High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #44 | The Heart of Dharuunax (Part 1)

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

The party sneak into the Heart of Dharuunax, a dark island deep under the Crownsteel corrupted Ash Hills, to try to rescue Ser Eldrak Ignis and Lady Verithira! The battle-map for this encounter is available for free on our Patreon! Check it out here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/116726161 _______________ Boost your Charisma with some HR merch! https://highrollersdnd.teemill.com/ Add official High Rollers Minis to your TTRPG collection here: https://only-games.co/collections/high-rollers Bless your table with the Clever Toad Dice Set: https://dispeldice.com/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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the best part of beer is the beer. Your game time tastes like Miller time. Learn more at MillerLite.ca. Must be legal drinking age. Welcome back to Ulfeaya the Dragon Empire. Having navigated the Ash Hills in search of Ser Eldrach Ignis and discovering the plot of the Reclaimer Cult, our party decided to follow a series of tight and twisting underground rivers and caverns in the hope of reaching the night quickly, fearing the result of the cultists' twisted rituals which Rowan had seen in a vision. As they travelled the caverns, they were set upon by twisted vaultspawn

in the constricted confines of the caves. Defeating these foes, they pressed on and came across a huge underground lake with a constructed fortification at its center. Here, the Reclaimers held Ser Eldrach Ignis, as well as the Green Dragon noble, Lady Verithera. Outnumbered by the cultists, our heroes planned to infiltrate the fortification, trying to take out some of the threats to even the odds, as well as perhaps learn more

about the state of their captives. That is where we pick up today, my friends. As you are currently, I believe, underwater, looking up, you know, using Ophelia's scouting hand, which have you summoned and reattached at this point, Ophelia? Yes, it's come back. The Heart of Daranax, which is the name of this fortification.

Your characters don't know that, but for audiences' knowledge. Before you any further, a very important thing for today especially, is the Crucible of Fate. Please, let's see how our luck falls today. Good! Cool! Oh, that's not good.

Yeah? What'd you get that's not good. Yeah? What'd you get? I haven't rolled it yet. Also not good. So what are we going to put in Katie? Two. Oh, that's a dice for me. Three.

A dice for me. Yes. Two. Oh, another dice for me. We're fucked. One. A dice for me. Wow.

A six! Yay! Yay! And Mark? Wow. A six. Yay! Yay! And Mark. Shit. A six. Yay!

Oh my goodness. Four and two isn't a total lock down. We have had a really long streak of all of us getting really good ones. And now it's payback. And it's switched. It's not. Now, it's not too bad.

Yeah. No, it's not too bad, no. A couple of things. With this, you have scouted this out. So you can see the map, which if Sam wants to bring up at some point, doesn't have to be right now. But the map itself, there are a lot of bad guys here.

This is not necessarily all of them. Don't think that this is like, there's no more bad guys. This is only a portion. there are other parts of the cave and stuff like that, there are these buildings, there may be more enemies within. These are patrolling guards. All people that you can see. The other thing is, in terms of stealth mechanics,

I've got a few things I wanna try out. So, the way that it's gonna work in this is whenever you move on this map, you will make a stealth check, right? Or if an enemy vision cone, which I'm gonna come to in a minute, passes over you, you will either need to make a stealth check or will use a previous stealth check.

Okay. Remember, moving at stealth means you move at half speed, otherwise it's disadvantage if you go full speed. Your stealth is gonna be opposed by enemy's passive perception if they are not alerted. If an alerted, an enemy will start actively making perception checks, which gives them a chance of rolling above a 10, which gives them a higher chance

of maybe spotting you guys. You can only be hidden if you are in cover or have some reasonable way to hide from the enemy. If you are out in the open, your stealth check will automatically fail. Why'd you add that in? Yeah. Because, because,

Rowan might have broken his code. Let me use this as an example. Let's say Rowan is here. Right in the middle of the map, yeah. Right, and this is, so the vision cones, it's gonna use this template, they go further than this. Anything outside of this template is at disadvantage. So imagine that we use a cone of vision.

So anything further. So what's the distance, would you say, is that right? But it doesn't matter, so this is a 30 foot cone. 30 feet, right. But it doesn't matter, because this is a 30 foot cone. 30 feet, 40 feet. But it doesn't matter, because Rowan is right in the open. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He will automatically fail stealth. But this is Rowan we're talking about.

Right, yes. Remember, Rowan's a stealth man. Yeah, a big, nearly nine foot stone man. With glowing arms. With glowing arms. He's that many. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so.

So the cones go further than the 30 feet, but anything beyond that 30 feet. And that's because, as you can see on the map, there are various light sources. So let me point out to these. So this big brazier, this is like a big stone brazier. That's quite close to us actually, already near the exit.

Yep. Or near the entrance even. We also have some magical lights floating around. So these are like little orbs of floating lights. These torches here, these are all giving off light. These give off 20 feet of bright light, but the whole area basically I'm gonna treat that there are like patches of dim light.

So that's why the vision cone is about 30 feet for these guys, right? But for you guys, for purposes, if you care about it, it's 20 feet of bright light. Don't worry, podcast listeners, we'll be very descriptive of our choice. Yes, absolutely, because there's a lot of features of like, oh, I'll move up to this archway, I'll hide behind these barrels.

It's very detailed, actually I'll take a picture and I'll put it onto Patreon for free. This is great, Mark. Yeah. So, yeah, so enemies as well, we're gonna go by video game rules in that they have a vision cone out the front. As they move around, their vision cone will pass

and I will choose on their turn which way they're facing and show you where they're looking and then I will check it and stuff like that. I would like to perform Overwatch. Yeah, very bit of XCOM. So assume that like if they're alerted, they probably will have a readied action to attack something that they can see.

They will be kind of taking an overwatch, right? Okay. Gannon's corner of stuff. It's getting worse, I know. She's not even being stealthed and she's just sat still. Yeah. Yeah. Don't, yeah, I mean obviously you guys

don't have a lot of fate right now, but that will change. But plus their trace. You currently do have pass without a trace, so that now, but that will change. But pass without a trace. You currently do have pass without a trace. So that is 10 to steal. But just remember, even if you have a stealth of 30, if you are out in the open, just move!

And that's it, you've got to end your turn in cover. So if you say dash across the map, but you manage to end your turn in a reasonable place to hide in cover. Now another thing, which is gonna add an element, and I'm very sorry, podcast listeners, let's say good old Rowan is up against this little stone archway wall, right?

Oh, he's hidden, he's in cover from these guys. But oh look, Mr. Archer has a direct line of sight to him. You have to take line of sight into it. Yes, unless it's something like barrels and stuff like that, but there's definitely an element here of like... But is he out in the open against that wall there? I would say if he was there, I would allow him to still make a stealth check

because he can kind of press himself up against it. If a guy, let's say this guard, was stood here, Yeah, yeah, I mean, yeah. then there's no amount of stealth that's going to help you from that, all right? General line of sight stuff. Yes, so just try and keep that in mind as you guys move around.

I am gonna be a little bit sort of on it and stuff like that as well. The other thing I'm gonna tell you in advance, because I don't wanna like cheat you guys out. These people move? They will be moving, absolutely. They are also not minions. So now some of them are stronger than others,

but just don't be aware that this is not gonna be like I hit them once they're out kind of guards, right? You will have to think about, now Daisy might be able to one shot some of these guys with sneak attack, but the chances are the rest of you probably aren't gonna be able to knock them out in a single attack. So you wanna think creatively of how you're gonna,

if you wanna try and quietly take somebody out, how are you gonna do that? All right. I love that this is all described and someone's just gonna fail stealth. Immediately, yeah, probably. To be fair, the part I trace I this is all described and someone's just gonna fail stealth. Immediately, yeah, probably. To be fair, the pass or that trace, I think is gonna do some handy lifting.

Right, and again, against passives, unless you roll really, really badly, that plus 10 is gonna do a lot of work. But also, Team Awesome on this side of the table all have Crownsteel hangovers, so we're minus two. We'll come to that in a minute, because maybe Team Awesome doesn't wanna have it. Who the fuck are Team Awesome? This side of the table all have Crown Steel hangovers, so we're minus two. We'll come to that in a minute, because maybe Team Awesome doesn't want to have a Crown Steel hangover.

Who the fuck are Team Awesome? This side of the table. Team Dope as hell over here. Excuse me! Team has plus 20 in stealth over here because of passes like that. Also has the highest kill count as well, keep in mind. These two are Team Kill Count over here.

This side of the table is Team Big Pick Energy. This is Team Kill Shot. That's more catchy. Team Kill Shot, yeah, yeah. Right, one last thing. Tom Hazel. This is Team Killshot. One last thing. Tom Hazel. What? What do I mean?

Oh no. I would like to... Oh here we go. Now this is a genuine consent request. Are you cool with me making certain rolls on Xanthias' behalf? Do you want to roll your own destruction? I mean, they're going to be cool if you... Because I would like to keep some information hidden from the rest of the table.

In that case, could you... Text it to him? Could you text it to me? I have methods. Pre-prepared. Okay. Do I want to roll... How drastic are they? Okay. I mean, the fact that he's... Do I want to roll, how drastic are they? Okay.

I mean the fact that he's actually- The idea of this is that I don't want people to say you're, I will tell you now, it's gonna be wisdom saving throws. Right, so I'd like to know your wisdom saving throw banks. I will still give you a chance to be like, come on, can you add fate to that roll or is somebody's giving you a bonus and stuff? But the thing is what I don't want is for you to roll a three and then everyone goes like,

Xanthius is being strange. Cause you have a, you know, you have, you know, deniability on what you're doing. If I rolled it, would you want me to tell you secretly what I rolled? I think it would be easier if I just roll it for you. Yeah, okay, yeah, I'm okay with that. What is Xanthius's wisdom saving throw bonus?

I don't wanna tell you. What if bonus? I don't want to tell you. What if I lied to you? I'll tell you! Go ahead, it's up to you to spread, share this news to the rest of the party. It's a minus one, Mark. Oh no. Not impossible?

Not impossible. No, no, no, especially if you have fate. I do have A plus one. So it'd be zero. It could be zero. Well, once. No, the saving throws in that is it'd be zero. Oh yes, it'd be zero. Well, once. No, the saving throws in that is all done. It's an unspelled attack.

Yeah, I got plus zero then, so. You got a straight roll. You got a straight roll. And each time I will ask you, would you like to spend fate on it? Has anybody of you works with it? I will know when it's happening. You will know when it's happening, yeah.

You will know when it's happening. But I wanted your consent that you would be okay with me rolling. Yeah, absolutely. You can always bring up a Discord chat and communicate between you. I don't know when it's happening. But I wanted your consent that you would be okay with me rolling. Yeah, absolutely. You can always bring up a Discord chat and communicate between you. Oh, no, no, no, no.

I've got that covered, Kay. Don't worry about that. Oh, God, okay. I've pre-prepared. As a counterpoint, as a result of these roles, I don't know what the roles are. I can guess what they're for. Can you?

That's the way it is. Yes or no, is it heavily advised that I start thinking of a new character? Well, fuck that. Oh, fucking hell. Oh no. So, with that. Oh no.

This is sweet. I don't know. With that. Nice knowing you, kiddo. So, next week's stream could be something different. It's different. Well, I mean, I told you guys at the very beginning of this one, this is a little bit more of a,

you know, you've had some time, the training wheels are off. We made some plans. You know, if things go badly, things go badly. It'll make an interesting campaign twist, won't it? It certainly will. Should we negotiate our plans? Again, one more time.

Yeah, if you want to, you're more than welcome to. Quick summary. A quick summary of the plans is, in the very center of the map, there is a pool that has a big, big tower of crown steel. In front of that is Eldraq Ignis, who has a miniature now, and looks totally fine. I trust it did his arm.

For podcast listeners, he has one big arm and a massive, massive halberd. But that pool is connected under the island via a very tight corridor. Yeah, cracks and splits and things like that. The gruff is intending to swim through to get to a- It's an octopus.

Well, Eldrake Ignis primarily, but it would be the pool of Crownsteel, essentially. On the very north of the map, we have a tower with one single Ballista on it, which we intended to try to take control of, because that Ballista will fuck us up. And the idea being that that Ballista has two guards on it, which is up quite a tall tower, but behind that is a single Archer who is right next to a light source, which is rough. We didn't realize there was a light source there. But Ophelia is gonna spider climb up the wall

to try to take down this archer stealthily or bloodily. Whatever the dice says I need to do. Yeah, meanwhile, we are all, the rest of us are at the base of this tower, I believe. And the idea that we don't want Daisy, who is very, very stealthy, however, has big glowy wings. So I- But you do,

you did give me the scroll. My plan, so I've given you the scroll because- I'll fly. If we get rumbled, slash when we get rumbled, it doesn't matter if I'm stealthy anymore. So I can fly, and then it gives you the ability to make someone else fly if you choose, which would be valuable.

So what I would like to do before we do any of this is stealth closer so that I can get eyes on Lady Varethira and connect telepathically to her. Another map feature to mention is just in front of where Sir Eldraak is, is on the ground there is a glowing magic circle, and there is a faint shimmering orb, like dome-like kind of force cage-y kind of like prison-y magic thing, a bubble, magic bubble, surrounding Lady Verethira, and there appear to be two of these Reclaimers

dressed in robes and armor and things like that, having maybe a conversation with her or talking at her, you're not quite sure. You couldn't hear anything from her from the hand. Do they look more leader-y? I would say, I mean, yeah, I will give you a rundown. So the two here, this guy is, he's a guy in like armor, he has a big two handed sword, big cloak, he's wearing armor.

This lady here has armor, has like, probably like a kind of short blade at her side, has a shield on her back, looks, could be major, could be fighter, you're not really sure. They definitely seem to have a bit of an air of, maybe a bit of authority. Pretty much everybody else on the board looks like a soldier, with the exception of the archer.

Even the Ballista crew look like they've got the chainmail on, they look like soldiers, they've got short blades. Everybody else has like these big swords or big maces or big axes and stuff like that. But yeah, those two definitely do stand out a little bit. The ones next to Lady Vera Theoria. We also have Penelope.

Yes. We do. And who's in control of Penelope today? Me! What Penelope do? What that Penelope do? Penelope is a good support. So she has entangle, sanctuary, speak of animals, Speak of Plants.

She has Dispel Magic and one Mass Healing Word. She's got Vitality Bloom. She's got a unique ability which creates an aura of healing around it, but it also does damage enemies. You've seen that before. The Dispel Magic is one use, the Mass Healing Word is one use. Her other spells are three uses per day.

Yeah. And she also has like a Thorn Whip, so she has like a cantridge. She can do a little bit of damage and stuff as well. And Thorn Whip, I'm trying to recall, does that pull them? Pulls 10 feet. Yeah, pulls 10 feet.

And it does decent damage, it's like 2d6 of damage. 2d6, pretty good. Okay. The only other thing before Katie goes off, telepizing, teleph- I'm just gonna drop that. Televangelizing. Um, We all have vitality potions, because we haven't really used them before. They're good to use at the beginning of the fight.

That's true. Rather than mid, because they're not like usual healing potions. Correct. Very well remembered, Kim. Excellent tacticals. The other thing I will mention as well is that pile of crown steel, just in case the thought was like, oh, we're gonna try and get it away, it's huge. It's like loads of pieces, some of it looks like it's been almost merged together,

but it is not something that is gonna be easy to carry away. Is that on the map? It's what, like five by, no, 10 foot by 10 foot, is that? It's a large creature, effectively. Okay, so it is, okay. It's a pile of stuff. Some of it's like smaller pieces, and it's all been piled up.

It's like in a, it would be resting in the water. He's trying to calculate how many he can put in his pond. Yeah, I mean, you could definitely take pieces of it away, but as a mound, it would be quite a significant challenge to move all of it. Okay. That's my point. Okay, okay, okay, okay. It certainly won't probably fit through

all those cracks in that basin. I guess as a final point of order, is anyone taking minutes? Okay. How are we actually doing after our previous fight with the Ropers and the Geper? You guys did take a short rest. Yeah, I'm good.

I'm healed. I'm just, I've got no level three spell slots. Okay. I've got decent amount of spell slots. Okay, I'm not too bad. I've got quite a three spell slots. Okay. I've got a decent amount of spell slots. Okay, I'm not too bad. I've got quite a lot of spell slots still. I was just making sure, healing wise, we're still good. No Aura of Vitality.

You would have got yours back on a short rest, your Warlock spells, and have you got any Rages left, Rhy? Yeah, I've got a couple left, so I'm all good. Okay, all right, great. All right, well, I mean, do we want to go straight in with, is Daisy going to be the first one to make a move? Are you going Octopus Gruff? Do you want to start making your way there

as Daisy sneaks in, or? I imagine this is 17th room. You tell me the order of things here. I've had a week to think about this, and that whole week is me going, this is the best idea ever, and then going, this is the worst idea ever. And now that I arrive here, I have no idea what to do,

and if Cephalopod gruff is really a thing that should happen. But I'm gonna do it anyway. Sounds wise. Cause I just wanna be an octopus. I mean, you know, hey. I don't really know what tactical advantage I'm bringing here.

It's a plan. The heart wants what the heart wants. It's something. So give us a rundown of the plan. Your plan. I was gonna cephalopod my way up through, cause underneath where the pool of crown steel is, was all these little holes.

Cracks and holes and stuff. So I was gonna cephalopod my way up that. And then try and get closer to Ser Eldraak. The idea was to try and release him. Hmm. So he's bound by, he's like two chains. Like there's change bound to the stone platform he's in. I mean, within his mini he has a halberd already,

but it's in front of him. It's all ground in front of him, yeah. I guess really the end game would be, at least Groff has a slight tactical surprise advantage. Because you're appearing in a really unexpected place. I mean, I would say if you remain in the pool as an octopus, like I'm not gonna have you roll stealth checks for that because it's so unlikely that they would expect it,

that like, nobody's gonna be looking in the water like, there's a fucking octopus in there. Like, nobody's gonna do that. If you come out of the water, then people will be like, what's that octopus doing? What's that fucking octopus doing? It's got a little hacksaw. But like, you can be in that pool

and nobody will know until you decide to reveal yourself. Even around the place as an octopus, easier than you can as Big Gra. You would be about 60 feet away from us. Well, hopefully. We would have started the project by then. If you successfully unchain this fella, I reckon he's gonna be chaotic neutral

and maybe attack everything. Uh-huh. So it might be at least a disturbance. Yep. So fingers crossed. I don't know how I'm gonna untrain here as an Octopus, but sure, we'll cross that. If I know anything about Crownsteel, it's that anyone infected with it listens to reason.

Yeah, look at Xanthias. Oh boy. Right. So, what are we doing team? Who's going where? Like, what's the move? First move. I feel like Daisy's making where, like, what's the move? First move. I feel like Daisy's making the first move,

or we could simultaneously. Yeah, I'm gonna... So we'll have you guys, I mean, you can basically have the group of you that want to be nearby can basically swim up to this sort of edge here. Nice, yeah. I'm gonna move there. And then Gruff, are you gonna make, are you octopusing?

Yeah, hold on, I was just reading the Potion of Vitality rules. Is it, this is not, no, this is the place, this is not, you mark rules, is it? No. Oh, hang on, I've got it. I don't know what it says. No, that's DMD Beyond.

Oh yeah, yeah, don't make use of that. I believe it's just two D, it's a bonus action to drink, 2D4 plus two temporary hit points. And does that stack even if I turn into an octopus? It would remain, it doesn't stack, temporary hit points never stack. It won't disappear if you turn into an octopus. Whatever's got the highest temp bonus,

you replace it with that one. Okay, I might wait until I de-octopus because octopus is squishy and it's just gonna... Sure, yeah, makes sense. So I will wait until I de-octopus to drink it. But yes, I guess at the same time as Daisy, because I'm still in contact with Daisy, right? For now, I will keep some people in contact after.

So what I'll probably do is keep, so I'll communicate with Lady Verthera. With, yeah, if and slash when. If and when my plan is to connect with her graph. And you need to see me to do that though, right? Yes. In which case I won't pod up yet. I'll wait until we've made contact.

Okay. And then I will. Yes. Okay. It then I will... Yes. Okay. It's pod time. So... Set up the group chat now, you may as well. What's the swim speed on the octopus? Just cause in case like something does go wrong

and you want to make your way there, we'll have to track... 30 foot. 30 foot, okay. So we're talking about two feet. But you can go diagonally basically and pop straight up. Okay, cool. So Daisy, where are you going? What would you like to do?

Can I, so that I can, I guess so that I can connect to the rest of the group. I would say as long as you are in this bit of the front water, you can move at your normal speed. The second you come up on land, if you are moving stealthily, you're at half speed. That's fine. What I would probably like to do is come along

past the fire and like to... Like there-ish. Maybe further back though. So I don't want to be right hard up against the island. Do you know what I mean? I just want to be like enough that I can just poke my head out, see her, make the connection, and then I'll go back down again.

Okay. Can I get a stealth check? Because popping up, this guy that you're currently, he's like looking out, it looks like he's like almost looking out, checking for something. So this is gonna be a potential spot. But you've got the Pass Without a Trace, you've got very good stealth. This guy's not alerted, so it's against his passive.

15 plus 20, 35. 35, All right. You manage to very quietly... Just lift yourself up. You manage to get your eye line. And yeah, you can see what you can see. I will... use a charge, connect with Lady Vethira.

OK. And I will also connect with... Gruff. Ophelia... And who... Xanthias. I'm going to flood this with memes. Alrighty. Is that a decision?

Is that your final choice? I think it's important to have a connection with Xanthius. I don't think so. For reasons. For reasons. I don't think so. Xanthius, get back. Get back. All right. Step away from the pool. Just a...

Okay. So is that your choice, Stacey? Double check. Hang on. That's fine. We, you know, while Stacey's doing this, I'll just have some of the guards kind of rotate and patrol a little bit. Okay, so the archer has moved away

from the light source a bit, that's good. This guy's working, that guy's doing that, these two are having a conversation. OK. So, erm... Sorry, I'm just double-checking the number of people because I think I might have one less than I have... Is not full. Should send you a feature when you can target.

SHE LAUGHS Trying to find it. Just while Katie's finding it, just for, you know... Uh-huh. Should send you a feature when you can target. Trying to find it. Just while Katie's finding it, just for, you know, random details that nobody asked for. I'm gonna be a mimic octopus. I just, you know. What? What do you mean? What?

Is that a type of octopus? No, no, no, not a fan, it's a type of octopus in the real world. Oh, okay. Not like a chest octopus. No, no, no, not a chest octopus. No, no, no, that's not a thing, yet. That's not a thing yet. That should be a thing, yet. That's not a thing yet.

That should be a thing. But I was trying to think, do I want to be a giant Pacific octopus, a blue-winged octopus, a Dumbo octopus? What's so, what? They're the ones that kind of had that cool camouflage, you know, kind of like, Oh, okay, yeah.

I mean, they can come, they're like, I'm a rock. Yeah? I'm a sea. They're so cool. I'm a sea weaver. Cool. Do you have a KTRO?

Are you care-changing? I don't know why you're trying to think through everything. Cool. Do you have a KTRO? You're changing. I don't know why you're trying to think through everything. What's your base color? Is it gruff? Choose one or more creatures you can see up to a number of creatures equal to your proficiency bonus. So you can do three creatures. That's it, okay so.

And then you is four. Lady Varithera, gruff. So you get one more. It's Antheus. It's Antheus, all right. And you? Yeah, Antheus. I'm already in it.

Yeah, yeah. I can't just set up a group chat and automatically leave it. How long does that last for? I guess there's no point. Because it's like minimum of an hour, right? Three hours. So, and like, I know that like technically by the rules, the way it works is like Daisy would speak to Zanthius

and then would have to individually be like, oh, Zanthius said this, oh, blah, blah, blah, said that. Oh. Weird, I just. So it's not actually a group chat, it's a, yeah. It's like a one-way, Daisy's the operator, right? She's the telegram operator, but I, for the sake of it, it's a massive pain in the ass. There's no specific action required to send messages,

so I just fucking send messages. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who cares? You're running this one. I'm running this one. I appreciate that, Mike. So you reach out, Daisy, and you can see now that Lady Verithera,

who I described before, she has a humanoid draconic form, so she's very tall, maybe not as tall as Emberis and Obsidius and Lord Ignaris. She's maybe sort of just a little bit taller than Rowan, but she's got a bit of a fuller figure, like bit plumper. She's got these antler-like horns

rather than like draconic horns. Long sort of brown hair that's streaked with like green sections. She's dressed not ostentatiously like the dragons, the red dragons. Hers is a bit more of like a cottage core-y kind of simplified vibe. She does have jewelry here and there,

but it's quite simple rather than being ostentatious. Is it like green-themed gruff? Not quite as rough or as pragmatical. There's a little bit of a touch of culture and sort of sophisticated. Wow! Shot fired! You're talking to a squid right now.

This one's got a whole thing. Dude, look at what you're wearing. Actually, no, the sash is quite stylish. Oh, I thought you were talking about kids. That is a giant fish. I think we're going for a real deep cut now. Oh, look at that mess. Hot mess. I was yesterday in my Udi.

But no, so, and you can see... Just passing it around. You see that she is kind of shrouded by this dome of magic. And you only see in the back of it, you've not seen the front of it yet. And you can see that these two reclaimers are in some sort of discussion maybe, or like they're talking at her, you're not quite sure.

But you feel that connection establish. Hi, Lady Varithura, please don't be scared. I'm connecting in your brain and stuff. But... I'm with Penelope and we've come here to save you. You would hear this immediate sort of like... Penelope, she's with you. They are not captured anymore?

They're safe, they're safe. Little bit more like Russian, yes, very good. Then they're safe, they are not in danger anymore? No, no, no, we're here for you. Oh, thank the ancestors. I do not know who you are, my friend, but yes, please, you must find a way to help me. These people are very sick

and they are doing something terrible to a knight here. We must try and stop them as best as we can. Anything you can do. Is there anything you need from me? Is there anything I can, any information that you require? If you can get me free, I can help you, but... Yeah, okay, so hi, I'm Daisy. I'm with my friends.

A few of them are listening just now. Gaurav and Xanthius are listening too, but we've got a group of us, and we're just trying to sort of tactically think about the best thing to do here. Is there any information that you have that we can't see? We know there's a pile of crown steel in the water over there, and we know-

You know what crown steel is, you are familiar with it. Yeah. No. No. I don't say that. No. That is good. It is, it is, you are, you should be wary. It is a very dangerous material. It has made the people in the land here very sick. And Sir Eldrach is not, he is not well, I do not think.

Is he, is he not himself? Is he violent? It is hard to tell. He has been comatose, sort of. They have been feeding it to him. They have been feeding it to me as well, but I have tricked them. I have stored it in a... I've created a sack within my body and I am not digesting it.

I am storing it there. I will regurgitate it once I am free. But, yes, but other than that, these individuals, digesting it, I'm storing it there. I will regurgitate it once I am free. But, yes, but other than that, these individuals, they are very sick. They are not of a right mind. They are quite mad with zealotry. The force field that I'm in, the magic circle that has enshrouded me, I cannot break it myself.

There are two of them, two of their leaders, they're chosen, they call them. They have magical rods. The two rods can disable the barrier and release me, but both rods must be touched against the surface of the sphere. Do you know where they are? One is in, there is a sort of, can you see?

Yeah, we've seen the island, we've scouted this. Very good, I'm very glad for your help. There is a small temple to the sort of northeast of myself. Yes, this one here. One of them is in there. The other one I saw enter heading towards the two buildings opposite it in the northwest, but I did not see which one they entered there.

But they had some other guards with them as well. You should be wary. How many more people are there other than the ones in the buildings and the one you see just now? Are there many more? There are, yes. In the cavern system, there are... There is some sort of entrance that they use to come and go. There will be more within a long distance. But if you can free me, I should warn you,

my young friend, I do not like to fight. I will use magic to help restrain them. I can use magic, but I do not like violence. I will help you as best I can. I can use powerful healing magic, but fighting is not something I am comfortable with. But I can help restrain and maybe put some of them to sleep, and I can heal.

That's very, very helpful. I'm just wondering, do you think that maybe we should leave Sir Eldritch tied up for now until we can rectify the situation? No, we cannot leave him here. Tied up for now until we can rectify the situation? Yes, I think that until we have a way... I just don't want him to join in the violence against us because he's obviously not his fault. We do want to come and make sure we rescue both of you, but just for the purpose of the initial fight,

is it wise to leave him? I think it is a risk for you and your companion to decide. He is a very powerful fighter, and I can... I'm certain that he will have no love for these reclaimers. But what state that his mind is in, I could not say. I do not know how strong-willed he is. If he is strong-willed enough, he may be able to resist the Crownsteel's influence,

but perhaps not if he is not particularly strong-willed. Can we talk? Yeah, you can talk. Hello, my name is Graf. Hello. Do you know where the key to the manacles on Sir El Drakkar? Yes, the armoured figure by my cage, I believe he has them. He is one of their captains.

Okay. Afraid I do not know much more than that. You said the Penelope is with you, yes? Yes. And Boranth? Boranth is keeping guard with our caravan. Ah, I see. It is a shame he is a very useful ally in these situations,

but I'm glad that he is safe. They have been... He couldn't fit in the time. He was very adamant. They are... They were making me... They were making me go along with their plans, threatening Penelope and Baranth.

At least now, I do not have to worry about doing what I am told. No, we freed Penelope and Baranth, we found them, and they've been with us since, they're fine. Okay, very well, thank you. You have my thanks. And thank you for the information, all very helpful. We're not great at these kind of plans, because you know, we're not soldiers or anything,

so we're gonna see what happens. But yeah, we're gonna try this now. And if things go- If you can release me, I will offer you any aid that I can. Okay, great, that sounds good. If you wanna do a distraction at any point, kick off or something? If I regurgitate the crown steel,

they think that I have swallowed, I'm sure that will draw their attention. That could help. Once it is done, they will threaten me and it will not distract them for long, so tell me when you would like me to do so. Okay. You are able to keep up this magic that allows you to speak with me?

Yes. Very good. We should have a few hours, so just... Well, you let me know, my young friend, what you would like me to do and when. Until then, I'm afraid that there is not much I can do whilst I'm in this imprisonment. Okay. I will talk to the rest of the group

and we will come and get you. I think during this, I think I might turn to Penelope and kind of try and whisper as much as I can about this conversation. Also say that Verifera is... Well it's kind of underwater so it's like as you put, like it's, you can... Even if it's thumbs up.

Yeah, it's, cause the thing is is the water breathing spell just lets you breathe water. It doesn't make it so that water doesn't have any effect. Like if you go, if you speak it's like, it's like, you know, it's very hard to like speak underwater and like even pushing air out, it just doesn't carry very well. Also, cramps to water in my orifices.

Yeah, I mean like anybody who wants to take a gulp. I need to. I do. I'm not hungover, so. Rowan does. You do? And Will. You do? Okay, great.

All right, where's my other piece of paper? But you need to get rid of that minus one. Let's do the desk, I've got to put another note. Minus two. Minus two, yeah, that's right. Where's my other piece of paper? You need to get rid of that minus one. Let's get rid of the desk. I've got to put another note. Minus two. Minus two. Yeah, that's right. I think it's really- I heavily advise that everyone else glugs that steel. I'm gonna go hard tonight

and then deal with the hangover tomorrow. Yeah, I don't know what the hangover's like. Gruff can't have the moral high ground on Xanthius. You've had some. I already think less of you anyway, so. Yeah, he's really- Oh! I'll do a chug a lug.

I'm gonna put you face down into that crown steel. You like it now kid? Yeah. And Gruff no sips it. I don't know. All right. Okay. Yeah.

How about you? So yeah, Daisy do you wanna swim back? Are you gonna move anywhere? So my thinking is that if Gruff is going up through this pool here, potentially I could come around this end of the island to where this building is. Because if you want to tackle guards and stuff there, I'm knowing that there's something we need in this building,

I might try and take out one of the guards here to get into this building with the rod we need. The Northeast Temple building. Yeah, the temple. Yeah, so. Oh, North, that's North. This is North, Northeast, Northwest. And we are South.

We are almost the opposite side of the map to where the two of us are. I assume the top of, like, where the pool is North, yeah. So with the Northeast Temple, is there much water around the outside of it? Like literally what you can see on the map. So this pool is the only bit, the rest of it is all stone. Outside of here, it's like there are other buildings and walls and stuff.

I just couldn't fit them all in there. Oh is there? Okay, I thought- So we couldn't go all the way around. I thought that there was water all around. Oh, okay. Up on that side, where we are. That is literally, that is the entry point from the water that you can take.

Got it. If you go anywhere else, there are more watch towers, there are thicker walls. Imagine that basically, apart from this side and that side, the rest of the map is inaccessible. I misunderstood. In my head, I had it that we were around that. So you will have to basically,

if you wanna say get to that temple, you'll have to try and creatively sneak your way through. Because that's why I did the stealth mechanic. Because otherwise you could just swim around and be like, we pop up here. That side of the wall there. So yes, I would say that you can swim around and come up on this side of the wall.

That was the idea I had in my head that we go around up that. So let's say that basically up until this building on the northwest, and then from here there's like another big, thick, heavy wall that blocks you from the building. So you can swim round to like here, basically. With our entry point, we are pretty close to that building that has one of the rods. It's just this one on the other side

is the exact opposite side. We'll need Lady Vira's distraction at that point to try and get into there, I think. Yeah, or I can, into the northwest building or the northeast building. Or Gruff pops up and sneaks in. Maybe between Gruff and Daisy. That's what I was thinking,

was that me and Gruff can aim for that side. Okay, and we'll aim for the hill. You aim for that side, because there's a bigger group, more guards. I was hoping maybe I can try and stealth take out the guards along the way and sneak right the back of the walls here. Yeah, anyone's just looking this direction as well.

I think if anyone goes through the middle, essentially, well, through the middle, but like... That side, temple side. Actually onto the island, it should be Daisy. The rest of us need to be much more creative. Can a weasel squeeze through the tiny walls? Nope. They don't have a special ability.

Unless they have a special ability that says they can do it, they can't do it. Okay. Okay. And climb. What's the order of operations here? Are we like initiative? So I'd say that it's basically take a turn,

take your movement, check in, like if nobody else wants to do anything, great, we just move on to the next turn super quick. Just try and progress in turns, like you move 30 feet, you dash, you do whatever. You will do it, if nobody else wants to take a thing, great, we skip over you, because also I'm gonna move

like the patrolling guards and stuff. So they are moving around, some of them up on patrol paths. But I won't begin that until, you know, infiltration mission, like Metal Gear, like commence operation, pshh, like that's, then we kind of go into that turn, right? So I think really the first...

So you can set each other up, like if you want to be like, right, great, Ophelia's going to be up the climb, as Daisy comes down to the thing, you can set that up. That's the thing, I kind of... Ten signals. You know, you can do that. Well, I'm connected to Xanthias, and I'll be connected to Gruff. So all three points have a connection with communication.

Yeah. So... You can coordinate. Yes, we can coordinate fine. And I'm going to be completely sound of mind and able to communicate everything we're doing on this side at all times. But for right now... If you don't communicate with me, I'm dropping it and I'm making a new group chat, man.

Would Gruff and Daisy want Penelope to go with them? Just for evenness of numbers. How stealthy is Penelope? Uh... She's pretty dex-y. Plus two. Plus two. I'd keep her with you guys because I can heal.

Okay, cool. And I don't want to leave you precious children without a healer. Here's a new updated plan. She's not a great healer. Team Killshot... Rowan's a healer. Yeah, true. Team Killshot, which consists of currently Daisy,

is going down along the eastern side of the island towards the northwest tower to get that rod, which has three enemies blocking your path. And also you're going right past Vera Fyrur and those two scary boys. There's a wall here. Team Squid, do you want a better name? Cephalopod.

Team Cephalopod is going under the island to go right up to the Crown Steel behind Eldrak and try and break those manacles. Meanwhile, Team... What are we? Team Boulder Boys. Basically, it's up to us if we want to try and get... Team Snack slash Boulder Boys slash Concern. Consisting of... Team Concern.

Team Concern is... Team Concern is good. ...is consisting of Ophelia, Rowan, Penelope and Xanthes. Team Concern. Consisting of... Team Concern is good. Team Concern is good. Team Concern is good. Is consisting of Ophelia, Rowan, Penelope and Xanthes. The other two are solos. Yeah, yeah. We're going around the southwestern wall to try and take down the Ballista. Archer first.

Archer first, which is Ophelia going up the wall. She might be at a solo. I have a kind of backup plan in case something goes wrong. Ro Khari, get up. That's the thing, I feel like you and... You can't quite, this is like nearly a sheer wall on the outside. I might try and stealth my way this side. Yeah, I think, yeah, that makes sense.

I got some tricks up my sleeve. And then are we gonna, are we then gonna go, so who's gonna take the Ballista after we take it? You need to take down the Archer, which is like down the ladder from the Ballista. Because it's only if someone mans the Ballista. I could take the Ballista after we take it? You need to take down the Archer, which is down the ladder from the Ballista. Because it's only if someone mans the Ballista. I could man the Ballista. And then the other group break off into the...

We need to figure out how to take down those two people on the Ballista as well. But I have a plan in that... I almost want to do a held action that if someone turns around and spots Ophelia, I cast Whole Person on them. Okay. Can I, obviously that might be stretching the rules a bit where I'm like, anyone that spots Ophelia, I cast Whole Person on.

So here's the question though, what if multiple people spot Ophelia? How do you, you would get to pick one of those people. Right. You don't get to pick like all of them, cause that's not your felt ones. No, obviously, but like, can I literally say- Let's say the first person to spot Ophelia,

you will cast Whole Person on. Yeah. Because if you think about Zenith's reaction, he's not going to have time to be like, three people have spotted her. Yeah, yeah, no, that's a thing. If that is a rule, I can stipulate where it is. I'd say, yeah, I'd say you can say that.

The first person to see Ophelia, I will cast Whole Person on. That's also not the archer. Okay, so other than the Archer. Unless the Archer spots Ophelia before she, that's a thing. Too many things. I could just change the rule after you've...

Let's get into it. Let's get into it. Let's do it by taking a turn, like literally take a turn. So, Daisy, where do you want to move up to and start your move from? In fact, actually, you guys have been talking, so I'm actually going to have the bad guys

just do a little patrolly turn. So if I can... Yeah, that's quite a long chat with Vera Thera, wasn't it? Yeah, a little bit of a chat for those guys. So I don't... Oh, there's a guy there. Yeah, that's the archer. That's the archer.

I'm not going to go straight for Eldrak, because I think really I need to help Daisy, because also I'm octopus, and I don't actually really know what I can do with manacles. Okay, movements-wise, I find it not super. Yeah, so I think it's better I help with you. I'm going to roll some dice.

Like we work together for that temple. I'm going to roll a d20 for these two having a conversation, to see if their conversation's finished. If I get 15 or higher, they finish their conversation. Why is this like a performance check or charisma? Nope, they're still having a lovely chat.

That guy over there, I'm gonna roll a d20. 15 or higher, he finishes his little training session. Nope, he's still busy. Those two are gonna stay on guard because that's what they're doing. All right, the archer has moved slightly more into the center, but it's still on the wall. I don't imagine they're gonna leave the wall.

So my plan was to go up this. Team Kill Shot, activate. The easternmost side of the map. Yeah, like. You, like up on here. Yes. Cue mission and possibly music. And I basically wanted to, yeah, go sort of. So climbing up, if you're moving at half speed

or you're moving at full speed, because it'll be disadvantage on your stealth check if you go full speed. So you would basically get to there with a single movement turn. That's fine. That's a good spot. I'll just, I'll tuck, can I tuck myself behind the wall

before that? Yeah, so yeah, yeah, yeah, so a little bit off the map. Just's a good spot. I'll just, I'll tuck, can I tuck myself behind the wall before that? Yeah, so yeah, yeah, yeah, so a little bit off the map, but yeah. Just a little bit there. I wouldn't go in the open archway. Sure, sure, sure. I'm gonna stop there. No, that's fine. Right, I mean, don't forget, you can, like, it's a turn. If you want to dash as a bonus action... Oh, yeah, sure. You can still move half speed, like, on a dash. That's true. You can move up to your movement speed,

but you'd still be stealthing. And that wall will count as like cover for hiding and stuff like that? No, I think I will choose to hide just now. Okay. And then on my next go, I wanna try and take down the guard that's in there. Inside there.

Yeah. All righty. Okay, so for now, that's gonna be your turn. Right there. Gruff, are you gonna start turning to, you going to turn to octopus and swim over here? I will sink under the water and turn into an octopus. So you can go 30 feet swim speed. Gruff's melting! And then would you dash as well?

If it gets me underneath... So you would go... Well, let's find out. ...around where the correct steel pool is. So 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 60. We're literally, with a dash, you can get in this corner here. But I'm still under the island. I'm not up, like, to the surface of the pool.

No, that would get you there. Okay. If you don't want to be there, we can still say you're underneath, but you'll have like 10 feet of something, of like 15 feet of movement, basically. I'll still be under the water. Yeah, I mean you can be in the water here.

Yeah, just blip it around. Okay. Just to clarify, if you are an octopus in the water here, you don't need to worry about stealth or anything like that. So if you want to just be there, you can just be there. It's gonna exist. Sure. Yeah, sure.

But you are an octopus. But that's your full turn, bonus action, and then all the other stuff to like wild shape and do all of that stuff. In my head though, I turn into like, you know, how they camouflage themselves to look like a rock. I'm like that now. Sure, great. I'm a rock.

Octopus in your lane, moisturized. Let's go with other team. What movements is everybody doing over here? I think Ophelia is going to swim around the base of this tower. And then I think she's gonna climb up, just so she's got a standing position on the wall of her spider climb.

So on the wall, like on the side of the wall. I'll put you on a little thing here to indicate that you are on the side. So you're just in position, ready. In the lane. In the lane, moisturized. Great, can you give me a stealth check? You are out of sight, but obviously moving

can still alert people, it might make them go, oh, what was that noise? Is it advantage, because it's behind their line of sight? No, but that's why it's against their passive, it's just to see if they hear them. Okay, you got the plus 10. Oh, that's not good, is it?

Did you roll a one? There was one better than that. I rolled a two. Oh, great. It's a good thing you got plus 10. So 14. A 14. They're passed, I mean 14's for me.

Pretty high. Pretty high, they are an archer. Yeah, good point, yeah, good point, yeah, good point, yeah, good point, yeah, good point, yeah, good point. What was the total? 14. 14.

No other, anything to add? Oh no. No. Is this literally before we even started? Turn one. Oh, you don't like it, I had a fate. Yeah. Oh, by the way, I'm kind of okay with you guys

spending fate after the dice roll now because I've been doing it, because actually it's quite hard to like, I think you'll spend it more if you can do it after you roll. Add it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Add it. I had a fate.

17 total. 17. Okay, okay, that's better. There's a moment where as you step up, a loose rock falls out and you, Mission Impossible style, reach down and grab it before, it goes boink into the water. And you're just like, holding this rock,

put it back in place, wedge it in, as this archer is like, you know, 15 feet, like 10 feet ahead, just like looking around and you're like, just stood vertically on the side. If we spent two hours planning for this mission, it's not true. Literally, if you didn't add that feet, it was gonna be a, what was that noise?

I mean, it doesn't mean that you would've been alerted, but this archer would've turned around and gone like, what was that? Looks over the water, oh, hello. Hello. Hello. Great. These two drank, you two drank the Crown Steel Water, right? We sucked on the juice. and then go like, what was that? Looks over the water, oh hello. Great. You two drank the Crownsteel Water, right? We sucked on the juice.

So that counts as a plus one. So it's gone all the way. Don't forget you get a plus one, two ability rolls and saving throws. Plus one, yes. Only two ability rolls and saving throws. Mara's gonna suck. That minus two might have actually failed it

if you hadn't it glugged. It would have. Good glugging. Good glugging. Right, so that's movement. Are you just gonna hold your position there? I'm going to hold my position, wait for an opportunity moment to strike.

Rowan and Xanthias, and Penelope. So for me, I am, around the back of this wall is just more lake, right? More lake, yeah. So I'm probably, like, I'm moving myself back enough that I can kind of catch all three of my vision, if that makes sense. The two on the ballista and the one Archer.

Like around the back, further back from where Ophelia had entered. Okay. So you would go five, 10. I thought you'd be about- Do I have a line of sight on the Ballista and the Archer if it was to nudge forward? The Archer's gonna be a tricky one

because they are up, so it's like that vertical thing. I'd say they have cover, but just barely you can see them, yes. Okay, but that would be enough for a whole person. So I'm going to hold that spell. My head, eyes just above the water. You are approximately 25 feet away from the wall in the water. Cool, okay. So obviously on the, sorry guys, on the map cam,

Xanthius is behind here, you can't see him. You can see him. He's literally, oh yeah you can, just barely see him. All right. But yeah, I wanna get. 25 feet. Archer and the two on the Ballista with a hold on the first person to spot Ophelia. I cast Hold Person on them. Okay, what about Rowan and Penelope?

I wave at Penelope. I shrug. Penelope. I shrug. I point towards the big Brasier, and I'm gonna beckon her. Okay. And I think we're gonna tuck in this little bay here, behind the rocks, and just kinda scope out

who's in front of us and who's got line of sight, if we were to get onto land here. I know I can see it. Yeah, just gonna peek around these rocks. Okay we were to get onto land here, I know I can see a bit. Just gonna peek round these rocks. Okay, can I get a stealth check because you are breaching the water to peek round. Rowan breaches.

There is a fella. Grrr! You are out of his line of sight, but the archer will definitely be catching you, potentially. But you have the water there, so I'm going to allow a stealth check. 21. 21, okay.

Yeah. Can you make a stealth check for Penelope for me as well, please? Hey, about this dice... Yeah, I should probably get rid of it, huh? So that would be her dex... 16. 16 with the plus 10? Yeah.

Okay. You guys are fine for now. Why are we giving the lowest goals then? You swim up. It's the shadow of the Brazier, you're kind of in the water. I didn't know what the question was. These guys aren't quite looking down at the water,

but there's like the archer, and this guy actually patrolling this way has a very clear, like if you weren't for the water, you can see that guy, yeah, he's patrolling. Looking this way? He's about to move. Is there anything you wanna do before he does his little move, his patrol move?

No. Can I ready a... I wanna ready a movement. How far have I gone so far? So I've started here. Yeah, you could ready a dash. Yeah. To get up.

And to nestle into there. Yeah. If this guy turns around. If that guy turns around, you're gonna dash over into that corner. And I'm gonna tell Penelope to wait there. Okay. Yep.

Can I ready an action for Penelope? Yeah. If Rowan gets... Yeah, I had her follow Rowan because Rowan told her what to do. So I just was like, yep. Can I ready an action for Penelope? Yeah. If Rowan gets... Yeah, I had her follow Rowan because Rowan told her what to do, so I just had her like, yep. If Rowan gets spotted, can Penelope use her form whip to pull the brazier over?

Okay, sure. Try and distract her. Call the distraction. Sure, sure, sure. Great, great idea. Alrighty, alright, well the patrolling guards, unfortunately this guy does not turn around. Well fuck that guy then.

Well good, you don't want to be spotted. 15, he moves to there. This guy is going to go 5, 10, 15. So that one looking towards the water does. Oh, the arch has turned around. Yeah, but a feel is like parallel. And is going up the stairs. She's off the side.

Yep. Right. I know. Conversation, 13 or higher. The two chatty guards. Come on. No. They're still chatting.

Guy working out, 13 or higher. Yes, he finishes working out. No! He's done for the day! Five, 10, 15. No! Big game. Now out of the building and heading towards

very fear of the other. Oh, my plan is ruined. The guy near him say, bro, you gotta have rectal failure. No. Spend a fate for this guy. Do you wanna spend a fate? Do you wanna spend a fate for this guy to be a gym bro?

Come on bro, one more. Did you go and film it? Picks up this barrel, he turns around, he's carrying this barrel, he's moving a barrel. He's just moving a barrel. Yep. Does that mean his vision is a lot bigger? They're doing video game guard things.

He's like, gotta move this barrel. Moves like 10 feet, puts it down. He's gonna put it back. Idols for a second. Yeah. Gotta move this barrel. It's a slight animation. They hope I'm a loser.

All right, okay. Well, it's back over to you guys on this intense game of Metal Gear the Board Game. Knowing, sorry, before Ophelia jumps in, knowing that Ophelia is about to jump this archer, I want to change my rule to if any of those two on the ballista, I'll do hold person. Okay.

Because I don't want to do hold person on the ballista. So you want to bet you're taking your turn now and you're not going to move, you're just going to change your ready action. Same thing, hold person but just on the ballista one because I don't want to, through stipulation of the rules, be like the archer has now been grappled, therefore you cast a whole person on them.

You know? Sure. Oh, the guy I was gonna take out moved. He did move, but not too much. Might have a bit of cover though, if you try and shoot him, if you try and knife him from behind the archway. Actually, how light is it there?

Pretty bright. And they're not minions, right? So it's not like hit and kill. They're not minions, but it doesn't mean that some of these guards aren't super tough. Now, some of them maybe might be. Like, I'm not going to tell you which ones. Like, that captain probably isn't that weak, but... I feel like the higher-ups might have ingested Crownsteel.

Oh, fraudish. The higher-up we took out before in the Ashens, the Chosen, he did have Crownsteel. How over the table tactics are we allowing here? With Daisy being separated. Just don't quarterback it. My worry is that I can communicate with you. It's just I can't see it, right?

So if I take out a guy, right, and he's in the middle of a path, and he drops dead, if he drops dead. Daisy, I'm trying to visualize this, so. Then there's just gonna be a body there. Is there any way you can- I played Hitman. Is there any way you can- I'm gonna skip. Put him in the barrel.

I'm not strong. If you're in a good place, Daisy, then maybe there's a way you can bring him back to you. Roll him in the water. What you can do is impale him and stick him back up, right? Hello. Daisy, what are you doing? I just walked out.

My over the table tactical suggestion, within reason, that light source is a problem. It is a magical hovering globe of light. Just like, here's the heart. Because you can't quite see on the back. What's that, Eric? There's a light source right here. Magical light source.

I'm not worried about the light source, I'm worried about the body that's lying on the floor that will be visible. If you've got real light source, we can jump to somebody else, Daisy, if you want to think. If somebody else has got something they want to do. Team Alpha Squad, take down.

Go, go, go. Oh, is that our team name? Do you want to take a minute? Team Concern. Let somebody else go? No, I think I should do it before Ophelia does, just in case, because I've got... You're gonna let him walk?

Team Hot Shot goes down. You have an isolated case over there, isn't it? Then our side. Should I just take him out anyway? Should I just take him out anyway? Should I just take him out anyway? What was that noise? I mean, he is right in front of those, yeah. He's in front of two guards defending the temple.

One's got vision through a bubble, magical bubble. So I don't think... We'll have disadvantage. Yeah. I think you've got enough movement to keep going. Can I try something as gruffy? What are you going to do? I was going to swim over as a little octopus

towards the northeast temple. Yeah. And I was going to make a bargain. I say make a bargain. I was going to ask Mark how he felt about letting me try to distract that guard as a little octopus. This one?

Yeah, I want to like. Well, what are you doing? I kinda have this idea of just slapping the water a bit so it makes some noise, and then I wanna try and lure him over to the water and get him to come into the water. Pull him in with your tentacle. Coming into the water might be a stretch,

but you can certainly cause a distraction. If he's looking down and then at the last minute I go, and then pull him into the water. So, but keep in mind, it will be your action to create a distraction, so you won't have an action. The best you could do is I would, no, because you would have to move out of your range to get an opportunity attack.

I might allow it, maybe, for you to make an attack if you want to try and grab him. You are just a little normal octopus though, right? You're not a giant octopus or anything like that. A cracking. I do have another ability. It's a reaction called Ink Cloud, where I squirt ink. It is meant to be underwater, but I was like...

I mean, I'd allow you to squirt ink in a guy's face. It might make... Yeah, yeah. That might be phase two, though. Phase one, I feel like I just want to slap the water a little bit. This is classic Metal Gear. Doop doop. Yeah.

So yeah, basically you do that, you spend your action. I'm just slapping the water. This guard will turn around and immediately takes 15 feet of movement to move here. What does he say? Can you make a stealth check for me? Does he say anything? Okay.

What was that noise? Yes. Does the other guy do anything with that? I would say no. He just, he's... His mate's looking into it. Yeah, he's a good guard, he's on duty. Will they have a conversation?

They are quite regimented. These are not like lackluster guards. They are like, I've got a job, I'm doing my job. You weren't rolling for their conversation, were you? Not for theirs, no. They were, they were giving a conversation. They don't get a lot. They're not ours.

So stealth check. So if you don't have stealth, it's just decks. a lot. They're not pals. So stealth check. So if you don't have stealth, it's just decks. We're doing the 20-24 rules, aren't we? Yeah. No. No? No. No. We haven't swapped over at all. Why would that matter?

Because there's two octopuses. Oh, I see. One is 20-24 and one is 20-24. Oh yeah, use the 20-24 archer because it's a monster stat block, I know. Plus six. There you go. Makes sense.

You got a little mimic octopus. Plus 10, because it's possible that I trace. I don't know. Oh shit. Plus six. There you go, makes sense. You got a little mimic octopus. Plus 10, because a possible that I trace. You got plus 16 to yourself. Eight plus six is 14 plus 24. 24, he is alerted because you distracted him, so I will roll for this. Can he beat 24? Let's find out.

Believe not, question mark. No. So he like looks over and you've kind of turned to a stony color, you're pressed up against things. He's like looking around, he like kicks a couple of rocks in, they make a similar kind of like splashy noise and he just, but he is now looking in that direction. So that's your turn now, Graff.

Phase one complete. Just a box. That was Team Cephalopod. Can I... If I was to like disturb a rock over here, but then hide myself, press the wall. You can hide as a bonus action. Could I then... That would be your turn this turn.

You wouldn't be able to attack in this turn, but you might lure him over this turn. Could I do that? You absolutely could. Try and lure that guard away. So the way it will work is if you distract him, it's an action to cause a distraction. They will become alerted and investigate, which means they make an active roll. But because Daisy is a rogue, you can hide as a bonus action, and that's so you quickly scramble into a hide.

The rest of you won't be able to take a more active hide check. You will just have to go on like, hoping that you're not seen or whatever. Okay. Alrighty, so give me a stealth roll, Daisy, as you cause a distraction. He's staying there?

Yeah, so he will. Well, I'll hide somewhere. Yeah, do you wanna cause a distraction and then move and hide, or do you wanna hide somewhere else? So I'd say that you can move and hide, the others you have to just hide where you are. I will move and hide.

Move 15 feet. Like behind that, the other side of the arch, basically. Like there. Basically there, great. I'll tuck down probably as well, like so that. Is someone over there? Can... Um...

33. 33. Can he beat a 33? No. Thank God. It's a good thing he has plus 45 perception. This guy's playing Pathfinder. Yeah, I mean like, the thing is,

are these guys gonna be able to see Daisy unless Daisy rolls really well? Probably not. You guys, like that, the thing is, are these guys gonna be able to see Daisy unless Daisy rolls really well? Probably not. You guys, that plus 10's good, but that was what, a 15 or 14 or something? So these guys could easily be like, nat 20, who's there? Oh my god, an intruder!

Bam! We're gonna try and get people out safely on this side. As much as we can. You've got that guy in a great position for next turn. That's unfortunately your turn, for this kind of little sneak turn. Okay, keep it going for next turn. That's unfortunately your turn, for this to kind of like little sneak turn. Okay, keep it going for one turn, let me take this card.

Let's get it guys. Who else have we got left? So, Ophelia's still to go, Rowan's still to go. Now, I know this is tense. I think our teams have split up, so we need to come up with new team names, because Team Concern is now split into two groups. Are we splinters of Team Concern,

or are we different teams now? We've got Hecking Concern, which is... And Doing A Worry. So we're... Oh, we're Doinginters of Team Concern, or are we different teams now? We've got Hec and Concern. Which is? And Doin' a Worry. So we're... Oh, we're Doin' a Worry. So Xemthias and Ophelia are Team Doin' a Worry. You, Ronan, Penelope.

Me and Penelope. Okay. All right. So who's going first, Team Hec and Concern or Team Doin' a Worry? Well, I think Hec and Concern is gonna wait for the Archer to be taken down before making a move. All right, that leads up to Team Doin' a Worry. All right, that leaves the up to team doing a worry.

Well you've already declared what your thing is this time. You've got your action. Mine is a hold person if anyone spots a figure. Felix! Which is not the best spot. You hear, in fact you see the shadow of the archer turn around and starts making their way upstairs ahead of you.

They did not spot you. So is he wearing a cape IRL? Yeah, sure. He's got like a black shroudy cape on. Can I get his cape and just yank him off the edge of the ledge? Sure. But like hold him there and like strangle him

with his cape. Ooh. Okay, no, so here's a question, right? What's the goal? Are you, is the goal to grab him and strangle him or do you want to throw him into the water? Strangle him by his cape. Right, okay.

Capes just a nice bit of flavor. It's a nice bit of flavor. So the way this is gonna work is you're gonna have to grapple him. So I believe, I'll use the new 2024 rules just because they're on the books for this. So I believe it's you make an unarmed strike against them. If you hit, you can choose to grapple them.

And then they make a choice of something. It should be in your unarmed strike, I think it should be listed. Make a melee attack that involves your body using one of the following effects. So melee attack, and then you either damage, grapple, or shove. If there's a grapple, a target must succeed

on a strength or dex. It chooses which. Saving throw, DC, eight plus proficiency bonus plus strength slash dex. So it'd be 11 plus your dex modifier. Is there an advantage from being hidden or? I will... You would get advantage on the attack roll

because you have to make an unarmed strike to attack them. Okay. To grab them. So you get advantage on that. Alright. Let's do it step by step. Let's see if you can grab him. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

First one was a six. Oh my god. Rhiannon. High. Please. Stop. What? I can't help it! Use a toad dice. Maybe your dice are just too... Oh god. Hi. Please. Stop. What, I can't help it! Use a toad dice, maybe your dice are just too...

No, no. No. I mean, listen, dice roll the exact fucking same, it doesn't matter what dice you use. With Rhiannon it doesn't. Give me that red dice, I'll use that red dice. I'll use it. Watch me, I'm gonna crick.

Just to prove a point. I'm gonna kill you with this dice. That'll be the first time I've ever rolled a 20. I would be... Cool. 22? See, you with this dice. That'll be the first time I've ever rolled a 20. It would be... Cool. 22? See? So you grab the guard with an Armstrong, and you're choosing to grapple. Alright, this archer is gonna choose Dexterity.

Oh yeah, you did, didn't you? They're gonna use their Dexterity. They make a deck saving throw, so yours would be 11 plus your Dex modifier. A Dex mod is two, plus two. 13 DC with Rhiannon's Dice. Aw. Ah, that's a 13 I rolled on that.

Plus three is 16. Shit. So, as you grab them, you successfully grab them and grapple them, so they are now off the side of the building with you. But they, in their panic, they're like, you try and get their neck and hold their neck,

they kind of elbow you and shove and wriggle out, but obviously they are on a wall, so they just fall. So you would hear, they would call out, there's like, so they fall into, I'm just gonna put them next to Xanthias just because the camera can't see them otherwise. Which will alert, I'm gonna say a Xiao, I'm gonna say it's gonna hit all of these guards

in this area, so I'm gonna make a perception check for them all. Or five, six people. Hear it. DC 15 to see if they just hear what's going on. Rowan and Penelope. Some idiot just fell off the wall. What an idiot.

DC 15. Ballista guard does, so we'll do your hereditary action. Both of the Ballista guards do. This guy next to Penelope and Rowan does. This guy does not. Two having a conversation does not. Does not. So the two Ballista Guards and this guy

hear like a, hup! Boosh! Splash. The two Ballista Guards will immediately turn around. And I guess it's the closest to the wall that one can see first, right? You cannot hide from them, so they see Ophelia. You can like.

But we've got a ready to action. This is like you've just grabbed them, they've fallen in. Ready to action goes off. I don't know if this is actually gonna be good or not on one person, but it is a, I believe they make a check. Yep, Wisdom's saving through I believe. Hold person. Where is Hold Person? There is Rihanna's dice?

Where is Hold Person? There it is. It's like a private scene. Wisdom, 14 save. On the Ballista crew, Wisdom. Natural 20. Oh my fucking God. On your dice.

On my dice. Just to prove it doesn't, like my dice, they're the same as everyone fucking else's. I got an actual 20 once this year. There you go, you can have that back. For an attack roll. Fine, just roll one on that. Why do you betray these dice?

I can't say. I just wanna have an add 20! Ha ha ha! It's you, it's you, it's you! Why don't you keep it? No, he might have fixed it. Oh, you want me to keep the dice that rolls an add 20? It's better in your hands.

No, it's not! It's more effective. He might have cleansed it, it might have fixed it. Oh, you want me to keep this dice that rolls mad 20? It's better in your hand. No, it's not! It's more effective. He might have cleansed it. It might have just been fixed. Mine's fine now. OK, good. Right, with that, unfortunately, Xanthius, you reach up. And for some reason, whether it's maybe they've been

around Crownsteel, but your spell, you see them kind of seize for a moment, and then they scan, and, because you've just cast the spell as well, somatic available components, they're like, oh, Rowan and Penelope, the only ones who have actions left. I will let you guys take this turn before the guards react, basically. Do I still make a stealth check, or?

You're like, oh. They're looking at you. Technically I will let you, because you are in I will let you, because you are in the water, you could dive under the water. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I also presume out here is quite dim. Yes, it is quite dark.

So give me a stealth check. They see Ophelia, though. You are on the thing wrestling their mate. He's just gone in, even if you press yourself up against the wall, they're gonna see you climbing up it. Oh, okay, I'm gone. I get a 30. 30? Yeah.

Let's see if it continues. Uh, can I, do I hear this happen? I, uh. Xanthias would be like, uh, yeah, all you hear is a, um. Can I tell? Did they get an act away? Now it won't be, what did you get? 30.

They won't be a 30, but I did roll an act away. Oh my God, what? So that one person has rolled, what is it with me, an individual card? No, no, no, this would be the next guy. This is the other Ballista crew that rolled a nat 20. The amount of people that roll nat 20s against me specifically,

and they're just random little chubs. Can I, if I've heard that shit went down, can I tell Lady Verithyr to throw up? I mean, all you hear is, oh. As I try, because I'm like, somatic verbal component, so he's casting a spell. You don't need to talk out loud to talk to him in your head.

No, it's true. So no action. I don't know. I'd kind of let this happen. I think it's too early. My charisma is, not my charisma, my wisdom is so high that I don't even think to, in this exact moment, Well, Rowan and Penelope, let's go to those guys. is so high that I don't even think to, in this exact moment, beyond me.

Well, Rowan and Penelope, let's go to those guys. This guy whips his head around, he's like, huh? He looks up at where the archer and the ballista crew are. You can also see the ballista crew looking over. One of them is pointing in the direction of Ophelia. They're pointing somewhere in the ocean, because he knows that a spell came from somewhere, but he's just like,

ah, ah, ah, ah, like pointing probably all that, they probably think it's Ophelia doing it. So they're like pointing to Ophelia's direction, like slow-mo like, brrrr. What does Penelope and Rowan do? Team hacking. Alistar, pull over the fire.

Brazier. Brazier? I don't think that's gonna cause more chaos. It's not gonna cause quite a bit. What Rowan would do is watch. Hmm. I don't think that's gonna cause more chaos. It's not gonna cause quite a bit. What Rowan would do is watch for... Yeah, well, he really gets to choose what Penelope does, so... ...is gonna watch for this guard, and if he goes up these steps towards the sound, he's gonna follow on behind.

Okay, so you want a radiant action, you're gonna follow this guard behind if he moves up to investigate. Okay, great. What about Penelope? Can do anything? Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm All right, in that case, a couple of things happen. This guy, 100%, Rowan will go, he'll move his full movement, because he's heard a noise. Five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, he gets to here. Which means Rowan. Heading up the wall. In which case, I want to sleep behind the steps

on the left, yeah. 10, 15, yeah, I'd say you can get to it. Penelope is gonna stay where she is. Can you give me a stealth check, please, Rowan? This guard is alerted, so we will see if he can hear you. That's 30. All right, he can't. Physically can't.

I technically will roll it. Might still be able to temper this failure a little bit. This guy, the line of sight is just gonna clip you, but he's not alerted yet, because he didn't make a save. So passive, you succeed. These two are facing away, I will just quickly make a roll for them.

They can't, I mean, they can't beat a 30. I don't know why I'm rolling. Yeah, okay. And then this guy is like facing this way. So technically I will, no, passive, he can't see you either. All right, yeah, Rowan, you are, ooh, actually.

Facing, I'd say he's actually facing more that way. I'm gonna be lenient here. I faced him this way. He also didn't hear. If he was facing this way... He's holding a barrel in front of me. He's holding a barrel, yeah, alright. He's a barrel guy.

Alright, I'll allow it. I'll allow it. His life is barrel. So that, but he was just to move up behind him. That's it. My overarching goal is to follow him all the way to the edge, and then... His life is barrel. So that, but it was just to move up behind him. That's it. My overarching goal is to follow him all the way to the edge and then drop him.

Okay. Right, let's, a couple of things then happen. Oh, what does Penelope actually do? She's not doing anything. She's just holding her position. So what's the best way of doing this, right? Oh, hang on, can I do, hmm. Oh.

What's the range on it? I'm just having a look. What's the range? Elementalism, 30 foot. I'm just wondering if I can, like... Well, your action was to try and grab the guy, so you wouldn't have another action left. As Penelope. Oh, as Penelope. Yeah, sure. So what is Elementalism?

It's a newer spell. It's basically like a little prestidutation, but with elements. OK. So it's like you can make little motes of flame and gusts of air and stuff like that. Hmm. So you can embellish the brassiere. Yeah, embellish the brassiere a little bit,

like make it like, do something crazy. Like it's caught fire. Yeah. Yeah, you could beckon fire. You create a thin cloud of harmless embers and colored scented smoke in a five foot cube. You choose the color and scent. You can sculpt element, you can cause dirt, sand,

fire, smoke, mist, water that can fit a one foot cube to assume a crude shape, such as a creature, for one hour. What's the range on it? It is 30 feet. Can you dust the top of the tower? Would it get up that high? It won't create enough to obscure it. Okay, well, yeah.

It's a five-foot cube, so it would only fill up one of their spaces, and it's not enough to cause a full obscuration. I'm wondering if maybe I could get Penelope to make a draconic visage in the Brazier flame, just to try and draw the attention of the guards. Yeah. Can I do that? Do you want to then move her?

Yeah, maybe she doesn't. Yeah, do you want to move her? Move her back. Behind the boards, yeah. Could you make it look like Galvassar? Yeah. Do you know what Galvassar looks like? I mean, based on tapestries.

Yeah, you could use that. Wood Penelope? Yeah. She wouldn't know. Just a big fiery dragon. A dragon, she makes like a big dragon face. All right, Barrel guy is like, huh? Who's a big dragon in a fire?

What, this guy, because it's just visual, it's not like a thing. No. This guy, all right, I'll check for this guy and this guy, see what they do. No. This guy, this guy is too busy with his barrel. He loves his barrel.

He's moving barrels right now. He loves it. This guy though is like is too busy with his barrel. He loves his barrel. He's moving barrels right now. He loves it. This guy though is like, what was that? And he will take his 15 feet of patrol turn to basically start making his way towards this. But he's like looking towards this now. And those two guys, they're having a deep chat. Yeah, well they're like drinking and like having a meal

and stuff like that. What are they talking about? What are they talking about? None of you are close enough to hear actually. That's good. That's convenient isn't it? Right, I've got to think now. So, we've got an archer in the water,

and the two Ballista crew, who have absolutely seen Ophelia. The truth is guys, is they would be like, they would shout out. Like, the archer's gonna be like, help, somebody's here, they pull me in! And then the two Ballista Guards are gonna point down and be like, we've got an intruder!

The Ballista cannot reach you, because it has like a minimum distance it can't fire at. So the Ballista, they basically pull out short swords, and I would say one of them is gonna come down the ladder, but, but, but, but, but, and is gonna lean over, and at this point, I think, now, some of you are still hidden. The only person that is technically now in the combat.

There is four of us on this side of the battle, now battle, that are potentially able to start luring guards away from Daisy and Gruff. Exactly. Not for the deniability. Exactly. We are going to roll initiative. I don't know these guys.

For everyone. For everyone. But you guys are undetected. So basically, if you take actions, if you and Graff, anybody here that takes actions, they will have the surprise condition against you. So you'll have advantage against them, any abilities and stuff like that. Woo! All right, I've got a lot of initiatives to roll. So you'll have advantage against them, any abilities and stuff like that.

Wee! All right, I've got a lot of initiatives to roll. So I'm gonna take yours now, and then I'm gonna slowly work through my list. So Daisy. 21. Xanthea. Six.

Gruffith. Does the hangover work on initiative rolls? It is technically an ability check. Okay, 16, 17, 18, 19. 19 minus two, 17. 17. Rowan. Yeah, okay. Seven. Yeah, you would get a plus one too.

Oh, I do get seven then as well. Seven, what's your dex? You would get eight Rowan, because you drank the juice. You drank water. No, no, that's already included. Oh, is that? How dex are you?

Zero, so you go first. Yeah, okay. Ophelia. 14. Is that with your plus one? Yeah. 14. Wonderful.

Penelope. Penelope is... Penelope will go immediately after Ophelia. 14. Is that with your plus one? Yeah. 14. Wonderful. Penelope. Penelope is... Penelope will go immediately after Ophelia. Oh yeah, she does. Ah, okay. It's again, one less initiative to worry about. Just remember, after your turn, Penelope always goes.

Well, while Mark figures out his initiatives, yeah, keep them entertained. How, keep them entertained. Da da da da da da da da. How are we gonna solve this one? What was that? I was keeping the, keeping Twitch chat entertained. And YouTube chat. Could we surrender solve this one? What was that? I was keeping Twitch chat entertained. Could we surrender and get imprisoned? That's true, should we just?

Well it's only me that they've seen. It's currently only Ophelia that they've seen. I know you're there though, they just can't see you. No they might have thought that Ophelia did it because he cast the spell and then got like a 30 on stealth. And then I went so far underwater that I drowned. So I could just run around and be like, brrrr, brrrr, brrrr, and distract. Look at me, look at me, look at me, catch me, catch me.

Someone's gonna punch you in the stomach. Ew. Gaw. Catch me, I'm really. I fucking told you, dude. I'm going to capitalize on this situation because they're all gathering, the people that have heard this sound are gathering.

You're directly behind someone. Yeah, I'm gonna fucking throw them into the water, and then we can all deal with them water side. Yeah, it depends, like, so the ballistic group. The more sound that occurs here, the higher chance of more people hearing. Because I'm worried that you being directly behind this guy. God, that's the third three I've rolled on this blue dice.

Oh, interesting, good. I'm just so dizzy. I'm distracted by the staby thing right now. Yeah, may as well. Apparently, Dice will roll different. It's better in your hands. I think it's time for cutesy kind Penelope too. Does it say go sicko mode on that card there?

Actually, yeah. It does. It does say go sicko mode. And she has like four daggers that she just starts like gouging, right? And then she can just like squish people. Yeah, she's amazing. I'm about to do some killing. You're about to do some killing. No, right? And then she can just like squish people. Yeah, she's just like, I'm about to do some killing.

You're about to do some killing, no that's fine, you can do some killing, but we expect that of you, because you're a murderer. But like Penelope though, we know that this is the snapping point, right? When she just goes feral. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And starts tearing out eyeballs and cutting off tongues and shit. Verithea is there just disapproving, going, I taught her better than this. She's standing going, I don't really like violence. Verithyr. Because it does say, Truman slash blood barbarian.

She doesn't like it. It wasn't for me. She can actually rage. Good, that's great. Okay, good. There's horse breathing on everyone as well, so you could just swim down and try and drown this guy. We could just pull them all under.

That's horrible. I do need to figure out this archer, and I think I might be the only one that can solve that because they're with me technically. Solve that riddle then. I'll solve that riddle. They are, so keep in mind, they're not next to you, I've just put them there.

Yeah, no, I just mean they are. They're up against the wall. I'm the one who can sort of. I feel it can also literally look down. I feel it's got, I would say, bigger problems. Daisy's actually the first one up on the initiative order. I kill him! Okay, well, you have advantage.

They are unaware of you, so you have advantage on an attack roll. Now how are you gonna, is this like a Throne Dagger, is this like stab them from behind the arch and then pull their body through? That's probably what I'm gonna do. Assassin's Creed style. I'm gonna do that,

but it's gonna be like Nim in Daisy's head going, right, do this now. it's gonna be like, Nim in Daisy's head going, right, do this now. It's very much like, this is, cause this is very much Nim's wheelhouse at this point. So it's like, Daisy's just doing what? I think like, Nim would literally describe like, crouch down when he leans out, jab the dagger up, grab the head, pull him through, like, silence him,

and stuff like that. It's a warrior! Yeah, like, but not well- Nim's just fucked up. Like, a scout assassin, like, like, guerrilla warrior, basically. Nim needs a hero. This is like a Angelica SAS, basically.

This is so popular. So yeah, give me the, with advantage. This is against one of the Reclaimer Grunts. That is a 19 to hit. Wonderful. Does that hit? I rolled two 12s, that's a hit. It does hit. You that hit? I rolled two 12s. It does hit.

You do get sneak attacks, you have advantage. Okay. What is your sneak attack nowadays? Three D6. Plus normal D6. My normal D6. You get a four D6. Wow.

Plus modifiers. 18? You wait and like listening, your hands trembling a little bit, as the guy kind of like sticks his head out, you jab the glowing blade up, you grab the head, you're not super strong, but with the momentum of him leaning forward,

you pull the body through, this guy is dead. He's done. One down. I'm happy with whatever else happens now, because that was cool. Is it work? Oh, the body's completely. I'm traumatized. I'd say that the body is pulled. Is it worth? Oh, the body's completely... I'm traumatized.

I'd say that the body is pulled through. It's gonna be very difficult for people to see it. Now, there is one concern, which is you have a couple of people that might see you do it, but it's gonna be a tricky roll for them. One of them's distracted by the water. Give me a stealth check, Daisy.

The water. 29. Can they be that even within that 20? They might be able to, because they do have a little. El Capitan. Oh, those, yeah, okay. Yeah, they might be able to, if I spend it.

A large lass. No. So you silently pull the body through, body's eradicated. Easy. Can I then... That was your action. I want to start moving stealthily along,

duck down and towards the temple. Five, ten, fifteen, about here. Yep, that's your action. So move, action, you've got a bonus action left, you could about here. Yep, that's your action, so move, action, you've got a bonus action left, you could dash another 15 feet. Just keep in mind that with this guard. That's what I'm thinking.

Yeah. Well. Is there anything else around here that I could use as confidence, like off the map? I'd say no, I'd say that there's like a little bit of a gap and there's like a big building, so you're currently like in a little alleyway, but there's nothing for you to really hide up against.

I'm gonna... For the sake of Mark Kong, make the battlefield as big as he would like it to be. I'm gonna stay where I am just now then, and I'm, yeah, so I'll just be gradually sneaky-sneaking my way towards... Alrighty. That's pretty good.

I got some bad news for Ophelia. It's the Ballistae crew's turn. Okay, okay. Now one of them is just gonna stay mounted on the Ballista and is now alerted. And is going to, the one that's currently on the thing is going to make a perception check to see if it can spot anybody else.

Right. That's moving around. Now Penelope and Xanthias, can I get new stealth rolls from both of you, please? Okay, am I underwater? Oh my god. You are, so I will give myself disadvantage

on my perception check against you. Cool. 14 for Penelope. Only a 14 for Penelope? Plus pass. Plus 10? Oh, 24. 24.

Oh, with the plus one from my thing as well. Yes. 14. 14. 15. I have disadvantage. 15. Because he's on the board.

You have a plus 10. I'll do Xanthias' first. Plus seven. They don't have disadvantage. Fails. Ah! I rolled a five and a one. I'm gone.

Against Penelope, a one. See, look, this dice roll. Good, good, good, good. So the ballista is looking out, scanning around. There is one right above Ophelia, and he is gonna call out, I've got an intruder here! And literally pulls out a throwing axe, and he's gonna throw a throwing axe at you.

I thought they were gonna say, what was that noise? No, they see a spooky lady like, wah! Have you reattached your hand at this point? She's standing on the wall. That is only a 12 to hit though. So the axe flies past, doesn't connect.

That is their turn for the Ballista crew. You pray to the false gods. Gruffith. Hi, I'm an octopus. You are. There's a god above you. So, yeah. But Gravath is very expertly hidden right now.

I wanna try, I don't know how to pan this out, but I was thinking if I could use Ink Cloud, it is an underwater ability, so I don't know how beneficial, how benevolent. You can use it, keep in mind that like, if you just blind the guy, he's gonna go, ah, I'm blind! An octopus is crazy!

Stomping his mouth. I would like to try and like, I don't know, just like get him to fall into the water, and I'm just trying to figure out like, how, like... Tentacle him. Tentacle him, yeah. Yeah, I'd say even if you blind him, he's gonna back up, he's not gonna stumble forward.

Maybe if I just... Yeah, try and like tentacle him to him to trip him up into the water. What's your strategy? Then I blind him. Well, it's up to, I am an octopus, so. You use the octopus's stats. I could either use a tentacle melee attack roll. That would mean it would work the same way,

so you would still make a tentacle melee attack and then you would choose to grapple instead of do damage. Okay. It would work the samele instead of do damage. Okay. It'd work the same way as with a normal unarmed strike. As a tiny octopus, that's all I got, so. Yep. Good luck. You got fate.

We have one fate. One? You gotta hit him with the unarmed strike first and then I get to make the saving throw. Okay. You could use the fate afterwards. Yeah, I might want to use the fate afterwards. Yeah, yeah, after the roll, yeah. Doggy poo? Yeah. I think that that's actually, well, let's use the fate afterwards. Yeah, yeah, after the roll, yeah. Doggy poo.

I think that's actually an incentive to spend it more. I roll my dice and it bounces. Exceptionally copped roll. Oh my god. Okay, tension's killing me. That was a 12, though. No, in the box, if you're not counting it when it doesn't go in the box.

Count the one on the floor. Seven plus four. Is not enough. So this little tentacle, like, slaps onto his boot. And he just sort of like kicks it away. Are you fainting it? Oh, could I fain it? Yeah, do you want to?

So what did you get in total? What did I say, seven plus four is... 11. 11, oh, I don't know. I mean... You get a six, it's 17. It is just an octopus though, right? You might not think of anything. Yeah, it's all against their AC.

I'm gonna roll with it. You're gonna add the- No, no, no, no, I said like, this is my life now. Okay, cool. He sort of like looks down, you don't manage to wrap around it, but he looks down and is like, what the fuck? Like, and it's just like a kind of like confused, huh?

See what happens on the 10. They are now aware of you. There's unmistakable. I just see a little lovable octopus. Little octopus, yeah, absolutely. I blink. Anything else gruff on your 10? I don't know.

Oh, so I probably don't blink, but the little gill holes probably go, whoop. Anything else? I'm just adorable. Ophelia. Oh, I'm gonna have to get this guy. Yeah. Drown him. What's the best way I to get this guy. Yeah. What's the best way of taking this guy down?

Just throw him into the water again. Drown him. Drop him on top of the other person. Are you both in the water? No, you're on the wall. Double concussion. Yeah. I am gonna, so I'm gonna, actually one thing I'm gonna say

because the guard did actively call out, there is an intruder here, this wasn't just the noise. All of the enemies are aware that something is happening here. The guard that you've kind of slapped onto is a bit sort of confused, and he might have to deal with that before he does anything else.

But all of the other guards are looking in this direction. They are all like, what the fuck? Somebody's attacking, we've got to deal with that. So I will say that literally all of the bad guys are turning around like, fuck, what's going on over there? This guy, barrel guy puts his barrel down. This guy turns around, this guy's already making a way on over there? This guy, barrel guy puts his barrel down. This guy turns around, this guy's already making a win. You know a serious one, barrel guy puts his barrel down.

Yeah. Yep. Oh. Romance of the century, though. Oh, but it's only me they've seen so far. It is. What do you do, Ophelia? How do I do this?

Okay, I've got a stupid idea. Okay. Oh, good. What do you do? Hey, I've got a stupid idea. Okay. Oh, good. What do you do? Hey, we're all about creating ideas. Oh, we're here for it. Oh! Do it. Right, Ophelia, because she's the only one they've seen,

she's gonna go up the wall, up to this mote of light, and just stand in the light. Oh, up here? Yeah. What? Yeah. No, I'm into it, I'm into it. Okay.

And she's just gonna proclaim, I am Ophelia de la Rosa of the House of Blood, and I have come to tell you, you all worship a false god. The Grey Father is the only god you should serve. And then she's just gonna openly just be, I'm fucking here, let's go. Okay, all of these guards and everything else,

they look around, they're confused, there's like a moment of thing. One of these, I would say that maybe this figure over here next to Lady Verithera's cage will lock up and be like, an infidel in the name of the golden emperor, kill this one, bring her down here, arrest her, something, like calling out to the guards. But they actually, almost in a sense,

they're just like, oh, it's some crazy woman who's managed to sneak in here. And they're not wrong. They're not wrong. But they're just like, yeah, they call out like, guards, get her, and like pointing in your direction. But definitely causes distraction. Do they seem like overly perturbed,

but are they just like, There's definitely a like, oh, what the, how the fuck did she get, like, they've got like these guys who are like, fuck it, how did she get in here? Like there's the kind of like a commotion. Daisy, Gruff, we have a, I am a failure. I hear it.

Problem. I would say that's a free, like you've used your movement, if you still want action or bonus action, Ophelia, you absolutely can. Um, I mean, they're all looking at me, I'm just gonna, can I run back down the stairs and just yeet this guy off the wall? So you've used your movement action,

you can action to dash, but that's gonna be, cause you've used your action to move up here. Back to the way into the night. Yeah, probably just disappear, I guess. Just go back down all the way. So you want to dash back down the walls? Oh, do I? What do you want to do? You've got an action. You could attack. Oh, I don't know.

You want to use a cantry? You could attack. If you want to go back down the wall, can you cackle like a maniac before you do it so it looks intentional and not cowardly? With the cape swishing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, can I, I can, oh, I don't know, oh, it's a silly ocean.

Do it, do whatever you do. I love it, I'm leaning into it. This is great, this is great. You could climb up on the top of these rooftops if you wanted to. You could do whatever you wanted. You could spider climb. Be a problem.

Rhiannon, stealth is no longer your problem. You've got cantri want. You can spider climb. Be a problem. We haven't. Stealth is no longer your problem. You've got cantrips, you can go for like this guy. You're free, you're so free right now. I'm so free. You can rage. Can I cast Armor of Agathys? Yeah. Do it in a way where like Ophelia plunges her nails

like under her pauldrons, and then just like blood just squirts out in her pauldron. And creates this like blood armor and spikes all around you like, look at me I'm badass. Come and get me. Cast the armor of Agathys,

you get the armor of Agathys off. That's your turn. Do you want to rage? Do you want to form a dread? I love rage as well for Spawn. Yeah sure why not? Probably gonna take some damage, might be a good idea.

Might be a good idea. You see a tiny blonde head move up and go, huh? All right. What's the place? Standing on the walls of the heart of Darodax, Sister Ophelia de la Rosa of the House of Blood proclaims herself to all intents and purposes. Lady Verithera in your head, Daisy Gruffin-Zanthius,

should I regurgitate? Hold on a few seconds. I don't think it will be very effective anymore. Maybe hold it for now. Well, she will say, yes, I suppose I will do. So after that, this noise, this commotion, does have one unintended thing. Because Ser Eldrake Ignis is sort of awoken from his slightly deteriorated state

by the loud proclamation. Blinking, sort of looking around. You actually wouldn't see him blinking because he wears a fully like helmed, like full face helm, so it has like a draconic visage on his helmet, like a human element with like almost wearing like a draconic hat by part of his helmet, like a human element with almost wearing a draconic hat by part of his helmet, like a dragoon, yeah.

Yes! Sorry. And he comes to this enormous arm, and he looks around, and you can see that the two, the two nearest reclaimers sort of look worryingly in his direction as he's sort of awoken, and he's like, what is happening? Where am I?

That's his turn. Cool, cool. Very interesting, very interesting. The Archer down in the water. Can he swim? Yes, of course, they can swim. Five, 10, 15, 20. I would love that in a fight.

It's like, yeah, can he swim? Does he see me underwater? This guy is gonna pull himself up. Hello! Give Penelope a stealth check. Roll stealth for Penelope. Rowan, can you also roll for me? Because they are gonna have,

you are gonna have an opportunity here. 28 for Penelope. Okay. 24. Okay, yeah, but I can't, oh, 24 actually. That's a roll super. Oh!

24, 18 plus six, mother fucker. For real? For real, for real. The archer sees Rowan. I mean, he's kind of stood right there. He is, and he's very big. So the archer kind of like swims over, like looking around, like where's that crazy lady got? I'm stalking behind this guy.

Pulls himself up, his like arrows, you know, I know. Do I hear that? You would hear the splashing of pulls himself up. His arrows, you know, I know. Do I hear that? You would hear the splashing of him coming up. So you throw yourself, well you tried to hide, right? But he just sees maybe a flag or something sticking out. Just a reminder. Just sticking out. This is Rowan we're talking about though.

He's gigantic. Master of stealth. That's true. He's done it before. No, that was the stealth roll. Dammit. He did a great stealth roll. I rolled 18 plus six, sorry. Rowan's been doing really good with stealth.

He is going to, not knowing that Penelope is there, finish his movement here. She could trip him up. Pull out his bow. Another one! Calls out, what, here, by the tower! Pulls out his bow. No.

He is going to. No. No. No. No. Rowe, unfortunately, he is not compelled by your lie. I'm gonna use his exploit opening ability, one of his three a day, to gain advantage on the attack, and he is gonna shoot you with his bow. Okay.

Yeah. That's my elf. Oh, Rhiannon, this dice is killing me. Look at what, I rolled a one on my one, but yours is a 13. That's a 19 to hit Rowan's. Yep. Take it back, Rhiannon.

I can't. Would you like it back? No, it's rubbish. I don't like it. Oh, I'll keep it. It's Rhiannon's slice. If Rhiannon would like to give it to you, she's more than welcome to.

You can have it if you want. It's just rubbish in my hands. It's wasted on me. Everything's rubbish in your hands. I mean, sorry. So here's an interesting thing. So this archer, he has like, his arrows seem to have like some sort of coating or thing like wrapped up in them.

Normally, and he has like a fire striker on his belt. Right. But because he's fallen in the water, I'm gonna say that his fire arrows no longer work. Good. It is still 11 points of piercing damage, unfortunately. Oh, sorry, he gets a little bit extra because you are within 30 feet.

It's 16 points of piercing damage. It's another five, yes. So he goes, fires a shot at you as you stumble into it. The guy in front of you whips around, like sees you right behind him. He's like, oh! Like pulls his weapon out. You got me.

Um, yeah, and there's a big commotion as, yeah, they have clearly spotted a few of you now. Uh, that is the archer's turn though, which means we go to... Penelope's go. Oh, sorry, yes, Penelope should have gone after you, Ophelia, sorry. Um...

So she would have acted technically before the archer came around the corner. But we can just say she takes her time. That's all right. I don't really know what she would have done, to be honest. Well, now she can attack. You've got an archer right in front of you

and you're in the water. Yeah. Oh! Yeah. Yeah, can I throw it there? Yeah, you can do whatever you want. Can she use her form whip to pull this dude into the wall? Absolutely. Nice.

Oh shit, we need to take a break as well. I've got two wrapped up in it. Yeah, it's fine to hit. We'll do this and then we'll take a break. Ah, 23. 23 hits. Nice. That archer, that just shot Rowan. 26. 26 damage.

You're going under. So that's four, seven damage. Seven points of damage. And he's all 10 feet closer. 10 feet closer, which will throw him bloop into the water, I would say. Do you wanna have her like scoot back a little bit as well, because then she can properly get in the water.

You're in here with me! Okay! Wraps around and throws him into the water. Soaking him once again. Great stuff. With that, because that's all Penelope, I think, can do, she just do the one attack. Just before we take the break,

you would hear all of this commotion causes a figure to emerge from the temple. Oh, shit, so near, that's your problem, Frazee Ingroth. You see a figure emerge. She is dressed far more resplendently than some of these other Reclaimers. She's wearing a black and red and gold motif sort of dress.

She has this big long red cape around her shoulders, gold and sort of jewel-ric armor. But her hair is the thing that strikes you because it is white, black, red, and gold, like streaked through. And it is moving around her as if her hair itself is alive. Like it's almost kind of doc-hockey, medusery, kind of like the hair itself,

almost like wants to reach out and grab things or like moving around her. And she looks around and you can see that she's heavily ornamented. She has like a veil over her eyes, painted lips, and the guard next to her is like, High Priestess Amalane, and just like bows his head like, what is going on intruders, deal with them,

sort of gestures in the direction, like as that is where we're gonna take our break. Okay, okay. As things kick off, but yes, sorry for the late break. Got wrapped up in this one. But yeah, we will be back in a few moments for part two. Take care, bye bye. See you in a bit.

Goodbye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Hey, do you like role playing games? Well, you should check out Mystery Quest. It's

an actual play podcast where we focus on all kinds of indie TTRPGs with a rolling cast of special guests. You can find us anywhere where you get your podcasts. I'll see you there.