High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #30 | A Knight's Tale (Part 1)

Episode Date: July 23, 2024

The team head towards the tournament but encounter a new ally in need of some assistance! We're joined by the illustrious Jasper Cartwright (Three Black Halflings, Dimension20, Critical Role) playing Atlas Altar Phoenix! Check him out and all his awesome work here: https://x.com/jw_cartwright _______________ HIGH ROLLERS LIVE in London on the 17th September 2024! Tickets live now: https://www.aegpresents.co.uk/event/high-rollers/ Boost your Charisma with some HR merch! https://highrollersdnd.teemill.com/ Add the Heroes of Altheya Minis to your TTRPG collection here: https://only-games.co/collections/high-rollers Enhance your bath time experience with the official Altheya themed DiceBombs at https://geekyclean.com/! Check out https://www.highrollersdnd.com/ for all the latest HR News! Love the podcast? Give us a glittering 5 star review! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/high-rollers-dnd/id1401508198?see-all=reviews Support the High Rollers on Patreon and get early access to Podcast episodes, vods and more: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound, TCT Adventures (Solasta: Crown of the Magisters), Monument Studios and Jolene Khor! Check out Jolene Khor and all her wonderful work on High Rollers on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1WX3ICiTmf4GpHwImnQMs6 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. That's crypto on Kraken. Powerful crypto tools backed by 24-7 support and multi-layered security. Go to Kraken.com and see what crypto can be. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. See Kraken.com slash legal slash ca dash pru dash disclaimer for info on Kraken's undertaking to register in Canada. Loved Bellatro, but wish it was a little bit seedier? Then welcome, tavern dweller, to Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers from Yogscast Games. A blackjack roguelike adventure which takes the rules of the classic card game and introduces a whole host of bizarre twists.

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Thank you very much. On with the show. It's a High Rollers Sunday! I'm sweaty now. It's time for High Rollers, everybody. I am your Dungeon Master, Mark Sherlock. Coombs?

It's me! Thank you. And I'm joined by my lovely friends. I wanted a bit of validation. Sorry, go again. Fuck you, everybody. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

Thank you. Yay. Hey, other news. Hi. Coming up August 6th, we have a, we can't tell you what it is yet, but it's a special one-shot stream. Very special. Costumes are involved, props are involved. It's one of our special one-shots stream. Very special. Costumes are involved.

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Gotta keep it in there. Just every now and then. So keep them, Peepers Build, on August 6th for our special, it's my catchphrase, it's for our special one-shot.

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but with that let us jump and play the intro and start playing some D&D we got it jump Welcome, friends, to Althea, the Dragon Empire. After dealing with the nefarious plot of Tobias Leto and Sunsword Ilkara, our heroes and the townsfolk of Ashenrest

are enjoying the Festival of the Forge, a holy day dedicated to Saint Misara, the Forge Mage. Across the town, there are games, workshops, artisans selling their wares, and many more activities. But the grand spectacle of the festival is a beloved and popular tradition across the Dragon Empire. A knightly tournament. Knights from all across Elmera

have come to compete and prove themselves, and Gruffydd of Tremorro has been encouraged to enter and prove themselves in the hope of attracting the attention of the Circle of Loyal Hounds, a knightly order that the older Wildheart wishes to join.

After signing up for various combat scenarios, the heroes now await the knight's parade to properly begin the tournament. And we are going to join slightly different maybe to how I maybe ended things exactly on the last episode. The idea being that in the hours that you have before the parade begins, you head out into Ashen's Rest as a group. You reconvene after the shenanigans involving Barak, Tarak, the kobold,

and the various games and things that you were doing. And you have met, enjoyed some sort of fine lunch somewhere in Ashen's Rest. And just before the nightly parade is, you knowhen's Rest, and just before the nightly parade is, you know, you have to be there for the nightly parade, you begin making your way back to the tawny field. As you do, you notice that Ashen's Rest, as the day has gone on, has begun to swell with people, and now streets that you once were able to navigate and move through quite easily have become exceptionally crowded, slowing your progress through the town,

making your way back in time for the parade. So as a group, you decide to take one of these sort of side streets, making your way around, using your more expertise, knowledge of the area to circumnavigate these busy tourist crowds. Tourist preps. Exactly.

I'm getting stressed out. I'm holding the giant owlbear plush and people are bumping into me and I'm like, no! Yeah, exactly that. No! So you're kind of being bumped around and, you know, I'll let you guys decide

who kind of makes this decision, but you basically decide to go off the beaten track. It wouldn't be Rowan. Rowan would be distracted by all the other stalls. Too much stuff. Yeah. So he'd have to be tugged away. Yeah, but it is getting crowded now.

Like, this morning when you were first moving around the festivals, you were able to enjoy the stalls and the games quite easily. But as the day's gone on, more and more people have been arriving, and now this is, like, full-on, you know, festival-like crowds. Like, you can barely move, like, through the main streets. You know, there's hours queue for most through the main streets you know there's hours queue for most of the things that you want to do it's getting to that irritating point of the day but you do have places to be anyway so you're kind of making your way through is barrack still

with us uh i would say that perhaps barrack was was encouraged to go home uh okay uh after his little yeah i'd like to imagine he's probably feeling a bit of a tummy. He's got a tummy sick. Sugar crap. Oh, no. Yeah, feeling a bit tired. I like to imagine until then, like me and Ophelia on either side

holding his hands to stop him from running off. Yeah. He is a kobold, so he's smaller than you, but he's probably as wide as the two of you combined. Yeah, I mean, we're far apart. So you take up a good chunk of it. Maybe that's like one of the things you took Barak back to the Clever Toad,

and on your way back you've grabbed some lunch at the Grumpy Hog or something like that and have made your way around. What if it's one of those little kid harnesses? But you just made him a little kid harness. Like a little backpack. Because he's so big, it has to have two leads on it. And also, I don't think the two of you are strong enough to stop Barrick, even if he does run.

No, we've experienced that once before. Yeah. But yeah, you guys are making your way through the kind of side streets, making your way back to the tawny field. And these are much quieter. Most of the tourists and most of even the civilians are kind of sticking to the busy streets

where they know the games and the festivities and the stalls are. And as you are making your way, you overhear sort of some strange sounds as you're passing a section of an alleyway which has like a little dead-end plaza attached to it. And there's almost nobody around. And you start hearing these kind of shouts and cries of somebody clearly in distress.

And as you look further down into where this little alleyway side street is, you can see a pair of, you guys would probably describe them as rough-looking mercenaries. They're not the same mercenaries that you encountered before. They wear a different emblem. But they definitely do not look like the cleanest, most polished, nicest-looking folk. And they're sort of guarding a little courtyard plaza and sort of keeping an eye out.

And when they see you, they kind of puff themselves up, you know, flex their arms, and are trying to give you the sort of, like, keep-on-walking, like, nothing, like nothing to see here kind of vibe. But you definitely hear a like, like what are you doing? No, I'm not, you hear like some sort of argument or something taking place,

and you're pretty sure you hear what sounds like blade, like the drawing of a blade, like a shing. Oh, thank goodness we're off those main streets. Oh, I was getting far too busy and there's too many people and it was making me very hungry. There was a few more stalls that we could have looked at though. We can go back now, right?

Yeah, I think we can. Can no one else hear this? No, yeah, it was, what is that sound? Someone's in distress. I'm pretty sure I heard a sword being drawn. Would you investigate? You definitely hear another sort of like, you won't get away with this, I won't stand. You kind of hear these muffled speeches and cries and things like that.

Hey, what's going on in there? None of your business. Piss off. Is someone being hurt? That's rude. These two guys, you see them. They've got these thick barrel necks. Very rough.

Doesn't look like they've shaved for a while. And they wear these long swords at their side. Simple armor. And one of them just kind of grips the sword. They can't be from Ash and Rest. You've never seen these mercenaries around. And also, most of the people here, like the guards and stuff, know who you guys are.

And they're just like, look, piss off, tourists. And they are like, step out. Excuse me, we just defended this town from demons. Do you think you're going to scare us? Yeah, right. Nice try, lady. Take your kid with your stuffed toy and get out of here or something like that as they see Daisy holding a big plunge.

I summon a knife. I summon a radiant dagger. I don't throw it, but I just summon it. They're definitely intrigued at this. You can sort of glance a little bit past them and you can see that tucked into the plaza now you see another three figures

two more of these rough looking mercenaries and a very vicious looking dwarf whose neck has got the earth metals kind of sticking out of their neck and their cheek and they are basically they have cornered a man

pressed up against the wall, very quite resplendently dressed, looking quite knightly themselves. They've got maybe a bit of blood kind of coming out of their mouth, and you can see that they've got weapons in hand, and they look like they're about to fight, but they're outnumbered, like five to one, basically.

Hey, Jasper, do you wanna come join us? I'd love to! Yay! Yay! Come on in! So crumly done. Everybody, Mr. Jasper Carra!

Hey! Hi, hi, hi! Hi, hi, hi! Thank you. Thank you. You're a character sheet. Yes, yes, yes! So, would you describe the man they see

being sort of harassed by these mercenaries? Yes, absolutely. With some sort of dark burgundy skin, which seems to almost shimmer a little bit as it catches the light. You see a sort of medium-tall, sort of humanoid figure. You can't quite tell exactly what race he belongs to. He seems to have some sort of slightly elven features,

but you could swear something maybe even a little bit draconic about him. It's hard to pin down. And he's wearing this very sort of dark, quite menacing looking armor, which doesn't really match his face. His face is quite sort of full and round and happy and sort of, he's got very kind eyes,

although currently he has a bit of blood dripping from the corner of his mouth and he's screaming, get off, get out of hand to me, I won't stand for this. And you overhear this dwarf kind of be like, listen, mate, you're outnumbered. Just give us the money and we'll leave off. You can go back to your pissing tournament. We had a contract.

I can't go back on the contract. We can do whatever we like, mate. There's five of us and one of you. And I still fancy my chances, but that's not the point. The point is you were supposed to help me. No. Where's your sense of decency? Decency? I'd rather just get paid, me.

Come on, hand over the gold. And you can see the dwarf has, like, pulled out their blade at this point. I didn't want to have to do this. Come on. How about half the money, and you just leave me alone? It's definitely a moment where the other mercenaries look to the dwarf like, that's a pretty good deal. And he's like, no, we'll beat him up and I'm going to take all the money.

Meanwhile, while that is going on, what are the rest of you guys doing? I've got a tournament to get to. Rowan does look to Gruff for the moral compass situation yeah, there is definitely Gruff, there is a thought here where you could just walk on because if you end up getting involved

in something here, you might be late to the parade but this guy is also clearly outnumbered and he's well armoured and well armed but that doesn't mean he's going to be able to take on five mercenaries. I can absolutely take on all of these mercenaries by myself. He seems fine. He's totally fine.

He seems a bit meek and vulnerable, doesn't he? You've got your knightly words. I would say he looks meek. He looks maybe vulnerable. He's taken out a scroll. Yeah, it's very battered. It's got stains on it now as well yeah but there is a serious thing here of like jokes aside like yeah this is a point of like you might miss out on your chance

to like introduce yourself at the tawny but this guy is yeah like on his own against potentially five pretty nasty looking thugs at this point you say draconic, what sort of colors are we talking in terms of that shimmering? I'll leave that up to... Yes, Rhett. It seems that he's sort of got a darker hue skin normally, but that's definitely sort of a very distinctive red tint. Sure with that.

Does he have any horns or scales or anything that are visible? I don't think there's anything visible, but like I said, it's almost like, in the same way that you might see scales shimmer in the sunlight, his skin is doing the same sort of thing. And he's very clearly dressed as a cauldron, right? Like there is this very,

you all have spent enough time around cauldrons now, and Daisy and Xanthius, you are cauldrons yourselves. There is the way that a cauldron keeps their pride in their appearance. Like, very fine kind of clothing and well-made underneath it. Yeah, and his armour looks quite, like, terrifying. Like, he's got, like, clawed armoured hands that look kind of like draconic claws.

And I think the helmet is probably somewhere, like, cast aside on the ground. But that is, like, a draconic helm as well that he wears. So it's, like, very distinctive. Yeah, the helm is actually kind of knocked out of your hands as you were carrying it as you were shoved up against the wall. I imagine that I probably don't have my shield or spear either. I'm probably just sort of pretty un-handed right now.

I think that you've probably got your shield, but your spear was like knocked out of your hands and is like behind all of these guys at this point. You do see this very ornate spear that has these gold and red trimmings and detailing to it. And there's also a piece of fabric tied to it that Daisy and Xanthius, you would recognise, bears the heraldry of one of the regions of Cauldre. Not of Northvale, but of the Cardinal Valley, which is far to the south and is focused around the town of Emberford. And it actually bears the heraldry of that area.

Okay. I think Gruff is going to look up at the sky to kind of see where the sun and what kind of time, as he's assessing what time it is. You might be okay, but you might not be. You don't know. He's going to look at this mysterious stranger, the situation, the spear on the floor.

He's going to look at his battered piece of paper, tapping the word vulnerable. He's going to take a big, deep sigh, and he goes, it's about what's doing what's right. And he steps forward. All right, as you start stepping forward, I'm going to pause it there because we are going to roll this shit,

but first I need to go get something. Ooh. What's the something? What's the something? I hope it's cake. I hope it's cake, yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe one of those things where it looks like something else, but it actually is cake.

Yeah, it's just cake. Yeah. Oh, that's a cake. All dice are cake. I wouldn't surprise me if you had. I was going to say if I was cake. This whole time. That's again. I wouldn't surprise me if you had I was cake Wouldn't surprise me if you had a dice There's a big one back there could be that could be

The big one back there could be cake. That could easily be cake. Whoa. Got him. Beautiful. I don't want to damage the table. Alrighty. I'll leave the tray for that. Please don't roll that.

I don't know where the tray went. So, good friends, first things first, actually, before we roll initiative, there is something special we need to do, which Jasper won't know yet. So we use a special mechanic in Ulfea called the Crucible of Fate. And what this is, is at the beginning of every session, everybody rolls a d6 to determine the distribution of the pools of fate. So on a 1 to a 3, I get a point of fate. On a 4, 5, or 6, you all get a point of fate.

And we all roll a d6, including me, to determine it. If you roll a 1 to 3, it's like heavily judged yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah perfect yeah yeah yeah I normally go first actually no okay yeah I think I normally go judge judge okay okay well first of all that's one for me yeah six so what a one for you yeah five that's A one for you. Five, that's another dice for you guys in the pool. I got a six. A dice for us.

A dice for you. I also got a six. So it's just you dragging the team down. I'm on top. That's it. Thank you. And a four, so that's another one point for you guys. So we are five and two.

Five and two. Virgining. So for Jasper's benefit, what you can do is these are points. You guys can spend anything from your side of fate. You can spend a d6. You can use them basically the simplest way is you can add them to an ability check, an attack roll, or a saving throw. Amazing.

You can also spend them to try and do more creative things. Like if, say, you want to be like, hey, I noticed that there's a loose piece of stone above where one of these guys is. Can I spend a point of fate to target that and try and drop it on their head or something like that? You can kind of influence these narrative things. There are also quite, if we get into some fights, sometimes bad guys will have points of fate that I spend to use their special abilities and stuff like that. Cool. All right. I assume that's a pre-declaration as opposed to?

It is a pre-declaration. And when you spend one, I gain one. And when I spend one, you gain one. So it's like this constant shifting thing. Very fun. So that's the thing that we use. But now it is initiative time. Initiative time.

OK. All right. I just spend five fate on my initiative. Not something you can spend fate on, as you know. As you should know. Not terrible. All righty. Yeah, not terrible, not the best, but we'll take it.

I wanted to go this slow. Well, let's start with the characters we know. Daisy. 16. Oh no. 16 for Daisy. Xanthias. Daisy. 16. Oh, no. 16 for Daisy. Xanthias. 14.

14. Gruffydd. 15. 15. Rowan. Nine. Ophelia. Five.

Wow. Oh. We've actually, the way that I've read that out is nearly perfectly in English, nearly. And then finally. I'm going to ruin this, I'm afraid. Atlas. Hey. We've actually, the way that I've read that out is nearly perfectly in initiative order, nearly. And then finally... I'm going to ruin this, I'm afraid. Atlas. Hey.

Atlas got a 13. A 13, perfect. So, the thugs are actually going to act first. They rolled pretty well on their initiative. One of them is basically going to step out and sort of block your path, Gruff, as you took, like like a step forward. The other two that are currently next to Atlas

are going to kind of see that there's trouble, not realizing quite what is going on with you guys yet. So they're actually going to kind of pull their swords, but they're going to basically use them to make like non-lethal attacks against you, Atlas. They're trying to like rough you up at this point. They are showing no mercy. They're just like, come on rough you up at this point. They are showing no mercy. They're just like, come on, stop stalling, give me somebody, bam,

and then they go for a whack. And I still have my shield. You still have your shield, so, yeah, no, you don't have your weapon right now, but you still have your full AC. I don't need it. The first attack is just going to completely miss. That's a seven to hit. The next one, however, is going to be a 20 unnatural.

Yeah, that hits. That definitely hits. All righty. So this will be normal damage, but obviously if it did reduce you to zero, it would have been non-lethal. It won't. We'll see. That is going to be 14 points of damage. As the first one, you managed to slip to the side and dodge the blow,

but this just sends you right into the pommel of the the next ones like bam as they strike you in the face. Well if I can, I'd like to use my reaction. As I think this pommel comes up to my, to Alice's face, he kind of brings one of these gauntleted hands up and as he does there's a flash of fire as the pommel kind of connects, kind of almost like mitigating some of the damage. It kind of turns into like a glancing blow

okay great uh and i'm going to reduce the damage by four so a huge amount but so that's just 10 so 10 points yeah so they're kind of the blast the heat wave of the flame sort of rebuffs some of the attack and it still strikes you on the face um nice uh the dwarf is just like oh your fancy tricks aren't gonna protect you for too much longer. Come on, hand it over. If not, kill him and take his stuff. And there's this definitely viciousness of these guys. And you immediately regretting ever trying to hire this scum. Real is that this may have been a mistake.

Yes. But that's okay. At this point. Now I realize. Okay. This one is, the two that are near the front of the alleyway, they're gonna step up. They're actually just gonna ready actions. I'm not gonna tell you what their ready actions are,

I'm just gonna leave it as a bit of a surprise, but they're definitely like, they kind of half draw their swords, and they'll just say to you guys like, keep walking unless you want some trouble. And they're just gonna ready actions. All right, so after those thugs act, however, Daisy is quick off the ball.

Hello. Hello. I would quite like to summon a radiant blade and throw it towards one of the ones that's actually hitting, like maybe the dwarf. Yeah, they will get some cover unless you move. Because you've kind of got this barrel and this wagon in the way

that's kind of intercepting your line of sight. What I might do is I might scooch under the wagon. Oh, okay, yeah. So like five, 10, 15, 20, 25. Yeah, you could easily, like I'd say it's difficult terrain for you, but you kind of, like, now, here's an important question, though. What are you doing with the big Albert plush that you're carrying in your arms?

I can take it with me. Okay. All right, okay. I'm holding it under one arm. Okay, okay, one arm. So you can't, I'm going to say, if you've got it under one arm, there's no bonus attack, that's your arm. You can't have another weapon.

That's fine, I don't want another one. That's all right. I only want one. Okay. She only needs one. I only need one! No. That's fine. A revised weapon?

Yeah. No! Right now, your offhand is totally pined. I reckon you could get some down. But yeah, you kind of like... That's how I want to go. Like, you get on all fours, and you've grown up along city streets,

and you've spent some time living in some rough places, and you scooch under one of these wagons. It's tall enough that you can scooch under it. You pop up on the other side. I'd say you're quite close to where this ornate-looking spear is. It's just on the ground, like like here on the floor as well. Can I summon what looks like the spear, but radiant? I think it has to be a sword or blade, yeah.

Some sort of dagger, basically. I will summon a radiant dagger, and I want to throw it so that if it sort of hits, if one of them's raising their hand to hit the guy, I kinda wanna hit their arm with it. So it's like a, do you know? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Flavor it, depending on what the roll is.

So you're going for the dwarf, you said, right? Or do you wanna go for one of the thugs? One of the ones that's actually hitting him. Yeah, so that's one of the thugs. Yeah, one of the thugs. Rolled terribly, Yeah, so that's one of the thugs. Yeah, one of the thugs. Rolled terribly though, so... 14 to hit. Does actually hit them.

These guys, they're wearing studded leather, they don't have shields, so this radiant blade sinks into their arm. You don't manage to strike the arm as they're lifting it to strike, but you kind of strike into the shoulder as it grazes past, leaving this radiant burn.

Okay. And you technically, I would say, for the purposes of this, there is somebody who is distracting them, so you would get your sneak attack.

You have an ally, air quotes. Mechanically, maybe not in the narrative just yet, but... Oh, it's the Albertbert, plus you, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Doesn't work.

Constant sneak attack. It does not work that way. I'm vetoing that now. Thing is, I now have a lot of stuff. Yeah, yeah, you've got 3d6, right? And these guys don't, do I want to outright? See, this is the problem, Mark, is you've given me a conundrum in that my

only ability apparently deals lethal damage. Well, I mean, yeah, it is like a blade of radiant energy. It's like a light-saving knife. But it's my only thing, so I can't do anything else. I mean, these guys are being criminals. They're being scum. But then you're saying that that's the crime to kill them, so I'm like...

I think it's reported. How busy are the streets? This area is very quiet. Oh, luckily. Ross is literally filling out a police report as he watches this. Spin the blade in midair, hit him with the butt of the sword.

I can't... It's a radiant death. I can't. I'm throwing it. Well, I'll put it this way. If the intention is definitely you've hit them in the shoulder, it won't outright kill them.

I'll tell you this. This is what I mean. I'll say it won't outright kill them. Basically, I'm this is this is what i'll say it won't outright kill basically i'm trying to petition it might need to have a way to use her abilities but not outright i think like if you specifically aim and like make it intentionally what i'll do is if they go to zero they will be dying but they won't outright die so you'll have a chance to let go over and stabilize them if you want to okay yeah so give them like three rounds to either stabilize naturally or get stabilized. Go get them, killer.

14 points of damage. That's fine. Doesn't help my kill. Because I rolled quite low. Okay. So the blade sinks in. You hear this like, ah, like,

what the fuck? Like kind of turning around. Jesus fucking Christ. Is that one of these guys? That is one of the thugs next to you. Oh, wow. So you watch as this spinning blade of yellow holy light like grazes into their shoulder.

They're like, oh, by the scions! And then they turn around. I think that kid just threw like a holy knife or something at me. Not a kid. And I have more. And I'll summon one. I wouldn't throw it, but I'll just summon it in my hand. That's right. I have friends, and I'll summon one. I would throw it, but I'll just summon it in my hand. That's right.

I have friends, so you better back off. The mercs look confused for a moment. Hey, old friend. 14 points of damage. There's definitely a moment where they look confused. I'm going to make a wisdom saving throw for these guys and see if their morale breaks over time. So this guy, the guy that you've just struck,

his morale's broken, Nick. He's like, oh, boss, we've got to get out of here! I thought we were just going to beat up this one guy. I didn't realise there were people with the holy daggers around. And there's this kind of panic in his voice. But the others are still remaining firm. They're just like, it's just one girl. After we beat up the knight, we'll take care of her.

And look around at the rest of them. Well, right now, these guys are only seeing the two of you, because they're sort of, like, hidden back here, basically. So, Daisy, anything else on your turn? No. All right, Gruffydd of Tremorow. I think, yeah, stepping up, I'm gonna step up to the guy that's nearest to me.

All right, when you step up next to him, he is gonna take his readied action, and he's gonna basically draw the blade, and again, go for a non-killing blow, but still gonna try and strike at you, but that's only an eight to hit. So against the gorgeous new shield and staff, you just batter away the strike as you step up to hit. No. So against the gorgeous new shield and staff, you just batter away the strike as you step up to him.

I'm gorgeous now, right now. Yeah, we'll do descriptions of everybody for a second as you arrive. I think, yeah, I'm going to go for a daunting roar as a bonus action. So I imagine as he steps up, this guy tries to strike him. He pings it off his shield and then just roars in his face. Sure. So can he make a Wisdom saving throw, DC 14?

Is this just this guy? What's the range on Daunt? It's 10 foot. Okay, so it would just be this guy. That is going to be a failure. So this guy is frightened. So he's frightened until the end of my next turn. All right.

I'm going to say if they're frightened, their morale's, like, broken. So, like, this guy, like, he is still capable of fighting, but, like, in terms of the group, he's going to count as, like, failing his morale, basically, because he's frightened. But, yeah, he's terrified of you, kind of, like, starts trembling, definitely, like, takes a few steps back

as you just bellow this roar in his face. Yeah. And it's kind of, it's a bit of posturing as well. Like, it's not the most optimal move. A real natural one on an attack, so I'm pulling it quite badly. I like the idea that you roar, and it looks like you're just lazily

swinging towards him, but you're kind of covering for the fact that you fucked up a little bit. You're like, I meant to do that. I'll put it down to, like, this is literally the first attack with my new hookstab. The waiting is all off. It's weird.

This is a good point. Oh, I just imagine instead of a full attack, you're just kind of just bonking them on the forehead. Maybe a little bonk. Stop it. Stop. Stop, stop, stop. Stop it. All right, end of turn.

That's the end of my turn, yeah. All right, the dwarf mercenary is going to go now. He is going to kind of glance over his shoulder at Daisy and sort of look around. He's just like, I'll teach you to meddle in my affairs. You two deal with the knight. And he's going to take a step back. I used my reaction already.

You did. Darn it. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25. That's fine. And he's going to advance on you, Daisy. And he's gonna advance on you, Daisy, and he's trying to look threatening, but you've literally been fighting demons recently. This guy does not scare you.

He doesn't know that. And he has this kind of vicious-looking hatchet axe, and he's gonna take a swing at you with that. Ah, that is a 19 to hit. Mm-hmm. That is gonna to be nine points of damage. So he takes a swing with the axe and he takes a second

swing. That is going to miss. So the first swing you kind of pull yourself back. Maybe there's like a little slice across your arm or something like that. You manage to pull yourself back. He takes a second swing but this time you're ready for it. You dodge to the side. He's just like clear off. It's none of your business, girl!

After them, we then go to Xanthius. Xanthius, after a recent wave of victories and praise, thinks he is hot shit right now. Okay. And, like, these guys,

they don't know who we are. They will. And I'm just going to saunter up. Come on, we really don't have time for this. We need to be pressing on. We've got a tournament to attend as the heroes of Ash and Rest. That's like 15 feet. Do you want to keep going?

Yeah, I'll keep going. I mean, I know this guy is engaged with Gruff, which is cute. You can get to here. We're very cocky today, aren't we? Yeah. Aren't you? He's a sassy... That's cute.

Sassy pants. He wants to show off in front of his cool new friend. Until he falls asleep. Who I know very well. If these guards ask. It's, uh, uh, B... Uh, B... Uh, uh, uh, uh.

They call him old. Uh you just call me old? What? We're trying to do things. Okay. Fire out a breath weapon. Your dragon breath weapon? Yes, sure. 15 foot long?

Well, it's a 15 foot long line it's only a five foot wide line five foot wide oh uh you'll get my bad so it should hit i need to completely reposition myself yeah in that case so you could go here um but you'd still only catch this one guy if it's only 15 feet oh sorry five by 30 foot line oh okay so so you could by 30. So you could catch two of them, or, yeah, I don't think you've got enough movement. Okay. Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. No.

Basically, you can catch two of them if you go next to Gruff. You catch these two. Really got places to be, and also... That's so cool! So, yeah. So, Dex saving throws? Dexterity 15. Fail? Fail. Both of them fail.

That is 2d6 of fire damage. Wow, 4. And they gain burning. They are set aflame. So he's frightened and burning. So, for Atlas's perspective, you're kind of backed up into this corner. You've seen very much a cauldron, and like a cauldron girl,

she's wearing kind of cauldron dress, little skirt, little embroidered, little kind of waistcoat corset thing, big, bright, sort of like orangey, flamey kind of hair. Blonde. It's blonde, but with like, you know. It's blonde.

Is it just blonde? It's just blonde. It's because you. I get confused with you. I have no idea. It's blonde, but with like, you know. It's blonde. Is it just blonde? It's just blonde. It's because you. I get confused with you. It's blonde, kind of like wavy hair. Scurries under the wagon, carrying a giant owlbear plush. Huh.

Summons like a holy knife, throws it at this guy. And then from around the corner, behind like these stacks of wagons and barrels, you hear this deafening roar, and then a gold dragonborn, like a humanoid dragonborn, steps out and just goes, as a line of fire scorches across the alleyway.

My friends are so cool. The two guards are like, they're on fire, like they're trying to pat themselves out, but they are on fire. Yeah, and as a bonus action, I will convert my sorcery rune into, my sorcery point into two runes. Two charged runes.

So two glowing runes appear on my arms and body and face and face. Wonderful! And it? They're not visible. Okay. All right there. Slight glow.

No, we're fine. Atlas, it's actually your turn. Okay. Yes, Atlas is going to raise his gauntleted unarmed glove and it's going to take two strikes. Okay. Now, I'm going to also remind you, at any point you can choose to add these to your attack rolls and stuff

if you want to spend them. Feel free. I'm okay for now. I'm pretty good to hit, so let's see. The lowest is a 14 and the highest is a 23. And you're just trying to go for the two thugs in front of you. Yes. 14 is enough to hit these guys.

Okay, perfect. In which case, I'm going to... So I will target... I haven't been hit yet. Yes, there's the one that took the radiant shoulder blade. And he's kind of like... He's looking like he's out of this. He wants to back out.

Yeah, I'll work on the other one. Well, it's these two that got set on fire. Yeah, yeah, this guy over here. Perfect. So basically you watch as I bring my gauntlet up. I do one punch, does four points of damage. Four points. And then the second punch, you see as I kind of rear back

again I actually go for an uppercut and you see a tiny little stream of fire appears at my elbow and I get to that is a seven, that is 15 points of damage. What the hell? You just got a rocket fist. You nearly KO this guy with that second punch. He's left standing, but he's like... Can we set the condition in the air a little bit? Oh, oh. That's not even a question about this.

This was like your feet came off the ground, like proper Ryu style. It's a single impact impact frame and then he's launched into the sky yeah not quite launching the sky but this guy lifts up off the ground he lands on his feet but he staggers to recover his eyes are all over the place he's like swinging the sword around like he does not know where he is he is yeah really badly hurt by that uh his eyes he's struggling to keep his eyes open at this point. Yeah, they are looking pretty rough.

Beautiful. And then I'll just do, just for the sake of it, you see that he just goes, for a second, fire appears around him. Okay. I'm just using, it's like very brief, and it's not that impressive, the fire. I'm just regaining one of my die that I expended.

Yes, okay, one of your magic. Yeah, I was just like, ah! No, he's doing the bit where Goku does the, he gets his ki back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, drawing in some ki. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll say if there's any fire around, he draws it into... I love that, the idea that fire breath, because it would leave a streaky line. Oh yeah, perfect. I'll steal a bit of that fire breath because you had leave a

Specifically what you You are next yeah Rowan doesn't step out okay very cool instead um rowan is gonna cast phantasmal force on the dwarf mercenaries this is a new spell okay what's gonna happen you can see him so he would normally have cover but phantasmal force doesn't care about that so yeah so what's gonna happen is where did you put the plushie i'm holding it to this person the plushie hops out crawls along the floor the eyes go red on fire and then it grows into an enormous plushie demon monster okay amazing uh i believe i make some sort of saving throw. Yeah, it's a wisdom save. That's amazing. Okay. 15 to beat intelligence. One.

An extra one. So that, yeah. Yeah. So you just see this dwarf. The eyes go wide like, Blazes girl, what are you? It's your worst nightmare. Basically, you treat it as if it's real.

Yeah. And any illogical thing is rationalised by this person. I think they take D6 of psychic damage. Yeah, D6 of psychic damage. We're aware, right? Five. Yeah, you guys all see, because to you guys it would appear translucent and like an illusion. But actually no, I don't think it appears to anybody but him.

He's just in his mind, so you don't see anything. But he's like pointing at the space in front of Daisy, like, back demon! Ah! Back with me Ophelia, or? Yes, Ophelia's back there, yeah. Before I do it, I'm like, check this out. And then I do the. How much psychic damage again, sorry?

Well, five. Five, okay. Yeah, he definitely is just like, oh, back, back, what the hell is wrong with this town? Oh, scary. Oh, big owlbear plushie demon. Would you like to do anything else on your turn, Rowan? No.

What's a plushie? To Fort Atlas, because it's Rowan, behind these wagons and barrels kind of stepping out from behind the building, you would see, I think Rowan's like, what, eight feet tall? Eight feet? Yeah, he is what? Ah! No, you would know him to be a Yotner,

which is like a half giant, basically. They are rare, but they're part of the Empire. They're common enough that you would know them. But he's this tall, kind of pale blue skin. Big, thick jaw. Yeah. But he's got really soft features. Like, he's instantly just a gentle, giant-looking creature.

He's got a big scarf wrapped around his head. Big scarf, green, and also just a nice tunic, and his arms are bare, and you see some geometric patterns on his arms. But he looms over this wagon, basically, and looks down on this dwarf, and you guide the phantasmal force. All right, perfect. Anything else on your turn, Ren? That's it. I wave. aphelia's gone last because she's kind of reluctant to step in initially she's just like i don't really care but then she sort of looks at the mercs and they're

like unidentifiable mercs yeah no one will care if they go missing. No one will care if they go missing. Oh, this is about to get real messed up. Ophelia licks her lips. Yum, yum, yum. Who can I get to within 35 feet? 35 feet. Well, you can spider climb, right? Yeah. So you can, in theory, go like 5, 10, 15, 20, 20.

You can get to the dwarf. You can get to this guy. I would like to get to him. You'd have to dash to get to anybody else. I'll get to the dwarf, please. And Ophelia will point to the dwarf and just say, the House of Blood thanks you for your gift, and it will be savored. And she rages. So just for jazz, what's fun of you?

What you see is a woman running along the side of this building and over the wagon, scurrying over it like an insect, dressed in red finery and this gleaming armour and all decorative jewellery with this perfect black face-painted thing. It's all red. Oh, it's all red, sorry, yeah, that's right. And then this dark hair.

And just leaps down and you just watch her eyes go bright red as she opens her mouth and clear fangs become apparent. Okay, new friends, we got a problem! And then, yeah, so you rage, you go into your blood fury rage. Reckless bite the dwarf, please. Okay, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. This poor guy has got... 23.

23? Even if I use his parry ability, he cannot stop that. So he desperately tries to get a blade up, but you're lightning quick. Camilla, Castlevania, like... Yeah. Amazing. I sink my fangs in and I do 8 points of damage.

Plus 2. 8 points of damage. 10 points. 10 points of damage. And do Ten points. Ten points of damage. And do you want to make that an empowered bite? I will do, yes, please. So then you'll gain that ten to whatever you want to do next, basically. I guess you wouldn't want to gain hit points, would you?

No, I don't need to. So that means you can add ten damage to your next attack. Holy crap. So you watch as... Well, also, you're level... Oh, no, you're not level five yet, you leveled up to multi-class so yeah, no second attack just yet.

Not yet. Perfect, but you run round and you just grab this dwarf's arm and bite in and you, oh delicious, fresh blood. Daisy's going like this with the owlbear, like. You see this dwarf torn between these two terrifying things now. It's all human delight. It's like, yes!

Imagine you're like a dog as well, like, swinging it around. All right. She's barking again. Atlas, the two thugs around you just drop their weapons. They're like, we're not being paid enough for this shit. And they're going to try and run, basically. Do you play with the rules that you reset your turn after your turn?

As in your reaction? Yeah. You get it back at the start of your turn. I always do. So you wouldn't have your reaction again yet, unfortunately. Oh, no. Don't go. So they are going to basically, yeah, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30,

and then they're going to dash and just run. They just flee the scene, one of them still holding his head from the uppercut, the other one, like, clutching his arm where Daisy's, like, holy knife, like, stabbed into him, and those two just flee the scene as best as they can. The other two, though... Bye! You can still take half.

Okay. No, they're just running. The other two are on fire, I believe. Do you want to roll a d6 for me to see how much fire damage they take? Sure. That's five for... Oh, it's just five for both.

Oh, five for both, yeah. Uh-oh. Pretty nasty. So they're on fire. I mean, these guys are normal men. They're just going to try and put themselves out. They're just going to spend their action to put themselves out of fire. Yeah, I guess.

I'm concerned otherwise. This one is like, fuck this boss, and then runs. Oh, fuck. On fire. Yeah, on fire. Just takes it away from her. The one fighting Gruff is like, no this boss, and then runs. Oh, God. Yeah, on fire. Just takes it away. The one fighting Gruff is like, no, I've got this. Has not quite realized that all of his mates have run away yet.

Puts himself on fire and is looking around like, what are we going to do? Not quite sure what's going on. But that is the thug's turn. Daisy. Oh, actually, sorry, I get one attack with the thug. You're still frightened of me. That I have disadvantage. But I miss.

Just swings it wildly. Daisy. Can I, standing with my owlbear under my arm, summon a dagger, look at him and go, I suggest you leave absolutely you can give me an intimidation check

I guess do I get any kind of advantage the fact that he's tormented by an owlbear and has a terrifying vampire lady next to him absolutely you have advantage on his arm

you can spend fate as well if you want literally attached you can spend fate as well if you want. Literally attached. You can spend fate as well if you want. You don't have to. Save it. Yeah. I'll save it for now, maybe, hopefully.

Ooh, that one's cocked. That was shit. 13. 13? 14. 14. The owlbear plush squeaks. You see that this guy is clearly terrified and wants to leave, but there is also, you

get the impression that he's afraid to turn his back, basically. He's definitely terrified and wants to leave, but now with this demon that he can see, and the vampire lady, and all of you, he's almost too afraid to like run away i will disengage from him yep but hold that dagger and i'll hold my action if he attacks me or ophelia okay the dagger will be going towards it perfect sounds great that's amazing um all right then we go for gruffith is this guy in front of me still on fire uh no he put himself out he spent his action putting himself out okay i think i'm gonna do similar i'm gonna say listen boyo none of your friends are here anymore that looks behind him

do you really want this to go all the way make an intimidation with advantage Advantage. 15. 15. Yeah, this guy's like, he's like, okay, yep, I'll leave. It's not his turn yet, but he's given up. His morale is broken. He's like, no, I don't want any of this.

I will hold my action that if he does attack, I will attack back. Sure, yep, sounds good. Perfect, yeah, he is done with this fight. Xanthius. I mean, he's right there. Gims, look at you, like... You really want to disappoint Daddy? No. The one...

Sorry, the other one. Does he intend to flee as well? The dwarf? With Ophelia? It's like he's in that thing of like he's too locked in now. Like Daisy's intimidate wasn't quite high enough, but also he's a bit more vicious than the others. And he thinks that the second he turns to run,

you're just going to kill him. Yeah, well, the one that is next to me, I'm going to walk right past him. He said he's going to give up. He doesn't attack you? It was really nice to meet you, by the way. There's a lot of fire. He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, me too.

We'll see you around. And I will do a mind sliver on this guy here. Just completely destroy what's left of his precious little fragile brain. Yeah, I mean, it's psychic damage as well, so I imagine I can non-lethal that one. Yeah. Or does he just...

I mean, you can choose to blow it. It's up to you. So they make a intelligence saving throw. Fail. Fail. They take 3. 2d6 of psychic damage. Oh my god. Can tripsd6 of psychic damage.

Cantrips, baby. Three damage. Wow, really? I need to get deep. But they have a d4 less on their next saving. Okay, so. Yep, that's a good one. So this dwarf's already addled mind is now hearing whispers in his brain. He's like, shut up! Get out!

Demon! Vampire! What's going on? As he looks around. Anything else on your turn, Xanthias? No, that is me. Now, with this phantasmal force, is there anything he can do to prove it's not real? I believe it's another saving throw, yes. Is it an action or is he doing saving throw? Another saving throw, yes. Oh, yeah.

Is it an action or is he doing it at the end of his turn? An action to examine the phantasm with an intelligence investigation check. Yeah, well, that's basically going to be him swinging his sword at it, basically. Okay. Intelligence, you say. Oh, good. Minus one.

Oh, 19, though. 18. Did he get a minus? Because of what you just said. Minus d4. That's a saving throws, right? That's your point, yes. I mean, it makes sense.

I'm actually going to overrule that and say that in this instance, I think that it would still apply, so roll the d4 for me. So he's on 18 currently. Takes it to 14. 14. DC 15. Yep. He swings the sword, but the illusion or the phantasmal force,

because of his addled mind, in his mind, the demon Albeg just grabs the sword and stops the blow. But it's actually him, like, he swings and just holds it there because he thinks that it's being held back. And he's just like, just looking around in pure panic at this point. I mean, he's also, because of the source of the power of this Mind Slither as well, I imagine he's seeing flashes of a... That's right, yeah, I guess he would probably see

that the demon takes on a more, even more twisted, mutated form, where some of that Crownsteel corruption is almost like empowered its giant claw, it's become more spiked and tendrilled and glowing with golden veins. That's his action to do that, so he does nothing for the turn, basically. Sweet.

Completely believes it. I think the only thing is, well, no, because he wouldn't try. He's afraid of you getting an untaxed opportunity, so he's just going to stay there. That's what he's going to do. Rowan. Rowan's going to step out. Hello.

So tall. He's gonna assume where the guy is seeing this owlbear and be like, ooh. And then carry on walking. Okay. Where do you wanna walk to? Hello, do you need any help? I'm, we got him honestly kind of fine, thanks.

Don't need any healing or anything? I mean, sure, I took a hit, but I mean, I don't want any inconvenience. I get out my lute. Oh, wow, you're playing music. Strum a chord. Cool. And you get a little.

This lute, by the way, Atlas, is one of the most beautiful, finest instruments you've ever seen. It looks more like it's been carved out of stone than wood. It's so beautifully engraved, elaborately designed. Like this is the work of a master artisan. Is that super heavy? Oh no, it's fine.

Eight points. Whoa! Energy goes into you. Oh, that feels awesome. Just a moment and then you'll be safe. Yeah, oh, thanks, I appreciate it. Not a problem. I look around at the whatever else is there. The mouse back there, yeah. Let's just watch. Okay, sure. I appreciate it. Not a problem. I look round at the... The mouse back there.

Let's just watch. Okay, sure. I sit down. Yeah, okay. I just sit down. Use the rest of your movement to just sit down prone, like, okay. Maybe I'll play some tunes as background music. What kind? Is it like...

Benny Hill style. Yeah. And I'm just chuckling to myself. You come in as a level of, like, crowd control. Like, don't worry, the force is dealing with the situation right now. Behind Ophelia is, like, sinking into this. Speaking of Ophelia, it's Ophelia's turn. Hi.

So this guy is rattled. Oh, yeah. Like, physically still quite healthy. That's not going to stop her. Look at her face. Physically, he's still very healthy. But you can see his mind. Like, he's looking at something that isn't there.

He tried to swing a sword at some sort of creature that wasn't present. He's, like, torn between you and it. He looks completely baffled. I would like to form a dread, please. Okay, okay. It's one dude. It's one dude. It's funny.

Do it. Do it. I love it. So for the purposes of the audience and for Jasper, do you want to describe what your form of dread looks like? So it's basically Ophelia but shrink wrapped. Like her skin sinks into all her contours. Like her face becomes hollow. Her eye sockets

become deep and dark. She almost becomes like a skeleton wearing flesh. Her fangs elongate even longer. She just looks at this dwarf. There's a crown of broken red crystals hovering above her head now

that seem to almost pull out of her own blood and just form. I suggest you run while you still can. And one of the effects of your Form of Dread is? He gets frightened. Okay. It's a win save. Yeah, he fails.

Can I also make this save? Yeah. I have no context for this. Yeah, absolutely. And I'm absolutely terrified. Yeah, absolutely. Wisdom save? Yeah.

Minus one, baby. Ooh, 15? Success. Hey! So whatever it is, you can decide. I hesitate for a second and then sit down next to you and just like, okay, okay, okay. Maybe it's an illusion or something.

She's using illusion magic or something. This is fine. I'm feeling her in that form, standing next to Daisy, whilst she's holding an owlbear plush. It's quite a two. The two ends of the's holding an owlbear plush, is quite a... The two ends of the spectrum. The owlbear plushie is really helping a lot. It's like that picture of the houses,

where it's like the Barbie house. Or the sisters, the goth sister and the rainbow sister. The goth sister and the rainbow sister. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You also get some other effects with Form of Dread, right? You get some temporary hit points. I get 10 hit points equal to 1d10 plus 1. You'll need those.

And that's it, yeah, and I'm immune to the frightened condition. That's only a bonus action. You just do an action left. right you get some temporary hit points hit points uh equal to d1d10 plus one you'll need those um that's it yeah i'm immune to the frightened condition that's only a bonus action you used to do an action left um can i just like encourage him to start running yeah yeah do you want to make an intimidate check with advantage yeah leave i'm making the dc lower and lower like each time so like your first attempt now the dc will be be lower because of all the shenanigans. 11, 12, 13. Yeah, 13's enough at this point. So if it would have been the first one, it would have failed like Daisy's one. It was 15, but I've lowered the DC.

So at this point, yeah, the guy just is like, he'll kill her. The demon is looking around like he looks towards you just Hi! Just like, yeah, he's going to flee at this point. At this point, if you guys are willing, we can end the combat,

because these guys are just gonna flee, basically. Unless you guys desperately wanna try and beat up some fleeing. I mean. That's it. Okay, it's fine. They all go running off, leaving you guys. In a moment, we'll drop out.

Well, that was a very loud 12 seconds. Yeah. Well, thank you for that. Oh, hey, no problem. I guess I feel kind of bad. You all came to my aid. That was really kind of you. I mean, you know, I think I kind of probably might have died,

but, you know, it would have been okay. It was a situation of my own making, so I feel kind of somewhat embarrassed to have received your help. Now that we have everyone, because you've seen Daisy, Ophelia, and Rowan, do you want to have Gruff and Xanthius just describe what you guys

look like for Atlas as well? Yeah, so Gruff will step out from behind the barrels, and what you see is this quite tall, but not as tall as Rowan, leaning or a wild heart in this universe with black fur speckled with white. Gorgeous white mane that's very curly. And he's wearing absolutely beautiful armor.

It looks very new. There's barely a scratch on it. One of the pauldrons has a kind of a roaring lion, kind of like a Chinese style, like the guardian lions coming out from the side. Again, he also has this beautiful new staff that is just masterful. You can tell it's made by a master craft worker.

Yeah, and he steps out and reaches a paw down to you and is like, are you well? Oh yeah, I'm super well. You guys look awesome. Can I just confirm they are with you all? Oh don't worry, I'm quite used to this. Oh no, yes, we're a group, don't you worry. Do you keep the form of dread or do you let it fade?

I let it fade away. Okay, so eventually life comes back to you. There's also, do you want to describe Xanthius as well? Yeah, so Xanthius is in very fine cauldron clothing, probably a noble, maybe, you're not quite sure, but a very handsome gold dragonborn, humanoid gold dragonborn with, so almost half-elf in appearance,

but with golden scales sort of dotted around, kind of golden horns around his hairline and things. He's got a tail as well, doesn't he? He does have a big gold tail. And he is looking very full of himself right now. He's got some glowing runes kind of around you as well. Yeah, so almost shifting geometric patterns that kind of just keep intertwining and locking in,

things like that, over his body. Clearly a sorcerer of some kind, a magic that maybe, I guess you might not understand, or know of. His magic is a little different, like there's definitely something, that pattern design, that runic style, you've never seen a magic kind of like that before.

The fire magic and things like that, you're very used to, but whatever that runic stuff is going on, you've not really seen magic like that before. And you would definitely recognize him as, yeah, he's definitely clearly a gold dragonborn, but wearing cauldron kind of design. The armor that Gruffydd is wearing, you are cauldron.

You come from a pretty metropolitan town as well. You would recognize that it is likely the work of one of the Heirs of Dante, which is a famous line of blacksmiths. They're scattered all around Caldra. There are different Dantes, all by different names,

but they all have a very similar kind of, like, style and artistic license, and that means it's expensive. Like, that is some very, very fine armor. Kind of similar to yours as well, like that fine quality of armor, basically. Is that an original Dante? That's a nice piece. Yes, it was crafted for me by Mistress Elena Vedante. She's actually gonna be at the tournament now.

No way. Oh, you didn't get any dents in it, did you? You didn't damage it? I don't know, well, he didn't touch me. Well, let me look, let me see. Oh, because if you damage it, that's gonna be a problem. No, you look good, okay, I think it's good, actually. You didn't get hit once.

Very well done. Sorry, did you say you were going to the tournament? Yes, I'm meant to be in the single combat. Are you fighting as well? Well, I was going to. So the embarrassing part of this is I actually hired those guys because I needed a team to compete later. I needed, you know, it needs to be six, and I need a team to compete later.

I needed, you know, it needs to be six, and I need to compete, and so I didn't have six as I was one, so I hired them. The conquest mode. Yes, yeah. Mode? Mode. Yeah.

Game mode. Conquest mode! That's what I selected from the drop down menu. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There was quick play, there was PvE. One v. one, catch a slide. King of the Hill. Yeah, yeah.

Deathmatch. Conquest mode. Yeah, that's what I wanted. But I didn't have a team of six, so I thought I'd hire some of the roughest looking dudes, and then they kind of jumped me and knocked me, you know, stuff out of my hand. Luckily, you've just met a five stack, so.

As it is, I actually signed us up for conquest, but we don't have six. So what were you gonna do? What are you gonna do? How are you gonna? Well, I guess we were just gonna fight. We were just gonna compete with five, but an extra hand would be very useful.

I'm Rowan, by the way, and I extend a huge hand. Ha! It's so big, I can't even. Pleasure to meet you, what's your name? I try to wrap my hand around your hand, and it's not working. Rowan, softer, Rowan, softerasure to meet you, what's your name? I try to wrap my hand around your hand and it's not working. Soft and soft and soft. Oh, sorry, what's your name? I think you get, he's surprisingly strong, even though he's, whoa, whoa, I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry, yeah, the gauntlets are pretty sharp. Really strong. My name is Atlas, Atlas Altar Phoenix. Oh, wow, very fancy name. Pleasure to meet you. Thank you. The last name was actually gifted to us by a dragon. Really? Yes. We got given a house by a dragon.

Whoa, cool! It's haunted, but. Super haunted. For now, for now. Super haunted. Okay, well, listen, I'll help you in the tournament, but I do not want to go to your house, if that's okay. It's probably for the best.

She doesn't really like it when strangers come in. No, we need to repair it. There's a lot of work to be done, but in an amount of time that I'm not sure about just yet, it's gonna look great. But, yeah, it's very haunted. But happy to have you with us, if you wish to join us in the fight.

I mean, I think it's the least I could do to pay you back for helping me in the predicament that I got in, and it would be amazing for me, So yeah, I would love that. And plus you guys are all so awesome. You did really cool things, you know. That was awesome, really, really cool. And you know, whatever the hell that was.

Well, thank you, I'm flattered. Yeah. No, but you saw the fire though, right? Yeah, that was awesome. That was really, really cool. I like fire stuff. We need to go, guys! Oh, right, okay, we have to go.

We're just gonna be late. And I take out the banner from the, there's a banner that clearly Daisy has made herself. Handmade, yes. And it just says, Yay Gruff, but it's really well made. And she just drapes it over herself. It is insane how well made this quite simple banner is.

You rolled, what, a 30? 30. So it is beautiful. Beautiful. Legendary. this quite simple banner is. You rolled, what, a 30? 30. So you can make it. So it is beautiful. Beautiful, legendary. Totally stunning. Yeah, and for you, Atlas, as well, you would know that you were also,

you're supposed to be part of this parade as well. You've got to announce yourself and everything else. So these guys ambushed you on the way there and you're running late as well. Oh, yeah, that's true. What time? We should probably go. I need to go over to the beach.

You can begin to hear fanfares playing in the distance. Oh, it's making a move, we're late. I'm gonna grab my spear and be like, okay, well, I'll let you guys lead the way. Oh, you're the knights, you go ahead. Not a knight yet, and that's also trailed off as Gruff is running for the alleyway. Not quite either yet, but we're getting there.

Two knights, not far to you. Not the alleyway. It's not quite either yet, but we're getting there. It's not a party. Not a night yet. Yeah, not quite. You guys rush through the side streets, kind of using these alleyways. There are crowds, but now sort of empowered with the rush and being late, you start shouting and clearing a path. A couple of the guards of Ashen Rest recognize you guys. You guys are very well known here.

And they start like, oh, clear the way, Like, move out of the way, Sisman! And they start helping you kind of get through. Like, this way! This way, Graff! And they're kind of like pulling you through. You are led in. You see one of the considerates who are helping organize the tournament.

This very thin, reedy-looking woman with these little round ponsnaise glasses. You are late. Hurry down to the corridor. We'll have to move you into later in the position. This is quite a predicament. I will let the announcers know that we will be shifting your position.

Very good. Yes, down there, you may take your heralds and any banner bearers with you as well. Go on, go on, go on. Oh, thanks. Thank you. Sorry about being late. He's only late because he was doing something really nightly, though. Oh, they all say that Go on, go on, go on. Oh, thanks. Thank you. Sorry about being late. He's only late because he was doing something

really knightly, though. Oh, they all say that. Go on, go on. I'm going to kind of shuffle you along. Let's go. Let's go, let's go. This is going to be so cool. You guys make your way,

and you join the back of the queue, basically, which is in the kind of beneath all the stands and the seating of the tawny field. You kind of make your way, and you huddle up with some of the knights. You can see that there are clearly some of the more prestigious knights are going out first. You can see that they have whole entourages of banner bearers and musicians.

They have their heralds with them, things like that. And outside in the stands, you can hear cheering and music being played. And then the booming voice of Duke Ignarius, the Lord of Northvale. Welcome, welcome all to the Festival of the Forge and our nightly tournament. I know that these last few days have been ones of darkness and trouble here in Ashenrest. And I know that I have worried many of you in the battle with my actions. But fear not, for if it is not for our brave knights of Northvale and the Empire beyond, even in these darkest times, they come to shine bright. And let us enjoy this moment, enjoy the festivities,

and praise Saint Misara and all of the hard work of these knights of the realm. In the wonders of the tournament, let the festivities begin! And you hear his, like, booming voice kind of right now. Oh, yay! Woo! Nice speech!

You hear the crowd go absolutely wild up above, and the line begins to very slowly shift. Now, because ahead of you are very prestigious knights and things like that, you do have a bit of time to kind of have hushed conversation here because, you know, the first

knight that gets sent out, you hear a kind of like... Ladies and gentlemen, please may I present to you Sir Jafar Kaladan of Zenith, the Glittering City. He, ah, the master of the Serpent Blade. And he begins, like, his herald begins

telling these wonderful stories about Sir Jafar. And they begin sort of like doing all of these, you know, he, it is said that he traveled for 30 days and 30 nights without sleep without rest To rescue the daughter of an eye blah blah blah blah kind of goes on with this amazing story Roman looks at like the like few words. He's written on his wrist. I think I need a redo I Don't really know I don't have any accomplishments. What you mean you have so many? I just can't fit them on my body. But compared to this fella.

I mean, that's saying a lot. If he can't fit them on his body, then... He's got the biggest one. I do write big, though, and it's like four. I mean, all this guy did was walk for 30 days and 30 nights. You saved Dash and Rest. Yeah. And this guy right now.

And me. You could vote for him right now, right? Yeah And this guy right now. And me. You could vouch for him right now, right? Yeah, you could say that you saved me. Oh, I don't want that much. And I've done some stuff. Yeah, you've done some stuff, bad stuff. You saved them, the other couple. No, I was answering a different question.

That was very quick. Is this your first time in a tournament? Yes, yeah. This is kind of like one of my first times sort of away from home, so you know. Same. You know, this is the start of my adventure, you know, to become a full knight and prove my worth.

Same as me. Yeah, so. You certainly look the part. Thanks. Your armor is wonderful. Yeah, it's not technically, it's my dad's. He's really, he was called the Flame of Helios. He's quite a famous knight who served Lady Ametiona,

the dragon that we serve. And yeah, he's kind of just a bit old now, so he gave it to me. He calls me the Ember of Helios, but I don't quite, you know, it's a little, and you see that he's like, you see that he's quite like a heavy, he's like a heavy-ish set sort of looking person, and he's like, he's definitely like, slightly uncomfortable in the armor.

Oh, don't worry, Grif looks the same. Like, he's got a dad bod. Yeah, yeah. He's an older looking. That armor is doing a lot of work to contain the dad. Yeah, yeah. He's an older looking. That armor is doing a lot of work to contain the dad. Yeah, yeah. A pouch. Oh, sounds like a very noble lineage.

It's pretty, it's a lot to live up to. He sort of has a thousand yard stare. Is there any recognition of the name of Flame of Helios? Give me a history check. Anybody who's, so I'd say Xanthius and Daisy can make it. Gruff, you could also make it because you like stories of knights and things like that. I do like stories.

Rowan, you like stories, so you can make a roll as well. 12. Natural 20. Rowan probably has heard it. 12. 12, probably not. I got a seven, six. So for Rowan's benefit, Jasper,

do you want to just give a brief summary about your dance story? So basically, the legends are that essentially the Flame of Helios was cast down to hell, fought his way back to the Material Plane, and became a champion of the Lady Meteona. fought his way back to the Material Plane, and became a champion of the Lady Meteona. And after many years of service, changed the family name to Phoenix. And basically, he is adorned with this incredibly

powerful and striking looking armor, but he is now said to be retired. And so that's the flame of Helios. He's quite a powerful and impressive champion and the kid you see before you is wearing his armor. A new crush. Yeah, yeah, no pressure whatsoever. It's so fine, so fine.

And just because I wouldn't be able to give Jasper the full briefing on the way the planes work, so by hell, the Helion pit, the twin pits of the fiendish planes. And whether that is true, by the way, I think is a relatively dispute. That's the story. That's the is true, by the way, I think is like a relatively dispute. That's the story. That's the story.

That's the legend, basically. You're the son of the flame of Helios. I'm the ember of Helios. Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. I've heard that story many times. I tried to write a song about it.

Whoa, cool. My dad would love that. You should swing by and sing it for him. Well, it's not a good song. I'm sure it's a great song. I mostly sing about rocks and lakes. Rocks and lakes? Nature.

Lakes. Oh, lakes, sorry. I haven't done one about lakes. You could do one about legs. Yeah, that'd be good. Thank you. Well, it's an honor to meet you. Well, likewise.

You're so tall. I'm a big guy. Yeah, you're just a big meet you. Well, likewise. You're so tall. I'm a big guy. Yeah, you're just a big guy. That's really cool. You're definitely having to hunch your neck under these stands, kind of crouching your neck a little bit. Up ahead, you see the queue. I have constant back pain.

The queue has kind of moved along a little bit, and through the slats, you can kind of get a glimpse into the arena. You see a bit of like an ominous figure kind of steps into it now. Doesn't have a herald, has almost these silent banner bearers all wearing these heavy dark green, dark black, dark brown clothes

with these hoods holding these like flagged, tattered looking banners. Ophelia, you, definitely this catches your attention. There's almost a touch of, you know, the houses of Ossius to some of this, but you see this kind of dark, black, armoured-clad figure with a wicked-looking, like, woodsman's axe, and he sort of approaches and just sort of looks around. I am Sir Vraxkel

of Odaskir. I need no introduction. And then he just carries on. And the crowd is like really stilled, like, whoa. He needs an introduction. I have no idea who this is. Do you know who this is? No, none of you would probably know.

Sir Vraxkel. Vrax probably know. Sir Vrax Krell. Vrax Krell. Yeah, Vrax Krell. I'm going to demand spell it for you. And as you watch, you see a couple more of the knights move out ahead. There are definitely some interesting characters. There are existing knights,

like Sir Vrax Krell and Sir Javar. You would also see at least one knight, Eren, who is a wild heart, but is the more anthropomorphic animal version of a rabbit folk. You would also see at least one Night Erin who is a wild heart, but is the more anthropomorphic animal version of a rabbit folk. So they actually, rather than being a parson with bunny ears and tail, they are like a full anthropomorphic bunny. And they come, and there's almost like a jauntiness to them,

and they're like, oh, hello, everyone. Oh, lovely to be here. I'm Willow the Wit, an aspiring knight, I suppose, and I come from Mistwald, and I've been blessed with the gifts of the elves, and he starts telling this story, and he's got this bright blue scarf, and he kind of hops around as he talks. He's precious. Yeah, he's kind of a bit precious.

He, like, he doesn't, he's like, I don't really have any accomplishments yet, so how about I play you a little merry song? And he pulls out a little flute, and he's like... The crowd laugh, and he juggles while he's singing. He's a bit of a kind of caddy jester type. But he's like, well, that's me, I suppose. Bye-bye! And he hops off.

This is the most uncanny impression of Rhys Darby I have ever heard. I don't know who that is. Oh, no, yeah, yeah, yeah. A couple of others that would take that. You do notice that ahead of you, and this is more for Gruffydd, you do see good old Sir Gryold. The best.

A dwarven marksman. So this guy comes out, unlike the others, he's mounted when he comes out. He's riding this beautiful black drake that he's in the saddle. He comes out in gleaming armor. His beard has been like

plaited and studded with gemstones. His hair has been slicked and oiled back and he has a giant crossbow, this beautiful masterwork crossbow in his hands

and as soon as he steps out, this is clearly like the local favorite. That's so cool. And everyone's like Gryhold, Gryhold, Gryhold. I want a beard someday And everyone's like, Griot, Griot, Griot. I want a beard someday.

Griot, Griot. Sorry. He comes down. A herald comes and announces, oh, this man, he needs no introduction. The beloved of Ashencrest. Knight of the realm. Knight of the realm.

Servant of Duke Ignarius. Servant of Duke Ignarius. The dead eye. The marksman. The one who will shoot it straight into Ignarius. The Deadeye, the marksman, the one who will shoot it straight into your hearts. And he points around in a cheer like, oh! They're like, oh! In the crowd, they're like, ooh, yeah, ooh, yeah!

They do the whole thing like, ah, I've been shot in the heart! Sagri-old Stelae! And everyone's like, yeah! And he very politely and humbly waves and makes his way around. I don't think I should be here. I'm feeling safe. I don't feel like we have the credentials for this. You have a couple of minutes before you guys

are gonna be the ones going out there. And I'd say that in the audience, you can decide who goes first and who goes second. Daisy will stand in front of them both and go, now stop it! Both of you deserve to be here! Okay. Both of you look amazing right now, you armor!

Kre-O look fabulous. Yes, but so do they. Oh yes, no, you guys, yeah. Did you get hit in the heart? I got hit in the heart, I felt it, I felt it. It was so nice. Is he Rex Kell? Yeah, he was a stranger.

Needs no introduction? Now that is spooky. These are some top tier nights. These are best of the best. And then you guys are next. And you guys go ahead. You'll be great. I think I need the toilet.

Oh, you can't go now. Oh, no, you're locked in. This is the masquerade crew in a car. I'm like, once you're in it, you're not leaving. You either piss yourself on stage or you finish. I grip Atlas. Okay. He does this.

My friend. It's an honor to meet you. Don't you forget your lineage. You are the flame of Helios. I'm the ember. You are the sun. Thanks for reminding me again, though, that I'm not him. Sorry about that.

Yeah, that's okay. Carry on. Either way, you are your own person. Uh-huh, uh-huh. You will grow into an inferno. Oh, cool. Maybe. Yeah, oh, you didn't have to throw in maybe.

I was kind of there with you and then he said maybe and now I'm like. I'm gonna leak a little bardic inspiration into you for this. Okay. You got this. Thanks, I appreciate it. Daisy's gonna stand in front of Gruff with the banner.

I don't make these for anyone, Gruff. Not for just anyone. You got this! And I am your herald. You have a banner. Yeah! I have a banner, I have a banner, I have a herald. I've got three lines.

And those are the best three lines I've ever written. Dante's armor. You have your whole village behind you, I'm sure, and we all believe in you. You are Griffith of Tomorrow. Just the weight of our whole village. It's fine. I'm sure if they were here, they'd be cheering your name right now.

They would be so excited to see you. Oh, I don't know about that. They were actually quite upset that I left. Did you see Willow the Wit, by the way? Like, this entire conversation is happening behind me. I have this rapture. He's, like, peering through the stair, like, oh, she's awesome! You see that beautiful, tall, white-haired lady from Iceheart.

Sir, Lady Dame Andorra Val of Iceheart, the mistress of the theatre. And you Lady, Dame, and Dora of Iceheart. The mistress of the theater. And you're just like, ah. What is it? What? What are you doing?

We're trying to build up Gruffith. Yeah, no, you're cool. Just don't ice your eyes. Insight check. So, you guys are up next.

Now, mechanics. I love mechanics. Yeah. So, for guys are up next. Now, mechanics. I love mechanics. So, for the tawny, and this will apply for right now in your introductions. It's also going to apply in your matches and perhaps in your interactions in between stuff as well. But what better way for a knight to celebrate this tournament

than by attaining glory? So, there is going to be a thing called glory points. Oh. Now, glory points are a resource that you can gain and spend during the tournament. You can spend glory to give yourself inspiration, which I do as a reroll, by the way. Okay, cool.

You can deal an extra D10 of damage by spending a point of glory, or you can remove conditions from yourself as well, right? Now, technically, anybody can gain glory, but it's only knights who, at the end of the tournament, the more glory points you have, the more this will

translate into the recognition you score as a knight. So if you spend it, you then don't have it. There's that thing of like, do I just keep saving them up and be this amazing knight that everyone respects? Or do I spend it to give myself these advantages

to do things like win matches and things like that? Because there are prizes for winning the combats and the battles, but glory transcends that. You can lose a match, but be the most glorious knight in doing so. The ways that you earn glory...

I can lose spectacularly. Yeah, you absolutely can. So you can earn glory. The ways you can earn it is you can defeat an opponent, so reduce them to zero hit points. That will earn you a point of glory. But you can also earn glory by being knightly in your actions. So, for example, letting an opponent

stand up from prone before you strike them. So, you know, fighting them on an even footing is a glorious thing to do. But it generally has to be some sort of, like, you're giving something up to do that. Letting an opponent strike you first. Like, being like, come, strike me, and then you fight them back.

That would be seen as a glorious... Anything which is like showing off or... No, you hit me first. like, come, strike me, and then you fight them back. That would be seen as a glorious, anything which is like showing off. No, you hit me first. No, you hit me first. They couldn't be that. You hit me. Immediately, I just thought about

like how to farm glory, and that's because I have the, the hook staff can shove someone prone, so I was like, shove them prone. You can stab them. Obviously, if you do things like that,

I'm not going to grant it to you. I guess if anything, I was just going to drain their glory. It's just embarrassing for them. But it's also, it makes you look not very nice. No, no, no. Other things that you can do is performing incredible feats. If any of your attacks or ability checks go above 20,

you score a point of glory, because you've done it so spectacularly that you kind of gain attention. If you win a contested role, so if you and another knight, say, are like grappling, or you engage in like a contest of some kind and you win, you get a point of glory for that. That's a good way. You can also, on your turn,

rather than attack and you can spend an action to showboat. Oh, yes! And just like turn to the crowd and be like, love me, I'm amazing. My wheel. Yep, yep. You can emo wheel. Yep.

And then outside of matches, any character can make a persuasion, deception, or intimidation check once per in between things to go up and basically increase or decrease a chosen knight's glory. So that could be you going around and spreading rumours about a knight, saying like, oh, I heard that blah, blah, blah. You can be mean about it. Now, that might reflect badly on the knight, you know,

if it turns out that you guys are doing that and people find out that you're friends with Gruff, that might look badly on Gruff. But you could also do it and be like, I heard the Ember of Helios did this, and spread like positive rumours, which will increase their glory as well. Oh, that's so cool.

All right. They travelled for 31 days. Huh? They travelled for 31 days. 31 days. Oh. In this instance, for the night parade, you will have an opportunity, you or your chosen herald,

will have an opportunity to make a performance check or a persuasion check. And the higher you score and the more the higher you score the more glory points you will begin with so you might have zero you might get a couple of points depending on how good your initial uh introduction is basically um and then we'll look into doing things like the matches and stuff um so who's going first between atlas and gruffeth it's up to you i'm not super happy. I don't do a lot of public speaking, so

I just want to get this over and done with, so I'm happy to jump in first if you want, or I can... Oh, I'll defer to you. You seem the more experienced knight, and it seems like... I don't think that's the... I think that is the opposite. I left home, like, a week ago. Oh, I left home a couple of months ago.

So, yeah, I'll defer to you. You go first, lad. Oh, I left home a couple of months ago. So, yeah, I'll defer to you. You go first, lad. Yeah, exactly. Then it'll look better after me. Guys, the crowd's getting restless. Okay! I'm getting restless. So, Atlas, you step out

into... What I will do is I'll put my draconic helmet on. So I do come out looking extremely badass. Who's this guy? Spear in hand. Spear in hand and I think that what I will do just probably

something that he's done a few times before is I'm going to throw the axe the spear a little way ahead of me and I'm going to run and jump on it and stand as it's bedded into the ground and stand on it as I present to the crowd and I'm of me, and I'm gonna run and jump on it, kind of like, and sort of stand, as it's like embedded into the ground, and kind of stand on it, as I like present to the crowd. And I'm standing on it, and I'm like, once I'm there, I'm like, okay, that was a cool move.

Now I just gotta speak. So you look out around you, and this immense, custom-built stone tournament arena, you can see this box up in the middle, which looks over everything. And stood in it is, in his humanoid form, is Duke Ignarius. This is a dragon in humanoid form.

He has dark brown skin, big, sort of like long black, not like hair, but almost like tendrils, like black tendrils. He has one broken horn and one majestic black horn, sorry uh red horn um he has like scars all over his face and body this is a warrior um and he's immense and he's like

10 feet tall um bustling like huge muscles next to him are his two children one is a slightly thinner more refined looking dragon in humanoid form who is half black dragon half red dragon so his scales kind of shift between the two and he has these very intelligent kind of calculating eyes wearing like wizardly scholarly robes as he's kind of watching everything again two immense horns kind of coming out tail um and then next to the duke on the other side is a very beautiful red dragon humanoid woman. But you do see that part of her arm, sorry, it would be the top of her arm, is all scarred. But she's kind of showing it off almost now proudly. Like it looks like it's been healing and mending, but it's quite scarred and damaged.

And she's wearing beautiful red clothing with gold jewelry all decorated around her. She's stunning. But they're all like 10 foot tall like these humanoid dragons and they're sort of looking down the crowd is packed it is just solid shoulder to shoulder there are people with banners and there is a stillness because you are brand new and nobody knows like who is this guy so yeah and it goes still and quiet and you have the floor could i would, would you allow me to roll my, because my charisma is terrible. Yeah.

So this is either going to be a complete train wreck. Yeah, yeah. In which case I'll offie it that way. Sure. It might go well. Make it worse. Absolutely. I've got bardic inspiration.

I have bardic inspiration. Which is a D6. Can I use one of the biggie tacks? Yeah, this is what they're there for. Because I really don't want to like. There is a particular rule with these where if you want to use them you don't have to Oh, okay. Cool. Okay. Just go I'm using okay fine. Okay, so another d6

Okay, that's actually not too bad 17 18 so 17 17. Okay total that's I'd say that's pretty good like not like incredible I can't last but very Alice this is a big improvement. There is a movement. What do you think represents that change of him suddenly having the confidence or this working out? I think he throws the spear into the ground

and stands on it and does this monkey king pose and is looking out, sees the dragon and is like, oh, it's just a dragon. This is cool. Like I talk to a dragon all the time. I'm just gonna, and I basically just focus on the kind of like royal box as it were, and just be like, I'm not gonna focus on any of the crowd.

I'm just gonna lock eyes with them. And I say, I am the Ember of Helios, Knight-errant Atlas Altar Phoenix, of her draconic majesty Lady Meteona of the Cardinal Valley. I saved an entire orphanage from an infestation of rats.

I defeated the evil Lillian Von Ville in a one-on-one chess match. And I also uncovered an ancient draconic orb from a lich. Ooh.

I'm really, really excited to be here. Wait a minute. There is a moment when you say Her Draconic Majesty Lady Meteona, you see Duke Ignarius like grins wide, like this is somebody he knows and he like smiles down and you... I think if I grins wide, like this is somebody he knows, and he like smiles down,

and you, and... I think if I see the smile, I'll go, right at the end, I'll go, oh, and also, my father is the Flame of Helios. And there's definitely like, then there's something like a mutter, like a murmuring around the crowd of like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But you see the Duke nods his head, a pleasure to have one of Lady Mona's chosen amongst us, knight. Welcome to my tournament. And there's this big round of applause. Everyone cheers. Fantastic job. Spear on the back, shield. I'll turn around and just do a big, like, hey.

And you can score one glory. So maybe I'll get a piece of paper. So that is Atlas one point of, one GP, one glory point. Do you think he can teach me how to play chess? Probably. I don't know. It's too complicated for me. The crowd goes silent again as Atlas leaves the arena.

He kind of makes his way through, does like a little lap, and then heads off. And Gruff, you are the last one to come out. Wait, we're on the, this is it, Gruff? This is it? I've gotta make you look good, and I don't think I can make you look better than you already.

I know you can do this. Okay. If anyone can, it's you. Danthius, I'm over here. What? Sorry, I was, did you see? Alistair, great. He's in a very good speech.

Yes. I know. And the lich orb. Yeah, dragon orb thing. We need to ask about that one, that's concerning. But no, you're gonna do great. Gruffydd, you just look good great. I believe in both of you. You just look good.

I'll do my best at that. And then? I'll paint the. You've got this. Okay. I believe in you. Thank you. The five of you step out.

I'm assuming that you guys are coming as sort of, you know, part of the entourage, basically, which is allowed. Sure. Hopefully he's just wiping blood from my mouth. Yeah. Daisy. Holding the banner wiping blood from her mouth. Yeah. Daisy holding the banner, like marching behind, proudly holding up this banner.

Yay, Gruff! Atlas does it. Well, these guys are quite well known here, Atlas. So there is, there are pockets where, unfortunately, not everybody in the town loves you. You have kind of, you know, some people remember some things that have happened yet. But a lot of people here, you spot a town loves you. You have kind of, you know, some people remember some things that have happened, yeah. But a lot of people here, you

spot a few friendly faces. You see Maeve. You see the priest, the brother and sister priest from the bathing house. You see Hogrim Hawker, the owner of the Grumpy Hog. You see some of the folks from your street, the kids that Rowan was speaking to.

There are friendly faces dotted around the place. You even see Sister Maladie and Sister Benedicta. Oh! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Up and about. Up and about, yep. Looking a little bit pale as she does, Maladie, but still there.

And you see lots of different faces. You see the blacksmiths, you see Grayson, you see all these different people that you've encountered in town. And Atlas is the first to cheer, but then it fills up with loads of other people cheering and clapping. different people that you've encountered in town and a lot like atlas is the first to cheer yeah but then it fills up with loads of other people like cheering and clapping atlas has no context and thinks that he started the whole thing yeah it's like oh yeah i'm awesome i'm great

you begin to make your way and it is this big open sort of like dirt floor arena there's no stage or anything for you. There is the jousting rail in the middle and you're meant to do a lap basically after the introduction. So Daisy has the banner. Gruff, you are standing there doing your best to look stoic and brave.

He's like mimicking what he thinks. Like he's seen the knight. Like, you know, he's mimicking what he's seen them do. Yeah, yeah. Like the stories that you've heard and the manner that you think

a knight should act in? What are Xanthius and Ophelia doing? Because we know that Daisy's got the banner and is showing that off. No, oh, oh, stop. Stop it. Stop it.

Oh, no, yeah. We kill a few demons. We are heroes. We are heroes. Xanthius, stop. We have a gruff. A gruff. Yeah, but

get them on our side. They are on our side. More, so more! So the two of you are kind of nudging each other and bickering behind as they do that. And then, yeah, Rowan, you have been elected as herald, so this is your moment, really. I get my lute out.

And I'm going to strum some chords whilst I speak. And you feel that vibration from Sosinante that kind of almost ripples through the crowd. And that first one, there's a silence. Like, as it ripples out, it kind of stuns everybody as this bassy vibration almost seems to ripple through the air. My lords, my ladies, and everybody else here, not sitting on a cushion. Yeah, woo! The people in the low bits and the standing areas are like,.

Why wouldn't you sit on a cushion? First of all, this is a sponsored message. this is a sponsored message we personally want to thank mistress Ilana Vedante for this resplendent armor given to knight Grumpeth of Tremorra

there's like some crowds but it's a little bit you know tempered you know people are like yeah yeah get the sponsor but that's not why we're here, of course. Upon your eyes, we have the saviour of Burnell.

Iceheart's most noble wild heart. The vanquisher of gnolls. Quite close to Ashen's Rest, by the way. You're welcome. Exfoliator of the Shrine of Typhine. Hero of Ashen Rest. With that, I will create a silent image of a huge cormorant behind Gruffydd

that looks like the spirit. Ice diver. Ice diver. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This behind him just flaps his wings. And I think when he does that, I'll let out a daunting roar. Yeah. Echoes out.

Yeah, it ripples through the crowd immensely. I rip a solo. Killer dude! Yeah, it ripples through the crowd immensely. I rip a solo. Okay. Killer, dude! At this point, I'm gonna have to ask for a performance or persuasion check. Your choice. Performance, probably with some fate, I reckon.

Get some fate up in there. Yeah, you wanna spend a point of fate? Is this something that we are assisting with as well? I would say that with the exceptional banner, you two aren't really doing that much now. Thanks. But I think with the banner and the Scenario Nation's rest, you can have advantage on the rolls.

Yeah, boy. That is a 15, 19, with fate plus five, 24. 24. Obviously, Gruffydd is not a known knight. And so the crowd that are maybe traveled in, people aren't from Ashen's Rest, there was some trepidation. They didn't know who Gruff was when they stepped through.

But with that introduction, with the rest of the town, the people who are here who do know who you are, just roaring with excitement, they kind of get swept up in that wave as well and there is this just sort of like you know ruckus kind of cheering and energy that ripples through the crowd and as daisy's holding up the thing you start hearing like yay gruff yay gruff yay gruff as it like ripples through the crowd. And Duke, Ignarius, and the other two, the Obsidius and Emberissa as well, will look down. My friend, Gruffydd of Tremorro,

one of the noble heroes who defeated the demons of the Lamplighter's plot, it is my honor, nay, my privilege to have you within this tournament. You're first, as I understand. We expect great things of you, Gruffydd of Tremorro, and to any knightly orders or knights you are here,

this is one to watch. And then you just hear this like, kind of big. Gruffydd's got the one to watch? Damn! That's so cool! It's like a banner comes up at the bottom of the screen. Pitch you on that 24 versus the 17. Yeah, 100%.

I think Gruff will do a deep bow towards the royal box, but if anyone's looking too closely, you probably see a little bit of a shaking. Just like trembling. Like here in the armour. A little bit of tears in the corners of the eyes, like trying to keep it all in. And yeah, you are led, you do your procession to cheers and shouts and screams,

and then you make your way out as is appropriate. And you will score two glory points because you were over 20 on your DC. Is that me as well? So this will only count for Gruff within this part, because this was all about your introduction. For Gruff within this part because this was all about your introduction. Yep, yep. For Gruff. So, yeah, so it does mean that they're going to start off slightly higher than the rest of you.

But whether or not you guys want to pursue Glory, you might want to try and make it all about Gruff and Atlas. I could flood you with Glory. Yeah, so... I'm getting elbowed in the ribs. With that... That is the point. We are going to take our first break, though.

We're going to take our break now. Yeah. A little bit later, but I wanted to make sure we got those introductions in. Nice. That was hell. So that is going to be it for part one. We will see you very shortly in part two.

Take care. Bye, everybody. We'll see you in part two. Bye-bye. See you in a bit. Folks, welcome to Dungeons & Randomness. Since 2012, myself and an amazing cast of 18 have been telling stories in our homebrew world of Theria. Four different groups explore lost ruins, run for political office, rage against a mad king, set sail to long forgotten islands, and so much more. Every group has a different story and flavor, and every season or

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