High Rollers DnD - Ascension Alleycats vs Frosthill Foxes | Altheya: The Dragon Empire #119 (Part 1)

Episode Date: September 22, 2026

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Empire. After their mission into the Opel Lounge, a small operations base for the criminal group called the Diadem. The party retreated to the Ignarius estate in Kelskaris, sending word to various allies to get their help in the ritual needed to remove the cursed diadem tattoo from Xanthius' childhood friend Farrier. On arriving and after dealing with Sir Eldrack's negative reaction to Crownsteel in Farrier's arms, the party spoke with Lord Obsidius, as well as Sister Superior's Malady and Benedicta, making plans for what to do next, and a well-earned long rest was had. During which, Faria and Xanthius spoke on the incident that brought them to their current situations, as well as their plans for the future. Gruffeth and Sister Ophelia

had a heartfelt discussion following Ophelia's recent sacrifice to the grave father. On waking and sensing that the tattoos had been triggered in the night, the party quickly set to performing the ritual needed to break the cursed tattoo on Farrier. An intense, exhausting experience, but thanks to Gruff's mighty will and some help from Malady and Lady Verithera, they were able to successfully break the seal and free Farrier of the diadem. Sadly, before they could do anything more, Alejandro, another diadem agent that they wished to help, his tattoo was triggered and he was killed. preventing revocation. In that moment, however, for Sister Ophelia,

time stood still, and she met with Saint Dethir, the Holy Saint of Death of the Cyanne Church. Ophelia witnessed the saint binding Alejandro's spirits to Althea so he can be reborn, and the pair spoke of Ophelia's past, present, and her future, before the saint was called elsewhere, and time resumed once more. Now, the heroes must keep moving forward,

despite these recent troubling times. A youth hatchball team need their knight-errant coach, and tonight, Varis Evernight, hosts the Ossian fundraiser in the Nightwalk District. And that is where we are picking back up in the session, my friends. It is still, we are still in the Ignarius estate. Sister Benedicta is sort of in the process of gathering Alejandro's, body, you know, preparing to take it and ensure that it is properly given proper burial rights

and properly treated. But this is a moment if anybody has anything they would like to discuss or anything they would like to do before we move on to other things in the session. This is an opportunity to do so. You would all notice that Farrier approaches Xanthius and sort of whispers something to him. The two go off to have a quiet conversation elsewhere, which we will revisit when Tom is back as a little bit of a flashback, but the two of them seem to disappear off to have a more private conversation briefly. But if there is anything that you guys would like to say or do or talk about or set into process before we move on, you only have a couple of hours before gruff is needed elsewhere, but this is the time to do say. So is it just a sudden,

the four of us, so Gruff, Aphelia, Daisy, and Rowan in the room. I think that, yeah, like, Lady Verithira will make her way out to kind of give you guys some space. She can see that Farrier and Xanthia are having a bit of a chat, so she kind of takes, makes an excuse to sort of get herself gone for a few moments. Benedicta will take up the body of Alejandro, and if there is no sort of requests for her to stop doing that, begin preparing that to take that off to the temple here in the city. Malady will happily leave you, unless you guys want to, you can just quickly grab them if you do want to speak to them about anything.

I think let's have this the four of us for now. Okay. So I imagine things are going on. Gruffs maybe, because he's probably still just wiped from doing the ritual on Barrier. I'd like to think he's maybe got a hot flannel just like on his forehead. And when it's just the four of us, I'll be like, right, I've actually been meaning to say something to all of you.

So, shame, Zantanthius isn't here right now, but we can catch him up later. I've been having a bit of a think with all this stuff that's going on. And the stuff that we found out in the Opel Lounge, that letter we found with, what's it, Calanxas. Calzanus. I'm so disappointed. I'm so desperate right now. It's okay, graph. It happens to results.

Right, yeah, it's been a long day. It's only 7 a.m. It's been a long day. It's not 7 a.m. It's 9 a.m. It's not 9 a.m. It's not 10 a.m. It's nearly late afternoon. It's like 1 p.m.

We did the ritual by midday. It's about midday. By the time we got to bed, we did the ritual by midday. Is this Kim speaking or is this graph? I don't know. Right. No, more seriously.

Okay. I've been trying to figure out the bigger picture. Obviously, Oryganis is behind a lot of what we're dealing with right now. This is brand new information. The penny drops for Rowan. What? And I've been thinking, we haven't met him. We don't know much about him. Zanthius. Poor Zanthius doesn't know much about him. But the people we have met, we've met Rex and Asa and Cicere, you have seen this Oretheia.

or thea yes and we know now of this calzanus who's been having some dealings with the diadem and trying to bring a shipment year

so what do we know about them Rexenath was experimented on made superhuman strength had crown steel embedded in his body had this he was I guess the

the force you know the the killer the murderer the strong arm for Organes. This daughter, you say, she was asking about necromancy. Yes. Right.

And I imagine Calzanes asking for a shipment, right? Probably crown steel. Could be something else. This broxton brass quill trying to get his knowledge on rare minerals. We saw what he was doing with that, uh, altharite. in the Azar step. And we know Oregonus has been gathering rare crown steel,

high-quality crown steel to him. Xanthius has a piece in his chest, and it's very clear that Oregonus wants that. Not Zanthius, he wants the crown steel in his chest. So, my impression is, Oregonis clearly is a puppet master. He doesn't get directly involved. We haven't seen him.

We've seen his children who he uses as tools. So what can he be doing? Trying to gather high-quality crown steel. Trying to gather expertise on necromancy. And knowing what we know about his experiments on Rexanath, I think there's a possibility. This could be way, of course. He's trying to bring someone back.

and control them using his crownsteel and his knowledge of what he was doing to Rexenath. That's, uh, I mean, I wouldn't put it past someone like Oroganus, based on what little we know. I also think that it's power. But I don't think it's power. I don't think he wants to rule. He's a puppet master. He works in the shadows. I think he will have.

It is about someone to control, to rule, but he's in the wings, if that makes sense. If I may offer an alternative, just to play with if we're playing with theories, what if he is a puppet master, likes to be in the background of things? Do you know, who else likes to be in the background but have huge influence on things?

Gods? Hmm. Pyrus, Melia. Their influence is seen... Sovereign. Sovereign. Yes. But not immediately.

Seen directly. What if all these experiments are an attempt to reach a level of power like that? I do think he's not involved for now, but that's because he still has puppets that he can use. I think if it came down to it, I worry about the kind of power that he does have. Oh, it seems... If he's got this power at his disposal...

I agree. It's just... It's the necromancy. Yeah, that's the puzzle piece that doesn't quite fit. It's true, that is worrying. So I'm wondering... Remember Raxanath? Poor Raxanath was desperate. We needed to kill him in a way that he could not...

Be brought back. ...be brought back. Because what of his father... Obviously, we originally thought because he would interrogate, him, find out what he knew about Santhius and us, or that he would put him right back into this path of being a murderer,

being a killer, and he didn't want the experiments anymore, he didn't want we thought that, but I thought, what if it's just, he doesn't want to be another experiment in being brought back in being, I don't know. Maybe he doesn't want any of his puppets to be completely free. If his puppets die,

he can't use them anymore. Maybe he wants a more permanent way. Maybe he wants to try and get around every way. If he can't, if, if, if, if Rex was saying we need to make it so that he can't be brought back, what if he's trying to find a way that we could bring, he could bring him back

even after this? And he's searching for answers about how to do that from, from a hero. There is a world that you've seen it. You've seen me do it with Percy. I can attach a soul to a vessel. Maybe he's doing something like that. But that's with faith to the grave father.

Yes, but if it can be used in the wrong hands... It's terrifying. Maybe they're trying to... Maybe they're trying to learn how the grandfather does that, but how they can apply it without that faith, without the grandfather. Maybe he's trying to do something like that, but with sovereign. Well, actually, I was thinking about... Who else do we know?

is a powerful figure from history who currently is dead. Galdvassar. Galvassar is one. Oh. The empress. And the empress is another. But there's nothing left, surely. Maybe that's why he's trying to find out what necromency is capable of.

Maybe he thinks that there's some kind of a secret, that if he puts it together with the experiments that he he's been doing. Maybe there's something that would. Even with Saint Detheir, if there's, if, you know, souls can be brought back. She brings them back to Althea. If souls can be attached to a body, a physical vessel, who knows what they can be capable of. Who knows who we can bring back? We could bring back anyone. But also do we know that the Empress is dead? Is anyone else feeling like they've got a cold sweat and that their palms are really sweaty and that Maybe everything's a little overwhelming,

and I just wanted to be a bard and play some nice tunes and enjoy my rocks, and now were meddled in affairs where there's a puppet master in control of so many people, and they're willing to experiment on their son, and there's crown steel and sovereign, and we're talking about gods. Yeah.

And we're in the middle of it. I think we're quite in the middle of it yet. In two hours' time, you've got a match of Hatchball. That's very true. You're discussing Crownsteel. We have to go to the ball. We have to go to a park. I haven't even started getting ready. We have to get dressed on ice and go somewhere and...

We've got to pick up our clothes. At least we know that the diadem don't mess with the Ossian embassy. They said that they don't... But who attacked the Ossian embassy before we got here? Great question. I don't know. It could have been more of Oregonas' puppets. We don't know.

Maybe. Aura's visit was a new tactic to get in. Maybe they've tried something in the past and attacked, and now they're trying something else of being like, oh, hello, we just want to come and say hi, la, la, la. This is all fine, and maybe they're trying that approach now. I think I just wanted to bring it up before the ball tonight because it just felt important to just start to try and put this together.

I think whatever happens tonight, we can rest assured that, this daughter is going to be there. Yes. So if we can try and find out what exactly she's trying to find out and then there's this

Calanis has got this shipment again I think that will be another piece of the puzzle. Is it Crownsteel? Is it something else? And I think that will hopefully start to bring things together and also I do wonder if we need to

I meant what I said did the Empress actually die people say she disappeared yeah well just on a law front it would be very common public knowledge the Empress was killed

it is not that she just vanished there were remains you don't know what happened to those remains you don't know what you know it was all very much handled this was about five six years ago it was all handled by the worm guard by her inner court

by the throne watcher who's basically was her steward, her Seneschal, who is now kind of looking after Kelskaris and sort of managing the arch dragons. But they, I mean, there was a funeral. It was like she, it was said, it was like word was spread around. She was dead. She was killed.

It wasn't that she just vanished. I row that back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Her body. We don't know where her body is. But there may be someone who does. And that is Malcolm Toon. Right.

He's the head of the watchtower, right? Well, maybe we could talk to him about all of these theories, because it seems like they're probably investigating all of this as well anyway. And if he knows where our remains are, it might be a wise idea to just get some extra guard in there or something. Yes. But also, so I just thought it would be a good idea so we can keep our eyes open at the ball tonight.

the ball tonight and then going into this delivery trying to figure that out. I just think there's something big here. Yes. We've seen pieces. We know of organis from his children. So just keep an eye out. And then I think there was something about Calzanes. That was it.

His experiments on Faria. Hmm. There's probably more to be learned there as well. Perhaps Calzanes's organises, scientist or something, where he's getting all his knowledge from. The children are tools, right? Unfortunately, yes.

Some willingly, some not so willingly. What do we do at the ball when we see Zanthius's siblings and Zanthia sees his siblings and they see him and this is just a very, it's probably gonna be the most awkward reunion, dangerous reunion. Yes. Ever.

We find each other. We stay together. We can't separate and we can't let Zantheis walk off on his own. No, we do not lose sight of Zantheus. At all. We also need to figure out this to do about Fricks. I don't know what to do about Fricks just now. I don't know. We have time right now.

We need to keep it in mind, though. We will. I just hope she's safe, and I hope the diadem don't get to her in the prison. She's tough. Well, yes. I'm concerned about Briggs. However, it is the worm guard we're dealing with,

and like Obsidious said, as much as I was smartly perturbed with the mannerisms and tone. He's not getting pastries again for a while. Good. He's right. It's the wormguard, it's law. And if Bricks is safe anywhere, it's in a wormguard prison.

We can hope. But maybe I'll try and talk to Malcolm and Mr. Tooms and see if there's anything that he can do. We should probably talk to him after everything that happened anyway just to check in. But we don't maybe want to annoy the wormguard that you are right. We shouldn't annoy them, especially before the ball. and there's hatchball, and there's a lot still going on.

And we don't want them to be all over us if we're trying to get this shipment as well. We don't really want eyes on us right now, especially not you, Graf, you were spotted. Yeah. I think, for my sanity, so I don't unravel. You need some pastries. I need pastries, but also I need to keep my proximity.

close. I only care about you lot. And I can only care about you lot. To do more than that would overwhelm me. I care about Xanthius. His father, yes. He's a puppet master. But what can old Rowan do about that? Make sure Xanthius is safe. Let's care about him. Let's care about you being a coach and let's care about Ophelia attending a ball. Beyond that, Othe will keep moving forward and we'll do our best. But let's just look out for each other first. Agreed for you. Nobody goes off on their own. Right, I'm just going over to Hatchwood training. We're coming with you. Why were we not? What if we could help? We could help. I don't suppose anyone in the last few days has learnt And how best to play Hatch Ball?

No, I've never seen it. Sorry. Sorry. The whole... Wait, what? The whole stealth mission. What? Oh yeah.

So, off your ritual, after everything went so well, half well. But it went well, Saint Athia spoke to me. Oh, okay. Just a casual pop-in. She was very nice. Oh, I suppose she was here for Alejandro.

Yes, his soul is tethered to Althe, so he will come back. I saw it, I witnessed it, he is safe. Yeah, Saint Athia is very nice. Oh really? Why was she... I'm... Speaking to multiple gods at the same time, Ophelia, what's happening? Yes, it's interesting, isn't it? isn't it? Well, because of my close connection to death, it would seem that St.athia just wanted to say hello.

She spoke about my parents. She said that the great father wasn't the one who specifically brought me back to life and that I owe everything and my soul and my heart to him. Rowan's leading in. He's not the only player, I suppose, in my game of life. How does that make you feel?

I'm really confused. But did it feel nice? There was none of the groveling and the... Like, I didn't feel bad when she spoke to me. Do you feel bad every time the Greyfather speaks to you? There's not. There's always something. You know, there's always a... You've done a great job, now do this and other thing.

You know, it's work that never ends. I thought you didn't have to work and you were against work. Yeah. It seems like a lot of work and groveling, Ophelia. It's a lot, it's a lot. I think Daisy, you get the sensation, maybe not words, but you can feel NIM. And this conversation, there is this kind of sense within you

when you said that, like, you know, it's a lot of work, like it seems like a lot of thing. There is this kind of almost sensation that, yeah, like NIM's agreeing with you. Not necessarily about the Grafathers, just about the plane of powers in general, that, like, yeah, like, regardless of what God or which power or which realm you're from,

like, that's what Nim was. Like, Nim was an eternal soldier, and you can sense that they definitely have this, like, listening to this conversation, there's definitely a connection there of, like, yeah, like, that's what the planes do. Like, that's the sacrifice you make. Would, if you worked for another God,

maybe there wouldn't be quite as much, like St. Dithere. That's still very much about death. Maybe you could, maybe you could just pivot. You know, that's still your interests, but maybe less of a being constantly groveling to someone. Yes, but I'm kind of more physically attached to the grandfather now than I was previously. Where is he, on you?

Well, I gave a piece of me to him. We knew that, right? No. No, not, but... What do you mean a piece? Rowan is scanning Ophelia's body to see what's missing. Oh, it's all here, just not inside me.

What? I gave him my heart. Your heart? But you need that. We need those! I don't. Look at me go! But...

Why? Give, um, Rowan and Daisy, and Graff technically, you can choose either an insight or a perception check, or a medicine check, actually. Can we do fate? Oh, yes, let's roll fate, sorry. Would you like a boy? Oh, my Polly wasn't. Uh, yeah, let's do fate first.

Ah, three. Shit, that's one for me. I'm rolling like Tom. No! Or two. That's another one for me. You're using some space. Quachow.

you. That's another one for you. Well, we can't be Stevens today. That's a one. Oh, that's a lot of. Okay. That's right. It's three to two. Oh, wait. What are we? And so this is either perception, insight, or medicine. I'll let you pick. That's a net one. Oh, Rowan, you can believe whatever. You can be like locked in on this. A 16. 16. What skills did you, perception for 16? 26, and I'm going to go medicine. 26 medicine. That makes sense actually. So Daisy, with a 16 perception, I mean also you have NIM, right, who enhances your senses in strange ways sometimes. Oh, I could boost that actually. Hang on. Would you like to? You can spend one of your side points or your radiant points, your NIM points. Is it reflavoured?

I'm proficient, so it can't be below a 10 actually. No, and you can still add your sign-like going. So it's 19. 19? 26. That makes a lot more sense because you almost feel like NIM's connection and NIM being once a scout, being a ranger kind of type who, you know, keeps an eye out for danger. Your hearing seems to expand. You can hear there's like a fly outside the window

and you can almost hear it. You hear a heartbeat in Ophelia, but it's very, very slow. Like thump, thump. Oh, okay. So physically you think that there is an organ there, at least. But her body is not acting in a living way. It is, well, it is, but it's so close to death, right?

And Gruff, last night when you hugged and you touched Ophelia with that medicine check, she was very, very cold, but there was the faintest hint of a pulse. and if she was dead, like, if there was no heart, like, you know, there would be no blood, going to, you know, you do think the two of you, you know, and Ophelia obviously believes that she's physically given up her heart. She has no way of knowing elsewise. But you don't think it's like a physical,

like you don't think her physical heart is missing. You don't think. Based on your perception, based on the medicine you made when you were speaking last night. You still have a, Heart. I do. Well, I can... Nym is sort of helping me, but I can kind of still...

There is... It's a very slow heartbeat, Aphelia, but it's still there. You do have a pulse. Again, it's like... It's very slow. Oh. Two, three. It's...

Not very... Oh, there it goes again, you know. It's not natural. No, very, very slow. Maybe that's why St. Othier paid me a visit. I still ask the question, why? Because I was weak.

When you saw what I did with glitter in the airport lounge, doing that brought me very close to death, shockingly close. It was only sheer luck that I survived and glitter got to be sent away. And why did you do that? Because of Nixomist, I had to find a soul to replace the one, or to replace Nixomis' soul that I lost. You were tasked? I was tasked, yes, by the grandfather.

And he, after I completed my task, and he spoke to me so highly, I felt compelled to give something of myself to him. So he didn't ask you to, you just freely gave it? Well, he asked. Well... But... Anyway, that happened. And you feel okay? I feel fine. I feel good.

Yes? Yes. I'm just a bit... I'm just confused as to why St. Ethia would even think of paying me a visit after all the things I said about her. I thought she'd be angry. I thought she'd come to smite me or something, but... Well... I'm quite shocked that the opposite happened.

really. Look at the Greyfather. They don't exactly emote the same way we do. No, I guess not. Not all gods demand a penance. That's also true. I don't know what penance means. That's okay, Rowan. I'm not a gruff. Penance. A punishment, an offering. Yeah. I just feel a bit odd. I suppose. Why, why would she even do that. Why would you? Maybe she senses that there's some kind of indecision within you. Maybe. Perhaps you just merely wanted to make sure you, you the truth. Yeah. Gods are funny things, aren't they? But at least the plain ours are. Yes, they are. I was just talking about my proximity, Ophelia, about looking after my friends and the gods have come back

into the conversation. Always the gods. Why is it always the gods? I don't know. I don't like it. It's too, that's too big. Can we just? Yeah, I'll shrink.

Shall I bring it down? Yes. Okay, okay, I'll, I'll shrink the bubble. No, I think the eyes are on you. Then you're very important, clearly. But why? I don't know. I don't understand.

Well, I know. Maybe it's because St. Peter's job is to help people when they pass and you have a you have some kind of a connection and a really a great respect for death Ophelia. Maybe

that's something that St. Dothier admires about you. St. Dothia was a person like us once. Was she? She was? I guess you wouldn't know this story as Ophelia but Gruff, Rowan and Daisy would all, all of you would know, the basic story. Saint Dethea was the first Scion, the first saint, sorry, not

Zion, the first saint, the first divine saint. It was during the bright storm, during the equinox war against the protomagai, when sovereign conjured the bright storm and sent their mad heralds to ravage the world and to kill the living creatures that the gods had all created together, to wipe out life and Althea. Dethea was, I guess, she would have been one of the great ancestors of orcs, of that, the shape that mortal form took is closest to what would be a modern-day orc. And she was a hunter in those early primitive days. You know, before there was language, before there was magic,

when there was really just kind of Garden of Eden, but was skilled with a bow and took up her bow, again, creatures far greater, far stronger, far more powerful than she, and brought her people time to try and escape, to try and flee. For this, her face was incinerated, her head burnt from her body by these creatures, but still blinded, even with her face, you know, melting away, even blinded, she continued to fire her bow, just trying to buy time. It was Pyris and Malir who witnessed this.

And when sovereign had been sealed in the crown, when the people were safe and being returned to the renewed Althea, thanks to Althea's sacrifice, they found her dying, weak, but still alive. And she was deemed to be worthy and taken up into the stars and bound with their essence and granted a sliver of divest.

And she was charged then by the Sions, by Pyrrhus and Malia. We shall keep vigilant over the crown. We shall watch over they who bring destruction. We need a shepherd. We need someone to protect the souls of this world as they die, as mortals die, to prevent them falling into the clutches of the planar powers. You have proven yourself worthy to this, this is the task we charge you, Archer.

You shall be Saint Dothir, and death will be your realm. And that's what you would be taught. Dethia being probably the most famous saint, being the first, but also being the one that people are most aware of. Everybody must face death. And it's a common phrase within the empire. If somebody has like a near-death experience, they might say, oh, I felt the archer's eye on me,

felt St. Dothier taking aim at me. And that is to mean that you feel death. Some people even claim to see her when they have near-death experiences. They might see this dressed in a sort of fine, noble dress, skeletal face, but long hair tusks drawing a bow, basically in their direction. But yeah, but the three of you would know that story. But I feel like in that moment we take it to, tell the story to Aphelia, like, together.

The end. So I think that there might be a great deal that you actually have in common. Maybe she sees something in you that's similar, respectful of the dead. Interesting. Also a warrior who puts herself, you know, puts others before herself.

I would like to speak to her again. She just seemed very nice. Well, you don't need to almost die to do that. I'm sure St. Dyshe... Yeah, I'm too busy to die. I have too much to do. They have a slither of divinity. If they want to reach you, they will. Please don't do that again. I won't be in any hurry to do that. I have too much to do.

Good. Also, I'm sick of God's meddling with my friends. So... If it helps, I haven't had anything. Good. And I used to go to the church. as a little boy. Yes, well, maybe that's what gods should be. They should provide and not take.

I like the ones that leave us well alone to be us. Yeah. What I will say for Ophelia, something that De Thier mentioned, but also something that I think you would become, it would be clear to you. Detheir came to you when Alejandro died. And from the story that you've just heard, that seems to be when she draws close.

is when someone dies, she aims and fires her arrow. If you wanted to, she seems to be aware of you. And if somebody dies near you, you could speak her name and try and call out to her, could try and speak to her. But it would need to be the moment after somebody fully dies. Okay. So something to keep in mind.

Yeah, that's awesome. With that, you hear a clock chime as the hour reaches 1 p.m. I'm late for the ball. You're late, well, you have an hour to reach the stadium before the pregame begins for Hatchball. Right, well, I need to go and see to my team. You need to pick up outfits.

Yes. Somehow we also need to get in touch with Mr. Tooms. I'll tell Zanthius to send a message. I feel like Mr. Toombs would know if we wanted to get in touch with him. Well, nevertheless, we can get Zanthius to send him. a message, right? Yeah, we can. He can do it, I think.

Once he's done with Farrier. He can do send in, right? Yes. I don't know if he can. He has a scroll. He had a scroll. Oh, he has a scrolling. And he had stone to obsidious.

That's only for, I mean, to obsidious. But we can just say it would not be hard. You know, it sounds like Tumes has been keeping an eye on you, or at least Watch Tower have been keeping an eye on you. Would they perhaps have given us a way to like, you? I don't think so. I think that they are in a spy, in a spy, In a spy way, somebody will come and find you.

Probably darling, probably darling would come and find you when they are available to. Yes. So you could leave like a trace. True, I could just leave a little. Although any thief that, you know, it could be also gangs and things like that. Maybe I've heard of said it.

Hi, Mr. Toome. Leader of the Watch Tower. Please. Let me make this easier for you guys. You don't have to talk. Watch Tower will come and find you. When they're ready to talk, they'll come and find you. and they also would be aware that you have other things to do.

In terms of picking up the outfits and things like that, you will have plenty of time. The hatchball game won't go that long. So this is a thing that, and again, based on what Rowan's saying of wanting to stick together, Xanthius can also come with you. I'll just, he'll fall asleep during the game because he's not particularly, it's very in character. There are, you will be able to assist if you go to the hatchball game.

It is obviously optional, but there will be ways for you guys to be involved, both as characters and as players. So don't feel like you have to run off and do things separately if you do want to stick together. You tell me what you guys like to do. We know where Groff's going. Home. Where do you want me, Gruffeth? Coach?

Coach? Well, if, yeah, I always need assistant coaches. I'll get the orange slices. Orange slices. Very important. I'll get the sponges. Annoyingly, the uniforms. I didn't get them done in time.

It threw me in a way in. Wait. Okay. Don't think about it. Remember, it has a duration. We didn't get the drawings. They're on a spree. You cannot fabric, sprew fabric.

What if I do her really big? No. Folded fabric and then we cut out. Also, we haven't had the drawing from Vinora. You didn't have to stitch them together as well, and you don't have the logo design. I need Vanora's drawing. It's important to her.

I'll see the drawing. She hasn't drawn it yet. Right. I am telling you now, Chris Trott Performance of Creation cannot make 11 outfits for a sports team. Rowan! No. No idea. How about if I draw a banner, you can make it even bigger.

Big banner. A banner is acceptable. A banner would be good. Big banner. So is... Situphelia? I will be happy to assist. I can also animate it.

Thank you. Okay. Wild cat. With, an alley cat that roars on the banner. Rally cat. Ar-a-R. Ascend. With, with that, you guys, leave the Ignaris estate.

Having left your things in a fair, we'll say that Zanthius Farah finished the conversation, Xanthius a little bit quiet is gonna come with you, definitely in his own thoughts. He's very oddly quiet today. He's not like him. He is oddly quiet today. And you guys make your way into the path of ascension,

which is very easy to find. You are rushing at the last minute. And as you try and get in, sort of in the back end, you can see the stadium is filling up. It looks like it's maybe used as a tourney grounds, but it's been adapted for this particular championship. And you do have to sort of like convince your way through, but you are eventually let through,

with Gruff mentioning that he's the coach of the Alley Cats. And you are led through. You're sort of led through the back way of the tourney grounds. So you're kind of going through these like canvas-made, into like these little areas underneath the seating, underneath the kind of tawny stadium. And eventually you come to one of the sort of like large locker rooms where when you open the door,

you see a lot of very anxious looking young sort of teens to young adults who are like, oh, you see like Tristan will say like, oh, there you are, coach, we're beginning to worry. We weren't sure where you were. I'm really sorry we had another mission it overran

It was something bad It's all right What? Nothing No we were just We were a bit worried I mean we still have some time Before the game but

Yes we just didn't And you can see that they're all sort of like Looking around at each other That they weren't a hundred percent sure If you were going to show up or not I am your coach I said I would be here I will always be here

Guncher We'll just say, like, oh, well, it's good to have you here now, Coach. We've got a bit of time before the game begins. If there's anything, should we... Is there anything we should be aware of? Obviously, we've been practicing all of our drills with the communication and things, but should we be doing anything different? Is there anything you want us to change?

Okay, so we've practiced a couple of the position changes. So, Pippa... I can't remember what I said. I'm sure I write it down to... somewhere but I think I swapped Pippa to be... You definitely didn't swap Pippa. Okay. Because Pippa would not be a good defender.

She's currently a striker. She would not be a good defender. No, I swapped Guntram to be a defender. Yes. I believe you moved... I've got Pauly and Pippa working together. Tristan... Tristan was a defender and you've moved him to strike her now. Yes, yeah, that was the main change remained.

Those were the kind of things... The main changes that... that I made. Mm-hmm. Um, right, okay, um, so we've made a couple of changes. Yeah. Stick with those for now. I didn't want to make too many changes.

The main thing I want to hear today is communication. We've got our new system with Paulie and Goblin. Alec! And she says one of the goblin words for like, just go, you know, and everyone's just like, yes, Pauli, me know, Alec, yes, we know. Exactly, there we go. Thank you everyone for working on that. One thing, I found out a little bit of information

about our opposition. So, their star player is Svarns Farnson. So we're playing the Frosthill Foxes. Have you guys played them before? Hawkins will say, like, yeah, we played them early on in the championship. Like one of the sort of, you know, you play most of the teams a couple of times. But, you know, yeah, we've played them before. Okay, so you've got an idea about them.

Yeah. But here's the thing. They're not going to have an idea about you now, okay? Especially with some of our team changes that we've made and our tactics communications. They're still going to know I'm the best. Obviously. So they're going to mark me all the time,

they're going to be on my case, like... And that's what I want to do to them. Their star player, Svarns, Svanson. I want that player to be mocked. So, Polly and Pippa, you're mocking him. Okay. Sure. There's also Darren and Karen, who are the defenders.

You see Guntrim nods. Yes. pair of dwarven twins. They're very difficult, very hard to get past. Guncham, in your opinion, who on this team is good to mark them? Well, they're defenders, so it's a bit tricky. They'll come for whoever.

If we're making an attack on their goal, those two will come at us pretty hard. But... I don't know about marking, Coach, but they're quite... Both of them are very... Well, they're dwarves like me, right? so they're quite slow and they're quite heavy,

but they're very proud. If I could make a suggestion, Hawkins and Pippa are very good at insulting and winding people up. I think that these two dwarves would kind of be quite annoyed, and maybe we could use that against them somehow. Okay, so perhaps Pippa and Pauly, because I want you both working together, and Hawkins. So we just, what, make fun of them and get a man.

Well, I want you working together to get through their wall. So Hawkins, you are working on getting through their wall. Pippa and Pauley, you're working on wearing them down. Alright. Okay, yeah. I could deal with that. Working together. Okay? Okay, so if that's taken away the people I wanted to mark Svansfanson... Hawkins is like, right, you two Pipsqueets, you heard the coach, you take care of them, you get them rolled up, get them distracted,

I'll get around, score all the goals. And Pipp is just like, what if they're marking you? If they're marking you and I'm free, well, then you get rid of them and then I'll score another goal. Orkins. What? If they're marking you and Pippa is free, repeat after me. I pass to Pippa. Piper.

Louder? I'll try and pass to Pippa. Louder. I thought you were a locker room leader. I'll try and pass to Pippa. Rough, he said try. Right, once more without try. Well, hang on a minute. What if she's only little?

Listen to the coach. Behave. Surprising things come in small packages. Give me a persuasion check with advantage because Ophelia's kind of leaning in. He's terrified of Ophelia. He's kind of like, he doesn't like Ophelia and he is a little bit scared of Ophelia.

Moral coach over here. He did intimidate him last time. He's not forgotten. 19. If she's open, I will pass to Pippa. There we go. That wasn't so. No, was it?

Better than passing to Tristan. I... O'ey! You... What? Are you two getting along now? I think I solved that room, right? We... well, he's not shit, and he actually plays the game now, so...

You know that, Tristan? Yeah, you're not shit. Oh, that's cute. He's like, I will do my best. Just today? Yes. And the other games that Gruff needs you for? Is there anything else?

All right, since I'm taking Pipp, but I'm Paulie way to work with Hawkins, I need two to mark the Svarns-Farnson. Well, don't forget this would be like if they're defenders, then you don't have to necessarily worry about their strikers and stuff as much. You know, it's kind of like, you know, bouncing back and forth. So, you know, if you're making a play on attack, then you probably do want Pippering and Pauli to still try and, you know, get into Svarn's grill. But if they're attacking you guys, then it's actually more about your defenders

then trying to mark their strikers and stuff. Okay. I like to have a triangle so the goalie comes all the way up to the front. Nice. And then you try and score as a goalie. And then I'm going to park the wagon. Yeah. Cool.

Yeah. Give me, last thing, Graf. Just make an insight roll. Just straight insight roll. You can add fate to it if you like, but I'm not going to give you advantage on this one. Okay. Insight... Thirteen. Thirteen.

Fourteen. Fourteen. So, I have here the stats for the ascensionality caps. and the opposition. Now, what I'm going to say is as you are coaching this team and as you've already done certain things, every single player has stats. They have their physical and mental stats,

like Strength Dexcon in Wiz charisma. Those will come into play as they play the game. However, they also all have traits. And these traits will either give them advantage or disadvantage, give them penalties, you know, bonuses, depending on what they're doing based on their play style. most of these players before you started teaching had a trait which was called uncertain. Now, if a player is uncertain or unsure, they have disadvantage on everything, basically,

because they're just, they've not been inspired, they're not feeling like they're playing at their best, or they're not in the best positions and things like that. What I will tell you, with only a 14, it's not very high, what I will tell you is you believe that Guntram, Pippa, Paulie and Hawkins, certainly, they definitely aren't uncertain anymore. Guntram, you think that's been a big change. You think if you'd left him in his previous striker position,

he probably would have remained uncertain, but he's no longer uncertain because he's in the right position. Other players may have had their traits adjusted as well. I'm not going to tell you those just yet. I don't think it's too much to tell you that some of the other traits I will tell you. Hawkins, for example, has the train's talented, arrogant. and proud. Talented means he has advantage on, like, shoot, past, tackle, and intercepts, basically.

Sorry, no, talented means he can re-roll those a certain number of times a day. Aragon and proud will give them advantages and disadvantages based on certain things that happen as well. So they can be good, they can be positive, and they can be negative as well. So there's all these different traits. As you continue coaching them, you will be able to remove negative. traits from the players, you may be able to add positive traits to the players depending on what you do with them. For example, Pippa once had a trait which was uncooperative. She no longer has that trait because you've worked on her communication with her rival.

So things like that. Other players will have these traits as well that will come up as they get advantage and disadvantage as they play the game. But that insight role is you getting this sensation that there are right now this team is that this team is, you're going to be a good advantage. is very mixed. There's definitely loud voices. There's people who are very sure of themselves, but there's also a lot of quiet people here. You know, Vinaura, Athana, Barnabas, Emile, Baron. They're all very quiet, just sort of listening, but not having much input currently. A bit of mechanics now as we go into, as the team starts getting themselves together, having had this like chat with coach and everything else. Do I get a chance to do one last speech before we go out?

Sure. Imagine what we do, like I have to warm up and stuff. Sure, let me just do this little bit of mechanics and then we'll jump back to it. For those, for the three of you, for Ree, Trott and Katie, during the game, your characters will have the ability, you have three timeouts per half. You three can call a timeout to give as your character, so Daisy gives a piece of a and you can make a check to try and inspire the team or like make a check to try and point out an advantage

or something like that. Whatever you kind of feel like you really want to do based on how the game's been progressing at that point. But you'll basically have three of these like moments that you can interject and be like, right, I'm going to give you a bonus. No spells are allowed to be cast during the game, so you can't buff them before they go in, for example.

And the way that this is going to work is rather than you guys controlling individual players, I'm basically going to be the commentators for the match. And then things are going to happen and I have like tables, random tables of how the game is going to start going. And then once we get each kind of like section of the game, something will happen where you guys then get to pick, okay, let's have Hawkins run up and try and get the ball

and try and score with it. And then you guys kind of get to decide what the players do from that point on until that's resolved. And then we reset to like the commentator. because there's a lot of back and forth, kind of like a football game. It's two halves. If a role needs to be made, I will make the roll, or you guys will roll the dice, but I've got the modifiers. And so we'll add it to that.

And then we'll just see where it goes from there, basically. Awesome. Yeah, and we'll explain it as it goes. Generally, the way that it works is whoever is in possession is trying to score, and so they are trying to either move, pass the ball, or take a shot on goal. If something misses, there might be a chance to try and intercept it and take possession or if something goes wrong. Otherwise, yeah, if you don't have possession, you're defending, and so you're reacting to what the other team's doing. Cool.

With that, let us, yeah, what did you want to do? So you kind of hear a voice as an attendant will just kind of say like, Ali Katz, you've got three minutes, you've got about three, four minutes before we need to get you up on the pitch. Get yourselves ready. Any last minute prep? Do it now. Okay, gather team. Gather. Gather. Everyone kind of gets up, murmuring. Okay. First of all, I want to thank you for your patience with me being your new coach.

I appreciate. I perhaps don't know a great deal about Hatchball, but you've taught me a lot in the last couple of weeks. You're on the precipice of an opportunity here. You've worked really hard. You've done the hard work. now is about enjoying yourself and putting that hard work into practice. We've changed some things, we have new tactics, they're not the same team that we were in your last game. But I don't want you to forget about your team's history. Don't forget about those losses

because actually it's in losing that we learn how to win. If you don't have the experience of loss, you can't see where to improve, where to get better and what to work on. Sometimes you go through the difficult times of a team, and then you learn and you improve. So take that with you today. All I can ask is for you to give it your role. I can't ask for anything more. Work with each other, trust each other,

trust yourselves, okay? Go, Sandra. Ron is sobbing. Give me a persuasion role. See how inspiring your words are? Perspacian. Perspacian. Oh, God.

How many is it two feet? Two feet left. 14. 14. You definitely, you get through to a few of them. Some of them are a bit confused, like, so losing's good, but winning, but we want to win. So there's a couple of like confused-looking faces, you know, maybe Piper and Pauly looking a bit sort of confused. Bit too literal.

But a couple of them are nodding along, like, kind of like, yeah, yeah, yeah. of like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely still get the impression that a few of the players are very uncertain as they go. However, you finish your speech, they sort of nod. Rowan is clapping and cheering and crying. That was beautiful, Griffith. And you hear a couple of whistles,

and that is the call for them to head out onto the pitch. You will follow behind and take up your position on the sidelines. You see, as I said, what probably would have once been one of Kelskaris' mini tournament fields. several throughout the city, but this one is just built off of the Ascension, the path of ascension, and it's been turned into a hatchable pitch. Grass has been grown through druidic magic. The two arch gates have been erected on either end, and you can see that there is not a packed

crowd, but there is a crowd. It's sizable. There is enough noise and ambient noise to hear it. Lots of parents. Lots of parents, and also you get the sense that locals do come out to support. their sort of district team, but this is not like one of the big final matches. So this isn't like packed to the rafters. You do spot a couple of very tall imposing probably draconic noble figures

sort of up in some fancy box somewhere looking down on it. But as you take your position, magically enhanced voices begin to echo out. As you hear the first of these, Well, good day, everybody. It's a beautiful day. As we are all here for the Aihar Youth Championships, the Imperial Hatchball Association Youth Championships, taking place here today.

We've got a wonderful match. This is between the Ascension Alley Cats and the Frost Hill Foxes. I'm your commentator, Bron Branson, and I'm joined by Clara Cooper. Nice to have you here, Clara. It's an absolute pleasure to be here, Braun. I'm so happy to be here. And, you know, we're really looking forward to seeing how these young sports folks do out there on the pitch today.

It's said that the Alley Cats have had a new coach just come in in the last couple of days, which is going to be very interesting to see their former coach quit on them. And the last minute, we weren't even sure if they were going to make it to the championships today. But here they are, and we're certainly excited to see what. what they're gonna be doing today. That's perfect, wonderful, thank you, Clara. Well, it looks like everybody's gearing up, we've got the two sides lining up on the inside of the pitch.

It's a commentary box. Yeah, and you see that your teams kind of make their way out. Probably, that's gonna happen, I'm gonna lose that. The Irish is hard to keep. Irish is hard to keep. It wasn't Scottish, it's hard to keep. But you see them line up and you see a kind of, probably be a yacht near, like an actual male,

like Yot near Ref wearing black and white, but he is immensely tall compared to these children. Very gently sort of like stooped down to them both. He has the ball in one hand. He sort of tucks it under his shoulder and he flips a coin. Kim, can you roll a D20 for me? This is to see who has possession. A 10 or higher alley cats have possession.

Five. Okay, so the Frost of Foxes are going to start with possession. Hawkins calls the coin flip. but loses on the coin flip, and so possession is passed to the Frost Hill foxes. Now, bear with me as... The spreadsheets. Spreadsheets coming to play.

So the game begins. Svarns Farnson, a very long, blonde-haired human, very athletic. You can see him wearing like he's got this white and blue uniform of ice heart. in this really lovely matching kit. The alley cats do look a little bit sorry for themselves and they're kind of rough-upers. But Svansfansen kind of very quarterbacky style like approaches as the kickoff, the handoff begins.

You hear Bronzen's voice as it comes in. You watch as the players begin a sort of very standard back and forth. Oh, I see that we've got Svance Fonson. He's coming up with the ball here. up with the ball here, passing it down to Yancey, Yancey on the other team, passing it down, making a play down the end. You kind of the conversation goes back and forth.

Very aggressive play from the Alley Cat's Pippa, Pippa here coming in, oh no, and kind of like making its way around. Very clearly marking. A lot of good teamwork coming from the Goblin player, Paulie and the young halfling Pippa on the Ascension Night Cat. That goblin, we've seen them in the past, very cuddly. Normally these two are at each other's throats, but they actually seem to be playing quite well together this time,

Braun. Yeah, just seem maybe the kind of. Coats has managed to get through to them, but they're struggling to get it away from Svarn and his striker team on his other side. But oh, what's this? It looks like Svarn is making a risky pass down to Yancey. This could be an opportunity for the Aliccats

to intercept here. So Svarns Farnson is making a risky pass to Yancey. I am going to roll for this risky pass. If I fail it, then you can choose one of your strikers or defenders to intercept. So an interception role is a de-do-do-do-do-do is a dexterity role. So you have a think about who might be good at those. Maybe after this game you'll learn who's good at these things.

But Svansfhfansen, the star player on the other team, he is going to make a pass. I just need to check one thing for him. He is also talented, so he does have some re-rolls on this as well. well and this is a passing, this is a dexterity check. So, you watch as Svansfhfansen goes to throw this pass, but the little half-ling Yancey is a little bit too slow and this is an opportunity.

So this is going wide, which if potentially could potentially be a case for one of the alley cats to grab and intercept it. So team, who would you like to? Can I ask for a thought? Well, you don't ask, like this is, you just tell me basically, like this is just like, in the moment this is happening, you don't have any control over this, but you guys as players get to pick it, basically. So you just tell me who you want. So you want Athana to try and make the intercept. Okay.

So I would like you to roll a D20 for me. Unfortunately, you are rolling this with disadvantage as Athana is one of the players who is still uncertain. Yeah. I wanted to try and take the spotlight away from my main way for. Oh, you, that's good to do, but that means. means you might not win the game. Oh, a 13 and a 14. Okay, so the 13 is the lowest.

So luckily for you also. Apparently I'm just rolling 14s today. You see that Athana has Elven lineage and she is very quick and has high dexterity. And this pass goes long. It looks like Svanson, he's thrown the pass a bit too long. He's underestimated Yancey speed, overestimated Yancey speed, And it looks like, is that Athana from the alley cats?

She's jumping. What a leap. She's catched at mid-air. My gosh, it looks like possessions turn to the alley-cats. This is going to give them a real opportunity here. So now that you have possession, the second sort of play of the game switches over to you guys' control. So, Athana currently has the ball. Athana is a striker.

So she can move into the goal area and make a shoot. She will need to get into that area, which means that she will need to make a move check. and I will get to try and tackle her. Or you can try and pass it to one of your other players. If you succeed, then they get controlled with the ball, and then I'm basically going to try and tackle them, and they might be better at resisting that. So it's up to you guys what you guys want to want to do.

Also, like, this is not just on Kim, because Gruff is not controlling this. This is the players themselves. So if you guys want to just jump in and be like, I thought it does this. Like, you absolutely can. Like, don't make it too easy for the gruff. Yeah.

We've run the simulation. I think she passes. Yeah. Another striker. Yeah, you can also just decide as a team. Strikers, right? Yes. Do they have good stance for weaving through? Some of them do. Some of them do. Depends on who the person.

Pends on the player. Yeah, I agree with the only ones who are allowed into the shooting zone, basically. So, the defenders can never make a shot goal. So I've got-resist a tackle, basically. I've got Piper and Paulie and Beron, who's a Yotner, is a striker. Give us to the Yotnir, let them charge through to the goal. They might be... They might be one of the uncertains though, so I don't know.

But, you know, can't leave it all to Piper and Paulie, so... And you've got Hawkins. And there's Hawkins as well. And Tristan. Oh, yeah, I changed Tristan to a striker, didn't I? Yeah, I think that maybe Baron isn't a striker, actually, because I've got them down as a defender. Barron's down as a defender.

He was a striker. Yeah. He got moved. Wasn't he because you moved him because he'd be better in defence? I think that's the ones that you swapped with Guntrich actually. Oh, sorry, yeah. Gunchum was a striker. I think Tristan was a striker.

Was a striker and I swapped him to a defender and I need to have a reckoning with his mother. That's the one. Now is it good psychologically for the team dynamic for Tristan to succeed? Oh, yeah. True. Will that cause Hawkins to be pissed off?

Or will Hawkins be like, wow, you did great? And that's gonna boost morale? Gruffeth, only you can answer that question as coach. I can pass it to Tristan. Let's go Tristan. Yeah. You can, that's good. I mean, listen, you can keep leaving your star player out,

but he's your star player for a reason. He's our secret star player. No, actually, I want to get a goal in first, and then we can, like, let's go Hawkins. You're going to pass the Hawkins. I want to get a goal in first. Let the point walk. There is probably what they would do,

like, because that's what they know to do is to pass it to him. So, Athano is going to pass, which is a dexterity role. Now, again, she's uncertain, so it would be a disadvantage. However, she has the trait quick, which means that actually she has advantage on passing and moving checks. This is a straight roll, D20, plus her dexterity. You cannot spend fate on these players. This is just straight roles.

Natural 20. Natural 20. Yes. I'm going to say for that Nat 20, she bypasses the defense, so I'm not going to make a tackle role against the world. So basically, Athana is, and you remember this is not football. This is like kind of American football. So they're throwing it and passing it. She's like darting around and you hear like,

look at her. She's just so nimble on those. I think there's some elven lineage at work here. Because look at these tumbles and these leaps. She's just dancing around the fox's defenses. And, you know, he's being marked by all of their players. I can see Darren and Karen there. They have got their eyes locked on Hawkins.

They know that Hawkins is the top player for the alleycats. But it looks like it doesn't matter because it looks like he has managed to get himself in a position. and what a pass. Look at that. It's sailing through the air. This Elvengal, she has absolutely nailed that. The accuracy needed.

Hawkins has got it, and it looks like he's got an open shot on goal. This could be our first goal of the hatchball match. So, Hawkins now has the opportunity to make a shoot. The only person that can stop this is the defender on the Foxx team, and they literally just try to block it, basically. That's all they can do. So Hawkins has to make a shoot. role. Go for the Jeked shot. The Jeked shot. Yeah, perfectly. So he's not trying to pass to another

player, he's not being insulted. So this is just a straight role. He has one of his traits is if he's getting like shitted on. Or if he's being insulted, he has a problem. That's a debuff. It's a debuff, yeah. So this is just a straight shoot role, which is actually strength because it's thrown. So this is a D20. But because he is talented, you can reuse one of the his re-rolls on this, his talented re-rolls. And I can't use fate on this. No fates, not for these players, these guys aren't you. Fates for you guys, certainly.

God, Horland! Fate is not in their, you know, fate's in your hands, not theirs. Oh, it's a 10. Well, you could use one of your re-rolls. I'm gonna re-roll it, yeah. Okay. How many do you get?

Four. For Hawkins. Well, maybe. Ugh! Got five. A five. All right. So with his bonus, I know what his bonus is.

Well, it comes down to can I block it with the team's goalie. That one, that one. So he's gone. Manifest, manifest. He was too busy thinking about Tristan. Okay, his advantage on this because you see that their player, Braun is like, oh, it looks like Hawkins is being hemmed in. He's got to throw this real quick, and he's up against Roland.

A yacht near goalkeeper, this is an archkeeper. This is gonna be rough. He does have advantage on the block, but is he gonna be able to? Nat one on the first. The second though is much higher. So you watch as he throws it and just from his pure Yotnir size,

Hawkins throw, it's not the best throw that he's ever done. It's not the best, you know, kind of shot on goal. And just using his immense size and the staff that he uses, the Roland is able to block it. Oh, that is unfortunate. That was a great play by the Alley Cats there, but just couldn't sink at home. That brings us to our second play,

so second kind of quarter of the half. So, with that being on goal, possession falls to the foxes again, as they basically do it as a goal throw, and then they get possession, basically. So, do a timeout? Yeah, absolutely, yeah. So, like, you hear like,

Oh, it looks like one of the assistant coaches from the alleycats is calling a timeout. This woman in black, we're not quite sure of the coach who's calling this, but it looks like a timeout's been called. Perfect timing after the goal is going to allow both teams to have a bit of a moment. So you call the timeout, whistles blown, and the team is brought over to you. They're grabbing water and things just like that. HIPPA is just like, Hawkins, what the hell? I can't believe you fuck that throw, you idiot.

No, no, no, that's. Not that. Keep it positive. And like, Hawkins is immediately just like, what the fuck do you say to me, Pip Squeak? Like, you see the size of that guy? How was I supposed? You wouldn't have done anything. All right, enough, enough.

And then, yeah, Aphelia. Don't let that little hiccup throw you off, okay? Have confidence. Just go into the next session. Full speed as fast as you can. And I can use, like, my, like, athletics to try and... Yeah, absolutely. Love that.

Yeah, perfect. Yeah, give me an athletics role. While she's doing that, can I have a fist bump with Athana? Beautiful play Athana. Yeah, yeah. 16. 16. Athana would just say like, yeah, I could see that that pass wasn't going to hit and I, I don't know, I just kind of...

Absolutely perfect. It was, yeah, yeah, it seemed right. And you can see that like she's a bit bolstered, still uncertain. 16 definitely has an effect and the team sort of is just like, whew, and yeah, there's like, people kind of react to gruff and like quite a lot of the team are just like, that That was an amazing, I can't believe it. What an amazing interception. Like, what a great pass. And those dwarves are really slow.

Maybe if we can outspeed them, maybe. And so they start kind of like strategizing on that. And yeah, your effect is going to have an effect on the next play. Cool. Momentum. Okay. So, in this case, okay. The play begins once more.

The Fox Fire, the Frost Hill Foxes. Roland throws the ball down to Svons-Svansen. Svonson begins playing it back and forth. Well, it looks like we're going into, we're coming into the later part of our first half here, and the Alicato had a great shot on goal, but unfortunately blocked away by the archkeeper. And now it looks like play has slowed down.

Both sides are not giving either of them an inch, having seen those amazing interceptions and amazing plays. That's right, Braun. It looks like, I mean, we can see that they're just getting exhausted. Neither side's able to find a foothold. Both are being very defensive. If neither side comes up with a good strategy to overcome this, I think we're just going to be playing out the rest of the half,

and we're just going to have a bunch of very tired players going into the second half. If they can't find a way to break through, either side is really going to have a big struggle in this. So what this means for you guys is both sides are being very defensive. No side's able to quite manage to find a foothold. Both players reacting to the tactics that they've seen, and displayed being very cagey and very coy. So you need something to kind of break it through.

One of the things you can do rather than a physical test is you could have a player try and analyze the team to try and figure out like a tactic to use, or they could try and use their perception to try and spot a weakness or an opportunity to go through. Or maybe they use their charisma to try and insult, provoke, you know, cause the other team to kind of lose their career. But that's basically where we're at right now.

Like you need something that's gonna break through, some sort of play or it could be a creative play like doing something unusual. But unless you do something drastic, this is probably just gonna play out the rest of the half and you're gonna have very tired players. So. Grafers!

Run runs over. Grabs you. We've gotta make them violent. Do whatever. They gotta play Dirty. All right, I wasn't gonna go for Dirty. Just yet, it's not. There's the demon gun.

No, that's broke. Vex broke it. We need to do something, Gruffeth. Okay. So I think in terms of Gruff's character, he wouldn't go for the dirty playing button straight away. Maybe when he's sports-datted up

in the second half. I think he's the kind of guy, like, seven half, it's still going shit. That's when he's like, okay, right. But also imagine that this is like, the game is happening right now. So this is the players also think of it.

So this can be like, you guys taking control over the players who has an idea or who has wants to try and do something, right? I was thinking of calling on Guntram with his tactical little brain to spot like see, see a play, like see a weakness. Sure. Perfect. I love that. Absolutely. Give me a D20 role. This is going to be using Guntram's intelligence to see if he can analyze. Plus five. Predict a way out of this. He's got a 20. Because Ophelia succeeded on her timeout check, by the way, he has a advantage on this role, which he actually has, so you don't need to spend the time out bonus,

because he has the tactical trait. So he has advantage on this kind of role. So yeah, you have advantage, and then we're gonna add his trait. Fuck me! What was it? What was it? Four and a two. Four and a two.

God damn. Get the gun, I say. Get the bloody gun. Bricks broke it. We have to break Ricks out of prison. Got it. Guntram, you see like on the field, the commentators, it looks like the Dwarven defender, Guntram,

I think he's normally a striker. It looks like he's been moved into defensive position. He's trying to call out. He's making some callouts to the rest of his team. It looks like he's got some sort of play in mind, maybe using the young halfling and goblin here to try and break through. But, oh, it's that's unfortunate. It looks like the other team have managed to barrel through

and intercepted whatever he was trying to do. It's not played out. and it looks like the other team have gained possession of the ball because that was a failure. Frosthill Foxes gained possession. Svon Svanson is gonna try and make a shot on goal. So you guys can have your defenders try and tackle him and try and basically get in his way.

So what would you like to do? Kill him. Kill him. You're screaming, that reminds me of medieval times. Kill him, kill him. That would kill him. That wasn't... That was me and Smith.

Kill him. Kill him. Screaming at the night. Kill him! Kids eating their little meal back off to the side. And Mar and Smith. Kill him! They were all behind it.

We got them joining in. They loved it. They were just like, yeah, death. Death! Thud! Yeah, we were like literally like, kill him. Duh! Anytime our night had somebody.

Can I have Baron try and defend? You absolutely can. By tackling? You want to try and tackle with Baron? I thought you're gonna try it. Is he the goal? Who's the Yotnir? Barnabas is my goal.

Oh yeah. Yeah, Barnabas will come into play if this, if he manages to overcome the tackle. I think yeah, Yachter. Barnabes then tries to block it. I've got a blank by Emil, the Dragonborn. What does Emil do? Defender.

But you don't know. I mean, Yotner. Tackle seems like a good. Yeah. Yeah, let's go with Barron. Okay. So, Beron is big, which means that he does have advantage. against smaller players

and Svon is only humans so he is smaller. Crush him! So, Barron is going to make a tackle, give me a D20 roll and I will add Beron's... It's happening. Unfortunately, Beron is very uncertain. He's uncertain, isn't he? This is going to be a straight role,

so advantage cancels out of the disadvantage. It's a straight role plus their constitution. Would anyone else like to roll, not read? Yeah, I mean, you guys can share the roles. A roll with Tom's dice. It's fair. It's fair. That one's the worst I still.

I'll roll with this one. I'll roll it in my tray. Okay. Are you gonna say watch this drive? Watch this drive. 13? 13. 13, okay. 13 is good. Let me see it. I will make a dodge roll.

This is now against Fansfanson's dodge. Fuck it! Go! Get the gun! Break his legs! Break his life! 19 versus 15, unfortunately. Barron goes in big Yotnir, but he's uncertain and sort of almost hesitates

and Svans Fonson does not. This is a star player for a reason. He spins and just jukes around Beron who's kind of left like what just happened and kind of turns behind him and Svon is already basically barreled past. It looks like he's making his way past the other defenders. Gruntram can't stop him.

He's too slow. Svansfanson, he's leapt over. He's making a shot on goal. He's throwing it towards the arch gate. Can the young goalie, can the young archkeeper Barnabas stop him? Come on Barnabas! Barnabas! I am going to spend one of Svance Farnson's talented role on that.

I need to stop saying this about children. Can Barnabas please roll? Fictional children. A D20 for me. Unfortunately, he is uncertain. Disadvantage, please. Who wants it? Don't drop with Dissidvad.

I'll do it. Don't use the chrome steel dice. It's terrible. Not the red one. Use these ones. Sorry, Tom, I know that dice. Two net 20s. The lowest was 11. Okay.

The lowest is 11 for Barnabas? Yes. I didn't roll very well for smarts. It's a beautiful throw, but Barnabas with the stick, he sort of is waiting for this moment, he watches it, he leaps up and with a massive overhand swing, he knocks the ball flying, deflecting away. Deflecting it away.

That was a beautiful shot on the archkeeper's goal, but look at that young Barnabas, the archkeeper. I think that he's the child of another famous hatchball player, is that right? What a beautiful display, lovely, lovely defense. He is his own person now. Rowan shouts up. Doesn't get around to any of the crowd.

But Barnabas has deflected it away. With that, the halftime whistle is Blaine. And that's where we're gonna take our break for today as well. Good timing. As we're gonna take our halftime in half time. Yay! We'll see. As they all come off track, I'll piss bump everyone.

Yeah, you sort of fist bump people. You can see that they are tired. That sort of second half, whereas the back and forth and Guntram's tactical play did not quite play out, they are exhausted that play coming in. However, there is a good bit of spirit. Like a lot of people are clapping Barnabas on the back, like, great, save mate, oh my God.

We would have been like one, well, one, one, one, one down. Like, yeah, great job and, like, kind of patting him on the back as he comes through. And he's like, thanks, guys. And sort of, like, waddling along as his little, you know, chubby bear. But, yeah, you fist bump them all as they come through. Hawkins probably doesn't. He's still pissed at earlier. Like, he's, but you get the sense that it's annoyed at himself as well.

Like, he should have got that goal. And he's kind of like, you see him, he, like, punches the wall as he, like, walks through and stuff. But with that, we're going to take our break, and we will resume. resume Hatchball Game 1 in the second half. We'll see you then. Bye. Stress.