High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #37 | Into Dangerous Lands (Part 2)

Episode Date: September 26, 2024

The team continue their journey out of Ashen Rest and, through terrible luck, manage to continue to pick fights along the way! _______________ 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

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Besties for a limited time. Taste it while it lasts. Copyright 2024. The Coca-Cola Company. Copyright 2024. Mondelez International Group. Welcome back to part two of Ultaia the Dragon Empire. Copyright 2024, the Coca-Cola Company. Copyright 2024, Mondelez International Group. Welcome back to part two of Ulthaya the Dragon Empire.

Our characters have left Ashen Rest on their wagon with their new mount, Rodri, their beast of burden. They are making their way across Kul'dra towards an area called the Ash Hills in pursuit of a missing knight, Sir Eldrach Ignis, on behalf of Lady Embarissa. They have travelled for three days, travelling alongside the Ruby River, through grasslands, and as they begin to near a more hilly countryside,

with in a very far, far distance, ruins just barely visible, they came across a small sort of broken down, perhaps an old fisherman shack or some sort of old stone cottage from long ago, as some horrendous creature, a random encounter did strike. And they are now engaged in a battle with this hideous thing.

It's two long limbs. It's greeny, scale-like hide, black and red matted fur, huge, distended mouth with a jaw that's too big on the bottom, huge tusks is attacking them. But it's kind of cute though, right? It was accompanied by arms and legs that had their own arms and legs,

but they're all dead limbs. Yes. From some huge damage rolls from Gruff. And these are all from the good people at MCDM's Flee Mortals because I really love this monster book. I think it's the best monster book out there. There you go. So with that, we are going to jump up straight to a brand new round.

Yep. Which means it is Daisy followed by Gruffuth. Very good. Hello. Begin! Begin the fight! What's the positioning on the board again? So we basically have,

we are doing this Theatr of the Mind because I didn't have a map ready because it was a random encounter. So we currently have Rowan and Ophelia stood next to each other about 10 feet from Xanthias. The creature moved through them diagonally up towards Rodri, Daisy and Gruff who are on the wagon. I got on the wagon. Yes, but just to the side of it.

Yeah, yeah. You're just to the side. But I haven't moved with it. No, you're just off of it. It's not moved since then, so I think you're okay. Oh no, yeah, that's right. You got it before Gruff moved it. That's right. That's what I mean yeah. Yeah so you are, so Daisy is just behind this cube of fire that Rowan has cut. So for Daisy as well this huge like column of fire just erupts in front of you. It is silent though there's no noise, no crackling. Do I know enough to know that it was Rowan?

You would have seen Rowan cast a spell and then the fire appeared. And also I went, oh no, fire! There you go. So Daisy is just beyond that column of fire. The creature is just on the other side of it. And then Gruff and Rodgery and the wagon are about 30 feet beyond that fire.

All right. But he is a feared of fire turning around. He seems to be deathly afraid of the flame and has turned towards Xanthias, believing that Xanthias is the one who's conjured this flame. I am a fire starter. Yeah.

So yeah, Daisy. I don't like fire either, so I'm gonna go, ah! And then I'm gonna back up either, so I'm gonna go, ah, and then I'm gonna back up, so that I'm further away, but I'm still within range of him, and I'm gonna- Okay, yeah, you can get at least another 10 feet away, and then you'll be 30 feet away from this thing.

I can be 60 feet. Oh, that's right, yeah. So yeah, you could just move all your full distance. You can basically go join Gruff and the wagon. Sure, I'm gonna do that. All right, okay. And join Gruff and the wagon. Sure, I'm gonna do that. Alright, okay. And I will try and hurt it. What have I made?

18 plus seven. 18 will hit, unfortunately there are no allies nearby. Yeah, I'm cursed with that. It's just every time you're positioning is right you miss. Every time, yeah, I'm fucking cursed, okay. I rolled a one, cool. High roll to one, cool. Yeah, five damage. Five points of damage.

This thing does look really beaten up, like it is covered in ragged wounds, burnt by radiant light, seared by moonlight, you know, flames, everything. Does a 15 hit? Just barely. Okay, well it still hits. So that is gonna be...

54. Two. Two? Plus, yeah, two. Two points. Wait, is it plus? I think for your Radiant Blades, it is? I'm not sure.

Two plus four. Plus four. Okay. The thing seems to... The wound, like you see Daisy throw these golden, radiant light daggers, it thuds into the creature, and looking at the wounds, like, this thing goes like straight into its chest,

into the back of its head. It should be dead. But it is not. It just kind of like... And it stays standing. Yeah, sorry, carry on. That's it for Daisy's turn? Yeah, I can't do anything else. Then we go to Gruff's turn.

I would like to move my moonbeam, respectfully dodging around any allies. How far can you move it? 60 foot. 60 feet, yep. In that case, you can move it around onto the creature. So if you could make a con saving throw 15. I do succeed.

You will still take six, seven, eight, four points of damage. Four points of damage. That's already carved. The moonbeam soars over the creature, gets battered, you see its flesh is just ripping off from the radiant energy, being burnt by this intense light, but it is not going down.

Stay down. This thing is like, you can see like raw bone and where it's, and then as soon as it begins stepping out of the light, you see its flesh is knitting back together again. It's regenerating as it moves. And the fire's not having any effect on... Well, it's just an illusion.

No, my like scorching ray. Where the scorching ray hits it may, well, it's not your turn. I know, yeah. It's Oph not your turn. I know, yeah. It's Ophelia's turn. Hold on.

Oh. It's still Gruff's turn. True. How far away am I from this thing? With Rodri. You are now, you would have been 50 feet away from it. Yeah, 40, 50.

I would like to instruct Rodri in my bonus action to... So it's an action to move the moonbeam, bonus action to Rodri. I'm gonna make him dash, yeah. Okay, yeah, he just goes chasing off. Yeah, he's miles away. So I'm kind of like 120 foot or something. Yeah, you are now 60, 110 feet away.

Cool, bye, Gruff. Yeah, Gruff is just... I know you guys can take care of yourselves. Uh, Ophelia. Um... It is 40 feet away from you. 40 feet? Okay, um...

Ophelia will run... her full 30 feet towards the creature. Um, and I will use my, Buh-buh-buh-buh-bee-bee, Buh-buh-buh-buh-bye, Didn't mean to get in all my face. That's a lovely song. Ha-ha!

I'll use my Crimson Fury to increase my weapon's reach by five feet. Okay. Or I can throw it. I'll throw it. I'll throw Veracity. Yeah, I can throw it. I'll throw it. I'll throw veracity. Yeah, I like to imagine that you basically coat the blade and then shoot the blade out like a spike.

Yeah. Like you're like, flick it. It's like, pshh. Yes, I will do that. Okay. So, yep. So are you moving, sorry? I was reading something at the time.

Yeah, I'll move 30 feet. If I'm gonna throw, I'll move like 20 feet. Okay, so you're 20 feet away. Yep, and I'll throw veracity towards the th like 20 feet. Okay, so you're 20 feet away. Yeah, and I'll throw a veracity towards his thigh. Okay. Yeah, get it. 13 to hit. Not enough, this thing is still quick enough on its feet that it dodges to the side.

The blood spike flinging past its head. I think that's all I can do for now. Okay. Yeah, that's all I can do. Alrighty, it's go. It is gonna move up, Ophelia, you have moved closer, so it is going to just come for you. Uh-oh. You didn't reckless attack, did you?

No. OK, it is going to move up to you, and it is going to try to bite you. Go for it. That is going to be 19 to hit. Yeah, it'll hit. Everyone's got such high damage rolls today. Yeah.

I don't know how you do it. 21 points of piercing damage, and you watch as it bites into you. Oh, she has. It is... You almost feel the vitality and life force drained off of you, it is, you almost feel the vitality and life force drained off of you, and you watch as its wounds now heal massively. Like before it was like slowly regenerating,

it heals an immense amount after it does that. Oh, so 21 half, that's 11. Does you halving it affect how much it recovers? Yes, it does. Okay. Yes, so you would actually take, so 21 you take 10. 10.

Because it's rounding down. So it does, it does, it does correct. Nice. Yeah, it's damage dealt. Yeah, I know if it was after the fact. No, no, it's damage dealt, so. Sweet. You give up less blood.

Yeah, I'm assuming that doesn't down you though. No, still up. It still has a bite, it claws you now, twice. The first one is gonna be a 16. Hits. And then the second one is gonna be another 16. Hits. Same thing twice.

First one is gonna be seven points of slashing. Half to three. Yes, and then five points of slashing, half to two. Two. Cool. So you watch as this thing just, ooh, ah, ah, ah, ah, desperate to try and bite Ophelia again. Okay.

Mm-hmm. That is its go, we go to Xanthias. Yeah, I'm trying to, so sorry, I wanted to try and determine if the fire was helping. Yeah, you can make a perception check. Yeah, perception. He did hate the fire. He did hate the fire.

He did hate it, but I wanna know if that's actually like stopping him from knitting himself back together. I'd like to make a perception check. Perception, all right, that is a zero, an actual zero. It's too much. An actual one minus one. You have body conservation to forget. Oh yeah, I'm glad I didn't use on that one.

There's too much going on, it's hard to see its detail on its body. It's now fighting Ophelia. There's a lot of distracting stuff. Yeah, okay. Well, I'm going to try... He hates fire. He do be hating that fire. He do. I'm going to use my bonus action to use my Dragon's Breath, which is fire.

So, deck save from this guy. What's the range on your Dragon's Fife? That is the line you can do? It's a custom version. It is a custom version. It is a 15 foot cone or a five by 30 line. So whichever will not be any more. You just have to move slightly forward

and to the side so you don't catch Ophelia. But dexterity saving throw. That is a four. Fantastic. That is a four. Fantastic. That is seven fire damage. Seven points of fire damage? Yes. All right.

And that is a bonus action to do that as well. Oh yes, it is true. So for my full action, I would like to do, I think I'm gonna try Chaos Bowl because that will give me more variance on my damage type. I think he's scared of fire, but I also wanna see what other stuff might affect it. I almost want Force to appear,

because I feel like I need to shatter this guy apart or something. I don't know why, but I will do a Chaos Bolt, which is. Added inspiration. I didn't, but it is a 22 anyway. Okay. Which is 2d8 of damage, and I can choose the type based on what I roll, here we go.

A six and a three, so nine damage of either fire, or one, two, three, poison. I'll go with fire again. You're gonna do fire damage? Poison is not gonna do too much. So yeah, fire again, which is nine and another D6. One, so 10 damage, 10 fire damage. You watch as the flames of Xanthias' magic,

the fire breath then mixing with the bolt of chaos that turns into this streaking sort of red comet. As the flame hits the creature, you can now see what Xanthias didn't perceive before is that where flame had hit it, that regeneration was no longer, that part was not regenerated. Oh, good, okay.

As the troll is burnt to cinders and unable to regenerate, its body tries, like as it dies, you can see that its vital parts have been so badly damaged by the fire that it collapses to the ground. But you see the cuts and the stabs, like tiny little arms trying to grow out of it. Like out of cuts, a little ear grows and things like that.

But then it all just seems to ripple and twist and warp and mutate and it just falls dead. Falls to the ground, come on, blast, you're dead. Notice you're dead. Yeah. I love him. Oh, wow, what was that? Oh, oh.

What do you think of that? Oh, it was disgusting. So close to Ash and Rest as well. I don't know how to do that. I hate that. It was disgusting. So close to Ashen Rest as well. Get that blood away from me, it's growing. Well at least it's away from Ashen Rest now. At least it's gone for good. Gruff, Gruff! Can you hear me?

Gruffus is calmly just turning the wagon around. Good job getting, getting Rodri out of here. And oh, and the tidal wave as well. Oh, that's gonna give me nightmares. Oh, the tidal wave? Not the tidal wave, the goo in the hands and the legs and the eyes and it just wouldn't die. It wouldn't give up. Fascinating little creature, isn't it?

No, no! Is this normal around here? No, I've never seen anything like that, or heard of anything like that. It's a bad spawn. Oh, so you're saying something corrupted this thing. Or it came out of the vault, yes. Graf, as you bring everything back, now the fight's kind of the vault, yes. Graf, you, as you bring everything back,

now the fights kind of died down, your passive perception is? Burgeoning. 15, 17? 17. 17. You can smell the cottage that it came from, like there's a very strong smell of decay and rot, whatever it maybe was,

you would estimate it was probably eating something back there, quite, you know, something it maybe was. You would estimate it was probably eating something back there, quite, you know, something substantial at least. And you can smell that there's something quite pungent in that area. The creature itself begins smoldering and burning. The hide though, the creature's blood and hide, like I said, like it is dead, but parts of it are still trying to regenerate. And whatever this creature is made of has incredible regenerative abilities.

Oh. Wait, you said it's a vault spawn, Rowan? Does that mean, do you think people would be... Oh, I'm not going near it. Would more fire work? Sorry? Would more fire work? I could not going near it. Would more firework. Sorry? Would more firework. I could get rid of it, I'm just wary.

Is this something that, hi Siri, stop responding to me. Is this something that we might be able to take back and people might be interested in and pay us for? Well, if you want to take a risk of skinning it while those little hands do not grab you. Not skinning it, no, I'm just gonna keep back it up. People seem to be interested in researching it. It is massive.

This thing is like nine feet tall. It's a large creature. It's huge. It's very broad-shouldered. It would weigh a ton to try and carry the whole carcass back. I mean, people would pay us to kill gnolls and recover proof of that. Maybe we can get something for this thing,

or people could research it, or I don't know. Maybe take a sample back, perhaps, to Blackwing. Maybe they could find something useful. Possibly. Do you think it would still be here on the way back? I don't want this thing next to me. Or if we send word for Blackwing, maybe, to come out and investigate, perhaps? I don't know. It's fascinating. I don't think Blackwing's leaving their tower.

No. I could skin it, if you want. I will think it's leaving their tower. No. I could skin it if you want. I don't think it's worth it. We have to sit in the wagon for a long journey. Don't think we should be taking something stinky with us or something that might just grow another arm and strangle us in our sleep. I just don't think we should do it.

All right, burn it. Burn it? I'll just produce flame, I guess. Yeah, yeah, we should do. All right, burn it. Burn it? I'll use Produce Flame, I guess. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah, you can take a moment. It takes you longer than you would like. Like, you know, even summoning Produce Flame every six seconds, you know, just slowly burning this creature away, more parts of it are like

trying to regenerate and grow, but you know, eventually after, you know, maybe a minute or two minutes or so, you do manage to basically render this thing to ash. And it just leaves it, and just leaves a black stain. Good, it's not coming back at least. Yeah. I think while he's doing that, I'm gonna wander up to the cottage and have a cautious,

use my staff to maybe poke the door open. Yeah, well it's a ruin, so there's no really like a roof on it or anything more, like maybe like a bare half of a thatch. The smell is quite overwhelming, Gruff. You're traveled and quite seasoned though, so you managed to kind of hold your stomach. You've dealt with like rotten fish

and things like that before, but this is vile. You can clearly see that this troll, this creature, had made some sort of nest in the corner where it had a bit of cover from the rain and wind, but it's clearly that it's been defecating and urinating all over the place. They are, and then you see the bodies. Some of them are animal bodies.

You find things like local cattle, some wolves, a few deer. Wolves, deer? All very, all very meat-laced. Well preserved hides? Well, these aren All very, all very meat-related. Well, these aren't ash hill, these are normal wolves. But also amongst them, you see the remnants of what look like caravan guards, like guards that would normally be hired

to protect a wagon. Half-eaten, very rendered down. Their armor sort of torn apart and rendered useless, not really salvageable. There's like rusted blades, they've been left out in the rain, things like that. But you do see a slightly more well-dressed man, he's wearing sort of more merchant-like clothing,

and he has bandolier and like satchels and things like that on him that seem to be undisturbed by this creature, didn't seem to be interested in whatever those were. And they are sizable, like you can see that seemed to be undisturbed by this creature. Didn't seem to be interested in whatever those were. And they are sizeable, like you can see that they have something in them. I guess cautiously could I, I actually have a Mage Hand. That's right from the staff, right, with Saren.

Yeah, so can I send Saren out to... Yeah, it takes a minute to like lift and like pull the satchel away. It kind of forces the body to like slump forward and then Saren has to like drag the satchel away, it kind of forces the body to slump forward and then Seren has to drag the satchel off of it and fly it to you. It's blood stained, the satchel, it's kind of soiled, but you immediately pick up and feel the weight of coinage

and something else, something long and slender in there. Yeah, I just want to, in terms of RP, Grom will be more doing this because he's trying to find out who they are, so he should be able to send word back. Not looting. But if there's incidental loot, he's going to see what to do. Listen, we're still playing Dungeons and Dragons, and this is part of the game.

You open up the statue, and you see a few things in there. There is a small leather-bound notebook. Looks to maybe be some sort of, like, trade journal. Like, you know, bought silver in Ashen's Rest, traded flower in blah blah blah, that kind of like, you know, a ledger. Yeah. Like a merchant's ledger.

And there would be a name, the name in it is, blah blah blah blah. It's kind of smeared with blood and water, it's hard to read. I can't read. The merchant's name is Vandu Metal. Vandu Metal. He seems to be a merchant of the Suncrest Isles

based on sort of the things that he's written. But that's not the only thing in there. You do find a coin purse, which has 140 gold pieces. Very nice. As well as a beautiful slender rod. It is tipped with a kind of glistening, pearlescent opal, and it is engraved with gold and silver, and all sorts of beautiful imagery are opal, and it is engraved with gold and silver,

and all sorts of beautiful imagery of feathered angelic-looking beings. Oh. And you can see that there is script written in a language that you do not understand. It's not druidic. It is not druidic. It's not goblin. It is not goblin.

It's not leonin. It's not leonin. It's not goblin. It is not goblin. It's not leonin. It's not leonin. It's not common. It's not common. I don't know why I picked that, but. It's weirdly. It seems to display the feathered individuals are all armored, heavily in sort of like plated skirts

and armor and wielding weapons. And in fact, you've seen one of those swords before because whenever Daisy takes on her celestial image, she wields these kind of Roman style blades, like a gladius. That's nice. And it looks like those, and you can see that the figures around the rod almost seem to be escorting

some sort of prisoner. I speak celestial. Yeah, I was gonna say. Hey Daisy! You seem to be escorting some sort of prisoner. Mm. Um. I speak Celestial. Yeah, I was gonna say. Hey, Daisy. Ah! Come look at this. Can we look at it outside the stinky building, please?

Gruff is really smelly in there. All right. Yeah, how is it in there? Bad. Okay. You don't want to. No, I don't, I don't. In fact, I don't know you. What are the rituals for death around here?

You might wanna set fire to it, there's a lot of... Just set fire to it. Full cremation. Yeah. I think cremation. Burn it to the ground. Cremation.

Yeah, all right. It's bad in there. I mean, produce flame, you can just throw it in. Yeah. Anything fresh? Is there a behind my shoulder? No. No.

It's very bad in there. Oh, what a shame, what a waste. I know, it's rotten. I mean, with your heightened senses, Ophelia, even if you get close, you can smell how rotten it smells like the House of Rot in there. They'd have a field day. Yeah.

They'd love it. House of Rot would love it. Rowan, there's something just before I got to Daisy, it was you like, what? I had comprehension languages. Oh, okay, all right. I will let Daisy. Yeah.

I can speak Celestial. So you begin examining it, Daisy, and immediately in your mind, there is a sort of sense of a bit of an alarm from Nim, perhaps not immediate, but there's worry. The text written on it, it is almost contract-like in its language. The rod bears some sort of seal.

It would say, it would be like, our servant, your duty is known, your path illuminated, go in our blessing. And it would be, there would not be a name on it, but there is a symbol. And it is Nim who recognizes that symbol. That little one is the symbol of the 12th Legion. A celestial legion.

One of the armies of the Lucent Peaks. They are known for collaborating with mortals to seek, deserter, you know that there lies a heavy weight on him. I don't... I don't know why this is here, but somebody was given this as a gift by one of the commanders of the Twelfth Legion. Someone immortal who forged a bond, a pact with them. Does that mean that it can they track anything through this? Is this bad? I don't know.

I'm no mage, little one, as you know. I have no power to identify the enchantments and spells upon it. I just recognize the symbol and the iconography, the wording. I know people who have given these sorts of gifts to others. One of my commanders would do this. They used mortals as spies to try and find deserters, or to seek out others who have forged pacts with the demonic powers, who have forged pacts with the Gravefather, such as, and you feel Niem sort of thinking of Ophelia, to seek out our enemies.

There are mortals who come to the celestial powers in the same way that Ophelia has come to the Gravefather. They bargain for power and in return, the Celestial Legions give them a purpose, a duty. In this case it was to track down spirits like me. Spirits like me. Okay, so I'm going to, should I take this with me? Should I leave it, should I take it? I guess it's evidence, right? Should I take it? I mean, evidence to what?

This is... That someone was around here. Yes, perhaps. Perhaps the merchant did not even know what they had. Perhaps, I don't know. But it is, it has power, it will have power. It is given as a gift to those who forge these packs. It will, but I think only those who have forged packs

can use it. I do not know if others can use it currently. But perhaps that can be undone. Perhaps it can be transformed in some way to be used by people that use magic. Perhaps there is a way we can find it to benefit us. I don't know. Well, I think we should take it with us

because if there was someone in Ash and Rest who knows and maybe saw me there and maybe will me there. Perhaps. And maybe we'll Perhaps. Jump to conclusions and correctly jump to conclusions and okay, I'll take it with me. I'll just, do I tell them? Do I tell the rest of them?

Your judgment on that is far better than mine. They are your friends and they have stuck with you and you have been there for them. But I'm afraid that my days of trust are long gone. You are the only one I trust. Okay, well maybe I'll tell them because maybe one of them can also help identify it. See if there's any power.

I just wanna know if it's tracking anything because if it's not tracking anything, then I think that it's better that I have it than anyone else that's looking for people. Maybe that man was looking for the people and he's no more. Perhaps. It could very well be. Or perhaps he found it or traded it, or perhaps he was bringing it to someone. I could not say.

Perhaps he is like that Tphling, the trader. Charlton. You don't hear that. I know, but I just feel a tingle. I feel a tingle and Gruff goes, Charlton. Yeah, that is what you hear in your head. Daisy's doing that thing. While she's doing that thing,

can Gruff be going through the journal and seeing if there's any mention of this rod or something like, you know, in there? There isn't. No. What is it? Never listed. Daisy's gone into that far away again.

I can still hear you. Oh, okay. It's just, you seem very, you still reading this thing? It's a bad thing, it's a bad thing. It's not a good thing, it's a bad thing. Oh, what does it say? Think it's a bad thing. I will tell you about it, but I'll take it with me for now,

and I will tell you about it, but I don't wanna tell you about it near where we found it, just in case someone hears something, I don't know, I'm being paranoid. I mean, I think it's just, I've... We just stood behind in the front for like a burning cottage. I think the only people that would know about it

were in there. Well, it's just that, so... There's people who hunt down... celestial beings. Oh. Okay. And this looks like a contract for somebody to hunt them down. Like, someone will be looking for them. Why do they hunt down celestial beings?

Because they think that they're deserters. And I don't think that's fair, because really they had a horrible time and they should be allowed to just exist. But people still hunt them down and if they find them then I don't know what they'll do but it's not good for them or me because your Nim might be considered yes so I don't know who's looking and who had this,

but whoever it was is not someone I need to be near. And it's just I think that we need to maybe just be aware of it. Because you all accepted it, and people in Ashen Rast seemed fine fine but some people do look for it and and make pacts. You very very visibly and publicly you know you showed that you weren't you know that there was something there and a lot of people thought it was the work of the Scions and the Saints but the

right people who know what to look for would probably be able to tell that what that was so if somebody did see it, they might know. Okay, well what do we need to look for? Do they have a particular, I don't know, outfit symbol? Are they Celestial themselves? Are they? No, they would probably be mortal. They would just be regular people.

Nim would probably speak up in your mind. Um, those who form these bonds, sometimes they are able to summon Celestials to the mortal plane, and they accompany them. So it may be that there may be active Celestials traveling, looking for... deserters.

Would they know by just looking at me? Many celestials can hide their presence to others, but yes, they, they, celestials can see lies. They, they know hearts. You cannot lie to an angel. My power to do so is diminished now that I am bonded to you. I cannot perceive the world in the same way I once did,

but a living, embodied celestial present on the material plane. If you lie to them, they will know. If you disguise yourself magically, they can see through it. They can see the invisible. they can see the ethereal. So just don't want to be caught by anyone. And maybe just keep an eye out if anyone has some kind of powers like me. Okay, yes.

But also that's why I keep moving. I just always move around, because then it's harder to pin me down. So does this thing have a name on it, like your? Does it have a name on it? No. It has the symbol of the 12th Legion, but probably very intentionally done, because with angels, if you know their true names,

that can be used against them and stuff. Same as demons and devils. But no, this one, this is, you know, to simplify things and sum things up, like this is basically like a... it's given to a warlock. This is technically a rod of the pact keeper that I randomly rolled up. Sure. Made into the narrative. But this is basically would be a gift given to a warlock, and you can have celestial warlocks.

So this is a warlock who made a pact with a celestial being, and in return for that power, they are charged with hunting down deserter spirits like Nym. And this rod is like a symbol of that duty. It's like, we are giving you this power, you can wield this, and you know what you have to do. Okay.

And so that, it's like a brand of- It's a very glamorous contract. Yeah, but it also is a magic item of itself as well. Does anyone know what this might do? What it might do? Oh, I mean... It has some power, but I don't think I'll be able to use it because it's not mine. It's not like the rod that was in the mines.

No, no, no. Thank goodness. Well, I don't think so. I hope not. I hope neither. It's terribly powerful. It will take, no. Thank goodness. Well, I don't think so. I hope not. I hope neither. It's terribly powerful. It will take an identifier spell to know. I do not have that ability. I mean, I could just.

I am gonna do another thing because I know what Rhiannon's like. Just gonna remind Rhiannon that she does have certain items in her inventory. There are magic items that Ophelia has been carrying around for some time. What? Riannon!

What ones? Do you remember a certain dwarf who had like a weird monocle thing? What? Hey! Do you remember that? Yes? Now what does-

Someone just fell out your pocket there. Just because I knew Riannon had forgotten about it, which is why I'm bringing it up. Rhiannon, can you make your inventory public? Can you run it out and put it on the table? Oh, Ophelia, you just dropped your bag. Oh, let me gather this stuff for you. There's so many blood vials in here.

This is disgusting. This is a physical representation of what my brain is like, and it's me keeping track of everything. Yeah. Oh, look at all this stuff. What is this? I'm just sparing. I remember this.

I've known about it for so long. And I was like, the first, if they find a random magic item, I'm just gonna remind Rie that she has this. Don't give it to Rhiannon. Just give it to anybody else. She picked it up. I put it on the table.

It was over for me. And Raphina was like, yeah, I'll put that in my bag. And I was like, nobody will ever see that item. Yeah. It was like the gun, I'll put that in my bag. And I was like, nobody will ever see that item. Yeah. It was like the gun. I had to physically make an encounter so that people remembered the demon gun was a thing. Yeah.

I vaguely remember this, Ophelia. What does this do and what does this say in your inventory? You have a card. I gave you a card for it. Oh my god, you have a physical card for it. It might be in your drawers. Don't even, that drawer is so full. That's cool.

Sorry, hang on. There's a mini-roller. Yeah, that's an empty mini-roller. Oh my god, Rihanna! There's wrappers. There's your extendy claw, some more... Another extendy claw. I know, it's...

Hold on, pull out that fat wad of cards you've got there. You have four. You have four. You have four. I have four. I have four. I have four. I have four. I have four. I have four. I have four. I have four. I have four. I have four.

I have four. I have four. I have four. I have four. I have four. I have four. I have four. I have four.

I have four. I have four. I have four. I have four. I have four. I have four. I have four. I have four.

I have four. I have four. I have four. I have she recently cleaned this out. Potion room. How many cards do you have? That's your Vitality Potion, yeah that's your one. Well that's where it went, right at the back of that drawer, it's so dusty. Oh a Starion, yeah. We're done with the Starion there, Starion's done isn't it Ray? I'm taking this away. Gael's been there.

She's made the correct choice and she's now the best again. Oh okay, well done. Gail's been there. Gail, she's made the correct choice and she's now better than Gail. Re-arranged. You have to be attuned to it. I suppose you weren't attuned to this. No. It has been identified though, I believe. Blackwing identified it. Yeah, Blackwing identified it.

Um, okay. Is that a whole set of dice? Yeah. A whole unopened box of dune dice. The dune dice, yeah. The doondikes. Hi, everyone. Welcome to my brain. How's Harkin and Dois?

I'm fine. It's just the fact that she cleaned it out not that long ago. This is like a nice edge to an intervention. I watched her do it. I can't. Hey, this, by the way, this is fucking legit. It's cool. Leave the cards out.

Leave the cards out. I'll just put this all back inside. Don't put the trash back in there. No, that's garbage. Do not put the, stand up. Go, bring it. She's just launching trash around the room now. All right, well the gold side, I, just for those who can't recall, like me.

Why, why, why's that? You get three charges, D3 at dawn increases. When attuned to this item, which no one is, you have advantage on intelligence investigation checks to examine objects or discern illusions. Pretty useful. You can also spend one charge and use an action to cast one of the following spells.

Detect magic, detect good or evil, detect poison and disease, and identify. Those are all so useful! They are, aren't they? It's a wondrous item. Ah! Just a little trinket that Ophelia just likes to look at now and again.

Yeah, I got that. Don't even use it. Quit in the bank. Such a fucking magpie. Yeah. No more. No more. If anyone is interested in maybe using this,

if not, I'll take it. I'll use it. No. No. Why weren't you attuned to it? Do you have attunement slots? Yeah. Yeah. No, she's just both had an attunement.

She's just been carrying it around in a bag. No, okay. She's just been in the bag. But could you put this into your sunglasses or something? That would've been cool. Yeah, I could've done. That would've been cool as hell, yeah. All right, anyway, well, okay. It's just been in the bag somewhere. But what if I put this into your sunglasses or something? That would've been cool. Yeah, it could've done. That would've been cool as hell, yeah. All right, anyway, well, did anyone want this?

I just found this on the floor amongst all of Ophelia's bag trash that fell out. Like, lint. Yeah. So much lint. Do you want to tune? Maybe you should use this. All right, fine, I'll attune to this, why not?

The gold sight eye, let me just add this to my inventory real quick. Makes you look real smart. So right, fine, I'll attune to this, why not? The gold sight eye, let me just add this to my inventory real quick. Makes you look real smart. So I can't identify this scroll, this contract, sorry, right now, but I will be able to after achievement. Yep, which you can do in a lot of likelihoods. So I'll be able to do that like tomorrow.

Yep. Anything else in here? What's, there's quite a bit of, there's no money actually, because you spent it all on. I spent all my money, I've got platinum. You have a platinum, you do have. You keep offering it to people. You do have five platinum, yeah.

I've got five platinum. Okay, yep, yep. No, no, no, no, no, no. So when you say I spent all my money on... I had a little bit left. Yeah, good, because I'm glad you didn't spend all of that as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay. I have this dog here, it probably needs feeding. What's this, it's an empty potion bowl. Such a glamorous... Oh, I remember this, yeah. This one. Yeah, that's a very nice, you just feel, you just feel so much shit all over the table

picking up one thing. Sheesh, Brianna, this is an intervention. It needs to stop. Hey, if we're gonna do an official intervention, we're gonna make it a members video. Can you swing the PT set over this way? No. Look at how much stuff she has.

It's my drink it corner! Ha ha ha! But yes, I will attune to the gold sight eye. It's coming, it's trying. Yeah. Ha ha ha! Don't look at my shame! Da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da.

It's not that bad, I don't think it's that bad. It's had a clean recently. I think it could be worse. It's had a clean. Yeah, but it's the drawer underneath that's the thing. Yeah, that's the, that's the thing. It's not that bad. So.

It could be so much worse. It could be so much worse. It does look like it. Y'all finish up around this cottage of death. Having defeated the troll and the limb jimbals, by the way, that's what the limb jimbals are. Limp jimbals. I love them so much!

From old Flee Mortals, limb jimbals. Limb jimbals. I am gutted, one of the, cause I don't think you guys will fight another one of those. If you had dealt 10 or more points of slashing damage, you make a new limb jimbals. You like cut off its hand,

it would grow a new hand, and the limb jimbals would grow a new one, and then do a limb gimbal with the gimbal. I was wondering when that would happen, but yeah, that makes sense. Oh, what a cool monster. I like facing off against just new stuff as well. I love that. And it's not new because it's a troll,

it's like a common thing. Like the way I described it, and because it was like slightly different mechanics to what you're used to, you were like, what the fuck is this thing? So it's a cool encounter. I want them as my children. Yeah.

So with that in mind, you guys continue on your journey. Okay, I would like to attune to this while we're going. So the, as, yeah, absolutely. Like at the end of the third day, basically you will take a long rest. You guys can take your long rest. Oh, actually before we do, we need to check, you're gonna have a standard level of camp,

but Rowan and Gruff, you guys can make a performance or persuasion check to kind of ease the journey. Actually, no, sorry, you've already done this. Sorry, I'm getting my things confused. The way I'm doing it is we do it in chunks. You don't need to roll, either of you. All your checks that you made earlier still count for the whole journey.

So you have a very pleasant camp to remain in. You take a long rest. When you take this long rest, because Gruff has been working to provide a very comfortable, good environment for your rest, all of you gain the Well-Rested Burnt Bar. Oh! Which is until for the next 24 hours,

or yeah, next 24 hours or length of the journey, so it could be two days, it might be three, one. You basically have plus one to ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws. So you get an extra plus one. Wow, all right. But it only lasts for the next journey segment, basically. Until the next journey event.

Sure. And yeah, and then Rowan has made it slightly, the battle with the troll has added to some of the stamina cost of the journey. But Rowan is also musically kind of making that cost a little less. That's also something we've massively negated by just traveling with this wagon, right?

No, there is always gonna be an element of exhaustion at the end of a journey. It's not that we're running the entire way. No, absolutely not. So the next thing is we then begin like sort of another sort of step of the journey. Yep. So I, who, are you staying with the current tasks?

Are any of you gonna change how you approach how you travel? I'm gonna stay with Brodry. Okay. Graff, I've found a stone that looks just like you. Oh, thank you. Look at that. Craggy, yes. Looks just like me, doesn't it?

It's got, like, the mane and everything. Lovely. Thank you. What is this? An animal peed, definitely, on this rock. Right. What has it? I can clean it if you like. What hasn? An animal peed definitely on this rock. Right, what has... I can clean it if you like. What hasn't an animal peed on?

That, I point at Xanthias. Hey, no animals peeing on me. I'm seeing this rock from a different angle. From the back it's like got a huge dumper. Get it. Yeah, I don't know. I don't really see it. I just have to ruin it, don't I?

I don't see it. You just have see it. I don't see it. You just have to... Hey, it's up to... It's up to Troll to say whether or not that's true or not. It's up to the DM that created the rock. Is anybody... Yeah, are you changing anything? Yeah.

Are you changing anything about the way that you track? Otherwise I would keep you in the same row. I put the rock in my bag. I put the rock in the back of the wagon. You want to... So you're gonna actually move ahead a little bit and try and move ahead. Not like a full day ahead.

Yeah, like a full day ahead. Oh yeah, yeah. All right. Yeah, well you definitely change, you change your process that Ophelia moves off, you know, trying to stay ahead of the group a little bit, perhaps scouting a little bit. Okay.

I think now that we're heading towards the Ashen's. You are heading into rougher terrain. So we are going into hills. We're going southeast now? No, you are, yeah, so it's the hex southeast, yes. On the hills. Yeah, and then you'll be going northeast onto Ashen's Siddal, the Ashen's Siddal, yes.

I'm surprised you're not looking at that and going, that looks like a butt. Huh? Why,'re not looking at that and going, that looks like a butt. Huh? Why, why? I'm not a bird. That looks like a butt. Close up, I just see flat lands and hills. If I was a bird.

Oh, I'm sorry, they can turn rocks into butts, but I can't turn a butt into a butt. No, I'm just saying that it is, you are now simply the one bringing it up. I'm not, I pass no judgment. I love butts. I love butts, I pass no judgment. I love butts. I love butts, I love small butts, I love big butts. I love them.

And you can't lie? I can't lie. Can't lie about them. You won't deny them? Actually no, I lie all the time. What does the contract rod look like again? So it's like this very beautiful, thin, like a kind of wizard's rod, like a short wizard's staff.

So, you know, it'd be like a walking stick kind of size thing. But it is made of gold and silver and it has carved into the length of the body these visages of angelic armored soldiers escorting a prisoner. And then in between the figures is where the text in Celestial's written.

This beautiful, you know, flowing script. Looks like a little bit like Sanskrit, if you know what Sanskrit looks like. And it's topped with a pearlescent shimmering opal in a sort of fixture of light, almost like twisted lattice of gold. Daisy, I think I've cracked how to use this thing now.

Okay. Well hang on, I wanna get a few things sorted, but we do all of that. So, everybody else is happy with what they're doing in terms of traveling? Great, then before we just jump onto that, I would like Rowan to make another survival check for me please.

The DC is now higher due to the terrain you are in. He's already rolled. Use it. So, nine. Nine. How low below the DC is that? I need to remind myself of the DC. This would technically be.

And a slight increase in that, right? This is far from civilization in dangerous or difficult terrain. Oh dear. Oh dear. Is this a Deltar's Encounter civilization? No. It once did.

It once did. Now it's the opposite. The land of the dead. The land of the dead. 10,000 people used to live here. That's a ghost town. That's a ghost town. Smash 10. If they file by five or more.

Oh dear. Oh no, no, no. Can you roll a D20 for me, please, Mr. Ruff? Here comes a two. Three. Oh my God. Are we dead? Ask the toad.

Cannot predict now. Daisy. That's your job! What is that on there? Celia. Hello. Can you roll 2D6 for me please? You're ahead, yeah.

I will come back to this in a minute. Sure, yeah, yeah. That's all right. Two fives, 10. Ooh. Isn't that what you rolled last time? I rolled 11 on 11. You rolled 11 last time.

Boy, we were going to encounter the same thing. It's the second worst. Another troll! I would shift it down to a new one. You had 11. Isn't that what you rolled last time? I rolled 11 on 11. You rolled 11 last time. Boy, we were gonna encounter the same thing. It's the second worst. I'm not the troll. I would shift it down to a new thing. 10. You find a cabin.

Do you remember that time that we were trying to stealth through the woods and every episode we got nowhere because we were just encountering them. We're not a stealthy group. Well, it's also, again, it's a combination of roles. Yeah, yeah, no, I mean, it's a dangerous place.

You are moving ahead of the team. You are the first to spot that up ahead, you've barely traveled half a day before this happens, by the way. You are thick in the hills, and when you do, you can here, I wanna shift it, let's do, I'm gonna roll two, six, seven, eight,

see what happens. Five. As you are moving through, you are now beginning to see that the land here, the hills, they are not the lush, vibrant green that they were. They're starting to kind of turn a strange color, a little bit more golden, a little bit more,

not dead, but not vibrant and green. The trees look a little thin. Their bark, when you see copses of trees nestled amongst the hills, their bark has strange reddish streaks within it, you know, birch with red streaks and black lines. And as you are moving through, it is you, as you had started moving ahead to scout, you see a pack of wolves prowling in amongst the hills. Their coats look not right.

They almost seem to catch the sun, and there is a sort of golden raiment about them, like flecks of gold in amongst their coat. Their jaws are too long, their eyes are purest black, they look thick and strong and healthy but in an unnatural way. I need you, you see this, they have not seen you yet

but I need you to make a stealth roll. Alrighty. 13. 13. I will make a perception roll for the wolves. They do have keen smell. As you are sort of peering, maybe crawling over the crest of a hill, like sort of keeping an eye on these wolves, about to turn back and tell your companions of, you know, this

group of enemies up ahead. As you are about to move, the wind blows across you towards the wolves. And one of them, and all of its friends, it begins to hunch down several of the walls part ways, and it begins prowling in your direction. You do. Rrrr! Rrrr!

Rrrr! Rrrr! Rrrr! A cert dominance. It worked once before. Pee on it. As Laos proved, not always the best response. It's a key post for certain dominance.

There's only one thing to do. Oh my God, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do? What do you do, Ophelia? What spells do you have the well luck? Nothing. Play dead. Play dead. Good joke. Can I try and scare it away? You can do whatever you would like to do.

Try and scare it away! How are you doing that? I... form of dread. Oh yeah, sure. And just really ham it up. Just really... So normally Form of Dread, it only does fear when you attack, right? Yes. Well, let's just make a joke.

So what's the DC for your Form of Dread? 13. All right. I'm gonna see if this frightens the wolves before you. Some of them, as I said, have peeled away, but let's see. 14. 13. 13 for the DC. It is enough to cause the wolves to be wary that they are not gonna immediately attack you.

But as you turn and start running and get far enough away, these wolves are in pursuit. Oh good. If they had passed that, I was about to have a random encounter literally attack you and then the rest of the group would catch up in a few rounds basically. Completely unaware as well. Yeah, you managed to run back, buying yourself enough time

to get away from these wolves as you all see Ophelia rushing back towards you in a panic. Now to quickly flashback, he did attune to the Gold Sight Eye. Yes, Daisy, I know how this works. We can do it later. No, because it could be. I will say that one thing, the rod can only currently be used by a Warlock.

It must be attuned by a Warlock. Okay. It will basically give a bonus to spell DCs, attack rolls, and damage rolls. Okay. I am gonna, I think I'm gonna- As a separate weapon? No, as like spell attacks. Oh, okay. Spell attacks and spell weapons and stuff. and damage rolls. I am gonna, I think I'm gonna- As a separate weapon or?

No, as like spell attacks. Spell attacks and spell weapons and stuff. I think that is what the traditional Rod of the Pack Keeper does. I think I'm gonna tweak it slightly, but I need time to like adjust it. So you can tell with the Identify spell that there is additional power here,

perhaps when it is wielded by somebody who has a celestial connection, shall we say. Oh wait, no, I thought I knew how this thing worked, but this thing is in flux, it just doesn't seem to be yeah, stupid things. It's gonna have, it'll probably have like some ability to cast some spells for charges. I just don't, I need to figure out what that is.

Yeah, sure, fine. But that's it. It is known just, not canonically, right, Anne? Exactly. Sure. But with that, yeah, you guys all come rushing back. You hear that? You all hear Ophelia like. Wolves, wolves!

Wolves? Scary golders! Okay, everyone in positions. We never discuss positions. Defensive, maybe, Rodri, stay here, we need to run forward. Can I? Can I just, sorry, this might not work, but I just think it's gonna be quite funny.

Oh, I know, okay, I think I've pieced this together. Yeah. Yeah. Um. You reckon? Yeah. Maybe. Do it, do it.

Can I leap off the wagon, wild shape into a brown bear, or a black bear, but, wild shape into a brown bear, or a black bear, but like it's a brown bear, but it's black because I'm black, and do a daunting roar and just see if I can scare them away because I'm a big scary bear. Technically I don't think you can use daunting roar or wild shape, which is stupid.

Wait, for real? So I'm not gonna lie. Well, because it's your race feature and you are no longer that race, but I think that's really dumb, so I'm absolutely gonna let you do it. So daunting roar is, again, it's like Frightened Effect, right?

Yeah, DC 14. Okay, all right. You can see that there is one large alpha wolf, which is massive. It's large size creature. It's like a dire wolf size. And then there's a bunch of other normal-sized wolves with it.

I'm gonna make a second turn. The alpha passes. Two of the smaller wolves fail, and they back away, but the alpha just kind of snarls around at them as they crest this hill. And it is, in retaliation, I would like all of you to make a wisdom saving throw, as it's gonna let out a blood curdling howl.

Ooh! Oh, taking my scene. Well, blood, you tried, it could've worked. Sorry, wisdom save. Wisdom saving throw. Net one. If anybody, Ah!

Anybody is immune to fear or has advantage against fear effects, this does count. Okay. Oh, wait. Eight. And I would say your former dread can stay up. Your former dread can stay up, by the way. I use the bear's wisdom, right?

No, you use your wisdom. Because it's mental. Druids keep all their mental spells. It's mental. You just use your saving throws. Oh's mental. Druids keep all their mental stars. It's mental. You just use your saving throws. Oh, I'm like 15 plus seven. Great. Who got 14 or above?

No, no. So, just, Anophilia, you're immune. Gruff, you got 14 or above. 15 plus seven. Yeah, so you're above that. Unnatural one. One. Eight.

Eight. Those of you who failed, you are, this kind of works like Bane, you have minus D4 to attacks and thieving throws as you are trembled, afraid of this beast as it looms. Okay. Oh, but we're on top of the well-rested. Yeah, but that is gonna be initiative.

Gonna be initiative. And any, is there any immediate idea of these creatures as well, just when we see them for the first time? You, Xantheus. Yeah. That's why I asked. They don't carry Crown Steel,

but they've definitely, not been mutated in the same way you have, but you think that living in this environment has affected them, and there is like the tiniest sliver of Crownsteel essence about them. Right, okay, okay, okay. And they're like dripping like flakes of gold, what you're saying?

No, their fur has like streaks of it in the fur. It's not like falling off them or anything. Maybe there's motes of energy that come off them that look like flecks of gold. But then they have pure black eyes, and they are bigger and stronger, and you can tell that their hides are thicker and just tougher in general.

I love that, that's cool. Instantly, how does the party react when Gruff just jumps down? A bear! A bear's here too! Oh my god. I imagine it's a brown, so it's a big black fur speckled with the white.

But it's got your face. Maybe it's still got the mane, I don't know. Could it be a bear with a mane? Yeah, that would be amazing. I fully ascribe to the World of Warcraft style of druids where they keep elements of the race. So yeah, you still have the big, sort of white fluffy mane around your neck.

Like a collar maybe. Or your gourd still on a little bit of belt and stuff. It's kind of up to you, it's fine. It is very obviously, right? And I guess we also not in the range of your- Well, because you still jump off the wagon and then, yeah. And you can sort of choose that if you don't want to look like that.

I think it's okay for you to... In this context. All right, Daisy. 11. 11, Xanthias. Oh, sorry, that is a eight. Gruff, same as last time. 15. Rowan.

Two. Ophelia. 12. And for the Ashenwolf alpha. Oh, one. And for the smaller Ashen Wolves... But they are afeard. Two of them are afeard. Two of the smaller ones.

Okay. So, I am picturing this, and maybe, depending on that we're not gonna have that much time to finish the encounter, we're just gonna start it. I'm imagining almost like, you know on we're not gonna have that much time to finish the encounter we're just gonna start it. I'm imagining almost like you are sort of in between hills like it's not a valley but like you're kind of wakin' your way through these hills. So you have these two bigger hills on either side.

The wolves are at the top of one of these hills and Roger is sort of in the middle of all these hill ends on either side and they are at the top, basically about to rush towards you, but two of them seem terrified of Gruff. Right. And I would say that with the Form of Dread, like you had that initial burst,

your Form of Dread is still up, but yeah, they are not currently frightened of you, Ophelia, until you use your ability. Alrighty, let us say I am gonna roll to see how far away they exactly are. Like as they crest the thing. Let us roll. Did you guys think I was gonna cast Speak with Animals?

I thought you were gonna do the daunting roll. I didn't think you were going to Wild Shape. I thought you were gonna Wild Shape. For some reason I forgot that was like a druid ability. I was just like surprised when you bared it. Well I'm not a, I don't really use it a lot do I? No, I know. You start and turn into a kitten which is a crime.

It's never happening. The more people mention it, the less it's gonna happen. Yeah, we'll see how that went with the coin. You're gonna kitten one day. No, I only did that because it was actually annoying me in game that he wasn't listening. Okay. Right, Rodri is currently in between these two big hills.

The wolves are actually about 90 feet away from you, right? Up on top of one of the hills in the direction you are currently going. So if you, for example, turn Rodri around and go back the other way, you're gonna lose time because you're gonna be heading back the way you came. So if you manage to escape, then you're gonna have to come back this way anyway

or move your way around or something. How many wolves was it again? There is the alpha and then three smaller wolves. And I'm assuming we've got Gruff and Daisy on the wagon. Yeah, well I just jumped off the wagon to bear. Oh that's true, you're in bear. So Daisy's probably the only one on it. I guess you would also be close enough

for the daunting roll, right? Yeah. Nah, let's not worry about it. bear. So Daisy's probably the only one on it. I guess you would also be close enough for the daunting role, right? Yeah. Nah, let's not worry about it. Okay, so theater of the mind encounter, right now there was a cool thing. Sure, yeah. Because also then my thing would be out of range, I just wanted to roll, like give you guys like.

I just love that you just see a bear shout at the wolves, and the wolf shout at the bear. And like two of the wolves are like, woo woo woo, and in return this bigger alpha seems almost annoyed that its minions are afraid, so it does the same back to you. And now like Daisy, Xanthius, and Rowan are sort are like, ooh, ooh, ooh. And in return, this bigger alpha seems almost annoyed that its minions are afraid, so it does the same back to you. And now Daisy, Xanthius, and Rowan are sort of like, ooh, ooh, ooh.

So it's, yeah, there's a counterpunch here. Oy! Yeah. Nah! If I could speak bear or wolf. And Gruff is actually the first one up anyway. It's just a little argument. It's gonna be Gruff then Ophelia.

I'm gonna run up to, well, I don't know if I can actually. I've only got 40 foot speed as a bear. You can dash. Yeah, but I can't do anything when I get there. True. Can I just tank it? Can I just run up to the bear? I'm the bear.

Can I run up to the alpha and just like... You can get within 10 feet. Yeah, yeah. And just look like I'm charging towards it. Almost like trying to buff myself up and be like... You know how bears charge? Just like a boom and boom. Yeah, you do that, the alpha rises to the challenge though

and it kind of sinks its body down. Kind of drool coming out of its mouth. I'm gonna ride Gruff so bad. So just dash, full turn, get on up there. Ophelia? Yeah, Ophelia will follow the charge of Gruff and dash behind him. Yeah, what's your movement speed?

60. 60. So you're a little bit behind Gruff, unfortunately, with his 40 feet of movement. Alrighty, so 60, so you would be 30 feet away, Ophelia. Yeah. Gruff, you're like 10 feet away. Okay. Alrighty.

Are you just gonna dash, yeah? Just gonna full dash. Full dash, great, we love it, nice quick turn. Daisy. Can I get within 60 feet of them? So they are 90 feet away, so if you hop off the wagon and move 30 feet up. Or 30 feet, then I will do that and I will.

Were you afeard? Yes, minus D4. Oh, the Begging, yeah, that was it. Yeah, it doesn't do the Frightened thing if you can't move closer. Yeah, the Wolves have that with Gruff though. Okay. And that lasts until the end of their next turn.

Is Gruff right up next to them? He's within 10 feet, he's not next to it. Hold your action. I'm gonna hold my action to when someone is within... When Gruff or when the wolf is within... Yeah, someone's within range and I'm gonna do a... Okay. End of my next turn.

Yep, end of your next turn. Perfect. All right, anything else Daisy on your turn? Um... Ah! Ah! No! Alrighty.

The two smaller wolves who are currently afraid of Gruff, they're gonna peel off to the side and kind of keeping an equidistance so they're not technically moving closer to you. They're gonna circle round towards the wagon. So they're now moving closer to Rowan and Xanthius and Rodri and the wagon. One of the smaller wolves though

is gonna dash towards you, Gruff. So Daisy, your held action would trigger. As one of these smaller wolves is gonna dash towards you, Gruff. So Daisy, your held action would trigger. As one of these smaller wolves is gonna come up towards you. 22. 22 hits. With that sneak attack. Yes, yes, yes. I don't know.

18 points of damage. 18 points of damage. The Radiant Blade slides into the Slider's Wolf. You do see that, yeah, like a normal wolf, that blade would have taken it down. Oh, my D4 to my... Minus 2 to hit, but I still think I still would have hit. You were well ahead, yeah, absolutely. The blade would have normally, like, immediately killed a regular wolf. Okay. This thing is bloodied,

but it's still up after that damage. But you kind of, the blade impacts into it, it's like, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. And then it's gonna attack Gruffeth. It is going to try to swat at you with its claws. This is the unscared wolf, right? This is the unscared wolf, yes.

That's the alpha. There's only a 10 to hit. Ooh, 11. Yeah, on the bear's AC, because I was going to say a bear's got 11. Oh yeah, yeah. Oh. Trade off.

That is the smaller wolves. The alpha is then going to step up to you. That's a little daddy. Yeah, big alpha's coming. He is going to multi-attack. He's going to try and bite you, and he's going to try and use his Wounding Claws. The Bite is a 20 to hit.

There's a little bit of... How much bear health have you got? You'll see. Okay. It's not super... Yeah, because it's not special call bear. That's very low damage, though. The other rolls are coming back in, so that's fine.

That's eight points of piercing damage from the Bite, and then the Wounding Claw. Oh, luckily that's gonna be a miss. Nine to hit. That does not hit. You see, this alpha's claws, almost a little bit like Xanthius' arm. There's like a jaggedness to them, and like very thin lines of like red and gold.

This thing isn't a fully corrupted like, crown still creature, but it's got enough in its essence that it's been naturally evolved, to like, warped. But yeah, these claws look like they would've dealt a grievous wound if they had hit. But that is it for the wolves. We go to Xanthias.

Crown steel, they've got crown steel. A small amount of crown steel. Bad news, I'm staying back. Sorry guys, but I'm gonna launch a Chaos Bolt though. At the Alpha, 120 foot of range on the Chaos Bolt. I will do this at a level two, so it's an additional D6 on that. But I need to hit this thing first, so the Alpha.

Minus D4. Minus D4, but boss one from Well-Rested, yeah. Okay, I will also fate it. Oh, you got that, I know you don't anymore, it's been a day. Oh. Yeah. Wow, wow, wow, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

So six on the D20, six on the blessing. That was a roller coaster. Additional six, so that's. 18. 18, one on the D4, so 17, coaster. Additional six, so that's... 18. 18. One on the d4, so 17, but plus one from a well-rested, so 18, does 18 hit? Thank God.

2d8. A six and a one, as well as two additional d6. Wow, wow. That is either acid, or one, two, three, four, five, six or poison damage. I'll go with acid. Okay. So I don't recall Crownsteel having any care about that.

Total. Which is six, seven, 13 damage on the alpha. The acid does seem to have, it doesn't seem to be resisted or negated anyway, it burns through. You can see it sizzling the pelt. As it is acid, his pelt is ruined, however. Oh, fuck!

I don't think we care, but he cares. Tom cares about the side quests. Oh, okay. When you said there were deer and stuff in the cabin. I thought we collectively decided we wouldn't do that, but that's fair enough. Tom wasn't with us. You guys collectively decided that.

I'm not part of that group that decided it. But yeah, Grievous Blow does seem to strike. It kind of, you know, reflexes. But again, very tough, like does, you know, is not even bloodied by that attack. I also imagine no one wants the Pellet of the Crownsteel. No, that's this specifically, these are the ones they wanted,

they're wolves of the Ash Hills, they wanted these ones. Yeah, right. Eight of them. Yeah. Yeah. Did you move away, Xanthius, or are you gonna stay by the way? I will back up a little bit, maybe like 20 feet, still within range of the Chaos Bolt, so not a problem. Yes, it would be, so I guess I'd be 110 feet

from the Alpha and the group. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yes. And I will use a bonus to just generate some Aegis shielding as well. Okay. One sorcery point for two shield. Rowan. With my two initiative?

Yeah. Hell yeah. You're the last one. Rowan's going to look at the alpha, timidly, because he's a little frightened, and he's going to cast Phantasmal Force on it, so it's an intelligence save of 15, please. Oh, intelligence.

How smart is Wolf? 11. Excellent, I craft an illusion, and coming from behind, Bear Gruff is second Bear Gruff, and it is also pursuing the alpha in its mind. And coming from behind, Bear Gruff is second Bear Gruff. And it is also pursuing the alpha in its mind. Yep. And will attack it, causing psychic damage and things like that. D6 psychic damage, I believe.

Yeah. Do you do that now? I think you do it now. I think you do it on your turn, you can inflict D6 psychic damage. Yeah. That's such a long paragraph. It is.

Yes, I will do that. But it will treat it as if there is a second creature there as well, like it will assume that there is a second creature. Four points of Psychic. Four points of Psychic Damage. Yeah, it basically treats that as if it is a real threat. I think it can make a check to realize it's not real.

Yes, it would do an intelligence move if it turned. Right now he's free. He's currently awake. Dildopkus. Right, that's just in that thing's mind, not the others as well, right? Yeah, just in the alphas. All right, let's try and rush through. Oh, if you try it on my turn, I do the D6, yeah.

Gruff. Attack, bite. Not that one. Oh god, no, it's a eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13. 13 hits? Oh. Yeah, yeah. They's eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13. 13 hits? Oh. Yeah, yeah. They are wolves, these are natural, these aren't magical or anything like that.

They've just been sort of like touched by crowns. Sturdy. Six points of bite damage. Six points of bite damage. And I'm going to, did you say there was a little bit of crown steel poking out of it? No. No, no, no, I can't see it.

Okay, okay, okay, I just made that up. There's no actual crown steel on these creatures it? No. No, no, no, I can't see that. I just made that up. There's no actual crown steel on these creatures. It's more that they've eaten plants or they've eaten animals that are fed on plants that have been touched by the sword and stuff like that. Can I add Fate Dice to the damage? No. No.

No. I used to be able to, but I've stopped doing that. I need to figure out some more ways for me to spend it. 19 plus five to hit on my claw. 19 plus five, yeah, it hits. Four points of slash damage. And the target has the prone condition, if it's huge or smaller.

It is huge or smaller. So you knock it prone. Hell yeah. Cool. You slam this thing to the ground, slamming it into the dirt. It seems quite nimble and it's going to try and ride out of your grip and stand back up on its turn obviously.

There is power flying everywhere. You rip into these creatures. It's fantastic. After Gruff, it is Ophelia. Yeah, Ophelia's got a very similar feral energy going on. Daisy's up next. She's going to sprint up towards this alpha wolf. Yep, you can easily make it now.

And attack it with Veracity. Four... Nine... 14 points of damage. No, 14 to attack, sorry. Does hit. Does hit, cool. I've got to add to your stamina count. So, six points of damage.

Oh wait, I was trying. I didn't do attack. No, you didn't. You didn't have to worry about the d4. Sorry, O Oh wait, I was frightened. I didn't do attack. No, you didn't. You didn't have to worry about the d4. Sorry, Ophelia, what was that? Six points of damage. Piercing. What was this on?

The alpha. Alpha. Did you do advantage because it's prone? Oh, I can do fully prone. Yes. It's gone. There it goes. It's gone.

Don't worry about it. It fell into the drawer. It's gone forever.'t worry about it. It fell into the drawer. It's gone forever. Yeah, I don't mind. It's gone. And then with your former dread eye, I have to make a wisdom so far. Wisdom's going to throw you. 17, I think, or a number of hearts.

Yeah, you're fine. Yep. So it is not frightened, but you see you in your horrid form, sort of preying upon this thing as it's on the ground. Anything else you're feeling? I know that's me good, thank you. Daisy. I will take a shot at not the alpha because it's prone.

So I have disadvantage. Yep, well it's the smaller one that you hit last time. Yep. That's still next to Gruffana Filius so you'd get sneak attack as well. Nine plus seven. 16. Nine plus, thank you. So it's a hit.

I did maths. You did maths. Great. I did it a hit? I did maths. He did maths. Great, I did nines. I hate nines. Cause it's like a 10 but minus one. I'm glad that's seven, he did. Okay. 14 plus eight.

This time the blade comes out, 14 plus eight. 14 plus eight. This time the blade comes out, just skewers through this smaller wolf, taking it out of the equation immediately. Dead. Nice. And I will send another one at... So you could attack the alpha,

which is currently engaged, but you would have disadvantage. You could also throw at the two, there are two circling around, making their way towards the others. Yeah, I'll send it at one of them to try and sort of frighten them away from thinking they have the jump on them.

Same, nine plus seven, that many. Success. No sneak attack, just normal. Six damage. Six points of damage. This time the smaller blade launches out to the side, cuts across the wolf. It sort of, it isn't frightened away from the attack,

but it's now aware that there is still a threat, so they can punch themselves down. Yeah, I know you're there. Yeah. I know! Alrighty, I'm gonna try and route through this. So the wolves, one is now dead. Those two who are at the side,

they're gonna spend their whole turn, they're gonna dash and surround Rowan. Mm. Oh. So you have two smaller wolves around you now, but that's their full turn. They recognize the alpha. Yep. Yeah, he recognizes him.

The alpha stands up from prone. It is going to, so on your turn for Phantasmal Force, is it an action for me to determine if it's unreal or do I just get a free thing? I believe you just get a free check. Or is it at the end of a turn? Yeah, basically what's the deal with this spell? If the check's in there.

I think it was that last power. Apologies. I hate it was that last paragraph, I think. Apologies. I hate it. It is a very long paragraph. I can see how much writing is done. Hopefully a 2024 player's handbook will make it less annoying. The target uses action to examine the Phantasm with an Intelligence Investigation check. That's a lot.

It's a lot. Gives up an entire turn to do it. That's right. Okay, it's another enemy, so I'm going to rationalize it that this is still a creature, it's still a lot. Wow. It's a lot. Gives up an entire turn to do it. That's right. Okay, it's another enemy, so I'm gonna rationalize it that this is still a creature, it's still a beast. It is smart for what it is, it's like intelligence is a bit enhanced, but it's still an animal. I'm gonna split its attacks between the two bears, right?

Yeah. I'm gonna randomize which attack is what. So the bite on a one to three is gonna be the illusion, four, five, six is real Gruff, one. So the bite is gonna one to three is gonna be the illusion. Four, five, six is real Gruff. One. So the bite is gonna be against the illusion. It's wounding claw is gonna be against Gruff. So against the illusion, I mean, it doesn't matter.

It hits and it perceives it as if it's real. So it thinks it bites into the illusion and then it tears at Gruff with a second attack. That is pretty cocked. That is gonna be a 22. Yeah, just a little bit. Alrighty. You take,

11 points of Slashing Gruff, and you gain a bleeding wound. Oh, those. You are bleeding. Remind me how we get rid of those, Anne. Oh, my blood. We'll find out. Heal.

Yeah, healing. Yeah, she's bleeding. Does that heal? It won't matter. Will it? No, we'll find out. Fairies can heal. That is instant.

I'm just gonna think about this form soon, so. That's true, yeah. The bleeding wound will persist. It will persist with fear? It doesn't matter. I know. There's nothing. Xanthius.

I just bleed on it. Your arm's hanging off. Why is it? Tis nothing. Xanthius. I just bleed on it. Your arm's hanging off. Why is it? Zanthius. Hey, what up? Sorry, I was joking. Not allowed. Okay, I will do a.

Only serious D&D combat allowance. Sorry. I'm very sorry. In that case, I will do a Chaos Bolt Sir Master DM and I will also be against the other wolves that are coming around the Kwanah. Yep, so the ones surrounding Rowan. Yes, I will go for the other wolves that are coming around the corner. Yep, so the one surrounding Rowan. Yes, I will go for the one that Daisy just gagged.

Love it. So, are these, does eight hit? No. In that case, that is in efficiency and seriousness terms, the end of my turn. Excellent, thank you. Move on. Rowan, we're done here.

Rowan is going to touch himself and cast Heroism. Okay, is that concentration? No. It's not, actually it isn't. Good. But I'm not scared. I'm not doubting you, I'm like, okay. Okay, so I cast that.

On yourself. No longer afraid and I've got four ten pitch points. Okay, yeah, so if you're no longer afraid, that minus D4 thing no longer applies to you. Dope. I forgot my minus D4. I think you still would have hit. Yeah, I think so.

Oh, I would not have even, even if I rolled hard. Long sword, two handed attack for 16 points of D4. Are you also going for the one that Daisy already injured? Yeah. Get it. Is that Daisy already injured? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Get it.

Is that a d10? I don't know what a d10 is. It's a little, a little toppy boys, I like that. 8. How long have we been playing this game? 9. Points. 9 points of damage.

Hell yeah. You bloody the second wolf, but it is still standing. These tougher creatures. And then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then,

and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, Please, Mark, please don't let him play me. We'll find out what happens next week. But no, we are going to wrap things up there, and we're going to finish off this little random encounter.

Yes, maybe. It's been somewhat of a wearying journey thus far with these many encounters. Yeah, what were you, five, six days in? And two and a half days? Oh no, you're three and a half. Three and a half days in. When you you're three and a half. Three and a half days in, three and a half. When you fail the survival check by five or more, you basically go half a day,

and then you trigger a random event. That could have been meet a lovely man on the road. That could have been. Could have been. But it happened. A lovely man. Hey, it happened. A lovely roadman.

A lovely roadman. But it just means that the stamina is building up, and when you make the check at the end of the journey, that might be quite extensive. We're just making the world a safer place. Exactly. Right, with that, everybody, thank you so much for joining us. That is the end of today's episode.

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