High Rollers DnD - Feyweald Favours (Part 2) | Altheya: The Dragon Empire #82

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

It's time to travel to new planes as Blackwing sends the heroes on a mission to the Feyweald! Altheya: The Dragon Empire Campaign Setting begins in Q1 2026! Register interest and support the journey to release here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rollandplaypress/high-rollers-altheya-the-dragon-empire Can't wait for Part 2 of each episode? Join our Patreon to get early access EVERY week (+ a few other bonuses)! www.patreon.com/HighRollers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ _______________ 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 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

Pickax. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ. Built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence, while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and flow. go. Explore the new Peloton cross-draining tread plus at one peloton.ca.

Is it the matcha or am I this energized from scoring three Sephora holiday gift sets? Definitely the sets. Full size and minis bundle together? What a steal. And that packaging. So cute. It practically wraps itself. And I know I should be giving them away, but I'm keeping the summer Fridays and rare beauty by Selena Gomez. I don't blame you. The best holiday beauty sets are only at Sephora. Gift sets from summer Fridays, rare beauty, way and more are going Fast. Get full-sized favorites and must have minis. Fundled for more value. Shop before they're gone. In-store online at Sephora.ca. an empire. A sermon to the Grave Father has taken place overnight as darkness falls over

ash and rest, and we awake to a brand new day and a new adventure on the horizon. A request has been made, a favor to be paid, and preparations have been completed. Laid. The three rhyming words there. I'm just right, sorry. Wow. Wow. He's contributing. I know. Good job.

Well done. So, what is the, you know, is this a, have a hearty breakfast and then head over to Ravenstar Spire and see Black Queen? We've got scrolls. I mean, you guys didn't grab those. Yeah, so we are grabbing, what, five scrolls. You tell me what, like, the scrolls and stuff, there doesn't need to be a big fancy down about it. If you want to buy... Fancy Dan about it.

No, I don't want to be Fancy Dan about it. Who's Fancy Dan? It's just a guy I made up. He loves making a big fuss out buying scrolls. Fancy Dan. No, you can just... I think Fancy Dan is outside the tavern again. That's always good.

You will not be. I'm having the scrolls, Garrett. How much would it cost us to buy a physical disguise? So a disguise kit will cost you about 20. 25 gold. And that will allow you to make a check to try and build a disguise, basically. But it will be limited in what you do with it.

Right. So you'll need to kind of tell me what your plan is with it. And then when it comes down to it, you'll make a check to see how effective it is. I feel like a disguise kit isn't really going to work on a big lion man to make him look.

Well, I think if you, like you said, it made sense. So I don't think I need one. Yeah. Okay. I'm gonna go magical with it. Okay. Because I'm not proficient in disguise kits.

Herbalism kits. I don't know. Is it a specific thing? Is it a specific thing? It would be a specific thing, yes. You would have proficiency in disguise kit. Herbalism kit? Am I proficient in that?

I am. I don't have one. You could be a big tree. Can I make myself look like a big tree? We've had a big tree. I know what big trees look like. You do know what big trees look like. Very true.

You've seen a lot of big trees. Yeah. They might get a disguise kit. Yeah, just in case we get separated or whatever. Great. Yeah, so you can buy those, that's really no problem. That's really like going around and buying things like makeups and like extra pieces of clothing. You know, probably having, you know, probably like fake elven ears and stuff made. And again, like, you know, entertainers, you can go to like the theater.

and buy things from there and stuff like that. They probably have pieces that you can acquire. So, yeah, the Daisy and Ophelia can buy a disguise kit each, it's 25 gold. And then, yeah, you can go and pick up those scrolls, Xanthias of SkySelf. Yeah, I'm wondering if Alter Self is, like, way higher level, isn't it? It's second level, so it would go up to 300 gold for a second level or spell scroll. Altar Self. I can do that.

Sorry? I can do that, but I've got 30 charges on this. Oh, wait, Altar Self. All the stuff is the same as, it's the same duration, and its concentration, yeah. And it's only an hour, yeah. Is there anything better? There's some high-level bard stuff than, like, high-level allusory spells that can help. Illusory.

Mm. But you probably won't be able to buy scrolls of those, even if you look them up. So unless you have access to it, I think, like, yeah, bards can maybe get some stuff, so. But Rowan again, would need to learn those spells, so. Yeah, okay. It might be a case of just making, make and do. Some disguised selves and... Yeah, we'll get enough scrolls for one and for everyone.

Just remember you can't cast it. If you don't need it, then that's a spare for someone. Well, just remember, Tom, you can't cast it. You can only cast it on yourself. So, for example, Daisy, you wouldn't be able to cast it on Daisy, disguise self. You can't use... Oh, I can't use it, right? Daisy wouldn't be able to use it at all.

Oh. So Daisy's not magical. Aphelia is magical. Yeah, Phelia can cast spells, run, can cast spells, you can cast spells. Right. I guess we're covering you in flowers. I don't have anything else. I think alter self can be cast on other people, though.

So I will do that. Oh, you alter your physical form. Oh, okay, so it's self as well, so. That seems a bit like something should be there. It feels like there should be a spell for being able to do it to someone else. Don't need a disguise if you can't be seen. That's true. Very true.

I mean, yeah, point. I am seen. Yeah. We're going to, like, be snake crawling across the floor. Cambered up, yeah. It's going to be a cardboard box. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

How much for a cardboard box? Does cardboard exist? No. I don't know. You can buy a wooden box. You buy a wooden, great form. Oh. They travel so slowly, though.

Yeah. A great, great way to sneak into a place. You waft so slowly, though. Gash's form, Tupperware. Carry it with you. Yeah. Cost, got. on a jar.

Breathe it in? Yeah, does that work if you're gaseous form and someone who has gust on you? It would just move you. Just waft you, yeah. Yeah, just move you. You wouldn't be able to inhale someone because they still take half damage.

So if they're in like your guts and bits and it still hurt. But I think you could put them in like a jar and then carry somebody in a gaseous form in a jar and then when the spell ends, they would just break out of the bit. Poca balls. That's how you can make Pokemon and DMB. Kind of this. Do you get jarred?

You could put me in jar. Come on. It sounds like you got some options. Yeah. Sounds like you got some options. It's a good emergency option, I guess. No, I think it's option one. If I get caught, then I can't do anything, so.

I mean, let's see. See what happens. I don't have any options. Didn't we try and do that distraud? Yes. Like he came through a door as a gas and we tried to come in a container. There's a lot to get in there. You have to really.

It's a lot man, boy. Or a huffin. Well, either way, pass away a trace and stealth. Also, much easier to do against a willing creature than an unwilling creature. That's all so true, yeah. I don't want to be in a box. That's what he sounded like.

In order to speed up time from now on, pass without trace is now, P-Wode. P-Wote. P-W-T. Sorry, pass without trace, P-P-W-T. Plot. Plot. All right.

Well, we've got P-W-T-W-T. Thank you. So that's going to make it easier. You know this is going to turn into a situation with acronyms when it's like, well, what's the acronym? And it's like, it's this, but I shouldn't really have to explain. I'm spending more time explaining that to you. Well, now we know it.

Than if you just said it. No, because I'm going to forget. Locked in. They spend less time on this talking about what quote is and just start saying quote. Poet. No, quote, quote, I refuse. It's right, guys, I've got Bob. Thanks for preparing quote for us.

I'm on preparing it. I was thinking what spell could that be. May I continue the game back? Oh, yeah. Is that all right? I'm sorry, I was under the misillusion that this was something else. No, no, this is conjured.

Well, that was silly. That was silly with me. Are we working now? You all make your way towards Ravenstar, Ravenstar Spire to meet on with Black Queen. Once again, you enter, the doorway appears before you. But this time, I don't believe you arrive in Blackwing sitting room. When you travel through the external door this time, you emerge into a room of the tower that you have not seen before.

It is a large circular chamber. There is a silvery spiral staircase going up, but it is pure flagstone floor. all of the flagstones are intricately carved with elven script and within the chamber itself there has been cultivated a small garden in a large circular sort of patch of dirt and grass in the very middle of this chamber and from it grows a pretty large but quite short so quite wide but short tree unlike any other tree you've seen before. The wood itself is of a blue-to-gray hue with sort of lines of silver flowing through it. And the branches, the leaves on the branches, form this quite thick canopy of dark blue leaves,

peppered with lavenders and purples and things like that. it kind of fills the entire sort of roof of this circular chamber. Within that tree, hanging from some of the branches, you see small sort of peach or plum-sized fruits that glow with moonlight and sunlight. Casting off not a lot, but enough, that silvery pale kind of moonlight, and then the warm orange glow of sunlight as they hang from this tree.

Actually, I suppose, it's the day. So, in fact, actually, the orange ones are glowing and giving off actual light. The other fruits just are pale, silvery, and color. There is no light from them. Okay. And you can see dotted around the room, there are cuttings and, you know,

potted versions of smaller, strange, unusual-looking plants. All of them have something mystical or rather otherworldly about them and stood beside the tree, drawing on it with a thin piece of blackened sort of wax or charcoal, is Blackwing, who appears to be drawing a doorway onto the side of this tree and inscripting it with various ruins and arcane symbols as you arrive. are you have arrived they speak and then turn around to kind of face you all you see their black eyes kind of staring back like pools of ink you know very little expression there are you prepared to perform this favor for me I believe we are, all present and correct and already.

Excellent. You have the figurine I gave you. As a reminder, when you are ready to return, hold it close, think of me, and I will begin the process of opening a doorway to return you to Ashen Rest. How close to your domicile? Domicile. Are we going to be landing? I will not be able to send you into the city of Athalian directly. That is too close to my enemies, the unsealy, the hag queen.

There is a pathway, the lightless path, path. It was once used by elves and others when one wished to enter or exit the city without by avoiding the main gates. A small gate guards its entrance into the city. That should hopefully be far more assailable for you. The lightless path runs close. I cannot promise that There will not be difficulties, but you will not be far, but just out of the city limits. Okay, and are there any, as you recall, quiet entrances into this building? Into my home? Yes.

You will not need the... And you remember the Black Queen gave you these little, like, sigils, probably like little spellstones that carved onto little stones or anything. things like that. They will open the way for you. You may use the main entrance into my estate. I believe the wards and guards I placed up should have deterred any looting from taking place when the city was taken. But I do not know the state of the tapestry or the district. I do not know what has happened in the city. I'm afraid I will have to leave that to you and your abilities to navigate.

But my home should be open to you. My guardians should not harm you or cause you trouble. As long as you bear my stone. Right, everybody ready? Yes, yes, very ready. Let's get this done. Very well. I will finish my preparations. They finish sketching this doorway and then step back

and gather you around. and they begin to speak in a dialect of elvish that even those of you who perhaps do speak elven, this is far more arcane and archaic. There's little resemblance to any languages you might know, even if you do understand or speak elvish. And you begin to watch as the wood on the tree itself, begins to split and crack and creak open almost as if a doorway is being formed as it conforms to the shape of this arched doorway, this opening. It is not blackness within or magic or space.

Instead, you almost see a cascade, a waterfall of a silvery sap drop from the tree itself and form a mirror-like layer. over this space. And you see that that silvery material, there is something on the other side, but it is distorted, like looking through an exceptionally thick film or a frosted glass.

You see the vaguest outline of dark, tree-like shapes and perhaps what appears to be a trail, like a woodland trail, on the road. The door. is open. Okay. Foglio of artwork in the study. Jewelry box in the bedroom,

woven blanket in the sitting room. That is correct. Easy. Use the figurine, come right back, all in a day's work. Yeah. Okay.

Okay. Good. Groff's already waiting at the portal. All right, let's go in then. All right. Gruff, you were going to be the first one to step through? Yeah. All right.

So Gruff enters first. You, it is a strange thing, Gruff, to press yourself through liquid that is thick yet dry. Nothing sticks to you, but it's like putting your hand through water. Very unpleasant sensation. But as your fingers part, pass through and as you sort of step in, you would feel there is a temperateness to the air. It is neither hot nor cold, even in your fur and being unused to warmer climates, it almost acclimatizes to you for your individual needs, and it feels very just pleasant.

So for gruff, maybe that's on the cooler side. But then as Xanthia steps forward following behind, it's a little on the warmer side. Whatever you would find this kind of cool, whatever would be the most comfortable temperament to you. But the other thing that strikes you is there is an inherent darkness when you step through. If you have low light vision, or normally it would be dark vision

with the exception of a feeler who does have true dark vision, you step into a dim place. neither day nor night but something caught in between and this trail that you're on one of those twisting country trails that we get here in the UK where the trees have sort of bent over the road very Lord of the Rings get off the road and it almost has that almost sense of stretching out before you

the muddy worn trail there is no sign of real civil civilization here, just a trek walked by thousands of feet over an infinite number of years. But the trees kind of pull up onto banks and cloud overhead, and there is no break in the canopy. It's like a tunnel of just thick foliage that spreads out and continues on into these tightly packed woods that now seem to stretch on around you. The only natural light comes from tiny plum-sized fruits, dotted here and there amongst these trees, that all here in the Faywheel, they both glow, but it's a dim light. So there is silvery moonlight and warm sunlight, but it's dim as if caught just before nightfall, or sorry, just before dawn or just before dusk. It's kind of got that hint of both.

and you all step forward out of one of these large trees just like the one that was in Black Wings Tower and you watch as the wood closes behind the group of you as you feel you have stepped from a place that you know and I think the only one who has really sent something like this was Ophelia when you stepped into the grey lands when you died there was

this inherent knowledge of I am not home anymore. This I am in a place that I do not belong. There is this inherent sense of being a trespasser that presses down on you and sort of sticks in your chest as you see this very worn road just leading in two directions. You're not even sure which is north and south, the east and west, but there is one way and another way. And that is what you see. You hear... Yeah, okay. Animal noises.

Oh. Strange, whooping beasts, twittering of birds, rustling of insects coming from the forest or around. You don't see anything, but out there, beyond this tunneled sort of pathway, you can tell that there is life abundant in this place.

You see strange flowers, and blooms and bushes and foliage nestled in amongst all of the trees. None of it, all of it, unfamiliar, but not so alien you can't understand it. It looks like, you know, the kind of foliage you might see around Caldra, or when you went to the sun crystals, but there's something odd about it. Right. It just grows a bit too wild, or its colors are a bit wrong, or there's a slight phosphorescence to it that it normally wouldn't have.

It's not like a creepy place. It is like burden and abundant. It's just unknown. Yeah, it's very alien. Okay. So I guess it's up to you if that's creepy or not, but it is certainly strange as you arrive here. Gruff, you've got a pretty good passive perception, don't you?

And I think so does Daisy. I've got 19. 19, 18. The two of you, Daisy and Gruff, you would see just a little animal movement out of the corners of your eyes as you see it's bigger than any sort of hair or rabbit you've seen before but you see it from behind as it sort of jumps through and senses your presence and as it kind of whips around

you can see that it has these sort of twisted horn-like protrusions coming from its sides of its necks and over its eyes its ears end in these like ragged trails, these sort of like long tendrils that kind of emerging. It just looks at you, blinks its two eyes, and then boom, boom, boom, and bounces away

like any normal hair would, but it is different. Sounds this place feels very strange. Right, I suppose first things first which direction is Vothalian city? Good question. Do you think it would be the place that is filled with animals? Because it's very loud over there, or is the noise just everywhere?

All around you. You kind of hear these odd bits of noise coming off in the distance, and then this kind of almost constant thrum of insects and bird noise, you know, all around. There's also a few places to hide on this road as well. I mean, you could go off in... to the tree line, right? But it is a tangle in it. You would not want to try and navigate through it,

but you could certainly hide in it. Okay. As long as you keep following the road. Sure. But if you have a sensation, I think like Rowan being quite a seasoned traveler, you take one look into this thick canopy of completely alien topography,

and you're like, if we go off this road, we're going to be lost. Like, that's it. Yeah, you're probably going to... I think Rowan would respond to that whilst plucking a plum from, One of the trees. You, yeah, you just pop it in the mouth straight away.

We should not. When you bite into it, right? So when you pluck it, that light begins to fade quite rapidly. But it's still glowing a little bit. And as you bite into it, do you go for the sun or the moon? Do you go for moonlight or sunlight, plum? I think... Hmm.

Sunlight. Sunlight. You bite into it and it's warm. It's kind of got like, uh, it's not hot, but it's warm. And it tastes quite. bold, there's almost an orangeness to it, but also a kind of spice, kind of a heat, and a chili or a cinnamon almost. It's a mixture, a muddle of flavors, but it tastes what, I guess, maybe could be sunlight. It almost tastes like what you think sunlight might be like.

Pumpkin spice. Stop. If that's what Rowan thinks sunlight might taste like, that's what it takes. Nice line. Gross. It tastes warm and sunny. Oh, for Daisy, it might be more orangey. It could be whatever you think it might align better.

Sin is the devil. I will keep plucking plums as I'm explaining. We should stick to the path, I think. As he starts picking more of these plums, the light in this area of bring dimmer and dimmer and dimmer, as the others all stop glowing. Those are quite handy. They give a little bit more light.

It's kind of dark. Maybe leave the rest on the tree. Maybe leave them for a night. I think it's a tree. You won't one? It's really good. What if it's an animal? What if you're pulling boils off an animal?

Why would you say that? You should probably be careful. I'll put in my satchel. Yeah, what you're eating in a place you've never been. Oh, they look fine. Okay, well let me know how your stomach feels in a bit. Oh, I've never had... I've had a bad tummy in recent memory.

Wait, how recent? I remember, yeah, I remember. I remember. I'm almost missed gruffer's... initial swearing in. Right, we need to make a choice of which way we're going here. And even then, how we want to navigate.

That way? Have you have a good feeling or? Got a good vibe. A good vibe. Okay, good vibes is not bad. Is there anything more definitive than a good vibe that anyone can have? Well, I could try and communicate

with some of the animals that we're hearing and ask them. Don't offer they'd be hostile, though? Yes, it's worth a try. And as for how to navigate after that point, we should probably get an idea of that from the master of stealth in our team. Rowan, what is your idea here?

What? My idea for stealth. I've seen you literally vanish in front of me. It was part of the wall. He became the wall. Well, we've got our disguises, right? Yes. Nope.

So we do that, and then we don't get seen. Don't get seen. Gruff. I would like to ask the classic druid question. Are there any animals that I can speak to? Make a perception check for me. Speak to the horn tenderly one. 17.

17. Takes you a little bit of time, but eventually, 17, yeah. It takes you a little bit of time. You sort of have to wait, and you're sort of listing in. and then you can hear animals moving around, but every time you go to try and investigate, you probably start of them or scatter them. And eventually you maybe walk along the path.

You just pick a direction. Like, you know, you're not going to go too far, but you just pick a direction. And up ahead, you spot them. You see that it's got its back to you. And it must be, it's probably like half-ling size. Like this is like a three-foot tall, you know, three-foot-tall. It looks like almost like an owl from behind.

Like you can see it's kind of got like broad wings, it's clawed feet are sort of on a branch as it's, and it's facing away from you. But you see this large bird-like creature. This thing's had swiveles. It probably will. Look at his face. I'm so gone.

Remember the birds in Skywood Sword? You too. Yeah. I'm so curious about what voice is going to happen. I want to ask us to speak with animals. Okay. Um, hello, little friend there. So you sort of move up and start approaching it.

I think that you start, because, you know, to speak of the animals, you have to cast a spell. So you start weaving this spell. And immediately, this being the first spell you've cast it, you immediately get the sense that your magic is primal, right? Your magic feels strange here. Like, this spell comes way too quickly. And, like, almost as if the air and the environment and the animals

are very glad to give you this magic. And it's unusual because you've always had this sense of you have to sort of pull that magic from the land and from the animals and things like that. Here it's too much. And as you cast the spell, you watch as around sort of your paws and around your mouth moats of light almost crystallize,

and it turns into this powder. Not much of it, you know, a tiny amount. And it sort of kind of flutters all. all over the place, and it leaves it as a physical residue. Xanthius, from your experience, that is a minor form of essence. It is not enough for you to be able to use, but, and you don't think that casting a spell is going to be enough, but you also have that realization of Zanthius.

No. Certain, and I think for Xanthius, this could be maybe a shock, or it could be surprising. You have this sudden realisation, that essence, like primal and fey wild magic is, there's so much of it here. Yeah. And then you sort of think you don't sense much elemental power here. You don't sense any as much celestial power here or fiendish power here. Is that visualized in my runes at all?

I guess runes are more... So what you do sense is that within you, you have that power. like you and your companions all carry some of that magic with you. Oh. But there is nothing external for you to draw from. Okay. So people have essence in them.

That's what I'm picking up here. Well, the material plane is a sort of nexus of all these. The material plane is like a nexus of all of the plane's energy. Yeah. So the material plane has essence of everything. It has like all of the magic of the world, right? Not necessarily essence, but it has all the magic of all the realms. So you being a being.

of the material plane, yeah, you have a natural sort of reserve for magic, those are your spell slots, or you think of it as manner or whatever you want to think about it. Here, Fay Manor is all around. Everything, yeah. But there isn't, you know, you can sense that there is a little fire

like from the heat of things and things like that, but there's, it's not the same as on the material play. There's less of it here. So this is going to have to come from your internal reserves. Right. as you go to approach gruff as you start casting the spell you don't have to mark the spell slot off

because as you do this owl it drops and swings on the branch and its face would have naturally been upside down but now it's the right way up because it's swung down

and it has an upright face to you but its body is upside down and you see that it has an far too humanoid face. It has that eyes and lips its nose is a beak

sort of like protrusion it has eyebrows big, curled eyebrows that wrap around and yeah this creature is like no need for that

my good man but no but no actually you would, it speaks in a language that you don't understand. Elenar, Godfman, der and darndar. Elvish? I try to speak. There is something of Elvish about it, but it's not,

it's sort of elvish, but not. Sure. Like, you're, Zantheis, because you speak Elvin. Yes. Those who you speak Elvin, like, you definitely pick up, like, you think he's asking, like, he's, like, say, or it's saying hello, and it seems to be, like, what are you doing here?

but you're not, like, it's like... So disjointed, yeah. It's like, hi, where go you? Like, it's like you catch, like, particles and stuff of the language. I don't suppose you speak druidic, do you? Do you say that in druidic, or do you say that in German, or do you say that in druidic?

So, yeah, the creature kind of cocks its head. Ah, language of weavers. I speak small Right I speak small too Travel Why use many words From far

Travel from very far From Elmira It just does not know what that word means It does not know what that is Lost Lost in Woods Lost Lost trying to find

Vothalian city Vathalian. Vathalian city. Ah, nods its head and points a wing back in the direction you've come from, so the opposite way to where you had to walk down to speak to this guy. Points.

Vathalian. Vathalian. And almost looks concerned. Danger. Bad place. I know, but we've made a promise to a friend. Sort of just sort of doesn't really seem to understand.

Brave? Brave and scared. Brave. Vathalian points its wing. Thank you, friend. Thanks. Many thanks. Aww. Really? Alright, he says, uh, is that way. Is that the same way as Roman's good vibe?

Uh, roll a D20 for me, Chris Trott. Flat roll. Four. Nope. There's the opposite direction. Oh, well, we were about to go definitely that way, yes? Yes? The owls, the pound pointing a wing, probably.

No. But you don't understand what it's, like, Gruff and this creature are speaking this guttural, quite ancient, you know, earthy-sounding language. You don't think they're maybe deceiving you at all? You trust... I trust all animals. Oh, okay.

I have no need to deceive. It's got an upside-down face. You would also say, just as a point, you never can't speak with animals. This thing is just speaking. You can all hear it. speak, you don't need the spell. Right, right, right.

It's just you don't understand the language that speaks. See, it's speaking druidic. How far? How far? I speak loudly. Oh, one of those. One of those. I could speak in Elvish, I guess.

Yeah, if you say it in Elvish, like, it's kind of the same. It's, like, quite broken. You see this creature is like, a long, it kind of cocks its head. It spins itself back up, and its whole body rotates like at the waist and its head and it goes now right side up

but its eyebrows when it flips them upside down it sort of yeah it becomes like a thing so the eyebrows stay the same place but the face kind of spins around but there's no joint there Chris Trott's face says no and now it has like these like wispy

sort of like weird beard and it flips itself around long Uh May Not many step Not many step Not far

What long? What long? What long? What long? It would probably answer you It would probably say A measurement of distance that you've never heard of It would say like

20 elements And it's just like what is that And you imagine that that might be a way That they measure distance here in the Faye wheel but it's never, it's like somebody who's never heard of miles before and you say, oh, it's three miles, and they're like, what? Can I take like a long stride and then point at the ground and say one elemuth? Kind of cocks its head and shakes its head.

Half elemuth? Oh, we are many elemuss away from this place. Well, that's good, that's good, because it's time. Yes. for disguises and planning and at least then we know no one's going to see us. So we've got 18 and 19 passive perception.

Is anybody else higher? I know. Your goodness, though. 14. Don't talk to him. Just like for that. It doesn't like for that. It's just a bull that looking at it's way.

What a loser. Eight, okay. Okay. So as you're having this conversation, the creature suddenly, it spins its head completely around again. Oh, God. And then it looks back and it goes like, no, time, leave.

No time leave. I think we have to hide. Okay. Hide or run. Hide. What did you guys? They said leave, so I think run more than anything. Which way?

Towards... Which way did the owl look? So it flies into the deeper junk. No, but which way? Did it look behind? So the way that you want to go towards. Oh, the way we want to go towards. Okay.

I see. And you can see, in fact, I think, Daisy, your keen eyesight. And you hear NIM in your head as well, Daisy. So you know, you've sort of arrived. and you've been a bit distracted, talking this out, but you can tell that NIM is taking everything in in that, you know, a soldier who goes into an unfamiliar room. Like, NIM is trying to keep a track of where,

which is the tree that we came in from, like, how far have we moved? Like, scanning the environment, like that looks like a good place that we could hide. Like, she's almost not relay, or they're not relaying this information to you, but you can tell that they are thinking about all this stuff. and they are in very tense, way more tense than they normally are. Like, this is, I don't like this, this place. We never, we never fought here.

I don't know this land, I don't know this place. Do we hide if something's coming? Yes, yes, hide. Okay, I'll go there, over there. And if I can, like, get an idea of where she's... She'll direct you to... There's like a series of trees with maybe one fallen over and it's covered in like mushrooms and moss

and things like that. Get off the road! As we're doing this, I will start casting pass without a trace. Okay. What's that? Plus ten. I'm not doing this. I'm not doing this.

It's taking more time than if Mark just let me cast pass without a trace and tells me about how casting the magic is going to leave a very visible trail. So it doesn't leave a very visible trail, but it's that same thing of like you almost draw the magic to hide your tracks to cover up in this dirt road where you've stepped and moved, you watch

as little wisps of wind and leaves kind of brush away the footsteps, when you, you know, you watch as Xanthius like breaks a couple of branches of a bush to like push by, but not big ones, but like small, like little, little delicate bit. Santhius turns around, falls

over, face, plants, robs. It starts burning the forest. But things that, no, no, no, normal person would, you know, think to, like, to worry about. You watch as the trees, like, remend them, like, and kind of reset themselves to show that there has not been a passing of creatures here. But it does also, you watch as these little tiny bits of powdery dust are, like, sort of gathered around.

But you'll move off. The other thing is Dazian Gruff, and once it's pointed out, the rest of you as well, down the road, heading in this direction, you can hear almost like a wagon. And you can hear a wagon moving and you can also see a lantern, like it's actually projecting a light. So that's what you probably notice

is like this place, and there are figures but the light is facing towards you so you don't see much detail. You can just see that there are figures and a wagon coming this. Orange sort of candlelight or is it? No, it would be magical. It would be more of like a silvery white light,

like an LED light almost. you know, and it's, but you can't see the silhouettes of the people behind it. We hide. Okay, uh, into trees, somewhere, probably. Yeah. There, there, there, there, there, there, okay, there. Rowan's plucking a load of plums.

Okay. From an area. Okay. Which also darkens the area. It does, damn it, yeah. The benefit is he does get loads more plumps, but it's also because it's a darkened area. So you watch as the shadows deepen in that area,

as you will settle in. Can I have stealth rolls from everyone, please? Everyone gets a plus 10 bonus. Oh, yes, yeah. Oh, cool. Plus, no, pass without a trace. Plus 23 for me, then. Plus 23?

Wait, no, no, plus 16 plus 23. 16 plus 23, that's probably quite high. Oh, kidoke. 39. 39 for 309. Have we ever had a roll that high? You've never seen me in a row. In a row, I'm pretty sure there were a few over 40 roles.

You've never seen me in your life. Well, I got 22, thanks to point for Xanthius. I think lower than 22. 25. 25. 32. 32. 19 without pass about trace, pass about trace again.

So 29, so 22 is the lowest. Oh, come it. So what you see is you all die for cover, and you all kind of hide in this now dark and shadowed patch, The magic of past without a trace kind of disguising your presence here. As you see a bunch of animals sort of rush past you, they fleeing from whatever it is coming down the road.

You see a sort of cross between a hedgehog and a squirrel, but it's all bright purples and blues, and its eyes almost glitter. Squitchhog. Squitchhaw. I want a squitchhawk. You can call it. what you like. Squitchhog.

Squitchhog. You know, it's spined tail. It's sort of, I imagine it's got a bit of a sugar glider, so it leaps between trees, and then it almost uses tail to hook itself into places, pull itself up, and then it jumps off and glides, uses it to climb. Maybe it spins up into a little ball and rolls. Don't give them that.

So it's the cross between Sonic and tails? I didn't say that. I said it was a hedgehog and squirrel. and it has a spiky tail, Squitchhog. I'm trying to remember the squirder character. You, I'm trying to remember the name. Here, armored footsteps. Oh.

Quite a few of them, as something begins to draw near and you see, once you blink past the light, about a squadron, a small, almost a platoon, you know, talking about 12, 13, maybe armored soldiers who are escorting a prison wagon. Wagons with bars, and you can see that there are creatures inside those bars. The whole wagon is being pulled by a very oddly muscular wolf, like an oversized wolf, but its face is not a wolf's face.

It's a wag. It has a much more goblin-like face. And it is speaking with the soldiers it's walking to. And you hear it like, how much farther? Don't want to go farther. Silence you, and it kind of gets a smack. You'll do what you're told. And in fact, actually, no, you would not hear any of this in common.

This is all being spoken of in that language. I can speak goblin. It's not being. The wag speaks in goblin. I'm very interested to know how gruff knows goblin Goblin Traveler up in now Sure, you must have learned it from that So weirdly yet, like you recognize

the language of this goblin and this exchange, this like, quiet and then the guards go back to speaking this mixture of Elvin and something else I think that if you speak Elvin you pick up again on the gist of the conversation I imagine it's very, very basic words. Yeah, you would probably hear Xanthius, if you speak a bit of Elvin.

You can sort of pick out this conversation. Captain, what's going to happen to them when we get them to the prison? Melisgara has said that painful torture and punishment. We need to know where the rest of them are, where their leader is, this centaur. But yes, they will. I imagine she'll let us have our fun with them. We can flay their skin and make sure that they suffer for standing against us. Rebels, you hear him spit into the dirt.

As they begin to approach closer, you can see that these soldiers have dark, ash-gray skin, and they are a mixture of sort of elven and goblin physiology. They have like the elongated ears, but they're a bit larger and quite jagged, and then their features, high cheekbones, they're quite, there is something appealing about their faces, but then their eyes are quite, you know, this horrid yellow and they're, you know, these tiny little pupils. There is something unsettling about them.

Their armour is dark, blood-red kind of steel made of like jagged plates and sharp spikes. And you can see that there are things like ears hung up. off with spikes and hooks on their armour. You see fawn ears, you see elven ears, you see, you know, all sorts of these quite nasty trophies, horns and like tuths and antlers that have been snapped off and, you know, attached to like, you know, fetishes and hung off them as they approach closer and closer. The armour is kind of beautiful but also how horrific it is, but it's exceptionally well made.

and most of them carry gleaming axes and shields. One at the front is carrying a double-handed great sword, which is this beautiful, very well-made piece of work as they move forward. And he's the one carrying a lantern. And you see that that silvery light is sort of ebbing and flowing. And as it draws closer, Gruff and Daisy, you would notice that it is the source of that light within this lantern

is a tight, you know, very weak-looking pixie who's like just their wings are wrapped around them and they're just sort of huddled up as they are basically being trapped in here as a source of light. There are more of these armoured figures at the back as the wagon is coming closer and you can see that one at the back has some of that ornamental armour but is mostly robed

and he seems to, she, sorry, seems to be speaking to a fully plate mailed, armored, almost like commander-like figure. And they are sort of conversing in whispered tones. In the prison wagon itself, you see four bound and most importantly gags, like heavy leather gags in their mouths. You see four satir. So goat legs, horse ears, horse tail, little men and women. You know, big, big, thick, voluminous hair.

The guys have little goatees and, like, you know, Fabio-style kind of locks that spill around their shoulders, but it's matted with blood, it's greasy, and it's like, you know, it's clearly these, they've not been bathed or washed for some long time. They've got quite barrely chests and little bellies, but you can see there's muscle to their arms, but they're covered in, like, wounds and scars and scratches. and they all have, you would see it is a vertical, oh sorry, the soldiers have a vertical stripe of red down their ash-gray face. So they have like this kind of long red line.

And yeah, you can see that, yeah, these satir, there's one woman and two and three men all bound up in this prison wagon. And they look in a sorry state. as you hear them draw closer. I will activate group chat. I have to leave one person out though. Do you now?

I thought you went, I thought you leveled up so you can include everyone. Yeah, I thought you could. Let me see. Let me just... Oh, did we? Okay. I think I was just allowed in that one. It's because you keep you.

using too many emojis and gifts, ma'am. How else am I meant to communicate? With words? Oh, I can. Yeah, four. Plus yourself. Four plus me. Yep. Ah. Yeah, you're all in the group chat then.

Not Percy. Not Percy. Sorry. It's okay. Percy's not in the group. Does Percy need to stealth as well? Oh, that's true. Percy would have needed to stealth as well.

In fact, you can roll this four. I'll get a plus 10 too. Yeah. It does just hit everyone. He's disliked just wearing normal chains now, so. Oh, nice. Uh, six, nine, 19 for Percy. So that is the lowest.

Yes. I'm not the worst. They are still a little ways out there like making their way down this road, but they are kind of coming from where you need to go. Yeah. So the prison is the opposite end of the road to... It's in the opposite direction. The... Phathalian, yeah.

So the group chat's been activated. Group chat's activated. Yeah. Do we need to be? told, because like, or do we just sense it? No, you'll just, you'll know. I mean, at this point, Nym can even probably tell them, like, you know, I am connecting your minds for Daisy. Connecting.

It's been like that. So Zanz is the only one who can understand the people though, right? Yeah, I can't understand. Well, I can, yeah, very, very basic stuff. You can pick up Goblin though. Well, I can only understand the walk. I understand none of them. Does everyone want to plumb?

No, plums right now. We'd need to stay still, I think, let them pass. They are going to, I think they said it was a prison or something like that, something about either baking their kin or flaying their skin, one of the other, I'm not picking up every word. Either way, bad. These don't look like the baking kind. Probably flay then.

You can see the ears on their, that's grotesque armour. What do you think of it, Ophelia? I mean, it's beautiful for them to look at it. The ears kind of ruin it a little bit. It's a bit gauche, but the armour would say. itself is beautiful. But either way, we just let them pass, and then we can carry on down that path, right?

Yeah. Okay. I think so. Good. They've got a big bright light, though. Let's dig in deeper, then. It's not a light, you guys, is a pixie in there. Oh. How many of them are there?

It's probably 12, 13, of the soldiers. We can't take them any. Okay. Let's dig in deeper. So, I guess nightly oaths don't mean that much. Buck off. Though you see, Graff, those satir, if ever there was a definition of the weak, the infirm and the vulnerable,

four trap prisoners, bound for torture, death. Sand didn't tell me that bit. He said that they were going to get their skin flayed. Or their kin baked. Or their kin baked. Something like that. I mean, it's one of those things.

Like, you can absolutely. let this go by, but I'm gonna warn you now, Gruff, that you swore an oath. In Althea. Does they extend across from? Yeah, on the material plane. So regional oaths. Nightly oaths are all about the fine print.

Yeah, of course. They're all about the exact specific wording. And if we're gonna say graph oaths, let's just call them groves. I was thinking... But like said, you could just let this go apart. but it will be going against your oath. I know you're not a paladin, but it kind of is the same thing

with a knightly oath here and all. Oh, she's doing the teeth thing. I feel like I'm sticking out a little bit like a sore thumb here. If it helps, most of the number are, they look like soldiers. I don't look particularly dangerous. Not quite minions, but you don't think

there'll be much of a challenge. the mage the commander and maybe the captain yeah maybe could be something but the others just look like grunts yeah I think as soon as Daisy says about the pixie and the pixie life as well we're the only ones who could see the pixies

yeah I cannot let this pass I can maybe pick the lock on the wagon to get them out, and maybe they could help as well? Well, what about all of the guards? There's still all of the guards we have to deal with. There's so many of them. Well, yeah, but then if we have four extra people that are in the sense, we cannot let them be tortured.

The wagon draws closer and closer. If we spring it on them, they won't be expecting it. And if one of them gets away, that's immediately our plan failed. Well, we don't let them go away. Look at them as Antheus. That pixie looks... So, so weak. They could be the bad guys.

They can't help us. As the wagon draws closer, you see, like, the satir. Like, there is a hate in their eyes to these captors. You can see that on their shoulder, there is a, it's a tattoo of a wolf's jaws with a chain in its mouth, and it's biting down and breaking the chain. And you can see it's like a stylized wolfhead breaking a chain in its mouth. And you can see this tattoo is quite blazoned on their back. They're sort of wearing ragged cloaks and things like that.

And they're sort of leaned up against the thing. And you can see one's just glaring at some of these soldiers. And he, the soldier, this unsealy soldier turns around. He just says something in a language you don't understand. For Xanthius, it's just like, what are you looking at, rebel? And then just like jab something into his eye and just jabs like a thumb into his eye. and, like, throws it back into the cage. You see this, like, satire, like,

he's gagged, he can't, he's just like, uh, he's just like, uh, I will draw their content, uh, I will draw their attention. I'll unlock the, the prisoners. I'll confuse them. Literally with the spell confusion. Not like I'm going to jump out

and just, na-da-na-na-na-na-da-na-na-na-na-na. We'll stealthily try and move away from where everyone's hiding. Sure. We can coordinate. So you kind of want to separate, a little bit from the rest of the group. As you say that,

can I do not have to join me, but I cannot let this stand. And with that, I will move a little bit away, and then I will stand up, and I will walk out into the road. Just stand out into the, what a badass. Like, and I just move into the middle of the road,

you shall not pass, kind of axe in hand now as well. Shields. I'm not going to be aggressive, but it was that kind of like, you know, Here's my shield, here's my axe. The light kind of falls on you and your shadows stretches out behind you and you would hear in a language again you don't speak something.

Halt for Xanthius' benefit, like who are you? Kind of spoken out, but to you gruff, it just sounds this sort of mixture of elven. Very beautiful language, but it sounds so horrible coming out of these soldiers' mouths stood there in their gruesome armament, and, you know, they just point at you and bark and sort of kind of look at you curiously. But I think you being a wild heart, being a much more animal wild heart,

they don't seem that perturbed by that. Like, you get the impression that maybe there could be fake creatures that look a bit like you, or at least they're a bit sort of taken back, like, what is this? And it's move now, by order of the queen. Move. Can I speak to the warg in Goblin? Yeah, the Warg is just like, hurry up with it.

Right, why are we stopping? Do you wish for freedom, friend? You see, it's speech fucking goblin. Freedom? And it just laughs. And you hear the soldiers laugh. And one says in Goblin, it speaks the tongue of the goblin.

What is this joke? Freedom. He is one of us. A servant of the hag queen. And it's now that you see that this wog has the same red stripe down its face as well. You couldn't see before. And with that, they're just,

we will, it says, one of the, the captain says in Goblin, we wouldn't ask again, Stranger, move by the queen's order. I serve no one. Queen. Then you will die. Can I take a shot from woods for Halian? Before they, like if I just see them draw the, can I take a shot?

You absolutely can next time on a holiday. We are gonna do a shorter game today. It's gonna be a little shorter session, I'm afraid to say, because we've had a very busy week and we got a lot going on. But it's a perfect time to kick off a brand new episode with a combat. Yeah. Just strumped straight in. So we are going to bring that up next time,

but you absolutely can't do that and launch a little ambush of your own. Cool ending. Cuzzle Pops friends, couldn't let it go. I mean, I very specifically was like, you, yeah, like, okay. I didn't think it would have it. It's okay, I'm just, you knew.

When you were just layering on the details, I was like... Yeah, yeah. I'm just laying there, I sigh. Listen, being in a night is really cool. Unfortunately, and you asked me for this, you have to be tested. Yes. It's my fate.

If you ever play paladin, like, I love doing it with Century as well. Like paladins and knights and people that like, you've got to put that most moments to the test. You need to hand your DM knives or testes. Yeah, yeah. Wait. What? What? Testes?

Yeah. Why are you talking about my ball? With that delight ball, note, that's going to bring this episode of Highrollers to an end. We're not going to read any messages or things like that. because we'll say that afterwards we'll do that afterwards that's right yeah that's right we will do that that's it for this week we'll see you next time for more high rollies take care bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye Hi hi this is Michelle madison hi hi this is michael madison and we're the video game outsiders

podcast and we just joined the pickax network that's right we've been covering video game news and reviews for the past 20 years on everything from Xbox, PC, Switch, and PlayStation. Sony's dead. They're not dead. PC Master Race. Anyway, if you want to hear us, if you want to know more about the show and listen to John and I argue every week, you can do that on video game outsiders.com or anywhere podcasts are available.

In a world where board games rule the planet. Walker, this is for So Very Wrong About Games, not a thriller from the 90s. Here at So Very Wrong About Games, we value your time. get to the point. We give you a critical analysis of games and tell you which games are worth checking out. Things we value. Rigger. Your time. Gibbons. Buzzwords. You'll get it all at So Very Wrong About Games. Critical Reviews. What's Hot? Longtime classics. So very wrong about games, wherever you get your podcasts.