High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #153 | Assault on Nightbloom Hold (Part 2)

Episode Date: July 14, 2022

With a plan in place the Stormchasers charge forward and assault Nightbloom Hold! Time for 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

Bumble knows it's hard to start conversations. Hey, no, too basic. Hi there. Still no. What about hello, handsome? Who knew you could give yourself the ick? That's why Bumble is changing how you start conversations. You can now make the first move or not. With

opening moves, you simply choose a question to be automatically sent to your matches. Then sit back and let your of High Rollers. The party have arrived at Nightbloom Hold. And they now face a challenge. Having seen the vast amounts of forces before them with plans made with their companions on their skyship, on their airship, and with their companions here on the ground, they have done their best to formulate a plan. A highly defended fortress surrounded by a moat and high walls with dozens, nearly over a hundred undead in the premises potentially that may assault them on their way in, but

also unknown forces within the keep itself where the Order of the Blackened Rose and the Grief Knights, the Knight Commanders that Calara has personally invested in power, stand ready to protect the fortress against the party who are hoping to make their way inside to then reach Calara's demiplane. The party have decided to try and sneak as close as they can to the keep, then use magic to get inside, and then they're gonna see how it goes from there.

Hopefully, buying time for hotshot one of the Guardians with them to do something to destroy the Rothaar the great tree that grows out of the keep and seems to be empowering much of the undead in the area and that is where we're gonna jump back in so now that you recount it it doesn't sound like the solid plan that I thought we had in our head. That's just, that's you inferring my tone. By all means, I'm just relaying the facts of the situation. You gotta swim across a moat first. Well, maybe, I mean, like, it's 25 foot across,

like, you can definitely do some jumps and stuff. Was that a mysterious voice? No. No? Oh, God, I thought I was losing it. I thought I heard Sam, like, trying to tell something. Anyway, so, Rhiannon. What? The heat's getting to him.

He's going. Okay. What? What's the issue? No, you're cool. Carry on. Yeah, all right. I don't like it when he makes weird faces like that.

Like, he's judging me. It's just his resting bitch face. Yeah. I don't like it. That's just Tom. Rhiannon, you wanted to... just tom um rihanna you wanted to central you wanted to summon alnissix yep uh and you can do that now and leave them here at the outcropping looking down on the valley yeah what's the range on is it like a range the telepathic

communication um let's see let's just check these things before you know it's within a mile of me all right that's fine you can pretty much get to anywhere in the keep and you're you're that's well within range okay so you are planning to sneak down here I don't like that tone yeah shade will come with shade is gonna come with you because otherwise they're gonna sit around doing nothing yeah hotshot technically won't be with you because hotshots gonna be doing their own thing oh they're not coming with us through the pass? Yeah, I mean, no. They need to make their own entry point,

otherwise this whole thing is kind of pointless because the whole point is that you're drawing attention away from Hotshot so they can sneak in. So they're going to go a different route. So that means it is the five of you, because we do have to include Ayla, who is here, plus Max, plus Shade. Shade, normally the guardians don't count, actually,

for stealth checks, so it's just going to be six of you. Okay. Are you taking any steps to try and do anything to help yourselves, or are we just going to go straight into rolling stealths? What's the fucking point? No one has passed without a trace. It's not invisibility, but I've only got two slots, so... Shade can't cast it, no, no, no.

Someone did it once. It was Wayfinder, who you sent away. Straight stealth. Gave them an NPC who could cast Pass Without a Trace? Nah, don't worry about it. You're helping all the guardians go, it's fine. Yeah. That is very selfless of you.

So, yeah, this is just stealth checks from everybody, please. And this is a group check, so half of you need to succeed. At least half. Woo! Yeah! Let's see how Ayla does. I don't need to roll max, do I? Ayla has advantage as well.

She has advantage, hell yeah. It doesn't matter because I'm pretty sure four failures don't overcome one success. Well. Rhiannon, what did you roll? Three. Three, Tristan? Yeah. Lovely.

Quill? Four. Four? Okay, I'm a bit better. I rolled 12. 12? Sounding not good enough. That's a 12 from me too.

High five! 12, buddies. Hala got a too. High five! 12 buddies. Ayla got a 24. Ayla got a 24. Oh, I don't actually have dice because I... What's the point? What's the point? Well, I'm going to roll it for Max, you know.

You never know. Well... With disadvantage because he does wear heavy armor. Got one success. Oh, that's a... That'll be a total of eight for Max. Woo! Lovely. Honk. What's that over there? total of eight for Max. Woo! Lovely.

Thonk. What's that over there? Thonk, thonk, thonk. Squawk. The second, it is minutes after you enter the sort of surrounding gardens and mortuaries that lead up to the keep. You attempt to move from sort of cover to cover

using the stone walls, short stone walls, and mausoleums and stone statues to kind of hide yourselves as you go. But it does not take long before I imagine a triple whammy of Max, Quill, and Sentry bumble into, there is no better phrase for all the low rolls, a pack of Hive Undead.

And that is going to be, they weren't expecting you, so it's not a surprise round, but it is just going to be a straight up initiative. I have to go into, I had a different encounter ready to go, so do just give me a second here. Sick. A better one. I love getting that 20. This one.

Oh, are you kidding? On initiative. She always does. It's always the way. Do you remember the backlash we got from Digital Dice? Yeah. And how badly they rolled. Oh, they never roll badly for me.

I rolled like 4, no of 20 in a row. I want to know how many, I'm not looking at it, how many chat comments have said, go back to digital, because, yeah, hypocritical if you're not. I'd like chat to know that I roll with advantage in an initiative.

I rolled a 17 and a natural one. There you go. Still there. That's all right. All right, so Lucius, initiative. Six. Six total. Quill. 13. 13. Can you roll a-. All right, so Lucius, initiative. Six. Six total. Quill?

13. 13. Can you roll a-list now for me, Quill? 24. 24. With advantage, because she does have advantage. Nice. Century? 10. 10.

And Nova Vija? A natural 20. A natural 20. I will just have Max go. Let's just say, like, for the ease of initiative, at the end of one of your turns you can basically say max go and he'll just go then because I forgot to put, I didn't put him in

this encounter so I've just got to manually do his stats but also it's yeah, it's flexible initiative but also yeah, it's just going to be easier. If he doesn't act then I'll just have him go at the very end of the round basically. Okay. This is, we're not going to have a map for this.

This is literally out in the sort of mausoleum gardens. In terms of useful terrain, if you guys want to just have like terrain features that you might want to use, yeah, there are a couple of like mausoleums. They're maybe like 10, 12 feet high. There are stone fences and there are statues. But in this kind of environment,

there's really not many places for you to hide or get cover from the undead, because these hive minions, you've seen them before, they'll just swarm forward and just try and wrap around you. So rather than me trying to do a map, I'm just gonna run this purely in the mind. How many are swarming us?

Right, so this is the next question. To get anywhere in the path that you took, you were going to encounter a minimum of three of these packs plus one dead root. So it's currently three packs plus one of the giant plant creatures. Same rules when we fought these guys before. If you make noises and stuff like that, like... In fact, actually, no.

I would say at this point, encountering them here, like, loud noises and light isn't going to draw more. More of them are just going to turn up every turn. I mean, we can see them in the distance, right? And they all just sort of turn and they begin making their way towards it. But you do know at least here, there does appear to be a set number of them. There is just a lot.

There are 12 packs in total in this area. You're going to fight three and then more will show up each round unless you choose to try and flee. If you try and flee, they'll probably pursue you. So you need to figure out how you get around that. So we start with Ayla. Oh, I mean, yeah, I guess Ayla will... Just assume that she has an unlimited number of them to just run into and just keep hitting and swinging.

Yeah, just as many as she can encounter in one swing, I suppose. Mm-hmm. Recklessly. Because it doesn't really have an impact against these things. Oh, actually, it's the big root thing here. The dead root is here as well. Yeah, there is a dead root, which is just the side. God, I can't remember how that thing fights. The dead root is here as well. Yeah, there is a dead root which is just the side. God, I can't remember how that thing fights. It absorbs.

It absorbs radiant damage and sort of clerical abilities. It can do a lot of poison damage if it hits you with tendrils. That's the main things that you saw it do last time. It also is supposed to enhance all the undead around it

but Mark keeps forgetting about that so I'm going to try not to. Okay. I think she'll face that down instead then. With rage. But recklessly. Okay, bonus action rage,

charge into the dead root, start whacking. Yeah, double whacking on the dead root, which is a 30 to hit. 30 hits, yep, nice. Remind me what's her damage? 200. Yeah, she does 200 damage. Let me get her stats up.

So when she's raging, I know that she adds more. So it is... I'll bring the stats up for you now. 200 hits. Yeah, so it's... So the Howling Tempest, it's a d8 plus 9, but when she's raging, I believe that she adds another 4 to that. So it's actually D8 plus 13. First star, so D10.

Yeah, that's true. It's D10, actually, because she uses it two-handed. And then it's another D6 of lightning damage on top. Cool. So, ba-ba-bam. Just give me the whole damage. This thing doesn't have that much. 13, 20. 20 points of damage total.

First hit. First hit. Second hit is 30 again. Hits. And 5 plus 13, so 18 damage that time. 18 points of damage. I'm just going to say it fails its deck save. It's got a minus 1.

I can't be bothered rolling. There's going to be so much going on in its combat. It just takes the full amount. This thing's a big slow-moving ball of plant and bones. It can really dodge things. It takes nine lightning damage. Another nine lightning points. That's a lot of damage.

Great. In fact, actually, I'm going to add another four to that because it adds her con mod as well. Ooh. I keep forgetting about that item. Cool. So Aayla comes in. Two big swings on the dead root. The lightning from her aura mod as well. Ooh. I keep forgetting about that item. Cool. So Aayla comes in. Two big swings on the dead root.

The lightning from her aura blasts it. Definitely has taken damage. Parts of its body, parts of its vine-like construction break away, but there's still plenty of writhing plant-like mass there. Nice. And it just kind of resumes and brings everything up. Aayla's turn done. That's Aayla.

At the end of Aayla's turn, a bunch of minions are brings everything up. Ayla's turn done. That's Ayla. At the end of Ayla's turn, a bunch of minions are going to activate. Just to make it easier, they're going to swarm Ayla. They're just going to, six of them are going to surround Ayla, and that's going to be their turn. Okay. Nova Vigia. Bonus action, I'm going to summon Tiangong.

We're both going to step up to the dead root as well. And I'm going to start carving into it. Rip and tear. You're going to tie it like N, V, 4, S, V. Excuse me. Harp around it. No, T. Dahlia. You know, my actual girlfriend. What's her last name? Whisper around. No. T. Thalia.

You know, my actual girlfriend. What's her last name? Whisperwing. Okay. It sounded like you were just like, it's Thalia. Continue. I'm just going to hit the thing. Which thing?

The death root. Are you moving up to melee? Sorry. Yeah, I'm moving up to it and Tiangong as well. Okay. So that is 12 plus 13 is 25. Yeah. Eight, nine, 15.

I'm going to keep a rough map of this going. 19 points of damage. 19 points of damage. First slice cuts through. Yeah, kill it dead. 17 to hit. 17. We'll actually miss this thing.

It kind of bites into its thick plant-like hide, but doesn't quite, or like catches on pieces of bone wedged in between the vines. 29 to hit. Our hit. 19 points of damage again. 19 more points of damage. Two blade cut through.

Yeah, definitely weakening this thing, like cutting it at paces, but it is very tough, very durable, lots of parts to it. I would say it's not even at half of its capacity. Good God. Yep. Anything else, Snobo? That's all I got. All right. That was when you moved. The second minion pack to activate. There is currently three. Pack to eight.

Pack to eight is basically going to surround Nova at this point as well. Cute. So they're just going to swarm around to the dead root itself. And that is what they're going to do. So we move to Quill. Oh, God, I was not... I didn't think I'd be so soon. It's Quill, then Sentry, then the Deadroot, then Lucius.

That's the Deadroot is faster than me. It's pretty, yeah. And it's all Matt quite slow. And then the Minions don't forget, activate in between, like, after one of your turns, kind of like a legendary action. Okay. Willy boy.

I will just Sacred Flame this Deadroot. Okay. So it makes a dex save, which it fails. Yeah, I'm just going to fuck with it. Yeah, sure. I mean, it's got a minus one, I don't think. And like your DC's what, like? A million.

It says here it's a million, yeah. Sure. Sacred Flame 4d8. Oh! Okay. 6, 12 a million, yeah. Sure. Sacred Flame, 4d8. Oh! Okay, 6, 12, 13, 16, plus 6, 22. 22 points of radiant damage. Oopsie! Yeah, that's radiant damage.

I mean, it does damage it. Okay, good. It does damage it, but you see as the radiant energy of the spell hits the creature, the various plants and buds that haven't bloomed yet begin to glow. Yeah, that's a big whoopsie. I completely forgot about the radiant thing. You know the thing you mentioned not five minutes ago? Yeah, quite recently. I will Shield of Faith myself as well.

I did Absorb Radiant, Tom does not. So you Shield of Faith yourself, and that was Plains, so I'm assuming you're staying, like, what, 30 feet away from the Deadroot? Yeah, because all the minions are currently swarmed around the Deadroot and Aayla and everyone. In his kneecap. The last pack of minions will swarm Quill, who is about 30 feet away.

You deserve that. Yep, they just saw you attack the Deadroot, so they just want you. Sentry. I'm going to move up to Quill and start attacking the pack that have closed in on them. They're very hot. It is very hot. It's very sticky. It's draining.

Apologies for any visual artifacting the PC is on. 13 will hit them, yeah. Cool. Alright, I'll go for a standard weapon attack. So no smite yet? No, not yet. Okay. So 1d12 plus 7 and then 1d8. But they're undead so it's 2. It is 2, yeah, you get the extra free one. Ooh! 22 damage for the first attack.

22 points of damage will kill one and then it will leave the next one on 5 less. So basically you get 5 towards that one. I'll swing around and go for the next one. Five plus 13. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know these are the same ones you fought before. 18 at the second. 18 hits.

Same again. I think the stalker's here. 16, 17. Oh, is this my blue hole? No, he's making a face, he's thinking about it. Thinking about it. Sorry, what was that? 23.

23, so plus the five, that'll go to 28. So basically, ah, that's 17. You need to shut up. Minus 11 to the next one. What if I dart it? What if I dart it? So you destroy, like, one of, like, the first one you destroy,

and you injure the, like, next one next to Quill with a second stab of Starbreaker. It rips through another one, and then badly damages another one. Still standing, but yeah, heavily damaged damaged the third one as it is. Nice. Stay still, Quill. Stay still, Quill.

All right, end of turn? Love you. All right. The Deadroot. Yeah, in fact, those were all too far away to benefit from it. Oh, I wish you dealt just a little bit more radiant damage. This one will, with Aayla and nova around it it will basically make lashing uh it'll make two attacks one against ayla one against nova um

that is a 28 to hit nova just a little bit yeah and a 24 to hit ayla oh that does yeah so you're both gonna take do do do do do uh i just going to do the same damage roll for both. 14 poison damage. And can you make con saves, please? Con saves? 19. Do you need me to do Ayla's hit point? Natural 20.

That's a 31. 19. 19 is just enough. As the tendril hits you, you feel that kind of Icarus black fluid that was around it try and get into your system, but you manage to shrug off any of its effects, feeling yourself momentarily

nauseous. It can't really move. It's surrounded by Nova and Aayla, so it's just going to stay where it is. You see pulse. All the undead hive currently around Aayla and Nova are definitely moving a little bit quicker. They seem a little bit tougher. Everything else, Lucius, Varian, Elluin, Elinasto.

I would like to, now, we all know Mark is the best DM. He's so good. And he's just so giving when it comes to like, we don't know the rules fully. Now, a cantrip is a cantrip, right? A cantrip, a cantrip, my god. Yeah, a cantrip is a cantrip, right? A cantrip, a cantrip, my god. Yeah, a cantrip is a cantrip.

Just to clear that up. Holy shit, so wise. It doesn't require a spell slot. Six years. So if I quickened it, it costs one. Oh, it says if it doesn't have a spell slot, it costs one minimum. So if I quickened it to a bonus action,

Yes? will you allow me, as it's just a throwaway cantrip, to do it twice? That would... Yeah, that would obey the rules, yeah. By raw, I think that allows you to do it... Yeah, because it's casting a spell... The only other spell you can cast,

if you cast a spell as a bonus action, the only other spell you can cast that turn is a cantrip. That would apply. But if you make a cantrip cost a bonus action? Yeah. I'm not going to be like, I actually think it's... I think it's two sorcery.

I checked it. It's two sorcery points. For Quicken spell, yeah. So it's two sorcery points to cantrip, and then you would cast a cantrip. For the benefit of two cantrips. Yeah, yeah. I think, yeah, that's fine.

Sick. I would like to cast Acid Splash cantrip, targeting two creatures, so that's a dex save. Nova and Aayla. Which creatures? I'm going to target the beefed-up horde surrounding the Deathroot. Okay, so you're going to target the horde surrounding the Deathroot.

Two of those that are within five feet of each other. Okay, yeah. Would you like two near Nova or to knit a look near Nova all right because she's squishing will they fail they fail saving throws their minions so they fell saving throws automatic excellent so that's 46 against them I'll roll it on here 14 points of 14 points. Acid damage. Whatever the dead root is doing absorbs a chunk of that and only, yeah, they take little damage from the remaining splash of acid as it kind of. The death root seems to be absorbing some of that damage.

Yep. I will tell you now that they were given temporary hit points. I won't tell you how much, but they had temporary hit points. Am I within 30 feet of the death root? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. If not, I will move up to be within that. I will Dicromancy my Acid.

Can't, it's a cantrip. I can't, it's a cantrip. But you did say you wanted to cast another cantrip. Yeah. That was your whole plan this turn. So what's your other cantrip? My other cantrip will be the same Acid Splash, not targeting beefed up undead.

A different group. The only other group is the ones next to Quill and Sentry. Those ones do not appear to be influenced by the dead route currently. I will attack two of those within five feet of range of each other. Is that cantrip also a cantrip? That is a cantrip. There is one which is heavily injured by Sentry, or there are three fresh ones. I'll target the heavily injured one and a fresh one. Okay, all right.

If they're next to each other. Yep. And that is 12 points of acid damage. 12 points of acid damage. Kills the one that was already weakened. Ding dong. The other one is still standing. I just remembered something else about the death roots.

Just learn something else. No, I just remembered. Okay. They explode. Yeah, they explode when they die. No, I just remembered. Okay. They explode. Yeah, they explode when they die. Oh, that's right. I forgot about the minions explode when they die. No, not the minions.

The death root. No, no, the death root doesn't explode when it dies. The minions explode when they die. They do, like, radiant. So, Quill and Sentry. Can you please make... Is this what it's like saying something? Quill, three, Sentry, two two con saving throws, please.

Two? Hasn't four died near us? No. Sentry killed two and then she damaged the third one. And then Lucius just killed that damaged one and then injured another one. So three of five. One. That's a good thing I didn't. Con skills, one's next to you then.

You're welcome. No, no worries. 16. 16 for the spell. 16's fine, yep. 16's what you needed. 19 and 11. All right, so Quill, you're familiar with this.

Feel that wave of sadness. A stack of grief rot. Ah! Ah! Ah! Grief rot. Yep. Lucius, end of turn.

Yeah, I've pretty much maxed myself out, so. All right. As Max had not been ordered to activate yet, Max. Max debate. Max debate. That sounds really bad. That sounds real dodgy. I'm going to max debate.

Not here. Not now, not live on air. Max would see, I think that he would want to try and sort of mop up the group around Sentry and Quill first to make sure that they can then go and help the others. So he will come in and he will make two great sword attacks. First one is a natural 20.

Oh, Max! Oh, there's my boy. Killing it, king. Second one is also going to be a hit. So, grab some dice for old Maximilian here. It's going to be 16. My hot chocolate tastes like celery. 125.

Oh my god. I'll kill this one. That's probably a bit gross. Oh my god. I'll kill this one. I'm a wee bit gross. And that one. So the one that Lucius' Acid Splash just destroyed with one cleave, Maximilian cleaves through not just that one, which was already badly weakened, but the one next to it as well, just completely cleaving both of them dead.

And then on his last swing, he will try and attack the other one as well for a total of, that's only going to be 11 points of damage, unfortunately. Leaving that one on 60 points. Yep. In fact, actually, the one who had already also taken some damage is actually on less. So there's only one minion now. Where Max, Quill, and Sentry are,

there's just one of these Hive Undead, badly injured, looks like it's going to fall apart, still standing. I need Quill, and Sentry are. There's just one of these Hive Undead, badly injured, looks like it's going to fall apart, still standing. I need Quill and Sentry. Quill, you need to make two con saves. Sentry, one. And Max also needs to do... That 20 voice.

Son of an actual bitch. A 15 and a five. Both fail. Two more stacks of Grifor. Five feet of movement reduction. I know. And one. I can't remember how it works i'm glad as you do um it's a country at the start of the round let's have rihanna roll a d3 for me please oh boy it's fun being you tom what's the d3 d3 d6 and then you're halved. Oh. One and two is one. Three and four is two.

Or two. So two on the D6? Yeah. That's a one. One more group of minions from the left flank, which we'll say is towards Lucius, who is currently on his own, arrives. Just the one, though.

Just a one pack, actually. It's just the one pack actually Ayla Ayla Is going to continue Her reckless Fault on the deck room So

Where is Where's she gone There she is Bam Oh Wait No It just Look It's leaning so close to that 20.

Leaning isn't on it. Well, fine. She only got a 28. And I'll do the next one as well. Which is a 27. Yep, both hit. D10, D6. Boom! Oh, 14 plus 13, 27. 27 points.

And the next one. I'm going to have Ayla take damage at the start of that turn as well. 11 plus 13, 24. And then three Dick 6s from the Lightning. Three Dick 6s plus four. Too easy thinking. Five, ten, 14. Is that with the plus four?

With the plus four. 14 points. I mean, Ayla, in a few blows, along with the sort of Nova strikes, I mean, this dead root is now looking like it's about to fall apart. It is heavily damaged. Yeah.

At the start of her turn, though, Ayla would take one, two, three, four, five, six, I'll say seven. Seven times seven is... 42. 49. 49? It's 49, yeah.

49 minus her AC of 20, so 29 points of damage. And then that gets halved down to 14. Okay. I can do that as well. I've got her... TY. 14 points of damage to Ayla. That is at the start of Ayla's turn.

Then she attacks. Does loads of damage to the death root. Kills it. Does kill it. The swarm that just arrived is going to surround Lucius. Six of them surround Lucius. Nova. At the start of your turn, Nova.

One, two, three, four, five times seven. 35 minus your AC. 19. So... 25 minus 19. Yeah. That's like six. Six points of damage.

I knew that. Easy. I'm just going to straight up attack. 14 plus 13 is 27. Are you attacking the dead root? Yeah. Okay. Yep, hits. 16 points of damage.

16 points. Slashing damage cuts through. Tiangong just ripping through this creature. And kills it. Nope. Massively cocked, so I'm going to rer. Tiangong just ripping through this creature. And kills it. Massively cocked, so I'm going to reroll. Sure. No, it's huge. It's not my turn.

It's got massively cocked bones, so Dick6 dies. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do. 31 to hit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, this thing's AC is 19. Don't even bother. Like, if it goes above 19, just... 17. Just keep this as quick as possible.

17 points of damage. 29. 15 points of damage. And I would like to... Is it gone? One more point of damage there? Is that it? I'll unleash Incarnate.

Yeah, sure. Okay. 24 to hit. Yeah, sure. Okay. 24 to hit. Well, do you have Tiangong out? Yeah, I said right at the beginning. Oh, sorry. Yeah, I missed that. Right, sure.

That is... The one point of damage it had left is gone. 17. It had one point of damage left. So as Tiangong delivers that final blow, the dead root kind of fades and falls apart. The sort of empowered plant life that was flowing through all the minions

breaks down, and they are now returned to their normal state. Okay. Yeah, I think that's it. Yep. NovaVJ, are you done? With killing it, is there a space for me to disengage?

Or do I have... There are minions, but you don't take attacks of opportunity from them, so the Hive Undead you can just move away from. Yeah, I'll move away from them. Do you want to go to an empty space? Do you want to move and engage the ones around Lucius? I'll go help out Lucius.

All right. We'll put you in next to some minions. Maybe I'll just go in an empty space near Lucius and then, yeah. I'll kind of put you... You'd be next to Sentry, basically. A little bit away from Lucius, but yeah, still safe. Alright, Quill?

So there's still one here, right? There is one minion next to you who looks very injured. Yeah, so I won't take any damage from him anyway because of my AC. That's true. But also, do you remember how to get rid of the grief rot? Was it healing? Maybe.

Do I remember? I don't know. That's up to you. It's in my notes, but... Intelligence check. Natural 20. Oh! It's whenever you regain hit points from a spell or class ability. You sink it and the grief rock goes away. But it only reduces it by one each time you get healed. Yeah, and I've got three.

I'd like to go... So that's three poison damage at the start, though. That doesn't get negated by your AC. Yeah, forgot about that. I'm going to fly 15 feet up. Okay. by your AC. Pfft. Yeah, I forgot about that. I'm going to fly 15 feet up. Okay. Because I can't get any more grief rot.

And I will usually aim for... I guess it doesn't really matter. Yeah, I'll just Sacred Flame this one below. So 4d8 plus 6. It's dead. It's annihilated. I mean... It had three hit points, so I'm pretty sure on 4d8

you do more than three hit points. Yeah, it did 13. Yeah. The Sacred Flame annihilates this remaining half-destroyed skeletal undead hive minion. Cool. And I will bonus action Healing Hwared myself. Okay. Which I have here right here it's a d4 plus six ten. Nice. The perfect roll so one less Grief. You've got a grief rot 2 now. Grief rot 2. Electric.

Yeah. Sentry and Nova, as Kort finishes his turn, the pack that was around Nova breaks away from Ayla and that combat, and they're going to engage you and Nova. Nice. So 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 of them basically shift off to engage you guys. Good boy. Sentry at the start of your turn uh five times seven thirty five minus tracy twenty one so that's gonna be nine thirteen my brain no 35 minus 21 yeah

is good don't you're really throwing me off 14 points really throwing me off. 14 points of damage. Really throwing me off. I'm hard to concentrate. You're being a bad boy today, Tom. I know. I know. Yeah, so 14 points of damage. I can use the big d20. I'm going to cast Awe of Life, and I'm going to bonus action use that to give Quill 2d6 healing. Okay, reducing the stack as well.

Get rid of a stack. Nice, thank you. You get 2d6 from me which equates to... I'm on full anyway. Yeah, I'll just do it anyway. It's more to get rid of the stack. Good with the stack, boys. You get nine healing from me.

Thank you. Is that a little character sheet? I'm going to stay and plant and get ready for the onslaught. No, just track my base. All right, so that's the whole turn yeah all right um there's not really much left for the minions to do the dead is dead lucius virion eloine alanastos six times seven 42 minus your ac 42 minus 17 is 25 17 is? 25.

Thank you. 42 minus... Oh, you can't calculate. 25 points of damage as you are being sort of like, you know, desperately trying to defend yourself as these skeletal things are ripping into you with their clawed hands, broken weapons, jagged pieces of armour or stone that they're carrying. I've evolved.

I'm going to click on a spell again. Okay. I know math now. And I have no sorcery points. Burn them all away before you get to the big fight. I know. I'm going to click on a spell again. Okay. I know math now. Burn those sorcery points. Burn them all away. I know. Before you get to the big fight.

I know. I'm going to cut. You're going to say no, don't bother about it. Well, it's his turn right now, so carry on. On your turn you can do it. I would like to hear what Nof has to say. No, just when the pack retreated from Aayla, they would have had an attack of opportunity from Tiangong

no no attacks oh because you didn't move yeah well yeah it can only make one attack of opportunity so you can attack

one of them this is the ones that go around you and sentry anyway lots on the DC yep it hits seven sixteen

sixteen that actually kills the two nope because, because they- One, maybe? So they would be on 13. It kills one injured one and then heavily injures another one. Thank you.

So there's only four around you in sentry now. Thank you. All right, continue, Luscious Heath. Sorry. I would like to cast on myself Armor of Agathys, Quickened, please, at level four, which gives me 20 temporary hit points,

but also 20 cold damage to any creature that hits me. That will count for each one. But they will still deal the damage to you. Yeah, so we'll have to see how many of them I can get through before the Armor of Agathys. No, I would basically say that when the pack activates to attack you, any minion that attacks you takes that damage,

but you'll take all of the damage that they would deal. Like, it doesn't kill them before it deals the damage. Wow. And a level 4 spell. Is it a level 4 spell? It is. Continue. So quickened Armour of Agathys.

It's not a cantrip. Continue. I will then use my... We've got a lot to get through. Stop fucking with his turns. Like, this is a lot. Captain's command, sword. I'm just going to swing at the closest one.

Okay. So that is 23 to hit. 23 hits. I barely use this thing. Six points of damage. All right, yeah, you obviously cut into one, doesn't destroy it, but you do damage it. Lucius is looking a little overwhelmed,

but he's got awesome ice pauldrons. Just like World of Warcraft. Love it. At the end, nobody has told Max to go. Oh yeah, that boy. Max debate. Max debate. No, I've got to stop saying it.

Stop it. I forgot. He that boy. Max to bait. Max to bait. No, I've got to stop saying it. Stop it. I forgot. He got a natural 20 last time. That was furious max evasion. Stop it, you. In this, he doesn't see that he needs to necessarily attack, so, like, defend anybody as much. So he will move round, and he will engage.

He'll come to Lucius' aid, actually. round and he will engage he'll come to Lucius's aid actually he'll move over engage the ones next to Lucius and he'll make two greatsword attacks first one hits oh yeah second one misses that was a natural one unfortunately so the one that you hit Lucius max comes in to to smash it with the palm of his greatsword. It clatters to the ground, but the next attack you miss is a bit unfortunate. Lucius thinks he did that, but then he sees Max behind all the bones.

Yeah. Smash it, yes. Fair enough. Don't tell me Lucius stinks. Tom Hazel, roll a d3 for me. He hasn't had a bath in a while. D3. D3.

I stink. A dick six. That is a three, so a two. Two more minion waves arrive. Yay! I mean, I rolled a one. Nope, you didn't. Do we have to wear suits now, because the minions? No, we're not doing that.

Nope. No, don't say banana. These two packs, one arrives north of Quill, Sentry, and Nova. One arrives near Tiangong and Ayla. That's where those arrive. Also, as this is the third round, a new Deadroot appears. That's good. Motherfucker. Whoa!

That's the Deadroot. Out of my hand. Deadroot is like, I'll have that, yoink. Dead root. Out of my hand. Dead root is like, I'll have that, yoink. Oh, what a German green screen. And the dead root appears near Max and Lucius's pack. Oh.

Damn. The worst part. Ayla. Oh, Ayla. Yeah, all the ones around you are now empowered. I mean, yeah, a new deadroot, a new Aayla. Alright, so Aayla just wants to run from that one and run from the pack surrounding her and just launch into the other one.

She is going to take the start of her turn. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Uh, 42 minus 20, 22, halved, 11. 11. I can do that. Thank you. I've got her numbers. You just decide what she's doing. Yeah. Or maybe actually she'll clear the horde around Max and Lucius. Okay.

They are empowered currently. Which means... They're stronger. They have extra defense in some form. Yeah, but Taylor. And she's going reckless. Okay. Again.

Bam. I will move her next to Max. 24. 24 hits. Hell yeah. And the next one is a billion? Yep. Hits.

30. I do these damages separately because these ones are enhanced. Cool. So 7 plus 13, 20. 20 does not destroy one. The empowering effect of the Deadroot seems to absorb some of that damage, and it's still standing. Wow.

Oh, is it taking half every time? No, it's giving them temporary hit points. Oh. He said that, like, a minute ago. That's the first attack. I think the second one would turn on the Deadroot in that case. She has not moved close. I moved her, like, next to Lucius and Max to engage the Horde. Oh, the second one would turn on the dead root in that case. She has not moved close. I moved her, like, next to Lucius and Max to engage the horde.

Oh, okay. The dead root is behind them. Fair enough. That's okay. Next one. I mean, she's got movement left. She could probably get to the dead root in time. I'd say if you want to, actually.

I forgot that you can move after attack, so if she wants to. Yeah, I think if, like... Okay. Ada's smart enough. Sure. So, on the dead root, it is 11 plus 13. 24. 24, yeah.

That's the damage. That was 24 damage. Oh, 24 damage. And also... 13 plus 4 damage. 17 lightning damage. 17 lightning damage. Ada charges into that one, smashing it.

You can hear, by the way, the sounds as this battle is continuing. Obviously, you're drawing in more of these undead. They're rushing towards you. They're coming in dribs and drabs. Some of them look further away. I mean, you can hear Quill probably the most out of everybody.

There is definitely sounds of shouts and cries coming in the direction of the fort as well. Hmm. So Aayla's finished. Ruckus. Yeah. Is Hotshot still with us? No, Hotshot left to go do their mission.

On their own mission. One, two, three, four, five, six more engage Lucius and Max. They now swarm towards them. They become empowered by the dead root because Aayla left them. So they are like, oh, next target, run towards it. Yeah, yeah. Nova V'ger. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

At the start of your turn, Nova, you currently have? You said I wasn't any or anyone. Yeah, I said you were near sentry, and I said that there was a pack that moved towards you in sentry, four of them. So four times seven, 28 minus your AC, so only seven points. If your AC's 21.

It's 19. 19, okay. Nine. Six points. Nine. If your AC's 21. It's 19. 19, okay. Nine. Six points. Nine? The other way, yeah. 28 minus 19, yep, that's right, yeah. I'll take six.

No. Does Tiangong take anything as well? Because they're off in the park that Ayla was with. No, they have all moved away. They all moved towards Max and Lucius. Okay. So you can make an attack of opportunity for them. Oh, I will.

So this is Tiangong. 24 to hit. Ooh, bad damage roll there, Ten. 11 points of damage. All right, 11 points. Doesn't destroy one. I'm going to move towards the dead route. You are now next to Ayla.

Mm-hmm. Next to the dead route. You are now next to Ayla, next to the dead route. And yeah, I'll put Tiangong next to Lucius as well. But then I'm gonna start attacking the dead route and that is 28 to hit. Hits. 17, 18, 19, 20 points of damage. 20 points of damage. Charge in, slicing it.

Kind of knowing what to expect from these creatures, you now find, you know, you're slaughtering these in vast numbers and holding out that, like, okay, this isn't endless. Like, we can do this kind of thing. 16 to hit on the next one. 16 doesn't hit, unfortunately. Bites into, like, a skull,

poking out of the viney- like surface of this round bulb. 20, 31. Hits. 9, 15, 16 points of damage. 16 points of damage. The sword cleaves through again, severing several vines. Still leaving it very healthy looking. These things are tough. Yeah, I'll stick with that. All right. OK. very healthy looking. I think I'll stick with that. These things are tough. Yeah, I'll stick with that for now. Alright, okay. So after Nova, one of the groups that just arrived is going to engage Sentry I guess

at this point because Quill's up in the air so they just surround Sentry. And then we go to Quill's turn. You are 15 feet in the air. You don't take any damage. Yeah. Hell yeah. Gamer. Is there anywhere within my 25 feet of movement where I could get just a huge chunk of these within 30 feet of me?

I want to destroy them. Yeah. Yeah, basically, if you... Well, here's the problem, right? You've got six around Sentry. You can easily catch those six. You could catch some of the ones around Lucius and Max. However, they are all being empowered by the Deadroot.

And you remember that the Deadroot absorbed some of that energy into itself and prevented you from destroying it. But that was a huge chunk of damage. Yeah, it did seem to take whatever damage it would have dealt to the... of that energy into itself and prevented you from destroying that was a huge chunk of damage yeah it did seem to take whatever damage it would have dealt to the whatever damage it would have caused to the the undead minions it seemed to take onto itself the more i catch the more he'll absorb it's pretty useful then um i think i'm i'm okay with that um so yeah i guess guess as many as I can catch with Turn Undead. So you can catch 14.

I'd say no. You know what? You can catch all 17, all 21 currently on the field. You can catch everything on the field. Because there's only 21 here. That's like a third of the entire field. Yeah, I mean, you've already destroyed some packs. You've already destroyed a few.

Yeah. No, that's, yeah. i can destroy on dead then so yeah wisdom's here but she failed uh no no they don't need to don't need to roll any dice or anything like that so what i need is somebody to do a calculator for me and do 21 times uh 17. oh yeah no 357 the Holy shit! Absorbs it. They can absorb. All right, this is where. So how much was that?

Sorry, Kim. 357. 357. And then this thing has got that many hit points left, which gives me... Is that the most average so far? No. No, you did like 4 million, right? Over 8,000. Over 8,000.

Over 8,000. What's the image being shown? Can you do 211 divided by 17 for me? 12.4117647. 12. I'll just call 12. All but 12, so you watch as the dead root erupts from light as quills summons and it is bright like you kind of temporarily you illuminate the area everything lights up around you what does it is diminished the gloom of the rock like the gloom

of this area these petals that are almost absorbing light do drain some of it away, but it is brilliant. And you watch as the dead root erupts, it like fills up like it's glutted on water and then it just bursts into light. And out of the 21 remaining undead, that would leave nine of them blow up as well. They just completely crumble and disintegrate. But the 12, and I'll say it was the furthest point from Quill, which would be some of the ones around Lucius and Max.

Yeah, I'd say it's the six around those guys. And then the six around Sentry remain. So those 12 stay undamaged, having been absorbed by the the dead roots damaged everything else is destroyed it's like the ones around lucius it's not um you know they do stay yeah yeah it's not so brilliant and bright that it's like a beacon oh absolutely it is yeah this is like uh not a storm chaser beacon storm chaser um no i would say not like and also like... I would messenger ring panic.

I'm not going to screw you guys over on that. What it is bright enough to do is you hear a... It has two ballista bolts waiting for something to shoot at. 23. Oh my God, I can't even shield that would a 18 hit you mmm if I shield do you want to shield it's a fucking ballista so I will say these things do a certain amount of damage against like other airships and like fortifications

Against you guys and it's the same for the storm chasers weapons. They do considerably more Are you shielding I've shielded the second one so the first one hits that is gonna be Chicken kebab? A kitten. 74 points of piercing. Fuck! As it rips through, like, maybe parts of the mechanical wing. Not enough to damage it and prevent you flying,

but, like, it, like, tears at, like, your flesh to the side. As this... But then as the light dissipates, you know, you're not sure if they're going to be able to make that shot again. Oh, natural one on concentration. I lose shield of faith. Okay.

Damn. All right. End of your turn, Quill? I mean, I do have a bonus action. Sure. However, I was just shot by a ballista. I mean, you can still act. Two. Sure. However, I was just shot by a ballista. I mean, you can still act. Two of them.

I think I spend my bonus action getting shot by a ballista. Okay, sure. In that case, we go to Sentry. Start of your turn, Sentry. You do have six of these things around you. Six times seven, 42. Minus your AC. 21.

21. 21 damage. I need to roll Concentration 4, Aura of Vitality. DC 10. 13. You're fine. Hell yeah. Cool.

All right. All right, your turn. I am going to just start whaling on these guys that are next to me. Absolutely. There's six of them around you. Yeah, let's start reducing their numbers a bit. Okay. 17 plus 13, 30 to hit.

That hits, yeah. Cool. I'm going to do... Let's do a level... Let's do level 2 Divine Smite on this guy. Don't forget, you guys can also have Max go at the end of one of your turns as well. So they get to act before the minions. I'm not saying it.

You're not going to say Max to vote? No. Oh, that's not great. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 plus 7, 18 for the first hit. It's just enough to destroy one and then a little bit of damage carries over. Nice. Good enough. All right.

Again. 4 plus 13, 17. 17 hits. Nice. Rock and roll. 2, 3. Oh, man. 12 plus seven, 19. 26 for the second one.

Cool. So yeah, you destroy another one and then another one is heavily injured. Nice. But yes, so two of them, the divine light of the smite rips through, leaving a third one badly damaged. So four currently still around you. And who's within 30 feet of me currently? You are?

Quill, Nova. Yep, Quill and Nova are the only ones actually within 30 feet of you currently. All right, bonus action. I'll give you another 2d6 of healing. You just took a huge hit. Thank you. Seven healing. It's not great, but...

It's all right. It's something. It's something. It's something. It's certainly something. Would you like Max to go, Century? Yeah, let's get Max to wait on. Is there anything you want Max to do? Yeah, do you want him to just start cleaving

some of these minions? Just start cleaving through the minions, yeah. All right, he'll make two attacks. Just barely hits on one of them, the other one missed, unfortunately, and I rolled really badly. Four, that's gonna be eight eight plus 13 points of damage. Destroys another one of the minions around Lucius

and then injures another one. Cool. All right. That is after Sentry's go. We need to roll for poison for the ones that I've killed. Oh, yes, please. I keep forgetting about that. Would have taken one poison as well. Yes, you would have. So Sentry, that's going to be Oh, yes, please. I keep forgetting about that. Would have taken one poison as well.

Yes, you would have. So, Century, that's gonna be two con saves for you. Lucius and Max, can you make a con save as well, please? 14 and a natural 20. I should have gotten one. 14, that's one second refrat. So, movement speed reduced by five feet, one damage at the start of your turn.

So, for you, Cristral. I'm getting rotted, so. In fact, actually, yeah, it's fine. yeah it's fine we now go to Lucius at the start of Lucius his turn the four remaining minions try to punch him and the ice armor explodes around him and destroys all of them but you would take seven fourteen twenty eight which would be minus your AC. 28 minus AC, 17 did you say is your AC? Yes.

Okay, so there's 11. So yeah, you actually only take 11. I retain. Yeah, nine temporary hit points. Excellent. So all of the things around me are... Everything is gone now. It's all destroyed.

There is just four around Sentry, and you can hear the sound of more coming as well. I will rush up to Sentry's four. Want to be hit. And I will... Actually, I'll remain range while I do this. I'm going to do an Acid Splash again, targeting two of them. But you don't, so your Acid Splash

would then move in next to them? Nice, cool. Yeah, that makes sense. So they fail their deck saves, so it's just 46, which I'm gonna manual roll. Okay. Don't forget your elemental add up stuff as well. I'm getting- 13.

13. So you destroy... How many dice in there? It's just the dice box is also super far away from you. The splash of acid melts one of the injured ones that Sentry just hit, destroying it completely. Another con save for you, Sentry, please. And then the other one is badly damaged by the acid as it kind of splashes over its body 10 that's another stack

unfortunately then I'll move up to be a melee range yep with my armor if I get this still oh sure

DC 10 yeah we would have gone you make another saving throw yeah yeah you make a separate con save

nice 16 yeah you've still got it nice alright Max is already gone so we go into a new round. You, um... Can I have...

Chris Trot, can you roll me 2d3 at this point? And Kim, can you roll just 1d3? Oh, God. Six and a three. Four. So... Nine. No, it's 2d3, so it's like... Three and a three. Four. So, nine.

No, it's 2d3, so it's like a two. So five. If you round up. Yeah, if you round down. I rolled a four, so is that a two? It's a two on a d3, yeah. It's a two. You have a brief moment of respite. You can see two more packs of minions,

but they were far enough away that in six seconds, they're not gonna actually be able to engage you in combat. You've probably got around two rounds before they get within melee range. That's what you know at this point. Are they ahead of us between us and the... Yes, they're all ahead of you at this point. Should we get to the keep?

Yeah, I mean, you could press forward, which means going through that pack of minions coming towards you, the two coming towards you. Getting closer to the keep, you could push forward. But you've got like a round here, basically, to either heal yourselves or figure out what you wanna do, communicate, make a plan. I'm ready to push forward.

Should I get our mystics to drive in the way? Quill, you definitely do hear a very faint... He's already here. From the fort. He's modeling it. Okay. Yeah, if I hear that, then yeah. Alnissix would be a great idea around about now.

We can press on. Okay. Push forward. And yeah, are we taking initiative turns? Well, I'd say, yeah, if you want to, I'd say you guys can all take a turn. Take a turn as you wish to. So if you want to use your Aura of Vitality, if you want to cast a healing spell,

if any of you want to prep any spells or anything, you can basically take a free turn right now. I'm going to cast Reposition on myself. Okay. So 70 healing back to myself. 70 healing back to Quill. Yeah. Are there any death roots in this?

Not in the pack directly coming towards you, but there is one more in the far distance. Probably, depending on what Alnissus does, you'll have to fight your way through another two pack of minions, and then there'll be more stragglers coming in, and that dead root will probably come in with those stragglers. I will say that you've destroyed, at this point point about eight of the 12, so there's only about four packs. There's only about four, so that would be 24 of these undead left, plus one

dead root, but then there are... Two. Two dead roots. Two dead roots. No, you've killed two of them. Yeah. You said one. Huh?

Oh, I thought you said one left. No, I'm saying that there's one left. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One left, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm with you. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, there's about 24 undead and one dead root left. But these are just, like, on the outskirts.

Like, nothing out of the keep has come apart from that one ballista shot. In the distance, can I see hotshot just clinging to the side of the tree? Make a perception check for me. If you can beat us out. 16 plus my perception, which is 4,000. I got 28. 28? Yeah, I think that you would just barely see it, and it's hard. Technically, that was with disadvantage, actually.

Can you rock some of the darkness? 14. 14. You think maybe you caught a glimpse of her reaching the moat and the wall, but, yeah, I mean, like, this has only been, like, what, like, 30 seconds since you guys first, like, got engaged, so... As long as they're not being chased after, I suppose. Doesn't it?

Could have been a hot shot, you're not sure. Okay. Okay. Cool. So, everyone taking your turn? You want to take your free turn? I'm just converting the sorcery point. Yeah, spend a bonus action.

Sorcery point, yep. And is the plan you're just going to charge forward? I'm going to... Alnissics first. Yeah, I'm going to bonus action heal Lucius with Thora of Life for eight points. So that's on your turn. And then telepathically tell... I'm going to send Alnissics in.

So what's the plan with Alnissics? What do you want Alnissus to do? I want Alnissus to sort of make a dive attack towards the group that are coming towards us just to get their attention and then try and lure them away. Now, Alnissus is more sentry. If Alnissus flies away, the undead probably will lose interest because they know they can't reach it. So Alnissus could stay on the ground,

but obviously that means that they're more at risk at taking damage yeah i mean it's not like you know they'll just disappear yeah you can read some of them so okay i would say that yeah like with that plan uh with the amount of time that you have we'll say you know obviously movement speeds i'm not gonna track all that we'll have on this was ready to come flies in dive bombs this group of two minion packs, and then basically lures them away. Takes a bit of damage in the process. Probably isn't going to buy you that long, especially if the horde catches up with them.

What's Alniss's movement speed? It's 20 feet walk, 60 foot fly. Okay, but if it's hovering off the ground, it can just fly normal speed. Alniss's can basically keep these packs chasing it. Eternally. Moves forward a little bit, stops. Let's them catch up. Yeah, it basically does. It lets them get closer and then flies offves forward a little bit, stops. Let's them catch up and then yeah, it basically does.

It like lets them get closer and then flies off. Here's the problem though. After about a couple of rounds of this, which is gonna buy you guys time to run past, the ballistas are gonna see our missiles and what's our missiles is AC. 13. 13, okay.

And they're a large creature, right? Yeah. Okay. They've got 33 HP total. 33 HP total. Okay. So one Ballista. Unfortunately, yes. And it doesn't take long before you hear a like, the beast, fire the beat!

And then you feel that connection sever. But it's enough time for you guys to get past that pack of minions. And then hopefully they're either distracted or they're far enough away that it's going to take them time to... They don't have, like, faster speed than us, so we can kind of just keep ahead of them. They have the same speed as you guys. So, yeah, as long as you keep moving forward.

However, as you begin charging forward and you see the great moat, you actually see the moat before you now coming around the edges, like, kind of almost forming like a barrier you see the last two minion packs and the last dead root and that portcullis is still shut and the drawbridge is up what's the plan you can either engage those guys at this point you can either try and run to the side and get round to the side of the keep and lure these undead on a merry chase or you can try and barrel through them and just gun straight for the main the the portcullis and the drawbridge can people get across the moat you can fly

I can fly I can make people fly yeah anybody can climb up the sides of the moat it's just it's like 25 feet across and it's probably about 30 feet down so it's like going down and then you've got to come up against it's gonna take about so it's you know I filled the water it is but it's like swimming it's like going down and then you've got to come up again so it's gonna take about oh it's not filled with water it is but it's like swimming it's just yeah it's just balky it's like stagnant fetid water it's not going to be a problem for you to swim across i'm not gonna make you do checks or anything like that it's just going to slow you down okay um and also uh yeah no carry on no if we were to run around and they were to chase us they have the inner circumference which means they could technically always keep up with us

or get ahead of us. Uh, yeah. So... If they're intelligent enough to do that. If they're just following us, they're just going to maintain following us, is all I'm saying. We're not going to be able to get ahead of them. No. I say we plough through. And the closer we get, we need to get across the moat

and through the wall as quick as possible. The closer we get, we need to get across the moat and through the wall as quick as possible. The closer we get, the more those ballistas will be able to see us. Hopefully if we can pass through the wall and close it off, we'll deal with any that get through. With the ballistas, by the way, when you get to the point where you are at the wall, the ballistas won't be able to attack you. They won't be able to shoot down. The other side of the moat, they can see you and they the point where you are at the wall, the ballistas won't be able to attack you. They won't be able to shoot down.

The other side of the moat, they can see you and they will shoot at you. Yeah, that's the thing. If we get to the moat, we need to... As you begin charging forward, which it sounds like that's your plan, yes? You're just going to barrel straight through into the force ahead of you? Hale is like, yeah, let's go.

Yeah, she's zooming. All right, yeah. Barbarian mentality, right? Yeah. All right, you guys charge forward. Kuala, as you get close to this pack, and you can see, you guys are going to be able to just engage this pack as normally.

You see on top of the portcullis on the walls, Hotshot mentioned, you see a bunch of these squires with bows, and they are all aiming down towards you as well. I will tell you these guys are also minions, but it means that they have a slightly different attack. Guaranteed damage. Yeah.

You said the wall is... 20 feet high. 20 feet high. Mm-hmm. How far away are we. Yeah. You said the wall is... 20 feet high. 20 feet high. How far away are we from it? So the moat is about 25 feet. This is me using some very basic speculation. I'd say at a diagonal, 20 feet up, I'm about... I'd say, yeah, sort of like 40 feet,

because there is a bit of a sloped embankment on the other side of the moat. I'd say that they're about 40 feet diagonally. And how many of them can we see? So there is... How big of a threat are they, basically? on the other side of the moat. I'd say that they're about 40 feet diagonally. And how many of them can we see? So there is- How big of a threat are they basically? On the front part of the wall, overlooking the portcullis and the door bridge,

they can fit 12 of them, two packs. There is another pack, another six, basically to the side waiting to fill in and like try and get by. The 12 of them are aiming down with bows. And you can see that they're basically holding like they're they're doing the whole like you know hold fire shoot where we can get a clear shot lucius is going to reach out his arm as he's sprinting forward and cast wall of ice if you want this is going to be on your initiative so we're going to do initiatives because like as you move to engage this force these guys might have a chance

to shoot you all right so well that's this plan all these guys might have a chance to shoot you. Well, that's his plan. All right. I'm going to block them. All right, we're getting close on time, but I want to get this set up ready for next week. Let me throw together one last quick encounter and we'll re-roll initiative because this is going to basically be a new initiative. Sure.

Come on, Nat 21. Oh, sick. No. I forget the auto-roll. Oh no, we just didn't know how to roll. Okay. Hi, teacher. I forgot to add Max. We'll use the same rules for Max. I forgot to add him. Okay. Auto roll. Enemies.

Lucius. Five. Five. Quill. Four. Four. Ayla. 24.

24. Sentry. 20. What's with the big swings between you and Ayla's rolls? She's got advantage. She has advantage. Oh, I can use this for Max, actually. Nova.

21. 21. Nice. Very good. Very good uh start encounter uh as always pretty much we start with ayla who's gonna be the first one to activate so i'd say that these guys are within 30 feet rush distance like they are basically lined in front of the the moat uh where the portcullis and the drawbridge would be. Does a Barbarian or Aayla resist piercing damage? Yes, yeah, she resists all weapon damage, basically.

Only elemental damage won't affect. I mean, considering her ridiculous speed and she can just bonus action dash. Oh, she can get there, yeah. I'm wondering if she rushes forward and just tries to hard, like, have the focus from the arrows and the ballista. So it's basically like trying to get everyone's attention,

like, hit me. Kind of, yeah, just barrel through. Is that something Aayla would do? She's raging. She's raging, but she's not that kind of reckless, I don't think. She's still a pretty cunning warrior. but she's not that kind of reckless, I don't think. She's still a pretty cunning warrior. So she's got 45 feet movement.

She can get to the pack of undead, which is about 30 feet in front of you guys at this point. Yeah, maybe just charge that and just... She can get to the... So it's like the dead root in the middle, two minion packs on either side of the dead root, and then about 40 degrees up is the wall, the top of the wall with the archers and the ballista are on the very far sides,

basically, looking down. Okay. Yeah, I think she'll just try and eliminate the horde then to make it easier for everyone to get through. All right, yeah, proper, like, Thor bringing Stormbreaker down. Yeah. First one is a 27, and the second is a natural 20. And this is going just for the undead minions?

The minions, yeah. All right. Let's do the first normal attack first. They are being empowered by the dead root. Okay. You've set your targets now. That's fine. So the first one is a 4 plus 13, 17.

17 points. Would normally kill one, but doesn't. That's okay. And the natural 20, so... I do... So this is 40 plus another 4d10. 4d10? Yeah.

Brutal critical. Oh! 40 plus another 4d10 plus her modifier, which is 13. Jesus Christ. 1, 10, 8. Oh! 40 plus another 4d10 plus her modifier which is 13. Jesus Christ. 1, 10, 8, 18, 21, 29... So 69. Ayyyyy!

Plus 13. So 79, 82. Wait, what about the d6 as well? So 82 plus 6, 88 plus another d6. She only gets the 1. She doesn't get the multiple critical, the enchantment dice. Plus 5. I was going to say 86 plus 5, 91.

91. And that's just the second attack. That's the second attack, yeah. Have you got calculator up? Can you do 91 divided by 27? 3.37. All right, so with the one that she already injured, I'm just going to say she wipes out four of the empowered minions right away.

With that slamming Hammer Strike, the critical hit, bringing the lightning down and just blasting four of these minions into the moat, just smashing the hammer to the side. And then the lightning blast. They fail saving throws automatically, but this doesn't carry over, unfortunately. 12 plus 4, 16. 16, not enough to destroy them.

Certainly a strong blow to the two remaining on that side. One flank of these minions just blown apart as Ayla lands, smashing them apart. Woo! Nice. The other pack will then swarm behind Ayla, basically on the switch, surround her now, next to the dead root.

That's their activation. NovaVeja. Can I get to the dead root? You absolutely can, yep. You can just charge forward and get next to the dead root. I'm going to go both Qian Gong and I. That will put you in the middle of one pack of minions. Yeah, Qian charge forward and get next to the dead root. I'm going to go both Tiangong and I. That will put you in the middle of one pack of minions. Tiangong and I are going to go that way.

All right, rushing forward, blades raised. 19 plus 13 is 21, 22, something like that. Yeah, 21 hits, yeah. Ooh, eight, 17. I try and desperately... I roll max damage, holy shit. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 points of damage. 21 roll max damage. Holy shit. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 points of damage.

21 points of damage. First blow. Cuts through multiple vines, shedding these bone parts everywhere. Max damage again. 24 and max damage again. So another 21. Yeah. Just ripping through it as you cut through.

Not as good. 17 to hit. 17 does not hit unfortunately um i'm gonna use uh unleashing cornet and get tiangong to have a go as well absolutely make the swing natural 20. so uh yeah normal normal damage is d8 right uh d8 plus nine so eight plus nine so and do you want to add plus another d8 or in that as well the force damage okay so let plus another D8. And do you want to add the D4 on that as well, the force damage on D8? Okay, so D8 maximizes to eight, four maximizes to four for 12,

plus nine, did you say? Nine, yeah. So 21 plus another D8 and another D4. Five, six, extra six. So what did I say? 21 plus another six, 27. It's actually only enough. Where are're being empowered to kill one minion. You just chop its head off, even though it's being empowered by this dead root, just Tiangong's

blade cuts through, slices it off entirely. Still, that's pretty good. Wait, how many of the hoarders left? So five on that flank, so if we've got a left and a right flank on either side of the dead root, Ayla just demolished the left flank, destroying all but two. Oh, yeah. And Nova just took out, because you attacked the dead route, didn't you?

Dead route, yeah. Was that last one against a minion on a dead route, sorry? I probably would have said the dead route. No, that's fine, that's better. So 27 damage against the dead route. Just means that there's four, six minions on that side, as they are all empowered. Right, okay, Nova turn done, yes?

Right, in between rounds, the first volley of squires is gonna shoot down. Bunker! In fact, and they're gonna take, they're gonna shoot at Ayla first, would make sense. These guys, I'm trying out some different rules on wave minions attack, rather than it being automatic at the start of the turn, they basically get to make

an attack and they get bonuses for more friendly minions around them up to a certain maximum bonuses uh yeah they get a bonus the attack roll based on the number of minions around in a certain way i would have thought they would have almost hit them instead uh well the thing is is like what it is is it means that ac the other way like i don't like the kind of reducing it by the ac weight i'm'm not going to go into it. Okay. This is the way I'm doing it. Fair enough. That is going to be with a plus 10. That's only going to be a 15. So it still deals half damage.

Ayla's taking another half damage from that. So this would be 30, 15, 8 points of piercing damage as Ayla's dodging to the side, leaping to the side, blocking arrow strikes with a hammer. A couple skit through and scrape her arms and things like that. She flexesing to the side, blocking arrow strikes with a hammer. A couple skit through and scrape her arms and things like that. She flexes them out. Yeah, she basically flexes them out. So yeah, that is that.

She takes eight points of damage. Okay, so it can deal 30. Yeah, if it hits, basically. And once that group is activated, they can't do that. They can't boost an attack again, basically. Catches one in her teeth as well. Yeah. Bites one out her teeth as well. Yeah.

Bites one out of the air like a dog. They all fire down. While we're doing this, can you just make four con saves for Ayla for me, please? Yeah. So that was their activation, then it's going to be Quill. I should have got somebody else to roll this. 19 and 18. And a... So 12 and 24.

One stack of grief rot. Quill, your turn. And then Sentry, I want to try and get through one round of this and then we'll end the episode. Okay, so... Quill, Sentry. Max. Lucius. Yeah, Max at any point you want him to act, but yeah. Shit.

I will do a level one chromatic orb on the death root boy. Okay. Which is lightning. Chromatic orb? Yeah. Okay. I didn't know you had chromatic orb. Yeah, I've had it for ages.

Oh, okay. How did you learn that? I've had that since the very start. Right. Roll it. Roll it, because we've got a lot to get through. I don't want to rush people, but I Chromatical. Yeah, I've had it for ages. Oh, okay. How did you learn that? I've had that since the very start. Right. Roll it. Roll it, because we've got a lot to get through. I don't want to rush people, but I just can't get through this combat.

26. 26 hits. And a 3d8. What damage type? Lightning. Lightning. I have it thematically locked to Lightning. I can't change it.

Of course you do. Yep. Seven, eight damage. Just eight points of damage. All right. So, kind of. Just eight points of damage. All right. So kind of standing a little bit back further, like 30 feet away from the main line. 15 feet in the air.

15 feet in the air. Okay, nice. Done? Yep, that's me. I've got bonus action. All right. The second volley of archers are going to shoot at Nova this time. This is with all of them getting distracted.

That's going to be a lot more. That's 31 to hit, unfortunately. Yeah, let me just do it. So that would be, yeah, 30 points of damage. That is not reduced by your AC because they have to roll to hit you this time. So just 30 points of piercing damage as you're kind of like trying to deflect them and like they're kind of embedded into you.

Max is gonna say, like, he's like, I can deal with some of the archers. Like, just give me the word. And you can see him beginning to conjure flame in his hands. Oh, yes. Oh. Oh. So that was.

Wait, flame? Yeah, fire. So that was, so it's sentry's go, because that was Quill. They're looking at us anyway. After you all. Yes, sentry. Cool.

Yeah, I'll command Max to go after the archers. Yeah, the ballistas, by the way, go at the very end, because they're slow. You can see the guys are trying to go after the archers. Yeah, the ballistas, by the way, go at the very end because they're slow. You can see the guys are trying to turn them around. Yeah. Eww. Our bonus action, call forth Starbreaker and charge into the pack of six. Starbreaker!

Yeah, next to Nova. Yeah. Don't worry about light. 7 plus 13. Yeah, I did say that you don't have to worry about it. It was only because they knew a battle was going on and the ballistas were like, as soon as we can see something, shoot at it. And then they missed a divine light over there.

Yeah. Let's go. Yeah. 20 hits. You're going for the minions, right? Yes. Okay. 10.

18 for the first hit, plus 7. Is that adding your extra d8 as well? Yes, that is. So 18. Unfortunately, these guys are empowered, so it doesn't quite hit. 25 total, so plus 7. plus seven is that adding your extra d8 as well so 18 unfortunately these guys are empowered so it doesn't quite hit 25 total plus seven 25 nearly destroys one uh it's very badly weakened cool even though it's in its empowered state 23 for the second attack hits

three twelve twenty twenty seven for the second one 27 is actually just enough to destroy one of them nice it just destroys one leaving the other one heavily injured cool

so one's heavily heavily injured one's now completely destroyed 14 damage can you make a yeah constitution saving throw and yeah 14 plus 7

21 you're fine absolutely fine okay we haven't had anybody go yet so that's centuries both archers have gone plus 721. You're fine. Absolutely fine. Okay. We haven't had anybody go yet. So that's Sentry. Both archers have gone.

We go to... Lucius. Yeah, do you want Max to activate? Yes. All right. Max will move up just behind Aayla, Nova, and Sentry. And he kind of like... And I think he's been looking at Lucius

and you're kind of looking at this thing and he's just like, don't worry about the archers, Lucius. I can deal with them. And he'll move forward and he kind of like, and I think he's like been looking at Lucius and you're kind of like looking at this thing and he's just like, don't worry about the archers, Lucius, I can deal with them. And he'll move forward and he raised his hand and he cast Wall of Fire all along the wall. Oh, hell yeah. Oh, that's just gonna kill him. Like, that kills all 12.

There is a pack further down, but he's just like, flames of Gideon. Flames just erupt around the top of it and just. Oh, my weak heart. So that was Max, Lucius, and then the Diver, and then the Ballista. I was thinking about that. He kills his comms, so he takes two poison. Grief rot, I've got a grief rot one. You just take one poison damage.

You don't need to make a 7-3, just take one. Sweet. I'm going to quicken the chromatic form. Yeah, you don't need to make a seven three. Just take one. Sweet. I'm going to quicken a chromatic orb. Also, you got healed, so that would have gone away. Sweet. I'll add that back. Chromatic orb. Level three quickened.

At? Level three. What target? I'm going to target the death root. Okay. So that is a 28 to hit. Oh, God. 28 damage. is a 28 to hit. Oh god.

5d8 damage. That is 24 points of lightning, because I wanted to match Quill's chromatic hitting as well. Yeah, so there's two chromatic orbs that go. Yeah, I spiral them together. Combine in the air. Yep, dichromancy. You touch chromatic orbs.

Dichromancy? Dichromancy on it as well, so that's at level three. So that is a total of... Shut up! ...4. So it's 9. 9 points? Acid on a 2.

7, sorry. 7. 7. All right, so the Chromatic Orb strings in and you pull out a shard of orange light to throw another sort of blob of acid. Yep, yep. But I quickened that one so that I could also firebolt it. Okay.

Which is a cantrip. Yep. And I rolled a 20 to hit. Hits. 40. 40. 10 of fire damage, and that's a 16. 16 points of fire damage.

Dead root is still alive, kind of empowering some of the things, but you've seen how tough these things are. This sets it on fire if it isn't resistance. I mean, I'd say it's made of plant matter. I'd say it'll take D6 points of damage at the start of its turn. It's very big and there's a lot of mass there. It's not going to take loads of damage, but I'd say it takes a little bit of damage.

Anything else on your turn, Lucius? That's it. It takes another two points of fire damage, and then the dead root will activate, and it will go after it has century Nova and a lot of all his targets and Tiangong and Tiangong it doesn't attack Tiangong it's gonna go for the things that you heard a lot more you did but you hit twice and did a lot more damage so it's gonna make one

attack against Nova and one attack against ayla uh nova uh that is a 26 yeah just a little bit against ayla that is an 18 which is a miss no way so nova that is going to be 18 points of poison damage and can you make a con save please 18. 18 uh is not enough you are poisoned for one minute uh which is disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws, I believe. That's the dead root's turn. The very last thing before we end the episode, the Ballista. Uh-oh. Here we go!

You guys are all at the base of this thing. Its preferred targets are going to be people who are further away, like Quill and lucius i'm twerking max did just annihilate their line of archers one ballista is going to go for max the next one is going to go one two three four five six is max close to me uh max is technically behind you yeah can i protect max disadvantage on the attack roll um and i will Shadow Martyr the other target. Okay, well let's see if I hit. God damn. All right.

The one against Max, I rolled a 12 and a natural 20. Oh! So it is a 22. Max is gonna use his reaction to parry, increasing his AC to 23. Max parry! You go to reach it, and you do sort of like, you provide a distraction as they're trying to aim, and this Ballista thing fires,

and Max just waits, and he's just like, he's like, now, Sentry, and you smack the back of it, and he just brings the Great Axe and shatters the Ballista. Oh my god. Yes! The other one, let's see if it hits Lucius. It was who I rolled. Okay.

That would be a 22 to hit Lucius. Are you going to Shadow Martyr? I will Shadow Martyr. So as Lucius, this ballista bolt is coming for your chest. You just see the air in front of you. And Tiangong is there and just kind of nods and then just bursts into light as the ballista bolt hits them and breaks on them. Kind of like splintering into factions.

The Shadow Masters in front of you. They would teleport in front of you and take this. I just like, yeah, put my arms up and then I just see like... You see the twinkling nebula basically. Yeah, the blue and nebula like... Yeah. As it breaks. Yeah, just...

I guess the Ballista Bolt just stops in front of you and then falls to the ground. Yeah. Yeah. As it breaks. Yeah, just... I guess the ballista ball just stops in front of you and then falls to the ground. Yeah. Yeah. And that, technically, that's only been... The last thing before we end the episode. For the first time, you see a brief moment of light. Not enough to be whatever Hotshot's planning,

but in the Great Temple Keep, which you can now see just jutting out. It's dark and shadowed in the gloom of the Rotha, but you can see this great temple and a great stained glass window, and you see for the first time pulses of faint blue celestial-looking light. Uh-oh.

Two of them. That's the last thing you see. And that's where we're gonna end the episode well I did say that the priests could summon Celestials so maybe someone has to just summon them. We'll find out. But we won't find out next week because next week we're at TwitchCon so it will be the week after. So much suspense. Bit of a big old cliffhanger. Next week for those theories. Yeah. Thank you very much for joining us.

That is the end of today's episode. We love you. Take care. We'll see you for more High Rollers very, very soon. Bye. Bye. Редактор субтитров А.Семкин Корректор А.Егорова