High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #151 | The Stalking Sickness (Part 2)

Episode Date: June 30, 2022

The journey continues as the party struggle with more stealth checks! 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. Welcome back to part two. We find our party attempting to travel through the jungle to reach Nightbloomhold with a few Guardian Scouts in tow. The party, unfortunately, have not managed to do so successfully. And as they are traveling, Ayla being momentarily lost by the confusing supernatural terrain and the rest of her party making a lot of noise, the party are traveling through

when they are ambushed. This is a pretty bad consequence. Mm-hmm. I mean, maybe. This is a surprise round. Oh. Yeah. For them or us?

For you. What did that mean? None of you were keeping watch or keeping an eye out for any sort of skeletal creatures or ambush. So they get around on us? No trigger traps? A surprise round basically means you guys don't get to move or use reactions or take actions.

But these are the same skeletal minions you fought before. Trigger any of the traps or? The traps, I mean, there's too many of them. Like the kind of traps that you said before definitely aren't gonna impede these things. These things are actually, we're ahead of you anyway. Like you're encountering a bunch like in the woods. The traps are having an effect.

You don't know what that effect is yet. On something. I've learned it. Yes. So as you guys are travelling through, you hear the familiar sensation, the familiar sound and the rushing of trees and limbs as from around you, dozens of skeletal plant-like creatures,

the hive minions, do appear. and as this is a surprise round they basically just all move and that's their turn i don't think we can fight these things also hive mind it's just gonna pull everything everything around us in you don't know that You don't know that. Well, true. It's a logical assumption. Assumption. Assumption. That's a logical assumption.

Assumption. Sorry, am I in Paris, France? Oh oui. Oh oui, oui. We are fucked. We are fucked. Med. Med, yeah are fucked. Merde.

Merde. Merde. Why do we always do this? Why do we always laugh in the face of death? Because if we don't do that, we'll cry. I'll move them forward for you. No, don't move them, Tom. Sit down. You may be Surround, Sentry, and Shade here in the back. Now, you do have the guardians with you.

You could not do that. You don't have to do that. do you mean you don't have the surroundings you go bad thanks bro you don't know i like your previous one by the way mark with all the water that was the camp yeah and the camp's gone now camp's gone sorry sometimes you make a map and it doesn't get used that's fine um right so that is the surprise round is basically the undead rush towards you. Can you guys all roll initiative now for me, please? Sweet me. Okay, cool. So let's start with Lucius. Eight.

Eight. Quill. Twelve. Ayla. Nineteen. Century. Nine. Nine.

Nova. Eleven. Wow. So, well, remember, I will remind you of some of the mechanics on these folks. So remember, they don't have an initiative. A pack will activate at the end of one of your turns, and you take damage based on the number of minions around you. So think about that.

I'm not going to remind you of any other mechanics. That's on you guys to remember, but that's the one thing I'm going to mention on their initiative. Don't forget as well that you have the guardians. At the end of your turn, you can instruct any of the four guardians with you to perform their action. You can also tell them where to move. If you don't give them an action,

all they basically do is take the dodge action, which means attacks against them have disadvantage. In this case, I'll have them take half damage from any minions. Okay. They are nowhere near as durable as you guys. They are seasoned warriors, some of them have got a few more hit points, but generally these guys are pretty squishy. So, and we're going to kick things off with Ayla.

Ooh. At the start of your turn, that would be, says, six of them within range. I'm actually going to go back down to what their original damage was, which was six. So that's going to be six times six is 36. Reduced by AC? Reduced by your AC, yes. This is a new thing I changed last week. So your AC is what, 20? So you actually only take 16 points of section damage.

Which is then half again, right? No, because I'm not raging yet. I will rage now, though. Bonus action rage. And then I will attempt to hit. Yes, and you weren't here last week, but there is now a thing where if you hit them and damage them, you can kind of knock damage through.

I'm rolling 18 to hit. 18 hits these guys, yeah. I mean, these guys aren't too difficult to hit. So, 17 damage on that, plus 2 lightning damage. Okay, so one is destroyed. Which one would you like, Ayla? It needs to be one within melee range. Yeah, the one whatever's closest to Quill, I guess. This one would be. It would be one of the two in front of you. So one is destroyed, and then the other one

now takes three points of damage as carry over. Cool. Next one is a brain, 20 to hit. Hits. That was the easiest math. Oh, an idiot. It was eight plus 12. It was five plus 15. Oh my. So sick, my brain just melted there. I can do that. Yeah, it's fine. It's hot. Oh. It was eight plus 12. It was five plus 15.

So upset, my brain just melted there. I can do that. It's fine, it's hot. Oh, I rolled a 10 on my dice, though, so 23 on the hammer. Plus five. So 28 plus three from last time brings us to 31. Yeah. Which is basically one is destroyed,

another one is nearly destroyed. There's three health left. Yes is basically one is destroyed, another one is nearly destroyed. There's three health left. Yes, basically. You can only hit ones within melee range. Oh, you want to get rid of all your minis? You've got too many there. Tell me, where's called my Skellymen? That was last week. And then the last one has three hit points left. Still within range, so. They fail saving throws automatically.

Okay, cool. So just, for the lightning. If you roll more than three damage, he's dead. 16. Yeah, that damage won't unfortunately travel over, but that will finish off that last remaining one there. Sorry, 17. Yeah, unfortunately the lightning will not travel over.

Okay. End of turn, Ayla. Would you like to issue a command to any of your four guards? Sorry, real quick, but some of them died within five feet of Ayla. That's very true. Thank you, Tom. And also one in front of Nova as well. Slap him. One was in front

of you, so... No, he's behind you currently. I would disconnect him from the mob so it doesn't affect me. So, what that means is Aelor and Nova. Nova, can you make two con saves? Aelor, can you make three? Sorry. I think you will be after this night.

I appreciate it, Tom. You know what, Tom? I have inspiration. I already got inspiration. I already have inspiration. I've never used it. Can we have an inspiration for having to put up with him? No. He's my special boy. Can I like, 27 or um the dc is 16. if you fail one yeah no i passed off i fell one i got six you you're familiar with this you gain a stack of grief rot reduce your speed by five feet and you will take one poison damage at the start of your teeth it gets worse and worse yeah more of these things every time they die so as you kind of cleaved

your hammer through them as they die they burst into this kind of necrotic mist, where before it was flowers, and now it becomes this kind of like necrotic aura of sadness and sorrow. You managed to kind of shrug it off, but Nova unfortunately succumbs slightly to a stack of it. In the last fight, I had so many stacks of grief rot that I had zero speed. I couldn't move at all.

Wow. For the stats nodes, I rolled a 16 and a 5 plus 3. that I had zero speed. Yeah. I couldn't move at all. Yeah. So. For the stats nerds, I rolled a 16 and a 5 plus 3. There we go. So, Ayla, at the end of your turn, would you like to issue a command to a guardian? Can I ask?

You can also ask what they do because you don't even know what all of them can do yet. No, what can Hotshot do? Hotshot can... Blast them! Yeah, basically, Hotshot can do two things. She can either make a single ranged attack with a plus 10 to hit,

and it deals 1d10 plus 10 force damage. Nice. Or she can also provide Overwatch three times. Overwatch will give you a... give one PC plus two AC against the next attack made against them, and also lets Hotshot take a shot at the attacker, but with disadvantage.

So if you've been to some other XCOM, not as useful in this fight. Yeah, higher AC means we take less damage from the horde at the start of our turns. True. Okay, can I just get her to take a shot at one of the further away groups? The further away ones? Yep, Hotshot is in a perfect place. And also because it's a ranged weapon, any over damage goes in a line with her. Yes. Cool. So that's a 20 to to hit which means she's going to hit and d10 plus 10 force damage for 13 points of damage so the front one has taken 13 so beautiful b um and it is uh this isn't a particularly loud it is a magical projectile so it's kind of like a of being similar to an eldritch

blast um all right uh end of youritch Blast. Alright, end of your turn? Yeah. Alright, at the end of your turn, Ayla, one of the minion groups is going to activate. Activate. Activate. To surround you even more. Including poor Hotshot and Tinker. And so...

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. The Guardians, by the way, will take any damage at the end of the round. So if they are next to minions, they will just take all their damage at the end of the round. Keeluk and Kalar. Hello. Hello. It's me. Ya boy. Uh...

God. So at the start of your turn, Quill, I believe that you only have one, two, three, four within range of you currently. Can I make a disadvantage against one of those? Absolutely you can. That will half one of the damages. So that will be three times six, six, 12, 18, plus another three, 21 points of damage. Minus your AC. Minus 14, so seven.

Seven points of slashing damage. Not bad. So far. So far, yeah. God, I do not have the spells for another encounter. Cantrips. Yeah. I've got cantrips.

But Word of Radiance is powerful, however, it will stack me bad, maybe. I will Sacred Flame. I think I want to try and clear the group. Which way were we traveling? Let's say you're traveling to the west. That way. Yeah. Trying to think from the audience's perspective, and it always throws me off.

Left to right. Okay. I will say one other thing is, like, if you just want to run off the map, these things are going to chase you. Yeah, but they're not super fast. Yes, they are. Well, I mean, I think we could outrun them.

Maybe, if we wanted to. We have little guardians. Yeah. But we would be loud. And also, we would be loud. We'd attract more. We'd attract more. I will tell you that if you either leave the map

or if you basically want to try and run away, these things will pursue um you have to either clear all of the current minions and then take an action to hide and successfully hide so that the ones who are kind of being alerted don't find you kind of think of this as like you know in metal gear or the last of us like you alert the whole you've got to go and find a safe space to hunker down um or you can attempt to just outrun them, but doing so will cost you basically levels of exhaustion to fully escape the encounter. Okay, fine, I will use my channel divinity then.

Okay. Turn or destroy undead, anything within 30 feet, which is everything. It destroys everything. Sweet. I don't wanna, everyone is saying like, oh, Tom remembered it, I do know of it, I have so few charges of this thing, I don't wanna to use... Everyone is saying, like, oh, Tom remembered it. I do know of it. I have so few charges of this thing.

I don't want to use it all the time. You've already used one because it got sucked up by the dead root. But thinking if we dispatch all of them silently, we can probably then hide. So you see Quill, touch it. Is this the book? What do you use as your holy symbol now?

As a staff... The Sphere of Oracles. The Sphere of Oracles uh i think in this instance would be the channeling uh it's like you lift it up and it bursts with like force or is this what's this look like uh it's your i think because it's everything within 30 feet right yes that's everything it is everything yeah um is it is almost like you describe while I remove. Like a wave of light bursts out, which seems to... A wave of radiance bursts out loudly. Nice.

Thunderous clap. Is that accurate, Tom? Is what you've said true? No. Oh, okay. It's a line of radiance, circle coming out from me. That initial circle doesn't do anything, but then when it's sucked in again, that's when it coats everything and almost like a vacuum of force.

Yeah, it breaks. You see bone and plant matter just break away as the holy power of Siaska and Hesper disrupts whatever is holding these things together. Completely breaking. Yeah, and it makes an echoey noise across the entire jungle. disrupts whatever is holding these things together, completely breaking it. Yeah, and it makes an echoey noise across the entire jungle. Okay. Because there are no enemies, you all basically have an action. We'll just go round in turn.

But, yeah, if you want to, imagine that you're moving in the forest and this is you like, right, we're going to hide now so that we don't attract more of these things. So you will need to make a successful stealth check against a DC. If you don't want to make the stealth check, you can have another player make it for you as they basically try and hide you.

But you've only got five rounds to do this in. So can I enlist the help of Tinker? To do what? To create a spell for me. Yep. What spell? First level spell. First spell is Disguise Self. Okay. On me. Okay. what spell? First level spell. First spell is Disguise Self. Okay.

On me. Okay. And I'm gonna fly. Okay. How, what's disguise? Tree bark, like the trees. I'm gonna just blend in with a tree and fly. Hmm.

I mean, yeah, it works. It's gonna help you. it's not gonna be immediately successful it's not like an auto success because this guy's self you make your clothing armor weapons and other belongings on your person look different until the spell ends it just says different you can seem one foot shorter or taller you can appear thin fat or in between can't change your body type okay so yeah I'd say that it can color you like bark. Yeah, like painted. It's like a magic camouflage.

Like a wallpaper. Yeah, and you're going to just fly up. So you're casting fly as well. That's my action. Is to cast fly on yourself. Yeah, and go... And then go up into a tree and basically, like, hug it. I'm a tree.

Right. Okay. Yeah, you can make a stealth check with a plus 10 bonus. All right. That's an at one. What, Dan? Oh my god. We are the cursed table.

Jesus Christ. So wait, with a plus 10, like, please. We need another dice jail. Yeah, I mean, it's not an auto fail. It only holds one. You can have it if you want. It's only plus two, so it's three. So single.

Plus 13. You got way more. We should just get a bin. Because you get a plus. So 13 total. We should do what you did. So that's what Lucius is doing. Nova, sentry, before it comes around to Quillen.

So we're hiding, right? I'm going to cast Invisibility on myself. And sentry. Okay. That negates the need to hide. Invisibility will hide you from these things, even though they do kind of Consents and things like that. Invisibility is enough that you can

kind of buy yourself a moment, right? That will hold it for one hour. Yes, that's basically gonna be to escape this combat encounter. This one spell will work for that. All right, so we have Sentry and Nova are now completely invisible. They move. Sentry, you can still take an action. You are now hidden as long as you don't keep moving,

as long as you don't make too much noise. Don't move! But you can still take actions. Like if you wanted to help somebody else or give somebody advantage or something like that, you absolutely can. The Guardians are all going to look after themselves. The Guardians have done this a lot, and they know how to hide and blend in. They're better than us.

Yeah, they are basically at this. But if they get into a fight, they're definitely not. When I flew upwards, my cloak got caught in a branch. And I'm just covered in bark texture, just pulling on the cloak. For god's sakes. Just making a noise. Just for, you know, that's all. Flavor.

All right. I can help free you. It's too high. Okay. Lovely bit of roleplay. Thank you, Chris. Anything you would like to do, Tenshi, on your turn. Let's go to the person whose turn it is.

Rhiannon, what would you like to do? You can do nothing to help. Okay. What are you going to do? Point and laugh. You could help Quill or you could help Ayla. I have advantage, so you don't need to help me. Want to help. Okay. What are you gonna do? Point and laugh. You could help Quell or you could help Ayla. I have advantage, so you don't need to help me. Want to help the birb? Throw the birb in a tree.

I can fly. I mean, flying isn't hiding. These things can still see you if you're flying. Because the tree line, the canopy's that same thickness, right? You can only go up about 20, 30 feet before the tree canopy is really dense and thick.

I will hide behind Sentry. She's invisible. And translucent. I know. All right. No, wait. I mean, on my turn, I don't know if you want to do something to help. Yeah, I mean, Sentry's turn.

I mean, if I could try and cover you. Yeah. Try and cover you in leaves or something. Yeah. Let's basically give an advantage. Or green leaves to your feathers. You go giant and just shovel hand frozen dirt on me. Yeah, some leaves.

Just stomp you into the ground. Some vines and stuff. Is that what you want to do? Yeah. All right. So you give help action to a stealth check. Just slap me with some mud. Yeah.

All right. I mean, yeah. I'm assuming you both want to make stealth checks. The way that I'm hiding is by flying above the tree line, I guess, if possible, and rely on my hearing to... Sure. I rolled a net. You're definitely an avid predator. By the way, in my features, I can attempt to hide,

even if I'm only lightly obscured, Mask of the Wild. So I just disappear. Just go on. Just fade into. You are Arnold Schwarzenegger. You have advantage. I have advantage? Yeah, that's the whole point.

17. 17, okay. Lucius, you are still very visible. Like you are making noise. Like you, I mean, it's enough that like the others could basically be like, Lucius, like you need to visible. Like, you are making noise. Like, you, I mean, it's enough that, like, the others could basically be like, Lucius, like, you need to hide. You seriously need to hide. You can hear the sounds of more of these, like, creatures, like,

kind of pulling through. It's actually really short. Charlotte. Help me! Nobody can, like, none of the other guns can fly. Like, if that's the reason that you failed your stealth is that you've been caught on a branch, you've either got to help yourself get out of it

or Quill's the only other one who can help you. And if Quill, you move, you lose that stealth check. Can I Eldritch Blast his cloak? You absolutely can. You'll then not be invisible. No, because it's a cantrip. Yes, it does. Casting a spell or attacking anything will break invisibility.

Then I'm not doing shit. There you go. You're on your own. You can absolutely cast Eldritch Blast, but you'll lose that invisibility. I'm doing shit. Sentry, don't you do a thing. Don't you do it.

Make another stealth check, but you don't have that plus 10 bonus at the moment. I might give you a secret bonus. 12. Total? Plus 10. Plus 10, 22. No, no plus 10. Oh, no plus 10. 12. 12. I'm still going might give you a secret bonus. Total? Plus 10. Plus 10, 22. No, no plus 10.

Oh, no plus 10. 12. 12. I'm still going to give you some bonus because the camo is still affecting you. You think that might be just enough. Like, you've lowered yourself down to this branch, which is maybe only like 10 feet off the ground,

but like 20 feet off the ground. It's just hanging from the cloak. Yeah. I'm so tired. Or like wrapped around the branch. Like, yeah. Just like, and you just go completely still. My arms are like branches.

Just hoping that these things will go. After maybe about 10 seconds, another sort of, several packs of these minions begin sort of like, kind of searching as if they're looking for something, but they pass through, and with your checks, you manage to avoid detection. It does cost you about another 30 minutes of time waiting for them to pass, but you may resume travel, as that was it.

Just leave them hung up in the tree. I'm also just floating, because I can fly. Yeah. I'm just attached to this branch. I'm also just floating because I can fly. Yeah. I'm just attached to this branch. A little help, please. I don't have the strength to carry Lucius, do I? I could snag it until sentry.

I could, I could Gamdine. I could just grab his legs and just pull the cloak. I think he's really high. I'm gonna to tear the... Yeah, ripped. It's, like, ripped right at the shoulders. Like, there's nothing left of that cape. It's just on the wall.

Yeah, it's just, like, all, like, wrapped up into it. Yeah, it turns back into the purple cloth. I thought, no, he was wearing a camel one, wasn't he? No. No. I was disguised self as bark. Yeah. Now the cape is left in the tree, tattered, torn. One of the many sacrifices I'm sure we'll make today.

The stalker will probably use that. I feel bad. Aayla doesn't feel bad, but Cate doesn't. Let's move on. Shouldn't we take that with us? Because the stalker is probably gonna use it as, I mean, as a footprint. True. Hot shot is like 100%, you can't leave that there.

I'll fly off into it. Firebolt. Oh. Oh, fire, interesting. Yeah, no. Ooh! Can't do it. Yeah?

No. It's magic fire. It doesn't... However, Firebolt does say it sets things on fire. Oh, for fuck's sake. I had a meltdown last week about bonfire and stuff like that. The cloak ignites and begins burning away. The wooden branch that is attached to it.

I'm having a ritual right now. Sure. I mean, this is like six seconds. No, keep going. The cloak will burn away in a moment. Lucius, we need to go right now. Yes. I just made a light. We, Lucius, we need to go right now. Yes. I just made a light.

Oh my god, okay, we're going. All right, okay. I'll gust it. No I won't. Jesus! Just gonna make a flaming cloak. I think that that counts as a fluke. All right.

So you've assumed your trap, yes? It's still there. Somebody that is not Ayla will need to become the new Pathfinder as you make your way into the jungles. Well, I'm laying traps and shit. Also, he's not very good at seeing right now. I've got dark vision. He's got dark vision.

He's got my goggles. Hotshot can also make it. She does have, any of the guardians can. They all have better abilities. Not all of the guardians do. Hotshot does, and Hotshot has advantage. They have advantage as well. Hotshot won't be able to do it next time, next hour.

God, we have lost so much time, though. Hotshot. Are you making the check, Quill, or is Hotshot? There's a flaming cloak in a tree. Hotshot. Hotshot is, because again, I'm the only one that can do the trap stuff. like hot shot it must be right are you making the check will or there's a flaming cloak in a tree hot shot yes because i again i'm the only one that can do the trap stuff and i all right it will work it will help trust me luckily they have advantage uh hot shot will successfully put you on the right track this time you do not lose any time um your stealth checks are made as normal. You don't have disadvantage on them. As we move through. Can I have...

Everybody make either wisdom, perception, or survival check. Everyone. Okay. Don't forget, if you have... Basically, you are at disadvantage because of the darkness. We're all at disadvantage. I believe so. none of you can. I have advantage if it's a survival check.

Why would you have advantage? Because you gave me an advantage on survival check before. That's for the trailblazing, but this is a separate thing. Survival checks you can move without disadvantage. My rod gives me advantage. 25. That would counteract the disadvantage.

So just a straight. But you don't have darkvision. So you actually can't make the check because you're blinded. Actually, no, you can, but yeah, just make it with disadvantage. Can Tiangong make the check? Yes, technically, yes.

But just make a normal perception check for me. Or survival. 20. 25. 25, Quill? 15. 15? Four. Four? Six. Quill? 15. 15? Four. Four?

Six. Six? Trot. Trot's right in front of you. 26. 26? Okay. All right. Quill. Yep.

You have that hair on the back of your neck sensation. Something is uncomfortable. You feel you're being watched. hair on the back of your neck sensation. Something is uncomfortable, like you feel you're being watched. And it makes sense that the two elves who are perhaps most adept at navigating with dark vision things, and especially for Ayla,

but Lucius as well, technically. You got 25, right? And you got 26. You both, as you are traveling, as you begin making your journey, before you make stealth checks and things like that, you know that that stalker is now actively following you, actively tracking you.

You know it's a medium creature. It's a humanoid of some form. It could be undead, could be something else, but it is a medium-sized humanoid creature, and it's tracking you. To be able to gain on you so quickly, it must be using both mundane and magical tracking as an experience tracker.

You know you're leaving tracks and things like that that it's following, but also it might even have some supernatural awareness. It currently has six progress points. You don't know how many is needed to meet catch up with you, but every time you fail stealth checks or do anything that would dramatically leave behind clues of your location, it adds progress points.

Could you just write flaming cloak there? I feel like, how did I just give points away with just a bit of flavor? And you didn't even know! You didn't even know about it! There's your red pen. Ah, mad things. That is, both of you would kind of be able to like pick up on enough of that. And how you know that, I'm gonna kind of leave to you guys.

Like, you know, maybe this is a magical sensation for Lucius. Maybe this is Ayla's experience as a tracker. Like, you're thinking about what you would do and like, you know, oh God, the clues that we've left behind it. You know that this thing is pretty close at this point. Like, if you have a very similar travel journey that you had before, it's probably gonna be able to find you.

And if it finds you, it's gonna ambush you. We need to move fast. So, someway, somehow, the stalker knows where we are. Oh. And is gaining. I don't know how much. I'm going to address this just right now, but we need to not mess up this time. We've got to go.

We've got to be on track. Aware of your surroundings. Because they know where we are. So, before anybody makes stealth checks, is there anything anybody would like to do this round? How much time has elapsed for this? Is it an hour? This is part of the hour travel, yeah.

So the invisibility's gone. So our invisibility's gone. Like, anything like that, assume that for the encounter, once the encounter's over, it's basically gonna be gone. You're not gonna have that for any future engagements. Chris Trott, you have a little look. Tinker, maybe it's worthwhile for those that aren't very good at stealthing, maybe something that would gain advantage. I can help you for this, at least temporarily. I have a few more uses of that sort of thing.

I think that might be worthwhile. As we're moving, yes, yes, yes. Who? Who? How many do you...? I could provide two, perhaps. Two individuals with assistance. Definitely Sentry. Very well. And... So far, both the champion Quill and champion Nova have made considerable noise. As well as yourself, champion Lucius.

True. Well... It's a toss-up century and someone definitely century it's down to fate whoever nova quill what no hi yeah sure me no all right okay uh tinker will both create some sort of device maybe it's kind of something muffling for Sentry's armor, like a temporary solution. Sponge. But it will be a magically created thing

that lasts for a little bit. Yeah, kind of temporarily. You will both have advantage on stealth checks this turn. Yay. Nice. Which will counteract your disadvantage. So you've got a regular roll. Regular roll.

Yep. Anybody else doing anything different? I'm starting to think that leaving traps behind is basically just leaving a trail. It depends on how successful they are. I will tell you this now that you're a bit more aware of some of the Stalker's abilities based on Lucius and Ayla. If the trap is successful, it will remove progress points. If the trap fails, it leaves a clue. So I could place a trap, reduce my stealth, potentially fail the stealth, and negate it completely.

Potentially? I like those odds. Of course you fucking do. I do want to keep laying traps. Sure. That'd be a survival check from Quill. Yeah, even if it's as mundane as sticks. Little alarms and stuff like that.

If nothing else, it does, again, even just avoiding it costs the stalker time. Yeah. Sorry, what was the roll? Survival. Survival. And it's opposed by their four. Is that natural one? That's a natural one. is the roll? Survival. Survival. And it's opposed by their four. That's a nat 1! What the fuck? Let's see what I roll.

There's a jail over here. 13 was the total roll, by the way. No! Oh yeah, put it in jail. That is a lot of nat 1s. Quill attempts to construct some tripwires and branches and things that will alert or at least create the impression that maybe there are more dangerous trappers being left behind. That's insane. Everybody else, Tinker technically was the one

who provided those benefits, so Lucius, you can still do something else or you can focus on stealthing. Anything I've done so far has made it 10 times worse. So you're just gonna try and focus on stealthing? Sure, okay. With a disadvantage. No, you'll have just a straight roll this time.

But not yet, don't roll it yet we're making sure there's nothing else anybody wants to do I'm going round like a potion to me or drink a potion you can drink a potion unless you really take advantage you already have advantage because of tinker on the stealth I'm gonna use my chorus on Trident to summon dolphins yeah sure a whale uh nothing so stealth stuff well i've got advantage on stealth anyway because of the thing either yeah but this if you don't focus on if you do anything else you get a penalty not just i'm focusing real hard all right so yeah focusing on stealth century kind of a divine sense sure i think they do that, so not focusing on stealth, but you do still keep the advantage.

It just means that you get a minus three penalty, basically. Well, knowing that it's close makes sense. Divine Sense. Let's have a look at this. Let's have a look, eh? What's the range on it? 60 feet. 60 feet? I think if he's doing 60 feet. Worse.

Until the end of your turn, you know the location of any Celestial Fiend or Undead within 60 feet of you that's not behind total cover. Alright, so you would like to Divine Sense? Again, it's only an action, I'm not going to make this take actually the whole hour, like you could do this 60 feet, you'd see them. If it was within 60 feet, like, you guys would probably see them, or like, or they would have attacked you probably by now. They are further away than that, but I won't say that that takes your whole turn. You can still focus on stealthing. It's more if you wanted to do something like laying traps or keeping watch for like,

oh, in case we get ambushed by skeletons again. If you keep watch and you succeed, you aren't surprised in that first round of an undead minion attack, et cetera. Or maybe if the stalker gets you. All right, so stealth or anything else? Your trap, stealth. All right, in that case,

I would like stealth checks from everybody. Stealth rolls from everybody. Do I have? Yes! If you did not focus on stealth, you have a minus three to your roll. Is it disadvantage? I rolled a 19 and an 18.

Hot shot past it, so it's normal roll normal roll I believe unless you have disadvantage from any other source. Oh for fuck's sake. What? I got a 19. 19? Nine. Nine? Is it minus three? Yeah. It is if you didn't but you did focus on stealth. So yeah it's just normal. You've got cloak. Just trying to think you don't, but you did focus on stealth. You did focus on stealth. So, yeah, it's just normal. You've got cloak. Just trying to think.

You don't have anything else, do you? You've got, like, no benefits or, like, cloak or anything. I got plus two to stealth and then I only rolled a ten. All right. 22. So, success, fail, success. Four. Total?

Four total. Oh, fucking hell. Fail. Century. 14. Ah! I don't think that's enough, is it? No!

Anybody want to use any reaction abilities for ability checks or anything? I don't have anything. I've got one for me. Anybody got anything that can boost your dice rolls for a check? I used my... You used Driven to Purpose, didn't you?

Yeah, I used it last week. Oh, that's a shame. Yeah, it's gone. Fuck! Don't worry, Quill can do Destroy Undeading. It's not undead. No, it's a stalker. Yeah, the stalker's not undead. It's not, it's a stalker. Yeah, the stalker's not undead. So that was three fails, if I'm correct.

Yes. All right. Three, was it more? That was one fail, two fail, three fails. So give me a minute. You rolled so well and you had that bonus, but you didn't need that bonus at all. I enjoyed it though yeah that's a bit of a different environment judo dice y'all here we go again just yeah reshape the

environment real quick we moved down like 20 feet fist full of undead again dropping on our heads we're literally never gonna there's not a round that we're going to succeed at this point. We succeeded in the second one. You could, dude. That was very close. I'll tell you that. We haven't succeeded in any round.

I thought we succeeded in the second one. No. This is the second one. This is the second one. We could speed run this combat if you want, because I'm going to do the undead thing. No, you can't speed run this combat. I'm sorry. Oh, Tombi, I'm sorry.

Oh, Tombi. Oh, boy. How... What? How have we survived this launch? I know, right? We're like, what, level 17? Stealthing is absolutely your worst... And corridors. At least this isn't a corridor.

Like, we're dog shit. Do you want me to make it a corridor of trees? I could make it like a corridor of trees if you like. This is how the campaign ends. You know what? Just for fun, I'm actually going to make it a corridor of trees. Yeah! All good. Thank you. We enter the valley.

Yeah. It's like a corridor of foliage. Aw, hell yeah. Um...man. You having a good time, Tom? How many hordes are there? Three different groups. Yep. Three different groups. I also need another miniature. Oh, he's bringing a Deathroot.

Fuck's sake. If you can't find it, you can't use it. That one's down here. I've got a whole box of them. Freeman would lock it. Loads. Yeah. That one's down here. I've got a whole box of them. Three minute locket. Loads. Perfect. Retake it.

If the mini doesn't show up in five minutes, we're legally allowed to leave. Yeah. It says in our contract. If the mini's not here in 30 minutes or less, the next one's free. Sorry, I've also technically got to make another encounter. If you can't make the encounter, it doesn't exist. It doesn't happen, canonically. No.

How are we all feeling right now? Feeling real bored of skeletons right now. I'm ready to go. Because they're a pain in the fucking ass. No, they're easy. Why are there so many? They're easy. We got this.

No, it's more this. It's fine. It's fine. It's just... Yeah, but the stock is catching up with us now. How far into our journey are we now? Not far. Two fucking hours.

Two hours. Two, six. Three hours, isn't it? We hid for half an hour. We were delayed by half an hour. Yeah, you have spent three hours, but you've made two hours of progress. Oh, fuck. So, Lucius, initiative.

Oh, fuck. There is going to be a surprise round. Five. A third of the way. Oh, fuck. So, Lucius, initiative. Oh, fuck. There is going to be a surprise round. Five. A third of the way. Oh, come on! Your dice rolls today,

guys. I rolled three. Jato dice in the day out of jail. Twelve. Twelve. Again. I rolled so many.

Nineteen. Nineteen again. Century. Eighteen. Eighteen for century. Nova. Nineteen. Oh.

Luckily, I rolled with advantage, but one of them was an at one I think I know why we can't speedrun this combat yeah do you think because we suck no I think there's too many someone else might be showing up at some point that's all my dice

yep our dice jail overflow that one's out that's a good one alright do bear with me, friends. I just have a lot to think about in this scenario. Hey, you know what? Take all the time you need, friend.

It's going to be all right. Should we just use his tank as his nice PPK? What's a strat? I'm going to run around in circles. If you do that fast enough, you'll be a shield for the rest of us. True. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And also, if you spin fast enough, you'll be a shield for the rest of us. True, yeah, yeah, yeah. And also, if you spin fast enough, you can use your heat lance thing.

Yeah. And just carve a massive path through the entire forest. And Nova can inverse gravity for us, so we just float up. Why are we hiding when we could be oscillating? We could be oscillating. We could be oscillating. Just chill. How violent is the oscillation, by the way?

Is it we are just sort of spinning in place? Oh, okay, so it's not like we are in a harsh orbit where we're just... No, no, no. Yeah, it specifically says oscillating gently. It's like that ride you call it. Oh, sorry, oscillating slightly. Okay.

So, once again, as you are making your way through the jungle of Jakesh. I love it. The attempts to move as quietly as possible in this terrain, even with Hotshot kind of leading you down the right paths, whilst Aayla and even Nova this time managed to kind of blend in and keep themselves quiet. Those of you who are just not experienced in this,

you don't have the training or in Sentry's case, the bulk and the weight, as the other Guardians have kind of had experience in months or weeks to practice, just little things, snapping of twigs here and there, catching yourself on branches to give it away, little pieces of noise, kicking a stone by accident. You soon find yourself the upper head,

again, that similar sensation of these creatures all running in um and this time uh something else also occurs from it's difficult to tell where uh a of metal. I need Nova, Quill, and poor little Tinker to make dexterity saving throws. Oh god, okay, dexterity. You'll get a plus three from me. Okay, nice. 17? 17 total? Yes. 20. 20 total.

Nova, probably an element of so much experience in your long combats and these adventures you've been on, you manage to throw yourself to the side with just enough agility as something whizzes past you. Quill and Helper, unfortunately, are not so fortunate having not seen it first. Something pierces through you, Quill, and as it does, you feel something fed through it,

and Helper has, Tinker, sorry, has the same thing happen to them. You take, I'm gonna have to roll this in the indie beyond oh god why it's that many uh nova i think you're gonna be taking half of this even though unless you have a feature which allows you to uh reduce it by i don't think you do 61 poison oh my god 30 points of poison damage to Nova Your resistance bypasses

does not work and you are now tethered yourself and helper bound by a cord a sinewed kind of string like a like intestinal gut string

has passed through you and into Helper. It's not mine, is it? Who is now dead. Oh! 60 points of poison damage kills him outright. It just through his chest and his body slumps to the ground, completely gone.

Because I thought we sent Helper away. I keep getting the two confused. So I'm now bound to? This body, yes. We do not have the strength for this. It's not a spell, is it? I mean, there was, I would say, quill with your passive perception. You're not going to know where it came from,

but there was enough time for you to see an arrow, but it went off somewhere. Like you don't know what, like it just passed through both you and helper. Either I would say at best it came from the north, I'm trying to think from the audience's perspective, north east, north east to south west, or vice versa, one of those other way rounds.

Okay. Unless it was like some magic curved attack that, you know, passed through and made it through. But there is clearly like a line from you in that direction passing through, but you're not sure which way it came from. I think in the impact I would have been spun around as well. Like, I have no idea where this thing...

That was the surprise round for that. I'm not surprised, by the way. Feral instinct. If I'm surprised at the beginning of combat, I can act normally on my first turn if I enter a rage, so I would automatically... Okay, in that case, this thing, the stalker would still go first. Its initiative was a lot higher than yours.

But you can act before these skeletons do because you are not surprised. He just reacted in surprise, like, I think the stalker's here. I was like, confirmed. Yeah, he knew it. Look at me. Could have been anything.

So Ayla, you can actually act before these skeletons, so you are not surprised. The stalker. Oh my god. So, I don't know where it is, though. Can I... You can make a perception check. I would say you can do it as a bonus action. I have to rage as my bonus action. That's a reaction, isn't it? You do it basically as you get...

Quill. But as it barrels. That could be a stalker. As long as you act, basically. As long as I rage as my first action. Right, there you go. In that case, yeah, so you could use your action. If you don't want to attack,

you could use a perception check instead. Can I do that? That's more useful. I rolled shit, though, so 12. I rolled trash. Like, you have no idea where that shot came from. The treeline in dim darkness, like, trying to peer around. Like, this thing could be anywhere.

A movement. Not for now. Okay. I don't think. No, I don't know what to do, because I'm just going to get surrounded by people if I move. He's moving the horde. Moving the horde. Oh, they, yeah. They're not on us yet, at least.

These ones are. Don't know about the other ones. They might get there. They might get there. They might get there. Because on a surprise round they will. They'll all charge and in. Oh that one's... wait what was the stealthy ninja-y guardian called? Shade. Shade. So Shade is in range of them.

So Shade is in range of them. These guys, however. They're all getting involved. I don't know what to do. We don't really have the strength for this right now. I'm stuck to a dead boy. So the first surprise round, that happens, a new initiative starts. As that is how it's going to work.

Oh, so he goes again. Ah, or she. Or she. Don't know. Oh, yeah. Women can be arseholes too. Shot to the heart. The other thing I forgot to tell you Tom Haziel

yeah oh no no no you're fine for now from somewhere you guys can no I think that this

no you can't do shit yeah no you it's just gonna three attacks come flying out. It is going to be... Quill, you're kind of attached to a dead man. It would know who you are.

Oh, it knows... Can I protect Quill? You can. Yay. Do you need to be able to see the attack to protect them? Can you just confirm that for me good, just have a look. Let me have a look. I'm gonna roll it.

Where are you? It should be under your features and traits. Protection. When you shield a creature you can see attacks of a target other than you. You don't have time. I can't see them. My Tiangong is up, right? Because Tiangong was helping me go through the woods.

It takes an hour to travel, so no. Well, actually, yeah, because they don't disappear. So, yeah, Tiangong could be up. In which case, Shadow Martyr! Thank you. Okay. Shadow Martyr? Yeah, Tiangong will throw themselves in front of Gwyn. All right. The AC of Tiangong is 20. Okay. Shadow Martyr? Yeah, Tiangong will throw themselves in front of Gwyn.

All right. The AC of Tiangong is 20. 20. Something hits Tiangong, and Tiangong breaks apart. Vanishes. Okay. That would have hit me real bad. And I've tucked in. It doesn't need... Oh, wait, no. An attack you can see.

Oh, wait, I think we have this one. At another creature you can, no, it says, you can make your echo throw itself in front of attack directed at another creature that you can see. You can see Quill. So I can see Quill, yeah, that's what it says. And in that case it works. Yep, so it's the difference between sentries.

One sentry has to be able to see the attack to protect it. But I have to see Quill. Tiangong can like, yeah, you have to, and Tiangong just supernaturally is like, there, and it, something hits. Because it did hit it though, however, the area around 20 foot around Quill. 20 foot around me?

Yep, so it's pretty much gonna catch everyone. Oh, what's 20 foot around me? The ground, the grass, the branches underneath your feet begin to sprout mushrooms and fungus and mold. It is now difficult terrain. Oh, is this like a swarm range? And then Lucius and Nova. I don't like them.

Lucius, 24 to hit. Yeah. And then Nova, 22 to hit. Yeah. All right. 20 foot radius around pretty much me is huge, by the way. It is. Look at the ring!

It's this. Got the entire circle. It's the entire circle. It's pretty big. All right. That is going to be... It's going to be 14 piercing damage to you both, and then 6 poison damage.

And can you both make constitution saving throws, please? Plus 3. 12. 12. 26. 26. 26. Lucius, whatever is infested, and now I would say on these attacks,

you actually, for the first time, it basically embeds itself into both of you. They are arrows carved from black rotted wood tipped with almost stone and metal arrowheads, a mixture almost collected from various matters. They embed themselves into you, and then they just melt away. As soon as they hit you, they just dissolve. Yeah, it melts.

And it becomes this kind of viscous, grotesque, rotting fluid. You, Lucius, through perhaps your magical sort of constitution, you manage to shrug off whatever effect is... So I try to just pop it out. However, for Nova Vigia, you have a sword, you have armor. It doesn't know a little bit about you. As it strikes you, Nova, as the poison kind of infects your system,

you blink and your vision is becoming cloudy. You are blinded. And you have disadvantage on wisdom checks and wisdom saving throws. As a disease, I believe you can be affected by disease. I know Sentry can't. Yeah, yeah, I've got no resistance. Yeah, you feel like your eyes turn,

and everyone else sees Nova's eyes turn milky white. Sweet. And then, very last thing, as that infection seems to take hold of Nova... I mean, Ayla, you're probably going to succeed on this, but there's almost like a gust of wind that seems to strike up and coalesce around Nova, and it blows towards Ayla.

Can you make a con save as well for me, please, Ayla? You get a plus three. Hang on. 18 plus 11. You are fine. That same Icarus substance, like you feel your eyes sort of begin to cloud and then you sort of slam,

the lightning kind of ruptures through your body, burning out the poison. The wind almost seemed to carry the disease into ayla as it affected my god ayla's turn oh crap okay at the start of your turn ayla you're only going to take six points of damage which you will negate entirely because you're AC. Do I still have no idea where that's come from? It is a check to try and locate the creature. To try and locate the source of it. Okay, I'm not going to do that.

I'm going to go forward to beside this tree and start hitting into this pack of undead. This one? Beside, no, there. Yeah, like there-ish. And start. I will say if you are here, only one other Skelemon will be in range for over damage. If you shift over one.

I'll go there then. Then you can hit multiple. Okay. 18 plus 15 to hit. Oh yeah, that's gonna definitely hit. Ah yeah, that's going to definitely hit. So 21 on the hammer, three lightning. So 24 minus 17 is seven left. Seven remaining, yeah.

Yep. And then 16 plus 15 to hit. Yep. So 15 on the hammer and three lightning. So 18. So not enough to kill the next one, but it will kill one more. It's got five, six health left. Yep.

12, 14, 15, 16 lightning. Enough to wipe out that one just in the range of your aura. As the lightning spreads out, smashing through three of them at least with two of the hammer blows and the lightning blast finishing off the last one. Can I take some, try and take cover beside that tree that's beside? This one? Yeah. Yeah, you absolutely can.

The trees, by the way, so if you want to with the trees um you could you basically pick a direction and you can have total cover um otherwise the tree's only going to give you about half cover as you're trying to move around it but if you basically put yourself completely flat up against something then you'll basically be completely covered so is there a direction that you're particularly trying to avoid then you'll basically be completely covered. So is there a direction that you're particularly trying to avoid? That direction-ish? So north, east-ish?

Yeah. Sure, okay. Hopefully he's not to the southwest. Trying to judge the way that things hit Quill, I guess, and those guys, that's all. I think simplicity after the end of your turn. You can also initiate an order to a guardian if you'd like, but these guys are going to act afterwards.

No, I just want them to dodge. Yeah, they can just take the dodge action. All right, Nova Vija. Hello. Hello. I'm going to take a risk with something. Okay. I like risks.

This is going to be a risk because this could just be the wrong one. Give me a risk, because this could just be the wrong one. I would like to use my Rod of Alertness to cast Detect Poison and Disease. Okay. And Detect Poison and Disease. Read it out for the class. For the duration, you can sense the presence and location of poisons, poisonous creatures,

and diseases within 30 feet of you. I'm interrupting this shit. Read it properly. Within 30 feet, there is... Poisons, poisonous creatures, and diseases within 30 foot. Yep, there's one called Quill, and he's right next to you. Poison. I'm not looking at him.

I'm looking... Within 30 feet, you don't sense anything. Can I blunder a little bit? Ah. 30 feet. 30 feet, you don't sense anything. Can I blunder a little bit? 30 feet? 30 feet's not that far. But I feel like... It's pretty much like the circle of the undead. Yeah, it's pretty much like that.

Really? Well, it goes... It doesn't go beyond the trees. Like the first line of trees. First line of trees. Yeah, like that. So unless he's like here. Unless he's like in the front of the tree line, trees. First line of trees. Yeah, like that. So unless he's like here. Unless he's like in the front of the tree line,

you're not going to get him. Unless it. Can I blunder towards where I saw the shot come from? Just before you lost your vision? Yeah. I mean, it was, well, you think, you don't know where the shot came from. The tether could have been either from the north,

east or southwest, I think. Yeah, you can blunder towards one of those directions which one do you want to go north uh so if it came and hit us oh yeah oh that's a good point yeah well if i was one of the people getting hit by it would i have seen if i got hit last or first uh by the the tether you don't you don't know I've seen if I got hit last or first? By the tether? You don't know. It was like super quick.

It just like, it ripped through three of you in an instant. Second question. And you dodged it anyway. So you would have felt it. Am I allowed to be reminded about the rule on light with the packs from last week's battle? And what do you need a reminder for? Sounds like you know. Because there's another thing I can do. Okay.

I mean, it sounds like you know what the ruling on light is with the packs. Why don't you tell us what you think? I think it attracts more. I mean, that sounds quite reasonable, doesn't it? All right, Dad. What is the class thing? What is the class thing?

Do you think that that sounds right? Do you think that sounds right? I think that sounds right. Hmm. I mean, keep in mind, like, blundering forward, like you are blinded, it's very likely that, like, you might stumble into something or, like, deviate from the path. Which way were we traveling from when we came into this?

Same, let's go west to west or whatever. Yeah, sure. Whatever was the last time. Weased. It doesn't massively matter. Well, because it would be behind us. What do you mean? Chasing us. Does it? Would it? Might be.

Flank or sculpt the head a bit. Yep, through magical means. Good thing this man knows. It was tracking you. It doesn't mean it was necessarily behind you. I'm going to try and plunder what I think is towards the northeastern. Make an acrobatics check for me. Acrobatics. I'm holding a pile of dirt.

You can travel there! 19. 19. You managed to, like, so how far do you want to stumble? A pile of dirt with a twig in it. Go! Let's say as far as I can until I bump into that tree. Basically bump into a tree.

Yeah. Ow! And the range of it is poisonous creatures, diseases, or a thingy of 30 feet. Poisons, poisonous creatures, diseases, or thingy of 30 feet. Poisons, poisonous creatures, and diseases within 30 feet of me. You don't sense anything. For fuck's sake, that was a waste of time. Bonus action, I would like to manifest Tiangong next to me.

Yep. Okay. At the end of Nova Vida's turn, I'm just going to nudge the backpack. The backpack. The backpack and crack. At the end of Nova Vida's turn, I'm just going to nudge the back pack. The back pack. Back pack. The back pack and crack. Back pack. They're going to basically focus on trying to get many of them around.

I'm going to shout back to everyone as well, like, I don't think there's anything this way. How loud? Yeah, how loud? And how much light are you emitting? I'm not emitting any light. I would say that a shout, I mean they're not that far away, you don't have to shout it if you just say it most of the party will hear it without attracting any things. I don't think there's anything to shout.

If you do that nobody hears you. Alright, any commands to the guardians? I've got nothing, I've got problems of my own mate. Sentry? I'm going to bonus action call Starbreaker and then action Gibby. Oh! Gibby. Starbreaker, that's going to do it.

Yep. It did go through a ton of them last time as well. Yeah, that's the trade-off. Just make the noise it makes when you summon it. First strike. Starbreaker! And it lights up in green light and everything else. There's music and everything.

There's the theme music. So bonus action to summon Starbreaker? Yeah. And then I'd like like you turned on the lights. All right, so bonus action, Starbreaker? Yeah. All right. And then I'd like to enlarge as an action. All right, I'm sad I still do not have a large sentry, but yes. If I do that, does that push back some of the horde? Sure. Yeah, let's say it does.

So I've got a physical barrier. It could also push me back, right? No, sentry would purposely not push you. It will do. I'm dead. Just a heads up, Detect Poison and Disease is concentration for up to 10 minutes, so if it does come within 30 feet of me,

I will start seeing it. As long as you concentrate on it. Yeah, it's concentration, so. Mm-hmm. I will roll. Sentry. I think that's me, bonus action, action. I'm gonna stay there and protect Quill and Lucius, and yeah, just hold that's me. Bonus action. I'm going to stay there and protect Quill and Lucius.

Yeah, just hold that middle position. Alrighty. The other crew. At the start of your turn, Cintri, you would have taken... One, two, three, four, five, six. Times six, 36 minus your AC. 36 minus 20... 16. There you go. 16 slashing damage. Quill?

I'm gonna use my turn on dead thing again. All right. I need to eliminate this horde and identify. Can you just do... Just put them at the back edge and then you... I mean, I don't know if I can get all of them. You can't get, like, obviously these ones back here. Helms, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. I can get all of them. You can't get like obviously these ones back here.

You probably get those ones. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. You can get all of these three. Yeah, I'm pretty sure you get all of them. The pack that just arrived from Starbreaker. Yeah, the ones surrounding us. That's okay. Yeah, I just have to get rid of the horde. And that is a full action to do. So what would it be to spot or try and identify where this guy is? Is that a full action? do so what would it be to? Sport or try and identify where this guy is that full action this action bonus action

It's easier with a full action, but you can attempt a quick Quick kind of spot with a bonus action Sure, yeah, I want to I want to spot this boy So is that just a perception perception check okay, you can see right you're not blinded or anything You do have disadvantage because it is dark beyond 60 feet. Okay. Is it 19? No idea.

You're just looking around. I mean, you saw in your vision how well camouflaged this thing was. Looking around with the black and white vision of dark vision as well, yeah, like you just can't see, there's no movement. Okay. There's like nothing. All right, okay. Yeah, that's, I mean, I think I would-

You're still tethered to a body. Oh yeah. You are. Is there anything I can do about, how does that actually affect me? Am I like? Right now, it doesn't seem to be doing anything, except the fact that you would basically be dragging a creature so your movement's halved.

Okay. The tether itself, this kind of gut string, it does look like there's something unusual about it, but it looks like it could be damaged. It looks like it could be attacked to break it. Does it stretch into the forest break it does it stretch into the forest no it literally like attaches the two creatures together yeah but like it's probably gone through like part of your like your side and then into uh help the

tinker's body now great cool uh yeah that's my that's my turn. Action bonus action. I don't think I'll do any movement. Yeah. All right. That's me. Lucius. Lucius is going to make a broken circle wall of ice surrounding basically the entire rear of us,

but leaving a gap kind of in the direction of Nova and Ayla so they can get inside. This is to mitigate attacks from all other angles, basically. I am going to place these down because I have them and it's going to help me visualize. 10, 10 foot blah blahs, which is what they are. I don't know if I've got 10 feet, 10 of them,

but I've got enough that I can. So if I understand correctly, you'll basically look... Just an opening in the northeast. Yeah. Well, imagine that that's... It kind of closes in a bit. Nice. Oh, so...

I've only got six of them. Ayla's slightly out of it. I think if they are, like, in that corner, I think Ayla might slightly be out of it. Well, if any get shot, we'll know where it is. So, with plunging your hands into the air or in some gesture this colossal kind of wall of ice is about 10 feet high and certain feet thick right indeed all right cool 10p yeah and there's a couple more but i just don't have enough of the

little blocks to put them down um cool anything else lucius um i'm just gonna say to everyone keep a lookout. I just got hit by something. I don't know where it's come from. Can I have quickened that spell with two sorcery points? You absolutely can, but can I also...

So Quills, you've taken a turn, haven't you? Yes. Century took a turn, I think. When you guys started your turn, haven't you? Yes. Sentry took a turn, I think. When you guys started your turn, that area of difficult terrain of all the fungus and mould and things like that begins spewing spores. All of you who can be, you are poisoned condition. Okay.

I don't think you can be, Sentry. I think you're immune. Is that just out? Not affecting you. Yeah, it won't be affecting you. It's just out. 5, 10, 15, 20. Yeah, you're just out of it, Ayla.

Okay. So is Nova now. I'm blind. Yeah. You just walked into a tree. Ow. So it basically gives you disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks and stuff.

And you are poisoned as long as you remain in that area. Okay. That circle of ice is probably bigger, actually, if it was 10, 10 foot. Yeah, it's like three more. Yeah, I just don't have enough to do it. I've said that three times. It's just closed in more.

Okay. Yeah. I've said it three times, so I didn't have enough things to do. No, no, I know that. I'm just saying I didn't know if it was going to be wider or... Oh, you mean further away from you guys? Yeah. No, no, I want it just a small open gap.

So that these guys can come in. And then, like, with a couple more distance where you would have had, you'd have that, basically, right? We know what it's there doing. It's, you know, it's a visual representation. Yes. I'm going to, with my action, use my sword to try and cut the tendril between Tinker.

Yeah, sure, go for it. Can you just make a attack roll then, please? Is it a magic sword? It's a longsword? I don't think so, is it? Captain's command. It is a longsword. Okay, so it's slashing damage.

Five. Plus, um, doesn't actually show. Probably because you should not set it up, because you never use it. It'll be your strength plus your proficiency. Your proficiency is six, so we know that it's going to be a plus six minimum plus your strength.

Yeah. Plus it's like God modified. I will say that hits. Roll damage. D8 plus your strength mod plus one, I think. Three plus five, six. Six points of damage. You cut and like several of the strands

snap and pop and things like that, but it's coiled around quite tightly and it's quite thick. You've dealt damage to it, did seem to cut through it, but not enough to fully sever it. Okay, cool. Not too bad. That's it.

End of turn. Yep. Okay. That's it. End of turn. Yep. Hmm. I might encourage, actually, Protector to protect Nova. He would have to move up next to her, but you can do that. You can tell him to go run up next to Nova. Alright. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25.

Gets next to Nova. And Nova, you have plus, I think it's plus four to your AC in saving throws until the end of your next turn. As he will move up next to you. At the top of the round. Who's he going to shoot? He's going to ricochet all around the walls. He's going to hit everybody. All dead.

Crookishy. Crookishy. Crookishy. Crookishy. Crookishy. Crookishy. Crookishy. Crookishy.

Crookishy. Crookishy. Crookishy. Crookishy. Crookishy. Crookishy. Crookishy. Crook the bullet. Thanks, Samuel L. Jackson. That makes no sense. Nova VG, you are currently blinded.

31 to hit. I think that might tickle me a little bit, yes? Tickle? He's hitting Nova. Can I sense which turn? It could still be from, like, anywhere around here still. Yeah. Or that side. Well, Tiangong could tell me.

They're my eyes. Well, Protector would... Protector tries to and just can't. The shot comes in. Yeah, it's 19 plus 4. I'll give you some information. Give me a second. Actually, that was 31 to hit, yeah?

31 to hit. 7 points of piercing damage, 10 points of poison damage, which ignores any resistance. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I can't get it. There we go. Okay.

And the area around Nova, again, that 20-foot, like, just begins to create fungus and mold. The area around the rest of you fades away as if, like, it suddenly decomposes. And you do see, again, coming from the direction you are traveling in, but further deep into the woods,

like really far back from the tree line, an arrow flies out, strikes into you, and it creates this infectious zone around you and deals the damage. There's gonna be two more attacks. So he's off to the east. So he's that way. He's northeast.

Potentially. Oh, the direction Nova was travelling. Yeah. Okay. That way. Direction Nova was going towards. That's a natural 20, I'm afraid, over. Oh!

You're dead. Wow! You're dead as hell. Wow! 28 piercing plus 23 poison. I can't remember what that is. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. plus 23 poison. I can't remember what I just said. 28 plus 51. As it catches you,

and again, some of it poison damage, you are already diseased, so I can't... I'm pretty gross, yeah. And then Ayla, you actually have, because you were using full cover against this, so an arrow just kind of sails past you. And then, yeah, some other stuff. That thing is over there, guys. That way.

She's surrounded by mushrooms and horrible stuff. Mm-hmm. Ayla. Oh, crap. Okay. Ayla? Oh, crap. Okay. Can I... Oh, I better do my concentration checks. Oh, I will just... These guys run up to the ice wall,

and they start just wailing. Okay. We just see hands, like, smashing against it. We'll say that, like, after, like, two, three rounds, they'll probably destroy because i know the walls have hit points and like i think by the time like it'll take about two thirty hit points yeah so i will say that like it takes like two rounds because they're attacking different parts of it and stuff but with 51 points of damage yes would 21 not so i can no longer detect the

concentration goes you kind of get caught you, probably along the throat is this infectious arrow, sails past, and you lose that sense of where it is. Ayla. Can I go 45 feet towards where that came from? Yeah. Make a perception check for me. 14. You basically get deep into the woods.

I'm just going to move you here. We know that you're about 45 into the tree line. Can I shelter myself at a tree again? Trying to strategically gain on this person and find out where they are. Sure. And do I see anything? With your perception check,

you did not see anything. You can make another one if you'd like to use your action or bonus action. Yeah. Fuck it. Yeah. You basically, like,

you guys are at this point like desperately trying to find this thing. Same roll. Same fucking roll. Take a closer look at the tree you're hiding behind. There it is.

It is the tree. He is the tree. They are the tree. Yeah. No, okay. I guess I'm just going to take cover. Sure. Pin yourself up against the tree, He is the tree. They are the tree. Yeah. No, okay, I guess I'm just gonna take cover. Sure.

Pin yourself up against the tree, like trying to desperately see which way this direction's going. You and Nova are like, Nova's just on the edge of it, but you're now deeper in the tree line, like actually quite far deep in, and this place is a whole tangled mess.

It's a whole thing. Hmm. Nova, Vija. I wanna do something really stupid. That's the perfect time for itija I want to do something really stupid that's the perfect time for it you tried to do something for a long time so I can't see right now

but Tiangong can see right yes technically so I feel like Tiangong would be telling me what Ayla's doing and stuff like that and yeah

yeah you share like a mental link I want to cast because you can use your echo to see through Tiangong's voice and stuff as well. I want to cast... Okay, here's my thought. It may not be a great thought.

I want to cast reverse gravity where I think that thing is, and it has a 50-foot radius. 50-foot radius? But I want Tiangong to guide me where to point. And it doesn't say I have to see it. It's just within range. A point within range. Yeah, and to point. And it doesn't say, I have to see it. It's just within range. A point within range. Yeah.

And the range is 100 foot. Yeah. Do you want Tiangong to exclude Ayla? Yes. All right. Yeah, so not hit Ayla, but like a 50 foot radius where I think. Where you think. 50 foot radius.

The pulse on the gemstone glows. Ayla, you watch branches and things in front of you all lift into the air. You also see that five feet in front of you, dozens of caltrops. Oh, shit. Fly up into the air. You don't see a creature, though.

I should have just hit you, Ayla. I sent those two up the last time. No, I mean, like, Ayla... They're not beside me. It is not within a 50-foot radius in front of you. But that's where Nova and you thought that those attacks came from. Either they've repositioned or they weren't actually there. I hate this thing so much. It's so annoying, yeah.

Yeah, it's frustrating. That's my last three charges on the grabby blah. I love my grab. I don't even have it right now. Bonus action. Can I... Oh, this thing's gonna poison me, isn't it? You are currently poisoned

because you started your turn there anyway. Can I ask Tiangong to move back 30 foot towards the gang and bonus action teleport swap? Yep. So you're basically in the middle of the gang. Yeah. Yep. Leaving poor Protector on his own.

It's fine, bye. Yep, bye-bye. All right, done. Nova, sentry. I'm probably gonna move 30 feet out towards the edge of the perimeter of the ice. So the entrance, by the way, is not here. It's like actually here. So I'll move towards the edge of the perimeter.

Basically where Tiangon just came from. Yeah. I think I'm just going to keep an overwatch on that area there. Okay, so like here? Yeah, just to keep an eye out for now. Do you want to make a perception check? You might as well. It's an action or bonus action to do.

Action, it's a bit easier. I'm super gross by the way. Good thing I have persistent reach. Super gross. It only ends if I wanted to. You or Nova? Oh, both of us. OK.

12. On perception? Oh wait, no, 2. 21. 21. You're looking around. I can? Perception. Oh wait, no, 2. 21. 21. You're looking around. Can't see it.

Oh my god. I mean, it's incredibly well camouflaged, if it is there. It's very fiery. I'll bonus action regain a level 3 spell stone with Panties of Mindpower. They're not visible, they're just really well camouflaged. Quill. I'm going to pull the Wayfinder's Guide out. Oh, here we go.

Here we go. Here we go. And with four charges, I'm going to describe the creature, a wild elf covered in sod. Did see them. You're the only one who has seen them so far. Locate creature. Oh!

Ba-da-ba-ba-ba-ba! All right, read the spell out. Let's find out what it does. I sense the direction to the creature's location as long as that creature is within 1,000 feet. It's within 1,000 feet. If the creature is moving, I know the direction of its movement. Okay.

The spell can locate a specific creature known to me or the nearest creature of a specific kind. I mean, I'm... I'd say you are familiar enough with it. Describing it more than just a world. And you have a name for it. You call it the stalker, but you also know that it's... You just find me. Hi.

Connected with... Yeah, so long as you've seen the creature up close... Which you have. If it's in a different form, such as polymorph, the spell doesn't locate it. Okay. But you don't know the exact location. It just says the direction, or does it say the direction to it?

I sense the direction to the creature's location, and I know the direction of its movement. I have a GPS radar ping. So what I would say with that then is, and because this is all happening within six seconds, right? As Nova was conjuring the reverse gravity, and as the arrows were flying towards it, remember all this stuff is kind of happening at once,

not in a JRPG sequence. As you cast the spell, you get this faint flicker of movement as it clearly ran along, like to the side. As it shot, after it shot Nova, it ran towards the west. Yeah, it's northwest, kind of like along the tree line. So it went past me.

Yes, it did. Yeah, that's why I had you make the the tree line. So it went past me? Yes, it did. Yeah, that's why I had you make the perception check, and you didn't unfortunately spot it. It ran past, and you now sense that it is somewhere within this direction. You know it is in this direction over here. Yeah, I mean, I will yell to... I mean... I'm pretty far away now.

You are very far away. But you guys know you could... I mean... I'm pretty far away now. You are very far away. But you guys know you could... I mean, I can't go ahead because there's a giant column of reverse gravity. And Nova also cannot see me, but I mean, if... I'm next to you. You are?

I teleported. But she is blinded. I mean, if Tiangong is looking this way, and yeah, I'm obviously gonna... That way, this direction. Like, I guess my book is... Radar ping to the northwest, basically. My book is almost like a divining rod at this direction. Radar ping to the northwest. My book is almost like a divining rod at this point.

Divening. Divening? Isn't it divining? Divening. Can I cast it? So that was an action, but using a charge on my book. Can I use a spell slot? You can, yeah.

Okay. I will... You didn't technically cast a spell. The Wayfinder's going to do it. Maybe that's wrong, but that's how I'm going to rule it for now. Check it later. you can yeah yeah okay yeah i will you didn't technically cast a spell uh the wayfinders code did maybe that's wrong but that's how i'm gonna rule it for now check it later i will third level healing word all right divine so 3d8 i'm getting healed healing words d4s. 3d4, sorry. That's right. 12 healing. And also, if the blindness thing is a spell.

Does it specifically say a spell? It ends a spell? Because wasn't it a disease? Oh, yeah, of course. That's okay. It's spellbreaker, so no. So, unfortunately, the blindness remains. 12 healing.

It's something. 12 healing. Thank you. All right. That's my turn. Okay. It's going tobreaker, so no. No. So unfortunately, the Blindness remains. 12 healing. It's something. 12 healing. Thank you. All right. And that's my turn. OK. It's going to be Lucius. Lucius is the last technically in the initiative order.

Don't forget you've got the Guardians with you as well. Quill is still attached. I also just, not that I'm implying it, but if you do want to try and run away because you can't find this thing, you can try that. It just costs you basically an exhaustion to flee the battle and that will basically mean that it has to track you again but obviously it might be easier now that it's found you once but Lucius I'm gonna use my storm call as chain okay to

summon a big old cloud the sky not that you can really see it above the canopy of the the dense, but the sky fills with clouds. 60 foot radius. Okay. So I'm going to cover it. And remember that the lightning strikes a five foot point though. Yeah.

And everything around it. So what I'm going to first do initially is five foot strike the middle of this group. Yeah. I mean, it would kill, if you get five feet, that would hit three of them. Yeah. I'm just going to destroy them. They die. 3d10 lightning. Yeah, they die.

It's a dex save. Okay. They fail it, because they're minions. Yeah, I think you're gonna be hard-pressed to fail that. To not roll 17 lightning. Lightning slams down, incinerating three of the minions. Uh, that's my action. It's not thunder, so it technically doesn't make noise. It's just a bolt of lightning.

It's just lightning, but... No, it doesn't say, I don't think. I don't think it says cool lightning, but it creates thunder. No, it doesn't. It's just bad weather. It's just lightning. If it's thunder, it'll use a flash. It's a flash of light, so it's not enough to draw attention.

Didn't consider that, did you? You didn't. But, hey, Chris Trotlock plays out. Yeah. I have so much else i can do um i'm gonna tuck in you can always make if you want to move up to the edge you can make a perception check because like quill knows the direction but he hasn't seen the thing yeah i'll peek around where century is and have a perception check head blown off headshot perception check

Headshot. Except to check. And no, it's not going to be nine plus seven. Very good at hiding. All right. 16. I can't see it. All right. I duck back into the circle of ice.

I assume because I killed them, they didn't destroy the walls. Yeah, the two of them, it's going to take them like four rounds. It's going to take them longer. It's going to take them a long time. And they're just like scrab them, it's gonna take them like four rounds. Yeah, it's gonna take them longer. It's gonna take them a long time. And they're just like, scrabbling at it. They're just like. Everyone stay within the walls. At least your backs won't get hit.

You say that out loud? I say it to the people around me. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Interesting. I don't shout it, but. You say it. Probably at the top of their own again. I say it.

Oh. From Tinker's mouth you hear a voice not tinker's voice oh no the mold and the fungus that spread from the disease as it was impaled by the sinew as it was poisoned uh as the fungus has grown around it. I'm afraid that I must keep you here a little longer. Can't have you interfering with the lady's plans. As three shots, I mean, they're going to hit the ice wall, and they basically shatter the back ice wall. Well, the back here. Where these minions are.

Oh, those are. Somewhere in the same region. Not exactly precise location, you don't know, but somewhere within that range. Don't go through that. It's very frigid air and will hurt you. Oh, yeah, good point. Creepy mouth, which isn't moving.

It's a guardian. So it's not even, its mouth isn't moving, but a voice is emanating from its body. Oh, creepy. I love it. It's connected to Quill still. Brilliant. Ayla?

We should probably call it.'s five past oh yeah oh we don't go to nine I was like man we still got an hour left that's crazy oh man uh yeah well in that case I think that at the top of that round that's a good point to uh to stop it for some reason I had my head that we stop at nine why we've We've never done that. So we've been six years. I know. What is wrong with me today? Okay, so he's trying to delay us. He's trying to hold us in place. Can I have a dice back? Yeah.

We have to fight this guy, right? Yeah, we have to. Wow. He's just going to follow us. Well, I mean, if you can't find them, how are you going to fight them? That one. The blue one is mine. I could have a better idea at least, no?

The voice was distorted, by the way. You couldn't tell. It wasn't Tinker's voice, but it. No? The voice was distorted, by the way. You couldn't tell. It wasn't Tinker's voice, but it was a distorted voice where you don't know the gender. Yeah, okay. One, two, three, four, five, six. That's it.

All right. Even though it's my voice, obviously. All right. Well, thank you very much, everybody. We will see you next time. Thanks for joining us. More High Rollers very soon. Bye, everyone!

Bye!