High Rollers DnD - Altheya: The Dragon Empire #51 | A New Journey Bee-gins (Part 2)

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

The team encounter some strange new beasts in the Rustwail Woods that threaten to crush everything around them! _______________ 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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Our heroes are on the road, heading to the village of Colville in the Rustwale Woods to investigate mysterious lights, disappearances, and perhaps a proto-magi vault. But along the way, they've encountered a dragonet salesman, a halfling from Suncrest Isles who is transporting a group of dragonets, these little pets, that all managed to escape.

Oh, what fun, what japes. Our heroes went to assist them and help them in recovering them, but in doing so, Ophelia, Xanthias, and Percival have encountered a bizarre creature that was trying to something, perhaps abduct them, capture them, help them. We don't really know. Slurping.

But it has turned and aggressively approached our friends, and we are in combat. And it is Percival's turn to act. Percy! Unfortunately, the creature never came close enough for Percy's action to trigger, but can easily step the 20 feet up to and engage with now. Yeah, I think I will, yeah,

have Percy come up behind Ophelia and, bam, with Halbert. Great, yep, perfect. So one-handed Halbert coming in with the attack. The creature does seem to recognize Percival as a threat. The creature is not invisible, Percival isn't invisible to it, it just doesn't seem to care about it.

21 to hit. That will indeed hit. And this is slashing. Or is it this? This will be slashing damage for the halberd. Seven damage. Seven points of damage. Get it, Percy.

So Percy comes in, hacks in. The halberd embeds into the crystal, and then when Percival pulls it back, the light flash and glow, and it doesn't heal up, but you can see that it sort of adjusts its body, like it doesn't seem to be, you know, like a human if you just walloped it in the back, would react and there would be pain

and its muscles and tendons would, you know, struggle to work. This thing seems like it's continuing. It has been injured, but yeah, no limbs or blood or anything for it to be affected by. I see. All of Percival's turn? I think so. Bonus actions. I'm going to have, by the way, Ophelia and Gruff,

I'm going to say it's going to take you two rounds. So not this round, but next round. Yes, Rowan and Gruffin. It's go. It's an interesting one. Can't guess on that, I say, in character. Yes, it is going to... You've just heard it quite badly, Ophelia.

It is going to... Interesting. It is going to teleport. Oh! 60 feet. It teleports right next to Xanthias, and it's gonna bring up, one of its arms is gonna try and grab you again, Xanthias.

Okay. The other of one of its more sort of Mega Man cannon arms is gonna point at Ophelia, and it's gonna fire a blast of magical energy. Holy piss! So I'm gonna do that against Ophelia first. Nothing personnel kid. 24.

Yeah, that hits. Oh god, that's a lot of piss. It's been so long since we did a combat. I know. I'm scared. I'm terribly terrified. That is gonna be 12 points of piercing, so half to six, as you feel like,

almost like a blast of air, like a bullet kind of strike into you. But then it's five force damage. Fuck. Fuck. Which I rolled very low for, let me tell you. Oh. Okay.

And then it is gonna use its hand to try and grab you again, Zaffy. Yeah, motherfucker. 12 though. Does not hit. Yeah, you are just dodging and weaving away from this thing. You're right, I am slippery. Yeah.

Can Ophelia as a reaction hellish rebuke? Well, you certainly can. Doing it, doing it, doing it live. And I make a saving throw, yes. Oh yeah, I'm 30 feet away, yeah, so. Yeah. What kind? Dex.

This does seem to have some sort of magical resistance that gives it advantage against spells and other magical effects. God damn! Well, the first roll was a one. The second roll is a nine. So it fails. So you can see that its body seems to, the glow seems to almost like pulse to rebuff the magic, but Ophelia's spell strikes true. So eight half to four.

No, it failed. It failed the same, so it's eight points of fire damage. Fire damage, correct. Unfortunately, it is resistant to fire damage. And in fact, Xanthius, you would see that firsthand. You can see that the flames are almost sort of partially absorbed into it. That red light in its body glows brighter as it kind of sucks the energy in.

It's very frustrating. What other colors are on it? Other colors the energy in. It's very frustrating. What other colors are on it? Other colors would be blue and then a sort of swirling gray, yellow and green. Acid, poison, ice, thunder. Necrotic maybe for gray? With that, its turn is done.

That's its bonus action and its main action done. So we go to Xanthius. Hey, what up? It's up in my face again. It is. And I would like to keep using bonus actions to teleport away. However, I have a new spell.

I say new, new for Xanthius. Oh God, actually all of my shit is fire. It's just resistant to it though, right? Yes. So it's not the worst. It's not immune, no. Okay, I have a dagger. Did you know this?

I didn't. I had it the entire time, which is great, because, well actually I probably don't need it. I had it the entire time, which is great, because, well actually, I probably don't need it. I'm going to cast Flameblade, which is a bonus action to make a fiery blade in my hand. What's it look like? Don't need a dagger actually, does it?

Is it a cool sword, flaming sword? It looks exactly like Crownsteel. It doesn't look exactly like Crownsteel. It's just a big, flamy skimiter. Nice. Skimiter. I love that. Curved blades.

Swords. So, it's a bonus action, concentration, and I can, as part of the action, make a melee attack. So, wait, what do I actually roll here? Oh, plus my spellcasting modifier. So it's a melee spell attack. Melee spell attack, great.

Of which I have a plus six. Hell yeah, remember when 18 was just enough? 17. Ooh. Maybe you've got these. I can posthumously fate now, can't I? Yes, I will allow you to posthumously fate. Because it's a dead roll.

Nice. Took me some. You've already taken the fate off the thing, so I'll do it. Okay. I only need a one. One! Wow.

Holy shit. So that's enough, right? 18? 18 will hit, pretty much. Hell yeah. You've got any more. So that's enough, right? 18? 18 will hit, pretty much. Hell yeah. Not anymore. And with my flaming curved blade, that is how much damage?

Say it with me, you all know the words. That's right, 3D6 plus three. 3D6 plus three. 3D6 plus three. 3D6 plus three. Thank you, God. Okay. 15 fire damage, halved.

Halved to seven. You sound like that creature from Spirits of the Way. Oh, no. That wants all the gold. Yeah, with the, again, the sort of red light in it glows, and as the blade sort of passes through this thing, sort of semi-phasing the flame, kind of licking around its body,

it does seem to absorb partially, but it's also, you can begin to see that that, that crystalline material is beginning to sort of darken and harden, its movements are becoming more sluggish. It is bloodied as close as it can. It doesn't have actual blood, but it is half the blood. Okay. It's going back to the camp. It's leaking on the right side. With. It's half actual blood, but it's half the blood. Okay.

It's leaking. With Anteus, that is your bone section and then an action to attack with. That was, unless I wanna move, I don't. Okay, Ophelia. I feel it won't walk away, I've done it before. Yeah, Ophelia will come charging after this thing. Okay.

Yeah, and she'll strike it again. Alrighty. Can I use, if I have extra attack, can I use my whip and my... Yeah, you can switch between weapons if you want, yeah, absolutely. Hmm. Yeah, you absolutely can. They can teleport, so I don't know what kind of benefit that would actually have, now that I know they can teleport.

If I use my whip, I can slow it, basically. It sounds cool. Yeah, it does sound cool. If you whip, I can slow it, basically. It sounds cool. It does sound cool. If you whip, you can slow it. You have advantage on the attack, because you did your Vex last turn. Let's rock and roll, buckaroos. Let's go, let's go, let's go. Ah! 14, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21.

21 hits, and again, Vex triggers, so your next attack will also have advantage. What is Vex? It is a weapon mastery trait of Thrapia, a new feature of the 2024 D&D rules. Is that right, Mark? Certain classes get access to weapon mastery traits. Ooh, trait. Barbarians, one of them. Hmm.

Ba-da-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. Vex. So if you're proficient with it, you get the... If you know, it's not just being proficient with it, you have to have special weapon mastery with it. So that's why only certain classes get access to weapon mastery, and they have to pick specific weapons. Oh yeah, talk to it.

Speaking of, cause Ree said buckaroo, old Chuck Tingle, big D&D fan, been playing second edition D&D forever. He's also written his own system, I have it. Didn't know that. Do you wanna play it? It's actually legit really good. You don't know who Chuck Tingle is?

Oh my god, I'm going to blood your DMs with this. Pounded in the butt by my own butt? Okay, okay, okay. I didn't wanna say that just in case I was wrong, because if I was wrong and it was like someone else. Hugo award winning as well. Hugo award winning Chuck the Tingle. Yeah.

Now honestly, his own system is really good. You know who the Rizzler is but not the Tingle? He also is writing horror stories now, and they're amazing. Yeah. Oh, six damage. I'm gonna have to look them up. I rolled a one on my D8.

So you can see the Photoshop covers. Second attack. Attack again. 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21 again. 21 all here. And forget you can spend your blood points to add some damage as well. True, true, true.

You just see, cause the layouts all changed. Absolutely. Yeah. It's why I like easing us back into combat. With a Titan construct thing. Fine, it's one monster. It's got four arms and seven feet. Cool, yeah, but I'll spend a blood point, add a D6.

Full damage on the D8. Eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, and then thirteen, sixteen damage for that one. God King, when's this going to end? Oh wow. What one have you found? Vex carries over. Fantastic. Yo Vex, yeah, container race over to your next attack, but that is your actions, both actions done?

Yep, and my blood point is back. It is. Yes. I see it. Yeah. Nope. And Sheila's got any bonus actions? No. Okay, yep, that is my turn done. You're all done.

I'm all done, so thank you. Alrighty. Rowan and Gruff are running, you know, heading towards it. You hear, like, gouts of flame. You can hear Xanthia casting spells. You hear, like, a whoop, you're hearing all these noises. As you rush through, you're just about sort of breaking into the clearing.

One more round, you'll arrive. But you can see this weird crystalline creature sort of in between the trees, like teleporting around and everything else. You can see that clearly something's happening. We go to the top of the round, Percival. Percival! My boy.

So how much movement has he got? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 30 feet, he can get there. 30 feet, he can get there, okay cool. Yep, just about. So he will arrive behind Ophelia as per usual. So the three of you are now sort of surrounding this creature.

He will do some more slashing damage. Natural 20 on the Percy boy. Oh, it's max D8 and then roll this damage again. Who is this crit taken? Max damage on the D8 is. Nice, nice, nice, nice. 16 plus three, 19 damage. We're Percy coming in.

Percy, my boy. Well, Percy coming in hot. My boy. My man. My man. So you watch as Percival, as you with your rapier with veracity, carving chunks out of this thing, Xanthius is flamed by kind of ripping through it.

The creature not really paying attention to Percy, focused on the two of you, Percival just comes in and through the head, just the axe, get away from sister Ophelia, as it like embeds the axe into the back of his head. You see the creature kind of like stumble and slump, and its lights begin to like blink out of existence. And then you just hear this last,

as it detonates and that green light blows into a sphere of poisonous gas. Oh my god. As a reaction to dying, it casts its cloud kill on itself. Oh Jesus. Jesus Christ. 20 foot radius sphere of yellow green fog. I need each creature in the sphere, which is radius sphere of yellow green fog.

I need each creature in the sphere, which is the three of you. Percival doesn't have to make this because Percival is immune to poison damage. The best of all of us. But the two of you need to make Constitution saving throws, please. Deforted.

Fucking yeah, base boosted reverb fart noise. Oh dear. I actually despise you. I know. Gotta roll some crits there, Mark. Oh, I know. Make them learn. Wait, what is the roll story?

Constitution. Constitution. Oh my fucking Christ. Make them learn. Make them pay for their sins. When will I learn my actions have consequences? Nine years of this. When will I learn my actions have consequences? Nine years of this.

When will you learn? Several memes. Still. Damn it. Okay. What do we get? 24. Success.

I have a plus seven, 11. Fail. 24 points of poison damage to Xanthias. 12 points of poison damage to Ophelia. Oh boy. And also, I'm gonna keep the initiative running because you are in this cloud of this dense, heavy fog that is choking you, your eyes streaming,

like turning blood red. The air it counts as heavily obscured, so you are also blinded. Oh my god! By space. So, wait, what was the range for 10? 20 foot radius on it, so it's basically 20 feet all around you at this point.

Oh my god. Yeah, so that was on Percival's turn. It would then be its go. Xanthius, it would then be its go. Xanthius, it would be your turn next. I'm just reading the ruling on this. A creature must also make the save when the sphere moves into its space and when it enters the sphere or ends its time there.

Okay. Creature makes the save only once per turn, okay. Yeah, so you are currently in it. Okay, now to the... The... Yeah. Oh, you're gonna win it though. Which one's wrong?

I don't know. When the sphere moves into its space, or when it enters the sphere or ends its turn there. Okay, ends its turn there. Okay, so I can... You are blinded. Try and stumble my way out of this. Stumble your way out.

You've got enough movement, you end your turn. Well, 30 feet, so yeah. You can stumble your way out. You've got enough movement for you to enjoy. Well, 30 feet, so yeah. Yeah, I'm just gonna try and get out of this mess. Oh, oh, oh! Oh, things are going. One last thing, so the sphere moves 10 feet away

from the caster at the start of each of its turns. So actually, the turn just before yours, it would have shifted 10 feet in a direction. I'm gonna randomly determine. I don't actually know. You don't know. So I'm gonna say, which direction are you gonna go?

I'm going, is this like card points? I'm going like south. South. Or is it where you roll a D8? I'm gonna roll a D8 to see which way it moves. I'm gonna go southwest. Southwest, so north is one, northeast two, east three,

southeast four, south three, Southeast four, South five, six, seven, eight. I'm going six. So you're going six. So if I roll a six, you don't escape the cloud. Uh, I suppose, yeah. Yeah, because you'd run in the direction it moves. Yeah, I've got no idea.

Yeah, I know! A six, a six! I know! So in your blindness and this, you run, trying to get out, choking, eyes streaming, unable to see, you stagger through.

You can dash. Because it's, oh I can dash. I just realized you could actually just action dash and get out of it. I didn't say I would. Like, I'm gonna use my bonus action to create some runes. Like, if it does do damage,

maybe I can try and reduce it with some runes, but like, I didn't say I was gonna dash, so I didn't dash. Con save then. All right, con save please. What a champion. I also realized I could have dashed now, I didn't though. That is a 24. Success, see we'll take half damage.

Okay. Can I actually reduce on like... So that would be 20 half to 10 poison damage. Okay. It's brutal. All right, cloud kill. Yeah, it's nasty. It's my favorite smell on Baldur's Gate. So that would be 20 half to 10 poison damage. Okay. Okay. Brutal. Right, cloud kill. Yeah, it's nasty.

It's my favorite smell on Borgers Gate. Then it would go to Ophelia. Remember you are blind. Yes, Ophelia would just be coughing, spluttering, trying to stumble around, getting out of this cloud. Which direction are you going? Do you want to roll it? Yeah, we can roll it.

If you roll a six. Go in the same direction. Yeah? It's a D8. Fuck it, yeah. That's a six. You guys are good sports. Where am I going?

D8. Oh, yeah, D8. Fuck me. That counts. I don't know, what was it? Where am I going? Five. Oh, okay.

So you go south, which I'd say, well, it's a 20-foot radius sphere, but yeah. It's still being in it. Yeah, it's like, it moves, which I'd say, what is the 20 foot radius sphere? It's still, it could still be in it. It moves 10 feet, so it kind of goes out. No, I'm gonna say that you do manage to sort of skirt your way out, just on the outskirts. Because also Percival can sort of move with you, like would come next, and he would literally

just drag you out, basically. Because he's immune to the poison, so he can just like, and then shove you out, basically. Thank you, Percy. But yeah, then we'd probably use the rest of his turn to try and grab Xanthus and pull you out of it basically. Get the boy, get Xanthus. And yeah, as soon as you're out of the sphere,

like your eye's clear enough that you can see, but like your veins are all like, you know, sticking out, your skin is covered in like a harsh rash, like your eyes are all red. I thought it was everywhere! Ah! Ah! It's in my nose!

Ah! I can smell it! Get some water or something, get it out of my eyes! Ah! The two of you arrive basically in time to see the personable destroy this thing and then the gas kind of explode outwards and then you arrive just as these two

stagger out of the poison cloud. What happened? There was a thing, Rowan, a thing. Oh, God. I get a water skill, I just like squish it like a toothache. Oh, thank you, thank you. It was like a crystal thing and it had lights

and it blew, it had like a, ah! Ah! It was like a giant, it was like a giant made of crystal. We saw it very, very briefly before. Before the, yeah. As they're doing this, you hear from the center of that kind of gas cloud, you hear a kind of sucking implosion noise.

I think my butt hole just closed. I'm gonna start walking the cloud with my hands. It technically requires a strong wind to blow away, Rowan, but yeah, with enough time, like after about 10 minutes, it naturally dissipates. But you don't see any sign of the creature that they're describing. Are they still like blinded and blinded?

No, no, as soon as they're out of the cloud, they're the point of, the city goes away. Oh, sorry, you didn't say, I said that I'm sorry. I'm there, I'm there with you now. Oh, that was horrible. It was like a crystal creature thing, it had four arms and it was seven feet tall, approximately. I don't know exactly.

But it had like magic in it. It was humming like this tune. It was kind of proto-magic. I mean, hell. Was it similar to the things we saw in the Volant Vault? It sounded like, made similar sounds, like the humming and the, uh, like Red Hot Style.

It's definitely an, uh, it kind of did like an, uh, yeah. Oh yeah. I'm going back to the, I'm going back to the Dragonettes. Something has warped their minds. I'm going back to the Dragonettes. I'm going back.

I'm going back to Ashton's Rest. I'm going back to Ice Heart. Robertize. Why do you have to take the super cool alien dungeon things I created and make it go, oh, you. That's also the base boosted fart reverb noise it made too. That's what's really killing me.

I hate you. She's having that noise. I hate you both right now. Can you decimate another cloud kill? Right. Are you gonna take some time to heal or are you just gonna go back? I was gonna heal him

but I kinda don't feel like it anymore. That's fair. That's fair. Yeah, how injured do they look? I mean, they look pretty bad. Xanthias took a ton of poison damage, right? I've done half damage, but weirdly enough,

I've found a way to heal myself. Oh, really? He doesn't need any of you anymore. Fall on that big boy. So just remember that. Xantheus doesn't need you. I've fallen that away. I've fallen that away.

There's just these wounds are knitting up. Maybe I'm not exactly entirely sure how and why this is happening, but after this fight, I'll know how to cast it myself. It is a spell called Arcane Vigor, which is a new sorcerer spell, which is basically sorcerer healing. Yeah! For himself.

Just for me, not for anyone else. I can only heal myself. Sounds about right. But it's a bonus action, and I can roll, I roll hit dice, one or two of my unexpended hit point dice to regain that much. So that's kinda cool. What are my fucking hit dice though? Hit dice, one or two of my unexpended hit point dice to regain that much. So that's kinda cool.

What are my fuckin' hit dice though? Yeah, D6, because you're a sorcerer. Max healing. 12. Holy shit. I'm a healer now? Do you get any pluses or is it just the hit dice? It is just the hit dice and I believe it also uses the, oh no, plus my Spellcasting modifier.

Oh my God, 18 healing! See you later, Gruff. Your modifier, not the bonus. I'm going to remember that. So it'll just be your Charisma bonus. Gruff remembered that. So it should be 50. Spellcasting ability modifier, you're right.

This is where we smash cut to a horrible dungeon. This is getting absolutely destroyed. Is that what you're saying? So you're a healer, bro. Can't you hear yourself? So you're a heal dungeon, which is getting absolutely destroyed in the cross-site. Is that yourself? I thought you were a healer, bro. Can't you hear yourself? I said you were a healer, bro. I said you didn't need my help. Hands in pockets.

Yeah. That actually basically puts me to full, which was great. Yeah, so yeah, like the arcane energy flowing through you begins to sort of patch some of that damage. Ophelia, you shrugged off some of the actual physical damage, but yeah, that poisons all in your body. Percival, completely untouched, just happy to be there.

Percival, Percival! Percival got it though, he got it in the end. He killed it! Really capable fighter. I've never seen moves like that before. The creature was threatening Sister Ophelia. How did you know to fight like that? You just dived in and just got it right in the,

I guess its head, was it its head? Headlight thing. I struck its most vulnerable looking point. I don't need to be so humble about it. Well, I mean, he's a great fighter, do you see? Well, clearly you've saved us. Thank you. You are welcome.

Okay, there it is. Okay. But yes. It's dead now. Strange crystal creature. Crystal creature. It had lights in it. I don't know if these are the.

It does sound very vaulty. It was extremely vaulty. So that means we might be quite close. Hopefully. Or just be roaming for a while. Oh, it was trying to grab at the dragonets as well. I don't suppose you saw them fly back? Yeah. Oh, good.

Okay. I was worried that we'd really be done. I wasn't too worried, honestly. They were freaky. They're adorable. No. Okay. We can't have one as a pet? No.

You have this conversation making your way back to Jin, who is very happily putting the rest of the Dragonettes back in the cage at the back of the wagon, and as you arrive, it's like, oh, my friends, are you all right? What happened? Oh, there was a thing. Are your Dragonettes back okay?

Yes, yes, they are. The ones that came back from the direction that you're traveling, they were terribly frightened. They flew straight into the cage and they have been shivering and shaking ever since. They are terrified. But I don't think that was you. I don't think that they would have reacted that way.

They were running from some kind of creature, a crystalline thing made of lights. I don't suppose you've seen anything like this in your travels yet? By the Scions, no, I've not heard of such a creature. No, we- Oh, these cauldron lands are far too dangerous, my beauties, and he's like cooing and sort of like, oh, my poor babies.

These are very appealing little colorful creatures that might attract unwanted attentions. It probably best we help steer you back onto the main road. If you can get me to, just point me in the direction. I think I just got turned around. Oh, okay. Luckily you're at the very edge of the forest here, so you're not too far out from the farmlands.

Don't go back in there. Yes, I thought I would take a shortcut through some of the farmlands, but I should have just... I wonder where you're going to, Kel Skaaris? Yes, yes, I thought I would take a little shortcut, but I got lost. But yes, I will make my way, but I must reward you, I must thank you for what you've done.

You've helped me get my precious me get my precious beauties back. Would you like some gold? Would you like one of them? I'm happy to part with one if you wish. Oh, you don't have any gold and you're only offering a dragonette? Is that what you're saying to us? No, no, I can give you gold as well.

Well, that's a shame. We'll have to take the dragonette then. If that is what you like, yes, of course. Seems like that's the only thing that you have available. No, I can also give you gold, absolutely. I have gems, I have gold. Dragonette and gold, is that what we're saying here? He's like, look, see he's like,

no, no, no, gold or one of my pets. I must, you know, I'm a merchant, I need to, if I'm going to give you one of my creatures, I would need the gold to smash it. You were sleeping with them, right? I was, you know, I'm a merchant, I need to, if I'm going to give you one of my creatures, I would need the gold to smash it like a mule. You were smug to them, right? I was, yes. Would they be sad if they left their owner? Little ones, would you be sad if you left your owner?

Oh, hello, hello furry man, yes, hello. Like the other ones, the music man, the music man. The two that flew past you are just in the corner, like huddled together, just shivering, like they are, they don't wanna talk. They're scared. Gruff would immediately be like, trying to talk to them, just like, it's okay now little ones, there's no more danger.

The crystal, the crystal will come back, the crystal's going to get us. It's gone, it's gone. We dealt with the crystal. They're just like, no, we want to stay in here, we are safe in here. You are very stupid. We are safe with Jun, we are safe with Jun.

You did very well though. Yeah, they're just like, they're oh, they're just spooks. Gruff being Gruff is just... Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course, yeah, you see. They're definitely like, Gruff speaking to them soothes them and calms them down, but they do seem like, you know, they're just too afraid to go near the walls

of the cage and stuff, you know. But they definitely seem calmer, at least. Amongst the other 10, they're all so excited, and like, they're not like, they don't need to stay together. They're not like brothers and sisters. They're all disparate. One of them, they're like, we want to go with the music man. We, I want to be in the furry man.

I want to go with the furry man. That one looks fun. Ah, the dragon, a dragon man, a dragonborn. And they're very excited, like all different ones. And yeah, basically they're all different colors. It's really kind of like, what color would you like? If we were to take one of these off your hands, what sort of care do they need?

They need feeding and watering, but apart from that, they mostly entertain themselves. They're very smart. They, you know. Very smart. Yes, yes, very clever little creatures, yes. What's their intelligence stat? They probably would be like a 6 to an 8 intelligence.

Like, they're like, you know, young child. It's concerning that I had to ask that question even though I tried to keep one. How do I look after one? I wonder the last one ran away. It kind of says a lot, really. I keep just going through them. Yeah, they take a little bit of food and like watering, but like they're generally like pretty good looking after themselves. You know, you don't need going through them. Yeah, they take a little bit of food and like watering, but like they're generally like pretty good looking

after themselves, you know, you don't need to clean them. You know, maybe like brushing them, helping them molt and shed scales and stuff when they need to. Do we already, do we know anything about like how big they get? They don't get much bigger than what they are now. They are pets, these are like little tiny pets. They're not gonna become mounts.

They're not like an adventuring companion type thing. This is like Stuart too, you know, this is like a little tiny pet. Okay. We'll get one each. I'm gonna need to get something for you at the end of it, because I've got Seddon, he's getting a little dragonette, you've got Percy, Daisy's got Stuart.

I've got my rock. Okay, you've got your rock. Can we stick googly eyes on it? But yeah, there are, so none of the colors, they don't have like metallic shades to them. They are, there's like different shades of red, so you have like more pinkish reds or like a darker red. There's like a dark blue, more of like a teal blue. There is a very, very kind of like dark Viridian green

to an almost like electric lime green, like very bright vibrant one. I think there's like a brown and then like a yellowy color as well and then a pure white as well. Tom speaking, who actually wants a dragon ex? I don't want to just go forward and then take one. I've got Saren. Okay, and then take one. I've got Saturn.

OK. Do you want one, Tron? I want us to have one. OK. In that case, I think Xantheist would probably be more drawn towards one of the red-scaled Dragonettes for reasons. Sure. And I would try to go close to that one

and try to befriend that one. Okay, sure. There are three kind of red issue ones. Unless any of it sues me. Well, let's say that there's a very dark red, a sort of middling scarlet, like bloody kind of red, and then a sort of more pale pink red. Give me an animal handling check.

It's okay, I'm really good with these things. And which color would Xemthias be drawn to? I would be drawn towards the darker red. Darker red. I mean animal handling. Animal handling. Oh, a minus two. Three.

So, the dark red one does seem to respond and seems to kind of look up at you. I feel like I'm going towards him. I'm not even being like, I'm kind of like, hey, you. Hey, how are you? You just exist. What sort of, you want food? Yeah.

You want to come with, I'm here. The dark red one will like reach up and like lick your hand like a little forked tongue. Kind of lick your hand. Fireball. Uh, sure. That's why you don't get all the apples. You destroy all of them.

The dark red one, yeah, seems to take a liking to you. Oh, it's got, it's licking my finger. Look at it! That's a sign. I crouched your finger. Raph, you see that like, Jun seems not relieved that that one's taken a liking to Xanthius, but there's definitely a like,

oh yes, oh my beauty, this one fits you so well, yes. So I think that you will, yes, this one is, you should take this one. I think I'm going to have to, look, we're inseparable already. Yes, you should come up with a name and befriend them and everything else, yes. Let me get you this one out.

And he kind of reaches in, but he wraps his hand in a cloak first, and he like gets this one out, and then brings it over to you, and this guy is like so, he's a male, like he'll say, well this one is a male, but he is like very wriggly and very sort of like, yeah! And he like comes up, he's like, ah!

And like razzes him in the head. This guy, Gruff, with your animal handling that you've done before and speak with animals, this guy's a rebel. Like this guy, he is not gonna do what he's told. Like he's like, fuck you, I do what I want. This is like the bad cat. This is kitten Bolero, Tom.

I'm in trouble then. Oh fuck. Like he starts like playing with you. Like, you know, yeah, yeah. He's going, look at him. He's really clawing around my neck. Ah! His little wing tip claws are like really sharp

and like he's climbing on you. So he's obviously just like climbing up on you but man he digs them in when he does it. He's like, ah, ah, ah. Oh, oh, okay, oh, okay. Well we can train that out of him but he likes me, he really likes me. Oh, that's sweet.

That's good. Lick your neck. Oh, that's sweet. That's good. That's lichen neck. Okay, that's great. Hooray. You don't like it? Look at him. Go read them. I'll give you a name at some point.

Your neck is covered in scratches already. I know, but it's okay. You're bleeding. I'm bleeding so much. Psh. All right, little one, do you want to be a little bit more gentle with the claws? No.

What can I give you to make you behave a bit more? I would like a treat. Right, and if I give you a treat, are you going to stop clawing him? Yes. Are you though? For now. Until I get another treat.

Xanthias, give him a little treat. I'll have to give him a treat. Oh, okay, I'll go to the back of the wagon and- Yeah, like, Jun will give you like a bag of like, like, he'll say, oh, this one, he particularly likes, this one particularly likes his sweet treats. He very much likes sweets and candied crickets and things like that.

Why am I doing Gruff's voice? Yes, he does, he enjoys candied insects and little like that. Why am I doing Gruff's voice? Yes, he does, he enjoys candied insects and little morsels. You know, he does take a few bites out of sweet, sugary foods and things like that. Okay. Yes, yes, but he'll give you like a little bag of like little insect feed and stuff like that.

And this little dragonette will just be like. Oh, you've gone through that really quickly. Here's some more. Okay, more. No, no, wait, wait. You're gonna be A for now. Yes. Good. I like you dear. Yes.

Right. If you had a name, what would you call yourself? A name? What, what? I do not know. I think I'd like to call you Trouble. Trouble. I like this. Trouble works. At least for now. Okay Trouble, okay. He like nestles in, like he does calm down

and just wraps around your neck like a necklace almost. Like he kind of like, he bites his tail and so he just forms a complete loop and his wings fold in and it just looks like a rope of like red around your neck. He's called fully Ororobos. Oroboros. Oroboros.

He's called Orbus. Orbus. You can call him Boros. Boros, yeah. He's Boro. Boros. Boro. Borero.

No, wait. Borero. Right, Xanthias, make sure you don't overfeed him. I'm not going to overfeed him, but he's looking so sweet right now and sleeping so well. One more. The only way that you're going to get any measure of control on him is with those treats, so don't give them all to all of him at once. Even that would get him snipped. Worked for Bolero.

Oh, my God. Sorry, that wasn't Xanthius. That was Dom. Yeah, also very't Santhias. That was Tom. Yeah, also very difficult to neuter dragonets, actually. You can't really do it. They are basically wanting dragon penis. Not much to sniff off. Yeah.

But yeah, Jun's just like, I hope, thank you so much, once again. Thank you so much for helping me, and I'm so sorry for whatever that business was. There's this creature that you had to fight with. I'm so sorry. Oh, we've seen worse. But did you ever visit the city, the capital?

Uh, no. Briefly. Briefly? Well, if you are up there in the future, I intend to stay and do a little bit of, I intend to do a bit of business dealing whilst I'm there. Perhaps we will bump into each other once more. I have a few clients up there,

a few of these I'll reserve for them, so perhaps we will see you in the future. We'll show you how... But I will leave you to your travels, my friends. I will leave you to my travels. Thank you. On the road. Yes, that way, yes.

No more cut through. No, I am heading to the Imperial Highway and I'm sticking to it, no matter what. Good plan. Yes, thank you. Thank you once again. And he just sort of waves goodbye, gruff all of the little things.

They're like, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, music man. They're just like watching you from the back, and they begin flying around in the cage, seem to be kind of lifting their spirits as the cage and the wagon sort of trundles off into the distance. Well, this is a great day.

I'm just speaking obviously quieter now this thing is around my neck. However, that thing that we fought, maybe I was thinking the lights and stuff inside the crystal body, maybe that's what people are seeing in the trees and stuff. Oh, that's a good shot. Thank you.

You say as if that was not the most obvious fucking thing in the world. I didn't see it. Oh, okay. I only saw a snatch of it. But so there might be more of these things just creeping around, spooky people. I'm worried. Very strange.

One of them on their own was pretty spooky, pretty nasty. So if there's more of them, that might be trouble. But it was definitely emitting some kind of tone, some kind of music, so maybe there's something there. What was it doing out here? Oh, I mean, as far as I can tell, it was just reaching for the other dragonets. But why would it come all this way?

We've not been on the road very long. You are like on the outskirts of the Rustwell Woods. You are technically in the woods, but this is like the far outskirts of it. So we're still like two days away or something like that, right? About a day and a half, yeah. It's rather worrying if the creatures have started to roam.

This far, yes. Well, you continue on your journey. You make camp for the night, you try and settle in. I'm gonna say in terms of long resting, what I'd like to do is I actually wanna take a rule from the Lord of the Rings game, which is you are sleeping at night, but long rest you can do when you get to your destination, right?

Because otherwise it means that you can have a random encounter and then you just get all of your spells and hit points back and then if you have another one, it's like there's no threat to it because you can just blast through your spell slots and stuff. I want to try that. I was actually trying not to spend all my shoot as well. Yeah, exactly. I want to try that. I was actively trying not to spend all my suit as well. Yeah, exactly, I want to make it worthwhile. So yeah, you kind of go, you have a rest.

You can take a short rest if you like. So if you want to spend like hit dice or get any short rest abilities back, you can definitely do that. I haven't yet to. You've yet to do anything. And yeah, you continue on. The third day, the oppressive heat subsides.

By the time night comes around, it's still warm, but that oppressive heat doesn't, like diminishes, right? And goes away. The second day, you start making your way far deeper into the Rustwale Woods. And this is an old woodland. This is like real depths of the countryside, like in a big, thick old wood.

You know, the trees have this dark, russet brown color to them. There are also patches, you can tell that there are like, you know, old stone ruins and things here. Maybe old like cottages and buildings that looks like they were abandoned or temporary shelters or from hundreds, hundreds of years ago. And you begin to see them kind of scattered around,

probably from the earliest days of the Empire before the Empress kind of expanded. These are early stone huts and things like that where maybe some of the earliest people of Caldre first resided before the dragons came. Can I get another survival check from Rowan, please, to see how well your navigation goes? With a minus three still.

That is a... 24, 21. 21. 21. So Rowan keeping you on track as everything goes. I'm assuming, is anybody doing anything different to what they did before in the previous days? In terms of like... It's getting more wooded.

Very heavily wooded. So yeah, Seren's gonna have a harder time scouting from up high. You know, it's definitely like canopies of trees. Like you are in the thick deep woods at this point. You are following the river though. So the river, the Ruby River, you begin following like at least one of its branches,

one of its tributaries, like, you know, as you're making your way up. I'd go fishing with Saren to try and provide for the team. Yeah, I mean, like you don't even need to make a roll for that. You can absolutely provide, so there's no rations spent for today. You would have spent one ration last night, I think, before. But yeah, you can basically make sure that everyone's got fresh fish to eat.

The bright sort of ruby salmon and things like that that you can catch here, happily feed everybody. Enough for an evening when you do make camp. Yeah. What about Ophelia and Xanthius? I think Ophelia will go out with Percival and will scout the woods, look for more of those crystal things, keep an eye out for...

So keeping an eye out for any danger and stuff. Okay, cool, cool, cool. Yeah, I was thinking of a similar thing, just looking out for those lights in the trees and things, but... Okay, so you're both kind of on patrol, basically scouting ahead and stuff. Great. You guys don't need to make a roll then. Can Chris Trott, you roll another d4 for me,

ignoring a two, so if you get two, reroll please. Okay. One. A one. Okay. You are getting close to Colville now, based on the directions that you were given. You think you're getting close to it.

You can hear the churning of the Ruby River. As I said, you're passing through the dense sort of woodland. And Ophelia and Xanthias, as you guys are the sort of scouting party, I need you to make perception checks for me. Why don't we just do... Followed by stealth checks, please. Oh, cr- okay.

Perception. Okay. And stealth. Yes, please. I just always love the variety of sounds that come from that side of the table. Yep, yep. Yeah, yeah.

So for perception, I got an eight. Oh, really? Cool, I got a six. Hell yeah, what'd you get for stealth though? Stealth, I got a 12. I got a 16. Okay, do you roll for Percival's stealth? I will roll for Percival's stealth.

Disadvantage, because he's wearing heavy armor. That's a dex, so that is 19. 19, very stealthy Percival. Let's just replace ourselves with just a team of Percival. Yeah. So, Xanthius, Ophelia, and Percival, you guys are a little bit ahead of the team, sort of scouting out, and you are keeping an eye out for these crystal things.

Are you ahead of the team, or are you gonna stick close to the team, but like sort of just move up ahead to give you sort of an early warning? I think Ophelia, what was her Dark Vision? 60 feet. I think she'll, no 120 feet now. Oh, that's right, yeah, you get enhanced. Yeah, but I think she'll scope,

she'll go ahead just to make the most of her Dark Vision and get as far of far as she can. Yeah, I was imagining Xanthea's could be closer to the wagon to kind of protect that rather than the road ahead. Perfect. Well, as you guys are scanning, you don't, unfortunately with your perception rolls,

you don't hear or see this coming. How that happens is up to you because it is quite a dramatic thing that you see. Okay. As you are making your way, and Ophelia, I think as you're moving maybe deeper into the woods, a little bit ahead of the wagon, you see this first, you and Percival.

Some enormous thing just pushes a tree out of the way as it storms forward. You see an enormous, tree out of the way as it storms forward. You see an enormous, and I am talking like nearly to the canopy of the trees tall, stone construct. It looks very, very old. One of its legs is like covered in mud and twigs. The other leg you can see is carved

with these ornate glowing green runes. It's got a large control gemstone in its forehead, but it seems to, and its right arm is clogged with, sorry, its arm is clogged with moss and twigs and mud. Along its leg, it has these metal bands, one of which has snapped and broken. And on its back, almost on its shoulders, are these structures that hold two enormous beehives.

And this thing sort of lumbers in, and it's angrily looking around. Brrrr! It pulls trees down and erratically begins to like jerk and move and stomp. It hasn't seen you in Percival yet, but. Holy shit. Oh.

Oh Jesus, we're in trouble. What time of day was it again, sorry? This is like late afternoon, let's say. What, we're gonna name this pet? We're bringing this one home. Beehive. I'll say that maybe Xanthius is like late afternoon, let's say. What, we're gonna name this pet? We're bringing this one home. Beehive. I'll say that maybe Xanthius is like back here still.

The wagon just may be off, off kilter. Yeah, maybe like 20, 30 feet away. Yeah. I thought this was just a nice scene in front of your DM screen. You've had this an entire time. That's a big boy, by the way. That's a big boy. I love his hair.'s a big boy. That's a very large.

Great hair. I'm using that mini just as a representation. Like I said, this thing looks more like a big stone golem. Almost like from Legend of Zelda, the big kind of stone. It's got a single blocky head with this control gem. It's big, it's hewn from natural rock, like vines and wood and sort of very crude metal

to create this kind of exoskeleton around the rocks itself. One of its hands is shaped more like a trowel, and then the other one of the hand almost looks like a mallet or something like that. This thing looks ancient as well. Like I said, parts of it look broken or covered in mud and moss and twigs, and it's angrily jerking around as it does.

It seems to know that something is here, but it hasn't found you yet, Ophelia and Percival. What would you like to do? Xanthias, you don't hear this thing coming until it basically bursts through the trees. Yeah. But you are, you know, aware of it and it doesn't seem to know where you are either.

I'll let Ophelia go first because you are right next to it. Oh my god. Yeah, it comes like stomping from behind this this massive like old kind of stone hut basically. Maybe even like collapses the roof. Can Ophelia cast Mage Hand? Yeah. Use her dismembered hand to crawl towards Xanthius. Does Mage Hand have somatic or verbal components, or verbal components, maybe?

Oh, it does have verbal and somatic. So you can sort of whisper them, but I'm gonna need a stealth check from you to see if this thing can hear you casting spells, or sense you casting spells. And I'll make a perception check for it. Is it 17 it rolled on a 10? Oh, god. So is that 10? Oh God, 13.

13 total. Yeah. You could fate. Are you fating? I'll fate. I will also spend a fate to burn them. 17. 17, okay.

Fate is burned. You, has was, what was that there? It's your hand sort of dismembers or the spectral hand, whatever you want it to be. The creature stops, but doesn't seem to know where the spell, but it's, again, it knows that something's going around.

It like maybe stomps forward, knocking a tree down. It's a little bit worse right now. It like stomps forward, knocking a tree down. Right. It's a little bit worse right now. It like stomps forward, probably like knocks this tree down though, as it like stomps a little bit.

It falls right next to you. Yeah. Yeah. But you and Percival are still like hidden amongst this like copse of trees, like hiding desperately. Yeah. Send the hand towards Xanthias. Just like, like waving. of trees hiding desperately. Yeah. Send the hand towards Xanthias.

Do do do do do. Just like, like waving. I saw it, I saw it. Yep. Pointing at it. Yeah, it's right there. I mean, this is, it's bright enough to see it, right? At this point, yeah, now.

It is like, yeah. I am almost imagining, Xanthias, maybe you are like, there's this old stone wall and you are like crouched to like stop this thing seeing you. The hand is like pointing in its direction. The wagon is coming. Like those guys, these guys don't know about this thing. I would, yeah, turn around to quietly,

as quietly as I can, go back to them, to the people on the wagon, and just do like a... Give me a stealth check. No, stop, stop, that's a thing. I'm thinking of playing the loudest song I know. A really boisterous one. Yeah, a real boisterous tune. I'd like that. Get the energy going.

Lift my heart, yes. Yes. Here we go then. Are you fainting? I am not fainting, because there's only one left. I only got a 10. Okay, well I will. Okay.

So Xanthius, you turn like, and you put your hand on the wall, and the loose stone. Why is this episode so real for me? The whole wall collapses, great. This creature bursts through. Guys, there's something over there, be quiet. It's eye, the green gemstone flashes red, and as it draws closer, those hives on its shoulders

begin to buzz angrily as two swarms of enormous bees. Oh, it's just straight up. The bees, not the bees. Emerge from its shoulders, and that, my friends, is gonna be another relationship. Oh, damn. Not the bees. This thing is cool.

Not the bees! This is really cool. Grove water. Oh, God King. Oh good! Yum, yum, me! Bees one and bees two. Bees, bees one and bees two. What could it be?

Oh, bee. Xantheus! Hey, what up, boo? Sweet, sweet boo, I got a letter seven. Ophelia. I can't count, 12. Puzzle? That could be wrong.

That could be a lie. 16. Groffith. See, you're going- 20. Rowan. I got a nat one. Plus zero.

So one. And then I will do Daisy, because Daisy is awake for this. Does Saren roll separately or is it part of your turn? She's part of my turn. You, so no, I think technically they might have changed it, because it used to be a separate creature. I was going to do Percival that way, but because he has like quite dominant stats,

and he's permanent, he's not like a temporary thing, I've actually just given him an initiative. Because he's also capable of doing a lot more. Like a familiar can't attack on its own or anything like that. Like they, Seren- They have to command. Yeah, specifically familiars cannot attack as well.

They cannot make the attack action. But they can deliver touch spells for you. So I'm more than happy for it to be on your turn. You can bonus action command. Oh yeah, so combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn. If you can't attack, but it can take other actions as normal. There you go, so if you'd like to roll a Seren's initiative,

I will take that as well. I think Groth is still two in protective dad mode. Yeah, you can just be like, get away, hide in the wagon or whatever. Daisy gets an 18. Then she protects your trouble. Trouble rolls initiative. That one.

Trouble's asleep. And then what are we looking at? Trouble's biting you. Trouble or Borrow, I can't remember. Borrow, it's up to you. The Grove Warden, is that an 11? And the bees? The bees!

Trouble and strife. Alrighty. That's kinda really good, isn't it? Right,? Trouble and strife. Alrighty. That's kind of really good, isn't it? That's right, fucking cute, that. Yeah, the trouble and strife. Hello, Sire. So you see Xantheus basically beginning to make his way back to you.

Maybe he's up ahead on this winding, you know, woodland trail path. Maybe about, let's say like, yeah, like, 50, he, like 50, he's like 50 feet ahead. Like Kool-Aid man through the wall. Yeah, he's like 50 feet ahead. No.

He knocks something down, and then you see the trees just part as this stone construct about 50 feet ahead of you erupts. Oh, bloody hell. Why, she ask, I mean. I'm gonna panic spell. Yeah, I'm gonna cast with a wave of my staff. I'm gonna cast Tidal Wave.

You conjure a wave of water that crushes down on an area in range, it can be up to 30 feet long and 10 feet wide and 10 feet tall. So I can do it on the bees and the grove. Yeah, so you'd have to angle it so it goes across this way basically. But you have to choose a direction as well with the tidal wave, because of the way I've changed it.

In towards... So this way towards the rocks. Towards the rocks, yeah. So the rocks we have basically, sort of if north is the point closest to the camera, that is to the southeast, basically. So you will need... Or to you guys, I suppose, it would be like a northwest

if I was making me north. Yeah. Dixterity saving throws, please. Dexterity saving throws. DC 15. DC 15, let's do the bees first. Success, and success on the bees. They are flying after all.

The big grove one is a failure though, it's quite slow. Okay. Six, seven, eight, nine, turn, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 points of bludgeoning damage. So yes, and that would be halved to the bees. And the Grove Warden is knocked prone. Can it be? So it's knocked prone and is either pushed or pulled

along the length of the area, so I actually want it pushed towards the rocks. Oh, can I get that? Well, this creature, what does it specify a size that it can do? No definition on a size. I didn't change that then. In that case, yeah, it will basically go up to these rocks

and then it is knocked prone. The bees do mention the other way and they would only take nine points of damage each. Bees are okay. The bees are okay. Well, they kind of, I imagine they fly out of the way and like maybe a couple of, but these aren't like little tiny bees. These are big.

Big bees. These are dire bees. Big bees. A swarm of, Big bees. A swarm of, Big bees. Bumblebees.

Bumblebees. Big bees. Big bees. Big bees. Big bees. Big bees. You would see Zanthias being the only one who can really see,

and Ophelia actually, You would see Xanthias being the only one who can really see, and a feeler actually, when the water collides with this creature, you see that all the mud and sticks and moss that were covering its arm is washed clean. And you see that the green lines of energy seem to flow back into its arm, and its movements become less jerky. It sort of like brings its arm up

as if it couldn't properly use it before. You clean it. And like looks, and it sort of looks around, but then it seems to go back into this like almost berserk like state. Berserk. Yeah. Bezerk. Yeah. Bezerk. Anything else on your turn, Gruffus?

Yeah. I cast that at third level, by the way, and I will use my bonus action to activate Armor of Oakenthorns. Okay. Are you gonna move any closer? I'm gonna say that at this point, this little stone wall and the tree lane is probably going to block line of sight to it.

The only reason you could do the tidal wave is you kind of started at a point you could see back. I'll move up next to my boy. My sweet boy. Okay, is that me? Yes, it is. You would be able to get to about here because you're about 30 feet off the map as well. 35 is my spot.

Oh, 35. So you have one more space. One more little cube. One more little space. It's armor of Okon... Is that the same as before? Same as before. There is a new thing I can do with it now. You'll see.

Okay. End of turn, Gruff? End of my turn. All right. Daisy is going to move up and then bonus action, hide. Yeah. Also I don't wanna take too much of Kate's turn, but she's just gonna basically kind of move up to the wall,

makes a stealth check of some ridiculous number. Probably 45, 45. 16 plus, what are we looking at here? Oh, just 26. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, basically sneaks up and like is hiding behind the wall. Sanchez, are you okay?

I'm okay, there's bees! I'm just ducks down, and I'm just gonna hold her action for now, but she's safe and hidden. I can't see Ophelia, I think she's dead. Ophelia's dead! I know! Percival.

I'll send Percival forward to attack this swarm of bees that's in front of him. I mean, if anybody was to attack this swarm of bees that's in front of him. I mean, if anybody was gonna attack a bunch of bees, a skeleton's kind of an easy choice for the job, right? Like, what are the bees gonna do to skeletons? Ding me, brah. He's a skeleton, they can't sting a skeleton. Do dire bees lose their sting?

Oh my god. No way. He is a god-king. He is a king of all men! So you can't roll natural 20s for yourself, but you can for Bertha. Percy is a god! Oh my god. Maybe next campaign, you should play a familiar. You should play my familiar.

That is only five slashing damage. But plus that's with the H, and is that with the bonus, the plus three as well? Yeah, 13. 13, so you got a two on that, that's okay. So 13 points of damage to Bee's one. Bee's. I mean, they are like bloodied now. So like he just cleaves.

Vroom, vroom, vroom. He's like hacking like these bees apart. Bart Simpson, like if you walk into my area, it's your fault. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah, he blends. He licks his chicken. Yeah. He blends these bees.

I just love the idea that these bees with a little nosebleed, they're bloody. Yeah, I know. We stand together. That is Percival's turn. That is Percival's entire goddamn turn. Which one? Well then it goes to Ophelia, your turn.

I can't believe this. That one, let's go. I know, right? What shall Ophelia do? I think Ophelia will go forward with Percival. Okay. Yeah, we'll go together. We'll go up together. Same B.

Same Bs. We'll just, we'll get back to the group. I think it's the plan. Co-op attack. Okay. Oh my God. What is it? Is that a one? No. Two?

The opposite of a one? Wait, what? Did you roll? Is that a one? No. Two? Three? The opposite of a one? Wait, what? Did you roll? What is it? I crit.

What the fuck is this? You crit? Wow! All the crits are coming out. All the magic is changing now. And suddenly a bee is like, let's go! Fucking bees, apparently. I have been born, now is my time.

Pfft. Oh my fucking god. I have been born, now is my time. Pfft. Pfft. Fuck. Oh my fucking God. Okay, so D8 plus six, plus three. It's a nice high vault, nice rock. Eight, nine, 10, 11, so 17 damage on the first hit. You, like these bees just, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, with the rapier, you just,

it's like a kebab of bees. The sword is just like... It's full of nicked bees. I just wanted to exist. Very nice bee steak. I just wanted to make honey. Like honestly, just you finish off the swarm between you and Percival. It lands on the ground on a plate, it's all sauteed,

it's got like delicious trouble, it's like... Oh! Hey Finn, it's your boy. I will. There you go, just slide him off, give him to Zandia. Yeah, no, you finished off the swarm, Ophelia. Yes, Ophelia has arrived. It's taken a year, but we're here.

Let's go. Against bees. Oh wait, you've got. I've got another attack. You have, what's your movement though? Come on, finish off the other one. I used, oh 50, oh that's right, yeah, five. I on, finish off the other one. I used 50. Oh, 50. Oh, that's right, yeah. I can probably go and get the other smaller bees.

Do it, girl. 25. Let's go kill these bees. 30, 35, 40. Yeah. Get them bees. That's more like it. Nine plus six, 15.

15 to hit the bees? It does hit the bees, does hit the bees. I hit the bees! Nine damage. Nine points of damage. Alrighty. I like on the map, because the guy's like falling over, he's displayed. Yeah, he's like,

you're wide legging right now. That will bloody this group of bees, thanks to the Tidal Wave as well. I will bloody the beasts. End of turn, Ophelia? I think I will also bonus action cast Armor of Agathys on myself. Oh, very nice. Five, so is it five frost? Five temporary hit points, and you do five cold damage to anything that hits you, as long as you have those.

I think it's actually changed, it might be until like the end of your turn or something. Let me double check. But anyway, look it it might be until like the end of your turn or something. Let me double check. But anyway, look it up, but is that the end of your turn? Yes. The Grove Warden stands back up. Oh no, right next to a finger. You have just hit its bees. I might have just hit his bees.

He brings his giant hand down upon you. I'm going to make, Percival did hit his bees too. Yeah, he is gonna actually, he's gonna hit you with his big hammer hand. With his other hand, he reaches behind, scoops up a rock with the trowel and throws the rock at Percival.

Okay. So attackcival. Okay. So attack against you. Damn. That is gonna be a 24 to hit. Yeah. That's very good. For 20 points of bludgeoning damage. Right.

So if you're not raging yet. I'm not raging yet, no. So 20 points of bludgeoning. And I need a strength saving throw, please. Alrighty. I'm not raging yet. So 20 points of bludgeoning. And I need a strength saving throw, please. Alrighty.

It's another 20, what is happening? Oh my god, on a different die. 24. Success. It tries to knock you to the ground. You take this heavy blow, but manage to maybe dodge the sign. You get covered by rocks and bludgeoned,

but you are not knocked prone. What's happening? I don't know what's going on. Mother has arrived. I think it's being on this side of the table. No, because you're all pissed on this side of the table. 2016 hit, Percival. Yeah, that hits Percy.

Did it piss on that side of the table? That is gonna be 17 points of bludgeoning damage to Percival. As he brings the shield up, it's knocked back, but takes a rock to the face. 24 HP. shield up, it's knocked back, but takes a rock to the face. 24 HP. And then you are going to not get an opportunity attack as he's gonna move here, still within reach.

And you watch as he slams, there's a bone section, he slams the ground and I need you, Ophelia Percival and Xanthius to make dexterity saving throws, please. Shit. Okay. As he kind of, and all the earth trembles around the warden. 14, 16. I'm just gonna get some damage dice ready, Tom.

Yeah, yeah, thank you, thank you. Lol. It's all right, you can hit yourself. What do we get, Ophelia? So, 17. For you, success. Percy got five. Oh, neat, me too. Percy fails.

And then Xantheus fails. So, Percy and Xantheus, you're gonna take 11 points of bludgeoning damage, and you are both knocked prone. Okay. Maps. Is Percy weak to bludgeoning? That is a great question. I believe he's vulnerable to bludgeoning.

Oh actually no, I changed it. The Necrotic Heart got rid of that vulnerability. Okay. I removed that. Cool. Normal skeletons are, Percy will infuse with the Necrotic Heart. His bones are extra strong now.

He drank his milk. Milk? Hell yeah. Calcium? Time to drink milk. But yes, but he does take a pummeling from the ground as it kind of splits around him. You see when the gruff, you, Xanthius,

and Ophelia can all see now, when he does that, the kind of metal bandings have around his leg. One leg is fine, like they're complete loops. This one, the metal has snapped and bent and there's all this crackling green energy around its leg. And you can also see that green gemstone in his head is kind of loose and out of alignment, basically. And he's like, and it's still looking around

jerkily and angrily. That is the Grove Warden's turn. Ophelia, you are beset upon by bees! Bees! Bees! Does a 22 hit you? Yeah. Okay, they are bloodied, so they do less damage now.

That is gonna be seven points of piercing damage. And you are now grappled. Grappled by the bees! As the bees are basically, they're swarming around you. They are not physically grappling you. They're tiny little legs. Can you imagine that? We got you now!

Well, I almost imagine that it's like, they're more like hornets or wasps because they're stinging you. And as they're stinging into you, some of them are staying like stung into you. And like you're like, trying to like pull through. But yeah, they have embedded themselves into you. That legit happened to me once.

That really is a hornet. It was awful, I was dog walking. There was a hornet swarm and they got all in my hair, like stuck in my hair. And then stuck down the back of my neck. When I was out in Japan, we were in some flower gardens and I saw a proper Asian, like Japanese hornet. No lion was like this fucking big.

It was, no. I wouldn't go fucking, because I hate bees and wasps. Like, I hate them. The dog I was walking was happily trying to eat them and I was like, bro, I need you to move right now. You got it. I would fucking freak out. Like, I actually hate bees and wasps. This thing, I was like, bruh, I need you to move right now, you got it! I would fucking freak out.

I actually hate bees and wasps. This thing, I was like, see you later. I'm not going anywhere near it. But anyway, Xantheus. Xanxan, bam bam man. So, am I, has it got reach? Like if I... Yes!

Just look at it! Yeah, I know. So I am within its range now, yes. Yes. Can I leave it? Yeah, I know. So I am within its range now. Yes. Yes. Can I leave it? You can. Okay. It will get a free whack. Yes, the house is on fire.

You wanna give that thing a go? No, brother, just a stone grove warden. Talos creature. I, fucking hell. I'm gonna have to keep Misty Steppin'. You don't have to. That's true. Hmm. I... Risk a little run.

I'm going to start off... A little rolly-polly. Start off while I'm prone on the ground, basically underneath this thing, and seeing the beehives on its shoulders, I want to burning hands up into its face. Okay. And also try and catch those beehives.

Oh, beehives. Okay. Oh, beehive, I say. Canonically. And yeah, I'll do that. So it makes a dexterity saving throw. How dexterous is it? Zero. Fuck yeah.

One minus one. That is, you all know the number, you say it with me. Three D six. Thank you. That was cool as hell. That is so cool. 14 fire damage. 14 fire damage.

I'm gonna say that incinerates the beehives, which does prevent it from, I was gonna use on its next turn, I was gonna spend a Fate Dice to make more bees. Nice, nice, nice. However, there is a downside to it as well. Yeah, the downside is I've just cast a spell, so I can't Misty Step.

That as well, but also sensing these beehives, the creature flies into a berserk rage. You get the sense that it was protecting these beehives, or like they're a part of it, and so it flies into an absolute rage. And I'm instead gonna spend my fate point to make a free attack against you. I am prone!

Yep, he has advantage. 15. That's the highest one. That is gonna be a total of 23. 23 is unshieldable. Ouch! Just kill yourself. Bad damage roll though.

Only 15 bludgeoning damage. And you're already prone so I can't knock you prone again. Rarrr! Pshh! No, no, I'm so down. Rarrr! Ow! God damn.

I'm like buried in the ground now. It's just a head. Above ground. Instantly buried. What did you have to do on your turn? Um, um, um. So it's action, you have move and bonus. I will use my bonus.

Bonus. To create some. The Beanos action. What? Runes. So, yep, I don't want to leave its range because it's just gonna clobber me again and probably prone me again. So you're just gonna hopefully prone me again.

Try and make these runes appear around you to protect you. Yes, yes, yes. Alrighty, after Zanzan the band band man, Rowan. Shit. Carry on. You already had two runes. No, I have a feature. Rowan gets into the battlefield.

However many steps that takes. That's right, move action gets you next to Graflit. Uh oh, bye Alfie. And he's going to cast a new spell that he's not done before. Yes. He reaches out his hands, he casts the base of his palms together

and emits a green energy. It's not like a beam. Car. No. No, cammy, hammy, haas. May. I need a wisdom saving throw from Beast. Do you know if you're gonna tell me from Beast.

From Creature, sorry. From the Creature. You're not gonna tell me what spell this is. Not yet. Why? Not until you fail it. Play into the drama. How what can it be? Wisdom. Seven. Fail.

What is the spell? Polymorph. Ooh. Oh. Polymorph it. Yeah, does it specify it has to be, is it just any creature? A creature that you can see within range. Then it fails, then it works.

Okay. What to? Get ready to grab it works. Oh. Okay. What to? Get ready to grab it. Fire Stoat. You just watch as, you know what, yeah, I'm gonna roll out. You see that the stone and the creature's energy shrinks down,

leaving a very gray colored kind of fire stoat-like shape, but this almost looks like a stone statue leaving a very gray colored kind of fire stoat-like shape, but this almost looks like a stone statue that's like alive basically. It looks like a stone fire stoat, pulsing with a little bit of green energy. Everyone hold, don't hurt it, grab it! There's still bees. There are still some bees.

Rowan, anything else in your turn? I think that would be enough for Rowan. Okay. Damn, you got Polymorph now, very cool. I got Polymorph now. Gruff. Does it still have the little bands on it? Not in the stope form, no. So it doesn't have the bands on the green gem?

No. Okay, I'm gonna say that part of the Polymorph would be to like, basically it all becomes the one creature. Nope. Okay, I'm gonna say that part of the polymorph would be to like, it basically, it all becomes the one creature. It gains 10 hit points based on the fire stope. And if it hits that one, if you deal a point of damage to it, it's popping out. It sounds like I'm looking pretty rough.

Well, not too bad, I can heal myself. Don't need you. Wow. Oh my God. Halfway, I'm halfway. You've said the words now, bro. Said the words now. Hey, what do you wanna do?

You're great with fire states. I will, I still don't know, speak with animals, there's only 10 minutes. I will run up to... Also, I believe that its form doesn't change, so it wouldn't count as a beast. Yeah. I will move up next to Zan Zan.

The band band man. The bad bad man. The bad bad man. What would it be for me to pick him up? The fire state. No, the boy. The boy, I mean if he's willing, you can just drag him, you can move half speed with him.

Or are you just trying to unprone me? Unprone, yeah. Oh, to unprone him. I'd say it would be like your action. Go heavy on him. Go heavy on him. Mm. Don't go heavy.

Don't do it. I would say it would be like an action. Stop it, stop it you little brat. I'd say it'd be like an action. Stop it, stop it you little brat. I'd say it'd be an action, because you're basically picking him up and then moving him and standing around. No, leave him standing, leave him rolling around. Because I will use my action to cast Cure Wounds. The new Cure Wounds, that heals even more. Cure Wounds! As it even more. No, Cure Wounds!

As it should have been the entire fucking time. 2d8 plus three. That's great, that's really good. 13 points. Oh yeah. For level one, take that Arcane Vigor. It's true. I healed more with Arcane Vigor.

He's out of line, but he's right. So that's your action to cure Xan, Xantheus? I'm going to... Yeah, I'm going to bonus action kind of, I guess, like flick my shield out so it activates the half cover over Xanthius. So plus two AC and two dexterity saving throws for Xanthius. So kind of like, yeah, I flick it and it goes kuk kuk kuk kuk kuk as these extra plates. Nice.

Very cool. Very cool. That is my turn. Alrighty. You sure does that. That's cool. Daisy will probably hop over this fence. Daisy, grab it.

I'm not grabbing that thing. I'm gonna help Ophelia. This is my Daisy voice. And she's gonna throw a Radiant Blade at the bees. The bees. The bees. Which will hit the bees and do sneak attack damage. I'm just gonna kill the bees and the bees die.

It's like 5d6 damage and I gotta go to a count sheet. I'm like, bees are dead. You did a ton of damage to it. This Radiant Blade just slices through the remaining bees, ungrappling you as you are freed. Thank you for telling me! It's okay, Graff turned the big thing into the little thing. Oh, amazing!

I didn't, Rowan. Nice one, Graff. Oh yeah, Rowan, sorry. Well done, Graff. Sorry. It's my fault, it's my fault. I did it. Percival. You were so cool, Graff.

Percival, stand up. Yes. He is a pro. Percival. You're so cool, bro. Percival, stand up. Yes. He is approved. Half his movement. I think we'll just try and grab the Fire Stoat. Okay, so this is gonna be the... Get a bowl. The Fire Stoat will be making a...

Percy's strength is plus three, isn't it? Yes. And he uses your proficiency bonus, so this is gonna be a DC 15 dexterity saving throw for the stoat. I'm gonna give the fire stoat a plus four. Yeah, I imagine it's pretty dexterous. Yeah, plus four bonus, so I need an 11 or higher. 17.

Percy reaches down and the little stoat jumps on his bony, runs over him, jumps off, he's like, mm, mm, looks behind him, he's like, where did it go? As the little sto is just too nimble to be caught, unfortunately. After Percival, it is Ophelia. Ophelia will, I guess Ron just run back to the group,

just like, where'd it go, where is it? So I'll say like, yeah, I'll replace him with a bird for now. So this thing's like, escaped Percy, is that over here? So yeah, you can, where do you wanna go back to? Like, Xanthias and Groff? Yeah, back to those guys. You've got like 50 feet of movement

before you can get over here. You can do what you want. I don't know where it is, Groff turned it into a thing. Well, do you know which way it went? I heard Percy making noise. Okay, should we go back to Percy? It is over here. I cannot catch it. And then you sort of...

Yeah, you can see it just sort of in front of you, Ophelia. Okay, can I try and grab it? Yeah, so what's your Strength modifier? Strength mod is... You don't need to make a roll anymore. Plus one. So this would be... Plus your proficiency, which is four. So DC 13 it needs to be to try and get away from you.

Which it fails actually, even with a plus four bonus, I roll a five. So you manage to maybe, as it's jumping off Percival, you sort of grab it in midair and you've caught this thing and it's now grappled in your hands. And I would say it's restrained as long as it's not touching the ground. I got it! I got it!

Oh, good job, good job! So that's your action. You've used all of your movement. Anything else on your turn? Bonus actions, no, no, I'm good. Okay, its turn tries to break free. This is why I wanted to have it. Oh no!

Little chompers. So Acrobatics Liss is the same DC, so this is DC 13, another plus four. Fails. It's like wriggling, but you've got this thing like locked in basically at this point. Does it make a save against Polymorph, or is that just what it is for?

I think it's just lasts until the end of duration. Concentration. Yeah. For an hour. Oh, wow, okay. An hour? I don't know that's an hour, but yeah. Yep, but the thing is, is if it takes even a single point of damage, it's broken out of it.

So it's a good use against like this, where like there's no other creatures and it's just like trapped, but it will eventually come back to what it was and it won't be very happy. Zan Zan, the Bam Bam Man. I mean, I'll stand up. Rowan, how long is this gonna last?

What do we do? We have an hour. An hour? I say we put it in a very small hole deep underground and run. When we get an hour away it's just. It works. Okay, what if one of us eats it? Why is that your answer to everything? I mean, it works.

Okay, what if one of us eats it? Why is that your answer to everything? Stuff it down a stope hole. I mean- I assume they burrow holes, like rats. But it's gonna come back eventually anyway. I'm keeping an eye on this thing because this thing can escape, so Zan, what are you doing? I will try to find, like, do we have, like,

in the back of the wagon, some kind of chest or, like, a barrel or... I don't believe you brought one with you, no? You could probably get, like, a feed bag or... Devil's bargain? Yeah, I'd say that, like, yeah, if you want to spend a fate point, you can find, like, a little, a barrel or, like, a little...

Stope barrel. A stope barrel. It's weirdly stoke-shaped. Well, it'd be like, imagine, like, saying you kept your rations in. Yeah, yeah, I would, like, go out and just spill something out into the back of the wagon to have a container. Mark off a day's travel rations for me.

I shall. I mean, they're on the floor of the wagon. They're not like, my meal deal. What, your rations? Yeah. You don't just have food, like, on the floor of the wagon. No, but no, they were in a, wait, I'm marking off, why am I marking off

an entire day of rations? I've marked it off. You've got to empty the food out. Into the back of the wagon. It's still fine. Grain everywhere. You can use that to sweep it up. To over up.

Fine, you keep the day of rations short. I'll be in the shit off the floor all the time. Sure, all right. I'll put it back in. Anyway, I spill that out into the back of the wagon. It's probably gonna be your turn to go up to the wagon. And then I stomp on it. And then by the time you come back,

that's probably gonna be your full turn. We can put it in this, put it in this I stomp on it. And then by the time you come back, that's probably going to be your full turn. We can put it in this, put it in this, shot the lid and then, I don't know, we figure out what to do next. Rowan. I will take the box, I assume. Whatever it is. And I will hold an action until Ophelia can come over and I will close the lid. Well Ophelia will go before it, so I'll say that yeah, basically with this in place, like Rowan grabs the thing, you move close to Ophelia, Ophelia will go before it. So I'll say that, yeah, basically with this in place, like Rowan grabs the thing, you move close to Ophelia.

Ophelia, you run over to Rowan, you stuff the thing in the barrel, close the barrel. And then what? Just eat the barrel in the woods? No, no, no, no. I'm going to eat it. Place it respectfully. I'm just going to go out into the woods.

OK. And start digging a hole. OK. Are you going to, like, how far into the woods? Like, is this like a five minute, ten minute job? Like, just around here? Yeah, you just like, get a shovel. Okay, I mean.

Just start digging a hole. With your bare hands, like, you don't have a shovel. Put the barrel in it, bury the barrel. Sure. Would it suffocate? What do you mean? Because it's buried. Might do.

Mm. Mm. Put a load of rocks on it. Put a load of rocks on it. Put a load of rocks on it, heavy stuff. Trees, there's a fallen tree over there. Put a tree on it. Put a tree on it? I can't move any trees, Ophelia.

That thing can, but I can't. We have to go. I'm concentrating so hard on this right now. Okay, but all right, let's just get out of here, because in an hour, this land's gonna blow. Or sooner. Or sooner. It might suffocate before it does that. Range of it, initial cast, does that matter?

No, it doesn't matter. It just lasts until you, we've gotta go. With that, you quickly mount Rodri and make an escape. Is it furious, is it scratching or is it quiet? I think that as we bring the episode to a close, as you're like, oh, phew, don't have to worry about that again, the wagon into the woods following the river, maybe Colville begins to appear in the distance, and then the camera in the movie scene

shoots all the way back to this little hastily drug hole as the ground just explodes, and this enormous Grove Warden constro hastily drug-holed as the ground just brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr in the direction that you went. How does it know? How does it know? How does it know? Magic is how. Magic. Enraged at the death of its bees, it will give pursuit. Next episode, one of us has to start with a glass of water. It has ripples. My god.

Brrrr. Brrrr. It's said to move it. It's just you do the girl and try to, brrrr. Brrrr. Oh, shoot. With that though, that is gonna be the end of today's episode of High Rollers.

Good job dealing with that. Polymorph is a strong spell to have. Yeah, so good. That's my fourth spell slot gone. Yeah. Wow. It's also a case of there are ways around it. Again, if you're fighting in a group,

just needs to not grow out of concentration and it pops back in. It's kinda like a lot of other are ways around it. Like again, if you're fighting in a group, just needs to not grow enough concentration and it pops back in and so on. It's kind of like a lot of other spells, like banishment and stuff. It's good, but when it works. Very useful, very useful. Same with if you use it on a creature that's got high wisdom or magic resistance or whatever.

But very situational, very effective. And definitely saves you, again, you saw how hard this guy hits and yeah, he's pretty tough. But with that, that is gonna be the end of today's episode. Thank you so much for joining us. Hell yeah. And we will see you next time on Hyrollers. Nice. Bye bye.

Goodbye. See you next time. Bye. Bye.