High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois | #11 - Eye for an Eye (Part 2)

Episode Date: October 4, 2018

We sustained some terrible injuries, will we press forward to save Valla?! Grab some HR merch and more at 10% off here: smarturl.it/HighRollersMerch or use the code HIGHROLLERS on checkout! Huge ...thanks to our sponsors D&D Beyond and Brilliant. D&D Beyond is the official digital toolset for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. Use the code HIGHROLLING on D&D Beyond (http://bit.ly/dndbeyondhighrollers) to get 25% off all digital items (excluding the Legendary Bundle)! Brilliant.org helps you master concepts through fun, guided problem solving. D&D has a rich history of puzzles and problems, so boost your brain power with Brilliant! The first 200 users to follow our link (http://bit.ly/highrollersarebrilliant) will get 20% off an annual subscription! Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Pickaxe. Therapy is the ultimate self-care, and BetterHelp makes it easy to get started with affordable online sessions you can do from anywhere. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com to learn more. That's BetterHelp.com. Bumble knows it's hard to start conversations. Hey. No, too basic. Hi there.
Starting point is 00:00:42 Still no. What about hello, handsome? who knew you could give yourself the ick that's why bumble is changing how you start conversations you can now make the first move or not with opening moves you simply choose a question to be automatically sent to your matches then sit back and let your matches start the chat. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to High Rollers, a Dungeons & Dragons podcast in the world of Erois. Run by Dungeon Master Mark Sherlock-Humes with me, Tom, playing Keelakad Kalad, bard slash cleric.
Starting point is 00:01:17 I am Chris Trott. I'm playing Lucius Viren, Elowin Elanastro. And I am a High Elf Sorcerer. Hi, I'm Rhiannon. I'm playing Sentry. I am a Guardian Paladin. And I'm Kim. I'm playing Nova who is an air ganassi and she is a hexblade warlock. A huge thank you to our sponsors
Starting point is 00:01:32 D&D Beyond and Brilliant.org for sponsoring this episode. Check the episode description for more information about them. We've just sustained some terrible injuries. Hopefully we'll be able to carry on to save Vala. My next big question to all of you is what are your plans next? The forest, the Ironweald is quiet, near silent around you.
Starting point is 00:02:12 The body of this Goliath, you don't even know what he was called, just this Goliath that attacked you, lays next to you. The broken chain by his side, and there is the remnants of a campfire, but no sign of the people you were campfire but no sign of the people you were chasing after, no sign of the other kidnappers or Valor. So what are you going to do? I think
Starting point is 00:02:33 Quill would probably take just a long breath and then like look at Lucius and say are you good to carry on? Lucius is whimpering to the point where he's just like, I don't want to do it anymore. You want to stay here?
Starting point is 00:02:51 Yes. I've never broken a bone in my body, and this really, really hurts. Really hurts. When my brother broke his leg, he had a cast, and everyone signed it with their names. Nova's crying nonstop while she's saying this.
Starting point is 00:03:04 Just endlessly crying. Where are we going to get a cast? We're in the middle of a wood and I really, really want to save Valor but my leg really hurts and I've already lost an eye. I could maybe make one up, Mud, and then sign it for you. I appreciate your trying, Nova. It's really nice of you but I don't think it's going to do anything. Could you put mud in his face? I don't want to. It's okay. Mud in my eye? No, that sounds like a terrible idea.
Starting point is 00:03:30 Let's not get it infected. I've never seen a fellow like that before. Not somebody that can jump through shadows or red veins. I've traveled a lot in my time. I've never seen anything like that. What makes you think the other three or two of them aren't just as bad?
Starting point is 00:03:51 We're in over our heads here. This is too... Only Sentry could really stand up to that brute. I think we're out of our depths. Well, let's... Y'all take a minute. I'm gonna check their tracks. See if...
Starting point is 00:04:08 Well, if they're as big as this fella, they should at least have left some sort of sign. Maybe if they're smaller, it means that there's only one of him. They could be faster. Just the strength. Well, judging by where we are, we're about a day's travel from Ironwick. It's a small village near the lake. It's closer than Rosehall, but it's smaller.
Starting point is 00:04:30 I don't think there's going to be a big fancy priest or anything like that there, but there'll be medical supplies and things like that. Horses, maybe. I'm just going to slow you all down, frankly. I can't keep chasing Valor. They've got all their legs. That sure is a problem. I ain't gonna lie.
Starting point is 00:04:52 I'm not gonna stop you chasing him. Maybe I could go to the town and rally some help or something. I don't know. Well, I wouldn't let you go on your own, Lucius. I'll at least go with you if the others carry on. Thank you. Thank you, Alvo. I'll go check that track. I'll at least go with you if the others carry on. Thank you. Thank you, Alvo. I'll go check their tracks.
Starting point is 00:05:06 I'll leave you all to have a conversation when you see him trot over towards the campfire. We know who two of them are, at least. Brett Crookstone's.
Starting point is 00:05:18 But are you just toughing this out? I mean, you've literally not got an eye. It's okay to vent. He's, like, shaking it off as best he can. You can see him trembling a little, probably, or something.
Starting point is 00:05:31 Yeah. It's better out than in. Come on. It's already come out the eye, I mean. Is that trying to be funny? To try and be a bit sterner? I really want to find Vala. Right.
Starting point is 00:05:44 True. I can't imagine the pain you're feeling, all of you. But we need to find Valor. We can't give up now. We've come so far. We've endured so much already. Can we not just push a little bit more for Valor? You know, I would, absolutely.
Starting point is 00:06:06 But I feel like I'm a detriment right now. I can't run. You're not the detriment. I'm the detriment. I don't know how to fight. I don't know what I'm doing here. I caused this. How did you cause this, Nova? Does it make sense? Because I ran away. Well, in my head, I was working out what to do,
Starting point is 00:06:24 and I thought to retreating so I could shoot from a distance. I didn't realise he would go after you two. I thought he was focused on me. Quill, I'm so sorry. We've never been against anyone as vicious as this. There's no way you could have possibly known that he would have just come after me or Lucius or, well, Sentry was trying to defend as best she could but if you stepped in front of him it could have been you that would have lost the eye or broken your leg or anything. There's no way of knowing what you've done. Frankly I dragged us into the shadow where he appeared so we're all out of our depth but you're right Sentry we need to do as much as we can we've come this far. Arvul trots back over.
Starting point is 00:07:13 Well, I've checked. It looks like we're dealing with three figures about probably Lucius's height and weight. So I don't think there's going to be any more than Goliath fellas. They don't have horses and they're carrying something heavy. And it looks like without this fella, that slowed them down a fair bit. Whichever way, they're heading towards Ironwick. If they carry on where they're going, they're going towards the town. So if we go at a fast pace, well, if the rest of you rush ahead, I can follow with Lucius and we'll meet you there.
Starting point is 00:07:45 But also, if y'all need rest, I think we can probably take things a bit easy. It looks like they've got to deal with the forest first, so we can take it this way. It's up to you. I don't mind walking with the boy and coming up behind if y'all want to head on ahead. You need to make sure you're fighting fit. You're not looking so good, Quill. Nova, you need to calm down. I know this is all very much, but you ain't gonna do anybody any good in the states y'all are, so you get ready.
Starting point is 00:08:11 As long as it's counting on you, it's counting on all of us. You're right. You're right, Marvel. Thank you. I guess we... How is everybody feeling? Awful. Sit down, Mark. Let me have a take another look at this leg.
Starting point is 00:08:29 You don't have to. Just look. He's looking at it. He's like, all right, okay. He gets some strips of wood, and he starts cutting up. Is it bad? I haven't looked at it yet. He starts cutting up some of the bedrolls from the ones that the people left. He's like, it's not great. You're not going to be able to walk on it, but if I splint it, maybe we can fashion you a walking stick or a staff or something, you can take the pressure off it.
Starting point is 00:08:51 I always had such an elegant walk. That is ruined. That's such great posture. You healed my leg, I'll pay to make sure you get yours healed, all right? Thank you, Arvo. He splints it and he ends up taking, he's got a little hand little hand axe, he cuts like a, kind of like a crutch. And it means that you can walk without pain. So it means that you can kind of hobble but you're just slow. Just half. Yeah. Thank you.
Starting point is 00:09:15 Yeah, what do you guys want to do? Um, Sentry, can you do me a favour? Yeah? Could you cut a little bit of this cloak off? I think I need something to cover this. It actually hurts a lot. Oh, no problem. An awful lot. Yeah, can I do like a...
Starting point is 00:09:31 Does it need like a medicine or anything? You can do a medicine check just to see how well you can apply bandage and stuff. Oh, should I roll that again? No, that's landed, sorry. Okay, 15. 15, that's great. sorry. Okay, 15. 15, that's great, yeah, it's a solid bandage. You should probably have a little bit of, like, sort of a...
Starting point is 00:09:50 kind of a herbal kind of thing which you can apply which eases the pain a little bit as well, like some sort of basic medic supplies. So you said it was like a scratch, like, right across? It's basically like a jagged cut which goes right over the eye. I mean, it's a badass scar, but the eye is completely ruined. Like, the actual, you've had to basically put, like, this poultice in the eye socket
Starting point is 00:10:11 and then bandage over it to stop it from getting infected and stuff. Jeez. You look more battle-worn than I do and I've been around for much longer than you. That's true. You're very good, by the way. That's the least I can do I don't think we would have survived that without your help
Starting point is 00:10:28 You sustained so much, it's honestly the least I could do There's so much more I could do for all of you Question, good question Quill, if you were to go down again I've been taught resuscitation in my first aid course Okay Do I put my beak to your mouth or is that a Yes, the other way around sorry I'm rattled it's a good question actually I don't really know I don't think I
Starting point is 00:10:56 Don't think well I don't think an Aarakocra has ever been in a situation where it could only be Resuscitated by well elves or humans or people like that. Probably have to fashion some sort of pipe to gem in his throat and then breathe in that. It's okay. The way I eat things. Arvel also looks
Starting point is 00:11:16 over to you, Sentry. I just want to... I found this. He holds up remnants of little echo. Little shattered, brambly baby. Great little... My arms. So what is it? Is it just like a load of twigs? It's like twigs and metal
Starting point is 00:11:31 kind of shards bent around like a spherical device with a big purple gem in the middle. The gem is completely shattered, broken through. The frame is all cracked and splintered. Many of the branches have been broken off. I mean, it's in bad shape. Could mending help a little bit? It can help some of it, but it won't
Starting point is 00:11:48 restore its spirit. You can probably mend its form, but whatever spirit was inside is gone. The only sentry can reply that. If you want to use Tiangong, you can definitely mend it so that the form is whole. Sentry, can I just try something?
Starting point is 00:12:04 Of course. I probably can't fix him entirely, but I just try something? Of course. I probably can't fix him entirely, but I can make him better a little bit. Of course. Yeah, anything. So I'll gently take Echo, and with Tiangong in dagger form, cast Mending on it. Yep. So you feel the power flow through Tiangong, and as it begins to glow blue, blue light emanates over Echo and you begin to see the jagged cuts and tears
Starting point is 00:12:27 begin to meld back together. The gem kind of reforms, crystallining and fills back in. The little branches snap back together. Some of the ones that drop to the ground kind of fly up and until it's a whole form again, but the crystal is still dark. There's no light inside it. I'm really sorry, Sentry. This is all I can do right now.
Starting point is 00:12:51 That's- it's fine. It's... It's- you're amazing. You're amazing for doing that. I- I can't thank you enough. We'll fix him, don't worry. I'm sure we will. I wish I could fix you guys as well, but I only know how to deal with... ...mechanical things. Let's fix the main issue at hand, which is... ...rescuing Valor.
Starting point is 00:13:13 You with us, Sam? Of course, I've just been really far behind, hobbling away. But it was just as much determination as you all. Alright. Well... Let's get going then. Before we go, can I take the chain from the dude and wrap it around Echo and put him around my waist so I'm not carrying him?
Starting point is 00:13:34 Yeah, yeah, yeah. The chain is broken on one end, but the bladed end is still there and you can kind of hook the blades in his branches and then tie the chain around your waist. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. You can do that.
Starting point is 00:13:45 When you take the chain off of his body, you do notice that there is a, there's some documentation stuffed into his tunic, his pouches and his coins and his pouches and things like that as well. Oh, loot. Yeah. If you want to search through his body. So he has 100 gold and coins in a small pouch. Good for him.
Starting point is 00:14:01 100 gold and coins in a small pouch. And he also has a piece of paper sealed up. It had a wax seal, but it's obviously been broken open, and it was kind of stuck in a small tube, which was hanging from his
Starting point is 00:14:18 belt. It's not very big, it's probably about this long, but you open it up and it appears to be a notice that reads, I don't have it exactly written down, but it would read something like, Rend, I need you to take, I need you to get the girl tonight. Her friends won't be there. I'll have, I'll have my men waiting by the north gate
Starting point is 00:14:47 with horses head to Ironwick meet the contact and it's just signed BB unbelievable I like that guy yep Brett Brookston was behind all this.
Starting point is 00:15:09 What? Show you guys the note. I thought you said he was nice. He is nice. Perceptively so, apparently. Where is it? We have two options. One, we go to wire work. And we try to stop them before they meet their contact
Starting point is 00:15:29 and I imagine Vala then goes wherever she needs to go or is being taken. Or two, we go back to Rosehall and we go to the top of the chain, Brett Brookstone. Is that a terrible idea? Sounds awful. Sounds awful? Probably is awful then. We don't know what would happen to Valor in that time, and maybe he'd eventually tell us, but who knows what she'd have been through by the time we find out and stop it.
Starting point is 00:15:57 But if something were to happen, I'm not saying we go there to kill him or to attack him or anything like that, but his son and, was it his son and daughter? You think. They're the ones that were away. They were away from him. Yeah, right.
Starting point is 00:16:13 His son and daughter, if they know that we went back to see Brett Brookstone, maybe they would come back themselves. And they're two of the people we're chasing after. I see where you're coming from. However, that's, in my view, a higher risk than just finding Valor. We don't know for sure if that's going to carry
Starting point is 00:16:34 through. And also, we don't know what we're up against. All of Brookstone's workers could be thrown upon us before we even get to him. True. Ironwick is closer than Rosehall at this point. Yeah. Without a horse, because you spend one day travelling on horses, and that on foot would
Starting point is 00:16:51 be like a day and a half, two days. So it's about three days back to Rosehall. One foot. Jeez. We will come back for Brookstern once we have Valor. Okay. Okay. Alright.
Starting point is 00:17:03 So is the plan to head on to Ironwick? I think so. It means travelling through the Ironweald. So I need you to pick a Navigator, Lookout, Vanguard and Rearguard. Lookout? I mean... You were the Navigator last time.
Starting point is 00:17:14 I could Navigate again. Did you make down 100 gold? Oh yeah, yeah. I've got 100 gold. Yeah, cool. Can you just add it on there now? Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:17:23 I guess I will try to be Navigator again. Navigator. Look out. Do you want to basically take the same rolls as before? I think so, yeah. Okay. My position is pretty good. Quill, survival check, please.
Starting point is 00:17:33 Can I help, Quill? Sure. Yep. Give me, make a survival check. You need to get above DC 13. What does that mean for you? Seven. Seven. No bonus from...
Starting point is 00:17:46 And I got 11. Okay, 11. As you're moving at a normal pace, there's no penalty. I'm just going to assume at this point you're moving at the best pace you can. 20. 20 for the lookout, okay. Vanguard. So, Century, can you make an athletics check for me, please?
Starting point is 00:18:03 Check, yes. 14. Well, I can't really be lookout for that long, can you make an athletics check for me, please? Check, yes. 14. Well, I can't really be looking out for that long, can I? What's that? Because they're going to get ahead of me. We're assuming that you're all travelling together, but you're just going slow pace. Okay.
Starting point is 00:18:18 Okay, what did you get on the... 14. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm glad you're here. Okay.
Starting point is 00:18:31 A goliath groaned. Can you roll a dice? He's alive! Man, how much would you love that if I just hadn't come back as an undead version, huh? Please no. I don't think love is the word. Yeah, no. Really.
Starting point is 00:18:44 I was, so, you know I was rolling dice afterwards You know how he had to make checks for injury checks, by the way Oh, yeah I made death saving throws for him I tell you this because he died If he had stabilised, I'd be like That's interesting And then later on, one day
Starting point is 00:18:58 He'd be like I'm back, motherfucker Ranger Ranger You took my chain I'm gonna to take more than your eye this time. Okay, can somebody
Starting point is 00:19:09 roll a d10 for me, please? Who do you want? Rhiannon, can you roll a d10 for me, please? So that was the first one you had? This one? Yep. Sorry, it's a two. Okay. Okay. We meet the same family the last time. That's really interesting. No, it's a two. Okay. Okay. We meet the same family as last time.
Starting point is 00:19:25 Spiders. That's really interesting. No, it's not. Spiders? A good laugh. You start travelling. You go about two hours. Your progress is slow.
Starting point is 00:19:37 Yeah. You go about two, three hours with Lucius hobbling behind you as best as he can. You have to frequently stop for rest. Quill, your eye is causing you significant pain and is uncomfortable for you. You eventually come on. Lucius, you spot this. You find a small squat building
Starting point is 00:19:59 of moss-covered stone with smoke coming out of a chimney in the middle of a kind of very small glade. Animals, deers, rabbits all frolic around this glade, and this hut is just in the middle with a little smoke coming out of a small chimney. Outside, in the glade itself, you can see figures, not humans, but almost like silhouettes made of iron and wood in various shapes of animals and humanoids like sculptures are they moving they're not moving they're just like they're like flat like art sculptures like a like an art piece like metal made from metal
Starting point is 00:20:37 and wood yeah and you can see that from attached to the small building must be some sort of small forge. You see that up ahead. I don't mean to alarm anybody, but there is a settlement up ahead, a single house with smoke coming from its chimney, so the residents are potentially home, or on fire. One of the two. There are sculptures outside, metal
Starting point is 00:20:59 and wood. Insignificant, in my opinion. And one, I think, just cracked. and wood. Insignificant in my opinion. And one I think just cracked. Just rustling in the wind. What do we want to do? I mean it might be a good respite.
Starting point is 00:21:14 Does it look idyllic? It looks pretty idyllic. There's animals and things prancing around outside. Prancing? Yes, well rabbits. Literally prancing. The deers and that are like playing. It looks idyllic.
Starting point is 00:21:28 Does it look like a fairy tale? Yes, it looks just like the fairy tale books. In these woods? Yeah, how much of this is, how much is this like a complete, what's the word I'm looking for? Opposite. Yeah, a complete opposite of what we're looking for.
Starting point is 00:21:43 I mean, the Ironald is not a creepy forest. It is an old forest which means that the trees are very old it's got very thick boughs. There are obviously monsters and things in it. But this is part of the Ironweald. The same trees you can see the same kind of ground. It just has like a
Starting point is 00:22:00 little squat building with animals around it all playing happily. Green fields, loads of flowers. Not really green fields. little squat building with animals around it all playing happily green fields loads of flowers outside it is more Shrek than it is Disney Princess yes please don't stop that there's a small chance we could get butchered to death there's always that chance in this woods however there's also small chance we could get Butcher to death. There's always that chance in this woods. However, there's also a chance that they might have resources to both help your eye and my leg
Starting point is 00:22:32 so that we could get Valor quicker in less pain. I guess we're following the tracks, aren't we? Yeah, you're a little bit off the trail. You're going in the same direction, but you're not following the exact path that whoever the people ahead of you took. You're kind of taking your own path at the same time. It's not like they saw it and avoided it or whatever. Yeah, you don't think so. It's just kind of on your way. Like Lucius has spotted it. You could ignore it and just carry on, or you can investigate it.
Starting point is 00:23:00 The statues, do they look like they're in motion? you can investigate it. The statues, do they look like they're in motion? No. They look like art sculptures, like fake, not like a marble statue which looks lifelike. These are like flat almost abstract humanoids and animals kind of thing. But they don't look like, you know, caught in a moment of like
Starting point is 00:23:16 No. You don't believe that there is some sort of wood metal Medusa on the prowl. I could always go on my own with you, hidden. There's no way you're going the prowl. I could always go on my own with you hidden. There's no way you're going on your own. You have...
Starting point is 00:23:28 I look like I need help. True. Um, I'll go. I owe it to you both. I mean, you don't
Starting point is 00:23:37 owe anything, but I think that's a better idea. But that's a good idea. But it's a better idea than you going because if it is bad and you do need to run away, you can't.
Starting point is 00:23:48 And if I go, and they're standing to the left of me, the right of me even... Don't say I. One. I also think it's a bad idea for Sentry to go, because she kind of looks like the structures. I might scare her a little bit. I reckon the resident understands the difference
Starting point is 00:24:06 between their own sculptures and a walking one that talks. Well, I'm just wary that if they see a walking, talking structure of their creation... I mean, the century does stand out, I will give you that. In a good way. Oh, thank you. You see? Thank you.
Starting point is 00:24:19 But yes, I think Nova's the best choice here. Outstanding in a field. You look terrifying now, Birdie. That scar on your face. It's covered, at least. Is it bleeding? I mean, you've got weird herbs kind of sticking out of the fabric. It eases it.
Starting point is 00:24:36 And it's weeping. It's weeping. It's weeping a bit. I think I'm weeping. Ah, that's OK. That's me, not the scar. It's okay to cry Nova
Starting point is 00:24:46 I've been crying non-stop maybe maybe that's a good approach that's a good approach I think like the whole time I've been sniffling
Starting point is 00:24:54 as we've been walking just like sniffling your like fluffy cloud hair maybe a bit droopy or something like my sleeves are all wet where I've been
Starting point is 00:25:02 blowing my nose Nova yeah it's your moment. Okay. All that charisma that you've, you know, won us over with, win this person with. Okay. Well, you'd be dead otherwise.
Starting point is 00:25:15 What? What? What? Why would you kill me? I wouldn't. Your charm has got you to where you are now. I don't feel very charming right now. Okay.
Starting point is 00:25:26 So you're heading up, Laver? Yeah. Are you trying to do it quietly? Are you just walking up to the door and knock, knock, knock? Can I be really careful? Because I think she's probably really on guard at the moment. Like, everything's going to kill her. So can I just, like, walk, but, like, sort of staring at the statue to see if they're going to move? Sounds like you want to make a perception check to be aware of any dangers.
Starting point is 00:25:47 That's what that sounds like to me. 15. It's a long S for a 15. Okay. So you begin making your way up, and you can see that they are not statues of people, as I said. These are abstract, like, more like art sculptures.
Starting point is 00:26:03 So you can look at them in a certain way. They form a person. Kind of. They're flat and they're two-dimensional and they've been built in a certain way. And they are depicting scenes almost. You can see one looks like a lumberjack. One is like a family of rabbits.
Starting point is 00:26:19 One is like a man or a woman with a bow. You can kind of see little scenes. Like Goliath. With a whip. You know, you can kind of see little scenes. Ones of Goliath. With a whip. And you begin just making your way through, and you can hear, as you get closer to the building, what does sound like humming, but also like somebody hammering metal,
Starting point is 00:26:37 like a ting, ting, ting. Like you can hear something like that. Slow work ethic. It's Bowsette. It's not Bowsette Saving that for the jingle jam Chris Can I cautiously go up to the door And knock on it So you go up
Starting point is 00:26:58 Um hello You hear from inside a And like something hitting the ground And then almost like a whoosh Um hi Hello? You hear from inside a... And like something hitting the ground. And then almost like a whoosh. Like a whoosh. Um, hi? Hello?
Starting point is 00:27:12 No response. I need some help. The door doesn't look like it locks. It just looks like you just push it open or pull it open. Um... But yeah, no response. I'm just a traveler and I need some help. I have some injured friends. Hello?
Starting point is 00:27:26 The door... I need some help. I have some injured friends. Hello? The door... I sound really pathetic. The door opens and inside you can see a very small house. There's no bed, but there's a little work desk. The chimney is connected to a small forge, so it's quite hot when you enter inside. But at the very center of the room, there is a tree
Starting point is 00:27:46 planted in like a little stone plant pot and it's grown up. It's not a big tree. It's like a little small tree. And its roof is actually what's forming the top of the building.
Starting point is 00:27:55 And then it's, the leaves have almost formed like what you thought was like a moss-covered dome is actually like the roof of the tree. That's cool. And then the chimney
Starting point is 00:28:03 just kind of sticks out a little bit to the side. Is it like a special kind of tree? It looks to be very similar to the ones in the tree. And then the chimney just kind of sticks out a little bit to the side. Is it like a special kind of tree? It looks to be very similar to the ones in the Iron Wheel. But there's like all sorts of knots and shapes in it. I'm just going to look up and be like, whoa. You don't see anybody inside.
Starting point is 00:28:20 Hello. I'm just going to, I'm staying on the doorstep, but I'm going to stick my head in and just be like, I don't mean any harm. I just need some help'm staying on the doorstep. I'm gonna stick my head in and just be like I don't mean any harm Um, I just need some help my friend broken his leg you see from the tree in the middle a face Stretches out as these long as this long limb thing and as it looks at you, can you make a wisdom saving throw, please? So deku tree and as it looks at you, can you make a wisdom saving throw, please? Oh. Sudeku tree.
Starting point is 00:28:50 Seven. That's sinister. You look up. Ah, what a relief. You are charmed, and you will treat this creature as a trusted friend to be heeded and protected. To be honest, you didn't even need to do that.
Starting point is 00:29:04 No one will just follow any fucker. But this face kind of sticks protected. To be honest, you didn't even need to do that. Nova will just follow Aang. But this face kind of sticks out. It's like, who are you? Hi. Hi. My name's Nova. Nova V'ger. Hi.
Starting point is 00:29:15 Why are you here? My friends and I were trying to get through the woods to Ironwick and we got attacked and one of them has broken his leg and the other one's lost an eye and we really need some help, please. You start crying. Give me a persuasion with advantage. Ooh, if there's one thing Nova's good at... Natural 20.
Starting point is 00:29:39 And a natural one! Wow. Natural 20 was on the Eroist dice. Yeah, on the Eroist dice. Although the natural one was on the other dice. As you just begin breaking down, this flood of emotions comes tumbling out, kind of exacerbated by the charm
Starting point is 00:29:54 because you just feel so comfortable in front of this person. This figure just pulls itself from the tree and you can see a probably very short woman. She'd probably be about 5'1 5'2 in real life um made completely of wood with like hair like a tree like leaves and branches falling down long limbs but you can see that um there's also what it appears like almost like not a leather but like a cloth uh apron that she's kind of draped over herself and a small hammer kind of hanging by her belt she comes out she's like no no no don't
Starting point is 00:30:25 cry and she pulls you in and kind of like wraps her arms she's like it's okay it's okay i'm so sorry it's been a really horrible day oh you poor thing no no no and she kind of pats you he's like oh what do what do mortals eat um um and then she goes over and she's like ah and she there's like a little window at the back of the house she opens it it and calls out, Ruffles, Ruffles, bring water. And then this deer holding like a little bucket kind of brings it up, puts it down. And she's like, thank you. And she like creates like a little cup out of wood and pours it in. She's like, drink, drink, drink.
Starting point is 00:30:59 You're so nice. No, no, it's okay. I just don't know. Are your friends mean? No, they're really not. You don't think they'll try and hurt me or my tree? No, they, it's okay. I just don't know. Are your friends mean? No, they're really not. You don't think they'll try and hurt me or my tree? No, they won't. I promise they won't. Okay, okay. Well, alright Nova, you have to tell them that they must be very careful,
Starting point is 00:31:16 right? That they can come in but then if they hurt me you have to protect me. I will protect you. You're so nice and so beautiful. Okay, okay, thank you. What's your name? I'm Selamy. Selamy. okay, I'll go get them. Okay. And then you see her just meld back into the tree. So I'll come back to you guys and I'm just sniffling like, oh I'm a mess, like I'm crying. There's a really nice woman in there, she's made of wood.
Starting point is 00:31:43 You don't have to play up now, it's us. I can't, she's so nice. Why are you crying so much? Because I'm so sad. She's acting, it's really impressive. Like giving over a really big hug. Yeah, of course, like, Sandra just comes up and it's very similar
Starting point is 00:32:02 to the hug from the creature. This wooden being just envelops you, branches tickling your face. I'm just like, goo is coming from my face. Like snot coming out of your nose. Probably dribbling a little bit. Fair play, that's fantastic, Nova. I'm just so sad because I was so useless when I got you guys and we're stuck in these stupid woods and I'm so useless at this.
Starting point is 00:32:27 I've got to be in this city with my mom and my dad and my brother and my sister. And I put a hand on her shoulder. I'm so far from home. Nova, you've done very well in finding this place. Finding the place and finding someone who can help us. She's so nice. She gave me some water. That's a relief. Well, that's good.
Starting point is 00:32:50 But you have to promise not to hurt her or I have to kill you. Sorry? Yeah, you can't hurt her because she's really nice and she's got a really nice house and there's a tree in the middle. And if you hurt her, I will kill you. Wait, okay, hang on. So so for starters why we wouldn't hurt her That's what I said! But you would have to kill us? Yeah because I promised to protect her
Starting point is 00:33:16 Wait Okay that's fine How long were you in there? We just won't hurt her We won't hurt her It's very simple Why is this even a question? Why would you be...
Starting point is 00:33:27 I mean, sure. We won't hurt her. I think she's just emotional, boy. I think it's just, you know, it's a bit sad. I want my mom! Yeah, exactly. I want my daddy! I'm just gonna start crying.
Starting point is 00:33:37 Please, for the love of shitska, let's just get inside. Oh, for the camp sentry, let's go. I'm just gonna start crying. Please, for the love of shitska, let's just get inside. Oh, for the love of shitska, let's just get inside. Oh, for the camp sentry, let's just get inside. Oh, for the love of shitska, let's just get inside. Oh, for the love of shitska, let's just get inside. Oh, for the love of shitska, let's just get inside. Oh, for the love of shitska, let's just get inside. Oh, for the love of shitska, let's just get inside. Oh, for the love of...
Starting point is 00:33:45 Let's just get inside. I can't sentry. Let's go. I mean, I'm a nice fella, but there's too many emotions in here. I'm not good with this sort of thing. There's a reason I've never married. Can I call you dad? No.
Starting point is 00:34:02 No, Missy, you may not. I am not that old. Let's go see this lovely lady. All right, let's take a step. Just be careful. Just don't break her stuff. We won't break her stuff. What's her name?
Starting point is 00:34:16 Salafane? What was it? Aselemi. Aselemi. Yeah, the charm kind of you're like, oh, you definitely would have forgotten your best friend's name. Aselemi. Aselemi. Aselemi. Aselemi. Aselemi. a salami a salami yeah the charm kind of you're like oh you definitely would have forgotten your best friend's name a salami a salami
Starting point is 00:34:27 salami a salami a salami a salami alright let's go meet a salami she's so pretty uh
Starting point is 00:34:36 Nova you might want to lead the way you've already met her once before okay um and we'll follow Nova I suppose
Starting point is 00:34:43 into oh yeah okay yep so you follow inside you step inside and you see the same thing as Nova this kind of central tree little lovely little house with a little forge attached to it and a workbench you can see there's blacksmith tools little bits of
Starting point is 00:34:57 metal you can see like ingots and things like that that have been built little bits of there's no leather you don't see much leather but you do definitely see like wood and things like that. And as you step inside, Nova's like, here you go. And do you say anything Nova? Do you like call out? You don't see a Selami, she's probably in her tree.
Starting point is 00:35:15 Mrs. Selami, these are my friends. And you watch as this figure begins to meld out of the tree, very cautiously, and she's holding up like, and she's kind of holding her hands to her face like, Nova said that I can trust you. You're not going to hurt me, are you?
Starting point is 00:35:33 Some of the woodsfolk try and come after me sometimes, so I try and send them away. We're not the woodsfolk. I don't mean to cause offense. You just came out of that tree? Yes, it's my house. What exactly are you? How rude.
Starting point is 00:35:54 Who asked that? Fuddy. Do you know what... Oh, no, no, it's all right, Mr. Elf. I'm a dryad. I see. We live in the natural world places
Starting point is 00:36:08 we are fey spirits I guess ah ok hello we mean no harm I'm being very very rude sorry and she stretches out her fingers which kind of grow out like vines, and little berries
Starting point is 00:36:26 pop off onto plates. She can cast eight berries. Just boop, boop, boop. Please, these will make you feel better and full. Please. I guess I would just eat it because I'm charmed. Yeah, you take one of these berries, you heal one hit point,
Starting point is 00:36:41 and you feel as if you've eaten a full meal for the day. Oh, wow. What a good berry. That's so tasty. It's a good berry. I'm not dying. It's a very good berry. Is it like a fake full feeling?
Starting point is 00:36:55 No, no. Is it like when you eat McDonald's? No, this is like a lembas bread. This is like, oh, I'm magically full. Arvel's like, all right. Yeah, I'll do the same. Yeah, do the same anybody who eats one heals one hit point and there would be three left over for any who are feeling particularly injured
Starting point is 00:37:14 do you want one century or I've still got my cure just squish it into your face she can eat if she wants I can appear to eat if I want to. It's like data from Star Trek. That's very tasty.
Starting point is 00:37:30 Thank you. Oh, thank you. Yes, I grow them myself. Do I feel anything in my... Yes, we saw that. Do I feel anything in my leg when I eat berry? Healing, but it doesn't... Like, the broken leg doesn't go away.
Starting point is 00:37:44 So your general vigor and energy is restored, but, yeah, any injuries, unfortunately, still remain. I'm going to... She looks at both of you. Are these the ones that got hurt, Nova? This is Lucius. Oh, you poor thing. Hello, Lucius.
Starting point is 00:37:57 Hello. I'm a Selami. Hello, a Selami. I think. Your leg looks very poorly. It is. It's really bad poor thing thank you I've never broken a bone before I don't know what bones are well it's like a
Starting point is 00:38:11 twig you imagine snapping a twig that's awful imagine that tree branch just dip and you see her eyes just go wide and she begins trembling at the thought of that like the mention of her tree being damaged. She's like, not that I would, of course. I'm just saying, that's the extremity of it. Yes, but that's awful. She looks at your eyes like, oh no, your poor eye. Now imagine uprooting the entire tree,
Starting point is 00:38:40 and that's how he feels. She faints. Lucius! What? I told you not to be mean to her! I wasn't mean, I was just giving her a relative scale of his... It comes to a little bit like, ahhh! Completely like, the worst thing ever she could possibly imagine.
Starting point is 00:38:59 Yeah, sorry. Imagine having all of your family just murdered in front of you. So I... Imagine having all of your family just murdered in front of you. She's like, oh, well, you poor things. Oh, well, I'm not sure if there's much I can do. But, well, if there is anything, I'd be happy to help, I suppose. I don't really know you. You grew berries out of your fingers.
Starting point is 00:39:24 Could you grow branches? Yes, I can. I can cultivate nature in that regard, yes. Do you think you could wrap my leg up so it doesn't move? I mean, yes, you're... I can see that your friend has already taken a poor dead tree and has tried to use them to help you. It's not one, no?
Starting point is 00:39:46 Yes, I suppose I could try, but I don't think it would be much better than what you have there. That's fine. I could make you a new leg. A new leg? Yes. What does that mean? Well, I like making things.
Starting point is 00:40:02 Oh, the sculptures outside, they're very wonderful. Thank you, Yes, I make things from time to time. I could try and make you one out of wood and metal. I'm afraid it won't attach. Well, we'd need to cut off your leg and then I could attach it. And you can do that?
Starting point is 00:40:18 Yes, but it'd probably be quite expensive. I'm okay, actually, but thank you for the offer. All right. Yes, I want to keep the leg. I don't, actually. But thank you for the offer. All right. Yes, I want to keep the leg. I don't suppose you can make eyes? I mean, not a functional eye. I could make you a nice metal one.
Starting point is 00:40:35 Hmm. That's fine. Is it? I could also... That eye probably needs to come out, Mr. Bird. Right. It could get very infected if it stays in your eye like that Right I could do that for you
Starting point is 00:40:51 It won't hurt No I can make more berries What? The berries I can smush them so that they so you won't feel pain in the eye He does not want to do that. It's gone. You're already in a lot of pain.
Starting point is 00:41:10 It will just be for a moment and then... Unless there's some magic. You'll be better. You should listen to your dryad friend. You're very far from your tree. Oh, I'm not from a tree. What? That's impossible. You must be.
Starting point is 00:41:28 No, no, I'm a guardian. Like a woodland protector. Um... Just super light. I'm... I protect people, I guess. I protect everyone. Oh, that's nice. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:41:48 Speaking of protection, and I appreciate the offer, but we're actually trying to do something that I don't think I have the time to go under an operation for. What are you trying to do? We are actually tracing people who came through the Iron World with a girl who is a friend of ours. Is there anything you can do in that regard to, I don't know, slow them down, speed us up? Well, I mean, can't you just ask your friends to come back with them? I suppose we could. Yes, we didn't actually try that.
Starting point is 00:42:28 No, you're right. We could just talk to them. You should try that. I hear that talking to people is the best way to resolve problems. Well, these people are more like the woodland hunters. Oh. Yes. Oh, I see.
Starting point is 00:42:42 They did it very bad and they took a friend from us And they their other friend injured us. Oh, that's terrible. So we would like to get our friend back. Make a persuasion check With double advantage Eight She's like well, I, that's terribly tragic. And you can see she's a bit hesitant. Like, she does want to help you, but you sense that there is still this you're strangers, she doesn't really know you.
Starting point is 00:43:14 But she definitely wants to help. She's like, well, I can make some more berries for you if you want, but berries are very good. Is Nova still pretty charmed at this point? Yeah, but you just see her as your, like, trusted friend. Like, you just, yeah, as a bestie, really. And, yeah, she just is like,
Starting point is 00:43:32 ah, yes, I mean, I mean, I mean, outside of my house and my tree, I can't really control the rest of the wood. I don't have any dominion over it or anything like that. I have lots of animal friends, but I'm not sure that they'd be much use. Well, do you know the quickest way to Ironweald?
Starting point is 00:43:50 You're in the Ironweald. Ironwick. Ironwick. Oh, that's the town. Yes. I try to avoid it. I don't go anywhere near that place, I'm afraid. She thinks for a minute. Maybe one of the animals might know They often wander around
Starting point is 00:44:07 I could ask them Would it be possible to get one of your animals Maybe a bird To deliver a message to someone in Ironwick I could do that, yes We could tell them to stop The bad guys That's a really good idea
Starting point is 00:44:23 Or to look out for Valor. Send a message to the guard, though. You need to write it on a piece of paper. I've got loads! And I'll just pull up my writing pack. Okay, yeah, if you want to write... I can do this! I can send one of my bird friends to deliver the message, yes, of course.
Starting point is 00:44:38 This is something I can do, I'm really good at this. It's literally like a fairy tale. Just so you're saying. Like, my nanny used to give me these kind of bookies. How did these fairy tales happen? I grew out of them. I will be honest. It's a very, very low-age kind of fairy tale,
Starting point is 00:44:56 but regardless. It just isn't. It's not like she's even listening. She's just like, hmm, very good. Shall I write a note then? Yes, absolutely So I'll write a note along the lines of
Starting point is 00:45:10 urgent for the guard, Ironwick guard and then can I write like a short description of the three? You've not seen them Okay, well we know that one of them had a pickaxe and two looked
Starting point is 00:45:25 like hunters or something mine oh yeah they had a longbow as well a long bow a boy and a girl same age mm-hmm and they're all in another man who was carrying a pickaxe mm-hmm they're also carrying a sack with a valour in it okay so you had a description of valor as well okay and you're gonna send two ironwick guards yeah description of them please as well. Okay. And you're going to send two Ironwick guards. Yeah. Description of them. Please stop them. They have kidnapped the girl. Okay.
Starting point is 00:45:48 And then are you going to sign it or are you just going to leave it anonymous? What do you guys think? I mean... If we had a team name, we could have signed it that. They have good relations with Rose Hall, so you could sign it. Nova. And everyone else. Arvel, would your name carry there? Not much,
Starting point is 00:46:10 I'm afraid. I mean, I travel through, but I'm a merchant down in Goldthrone, up in Goldthrone mainly. Do we sign it by Merrick's name? You could do. I mean, impersonating the Field Marshal and the Harvest Guard is technically a crime. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:46:29 Put under order from the Harvest Guard. I mean, that's a way around it, I suppose. It's still kind of illegal, but... Not really. I guess they won't necessarily know it was y'all that sent the message. Well, they told us to go out, didn't they, as part of the Guard? Sure. If Merrick backs you up, yeah, that should cover it.
Starting point is 00:46:47 I'm sure he would. Okay. Yeah. I mean, as long as they arrest them first before trying to verify the note. So Esmely is just like, well, who should I... I can send the bird,
Starting point is 00:46:59 but I need to give a description to the birdie... To the birdie? To the bird of who I should send it to? Um, to the guard, so anyone in an official guard uniform? What's a uniform? Um,
Starting point is 00:47:16 oh, God, I mean, you know what a sword looks like? Yes. So, do you know what a town looks like? Vaguely. And do you know what a gate looks like? Yes. So do you know what a town looks like? Vaguely. And you know what a gate looks like? No. So it's like the door that you have into your home. Yes. Much bigger. Right. And it's on a wall. Okay. Anyone that's standing still in front of that holding a sword. Okay, yes, I can tell that. That's good. Animals like that sort of description.
Starting point is 00:47:51 I'm very worried, but sure. I mean, do I know anything about Ironwick? Can you make a history check for me, if you like? No, I don't know anything about Ironwick. Five. Okay, five. Yeah. I just want to know if there's like no even heard the name it must be pretty small because you it's not really on maps and stuff like that smaller than rose hall as well as yeah smaller did rose hall have a wall and gate yeah at a
Starting point is 00:48:16 wall and gate okay would it be unreasonable for a place like ironwick to have that as well hard to say with that kind of check You don't know enough About the town Yeah If there is It's better than nothing Yeah So she's like Calls to the window Little blue jay Flies in
Starting point is 00:48:33 Or something like that Like perches on it She takes the letter Ties like a little bit Of twine around its leg Like speaks to it A little bit And then off it goes
Starting point is 00:48:42 You're ever so kind, thank you. No, it's you're quite welcome, especially if you're traveling with another dryad. She looks incendiary, still not quite understanding. Yes, we must get you back to your tree soon. Yes, you must, in fact, give me another persuasion check. That's a clever thing to say to her. 16.
Starting point is 00:49:05 She kind of looks. She's like, yes, you must get back to your tree as quickly as possible. Yes. No, I just, yep. And she's like, I know. Ah, yes. Mr. Eker. Sorry.
Starting point is 00:49:21 She, like, goes up to her window. Mr. Eker. Mr. Eker. Okay. And you begin to hear. Sorry? She, like, goes up to her window. Mr. Eker! Mr. Eker! OK. And you begin to hear... A giant elk head that is enormous. Brr! It's true.
Starting point is 00:49:38 Oh, wow. Mr. Eker, you need to help carry someone for me. What? You can't walk on your poorly leg, right? Mr. Econ can carry you, and then you can travel fast. Back to your tree. That's phenomenal.
Starting point is 00:49:51 That's very kind of you. That's huge. But you have to get back, of course, and your friend is injured. Yes. The tree is right next to Ironwick. Oh, right. Now, the other side of it,
Starting point is 00:50:01 obviously not in this forest. Okay. Give me a deception check. It's on the way. Shit. Why must you always ruin everything? 11. Oh, OK.
Starting point is 00:50:18 Thank you, whimsical dragon. We found someone dumber than you. She's not as... Yeah, she's kind of a bit... Naive. Yeah. She's not as... Yeah, she's kind of a bit... Naive. Yeah. She's like, yes, that sounds wonderful. Mr. Eker will meet you out the front.
Starting point is 00:50:30 Mr. Eker. But then he'll come straight back. I have to have him back. That's fine. Does he understand us? No. I can speak with him. Does he at least respond to his name?
Starting point is 00:50:39 I mean, you called him. Yes, he should do. He's very smart. Very smart. He's... How did he... He is enormous. He's very smart. Very smart. He's... How did he... He is enormous. He is a large creature, so he's probably
Starting point is 00:50:50 like the size of a big yak. Just these huge stag antlers. Is he big enough for all of us? He can certainly carry at least two or three of you. Maybe not sentry in a heavy armour, but two or three of you can ride. Me and Arbol
Starting point is 00:51:05 maybe. And Quill. And it looks like he's very adept at climbing through the woods as well. So he obviously lives there. So you want to do that? Okay. Well, thank you very much. You're welcome! Before we go... But you mustn't tell anybody
Starting point is 00:51:22 I'm here, especially not the people in the town. They're always humans. They just really don here, especially not the people in the town. No. They're always... humans... they just really don't... they come after mankind all the time. Well, we'll make sure they don't see Mr. Eekir either. I imagine once they see him... Yes! Oh, they'll try and eat him. They might, yes. Speaking of eating... Before we leave, could we get some more of those good, good berries?
Starting point is 00:51:43 Course you can! Thank you so much. Eight more good berries. Hey! They only last 24 hours, I believe. That's fine. You have one more full meal. I will put 11 good berries in my inventory. Nice.
Starting point is 00:51:59 I can check the entry for good berry. Within 24 hours of casting the spell. So you have 24 hours worth of eight Goodberries, and each one heals one hit point. Yeah, and there was three left over from both of those, so I still got those as well. There you go. Look at this, math's boy.
Starting point is 00:52:12 Eleven Goodberries. Yeah, so if you want to head off, Esmere will just wave you goodbye. I'm going to give her the biggest hug in the world. Oh, yeah. She's like, yay! Thank you so much! You're the best!
Starting point is 00:52:21 Thank you for not killing me! I told you he wouldn't. She just, like, nods and, like, waves from her door. And she will trundle off on the elk. Yeah. Like, yeah, so I'm guessing, like, you have Lucius up on the elk. Arvel is, like, on the back, like, whoa. Are we quill?
Starting point is 00:52:39 I don't know if it will take me. I don't think I need to go on there, really. You should rest. Okay, fair. The three of you are probably, like, the lightest as well. I can't think I need to go on there, really. You should rest. Okay, fair. The three of you are probably the lightest as well. I can still perceive from up here. Hollow bones, after all. Yeah, hollow bones.
Starting point is 00:52:50 Still a good point to look at, but you might have to catch up. Well, on the elk, it's going to make you travelling much easier. You don't necessarily need to make navigation checks, because the elk knows the way. And you don't need to make athletics checks, because the elk just... Yeah. Everything out of the way and you don't need to make athletics checks because the elk just everything out the way for the podcast
Starting point is 00:53:10 listeners I was shaking my head to improve like a dragon elk so yeah good thing we didn't ask about
Starting point is 00:53:16 those iron structures I feel like there was something else going on there oh she just makes them art I'm sure it's absolutely harmless
Starting point is 00:53:23 sure cool and you're gonna carry on right yes okay with the aid of the elk Oh, she just makes them art. I'm sure it's absolutely harmless. Sure. Cool. And you're going to carry on, right? Yes. Okay. With the aid of the elk, you manage to actually catch up to the point where it doesn't look like,
Starting point is 00:53:38 even with the giant elk, you encounter a sight ahead of you. It looks like Arval using the tracking and the elk, they must have gotten lost or they must have gotten delayed whilst they were traveling through the Ironweald because they have to make the same checks you guys do. And it looks like that without the aid of the Goliath, they actually got quite lost and turned around
Starting point is 00:53:57 because you managed to catch up with them in a couple of hours. So you're getting to near afternoon. What you see ahead of you is you see three figures, three humanoid figures and a large sack on the ground, big enough to hold a girl like Valor. And you see just ahead of you, I would say maybe about a hundred feet ahead of you, you see the three of them not having spotted you, but are now looking around cautiously in this dense part of the forest. You can see the girl is wearing chainmail with
Starting point is 00:54:30 a shield and has a long sword. The younger man with a beard who looks a lot like Brett Brookstone has got a long bow, or a short bow, sorry, and then a miner with a heavy-looking pickaxe is looking around. Oh, so none of them like the Goliath that we... None of them look like the Goliath. But they are looking around. Oh, so none of them like the Goliath that we... None of them look like the Goliath.
Starting point is 00:54:45 But they are looking around and Quill, even with your bad eye, you see what has clearly spooked them. A plant. You can see these long vines with these red flowers moving around them. And they're beginning to get ready for battle. And that's going to be initiative, I think.
Starting point is 00:55:04 Wow, okay. Straight in. How do we approach this? Barely. I mean we don't want them to hurt Valor but at the same time... Get my nerves quickly. We wouldn't want them just to die would we? We want to bring them to justice! Yes. Justice. Justice. Just ice, please. So... Some of the doors there. I know.
Starting point is 00:55:35 Bolt of just ice. So, I don't have time to sort out a map for it, but the topography is very similar to before. Large rocks, large trees, uneven ground, but you can see that they are just ahead in a small opening, about 100 feet ahead of you.
Starting point is 00:55:53 Do you want to just rejiggle some of these? Have you got a giant... If you can, but they are taped down, and there's a lot of drawings on them. Have you got a giant elk miniature? I don't. You're going to need stats. If somebody wants to go on D&D Beyond, you can actually search for
Starting point is 00:56:10 other monsters in a new tab. It's just a giant elk. Nice. Elk boy. How many ordinary elks would fit into a giant elk? I reckon three. Yeah, throw that into the pool. Oh boy. There we go. Big boy. I reckon a three. Yeah, throw that into the floor. You boys. Oh, boy.
Starting point is 00:56:25 You boys. There we go. Big boy. Strength 19. Century, what did you get for initiative? I got 17. Should I roll his initiative? Elky's.
Starting point is 00:56:36 That's right. Mr. What was his name? Iker. Mr. Iker, yeah. Mr. Iker. I don't have a mini for the miner. and I don't have one for Arvulf. Well he was a d4 before.
Starting point is 00:56:51 Okay I'll use this pencil sharpener. So Sentry, what did you get on initiative? 17. Quill? Oh I got 9. Nova? 18. Lucius got nine. Nova. 18. Lucius.
Starting point is 00:57:06 Six. Okay. Should I roll for the Mr. Icar? Yes, please, actually. Ooh. Oh, wow. 20. Aww.
Starting point is 00:57:17 Mr. Icar. Mr. Icar goes first, but he just, you can see he's wary to go closer. So you guys would be like quite far back here because you're about 100 feet. Like 10, 10, 20, 40, 50, 60. You're off the board. Yeah, you're off the board at the moment.
Starting point is 00:57:34 You can see he slows down and seems kind of wary to advance. He's not going to really do anything on his turn until you give him orders. No, that's me. Nova. What the fuck? I don't know what the to do you can see these vines beginning to they're almost like beginning to crawl down like the side of a big tree and they're starting you can see the others are like oh and they're starting
Starting point is 00:57:56 to get ready for this thing that's like crept up on i'm gonna go she's probably still quite rattled at this point. Can I hold... Yeah? ...action? Mm-hmm. I will Eldritch Blast. Can I... to hold action, can I Eldritch Blast if someone tells me to blast something? It's not like that.
Starting point is 00:58:24 Someone else's. So if I shout out, I don't know what to do. Yes, I will say, you can say, who should I hit? Who do I hit? And then you're saying, I'm going to hold an action until somebody tells me an answer. Yeah, and then I will object blast whoever wants it. Okay, you can see the miner is like, oh shit!
Starting point is 00:58:43 He steps forward with this large pickaxe, just swings, but it's a bunch of vines and plants, and his axe just kind of beds into a tree, missing completely. Bad weapon for it. Sentry. By the way, I'm guessing that wasn't a short rest that we had with... You can count it as a short rest. So if you wanted to have spent hit points, yeah.
Starting point is 00:59:05 Wow. Mark. I can't do anything a short rest. Yeah. So if you wanted to have spent hit points, yeah. Wow. Mark. I can't do anything at range. I see. You could start just charging forward. I could do. You can go about 60 feet if you spend your whole turn just running. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:59:16 So that would get you 40 feet. So 10, 20, 30, 40. You're going to be about here. Sure. Let me, yeah, I'll have a little sprint. So you just start sprinting forward. The sack that is Valor is probably behind them
Starting point is 00:59:29 about here. Okay, cool. I might be able to snatch her and run away. Yeah, you could try. For sure. The creature, the plant creature now fully descends from the trees, and you can see it's a writhing mass of these red-tipped ferns, and it shuffles. It kind of shuffles towards them.
Starting point is 00:59:46 It's weird. Yeah. One of its vines whips out, grabs the miner, wraps him up in the vine, and begins crushing him. Okay. If only it was one of the Brookthorns. You could bargain.
Starting point is 01:00:06 So the miner is like crushed. You can see the life being squeezed out. He's like, ah, Finn, help! He's being crushed. Wait a minute, Finn? I know that name. God, there's a lot. Oh my God, he's a bad guy!
Starting point is 01:00:23 Oh my gosh! Quill liked him. How much would it be to dismount from the Mr. E? It's not even a five foot. You can just dismount him and then carry on your movement. Okay. I will do that, and I suppose just move up towards them. So you can get next to Sentry, basically 60 feet.
Starting point is 01:00:40 I am going to prepare the Thunderstone pistol, but not use it. Yeah. I think it's the same situation of like, I'm just gonna follow Sentry and we're just gonna stroll in. Yep. In the chaos.
Starting point is 01:00:56 Okay, sure, okay. I mean, are we stealthing? Oh no. No, Sentry was like, just like the Terminator and just charging through there's nothing subtle about this girl no okay oh i'm a hulking seven foot man okay and behind you is a giant elk yeah 45 foot titan so you watch as this guy, Finn,
Starting point is 01:01:25 moves up and starts hacking away at the plant, trying to free this miner. He's like, come on, get off him! And he's slicing and slashing away. Sorry, he should be more Texan than that. Get off him! Starts slashing away, hitting with one of his attacks,
Starting point is 01:01:39 like cutting one vine, but then more just kind of writhe out. Oh, gross. Lucius. but then more just kind of writhe out. Lucius. Mr. Ica. Come on, buddy, we need your help. Go! Yeah, he will move.
Starting point is 01:01:54 So what's his speed? His speed is... I think we're about to get run down. I think we're about to get run down. 60 feet. I have nine hit points. Wow! He will go 120, so he just charges forward.
Starting point is 01:02:05 Whoa! So technically, you end up past them. So you, like, gallop around them. So as you gallop past, you drive by, like, spellcasting. No, no, I'm just going to shout at them. Okay. Give us fella back! Okay.
Starting point is 01:02:24 They're like, what the hell? And they're confused by a moment. You've got a full action. You can take your full action. Because you'll literally just go and then you're yelling as you're running. If you want to do something. Yeah, I'll cast Blade Ward on myself. Okay.
Starting point is 01:02:42 You're like... So I'm resistant to types of melee. They look up and they're like, huh? And they get confused seeing you. The woman at the back, hearing the charging sentry,
Starting point is 01:02:52 will just turn around, like, draw her blade and stuff and, like, put herself into a stance like, come on, come on, Finn, free him, we gotta move! They found us! And yeah, turns to face you.
Starting point is 01:03:04 And she turns around and sees you with your sword and, no, your axe and sheath. Mr. Eker. I'm pointing a gun at them.
Starting point is 01:03:11 Roll a two to try and hit this creature on the ground. It's plus six to hit. So yeah, his horns just kind of dig into the ground as he's trying to hit
Starting point is 01:03:18 this blind creature it doesn't quite hit. Yeah, I guess the one is Nova. Does them like moving count as like, like, no. Nobody said, nobody said, Nova, shoot that guy. Okay. Yeah, I guess the one is Nova. Does them moving count as my... No.
Starting point is 01:03:25 Nobody said, Nova, shoot that guy. Okay. I don't think we know what we want to do. Fala's on the ground, I'm guessing. Yeah, she's right in front here. She's basically here. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. I'm just going to stand to the side.
Starting point is 01:03:42 Okay. 30. Well, I'm just going to stand to the side. Okay. Yeah, can I Eldritch Blast the lady? Yep. Go for it. Eldritch Blasto! Eldritch Blasto!
Starting point is 01:03:58 Wow. That's an anime. That's what they say in the anime. That would be a natural one. Oh, nice. Just blast so it takes a huge chunk out of a tree or a piece of stone on the way. This episode really has it all. That was a warning shot.
Starting point is 01:04:13 Yeah, you can call that out if you want. At the start of the miner's go, whilst he is constricted by this creature... This poor guy. Screw him. He's melted by poison this thing is like this poison is seeping over him and he watches his skin he's like
Starting point is 01:04:35 he's crushed into the goo and the vines begin crawling out looking for their next target. Is it like in Robocop? Yeah, kind of. Just melted by poison. Slushy. Slushy.
Starting point is 01:04:53 Sentry. I'm going to continue running. So, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. You're next to Valor, but this woman is right in front of you. You could grab the sack of Valar and throw her back. So you just grab the sack
Starting point is 01:05:10 and throw it behind you. You have to slide it rather than throw it. You ready yourself. Nice. The vine monster. It's got a lot of different targets now. Go for the juicy shrooms. Everyone within 15 feet of it. So Lucius, Oh, it's got a lot of different targets now. Go for the juicy shoes.
Starting point is 01:05:27 Everyone within 15 feet of it. So Lucius, Mr. Ica, Arval, and these two. However, not Valor because Century pulled her out the way. Can you make straight saving throws, please? Can you make one for Mr. Ica as well? Mr. Ica got a 14. Okay. What does Lucius get?
Starting point is 01:05:45 Lucius gets a cock. Oh! 10. So a writhing mass of plants just begins spreading out in a 15 foot radius around this creature. The woman, the Finn, the boy both get caught up, their legs just completely trapped by this plant creature.
Starting point is 01:06:04 You are pulled off, Mr. Eker, buy these plants and also restrained so is our vol But mystery could just pulls his hooves up and it's just mystery. Yeah. He's just like pulling himself free basically As he charges, but you are all currently restrained. You got everyone Everybody except the giant elk. Yes, the incredibly strong giant elk. Even though they're on the back of it? Yeah, it literally was like... Oh, it pulled you off it? Okay, yeah, sorry. Loads of vines came out. However, that is technically all it does this turn.
Starting point is 01:06:33 So you're all currently restrained. Quill. I'm going to walk up, point my gun forwards, basically at them both. And... I mean, I guess they're, like, freaked out right now, aren't they? I guess they're like freaked out
Starting point is 01:06:45 right now. Yeah they're like what? And they've seen their friend be melted and you're now pulling it but they're also yeah.
Starting point is 01:06:52 What do you say? What are you going to do? That's what you see initially. I don't really know how to get them to just not you know. What do you say?
Starting point is 01:07:03 This is the RP. I'm going to point the gun, like, directly at her, the one in front of me. So you're like, with your scarred eye. My scarred eye. I suppose I have to look the other way. Yeah, you're kind of, so is it? Like, yeah. And I will shoot.
Starting point is 01:07:20 But it's hitting the vine creature. Okay, so you're just going to shoot. You don't want to talk to them or shout at anything. That's why I thought you were going for it. Yeah, you can make an attack roll. I mean, the initial thing was just to spook them. Okay. Like, super spook them.
Starting point is 01:07:32 Okay. And then the last second, shoot at the thing behind them. Okay. 19 plus my intimidation, 21. Yeah, there is definitely a moment of pause as she's staring down the barrel of this gun and then you're just... And I do...
Starting point is 01:07:48 I guess I need to shoot the actual thing to see if it hits that. Yep. Natural 20! Yay! Amazing. So it's a D10. Double it. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:07:59 12 plus 2. 14 damage. 14 to the vine creature. Yeah. Okay. So you're like... you point it directly at her kind of grimacing and then you're just like and you watch as the bullet blows out
Starting point is 01:08:10 like three of these vines just ripping them from the stem and then you're just I mean it's empty but you just point it back I probably don't when you see this bullet just tear through the plant creature ripping parts of it away anything else you want to do? I will say to them that we're
Starting point is 01:08:27 taking them back to Rose Hall okay you say that Finn's like you ain't taking us anywhere fucking birdman and he's trying to free himself I mean I am a fucking birdman but come on I have to point out when I wing bird man see he's like he can't pull himself free of these vines. He's desperately trying to pull himself free. He's just like, Fela, grab that kid and get out of here. And she's just like, ah. And you can hear them kind of grunting.
Starting point is 01:08:56 You're going to have to get past entry first. Yeah, there's definitely a point. I'd like to see that. Lucius. Yes, let's do try. Move action to try and break yourself free. I'm going to say... Whilst restrained to them two
Starting point is 01:09:12 If you don't give us back, we're not going to help you destroy this vine creature Okay And then I'm going to hit the vine creature Okay, give me a persuasion check Nine plus five, fourteen Okay, now you want to... Did you want to try and escape or are you just going to attack it? Because you are currently restrained, so you want to... Did you want to try and escape or are you just going to attack it? Because you are currently restrained, so you have disadvantage. Can I use a Chromatic Orb, cast a spell?
Starting point is 01:09:31 You would still have disadvantage, because you're still making an attack roll. It's only a move action to break yourself free. Okay, I'll do that. Yes, I'll try. Okay, so yeah, it's Athletics or Acrobatics. Yes. Eleven. That is just enough, actually. Okay, so yeah, it's a athletics or acrobatics Yes Hello, that is just enough actually you like to pull yourself free
Starting point is 01:09:55 Bring your hands up. You still want to cross chromatic orb No, not now that it's Yeah, you could run you could just like get away from this or hobble back to to Mr. Eker. You've only got 15 movement, haven't you? Then go back to Mr. Eker and get behind him. Okay. So, yeah, you can kind of move up behind him. Kind of grip onto his fur. You got it, Mr. Eker?
Starting point is 01:10:12 Yeah. He's just stomping his hooves down and things like that. Okay. So that's Lucius' go. Can I ready an action? Yes. If they were to attack me, I'd chromatic all of them. Yes.
Starting point is 01:10:26 Although, no, your action would have been to move, all of them yes although no your action would have been to move because you broke free which would be a function to break free okay the large woman in the chainmail
Starting point is 01:10:33 Fila steps forward swings a blade towards Sentry that's going to be a 14 to hit though go away Jose pating
Starting point is 01:10:41 pang she's like staggers back at the top of the round, the vine creature's going to grab Finn. It does. Oh,
Starting point is 01:10:49 they're all melting. We need him alive. Well, we don't need him alive, actually. We need one of them. Yeah. It gets caught up.
Starting point is 01:10:55 He's like, Finn, get this thing off me! Before, ugh! And you can see him panicking, scared of what it might do to him next.
Starting point is 01:11:03 Hmm. Very. Mr. Eaker is going to him next. Hmm. Very. Mr. Eker is going to make an attack roll. I got a 7. What bonus do I add? Plus 4, I believe. 6. Plus 6? That's a 13. That's a ram, by the way. Okay. But if you want to do hooves, it's plus 6 as well. Yeah, hooves. How much damage?
Starting point is 01:11:19 So, what are you trying to do? It's on a 1 prone creature's count. Yeah. Okay. So that's 48 plus 4 or just 22 straight 22 i'll just do 22 which is nuts it stomps on this plant creature just slamming its hooves down on the ground like i'm tearing parts of it away i mean you can see this plant creature however is still it speaks elvish oh there you go cool um but we don't know But we don't know that. You don't know that. It begins tearing it away. Oh, it knows Elvish, giant elf in Sylvan, but can't speak them.
Starting point is 01:11:50 Yes. So it knows what you're saying. I'm just going to quickly... Oh, wait, no, you're speaking common, yeah. Yeah. Dirty common. Not beautiful Elvish. Okay.
Starting point is 01:12:01 I can speak Elvish. So you guys can go, but to speed things up here, on Finn's next turn, he is also melted. Oh, come on, no, we wanted him alive! Well, you can try and save him, but I don't imagine that, like, considering your situation, who's gonna go? So it would have been Mr. Icarus, and Nova would have gone, what would you have done? I was gonna try and free Valor from the bag, like get her out of the bag. Okay, yeah, so you move up, you free Valor, that's easy, you can do that, she's unconscious. Would that be an action to do?
Starting point is 01:12:27 Yeah, basically. It'd be like move up, action, undo the bag, drag her out, she's unconscious, probably drugged. Oh, she got rolled back, right? Yeah, she's been, she can pick her up. Uh, then the vine creature, no, then the vine creature would go, he's already got thingy, so she could do some damage to him. Sentry, what would you do do would you attack the woman i would i would have given uh the guys one more chance to give themselves up okay and i can free them or i'm just going to flame lance them i probably would flame lance the plant try and flame lance the pants and catch them in it or would you just try and i'll give them one last chance to give themselves up okay flame once the plan what do you say to them so
Starting point is 01:13:02 like this is your final chance if you don't give yourselves up and let us take you back to Rose Hall then I'm flame lancing all of you okay you are all going down otherwise
Starting point is 01:13:12 yeah intimidate check for me please 20 oh natural 20 so the woman I'm scared looks at you
Starting point is 01:13:20 just like drops her sword and is like fine fine, fine. Just get him fruit. Like, she, like, turns, like, save my brother. Okay. You turn to him, like, because obviously you've done that.
Starting point is 01:13:34 So do you still want to flame lance the creature? Flame lance the plant. Okay, so you can step to the side so you only catch the creature. So remind me what this does again. So it's a... Dexter saving throw? Yeah, Dexter saving throw. That fails.
Starting point is 01:13:49 Okay. Takes 3d10 of fire damage. Yeah, because I up the damage. Oh my god! I up the damage on it, so that's 3d10. 3d10! Thank you very much. Because it takes health away from her as well.
Starting point is 01:14:01 A, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Wow. And then I take 1d6 of cold damage yes i'll roll that you take five five cool um okay so the flame launch races across this creature um you can see that the it does seem somewhat resistant to fire however like the creature itself like uh yeah i know but the red tips on it begin to kind of glow and heat up when the flame touches it and things like that
Starting point is 01:14:28 and seems to absorb some of the heat but it still does burn you know this long line of trail of fire as this blast erupts from it however it's not enough
Starting point is 01:14:36 to kill the creature after sentry quill would you do anything I appreciate we're going to be running late but I would finish that yeah I would probably magic missile.
Starting point is 01:14:45 The plant? The plant, and probably try and hit the vines that are constraining. Just roll the damage. Yeah, the problem with magic missiles is it's... I do it level two as well. So that's 4d4. 4d4 for me.
Starting point is 01:14:59 Let's see if we can save this guy. Four, two, so six. Seven. Seven. Ten. Ten plus 4, 14. Yeah, ten plus 4, 2, so 6, 7, 10. 10 plus 4, 14. Yeah, 10 plus 4, 14. Not quite in that. After Quill's go, Lucius.
Starting point is 01:15:15 Okay. Or the last one. What about Arval? I didn't actually roll for Arval. Let's say Arval, well, Arval's also restrained, so he's kind of like, let's say for the sake of, Arval's also restrained, so he's kind of like... Let's say for the sake of the story, he got completely wrapped up
Starting point is 01:15:29 and he's like a little dwarf trying to kick out of the vines. Yeah. I'm going to do a Chromatic Orb, 4-inch diameter sphere of cold energy at the creature. And so that would be a ranged spell attack. That's a 10.
Starting point is 01:15:48 Nope. No damage on a miss. If the attack hits, 3d8. So you throw it, you do hit, but you're kind of hitting the area around it where Sentry's already burnt a lot of it away, so the cold doesn't quite spread out onto the body. After that, you just watch as this poison just melts Finn away.
Starting point is 01:16:08 The woman is just like, Finn, no! And just But this creature moves so slowly, if you guys just choose to run, you can easily outrun this thing. What about Arbol? You can free him, like, yeah. Look, we've got five minutes minutes I need to wrap the episode up
Starting point is 01:16:25 alright okay Mr. Ika the main thing was whether the guy you wanted to take back for justice lived or not
Starting point is 01:16:31 like yeah we'll take her the elk can easily pull her free and stuff yeah she's you just grab her and drag her away with you
Starting point is 01:16:39 alright I suppose I'd also tie her up as well as best I can with one arm but you know I'm assuming you'll do that in the safety of these creeps away following you. Because the thing is, as well, is, like, you two can just constantly, like, firebolt or Eldritch Blast this thing.
Starting point is 01:16:52 It moves at five feet around, so you can just be like, blam, blam, blam, blam, blam. How did it catch up to them? It probably stood on it. Yeah, basically they jumped into it. Cool. Well, we're going to read some donations now, because that's the end of things. We're going to wrap, see how this all develops next week. into it. Cool. Well, we're going to read some donations now because that's the end of things. We're going to wrap, see how this all develops next week. Holy crap.
Starting point is 01:17:08 Man. Crikey. That was a lot of stuff that happened. Wow. There was a lot of stuff of me rolling stuff behind the scenes of their encounter and how much they got delayed by and stuff and obviously how much you got delayed by and it all worked out.
Starting point is 01:17:23 But we got Bella. We got her back. We got Bella. We did it. Yeah, you got her before you got delayed by, and it all worked out. But we got Bella! We got her back! We got Bella, we did it! Yeah, you got her before you were late. Oh, I lost my leg and I lost my eye. Hey everyone, thanks for listening to this episode, and thanks again to our sponsors, D&D Beyond and Brilliant.org. There's links to both of them in the episode description.
Starting point is 01:17:38 Also, we're going to be at MCM Comic-Con in London on the 26th and 27th of October for a live show and signings. Come meet us if you're going, and follow us on Twitter at High Rollers D&D for specific timings, and we'll see you there. Also, we've just released some shiny metal Erois-themed dice on store.yogscast.com. Check them out, and remember you can use the code
Starting point is 01:17:58 HIGHROLLERS on checkout to get 10% off not just High Rollers merch, but all Yogscast merch. Maybe you can grab yourself a 10-year hoodie while you're at it. Anyway, we'll be back on Monday for a brand new episode where we take the culprits back to Rosehall and finally get some justice. We'll see you then.

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