High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #151 | The Stalking Sickness (Part 1)

Episode Date: June 27, 2022

Rescued by the Guardian forces the Stormchasers discover a new threat looming in the shadows... Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes and Studio updates on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Grab some High Rollers merch: https://freshmerch.fm/collections/high-rollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound & TCT Adventures (Solasta: Crown of the Magisters) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. Clean intro. I feel like Sam did that on purpose because there was three seconds left of my timer. He cut to me. It's automated. Okay, well, you might need to look at that because I'm sure there were three seconds left

and it faded down. I was really close to that. Welcome back to Erois. Well done. Seeking to face the titan of life and death, Kalara, the champions of Erois have arrived at the dark and sorrowful Gravebloom Valley and descended to an abandoned guardian outpost, hoping to meet with a force they had sent

to locate a place called Nightbloom Hold, a stronghold of the Holy Knights of Calara. However, instead of their allies, the party were forced into a desperate battle to hold off waves of undead creatures. Pushed to their absolute limits, the champions succeeded in holding off the strange plant-undead hybrids long enough for the Guardian scouts to destroy something nearby creating a diversion and then securing a safe exit to their second base of operations escorted by the scouts the battered and exhausted champions must now decide their next move and investigate what has happened here in the valley and that's where we're gonna jump straight back in. So you guys finished fighting off,

you succeeded in holding off the waves of undead long enough to buy these guardians time for whatever plan that they have enacted. And now you are being led by two guardians and a force of about 18 sort of generic scouts who are leading you to their secondary base camp. Okay. Katie doesn't seem happy with me for some reason.

What's that hit point number, Tom? You were defending and protecting in cool ways. To be fair, I think pretty much everybody was on less than 10% HP at the end. It was a desperate one. I believe the names of the two guardians that are helping. How did you do a heal? No, I got mega lay on hand.

Did, did. Did, did, oh. Yeah, he did do a heal? No, I got mega lay on hand. You did, did. Did, did, oh. Yeah. He did do a lot of healing, though. He did a careful heal. Wouldn't do any more. But everyone, not to steal the moment, but Chris Trott would like to inform everyone

of some notes he made last week. Oh. Gearshift and Wayfinder. Yeah, they are the two leading guardians. Let us out the pack. Yes. And also there were other guardians, of course, around that were camouflaged. Yes. Would you there were other guardians, of course, around

that were camouflaged. Would you like me to give you a red tick? Yeah, thank you. Gold star, gold star, smiley face. Yeah, Gearshift and Wayfinder are two guardian scouts that are sort of leading this band, right? The others, there are many other guardians here. There's about 20 of them in total,

but Gearshift and Wayfinder are the kind of leaders. Wayfinder's used a little bit of magic to help you sneak away, and Gearshift is kind of leading you. And the Guardian Scouts, in solemn and almost fear-ridden silence, lead you through the thick jungle valley. In the perpetual supernatural gloom, you can't make out much detail of the terrain you are led over. And even with darkvision, the blending shades of grey

make it difficult to pick out details or really understand where you're going. However, you eventually hear the sound of rushing, crashing water that would imply some sort of waterfall or plunge pool nearby. Wayfinder approaches you, wait here a moment, champions, I must disable the traps and alarms we've set up, please, just a moment moment before they vanish, returning a few moments later to indicate that the path is safe. You are led on a very deliberate path and you come to the side of a plunge pool beneath a rocky outcropping where the river breaks away.

Dug beneath this outcropping are small cubbies and caves. Pieces of ripped up tent and cloth smeared with mud and covered in plants and foliage have been used to help camouflage the caves gear shift will sort of give some orders to the other guardians around to secure the sort of perimeter um and then uh yeah gives a moment of silence almost as if waiting expecting questions or instructions instructions these traps that you've set up what exactly we looking for just in case we stumble upon some the way finder will say I've they lead into the camp they are mainly to

alert us if anything comes nearby those skeletal creatures. Pretty simple, primitive affairs. Pit traps, trip wires. Okay, okay. They are not, I do not think that you would fail to spot them, Champions. They are, these creatures, as you saw, they are determined, they possess a cunning, but they, I don't think that they would recognize a trap of that nature.

We've used them to sort of defend this position before and other positions as well um i must go i uh if you have questions please speak with gear shift um they are better at this thing than i am um wayfinder by the way uh very kind of thin life looking guardian they actually have quite a large head for their body and they have two sets of eyes on either side, almost like a bird's head, where they have eyes on the sides, allowing them to sort of see in a better field of vision.

And their legs are, is it digitrade, where they're sort of like the backwards kind of legs? And so they kind of squawk off, and they have an echo that's permanently out with them as well. But they seem kind of like shifty and a little bit awkward in social sort of answering questions and things. And they skulk off, kind of disappearing into the sort of foliage.

Gearshift is much more humanoid, much more like sentry. They are covered in sort of like metal and stone armor, but they have like shades of pink almost hidden beneath this rudimentary camouflage, having smeared themselves in like mud and moss and vines to help kind of themselves blend in. And they kind of look around a little bit uncertain.

You don't get the impression that this is somebody who is used to leading other people, but they've sort of been placed in charge at least temporarily. And Giftshift awkwardly is like, but Sentinel Prime, I am very glad that you are here champions things have not been good the last few weeks What's this going on? Can I messengering Oriah? Yep

Just to update her on the situation because I know she was on standby the whole crew was like blasting that we managed to escape the camp and That we are now with Guardians. Okay. Yeah, you get a message back from Oriah. Yes, both Penny and Lookout lost track of you in the deep foliage. We can't penetrate this gloom or the thick canopy here. I'm keeping the Stormchaser above at a high altitude. You'll need to give us a signal where you are and give us a way to come and find you because i don't know if we can uh we want to be able to spot you so find something

bright and uh find a place of elevated position if you can or somewhere with a clearing at least and we'll try and get you as best as fast as we can but it may take some time if you need a quick exit unless of course miss nova has her teleport magic and things like that. Obviously, that will be more secure. I can't hear this. No. But anybody with a message ring does. I'm just nodding at Nova. I think it's literally Century of Lucius.

Yeah, exactly. But yeah, so Gearshifter kind of awkwardly is looking around. The other guardians that were with you, the ones that kind of helped you sort of shoot all the undead and things like that, it's very obvious. I'm not even going to have checks or anything like that. Like, the morale is low, very low. They are very scared.

Any noise, like they hear a twig snap in the distance, they are jumpy and they're, like, pointing their weapons in that direction. It's also far less than what there should be here. You know that the forces that you sent here was more about 40. This is about half the number that you sent here. I'm going to messenger ring Sentry. Okay.

These guardians, they don't look too good right now. Maybe they could do with the Prime, you know, to give them a little pep. Maybe they could, but maybe they should. Maybe they could do with leaving as well. That's an option. We could evacuate some of them, perhaps. I mean, we struggled just back there. I don't know how they're holding up like this. It's incredible.

Whilst you guys are having that conversation, Quill, one thing you'll notice being the most perceptive... In fact, Ayla probably would as well, because Ayla's kind of used to dealing with these environments. This is more that Ayla's a trained hunter and stalker of woodland terrain and wouldn't be able to tell some of the camouflage and stuff. Okay. My zone.

Deep in the caves behind this kind of plunge pool, you see peeking through these camouflage cloths and stuff there's maybe like 10 guardians laying on the ground uh sort of in the back of a cave and another guardian is kind of like walking amongst them and sort of checking on them um they don't appear to be they're moving they're alive but they do not appear to be in a good way hard to tell with a guardian yeah that you can see that like they're like like... Because Guardians don't necessarily breathe, but you can see little movements and things like that that indicate they're not dead dead.

There's a little bit of dim light coming from their matrixes and things like that. But yeah, they're kind of tucked away in the back of this cave, and you notice the other Guardians are keeping a pretty big distance from them. Okay, I think if I can see Lucius and Sentry... Yeah, they're doing the messenger ring face. I mean, it's hard to tell.

Again, with Sentry, like, blank face, but... Lucius is doing that. Yeah, he's doing the cross-eyed look. Then I'll sort of move forward and say, you've done very well to keep yourself hidden from these creatures. I see you're covered in mud and leaves. You're totally in shift, this is. Yeah, yeah see you're covered in mud and leaves. You're totally in a shift, this is. Yeah, yeah.

You're covered in mud and leaves and things. I mean, is that proven to dissuade them? Is there anything we could adopt to blend in better? Not with the, the camouflage is not for the undead creatures. It does help against them, the're sort of plant skeletons. They have some senses, if you get too close to them the camouflage won't help. They have the ability to sense things around them, especially if there are lots of them. They share a sort of intellect we believe, they can see through each other's eyes, hear through each other's

ears, and they possess a heightened sense of smell and things like that. The camouflage doesn't really help if you get too close. The camouflage is for something else. And when she says that, like, Gearshift is like, like, looking around, like, looks scared. Another undead creature, or...? We don't know. We've been calling it the Stalker.

Commander Hotshot has more answers, but it is the reason that we had to abandon the first outpost and it is why we are half as many as we once were. What kind of creature is this? We don't know. It began maybe a few days after we sent Douser and Stave to report to you in Horizon. few days after we sent Dowsa and Stave to report to you in Horizon. At first we thought it was patrols being taken out by those undead creatures or the plant life here, but more began disappearing. Patrols, sentries, one, two at a time. We found one of their bodies.

We think that we may have caught the stalker before it managed to take them away. The bodies... we've never seen anything like it. It has the ability to poison guardians, something that we are naturally resistant to. Diseases that normally would not affect us. A rot of sorts that affects our living matter. Then it attacked in force with large amounts of those undead creatures on the outpost. And that is where most of... And she points, Gershiv kind of points back to the cave. Several of us were injured and have become infected.

A disease, we believe. We only have one medic remaining. She is attending to them as best she can. Maybe I can help in some way. Maybe we can talk to them, see what they saw. We know that this disease is contagious, amongst guardians at least, but you should be wary. Contagious, okay.

We don't want you getting its entry. Okay, so... How do we stop this? Is there a way we can... is there an antidote? Is there... Vines is our only medic who is still with us. Many of the others were... I almost feel that the Stalker targeted them specifically to prevent them from being able to heal us. Vines managed to get away. Vines does not look like a medic. Vines has determined that nothing that she can do can heal them. It is beyond her ability. But perhaps you can. You are Sentinel Prime and the champions of Erois. If anyone can, it is you. We can try our very best.

Commander Hotshot will hopefully return soon. They were travelling some distance away, perhaps an hour or two. They should rejoin us shortly. I understand that you are all tired. We do not have food, and we do not need water and the like, but if you need to rest, we can set up, we can sort of move some things around and provide you an opportunity to try and get some rest. That would be much appreciated. How is Vines managing to hold off this disease? She is not really. She is making them comfortable and keeping them from deteriorating but it is sort of a losing battle. Right. Are there any symptoms we should look out for?

Yes. In us, it has... I do not know how it would affect other living matters, but for guardians, this sickness, it creates almost a sense of nausea, great pain when moving or trying to perform any physical activity, and also a sort of delirious weakness. The individuals are no longer able to stand

on their own or function. But apart from that, that Vines does not know any more than that. Okay, we'll keep an eye out. So if any of you feel any of those things, please let each other know. I start to feel woozy right now, but I- Okay, do you need any water?

I'm a bit of a hypochondriac, I'll be honest. Keep breathing, breathe in, out. Focus on your breathing. I'm focusing too much on my breathing. No, no, no, don't focus too much. Just concentrate. You'll be okay. The Guardians, as Lucius is freaking out, that's spreading to the Guardians. They're seeing these champions, the people they've been waiting for freaking out, and a couple of them are like... And Guardians are dedicated to a purpose,

but you can see clearly that most of these, they're not soldiers. They are scouts in the fact that they were probably once pathfinders or guides, survivalists. They're not soldiers and warriors. They have weapons and they know how to use them, but they're not seasoned soldiers. Lucius! Lucius! Stop, you need to...

Look, look, you need to be brave. You need to... Come on, you're scaring them. Thank you, Sentry. You always know how to solve every situation. You're so powerful and strong. Thank you. Make a... It's not really deception make persuasion check Lucius That's an eight plus my charisma you've got words your persuasion bonus like yeah

She up son Got ten eighteen eighteen Eighteen is enough where, it's convincing enough that the Guardians kind of do seem to, like, relax a little bit. They're not, like, comforted, but they're not freaking... Like, they can see that Lucius is feeling a bit more confident with Sentinel Prime around, and Sentinel Prime is having an effect just being here.

But it's not looking good. Aayla is probably, like, covered in... Like, I think, like, especially because you weren't here, Katie, like, it's not like you took one big wound. Like, Aayla is covered in, like, small nicks and cuts and bruises and is just, like, soaked in blood. Like, it is just, like, death by a thousand cuts, right? Like, you know, you were just sort of bled dry by these guys.

So probably feeling a little tired, strangely. Something you're not quite used to but um yeah so what would anybody anything anybody would like to do um yeah i mean if these uh injured guardians uh saw this stalker almost directly or survived an attack from the stalker among other undead creatures then i feel like it's definitely worth going over to talk to them to try and figure out what this thing is but I am wary of this disease that they have. I mean I am low on spell slots as well. Well any sort of examination you're gonna have to get close like as in within five feet to examine them and sort of check their symptoms and things like that any spell spell that requires touch, etc.

I think it might be worth finding Vines and seeing if... or if anyone that... Vines is in there. Oh, Vines is in there. Could Tiangong? Yeah, I was going to say, if you want to be cautious, I could Tiangong and we can do that whole consciousness thing like we did in the war room. You could use your little eye thing, you know? Arcane eye?

Try not to freak them out. Yeah, is this going to look good in front of? I don't think that would be bad. An arcane eye would just be like, I think that they were actually quills clearly trying to do something. The guardians maybe know exactly the nature of it. They also can't see it, to be fair. Yeah, if it's invisible, they can't see it. We're also protecting Sentinel Prime. It's probably worth asking the questions of,

were any of them physically interacting with the stalker, or did they have some sort of particles in the air that they ingested or went into their bodies in some way? Things like that. Is it contact, or is it... phlegmy? Alternatively, I mean, I haven't tried it, but maybe I could use my eye through the eye? Eye through eye?

Storm eye through arcane eye. What does that mean? You know, if I just see the guardian with the arcane eye, then use the storm eye to try to figure out what it was, or even determine what this stalker is. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Is a headache one of the symptoms? Maybe. I've suddenly got one.

It might work. I'll be able to... I mean, I technically could just do it right now, actually. I think what's important is keeping Sentry away from the current victims of this disease. Mm-hmm. That doesn't help anybody if she gets infected. And we'll try and get some rest here.

They've got a shelter that we can use. I mean, shelter is a very loose word, but this is clearly being put together in desperation. Well, we've got our bedrolls and things, our storage packs. If you do, yeah. I don't know if you actually have those in the entries. Right?

If you don't have things like rations and bedrolls and stuff like that, then you don't have them. Oh, I do. I've got a bedroll. I don't have any rations. No. I've got a bedroll. Oh, yeah, because I've got a two-person tent.

I've got one day of rations. You have a two-person tent? No, I've got four. I've got a two-person tent. It's just like a fold-out. Yeah. Pop-up. I've got a tent, too.

I think you guys had those from when you were in Rose Hall. I think you bought a bunch of stuff. I think because I shared with Ayla. Yeah, I got a two-man tent. That's fine. I carried it. I mean, a tent's going to take time to set up. Maybe you'll need it if you're going to take a long rest here.

But yeah, for sure, things like rations and water skins and stuff, I'm assuming that you would have filled those up on the airship. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it makes sense. I'm not going to nickel and dime you on that kind and stuff. I'm assuming that you would have filled those up on the airship. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it makes sense. I'm not going to nickel and dime you on that kind of stuff. I mean, essentially,

you don't need to eat or drink anyway, so you're fine. All right, so, what are you doing with these infected guys? Do you want to send the Arcane Eye in? Do you want to send Tiangong in? Tiangong in.

I can Arcane Eye follow you. One of the last few spells that I have left. There he is! The starry, spatial form of Tiangong, they appear. And, yeah, they just look like... And mentally, you know, like, you share a mind.

So, yeah, Tiangong will make their way into this kind of, like, little cave. And do you cast Arcanine? I cast Arcanine. So Quill's attention is focused through. So Quill and Nova, as you enter, you do see, yeah, there's about 10 Guardians all just laying on the floor. No bedrolls or, like, sheets. They don't need them. And, yeah, they look in very bad shape.

None of them are coherent. None of them can speak or talk. They are just, like, deliriously babbling and sort of, like, you know, groaning, moaning in pain. The first thing you notice, without necessarily needing to make a check, is they have wounds. Guardians can, like, take damage,

like their stone armor can be broken and their natural parts, like the vines and the foliage that kind of makes up their sort of, like, inner muscles and workings can get damaged. And they are bleeding, like a sap-like residue. And it's not been stopped. Like, they've been had like bandages like rough bandages guardians don't really need those kind of things normally um but vines has attempted

to like bandage them up with what they can and it's leaking through um there's also a very foul putrid smell uh tiangong's really the only one the arcane eye won't pick up on this but tiangong can tell that there is this smell of rot and death in the air. Vines immediately turns to Tiangong, and Vines is a very lithe, feminine-looking guardian, but they almost have no stone and metal parts. They have a very small stone chestplate, and just enough to keep their natural-looking parts together, but their limbs almost are elongated by these incredibly long vine-like arms,

and they have long vine-like dreadlocks kind of like pouring down the back of their head, and then just a single eye, which is almost made more of wood than it is of stone and metal. And they sort of look in surprise and sort of glance past Tiangong at the outside and sort of seem to understand who they are and what's going on.

And we'll say, yes, hello. I think that it is safe for you if I understand that you are not a real... Well, you are real, but you're not a living being-esque. Greetings, medic guardian. Do not be disturbed. We are Tiangong. We are safe to all conditions. Well, that's good. I hope if you can relay information. Voines just gestures to the injured like, I'm doing what I can, but I've never encountered anything like this.

I don't know how to help. Yes, any help that you can provide, please. They are suffering quite greatly. Were the infected guardians... You can just talk like him. Did they come down with this after being attacked by the stalker? Yes. The attack on the outpost, we didn't see it. We don't know exactly what happened, but they were struck by something, and they took injuries.

And then after a few moments when we escaped, they began to show signs of the weakness, delirium, nausea, weakness. And by the time we found somewhere safe, they were already gone. Any sort of pain or movement causes them to fall into a stupor, a torpor. It's very difficult to rouse them out of it. And I can't stop their fluids. They aren't coagulating, it's not stopping. I'm trying what I can, but they are slowly bleeding away

of their life force. Is there any sign that the infection can be transmitted via airborne? We think so. One of the guardians, she points to one at the back, they weren't injured in the attack, but they were helping carry one of the injured ones in here, and then they fell sick.

How are you? Not sick? I don't know. It may be part of my guardian construction. I don't know what it is, but I don't seem to have been affected by it. You said that Vines has a stone breastplate, but it's mostly wood and vine. Mostly plant-like matter, yeah.

But there's nothing really different about them and these other guardians. There's nothing that would stand out. They're all made of wood or metal or something. Yeah, they're all guardians, but it's kind of unclear why. It could simply be that Vines' own natural constitution has resisted whatever it was.

Like you guys make saving throws, right? Like maybe that somehow she's just been strong enough to resist whatever it is and is now immune to whatever effect is in place. I know that you guys have encountered magical poisons and diseases. That is a very reasonable out-of game slash in game ex you know explanation that her natural constitution has enabled her to avoid the effect um any other details like vines that is

all the information vines has like i mean you can ask questions and i'll try and answer them but like she's not really gonna be able to give you anything useful what you can do is anybody can make a medicine check i think i'm gonna be i'm to be looking over the bodies and looking at the wounds and whatever else to try and Yeah, and I'm assuming that like

Quill, because you can't interact with the bodies, like if you need them to be turned over or like examine something closer, you can ask like Nova and then

Nova can have Tiangong like move them for them. Because Tiangong's physical, right? They can actually do stuff, so. Yeah.

Cool. So just medicine. Yep, you can both make medicine checks if you like. Seven. Seven. Sixteen. Sixt 16 16 on a 16. uh yeah on a 16. you quill uh having read uh and sort of understood things whether through your teachings

of hespa or growing up as a messenger you know acolyte um you can obviously tell that yeah this is a disease this isn't just a poison. They have also been poisoned. Their body shows signs. And normally guardians are resistant to poison. This poison is so venomous, it overrid that. And they are, it's as if they were human beings, like it's afflicted them. The disease appears to be a variant of something

that you've read of called slimy doom. Now in human living creatures, that basically prevents the blood coagulating and also causes great amounts of pain and causes their sort of like body to slowly decompose from within um okay in the guardians it's basically having the same effect but on their sort of like plant-like fluids basically what is their blood um and it's basically the same thing it is magical in nature this disease this is a magical disease um and yeah without treatment they they are gonna suffer and then probably die oh slimy doomed yeah um but apart from that that that is going to be a the most information you can really pull out of this but if it is a magical one a magical disease i mean i don't you do think it can be cured like with magic like magic spells are not dispelling no right it would need to be

any kind of like there are spells like cure disease centuries lay on hands greater restoration all of that stuff will stuff will cure it i mean lay on hands like doesn't like is it like i don't know if you've got anything left century so i've used it all out yeah so like five points of lay on hands can cure a poison or a disease and that would work on this so the same with me I guess I can remove a magical effect when I heal it's not a magical effect this is a disease it's magic in nature in origin but it's not an effect magical effects would be things like spells that have been cast on somebody or you know a buff from a potion or something like that.

Shit, I don't think I have Cure Disease. Probably don't. It's not a super common thing to use. Might be worth swapping that. No, I mean, I don't have it at all. It will be on your Cleric prepared list, I'm sure. I think it's called, like, something else. It might be called, like, it might even...

I don't know. I'll look it up. That might be an old spell I'm thinking of. There used to be an old spell called Cure Disease. Yeah, I can detect it, but that's about it. And even then, not right now. Okay. But knowing that it is a... If I can identify that it is...

Lesser Restoration would remove it. Lesser Restoration. Okay. If I know that it is an extremely venomous thing, so venomous that it is lesser restoration would remove it lesser restoration okay yeah if i if i know that is a extremely venomous thing so venomous that it is affecting the guardians yes it will affect living creatures it will affect living creatures yeah and they're spread to living you don't think it's actually airborne contagious so that other guardian probably got afflicted with by it without realizing it like touching yeah or like yeah like you don't think it's airborne it might be yeah it might be infectious by touch but not by like maybe carried a friend yeah yeah okay yeah i mean if i if i asked nova to tell tiangong to ask uh vine like you know have you had any

contact with the guardians like physical physical contact touching them whatever else uh vines has vines will say yes i, I have touched them. I bandaged some of their wounds and things like that. But her hands grow out like vines. And then it seems that when they get so long, they actually just break off. And that might be why it's like the vines that touch it and then it doesn't go back to her.

She actually breaks them off and then they decompose. She almost grows her fingers out and then lifts them up and then drops and then... It's a lot of twigs on the floor. I am very satisfied with that answer. That's really cool. Okay. Okay.

I want to ask the Eye of the Storm. Okay. What was the stalker that attacked these guardians? Okay. I mean, stalker obviously is a name that they've given this thing. So, yeah, your question is

what was the stalker that attacked these guardians? Yeah. What is? Yeah, what is. What is the stalker that attacked these guardians? Yeah, and I suppose, I mean, while I'm telepathically looking through the eye. It's going to be a very brief answer because that what is is just going to show you what they are.

It's not going to give you much more than that. I mean, good enough, I suppose, even if it's just an image. The eye clouds. Your vision turns to smoky white and thenes, and almost rewinding through time, you see the outpost where you yourselves fought off the undead horde, but now it's filled with guardians who are making ready for your arrival,

beginning to prepare themselves, almost anticipating for when you will hopefully come to alleviate them. The vision shifts in time as quickly the outpost comes under attack. You don't see the details of it. Instead, your vision is pulled deep into the tree line where a pair of guardians, two that you are looking at currently, were basically engaged in a patrol as the attack happened. They rush back towards the outpost but before they can reach there there is a flash of metal and movement in the tree line and then they fall down your vision rushes to the tree

line the origin of whatever just happened whether it was a spell or you're not even sure what it was like some sort of attack of some form uh rushes and you see uh at first nothing it just looks like the foliage it just looks like the jungle and then you see the outline of a cloak draped in moss and vines and mud and leaves you see a suit of armor uh covered in the same moss and mold and growths and fungus kind of spread over the armor, blending in with the foliage around it. But just a slit through a kind of like daunted hooded helm and a face mask. You see a pair of eyes and the rough shape of elven ears kind of sticking through the hood. As you see a humanoid, certainly looks elven figure,

watching, almost invisible in the natural terrain, camouflaged against it. Invisible unless the eye of the storm isn't, you know, pinpointing exactly that thing. Yeah, exactly that. I mean, like, even then, this isn't, you know, pinpointing exactly that. Yeah, exactly that. I mean, like, even then, this isn't, like, magical camouflage. This is just, like, they are covered in, like, moss and fungus and growths and plants. And then they're also wearing, like, dark green cloak that has been purposely painted to be camouflaged.

And probably some magical, like, passport trace, stuff like that. Yeah, and then, yeah, you just see this pair of eyes. But, yeah, looking at the eyes, the almond elf-like shape to them, the elven ears, like, you just, like, basically pushing the hood ever so slightly that you can sort of see their vague outline. But not a high elf. This is a wild elf of some form. Okay.

Oh, God. And that is the question answered. Yeah. So the vision ends. Cool. I think I would like to usher champions away. Now you can have a huddle. Gearshift will be like,

yes, of course, I will let you know if Commander Hotshot returns or if we hear word, we will continue monitoring for any danger. Thank you. Thank you. Right, round up, guys. What's up? Well, good news, bad news. Or bad news told in a good way.

Or good news in a bad way. Bad, then good. Bad, then good. Okay, bad news. I have identified what that stalker might be, and I believe it is a wild elf, cloaked in leaves and moss and vine and almost indistinguishable from the trees and bush around us.

Wild elf? Yes. Not an undead creature. Could have been undead. You only saw their eyes. They're not like a ghoul, like a skeleton, but they could be like a higher form of undead they could also just be a living creature okay you literally like saw like this yeah i i i saw just their eyes they could be undead uh but definitely a wilder um there could be a camp a wild off camp nearby

maybe possibly but like like Gearshift said, they are working with the undead to fight the Guardians. But not part of the hive, as we call it. It's working independently. Potentially connected in some way, but I don't know. All I know is that it was unlike the rest of the things it attacked. And the main thing is they were very heavily disguised and almost impossible to spot. Did you see any black roses or flowers on them?

I don't want to shortchange you on using your cool vision power. Yes. Yes. You would have just about seen like, maybe part of the foliage around them and things like that. Maybe somewhere on like their chest piece. Overgrown with the sort of moss and the fungus and the mold. There is the symbol of a lantern and a black rose.

Okay. Also, the vision I got was good enough. I don't feel shortchanged at all. But, like, you asked what it is, and what Lucius just asked you would technically be part of that answer. Somewhere deep in the armour, yes. But I'm pretty sure there was something in there.

So an agent of Galara. Yes, I believe so. But in that case... So agent of Galara. Yes, I believe so. But in that case... So one of the knights? Well... Did it look reminiscent of one of the knights? It's hard to tell. It was covered entirely in this disguise.

Well, I say disguise, camouflage. Certainly didn't see bulky plate armour or anything like that. If it was one of the knights, then it's very, very different to the ones we've seen before. But also, I thought they showed no interest in guardians because they don't have the life force that humans and elves and dwarves do. Unless the regular knights are taking care of that side and they've found a way to affect guardians now. That's true, with a disease. To make them seem like they have the same and can pull the same energy from them.

I got a really stupid question. Sure, yeah, I mean, questions, make checks, if you guys wanna confirm, like, you know, This is more- Make knowledge checks and stuff. I know. Always with pee. This is more Kim to Mark about D&D. Celestials look like angels, right?

They can do. Celestials can also look like... Wild elves? I mean, they could do. They can... some Celestials... I mean, make a religion check for me. They're always glowy. Well, I mean, this is what I'm going... Okay, I have a plus nine to religion. I rolled a one. Of course you did.

You need to burn that dice. Get one of the dice prisons and put it in there and get rid of it. Roll this. This is our high roller. Yes, don't roll that one anymore, because you've rolled so many nat ones in the last few weeks. I'm just going to roll again just to see, like, oh, that would have been better.

Well, listen, there's some detail. Like, Nova's very learned, and you have Tiangong's knowledge, right? So you're going to get some info, but that role was more to see like the depth of that knowledge and how good the symbiotic link is. Tiangong will tell you, yeah, Celestials can look like they can shape change. Also some Celestials like that you've never encountered on a rowist that Tiangong knew of, they can sometimes appear like a giant ball of light or a pyramid or seven wings attached to a giant eyeball.

Like, Celestials can, like, you can have biblical angels, like Neon Genesis Evangelion angels, and then you can have the, like, wind, beautiful humanoids. In all forms. Yeah, they can come in all forms, right? All are welcome. So they can come in all forms right all are welcome so they can be generally they they do have um some sort of otherworldly appearance or supernatural power like they will glow they will have a light about them something like that um whether or not this

creature is one that is unfortunately by by quill's description you would have no idea it could be it might not be. There could be a chance it's that celestial we were told about. Tiangong says they can shapeshift. Do they glow? I imagine that wouldn't be great if they were camouflaged. No, no glow. No, if anything, the exact opposite of a glow.

They just blended in perfectly. Somebody who knows the area very well. I suppose so. Wild elves would do. They hunt. That's what they do to survive. They're perfect for that kind of thing. Well, they might have,

Clara, that is, might have utilised a wild elf that was local to the area and their knowledge, perhaps on death, to make them an agent. Could be. Could be. I have a guardian question. Yeah, of course, yeah. Absolutely. That's what we're here for. So, if the guardians are infected, does that infection spread to the Matrix? That's a great question, and unfortunately I mean you can roll a, oh this would just,

I just say just roll wisdom. This is just d20 plus wisdom. If there's anything I saw with the arcane eye I guess. 15. Kind of focusing for a moment Sentry and think, and although it's not a direct question to Root, you sense trepidation in the Matrix. The souls within the Matrix, having heard through your eye, you know, having seen what you've seen and heard what you've heard,

Root and the other Guardians are wary that if you were to pull their current, if their spirits are currently infected, now it depends on the nature of this disease. If this magical disease also afflicts their soul in some way and you pull their soul into the matrix yes it could potentially infect everyone in within it holy shit um if the if the disease is purely physical um then their souls should be safe you have no way of knowing uh based on like and qu's already examined them.

Like you would need to use other magic or like divination to try and determine if their souls have been affected. Maybe no touchy. Maybe just no touchy for now. I think I'll stay clear, I think. I'm assuming while you guys are conversing, but not doing stuff like casting spells, is the intention that you're like starting a long rest or a short rest or something here?

Yes, this is when we're setting up our two person tents. Like a little camp down to get a long rest, okay. Lucius is padding in a circle, trying to soften the ground. The ground is actually pretty soft already. This is not hard ground. There is a sponginess to the earth here. Although there is this kind of smell of rot from the infected

and the pool itself doesn't smell the freshest, everything is verdant and very full of life in a very strange way. Despite the gloom. Yeah, despite the darkness. It's almost like, yeah, everything's kind of vibrant and thriving, but in a, like it's swollen and bloated kind of way swampy yeah there's an element of it although it's usually pretty swampy though anyway yeah it's

like a jungle so it's kind of got that humid environment but yeah there is there is like yeah it's very vibrant like you do it's not like anything's rotting on you know turning like withering or anything here like it's you know but it's definitely there's something off-putting about the about the environment and the land. All right. Yeah, I'm definitely setting up to sleep

or trance. I think I'm looking around a lot. It's hard for me to not kind of feel like the rest of the Guardians now. Now that I've seen the thing and I've seen how well

it can disguise itself. Yeah. I'm hearing a click in the distance and I'm looking at it, trying to determine a shape. That's a good question. I guess, like, I mean, if you're resting,

you're not really able to keep a close watch on the outer perimeters. Like, are you guys going to rely on the guardians to keep watch? Or is, like, are you guys going to set a watch? They have survived this long. We should probably take shifts. If it's something...

It's inevitable we're going to be intact. Okay. Who's feeling the freshest's inevitable we're going to be intact. Okay. Who's feeling the freshest right now? Sentry, lie down. Are you sure I can lie down? You look, I mean, resplendent, of course, but you've taken a beating. Seven.

Oh, one more than me, then. I'm going to lie down. Sentry did technically already go down once, though. But yes, I think Aayla and Sentry both are pretty beat up. I'm looking good, but I need eight hours. True. I only need four. I only need four.

But. After four hours. What if it's me and Nova getting a long rest? Well, don't forget, you only need four hours of deep power. A long rest is always eight hours. It just means that the trance for the elves means that they only have to be out unconscious for four hours. They still have to spend four hours in light activity.

Which can count as keeping watch. Yes, you can keep watch, yeah, yeah, yeah. But lazily. Can you just have Tiangong keep watch while you have a full rest? You can. Oh, wow. Tiangong can absolutely. Tiangong, they don't have stats,

but I would say that they are aware. They're probably not going to have a bonus to things like perception checks but they're conscious they can just be around technically the avatar has my stance oh does it say that on the on the echo if it says that then then it uses your stats echo your echo is 20 ac one hit point immunity to all conditions if it has to make a saving throw it uses your saving throw bonus same size okay then i'd say the same would apply for its skills then Tiangong has your skill bonuses ability check bonuses. How long does it last for? Forever I think. Once manifested until it's destroyed.

Until they get destroyed or it's destroyed. That is very powerful. In some ways, in this particular instance. Or if they're 30 feet away from me. Over 30 feet away from me. Oh right, do they have to stay in a certain range? They have to stay within range, yeah. The two are connected. Well that's good. Alright, well, I asked, and it's good to

know, it doesn't really matter. After two hours... Oh okay, so not even a short rest. A short rest is one hour, but we'll get to that in a minute. After about two hours, you hear commotion. Not the panic signs of combat, but the sound of somebody returning. And you begin to hear another female guardian kind of speaking as they return, and you begin to hear them issuing orders.

Gearshift, I want you to prepare everyone to move. Wayfinder with me, we need to speak with the champions now. Where are they? And Wayfinder's like, this way hot shot this way commander And after within a few moments you see a tall life feminine Guardian very sleekly built But one arm is basically like a like a magical cannon. It looks like almost like a Mega Man, but yeah Yeah, kind of thing and the other hand is just like a free hand They are also draped in one of these homemade kind of camouflage cloaks they've draped covered

themselves in like mud and twigs and things like that as well um they look pretty beaten up like they've got scratches and dents and cuts and all sorts of like damage on them but they also look determined and very focused this is clearly a trained military individual like and and you know century having brought a lot of these guardians to life you would know that hotshot is exactly that she was you know very much a an experienced soldier um behind them um behind hotshot you see wayfinder who you've already met you also see two smaller guardians uh one is a spindly looking creature with long triggling hair of leaves and vines and a singular eye. The other is a cheerful looking little guardian with adjustable lenses over its eyes

and an alchemical looking device for its hand. And then behind them, two more. One is a masculine guardian, but is wearing actual clothing, like humanoid clothing in dark colors. They look like a ninja with a sword, a suitable sword as well. And then the other one is almost as big as Sentry, not quite

as tall as Sentinel Prime, but like seven feet tall. Like old Sentry maybe kind of size. Broad, muscular. Not sure whether male or female. Gemstones built into their arms and parts of their body. Their left side is fragmented and broken. Like you can see almost like their entire left side

looks like it's been hit with a chisel and cracks and fissures have spread all over it, but they have a long, almost like saber rapier in their hand. Cool. These are Tinker, Helper, Shade, and Protector are these guardian names. Okay. Hotshot will kind of approach and say,

Guardians, I'm sorry, we don't have a lot of time. Things are progressing quickly. Have Gearshift and Wayfinder told you about the Stalker? Yes, and I believe we may have been able to identify it to some degree. That's something at least. I'm pretty sure it's following me and my team. Okay.

Okay. We've got maybe an hour, maybe two, if Tinka's decoy worked. I need to get these guardians out of here. Like, we're not ready for this. The grief knights are beyond anything that we can take on. The undead are just limitless. Now you're here, I wanna get them out.

Can we evacuate them on the storm chaser? I don't think that there's any place, apart from the outpost that you saw, it's being watched pretty heavily. There's no race, but I think that if we, I don't think that the grief knights care about them. I think they're after you, and I think we've been used as bait. I think if we push forward the mission, and I try and get you to Nightbloom Hold,

that's where they'll focus their efforts. I think that Gearshift and the others can probably lead the injured out and can get them to southern, get them out of the jungle at least, get them out of the valley. And then at least that way, we'll be able to make our way back to one of the Jakesh cities. There's a couple of villages south of the grove, south of the valley. If they can get there, then we can come and pick them up. We can send an airship to come and get them.

We do have some ideas on how to heal them, but I don't know. Quill needs more time. I need a bit more time, unfortunately. I hate to say it, but you succeeding in this mission is more important. The stalker is coming. We don't have time. Okay. Unless you want to try and fight this stalker here, but... We're not in a position to fight right now.

We at least need to lead them away from the guardians whilst they make their escape. I'd suggest you get an hour. Like, take what rest you can. We just had two. That's true, actually. You guys can take a short rest. So if you guys want to take a short rest, you can do.

Don't forget, you can spend hit dice. Yep, I'm going to spend some hit dice. You get your con mod for every... All of the hit dice. Don't forget, you get your con mod for each hit dice you spend as well. Cool, I'm just gonna keep tapping. What's a 10d8 plus 20 of healing? Rob, let Indy and Dibby on and find out.

72 healing, very nice. So yeah, while you guys are just doing the numbers and stuff, Hotshot will kind of give you a little bit more information. Does it? Yeah, it does. It rolls the dice for you and automatically adds it as well. Nice. So if you just click the short rest button and choose how many dice. Oh, really? Oh, okay. Nice. And does it add your con mod for each of those as well?

Yes, it does. Perfect. There you go. Makes it nice and easy. You never really do short rest um cool well i'm at max but yeah my my spell slots are no you can't trips don't forget cantrip scale with level so you can trip to do some damage still pretty powerful doodoo you said doodoo yep um let me know let me know when everyone's good on their short rest. Leave. I don't think that rolled for me. Mine did. How did you make it?

I just take the short rest. Select however many dice. You got 104 healing? Yeah, but I rolled D12s. And my constitution mod is five. Oh shit, okay. I rolled 10, but I'm actually going to do some more than that. You can choose however many you spend.

If you roll a bunch and it's not enough, keep rolling. Yeah. Spend more. I'm going to do it on the website. You might have to do it manually. It does do it on the website. It doesn't roll for me. But how is everyone's health?

You might just have to do it manually, Kim. Are you at max? No. No? You spend all of them. I spend all of them. Really? I have 220. I have 220. I have 220. But how is everyone's health? You might just have to do it manually, Kim. Are you at max? No.

No? You spent all of them. I spent all of them. Really? I have 221 hit points. That's a lot of hit points to replenish. You got like 150 from that heal, right? I got, yeah. 104?

Oh my god, you got tons. You're fine. I got 188 hit points back. That's better than six. I wanted to hit 200 tons. No, it's fine. I got 188 hit points back. That's better than six. I wanted to hit 200. No, it's fine. You're fine is what I would say. We don't want to add any more on.

It's just done, right? I mean, you can keep spending them. A long rest, like... And also, you had like two hours. Hotshot's saying you've got another hour. You can, in theory, take another short rest and then spend more hit dice, but you might as well just spend it as part the same one oh it's just oh no you

don't i i just took a second short rest it doesn't mess up just don't just don't hit long rest that's it just means that yeah like it's fine because now they're they've all been used and my thing says that so it's all good i'm right now yeah um well guess, yeah, so we're still talking to Hotshot, right? Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you know if they are arriving with a horde of undead? I have no idea, Champion. I'm sorry. Even, I think it's following me and my team. We went out to destroy, we've started calling them Rothearts,

large growths of that plant matter. It's where we think that these skeletal creatures and their hive mind is concentrated. When you arrived, I hate to say this, but you holding off that horde, as difficult as it was, actually gave us the first opportunity we have to destroy one of them. It was blocking the route to Nightbloom Hold. blocking the route to Nightbloom Hold. It grew. After we discovered Nightbloom Hold, it grew in place almost like a defence

to protect the path that leads to it. Oh, so not the things that we encountered? The big mass? The dead roots? No, no. The Rothearts create those and send them out to support the undead.

But the Rothearts are almost. They're almost like trees. They're not really creatures, but they seem to give life to these. They enhance the hive mind of undead nearby. But they also spawn more of them. They summon more of them. The ones that you destroyed at that outpost, I wouldn't be surprised if they've not been reclaimed to be made again somewhere else. Okay. And the decoy, do you have any idea? be surprised if they've not been reclaimed to be made again somewhere else. And the decoy, do you have any idea, is there any way of seeing when it's been destroyed?

Tinker? And this little sort of very gremlin-like, long foliage hair with a single eye, long limbs just goes, I'm sorry, champion. It was a very rudimentary, primitive device I created in a rush. I do not have a way of knowing if it has been activated. Okay, wonderful. Thank you. The stalker is cunning. I do not think it would have fooled it for long, but it was all I could think of to do. That's a good idea.

Thank you, Sentinel Prime. It looks like, oh my god, Sentinel Prime's here. It's like a little bit of like, you can see most of the Guardians are definitely, Hotshot's the only one who doesn't seem to be phased and is almost just like Commander, like, yeah, we've got a job to do kind of thing. Protector's a little bit like that as well. And then Shade is just stoic, doesn't really respond to anything. Tell us what you need and we'll help you make way as soon as you can.

doesn't really respond to anything. Tell us what you need and we'll help you make way as soon as you can. I don't know about anything to help. I think that, I think we just have to trust that Gearshift and the others, the remaining scouts, can get the injured our way from here. If you know anything that can help with this disease, ways that they can not contract it,

we're not sure even how it spreads. If you know anything about that, if you figured anything out, let us know. But otherwise I think, I hate to leave them, but I just think that the priority right now needs to be getting you to this place. Whatever Calara is doing is creating all of this. And I think that these diseases

may even be connected to her. If we can stop her, maybe that stops the diseases or this power that's infected this land. Okay. Yeah, I mean, I will retell, you know, that I believe it is an extreme version of slimy doom and lesser restoration and things like that. They don't have anybody who can cast those spells anymore.

That's fine, but I mean, if they know it. They also know that it's transferred by touch, so the guardians can prepare almost like wooden plinths to carry them on and stuff like that, so they're not touching them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If they do get out of here, they can probably find—if we can't do it, then they'll find someone who can cast it, I suppose. Hot shot will say, me and my specialist team will stay with you. We'll help you get to Nightbloom Hold, and if you need us to help take it, storm it, get inside, that's what

we're here for. We might. We've got nothing in us, don't we? Do you have spells left? I mean, I do have some spells. I know you get your spells. Warlock, baby! But Lucius, how are you looking? Well, I look fantastic. Of course.

All of the spells. How are you feeling? Nothing. It may be that as we get closer to Nightbloom Hold, or if you can take out this stalker, that would buy you time to gather your energy, gather your strength. Or maybe if we can reach Nightbloom Hold, we may be able to put enough distance between us and it. But it's going to take us about six hours to reach the hold.

And every hour that we travel through this jungle, we're going to need to be cautious. Not just for the stalker, but for those undead creatures, the packs. They're everywhere. We need to move quietly. We need to move carefully. It's not going to be easy. We should be camouflaged. We need to get some sticks and maybe some mud.

It takes about an hour. We can show you what we've done. It helps a little, but it's not... It helps a little. Anything we can do to help to make this easier for everyone. Sure. can show you like a wayfinder show them show them what to do uh and wayfinder's like yes commander um and yeah if you were anybody who wants to spend an hour uh can basically predator up you can army predator and like smear yourself with mud and like you know make like you know tear down pieces of these tents and use them for like camouflage cloaks and stuff like that it takes about an hour to make an impromptu camouflage

cloak i don't suppose this is something that we could do while walking we just like no grabbing pieces sticking it to ourselves this is like a process of crafting a thing like you're gonna have to spend an hour to do it uh it will the benefit will be that it will give you a plus four bonus to stealth checks oh yeah, I'm going to take that. I need all the help I can get. Yeah. I will not do it. Yeah.

I think... I think I would like to work with Tinker a little bit to figure out the traps that they had placed um around the camp and see if there's anything that we could uh produce more of things that we could leave behind us in some attempt to if something follows us or yeah so tinker will point out this means that you won't be able to make a camouflage that's fine. The traps that the guardians have made here, again very primitive, rudimentary stuff. It is tripwires attached to bells.

It is spiked poles that have been implanted in like hastily dug pits and like hidden pit traps. Tinker will say, things like pit traps we will not have time to dig a suitable pit trap, but the tripwires with alarms we could certainly take with us.

I could perhaps jury-rig some simple ranged devices to fire a crossbow bolt or something like that, but it would be very limited. And the problem with traps, Champion, is that they are highly dependent on how well hidden they are, and to hide them very well takes time time we may not have the longer we take to hide them the more likely they are to succeed the more quickly we produce them they're much more easy they are to spot and avoid especially if the stalker is a

cunning hunter it is possible but it depends on how much time you wish to prepare. I think ideally we would prepare more audible traps than offensive ones. Very well. We would be able to hear something in... I mean the forest is relatively quiet, right? It is. There's no bird sounds or animal noises. It is literally wind occasionally knocking down trig uh twig twig branches and things yeah um however i don't believe we need to hide every trap i think any that we keep out in the open will make this stalker more wary of the ones that are hidden and will still slow them down make them more cautious um and if they do happen to trigger

any of the traps, then hopefully they'll be loud enough for us to hear them. Or at least me to hear them. I could spend an hour recovering what we have here and helping yourself create some devices. Yeah, I'd like to help her. If it's like bottles and things, maybe like... Guardians don't really drink, so they don't have things like bottles and stuff maybe like audience don't really drink so they

don't have bottles and stuff like that play so many plates it's just all warm plates cold plates now um but yeah I mean it's gonna be more things like yeah it's gonna be like what bells and stuff they had they even like like I don't know like metal and stuff yeah like it's it's going to be pretty rudimentary. Yeah, but if someone steps on some twigs or make a noise. So at any point during your travel section, you can try, you can use your part of that travel to try and set up a trap.

And how much time you spend setting up that trap will determine the DC of how easy or difficult it is for the stalker to avoid or see. I think I'd also communicate this idea to Ayla and Nova as well. There's only going to be enough traps for one person to have that as their action.

I know, but it's more like Ayla being the hunter-tracker kind of thing would probably be able to assist in some way in doing that, and you'd probably be able to come up with some ingenious trap. Geometry. What? So, for your benefit, when you guys leave here,

when you are traveling through the jungle, the way that it's going to work, geometry. What? That's a Twitch clip. Geometry. See, everyone's trapped. Everyone's like, what? When you guys are traveling,

the way it's going to work is every hour, one person will need to be the pathfinder, and that's the person kind of leading the way, kind of helping avoid terrain and stuff like that. Ayla will have advantage on it because you're Outlander background, so you'll have advantage on it. This will be a survival check when you do it hot shot also and wayfinder both can have advantage on it the same person cannot do it uh two rounds in a row you have to alternate

who's doing it okay um other people can also do it um the uh the rest of you can either choose to use your kind of like action if you want to think of it as that, to either help the Pathfinder, so giving them advantage if they don't already have it, or you can do stuff like you're going to keep an eye out for, like, all these skeletal minions and, like, trying to keep an eye out for stuff, being wary of the Stalker, doing anything else that you can think of, using a spell,

doing any kind of stuff like that, you can use as part of your travel, an hour travel time, right? Anybody who does something that isn't purely focusing on moving quietly so that's like look keeping an eye out trying to do a set up traps uh you will have a penalty to your stealth check um and at the end of it everybody's going to be making stealth checks yeah um i have advantage on stealth because of my little boots. Boots of Elven booties. This is probably a hangover from before it became an Echo Knight, but when I got whatever shard of Tiangong put on my equipment sheet, the weapon can hear up to 60 feet and has dark vision. Yeah.

So can I just use that on Tiangong to listen and stuff? I mean, yeah. Cool. That's no different to you guys having vision. No, but we have dark vision. So Tiangong has dark vision. Right. I don't.

Oh, okay. Yes, and that's the other thing is that there is supernatural gloom. It's going to be dark. Anybody that doesn't have dark vision, you will be traveling in the darkness. Dim light, those of you who even have dark vision, it still counts as dim light. Dim light is a disadvantage on perception checks. And if you don't have dark vision, you are blinded. Basically, you can't see anything.

You can't see anything. Blind. Can Tiangong just lead me around? Yes, you can basically hold Tiangong's hand and Tiangong can lead you around. But for any of your abilities, you still count as being blinded. Okay. But it's enough that you can move around unhindered. Can Tiangong just take all my turns because I'm fucking useless?

With that one hit point, sure. Why don't you just play as Tiangong and Nova is the echo that you bring out. Affirmative. Keeluk, add Kalar. Okay, no, I'd hate it. The other thing I'll tell you, the Guardian team, the kind of

specialist, the A team of Guardians, they'll come with you. They all have abilities they can use in combat. The way that they'll work is if you do get into a fight rather than me managing like seven guardians or something at the end of any of your turns you can basically order a guardian to use their special action move do something cool right and they all have something cool that they can do so hot shot can basically do a cool attack or can provide overwatch for somebody uh tinker can actually give you a little buff by making a little device,

and they've got a bunch of different ones. Helper can make very simple potions that have unique effects. Shade can either attempt to hide or can make an attack, but if they are hidden, when they make an attack, it's more damage.

Yeah, it's basically a sneak attack, and they get a better bonus to attack as well. So they can use one action one turn to hide, and then the next turn, they could make a much better attack. And then then protector basically has an ability where they can protect you they'll follow you around and protect you until the end of your turn yeah kind of like add ac and saving throws um or they can just make a normal attack as well but they're not super good combat um and then wayfinder can actually give you benefits to things like stealth or uh perception

and survival checks but only in combat like when you guys are doing your travel, he's focusing on the other guardians, basically. All of the guardians you take with you will increase the survival DC of the Pathfinder. So the more people in your party, the harder it is to navigate through. But they don't need to make stealth checks themselves. It will only be your stealth checks that affect the outcome of the travel.

Cool. I have goggles of the night. That's a lot of things. That means that you have dark vision, I believe. So there you go. Problem solved. All's enough. I got them from that same blind. Just don't forget, dark vision, even in...

It means you still have disadvantage on wisdom perception checks. And you're blind as well, right? I'm also blind. Oh, Birdie and Sentry are blind. Well, I could use Tiangong as my guide and give one of you two the goggles. Is that a tune? I don't believe so, actually. No. No, just believe. Well, I could use Tiangong as my guide and give one of you two the goggles. Is that a tune? I don't believe so, actually. No, they're just wondrous items.

You bought a bunch of items that didn't... It was a prescribed thing. It was from the sentry guy. Do they look like owl goggles? You've got a good deception. I want that. It's pre-beaked. It's got a beak.

It's pre-beaked. Double beak. But what about sentry with beak and owl eyes, though? That would look really cool, actually. But you've got good perception. That is true. Good? Yeah.

Good perception. It's all right. It'll do. Every time you boast about it, you do a shit roll. So don't. I'm not boasting about it. It's not good. It's phenomenal.

Wow. It does the job, though, doesn't it. It's not good. It's phenomenal. Wow. It does the job, though, doesn't it? It does the job. It is technically five points lower in dim light. Oh, that would still just turn it to dim light, the goggles. Do you have dark vision? I don't have dark vision. Because this doubles dark vision, apparently. So if I put them on Tiangong, Tiangong could see.

120 feet. Yeah. Oh, okay. So it has an effect. Oh, that's cool. I want them, but that's cool. Tiangong's just like... That's really cool.

It's like radar. So why don't you have this fun discussion? So Quill is making, like, preparing, like, gathering supplies for traps. He's going full Last of Us, making little alarms and little bombs and stuff. Kind of, yeah. Who is making a camouflage cloak? Because that's going to take Quill an hour. One camouflage, impromptu camouflage cloak.

Sure, if there's nothing else to do, then I may as well make one. All right. Well, I mean, if you wanted to do anything else, like if you had an idea of something you wanted to prep or do a cool thing, you could do that instead. How long does attunement take? An hour.

An hour, because I have that rod of stuff, alertness, which can see invisibility. It has to be planted in the ground. It has to be planted in the ground. It's like stationary. I believe so. But also the thing's not invisible. No, it doesn't.

While you hold the rod, you can cast this spell, See Invisibility. It's the protective aura. It's the protective aura that has to be planted in the ground. I knew it had something like that. How long does See Invisibility last? Forever. While holding the rod, you have advantage on wisdom,

perception checks, and rolls for initiative. That would be useful. Wow. While holding the rod, you can use an action to cast one of the following spells, detect evil and good, detect magic, detect poison and disease, see invisibility. And then the other effects are when you plant it in the ground.

What are you getting rid of to use that? It would have to be the teleportation crown. That's all right. Or my gravity stone, but I love my gravity stone. You do love to oscillate. George? I mean, in terms of teleportation I've still got my book yeah I think the purpose of this I'm

gonna swap out my teleportation crown okay put on does anybody want the goggles of night because I can have Tiangong this boy hey you can have my goals make sure you add them in your inventory because I'm tracking this stuff why called goggles like five capes on century and so you are going to attune to the rod of alertness I've taken off my could someone please draw a quill with those goggles the advantage on perception you don't have dark vision but Tiangong does because you've now given up the goggles of night you got two beats he's got two beats so for you as Nova I'm blind yeah and the rod doesn't help Tiangong it's a separate creature but it can help me see invisibility, though, if I cast it.

See invisibility doesn't help you see nighttime. No, but it helps you see invisible creatures. Keep in mind, only magically invisible creatures. Normal stealth, it won't affect them. Why would you say that? I'm just saying. Why would you say magically? Yeah, because that's what the spell does.

It helps you see invisible creatures. Invisible is a stealth thing. Yeah, but they might be invisible. But it just means that your vision is still blinded. I mean, Tiangong's leading me around. But this is the point, your vision, you are blinded outside of five feet. Yeah. So the advantage doesn't help.

We need a little tether system. Yeah, a little rope. Do you want to tether yourselves all together? Lucius is going to make system. Yeah. A little rope. A little rope. Yeah, do you want to tell yourselves all together? Lucius is going to make that. Okay. And he will guide the people that can't see. Okay. So you're going to tie yourself to Sentry and Nova.

Well, it would just be a hand-hold rope that everyone can hold on to. What if the stalker holds onto the rope? Do you have a rope? Do you have any rope? I think I do. Yeah, someone will. Can I borrow some rope, please? Because that's not going to take you an hour to make.

What you've described there is... You've just described a rope. We're going to hold the rope. It takes Lucius an hour to think about it. Oh, okay. Yeah, if you want to say that, that's fine. I've got it. All right.

That's my rope. Aw. All right, perfect. All right. So we have camo cloak for Sentry. And Ayla, did you want to do anything else or are you just going to make the cool predator cloak? I'm going to make a camo cloak.

You're going to make an Arnie cloak? Yeah. Cool. All right. So Ayla goes full kind of like, you know, guerrilla mode with like all the mud smeared over and like the red hair hidden by... It's not the first time she's done this before.

Almost looking like black hair kind of like as you dye it like with the mud to hide it all. Any kind of bright colors. So like Sentry's... Your green tabard's actually fine, but kind of like as you dye it with the mud to hide it all. Any kind of bright colors, so like sentries. Your green tabard's actually fine, but all of your polished metal and the matrix have to be covered up. So it's almost more like a poncho for, I imagine, sentry. It's a camo poncho. Nice. As you kind of do that.

Cool. All right, cool. So that's an hour. Do you guys want to spend any more time? Or are you just like, after that hour's finished, you're like, let's go? What's the plan? Considering how urgent Hotshot is making this situation. I think the quicker we can leave.

I'd probably quickly address the guardians before we go. Sure. I just want to say thank you everyone so much for getting us here and for rescuing us. Our lives are in your debt. We wouldn't have survived that without all of you. We have to go, but I hope that you will find a place to heal and somewhere safe to rest very, very soon. Hopefully we'll meet each other again soon as well. Go quickly, go safely.

The Matrix will be thinking of you. I will be thinking of you i will be thinking of you be careful okay can we make a perception uh persuasion with advantage for me please century see how much nat 20 and 18 on the second i mean sentinel prime leader of the guardians your mere presence and your words dispel the darkness and these doubts of these guardians who look terrified. The fact that their commander is now leaving them and they're having to flee through these haunted, undead filled woods to try and just escape. But knowing that their sacrifice, knowing that their reason to be here was worth something and that it is valued and respected by effectively a god to them dispels that darkness and they stand up firmer they stand up straighter they nod gear shift

gives you a firm sort of salute and you see like hot shot turns to you and it's like kind of nods like you know in thanks of inspiring the team um and you have a feeling that that has probably made a big difference in how successful these guys will be in escaping uh i did have a note on what would happen if they escaped as they traveled like broken morale uh yeah morale is pretty low and we also need to figure out who we're bringing with us right yeah because uh i mean the more people you bring, the difficult it is, but they each have... Tinker, Overshape, Protector, and Hotshot. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

What a missed opportunity. So... Tinker's right here. No one else. Yeah, so you want to take Hotshot, Tinker... The squad that came back. Oh yeah, so you want to take the whole squad. Do you want to take Wayfinder as well?

He wasn't with that squad, but he's one of the specialists, basically. Wayfinder is very good. There's six specialists in total, I believe. God, they're all good. DC is going up, though. Our DC goes up. Remember, we've got Sentry with disadvantage on stealth.

I mean, we're gonna tank it anyway. Are we? Sentry's on his first. I mean, let's try and not tank it. I didn't think she could go on her own and the DC would be super low. The specialist team, obviously if you encounter anything in the jungle

as you're travelling, they'll be there to help you with that. If you help them all get to Nightbloom Hold, they will also be there to help you on your assault. I think it is worthwhile, but also... Risky bisky. With the group. That's the other thing, if you send specialists with the team that's going back you improve the team oh let's do that then okay

i'm wondering if the there was one that could create um potions as well right yes that's with us in the group already i'm just wondering if Helper should go with... Their potions aren't healing potions. Okay. Their potions are... I'll tell you what happens going to. Helper's potions, I will tell you what they do. I've got to find my little section on them. Helper can dispense... Basically, the way it works is each long rest,

or like, no, each short rest, I think I'll make this. Helper can dispense six potions in total, and there's a choice of three different ones. It has to be given to somebody within five feet of him. Like he has to make it and give it to you by hand. The elixirs are either one that grants you 15 temporary hit points, that just last until they're used or replaced, one that gives you advantage on con and deck saving throws

until the end of your next turn. Or the last one is it reduces piercing and slashing damage by 10, but reduces your speed by 20 feet, and that lasts until the end of your next turn. 20 feet, oh. What's that like stone form kind of thing? Yeah, it's a helper, be like,

oh no, it transforms your living parts into metal. Yeah, it speaks like this. All right, helper. Metal Mario. He's actually very cheerful. Out of all the guardians, helper just does not seem to be perturbed by the environment it seems to be in. It's fascinating. He has these little sort of adjustable lenses when he speaks.

I want that. Amazing. Yeah, I think advantage on decks and con saves, con saves particularly for the ones transporting diseased guardians could be very useful for them. But that would be my nomination if we were to limit the group. I think we should maybe send Helper with them. Instead of Wayfinder. No, both Helper and Wayfinder maybe.

Sounds like Tom's saying other things. No, no, no. And Wayfinder. And Wayfinder, yeah. Sounds like Tom's saying other things. No, no, no, and wayfinder, yeah. Just to limit the group even further down. We've got tinker, shade, protector, and hotshot. Yeah. And then that'll give them better odds as well. So we'll take four with us and leave two with them.

Yeah. Tinker, shade, protector, hotshot. Yeah, I just think they would be better suited to navigating and defending the... And also giving them temporary hit points if they get into combat as well. It's really good. And there's about 20 regular soldiers, plus gear shift, plus vines, and then plus the two you're sending with them.

Okay. Cool. Oh, and with vines helping them as well. Yes. All right. That'd be good. So, that speech by century maybe takes you know probably what like five minutes or something kind of thing okay um and you guys head out is that the case yes i think so okay nine of us i'll make a couple little notes here on something what's tinker's abilities? You don't know yet, but he can make little devices. I will tell you that Tinker can grant, so this is on your turn, basically at the end of one of your turns you can instruct

a guardian to do something for you, or move or do whatever. Tinker can, an ally within five feet or a PC, so one of your characters within five feet, can either grant you advantage on a single ability check that you make before the end of your next turn, add 1d8 of fire, cold, acid, or lightning damage to the next weapon attack you make, or replicate any first or second level spell that is not a healing spell. Wow.

Any. Cool. So, like, if you needed a fog cloud or if you needed, you know, something else. Okay. That's very cool. In fact, I'd probably say first-level spell, not second-level spell.

There's a lot of powerful second-level spells. I just also thought of a couple where I'm like, nope, not going to do that. The ranger one. Yep, get rid of that. So any first-level spell that isn't a healing spell. Just give that to everybody. Well, we've won.

But they basically replicate that and then you would have the ability to use that effect, right? So if one of you wanted expeditious retreat, they make you a little device and then you can activate that to get an expeditious retreat. Cool. And they can do that... They can do each of those effects twice

before they have to regain their uses of them. Awesome. For the entire encounter. Yes, they can do that twice for the entire encounter. And it's basically like after an encounter, they'll get those abilities back. So like two elemental damages, two advantages. And then two first-level spells, yeah.

First-level spells. Okay. Cool. That's pretty good. Still very good. Considering we've got... That's one of four helpers that we have. Cool. That's pretty good. Still very good. Considering we've got one of four helpers that we have. Yes. Guardians. Okay.

So, Hotshot will see off the troops, and then you will all begin to make your journey. Hotshot will point in at least the initial direction, but for our first hour of travel, I will need you two players. Let me get my little rules up here. So... One player or an NPC must make a wisdom survival check

to be the pathfinder and leave the group through the terrain. This is the first thing we do. Who would like to make that check? I can make it. Survival. Yep, with advantage, Ayla, because you have the Outlander background. You are used to navigating through these dense terrains.

Oh, god. I rolled shit. I'm rolling. I can't see. OK. Such a good idea. 14 is my highest. Thank you.

That took me a long time. I rolled a six and a seven. 14 is not enough. No. Oh, shit. So what this means is everybody is gonna have disadvantage on stealth checks. Oh god.

Double disadvantage. And it adds 30 minutes to your total travel time. Come on. Come on, disadvantage. Okay, that's all right. So are we doing stealth checks now? No, not just yet. Okay.

Good. So we'll save those. Save the both of them. So as you guys. You just go badly those. Save those then. You just roll badly again. Put those dice away. As Ayla is leading you, and this is, you know, Ayla, you know woods, you know terrain.

There is something supernatural here. The woods, the jungle shifts, almost pulses and grows around you, throwing you off. It's difficult to navigate here and kind of leading ahead and kind of clearing the brush. It becomes very difficult to create easy pathways because of this supernatural element. Whilst Aayla is leading you, what is everybody else doing? If you do anything that is not focused on stealth, you have a penalty to your stealth checks.

I'm focusing on stealth. Yeah. It's all individual, so Lucius is going to focus on making stealth checks. This rope situation is so genius that it requires no extra effort to hold the rope. It does not. Holding onto a rope is no action.

I will tell you that much for free. If everyone could just do a little tug every now and again so I know you're there. Okay, okay. Great. I think I would, yeah, begin kind of placing or identifying places to put some traps down. Noisy things, broken twigs, leaves, bells.

This is going to be, I think this would be another wisdom survival check to plant a natural trap in the wilderness to kind of alert you to danger. This is going to be a wisdom survival check. And you now have dark vision, right? So you're not blinded. I've got 60 feet of dark vision.

All right. So just not advantage or anything? Nope, just normal straight up roll. Unnatural 20. Unnatural, so total of 20? Total 20. What's your survival? 12.

What the fuck? Why weren't you doing it? What, plus 12? Wait, is it? Mine's plus seven. Why were you not doing it? Wait, seriously? Yeah.

Oh, do I have the highest survival yeah yeah i have plus one i'm minus one i am proficient in mine's plus two he was a mess he was training to be a messenger he knows that you were proficient in it i am but it's plus seven remember he uses wisdom hey you have advantage though, so I mean. Yeah, but I rolled a six and a seven. Well, if I did it, I rolled a one, see? So it would have been still higher than what you got. Okay.

All righty. You can do the prep. Last thing, unless Nova, anything else? I'm focusing on being stealthy. Focusing on being stealth or anything else you'd like to do? Can I do divine sense as we're going? You can. This will prevent you from focusing on being stealthy focusing on being stealth or anything else you'd like to do can i do divine sense as we're going you can this will prevent you from focusing on stealth you're gonna be clunky maybe maybe i'll focus on stealth i'll focus on stealth okay all right in that case i would like everybody to make a stealth check you are all going to be at disadvantage but uh ayla

you have advantage so it's just going to become a flat roll. Those of you who have a camo cloak, you get a, I said, plus four bonus. You get those. That's the modifier. Do you want me to keep the roll that I rolled a minute ago? You can re-roll. Do I get double disadvantage?

You can't get double disadvantage. Oh my god! Oh my god. Two nat ones God! Oh, my God. Two nat ones? I got one nat one. Oh, okay. I got a 27. 27, even with disadvantage. This is filling up.

I just did a flat roll. Yeah, put that in there, too. Oh, my God. All of my dice are in the dice jail now. All of them. We need a bigger jail. I need more d20s. We need a bigger jail.

I'm going to get a picture of this one. I've been cursed the last time here. Yeah need a bigger jail. I need more D20s. We need a bigger jail. We need a picture of this one. I've been cursed to my side here. Yeah, it honestly is. So. Come on. Quill. So, I mean, I had a disadvantage, not disadvantage, I had a negative because I wasn't focused on stealth, right?

That's true, actually, yes. If you weren't focused on stealth, that negative is a minus three. I'm so angry. Okay. Did anyone pass? I'm a theorist right now. I'm so angry. Did anyone pass? I'm a little curious right now. Seven? One, I'm assuming?

Or like a natural one? Yeah, four. Four. Two? I got a 10 plus four, 14. 14? Wow. I mean, it's not the worst. I got a 27!

Cool. I would say that four of you have failed and one of you has succeeded. Holy shit. This sounds like a cliffhanger break section. Yeah. What's going to happen? So we've been slowed down.

I just need to go exercise my dice. We don't know where we are. 30 minutes slower on the journey. I'm blind. And we have just dunked that stealth check. Actually, I think you passed, right? Your stealth check. No.

No? None of you passed. Only me. Only me. Okay, I mean you had a very good roll though, considering. Tom did call it. But we had two nat ones. Did he call it or jinxed it? So, oh is it break time?

I think it is. Thank you very much for joining us for part one. What? Oh! Thank you very much for joining us for part one. What? Oh! Thank you very much for joining us for part one. We'll see you in part two. Oh, my God.

Wow.