah, I'm not going to move because they... They'll get opportunity attacks. You're higher in the initiative than Daisy, right? Yes. I feel he goes before Daisy. All right.

End of set. Yeah, I'm not going to move because they... They'll get opportunity attacks. Chomp. Gruff. Oh, my apologies. Top of a brand new round. This fighting, as it's going on...

Oh, no. One more of these things. Oh, son of a... Oh, come on! We're level two, Mark! Better get out of this room, then. Percival, run! Save yourself!

I'm just waiting for us to turn around. He's ripping one of these things in half. Oh, don't. I'll cast Shillelagh on my staff. Bonus action. You see the staff illuminate with green magic. And I think I'll go for the Ripper

because it's lurking. It's just it's horrible. So 15, 16, 17, 20 to hit. 20 will hit

and this will count as magical damage because it's Shillelagh so it seems to cleave through these things even though it's a swarm almost like pulses of magic like fending them off.

Seven points of damage. seven points of damage seven points of damage my dearest apologies i forgot something about these rippers uh it's gonna be fine because i'm gonna do it um i'm gonna say that for the fire bolt because it was fire damage it didn't affect them but as the shillelagh slams down on them it causes several of these little things to burst. Oh. As they do acid is released. How much damage did you do? Seven. I'm afraid, Gruff, you take seven points of acid damage.

Wow. Oh, my gosh. No, Dexterity saving throw. Dexterity saving throw. Dexterity saving throw. My apologies. I forgot about the saving throw. Just in that 20 now.

Yeah, just in that 20. Now, technically, I could have done that when Tom dealt the fine damage to him, but I forgot. Six plus seven, eight. Yeah, sorry, seven. Seven. Unfortunately, you will take seven points of massive damage as you...

But you do see these Belemorphs, there's barely a few of them left. They're these little rippers, like splatted. But because I did a melee attack, I gained four. So that would have taken the four from the previous. From your four, yeah, that would have taken off the four temporary, and then you would take three to your actual HP.

Okay. Then you gain another four because you took the attack action, because of your armor of Oak and Thorn. Sweet. So it always, like, yeah, it basically, the temp HP won't come in until you've taken the damage, basically. Got it. Because of the way the reactions work.

All right, anything else on your turn, Gruff? Yes, no, that's it, me, bye. Okie dokie. Goodbye. Bye. Yes, no, that's it. Me, bye. Okie dokie.

Goodbye. I don't know if you have any new mechanics for this, but if it looks like that Ripper is going to run to Xanth, can I use my movement to be in its way or anything like that? You would get an opportunity attack. You could use that opportunity attack to try and shove them, to try and grapple them. That would stop them moving, I would say. You can't really use your thing to get in the way of them but i would say if you wanted to instead of doing damage you could make an opportunity to try and grapple it these things

look so hurt an opportunity attack might finish them off though so yeah might be worth doing you should speak with animals as a point uh xanthius you took a turn after one got attached to you didn't you because it attached. No, it attached on your movement. Yeah, that's good. Good to know. The little rippers are just gonna turn on you, Gruff. Like they are just gonna focus on you. Yep.

That is gonna be an 11 to hit. So the little rippers can crash. Tries to bite into the armor, but is being fended off as they do so. I would die a little bit. Ah! The Belimoth workers. Sensing a more dangerous prey.

Me? When you make an opportunity... This guy was actually here. I thought I was attacking him, though. You attacked the swarm. Oh, I thought I was attacking the ripper. The rippers are the swarm. Oh, I thought I was attacking the big boy.

Oh, you weren't next attacking the big boy. Oh. You weren't next to the big boy. No, I wasn't. So, shall we leave your attack on the swarm? So you've dealt damage to the swarm. It's happened now. Because they also burst as well. Yeah. It's happened now.

All right, okay. Well, this guy is gonna make a rush for Xanthius, and then the two are gonna basically, Rowan, they're gonna move around you. They're not gonna provoke opportunity attacks from you, because they're gonna move around you instead. They're not going to provoke opportunity attacks from you because they're going to move around you instead. Cheeky. And go for Daisy.

Nope. Xanthius. That is a 13. Yeah, just. Just. Yeah. One point of piercing damage. Oh, I'm dead.

No, I'm not. Daisy. 19 on the first one. Mm-hmm. 10 on the second one. All right, on the first one, it's gonna be three points of piercing damage. You can see it's almost attacking you

with slight extra ferocity, almost drawn to this stack of vermons. Then the other one's just arrived, so it does not take its turn. Just a bit. B-E-L-A-M-O-R-P-H. Bella Morph. I put two.

Just the one L. Bella, Ella, Ella. Just the one L, actually. Ophelia. Morph, Morph. Bella Rosa. Ophelia is going, sensing the belief that Rowan has in her, she's going to rage.

Heartbeat red light, do-do-do-do-do, light pulsing because i'm edgy as hell at least you admit that yeah i will admit it all right so advantage because i'm gonna reckless reckless with the d6 she's going in uh 19 plus 4 23 23 will hit uh so one of these has been slightly wounded by the viciousicious Mockery. A, and then we have B, which is unharmed. Which one would you like to attack? I'll go for A, because my attack's only at four. Okay.

Kadosh! Get your Rage Damage bonus, though. One. That's real weird. Five. And then Rage bonus is plus two. So, five, seven, seven total. So I think, so did you roll a one on the die?

I did. And then you get two from your modifier, right, from your dex, and then the rage bonus would be the extra two, so it would just be the plus four. Okay. That's already factored in, I think. Yeah, cool. Alrighty, so five points of damage.

Five damage. Five damage as the blood whip, whoosh, cracks on this thing, you see it heavily wounded now. Like. All right, that's my turn. Yep, okey dokey. Anything you see there. So bonus action, you've kept within 10 feet.

You would just need to step, because this thing is technically here, you would just need to step five feet forward, if that's all right. Yep, all good. Just keep you in range. We then go to Daisy. Yeah, gonna do the same thing again.

Yeah, absolutely. Short sword. Do you want to go for the injured one or the uninjured one? That's a natural one, so it doesn't matter. Bonus action. Offhand attack. Yep. Go for the injured one.

Try to finish it off. That was a 19. It's. And I still, do I still get sneak attack? So you do in fact, so you don't add your modifier, it would just be a d4, but you do get sneak attack because it's only once per turn and you missed on the first attack, so you would still get your sneak attack. Oh yeah. So it's d4 plus d6. Four.

Four points. If it's the injured one you're going for, that is enough. You watch as... Double kill, yo. Double kill. As it does, the same thing happens, that kind of invisible gas. You see the last remaining Belemorph almost frothing like spit at its mouth, looking desperately at Daisy

as you gain another stack of pheromones. Not to make things worse for Daisy, but what about the Belemorph next to me? It certainly is looking at her, but it seems almost focused as you're kind of in its way right now. Can I shut your little mouth? Don't worry, Katie. Xanthius, your turn.

At the start of your turn, you feel that thing beginning to borrow deep rings. No, that's fine. I'll take that one off your hands. What would I do to, hey, rip this thing out of my leg? Is it an action? It would be an action to remove it, yes. Oh, God. Action to remove it.

You basically have to pull this thing. I mean, worth it. Kinda have to, right? You wanna turn into a little Belemorph, do you? Can I? I saw what happened to that dude, yeah. I also, yeah. Can I... use my torch?

Oh, that's nasty. You're gonna cauterize. It's the same thing, it would still be an action. Right. If you want to do that as the flavour of you getting rid of it, absolutely. Because if it's like a strength check... I just said it's an action. You don't know.

For flavor, if you want to be like torched, absolutely. Get out! I don't think I could pull it out. And I've felt pain before, so I'll torch my leg. All right, you don't need to roll. So with the torch, using your action, as soon as you get the flame nearer, you hear the creature, and it burns away,

and you being a gold dragonborn, the fire doesn't affect you as badly, so you don't take any damage. You use your action. You are no longer, the creature is no longer attached to you. Pretty badass. Yuck.

Still have a move and a bonus action. So I don't have much I can do with a bonus action, but I'm going to stay here. Okay. After searing my leg, I can do with a bonus action but I'm gonna stay here okay after searing my leg I'm gonna lock eyes with this thing. You're next! Alright Rowan. I'm going to just use my longsword and attack. Sure okay. Don't forget Ophelia you can just yell at Percival if you do want him to do anything. He's just, he has literally just stood there

because that was the last thing you told him to do. Yeah, I'm keeping him safe. So I got minus one. Minus one, so yes, because you're exhaustion, so on top of any other bonuses you have. 13. 13 to hit. We'll just barely miss, unfortunately,

their carapace, just kind of the sword glancing over. The tiredness kind of, yeah, like sapping away at your strength. I will not use a bonus action, so I'll just remain where I am. Alrighty, that's me. Nice quick turns. We go back up to the top of the round.

I do hate to study this, but. Oh, god, we just need to get out of the room. I actually just wanna go. We need to get to the lift. Yeah, Gruff. Swarm looks very, very bad. It's like barely a few of them left. Yeah, but there's a big boy on Zant.

There is a big boy on Zant, yeah. And I'm torn between that, like, of the sensible option and seeing Zant being meek and firm and vulnerable. I mean, you have also seen me deflecting attacks with magic. Yeah, yeah. To be fair. I think I'll stick with the swarm and I'll work on them. Sure. So another attack with Shalala.

Shalala. Shalala. Shalala. Shalala. Shalala. 14. To hit. To hit. Hits.

And nine points of damage. It's enough to destroy it. Unfortunately, you will take five acid damage, so that's all the HP it had left. Dexie save? Dex save first, yes. No. Five points of damage, but...

Ripper swarm bursts. And then I get four. So you would have taken four off your temp HP, so you took one acid damage, and then you gain another four. This is the fun. This is what it's meant to do. It's so good.

Because it's like chipping away at you as you go. Slowly. And all the rest of your team are dying. We're dying. You have your move. I would like to move, yeah, move up to Xanth. You can actually get to here if you want, so you're a bit closer to the rest of the team.

Is that a chasm behind me, though? This is a wall. It's a wall, okay, that's fine. I'm just scarred by Baldur's Gate III. People getting thrown off their trunks. You're knocked into it. Nice, all right, end of turn? End of turn.

All righty, the swarm is dead. We go onto the other Belemorphs now. This one is just going to... It completely ignores Percival, by the way. Good. That's it. Got no heartbeat. I am pleased.

Does he have a heartbeat? Then it's going to dash Ophelia to get within range of you. And it does dash to do it. Nice. The other one has just arrived, so it can't act. Daisy. Oh. Eight to hit.

No. Dodge to the side. Nim basically in your head. Daisy. Oh. Eight to hit. No. Dodge to the side, Nim basically in your head. Left, roll now! As you kind of move to the side as this thing lunges at you. Nim, boom. Xanthius. That is a 13.

It just hits, yeah? It just hits. Two points of piercing damage. Okey-doke. That is it for these guys. We go to top of you guys, Ophelia. Regulus attack against the one right close to my face. Right next to you, absolutely.

Next to my face. With advantage. 15. Take the 15. 19 to hit. 19 will hit. Plus two. Yeah, plus four, basically.

Four, five, six, seven, eight. Eight damage. Eight damage. The blood whip cracking out, nearly wipes this thing out in one blow, but just leaves it reeling enough to still be standing. Nice. But heavily, heavily injured.

All righty, anything else on your turn, Ophelia? That is my turn, thank you. Then we go to Daisy, then it's Xanthius up next, finally Rowan at the end of the turn. Get to the lift! Leave! Sure. They keep coming! Alright. Stab stab?

Yes, stab stab. Because I don't think I'm going to be strong enough to operate it. Sure. And... 15 to hit. 15 will hit just as well, yeah. Sneak attack. Oh, 11 damage. Howie. Wipes it out in one blow.

Triple kill. 14 damage, technically, actually. So again, following just this fury of stabs, some of them oddly well aimed, some of them just wild. So this thing dies, again, another kind of stack of these pheromones bringing you up to three right now. Just hear. But wiping them out from around you,

Daisy just takes out the last of these creatures, kind of finding these weak points in their, like, you know, the chips in their armor and stuff. Even in the previous fight, I think you got the highest you campfire power. Would you like to move or bonus action? Can I go up to the wheel? Mm-hmm. Here? See, I don't know if it would be a bonus action

to start something, like, to... I can tell you now, because this is the first time you've actually looked at using the wheel properly. It would be an action, and it requires an athletics check, because it is big and heavy, and you don't get the impression that this is a turn once and done.

This is probably make a couple of turns, maybe several. But you'll need to keep doing it. And whoever does it, it's probably going to get tiring and quite hard every time, the more you do it, basically. Oh, this is intense. Okay. Yep. But yeah, so bonus action, you examine it.

That's how it works, basically. It's an action. you make an athletics check i will also tell you that it's basically the dc increases the longer the same person keeps doing it because you're getting tired and it's heavier whereas if you swap over the dc resets well i can't do anything else on my... There's no point in hiding. They know I'm here, so I'll leave it. Yeah, these things seem to know very precisely where you are. Alrighty, in that case, we then go to Xanthius. I need to get away from these damn things.

I guess it's just disadvantage. It's just disadvantage, man. They have quite high... You roll high enough on two dice. Yeah, there's no shove mechanic. No unnatural one on two. There is, but it's an action to do. Yeah, it's an action to do. You could always hold your turn and go after Gruff.

Gruff might be able to free you up. Yeah, I think I would hold a firebolt, which I suppose would be concentration. It will, yeah. And yeah, I'd be trying to coordinate with Gruff, try to get this thing away from me so I can hit it. And you're holding casting Firebolt at a target. It doesn't even have to be this target.

If you want to shoot at one of the other ones, you can do, but you're holding your action. That's true. I mean, either way, if it was another target, could have this thing next to me, yeah. So this target. Held action. Held action, Firebolt.

All right. In that case, we got a Rowan. Rowan is going to hobble his way to the wheel. Wheel. I'll do my best and I'll start twisting. I believe in you. All right, athletics check, please, for me. Rowan, with a minus one.

17. It's enough. Nice! And you can, it begins to, you begin to hear it move. The entire thing comes up. You see something at the bottom, you see the ropes beginning to turn as

this thing is beginning to rise. All right, that is your action. Any bonus actions? No. All right. I missed my first one. Go to the top of the round, gruff. There's two things I'd like to do.

The first thing I'm gonna do is attack. 15 plus five, 20 to hit. Hits. Oh, eight! Oh, wow! Eight, nine, and 11. Well done 5, 20 to hit. Hits. Oh, eight. Oh, wow. Eight, nine, and 11. Well done. 11 points of damage

on the Belemorph. I believe this one's been injured previously. I think so. Yeah. He had a little tipple, yeah. Yeah, I think he has. You watch as this creature crumbles. You gain a stack of pheromones.

But you also then get your shit HP. It doesn't stack, unfortunately, your tempones, but you also then get your HP. It doesn't stack, unfortunately, your temp HP, so it just sits at four still. Would it go off on another creature? I would allow you to. I'd allow you to make a firebolt on another creature. I can't see that one. You can't see that one, but you can see the one fighting Ophelia. That one is now out of my range, so yeah, I'll go for the one...

Fighting Ophelia. Ophelia does go through the entire crowd yeah uh boom natural 20. oh yeah buddy so i'm not gonna use my thing but it is uh yeah d10 of damage keep in mind that uh yeah these aren't vulnerable to fire damage by the way the normal ones just 10 maxed and then a seven, 17 damage on that one. Holy crap. There's fireball streaks, so Ophelia, you're fighting this thing in a rage, and then this blast of fire just engulfs it.

I mean, like, I see Gruff destroy this thing, like, that works! As you send a fireball over in this direction, Daisy hits the deck. Yeah. Because she sees the fire. Do you want me to knock you prone? Yeah, she'll go down. You see Daisy scream and drop to the ground. She's curled up in a little ball.

But that is a reaction, so Gruff, you still have your turn. Move and bonus. The other thing I wanted to do was, and I don't know how you would rule this, but is the bird still up as my mage hand? Because I basically want it to grab. Is Shillelagh a concentration spell? I think it's a one and done.

I think it is. It doesn't say C on it. Then it's not. Then in that case, the mage hand would still be active. So can I instruct my bird to, and I don't know, again, DM's discretion, I want to basically pick up either the gun or the bag or both. So, yeah, I'll describe on the up either the gun or the bag or both.

So yeah, I'll describe on the body. In one hand, holding this dragon fire pistol, has a miner's satchel across their chest, and then he's holding something metallic in their other hand, but you never saw it because the things attacked you. Something metallic. That's all you see.

And I'm guessing I can only pick up one of the things. I'd say you can pick up one of the three. I'm gonna go the metal thing. Okay, yeah, the little bird opens the hand, picks up something and then flies back to you and drops a metal key in your hand. That's handy. That's very handy, yeah.

In which case, and then I've still got movement, so I guess I would move, no, no, no, because it's- No, I was counting the Mage Hand. Okay, and once it returns to me, I'll go to Xanthias to the group, and then... Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35. Okay. Sweet. Alrighty, so that is Gruffydd's turn.

At the top of the Brand New Round. One more of these things appears. The remaining, I think that was that one, I need to set some of my belemorphs. This one is down. Oh, he's dashing, okay. He's a dashing ball. Oh, my range of Ophelia.

Not just yet. Not just yet. But it is going to dash its way over. This one, I'm going to skip to HP so I can track it. We then go to Ophelia. I would first of all like to call Percival to start making his way towards me. Probably around the back. 30. Can he dash? to start making his way towards me. Probably around the back.

Can he dash? He can dash for you. Thank you. Perfect. Shambling monk's robe figure just. Percival to me. I just draw the short sword, sensing his mistress is in danger, draws a little short sword out. Perfect as always, Percival, perfect as always.

Do you want to turn around and fight something? Yeah, I'll turn around and go towards the Belemorph that's coming towards us. Perfect, Percival. You can get you in reach. And I shall recklessly attack that boy. Blood whip. Blood whip.

18 to hit. 18 hits. Well. Two, four, five, six damage. Six points of damage, enough to bloody the creature. You did have advantage, though, so you could have got a 20. I rolled two dice.

Oh, you rolled two, did you? Yeah. Yep. Okay. Bloodies it, you watch as it rips a piece of the carapace, leaving this kind of icarus acidic blood on the ground. Come closer, you oaf.

Oh. It's back. Oh. Nice comeback. Screeches in your face. blood on the ground. Come closer you oaf. Nice comeback. Screeches in your face. Okay, you win. I'm hungry. Anything else? You're ridiculous.

All right, Daisy. Can I? I was choking on a drink. Oh God. Oh no. Fair enough. That's my comeback if anyone defends me from now on, I'm Oh, no. Fair enough. That's my comeback if anyone offends me from now on. I'm just screeching.

Can I try and move the wheel? Can I stand up and try and make an athletics check? It's probably not going to be very good, but I'll give it a good go. Sure. Give me an athletics check. Two plus one. You're like, Rowan's doing it, you're just like tugging on it and it's doing nothing. I imagine she's on her, she's kneeling,

she's on her knees just trying to like pull the wheel down as she's been cowering on the floor. And it's lifting you up a little bit. It pulls you up to stand up, yeah. Anything else on your turn, Daisy? That's your action. No, I don't think so. I think I'm just like...

Xan then Rowan. Oh my god, get it open! Xanthius. Okay, so the bars around this elevator right now, can I see through it and shoot through it? Yeah, they're iron bars. Yeah, absolutely you can. Okay, so yeah, I still can't see Belimorph B.

I'd say through the iron bars, you can see the one Ophelia's fighting. Absolutely. Okay. Yeah, I'll take another firebolt shot at that. Duck down again. This one's not going over your head, luckily. Yeah, this one's a little bit further away, but...

Oh, that is a 13. 13 hits. Oh, does it now? No, sorry. Just barely misses. Its reflexes hunch it down at the last second. Okey-doke. Whoops.

And I will head back towards the amassed group. Perfect, thank you. They're all... Yeah, yeah. Great. In that case, we have Rowan. I'm going to yank this. Keep wheeling.

There, boy. Keep wheeling. Athletics check. DC is slightly higher. Am I helping? Yes. Thank you so much. You're welcome.

20. 20. Bye. You're starting. You think that if you keep this going, you're going to probably start getting tired again. It's going to be a constitution same throw if you do it again, just to see if you can gain exhaustion levels.

But yeah, successfully. You can feel the lift now rising quicker, kind of rising its way up. It looks about halfway at this point. All right, we go to the top of the round. Oh, he's on me. He is. Uh-oh.

Actually, no. When they appear, they don't get to act. You took me back with him. Into the darkness. When they appear, they don't get to act straight away. Five, two, three, two, one. 30. Oh, boy.

I'm going to... Oh, perfect boy. He can climb up on the wall. He's going to completely ignore Percival. Does Percival get an opportunity attack? He does. Percival does get an opportunity attack. Percy!

Do you have his stats? It's in your extras. It's with his short sword. With his short sword, plus four to hit. Plus four? Let's go, boy. It's basically as good as most of you guys, I think. It is.

Oh, it's a two. I thought it was a nat 20. Oh, my God. Six. Can you imagine swing is a little bit too slow he's not he's not he's not a bit no he has this for defense yeah he's not worried no he's a servant he's a lover he's a hugger yeah but unfortunately this thing it does have to dash but it does get behind rowan reaching for rowanan. In fact, actually, no, Daisy, you've got pheromones.

It's gonna go for Daisy. Okay. I can't move it closer, because the miniature can't physically get closer, but it's next to you. It has such a big head. Yeah, and then this one, Ophelia, is just gonna step up and take a swing.

Go for it, it's got advantage, because I'm- Oh, you are, thank you. 14. Yes, that hits. Oh, goody, goody. You do not have any pheromones, though. I do not. Three piercing damage.

I have resistance because I am raging. You are. One piercing damage. One point of piercing damage. Nice, nice, nice. And then we go to Ophelia. Back at you, buddy. Top of the round, innit?

That is Gruff. Eat me, Ophelia. Eat me. can Gruff see like what can Gruff see with regards to this cage that's around the lift like is there a locked door

yes like as there is as there is on the map no podcast listeners I am not the very metagaming

on the far side beyond Ophelia and the Belemorph this is a gate like there is a physical gate that is indeed a closed gate with is indeed a closed gate with a big iron lock on it um whatever will we do how smart is gruff because i'm wise but i'm

not keigo indoor yeah yeah yeah like that could be that or it could be i don't know the guy's personal chest no you haven't seen it you have a i that, like, you have a, I mean, you don't know. Like, you can try it, but from this distance, you can't even see the lock at this distance. Yeah, no, but I would have seen, like, there was a gate. You remember that there was a locked gate. Yeah, you remember that this iron gate had, like, a locked door on it. Well, first things first, I'm going to whack the Belemorph on Daisy.

16 plus 5. Hits. 3, 8, no, not 8. 6 points on Daisy. 16 plus five. Hits. Not late. Three, eight, no, not eight, six points of damage. Points of damage.

Bloodies it, but not enough to kill it. And I think seeing that Daisy's kind of like quite good at moving, Gruff will reach down and say, take the key,

it's for the gate. That's not his voice, but I'm panicking right now. Close enough, close enough. Alrighty, you pass the key to Daisy. Yeah. In that case, the Belemorphs then would have gone and made their attacks. Apologies, Kim, I think I just got caught up

in the ones arriving. Then we go to Ophelia. Reckless attack again, see if we play. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. just kind of slides the side ducks underneath the blood whip getting used to your attacks now desperate to try and get past you anything else on your turn if not we go to Daisy that. That's my turn, it's going to be a blockade. Daisy, hide. Can I disengage please? Turning action, disengage.

I should be able to get just to the gate if I disengage. Yeah, that means you avoid all of them so you can go through row and five, ten, fifteen. That was a good move. I'd say you can scoot through here. 20. Under his legs. I just, in my head, I imagine a little scene of Daisy ducking, diving, weaving, going under,

like, you know, it's a bar. And yeah, Daisy, if you use your action to use the key, because that was your move, you use your action, you can swing the door open. That is, that's where your movement ends. I'll hold the key back up and go. Excellent work, little one. In that case,

we go to Xanthos. Just traumatized. Okay, so, Rowan's looking. Yeah, the one that was going for Daisy, by the way, is like following Daisy and it's like, it looks like it's going to go chasing after Daisy.

Oh, is it? And now that you've run past the one that's fighting Ophelia, also turns around to Daisy. Oh, no, you don't, buddy. I've got a stack of pheromone as well. Okay. Oh, you do?

In that case, the one closest to you will attack the one closest to you. The one that's now closer to Daisy will go after Daisy. Good. Well noted. I think the one

that's concerning me most is probably the one that will hold everyone up and it's the one at the very, very back. The one fighting Ophelia? The one... Oh, back there. Oh, the one back here, yeah. The one that's probably the one that will hold everyone up, and it's the one at the very, very back. The one fighting Ophelia? The one way up there. Oh, one back here, yeah.

The one that's probably about to spring and jump on you? He would jump on Gruff, I suppose, wouldn't it? Maybe. But if it gets within range, it's going to be a problem. Sure. You do what you want to do, Boo. I do what I want to do, and what I want to do is I want to boot that Boo. What do I want to do?

So it's another firebolt, sorry. You're low level, don't worry about it. That's a 19 to hit. Hits. I'll double it. Well, you roll another die, so don't double it. It's 2d10 instead of 1d10. Yes, it is.

Like the inferno you saw before. Of course. The inferno outside, that firebolt becomes the same raging inferno emanating from my body. This almost seems to extend for a moment. Unnaturally so. I'm feeling desperate, you know? 1d10, that's an 8.

2d10, that's a 9. 17 damage. You just watch as it burrows out of the raw rock, leaving this tunnel behind. You're engulfed. But that burning... Oh, shit. You just almost killed yourself.

Excuse me? I take four psychic damage. So the rest of you watch. I'm actually, if you're cool with it, Tom, I'm going to actually have you fall prone. It happened last time, yeah. You watch as Xanthius just clutching his chest, his head, like just screaming in pain

as this inferno of a firebolt launches out of his hands. All right, Rowan. Oh, Rowan. He's the only one doing the thing. Keep going. Athletics check, please. The DC is high, and then I need a constitution save from you.

Okay. That's a decent. Oh, there it is. Ooh, a 13. 15? 15? No, sadly, on the third attempt, your limbs getting so heavy and tight. You don't lose any progress, but not able to make it.

And then a constitution saving throw. Same DC. 16. Just barely passes, like, you're used to heavy work, you're a big yonnie, like this is, but this is tough work. You need to- I'm sorry, I can't do any more. Someone please. At which point, we go to the top of the round. Unless you have anything else you want to do on your turn?

Bonus actions or move? I'm just looking over at Xanthius. Where have I not pulled before? Oh, that one's far away at least, that new one. I'm just going to step back. Sure. And equip my longsword. Exhaustedly.

Exhaustedly. Tiredly. Tiredly. And bonus actions. That's it. Yeah, it's done. Top of the round, another one spawns over there. Gruff.

Gruffeth. How bad does the sweet boy look? Oh, Xanthia. Xan looks bad. Like, he looks like he's nearly dead. I've got one HP. Yeah, he's bloody, but he's also like clutching his chest and his head. Like the flames almost haven't gone out in his hands.

Like the flames are like still around his hands. Almost like he's burning. Light from my chest too. Okay, so immediately Gruff, because this is his little ward, would turn and reach down. Almost like, yeah, like desperately just grabbing for you. And as his big paw like slams down on your chest,

a wave of magic goes into you. If you are reaching for my chest, I'm going to grab your hand to stop it from getting close. It's still touching. If it's still touching, but you are not touching my chest. Okay. So as you go to reach for it in the last, and almost like, I'm not going to have you take damage, Gruff,

but those flames like cinch. Like when they touch you, these flaming hands still burn. My whiskers. Yeah. Well, it's your paws, right? Because as you touch him, it's these greaches where, but yeah, you just see this almost mad look in Xanthus' eyes. He like, there's like a snarling, like, get away from me kind of deal.

And, I mean, he's still human. No, I'm going to go over and kill him. Turn the wheels! I'm just going to put him out of his misery. Sure. Just smother him. Okay. Sweet girl. Okay. Sleep now.

Oh. Shh. Shh, shh, shh. Shh. Sleep now. I mean, all of this happens in seconds, right? And as you grab my paw, the magic will still go through you and you heal for six points.

Six. Except the healing. Did you add your wisdom modifier? So it was oned8 plus three. Yeah. Oh, did you roll a three? I rolled a three. Oh, I looked like a six from my end.

Eight, six, a six. Six HP? Yeah. Do you heal this healing magic flow into you? You hadn't lost your temporary hit points, had you? No. From before, yeah. So you would have gained them again, but you've got...

I still got plus four. All right, so that's your action. Can I pull him up? Like, no, it's not, yeah. No, I don't think so, no. That's half his movement on his turn. That's okay. But I will firmly plant myself between him and the Belemorph that's mid-us.

Sure, all righty. Just filing that away for later. Okay, so that one's just appeared. Gruff, it is going to turn on you with a pheromone scent. It's the first one. Nine-twenty. Bring it on. Luckily it's not a lot of damage. It's four, five, six piercing damage.

It just goes for your neck. Ophelia, you're going to get an attack of opportunity. One more damage. The whole group. It goes for your neck. Sweet neck. What are you? Ophelia, you're going to get an attack of opportunity. Can I do it recklessly? You, uh, no. No, I don't believe you can. Okie dokie.

Fair dues. I'll check that, though. 18. 18 still hits. Woo! Hell yeah. Kill this thing dead. With a whopping three for 5 damage.

That is just barely enough. Oh, my God. The whip flashes round. You yank it back just as it's reaching for Daisy. A killed one. Around its neck. And just rips through it. Yes.

Daisy's standing with Sakino. Thank you. I got you. So Reckless is first attack. Yeah. Not every attack. It's any attack the key there. Thank you! I got you! So Reckless is first attack. Yeah. Not every attack. Reckless is your turn. And do I get pheromone?

You would, yeah, yeah, yeah. So as you die, this thing, as you kind of reach out, it kind of looks at you and this last desperate thing, it seems to coat you in this invisible kind of, you know, gas. It does squint at you. No! No! This is not a word that is entering our lexicon. Squit. Ophelia.

Your turn. How was your reaction? Oh, damn. Yeah. Okay. That was on its turn. It went for Daisy and you got a free attack. I will turn around and I will go and attack the Bellamorph attacking Gruff.

Oh, God. We need to just move. We're doing that! For real! There's things to kill, Kate. Yeah, we're getting munched. We're getting munched while this is happening.

All right, they definitely won't keep spawning monsters. Spawning. Yeah, go for it. One. If we're killing like Reckless.

19, 20, 20, 20, 23. Double checking, yes, three,

cool. Okie dokie. This one is badly injured as well. Murder it. Four, five, six, seven, eight. Enough. You watch. This one is badly injured as well. Murder it. Four, five, six, seven, eight. Enough, you watch two stacks of pheromones now on Ophelia as again, kind of stepping up behind you, Rowan, you watch as this red whip of dripping blood

whips past you and just takes this thing's head off. Hell yeah. So is it like, because you whipped that way for the first one, like the return whip goes the other way? Very Castlevania, I love it. I love it. So that is your little bit of movement action.

Any bonus actions or actions? I'd like to call Percival to get closer to us. Please receive a play, and then I'll get closer to the wheel and get ready to start turning that lad in my next turn. Percival, would you like Percival to help you? Oh yes, please. He'll give you the help action. Nice, brilliant. So you have advantage on that check when you come to make it. Awesome.

In that case we go to Daisy. This thing is just like ripped apart in front of you as it's reaching for you by the scary lady. I'm going to look around and I'm on my own. You can see some sort of scurrying over there. If I hear a scurrying, I'm going to go back to the group. I'm going to try and do the wheel again. Probably fail, but I'll try and be my own. We're just about getting to range.

Six. Pushing on it this time. Maybe if you push on it, it will help. No, that's not helping. All right, anything else on your turn, Daisy? In that case, we go to Xanthias, then Rowan. Gruff, you'll feel someone trying to pull themselves up using you.

So I try and stand up, that's half my movement, and I'll faintly walk over to the wheel, and yeah, I'll try as well. It's not the idea of all of you around this wheel, like, hurry, quick, quick! We just need a consistent, concerted effort, everyone at the same time, maybe. So what is it, sorry?

Athletics. Oh, baby, that's a huge six. Weedy baby muscles! No, unfortunately you try and pull on it. I missed my plus 13. All right, that gets me going to Rowan. I think Rowan would stumble backward, exhausted. Yeah?

Yeah. Put a hand on the ground. Oh, the stone. I'd like to feel the motions of the stone right now. Still that kind of anguished, as if being wounded, like an animal that's bleeding, and it's in desperate need to survive and that kind of sense, that kind of loss of something

comes flooding through you as you kind of touch the ground. I mean, you don't feel it, you don't have tremor sense or anything like that, but these creatures, they're everywhere. You can almost, like the earth is almost telling you that there's no end to these things. They'll keep coming. And in fact, actually, as you do touch that,

all of you kind of hear, like, another one of those and you hear, like, from the tunnels, not from here, you think it's far away from you, but the way it echoes down, like, the screeching, the skittering, but almost like maybe it's getting distant, like it's going away towards the mine's entrance, and you have a feeling that a lot more of them are, they're escaping around you.

Oh boy. Rhom's eyes snap open, and he's going to send a bardic inspiration through the rock to Ophelia. That's so cool. So you feel this almost vibration in you, Ophelia, kind of coming up and making, I almost imagine it like making your heart pump faster, giving you that surge of adrenaline kind of thing. Yeah, my lute rings by its own accord.

Ophelia will throw in, give him a accord. Give him a nod. Nice. A nod. Alrighty. A little nod. At the top of my ouch. Confident nod. Another one appears.

Nod. Nod accepted. Oh, this one's a lot closer. Stop. This one is gonna... Ooh, that's near the door. Yep. Yep.

But they're coming. Then we go to Gruff. Ooh, that's near the door. Yep. Yep, but they're coming. Then we go to Gruff. I'm going to have a go on a wheel. Have a go on a wheel. But before I turn to the wheel,

I'm going to turn to Xanthius and go, we will speak of this later. I'm trying that wheel. As I pass by you on the wheel. Nope. Like, maybe I reach around and be like, you know, maybe I reach around and just shove you off the wheel. Athletics check. Reach around and then threaten me.

Yeah. That threatened me with... Oh, that's a five. Maybe you're distracted by Xanthius. Maybe it's all of you crowding around. This is a two-minute... Get messy. Getting in each other's way.

Unfortunately, unable to make any progress on the wheel. Can I... Yes. after having a pathetic go, can I keep moving and move past them towards where this xenomorph, Belimorph is coming towards the entrance? 35 feet of movement, right? Yeah. Yeah, you can get to here. Nice.

Basing this thing down. We then go to Ophelia. I would like to spin the wheel. All right, you can get to here. Nice. Basing this thing down. We then go to Ophelia. I would like to spin the wheel. All right, you have advantage as Percival is helping you. And a bardic inspiration. And a bardic inspiration as well. Let's see, 12, 14 plus athletics.

18. 18. Yeah, you get the wheel moving again. Like there's a quarter of the way left to go. One more successful check will reach this thing to the top. And this was your first time, so no constitution saving throw as well. Alrighty, get into the top now.

Daisy. One more go. One more try. You can get the wheel. I can try. Oh my gosh. It can get the wheel. I could try. Oh my gosh. It's an unnatural 20. Yay!

Pushing and pushing and pushing. I think the idea that your little feet are skidding behind you and you can't get purchase, and you can just feel this skeletal hand on your back as Percival gives you leverage, and that's enough where you're like, ah, ka-ching-ching-ching-ching-ching. She does it so fast so that she can get away little hand on your back as Percival gives you leverage and that's enough where you're like ahhh! She does it so fast so that she can get away from the skeleton that's touching her.

As the flag falls. There it is! It's emerged out of the darkness. How does it go down again? There is a lever on the inside. There is a lever on the inside. So Daisy, yeah, you have your full movement. Woo! I ain't coming back, baby!

One way trip! You're into the lift, I think I have. Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. You can just get on the inside. Okay. You could bonus action dash, because you have playing action. Yeah, so I can dash and get further in

so I don't block the door for people. Yeah, sure. Do you want to be next to the lever? Sure. It's like in the middle here, basically. Sure. Sure, all right, so Daisy rushes inside. Xanthias.

Hmm, I would like to, yeah, I'll move around next to Gruff. 30. Is she here? And I will Gruff. 30. Did you hear this? And I will Firebolt the while it's heading towards the door. This one is just another attack roll. No spicy one? No spice. Good roll, though. Why is it spicy?

Why is it spicy? Why is it spicy? Sorry, so that's a 21 to hit. 21 hits. Three damage. Three points of fire damage. Maybe it's just a little bit of overpowered like this one. Not quite as much magical strength,

but it does scorch the thing as it's running towards Gruff. We will talk about exactly what I want to talk about. And... Oh! Boy's got two you got boys having beats with Tom that got

a four on pogchamp out of me I was like oh alright anything else you're grounded

you're not my dad anything else and no I don't have any sort of special bonus action stuff

Rowan's gonna hobble his way towards the door, dashing. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. And then, yeah, you can use it. So next to Daisy. What are you guys talking about? Just guy stuff.

I will actually stand in front of Daisy and equip my longsword, looking at the bella. Yeah, sure. Bella. Okay. Another one. Yep, sure. Ella. Ella. Who? Another one. Quite close still. Technically, Gruff goes first.

So before they act, Gruff goes first. I need to remember that because they do go after Gruff because Gruff can finish off that one by the door before it moves in. Well. I mean, it's up to you. You do what you want. What is it? 14 plus 5, 19 to hit.

5, 6, 7, eight points of damage. Oh, just enough. Yeah. Because of the firebolt as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Literally get squitted on. How much damage do you have? I hate you so much.

You do get another stack of pheromones, quite rightly. Pheromones, yep. Rowan shouts, great job, bruv. 30. Go past the other boy. It's on Percival and Ophelia. You have pheromones, don't you? She does have them. I do, yeah.

It's on you, I'm afraid, Ophelia. I think everyone does now, right? Yeah. Nope. But it did dash to get there. Rowan doesn't. I'm just moving my guy the last two. You have two Cinerate boys. That's true, yeah.

Any one that you've killed. But was he near it, though? I think I'm near it. Well, no, you don't have to be necessarily. You do have to be within a certain distance. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, you're all right. You're safe.

I think I'd have one. Yeah. All right. Anyway, never mind. Ophelia. I'd like to. This is nearly over, so I'm not going to worry about it too much.

Like, disengage myself and Percival. Sure, yeah. And, yeah, we'll just start heading towards the lift. Get in there. 15, 20, 25. You can just get on the inside. Perfect. Yeah.

All righty. That's Ophelia's turn. Daisy. I just put my hand on the lever. Do you want a hot ready in action? It's an action bullet. Can I ready in action that when everyone's in, I will pull?

Alrighty. Zanthius. Pull the lever, Gronk. Wrong lever. Oh, did you not go into the lift? I didn't have enough movement. Oh, you would have done. Well, I've moved myself.

I was there. I was there and I've just used my last five to move myself back. No, you would have. I would wait. You were here. But then I moved to kill the Belemoth, and then I want to move back to protect Sam. Okay, sure.

So last man standing, kind of dealio. Okay, sure. Well, I'm gonna run into the lift, close the door behind me. Just run into the lift. Rowan, hurry up! I take that Cure Wounds back. Hurry up, Gruff!

All right, all right, Rowan. Rowan will go to the gate and ready an action to close the gate once Gruff is in. Good job somebody thought of that. Yeah. I thought as though I was gonna have an alien come down this shaft. All right, and then we go to,

so another one would appear, but at this point I think it's rather moot, as Gruff is going to run inside. Like a cow. Rowan slamming the gate, locking it shut. And then Daisy as the

lift and you begin to lower. The creatures swarm the gates, slashing, gnashing, desperately trying to get in, but unable to move through the iron bars. You actually see them beginning to eat the iron bars. Oh!

It's very big and very dense, and they're trying to basically bite their way through. It does seem that they are able to, the acidic thing kind of slowly kind of helping break it down. So we saw them running on the walls before. Were they running like high up on the walls? Oh, they can like go, yeah.

These are full on Xenomorphs from Aliens. They can go on the sides, they can go on the ceiling. You know, they're in the goddamn room, they're in the goddamn room. It's game over, man, game over. They're in the vents. They're in the vents. But it does look like these bars

are gonna hold them for a time at least. And these bars go to the ceiling. Yeah. Floor to ceiling. Yeah. So that's why you had to get in this way. Like, they can just climb over them. Mark, I love that we've launched season three with xenomorphs and aliens.

You're welcome. You're welcome. You won't like me in a minute. Okay. We're already, mmm, spicy. The elevator takes a little bit of time to head down. An hour? I will say I will allow you to take a short rest.

Oh, my God. Another heroic one. No, this is a normal short rest. It does take a long time to go down. Yeah, what was the rules for heroics again? Well, you've used it, but it's basically you can do it in ten minutes or five minutes, I think I said, instead of an hour, but you can only do it once every extended long rest,

which is seven days in a place of safety. While this is happening. I think I said instead of an hour, but you can only do it once every extended long rest, which is seven days in a place of safety. While this is happening, Rowan's gonna sit down, get his loot out, and with the clicking of the winch that's going down, Rowan will start strumming along with the tempo of that, matching it, and starts humming in harmony to it, and we will all gain Song of Rest.

Oh! So if you spend a hit dice, you get an extra D6. You get an extra D6. Oh, wow. With your hit dice. Oh, I'm back to full. So, yep. Well, you have to spend at least one hit dice to get it.

I did, yeah. Yeah. Well, you remember you have to roll that hit dice as well. I did, yeah. Oh, you already did it. have to roll that hit dice as well. I did, yeah. Oh, you already did it. I'd already, yeah, I played my hit dice, and then the extra d6, yeah. Nice, nice, nice.

Is that, sorry, is that just a d6, or is that d6 plus your... Just an extra d6 on top, but you do get your con modifier to your hit dice. Yes, yeah. So every time you spend a hit dice, you get your con mod, and then Rowan's thing is, and it's only, you only get the d6 once.

So if you spend one, you get an extra d6. If you spend three, you still just get one d6. It doesn't stack per hit. It's a huge. I mean, I've used all my hit dice now. I think I get that once per... Oh, every short rest. Every short rest.

Wow. Just a little free extra little tidbit of healing. Every time. Damn. Every little helps. It's not like BG3 where i can do it out of the rest yeah right and it happens twice for some reason video game mechanics very cool i'm back to full because of that um do you guys want to have like any conversations for the next

hour or something like that otherwise i can just start to describe what happens but i mean you are in relative safety in this elevator shaft, but once it hits the bottom, you don't know. I mean, I'm still, much of a short rest as this is, I'm still, like, ready to start blasting fireballs and stuff as they come down, because I saw these things, like, biting. We all saw them, like, biting through, ready to come down, so I'm still a little bit, like, on edge.

As the elevator makes its way down, you catch glimpses into other levels and other floors and you see more of these things skittering in the darkness, like the shadows of Rowan's lantern or in the torchlight. You see them just... There's hundreds of these things, maybe thousands of them down here now. Hey, guys, do we...

Have we gone too far? I'm starting to think we might not be able to get back up. Yes, I'm... I'm scared, Xanthius. This is more than I've ever done before. But there's people coming from the village to help. Have you seen how many of them there are? There's hundreds of them on every floor. Maybe they'll help us get back out. No, they know we're here.

They do. But. Well, we've come this far now. We may as well finish what we've started. Get our reward, get out. Do what else needs to be done. That's the bit I'm scared of, the getting out. Well. And the finishing, that's what we started.

Well, we got in, so there must be a way out. Okay. Okay. Sometimes all you can do is put one foot in front of the other. We have committed to this path. We will see it to its end. We have committed to this path. We will see it to its end. You guys continue your way down. So much I wanted to do. As you descend lower, the light that Daisy saw at the bottom becomes more ever-present, and this kind of faint purple light

is now filling the tunnels, coming from the very bottom. Eventually, lift comes to a stop on the bottom-most level. You can see that this part of the mine, there's a hastiness to it, as if it's been dug desperately and quickly. The struts, the supports are not as well built are not as sturdy down here um and you begin to hear this kind of churning of earth and this sound of this

reverberation um you begin to hear echoing down the tunnels too muffled to understand the words but you hear humanoid voices shouting screaming you hear more of that skittering that high-pitched screech of the belemorphs that you've now become uh acclimated to um and it is very obvious even though it's bouncing around you think you can follow the source of that noise to where it's all coming from and you can follow the source of the light as well uh What's the plan here? And also, can I get a marching order? Is there anything, while we were on the way down,

was there anything we could do to work out how to get the pheromones off the path? They will fade. So you kind of like, yeah, you can feel that there's this like filmy kind of like, you know, like too much perfume's being sprayed on you, that kind of like slightly moist feeling. You know, pouring a bit of water from your water skins you kind of rub it all off but

it does seem to naturally fade but it does take about an hour for it to fade i've got some lynx africa disgusting is there anything else you guys want to know before breathe it's like a boy's locker room is here. Oh, my God. Worse. Yeah. But, yeah, anything else you guys want to ask or, like, you know, make plans for? Maybe do a revision of the map I'm looking at. Kind of set down the bullseye lantern and see if I can make sense of the level we're about to reach. Yeah, it's pretty barren.

So this level, the bottom level, hasn't really been expanded. There's a couple of branching tunnels, but most of it seems to lead into one chamber that was still being, basically, they were starting to dig through. That's what you thought? I'll relay that information and say, there's only really one way we can go down here.

It's a fresh excavation. So if they're down here, which I know we all think they are, that's where they'll be. Towards the light. Towards the light, towards the sounds. They may also know we're coming. They probably heard the lift. One less thing to worry about, I suppose.

We can do this, right, Gryffindor leader? We know that there's at least four of them down there. Marion and the three criminals. The little kobold smells of chemicals, of burning. We don't know who else is down there. It could just be the four of them. There could be more miners. Whatever they're doing

with this hand of the Lightless Pilgrim, that's what's causing the Belemorphs. I presume. So we stop them. We take the artifact. That's what we know. Can I see any tunnels, escape tunnels? Is it just the elevator in and out?

When you get to the bottom, there is one tunnel that looks like it makes its way up, but looking at the map, you know, there's several levels. Like, manually going back up through the mines. Way more. It's way more effort than the lift. It's possible. It just takes more time and would probably be dangerous because, again, you saw that that like, you know, the rock collapse, you might encounter

more of those creatures. There's just more risks if you do that, but there is a way up that's not the lift. There would absolutely be a way up that isn't just the lift. Should we lock the lift? Yeah, is there- In case anyone else tries to use it?

Yeah. Yes. Good idea. Cure our escape. Stop anyone else using it. Swallow it. I'll swallow it. Sure. I'm not going to swallow it. Yeah, definitely lock the door.

So, I mean, it does mean we have to unlock it when we get back if we need to make an escape, but... It is an action to lock it. But it is still... It would stop them escaping from us as well. Yeah, yeah. Which is good. Unless they have another key.

They probably do have another key. How long did that take to get down? I'm not going to say a full hour, but long enough for a short one. I'm going to say four hours left to my Bull's-eye lantern. I'm going to say my torch is gone. My rage is ended. I'd say anything that's going to last an hour is probably gone. Your rage would end.

The armour of open thorns, I think, technically would go away. I think at this point we'd just be head down with Percival, just whispering a prayer. Yeah. The Gravefather just... On his knees next to you, kind of like making the symbol. Yeah, just sit next to you. All right.

When you guys reach the bottom then, there is really, yeah, only one way to go towards onwards. The marching order. Yes, that's what I need next, is a marching order. Who's up front? It's wide enough for you to go two in a row. So two at a time. I can go first with my dark vision.

Okay, so Ophelia up first. I'm happy to go with, because I've got this cone of light. So I'll go with- Rowan second. So well, first and second, like yeah. I'll be behind Ophelia and Percival then. Okay, so Ophelia and Percival at the front. Rowan behind Ophelia. Percival then. Okay, so Ophelia and Percival at the front. Rowan behind Ophelia. Solid middle.

He's got eyes. Do you want to go next to Rowan? Yeah. All right, Daisy. And then Gruff and Xanthia at the back. Yeah. All right. The six of you, including Percival,

make your way down and begin winding your way through the only path that you can go. And as you do, that light gets brighter and that sound of churning earth grows louder and louder and those voices start to become more distinct, more discernible

as you make your way down for god's sakes get it for the god's sakes get it off her we've got to deal with these things I'm trying boss trying to deal, there's so many kind of like you're hearing these things. I'm trying, boss. Trying to deal. There's so many. It's kind of like you're hearing these things like, you hear a like,

for God's sakes, Benedict, just shoot her or something. I've tried that, you blasted fool. Like you're just hearing these kind of whisp, like these kind of things. And you hear this distorted voice, pained. I can't help me. You round the corner and you now look into a wide chasm, not dug like a mine shaft, blasted open. You can see there's a section of a scaffolding with a little kind of miner's station set up, up on like a rocky cliff to the side of the cavern. But in the middle, hovering in the air,

illuminated by purple light around her, Daisy, you would recognize Marion, the mining woman that you saw earlier that morning with a sack by the orange tree. And she's holding this rod that almost looks like beautifully sculpted twisted metal itself bound with uh this you know luxurious leather and then it becomes almost like a twisted crystal that glows with this purple light and she's clutching it in front of her in both hands and it is projecting this beam of magic that is just carving through the stone and earth, digging at this rapid rate, almost like a mining laser, just tunneling down. And she is just, her eyes are filled with purple magic. And she's just kind of crying out as she's hovering up in the air.

You see around the cavern a very rough, tumble-looking dwarf with these brass knuckles, punching Belemorphs as they're swarming towards them um you can see a little kobold with like sacks of like you can see them throwing like little you know bombs and things like that and with a hand crossbow and then a woman with a rapier kind of fighting all together um fending off these belemorphs trying to get closer to this this woman to to marion um and the waves of magic are almost like pushing them away as she's just out of control.

And this beam, like a whip, almost like... digging through the earth and just creating this huge chasm in front of her. Around them, Belemorphs. The ones that you fought, but you also now notice one you've not seen before. A hulking, armored version. Oh, no.

Much bigger. And it seems to almost be overseeing the rush towards the three criminals looking down on them. But as the six of you emerge, it kind of turns sightless eyes in your direction. Some of the Belemorphs divert, looking towards you as well. The criminals are like, oh, you hear the dwarf beric. Oh, fuck, by the science and saints. We've rumbled. Quick, we've got to get it off her now. And they begin calling out, and you hear, finally,

Marion, just her head turns around, and Daisy, she sees you. Help me! As this thing just carves its path. You hear Nim's voice in your head. That thing, the rod, that magic. And you almost like distorted, like you can hardly hear her. Like the sound is so loud as this thing goes and that is where we're going to end

today's episode don't don't we're going to have to no we're going to have to because we're going to be going straight into combat

for episode four damn why can't we talk it out no well I mean you could try well shove shove shove the xenomorph queen

seems nice yeah would you want to see what the just before we go I'll show you what the big hulking Well, shove, shove, shove. Speak with animals. The Xenomorph Queen seems nice. Yeah, would you want to see what the, just before we go, I'll show you what the big hulking. Oh! He's a big lad. Oh, so it's not like a, it's not a huge. No, no, no, it's a large creature. Biggest creature we've seen.

Yeah. For level twos. Let me, to give you a comparison, let's grab an average size, like Xanthias. Can I have a Rowan comparison? Rowan's miniature isn't quite the same. Rowan's quite big. But Xanthias' mini is probably actually what Rowan's size is. I've got a big mini. For some reason.

So it's about a head over me. Yeah, it's big. It's like nine feet tall, but very broad, very large. I've worn the head. Huge carapace, basically, behind it. I have a three-foot head. And then, yeah, you see what I described as well. But that is where we're going to end it. Thank you very much for joining us for episode three

of High Rollers, Althea, the Dragon Empire. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time. Take care. Bye-bye. Goodbye. And subscribe and share with your friends. Subscribe. Althea, the Dragon Empire. Thanks for joining us, we'll see you next time. Take care, bye bye. Goodbye! And subscribe and share with your friends.