High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois | #16 - Dark Rituals (Part 1)

Episode Date: November 19, 2018

In the town of Ironwick, Quill has discovered some ritualistic activity in the general store! D&D Beyond is the official digital toolset for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. Create your FREE account now and start digitising your campaigns here: https://www.dndbeyond.com/ Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. Hello! Welcome back to Hyrolers, a Dungeons & Dragons podcast in the world of Erois. Run by Dungeon Master Mark Sherlock-Humes, with me, Tom, playing Keelakad Kalad, bard slash cleric. I am Chris Trott, I'm playing Lucius Viren, Elowen Elanastio, and I am a High Elf Sorcerer. Hi, I'm Rhiannon, I'm playing Sentry, I am a Guardian Paladin. Hi, I'm Katie, I'm playing Ayla, a Wild Elf Barbarian. And I'm Kim, I'm playing Nova, who is wild elf barbarian. And I'm Kim. I'm playing Nova, who is an air ganassi and she is a hexblade warlock.

Thanks once again to our lovely, loyal sponsors D&D Beyond. Thank them for us by making a free account with a link in the description of this episode and start digitising your campaigns. Anyway, on to the episode. In the town of Ironwick, Quill has discovered something amiss with this general store. Could it be the source of the missing children?

Welcome back. So, to recap on what happened on the last episode of High Rollers Eros, the party have made their way to a town called Ironwick, a small, used-to-be-a-trade town, has now kind of become a bit of a tourist trap with not much else going on it along the Golden Road, a long trade road that leads to the city of Goldthrone on the continent of Suvona. Along the way, the party have encountered a number of trials and tribulations, one of which includes the attempted kidnapping of a young girl called Vala,

who the party helped rescue from the crashing airship that they were all traveling on. Upon arrival in Ironwick, the party discovered that a woman, a beast walker, a rabbit woman called Sana and her human client Galen were being run out of town by the locals for fear that they'd been stealing from the town. Galen is looking for his missing daughter and had hired Sana as a bounty hunter to help him locate her. The party spoke with the couple and learned a little bit about what was going on, that there were some things going on in the town, including a mysterious green glow emanating from the lake. After discussing things with the team, Nova was the one who remembered that the green glow reminded her of the crashed Court of Shadows

shuttle where she'd found her sword Tiangong. The party then did some further investigations, leaving Quill, Ayla and Vala in the local general store, where after using a detect magic spell, Quill had come to realise that there was more going on than meets the eye. And that's where we're going to jump back in today. And in fact, if we get the little map cam in the corner there, DJ, we can see exactly what's going on. Can I just say that that previously was very good. Thank you. I didn't have it prepared.

Sharp to the point. It was completely off the top of my head. Really good. Thanks, Tom. Are you fishing to be golden boy? Can I have inspiration? No. Dammit.

But you are my favorite for today because you've had a tough week on this. Yeah. Check out Tom's Twitter for that saga. But anyway, so we can see, so the Acorn and Bale is a general store. There is also another building which is kind of attached to the side which serves as a local pub,

but the store is somewhat separate. Yeah. Quill, Ayla and vala had gone inside where you were speaking to two of the cert like the staff girls um the dwarf owner bodwin is currently passed out by a table near the door um and the girls are basically helping vala and ayla look over items as a distraction whilst you would cast detect magic And you had revealed that there was a strange arcane glow coming from the back room, which is over here. Yeah.

You'd also detected that they had some very minor enchantments on necklaces of a strange pair of crossed swords over a star, like a four-point star, not like a cheesy gold star star. Okay. And there was also something magical about the tea that Bodwin was drinking from and had star star. Okay. And there was also something magical about the tea that Bodwin was drinking from and had fallen asleep. Okay. And that is literally where we left things off.

Quill just realising this as his eyes glimmer with magic. Yeah. Did I identify what types of magic? So I think that the necklaces that they're wearing is... You don't even think it's necessarily a school of magic. It's a very minor enchantment. I see. It's probably an enchantment effect, but it's very minor.

The warded circle out in the back room is abjuration. Right. And the T is also enchantment. Okay. Right. And the T is also enchantment. Okay. Okay. And you can see Aayla is like looking over like cross-shoulder towards you, like, come on, like.

Oh, yeah, these knives. Not sure which one I like more. Aayla, Vala. Oh. I think it's probably best we discuss with the others If we do want to buy stuff Apparently they've been here already So we should probably make sure

We're not buying duplicates That would be very silly of us after all Vala's like oh yeah good idea Quillen kind of starts backing off a little bit But Vala we'll definitely come back To buy you something If you want so when you start

talking to Valor the tiefling girl that she's talking to she's wearing kind of like the similar garb that most of Ironwick seems to be wearing

red skin kind of horns black hair she's like so your name's Valor man you sure are a pretty one and she's like

no thank you and just kind of looks around like well y'all are welcome here anytime we'll definitely be back thank you and just kind of looks around like well y'all are welcome here anytime we'll definitely be back thank you

goodbye bye bye Birdman bye and you yeah you leave they don't show no sign of

in that case I'll communicate everything I saw to Ayla and Vala and then we knew where the other guys

yes they had all gone down to the boat to see and inquire about renting a boat for the evening. Okay, I think I'll sort of push down that way then to meet up with them and let them know what I found. So yeah, you guys can all meet back up at Galen and Sanna's lodge

easily enough. What happened with the boats in the end? They're really expensive at night. Oh, at night? Yeah. We night. Oh. Yeah. At night? Yeah. If we said we couldn't go out at night, that would be... I mean...

Nova lied. What? She pretended that we were in romance. Why would you... It's very nice in this... I mean, it was quite romantic. I felt it. Was it necessary?

Absolutely, to try and get a discount. Yeah, I just wanted to see if we could get out on the lake at night. Okay. Nicely. And not say that we're going down to a green glowy boat, which, whatever it is.

What do you think it is? I think it's a ship. It's a ship. It's the remnant ship. With like an airship like you were travelling on? I'm guessing. That's what they had.

Like, you know, they go in the sky. They came down from space in them. So one thing you would remember Nova, yeah they did The main thing you would know is it's very different to the airship When you went inside the shuttle The ship itself

Seemed to be built from this black crystal And it had these green power lines The airships are made from wood They're like sailing ships but they have magical sails And things like that which allow them to fly through the sky But one is very alien And one has been built here on eros and you think that the ships are very different yeah and the one i found was more alien it was it was a it was a spaceship it was a shuttle a small skiff yeah like a smaller kind of scout vessel um so many years after the sundering and

that you know big critical event in eros how much do say, people like Quill or, I guess, Lucius, how much do they actually know about that sort of thing? Like if you say... Yeah, it's kind of like how much we would know about 500 years ago today, right? Like there are historians who have researched it, but a lot of knowledge was lost and a lot of people didn't survive.

It was really only the Sky Cities that survived well. Yeah. And so they have records of things. So, yeah, everybody knows about Calus Starbane and the Court of Shadows, who are this force that came from the sky, from the dark beyond, they call it, the dark above. They came down in these black crystalline spaceships,

and they had monsters, and they had these alien beings and fiends that worked for them. And it was terrible. It was classic super evil space villain came down and tried to take the planet over. It's been exaggerated and it's become a legend almost. If there were some sort of really wide parchment which shows the sundering yes some way yes animated yes that would really help you've seen like a like a tapestry yes very much so very good but yeah but yeah records from that time is like yeah the sky cities have the most complete records but the problem is that

the sky cities whilst they did survive and they were saved they also went through a lot of hardships you know initially until they discovered ethereum the sky cities had no way to replenish their food they they had to kind of prioritize what they focused on and so writing things down wasn't really at the top of their list so there is surviving records but not great versions and in terms of uh like activated this is tom talking And in terms of, like, activated... This is Tom talking, not Quill. Yes, of course. In terms of, like, activated remnant ships...

Super rare. So the only ones you guys would know of, and I think, Quill, you'd be the best one who would know this because you're a messenger and you've learned a lot about the world, is the Dragonborn. They arrived just before Starbane did from the sky, and they came down in very similar ships but their ships were gold crystal

and their ships, they still have somewhat active power and they basically, most Dragonborn live and work in their ships, these ships that they came down in. They have a very naval, like a military culture and so they kind of operate as if they were still a military.

And they work and they function. Yeah. These ships have become outposts, but they don't have the power to fly or to fly around and stuff like that anymore. But remnant ships are either derelict and have been completely ransacked or they just were destroyed and nobody knows what happened to them. Or not discovered at all. Yeah. And then Sentry for you, I mean, you were in the war. You were there

when these ships were attacking Solvin. They probably wouldn't have sent, they would have sent like maybe like one or two really big battle cruisers, but a lot of them were these kind of

vanguards or scout ships. Yeah. And they have like, they can shoot energy down from like the sky. They would often transport like winged beasts like demons and fiends and things like that and send those down to attack the ground forces and remnant tech is

very advanced like the court of shadows had advanced technology beyond eros's they had highly magical highly advanced technology which allowed them to do all this stuff and so yeah you would have known it from a first-hand experience like if you see one of these ships you'd recognize it yeah um nova as well because she's seen one of these scout ships but the felucious and and quill and ayla you guys have heard maybe seen drawings or paintings of them but you've never seen one in real life okay fair enough lore dump complete yeah yeah just uh just wondering because because would I be able to say, there's a ship down there, it's the good times guys. It's not

impossible that there could be one down there. What's strange is that it must be deeply buried under the earth or something for nobody to have found it so far. Or it could have been laying dormant and just nobody realised it was there. Yeah, they just never would have seen it if it was just in the water.

Yeah, it is a very big and very deep lake. Yeah, I was going to say it's a deep lake. It's a very big, deep lake. So fishermen, probably not, but somebody would have sent something down to scout, you know, salvage it or something like that, you know. Okay. But yeah, so there you go.

I don't know if you'd necessarily believe Nova as well. Like, you might think that Nova's maybe got it wrong. Like, because it's such a big... I don't know. It could be such a big idea that there's a ship down there. Yeah, that's mainly what I was wondering. What are the actual chances of it being what Nova said it was? Slim? Not impossible, but slim. I haven't got any other alternative suggestions.

So that might be like Quill's reasoning is like, well, I can't think of anything else that might be like quills algae reasoning is like well i can't think of anything else that could be doing it yeah so you trust nova for now but you're kind of skeptical about it maybe because nova sees ships everywhere true so anyway you're arranging all of this and you can see that arvel is talking to galen this kind of human man with um kind of salt and pepper hair looks very ragged looks very tired um and him and arvel are kind of human man with um kind of salt and pepper hair looks very ragged looks very tired um and him and arval are kind of just like having a quiet conversation off to the side um yeah and the rest of you will come back uh sanna looks over at quill ayla and vala and it's like so how did it go oh

well we um went to the shop and there are two um girls working there uh who i imagine have been there for a while yeah the young the young girls, I've seen them around. Yep, they're lovely. They've got... I did detect magic and I saw they had some enchantments around their neck. Amulets. Two cross swords over a star. Okay, so

when he says that, for Sentry, that is something you would remember very clearly, because that is the flag that would hang from starbane's forces oh cool so when they would go into battle like their banners their armor would have this same thing of a four-pointed kind of like d8 shaped star with crossed swords behind Okay. Wow. Yeah. Okay. That's Starbane's signal, or their sigil.

Starbane's... That's... Sorry, what? Yeah. As in the remnant, or... As in the big bad. Yeah. As in the Starbane that killed Siaska. Yeah. And that's not something I think

the rest of you would know because a lot of those were destroyed or never found like the sigil itself wouldn't have really been remembered or like noted down just like the names and stuff probably would have been why on Erevis would they have that wait

the glowy ship and then they're there? I mean, it's too coincidental, but... How are the remnants still here? But why those two? Why those... They must be protecting the other thing you saw. The... They're amulets. Were the amulets magic?

They were, but they're just an enchantment, small enchantment. Would you know what that is? I wouldn't know what that is, no. Did you find anything else at the shop? Yes, I did. What did you find? Well, the thing in the back. It's good you asked about that because there was something in the back. No way. It was a ritual circle.

Oh no. Abjuration magic, I don't really know what that could be, but it's a ritual circle. Maybe there's a way in that shop for them to get to the place.

That's where the trail ended. It was on the floor. You saw it. Yeah. It could be some form of... Can I do an intelligence check? Sure. Yeah, absolutely.

Or arcana, this would be. Okay. So that's 12. 12. Yeah, I mean, it's not really your kind of magic, but you know up in the Sky Cities there are a lot of... They call them spellwrights, where they're not necessarily a full mage,

but they can cast ritual spells. They can take time to do ritual magic. And there are spells which let them protect houses. You can kind of like ward houses or like doorways, that sort of thing. There's also rituals to like create unseen servants. There's also ones which you can create ones which are kind of like just alarms, but also ones which will explode upon, you know, being revealed and things like that. Teleportation circles would also appear in that way.

Anything like that, really. Blair. Well, I mean, if they're ritualing spells in the back of this place, that's where the trail ends for the people that Sana was after. And in the back of that place, there's a circle. And if you're saying they can do teleportation from this circle, then they must be taking them somewhere. They must be going somewhere. And I know that the girls were brought here, so...

Take them to the glow. How else would they get in there? And if they're a remnant, like you say, they could be protecting it, using the shop as a front. So does that mean the people after Barla, the ones who can teleport through shadows and all of these things. Court of Shadows. The Court of Shadows. Then that's ultimately where they were being led to.

They're tied to these remnant here. Sounds like this is definitely the way we need to go. What do remnant look like? Are they just people? What are they? Space people? You met them on the airship. They attacked us. Yes, but they were wearing cloaks and things. I didn't see their faces. So yeah, Sensory, you'd know... Yeah, it's mixed.

The Corps of Shadows army was made up of humanoids. So humans, people that look like men and women. Not really the other races, mainly humans. But also there were demons. There were creatures with like tentacled faces, large eyes with multiple eye stalks, all sorts of bizarre creatures. All made up the forces of the Court of Shadows.

But they also had constructs like yourself. They had like automatons. They had evil dragons, they had, you know, dragons very similar to the ones that came out before, all sorts of creatures and races. Primarily though it was, yeah, humanoids. They had a strange race of kind of yellow skinned, very skinny, large eyes, hairless kind of humanoids that had mind magic. They could manipulate, they could almost cast magic spells, but they weren't casting magic. They could almost, like, just create it with their mind. Okay.

So, what didn't the remnant have? I don't know. The races of Erois, primarily. Oh, yeah. And guardians. Guardians were, youros, primarily. Oh, yeah. And Guardians. Guardians were, you know, they had automatons, but they weren't sentient like you are. They were like machines.

Okay. I suspect, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they're pulling a fast one on us. What do you mean? I reckon they're protecting what they truly look like so that they can blend in with the local populace. What, they are not tiefling? Why else would they have necklaces that are enchanted around their neck?

True. If they were just representative, then it would just be a sigil, a mundane item. But these are enchanted, unless that's what Starbane gives to his best. They could be keystones to the teleportation circle if that's what it is. It could be their way to get through. I don't understand a word of this.

Santa's also like she kind of reaches up scratches one of her tall bunny ears and is just like yeah this is a bit beyond me. Daddy has one of those. So you have an enchanted item, which then is used to... Imagine a key unlocking a chest.

Okay. It's the same kind of thing, but with magic. So you need the amulet to power the ritual circle? It's an assumption. It's to prevent everybody going through that. But in terms of... If it's disguising these girls, then wouldn't people have noticed that they're different people?

Or they could have killed the girls and replaced them. Well, that's what I mean. They would have changed who they were. They would have been assuming the life of these other people. You see Bala kind of looks over at you. She's like, Quill, they learned what my name was and that I'm here. Should we be worried? Oh, good point.

I do feel like we should be. They're definitely on to us. Yeah. What should we do? We run away. Run away? You can't run away, Lucius. No, if these people are the ones that are after me,

if they've kidnapped all the girls, we've got to do something. We have to stop them. But we can't take... Can we take Valor with us into this place? There's no way. We're just walking what they want straight into the place, surely. Aayla at this point is like, yeah, but if we leave her here,

if they send agents here, she's going to be on her own. I mean, I can stay up here with her. Me and Arvel can look after her up here while you guys check it out, but she shouldn't stay up here with her me and arvel can look after up here while you guys check it out but she shouldn't stay up here on her own whether we all go or some of us have to stay behind and watch her true i can change my identity i can cut my hair and we can all just i can put sentry in a human outfit we can change our lives we just leave is this the runaway plan again yes we can't do that. Firstly, how am I meant to disguise myself?

Secondly... Another human outfit. With a really big nose. If we keep running, the Remnant are going to keep coming after us for Valor. And they're going to keep coming and keep coming and keep coming. And they're going to keep getting other people involved in this. This is so much bigger than we initially thought though we're not going into just a cave full of husks but if we don't stop it then when does it stop when the remnant are back again or something i don't know

that they're here like we're against her what are we gonna do infiltrators from outside arose i mean you were built for it, sure, and that's great, but you're the only one with any experience of these people. But then we have an advantage, surely, right? Sana looks over and is like, Guardian, I mean, I'm guessing that these are just people, right? We can fight them. You fought them in the war, right? Yeah, they're made of different races. Then we can still punch them, we can still kick them, stab them, beat them to death. Have you ever been

inside one of their craft? No. Yes. You have. What? How did you get inside a remnant ship? Oh, I said that out loud, didn't I? That was my outside voice, not my inside voice. This is where Tiangong came from.

You're having dreams and stuff. He's right. Yeah, this, and I hold up Tiangong came from. You're having dreams and stuff. He's right. Yes. Yeah, this, and I hold up Tiangong. This came from one of their ships. Wow. Even though. All right.

Ignoring that for a second, that means you've got some knowledge of how these ships work, right? Or what they look like? A base knowledge, yeah. The ship that I found was very small. More like a shuttle than an actual... Definitely not the size... Given the size of that lake,

definitely not that big. But I do have some knowledge and I have Tiangong who might be able to help and translate and... Or work against us. No. What if it's reunited with its people and it's then like kill switch. When we met the Court of

Shadows on the airship on the Sparrowblade, Tiangong didn't want to be there. I sensed fear, I sensed a need to be away and when I found Tiangong in the first place that was the same sense. It wanted to leave, it wanted to come with me, it didn't want to be used on that ship anymore and it helped me escape because when I was there I was ambushed by a small group of remnant and Tiangong helped me get away well in an effort to understand the emotions of a sword um will the sword be happy being inside the ship again i genuinely don't know will it have performance issues that's what quill's trying to say, I think. Eventually. It didn't when we fought the remnant before. True.

I guess it didn't when we were fighting the Goliath either. My concern is, you found Tiangong in a relatively small craft. What technology is in a bigger one? Are there 20 Tiangongs? Are they all going to have one each with capabilities that Eros has not even seen?

Well, there's only one way to find out. Yeah, Noah, well, I mean, you guys can do what you want. I appreciate that you can make your own decisions, but I've been hired to find this girl, and if that's my only lead, then that's where I'm going to be going. And... Sana just kind of shrugged her shoulders. No way we're letting Sana go on her own. This is too big an opportunity.

I appreciate that, Gwil. She just kind of gives you a solid nod from like seven feet. She looks down. I should point out, she's not seven feet. It's like because of her,

like she stands on her tiptoes and her ears. She's probably like six, four and then the rest is all like tiptoes and ears. We do have one benefit. Whatever they are, they're not Starbane's forces like they were hundreds of years ago.

They're just people with the ideas. Whereas we have an actual guardian from that time. It's true. Who is going to be far superior, have much more knowledge than they ever will. We can also take this easy, right? Let's just find out what these girls are protecting in that back room. Then we take the next steps.

We see where that leads. See where that goes. Let's not rush in, you know, fist swinging, guns blazing, but we can take our time. I like that idea more than running in there and taking their necklaces. I mean, I've never really been one for violence. Well, let's figure out, what do we want to do about this store? Should we sneak in, try and see what they were hiding?

Oh, I think I can go invisible. What? That sounds pretty handy. Yeah, I was just basically thinking about it and running a few experiments and stuff like that, and I think I can go invisible now. And then you just disappeared. Okay. Okay.

Well, I mean... Magic. Literally is. At the very least, if we do go in there, and invisibility doesn't work for whatever reason, don't drink the tea. The dwarf who owns it, I can't remember his name. Bodwin. Bodwin.

Bodwin. His tea was also magically enchanted somehow as well, I'm not sure. So they drugged him? Well, yes. He was passed out and he was drinking a magic tea. Conclusion? They drugged him. Yeah. Sounds like they're already up to something. I feel like, yes.

Absolutely. And I feel like that's the real store owner and they've infiltrated. At this point, it's now quite late Absolutely. And I feel like that's the real store owner, and they've infiltrated. At this point, it's now quite late evening. It's probably like 9, 10 p.m. Let's get a nappy on the go. A big long one. A nappy? Yes.

There's no babies. A big four-hour nappy. Eight hours for Birdie. Oh. Eight hours for you. Yeah. No, I'm with you. I'm with you, kid. That was a weird way of saying a nap.

That sounds really odd. I mean, isn't nighttime the perfect time to go and sneak around? I'm tired, though. No, we're closing up the store. You've got heavy eyelids. What's up to you? I don't mind trying out my invisibility and seeing what I can find

in the store. No one's nappy. I mean... No, I don't want a nappy. How long will it take to head down there? Nova goes invisible apparently, wanders in, comes out, says what she saw. We go to sleep then. Have a nappy then. Yes, I suppose.

I suppose I can push it. It's way past my bedtime now. Aayla looks around and is like, do you want me to keep an eye on Valar? Keep her here? At least for now. I mean, we're just investigating. We're not doing anything crazy. Alright, Arvel. And Arvel's like, yep.

I wonder if it's worth changing Valar's appearance. Aayla's like, what do you want me to do? I can't, I'm not going to do that. You give her a haircut. Could give her a haircut. She's already got a big old cowboy hat on. Yeah, she does have a big cowboy hat on

that she's put her hair up into so it's not hanging down her shoulders. But you can see Valor's like, looks at Aayla. I ain't cut my hair. It's just, hmm. I'm going to cut her hair with a hammer. Bam.

Okay. So let's head down. All right. So the four of you and Santa will go with you as well. Make your way down. Now, the town itself is asleep. Most people have retreated to their homes. There's a couple of windows, like little flickers of candlelight, but generally Einwick is near silent. A gentle lapping of waves against

the shore of the lake just echoes out. You occasionally maybe hear something splash out in the lake. It quickly vanishes, and just the wind whistles through the town itself. The store, there are no lights, but you find your way there. Those of you with dark vision kind of leading the way. And yeah, you approach this empty-looking building. What would you like to do? Well, everybody. I'm happy to stay back and keep a lookout.

I think it's everyone stays back and you... All right. Invisible, I guess. I was just wondering just wondering though i can make someone else invisible so i don't know if you would be more valuable with the tech magic although i can also um cast identify so but i don't know this works on objects identify doesn't work on spells does like you? You read the spell, tell me. Are the magic imbued objects... Would the floor be magic imbued? Possibly. Yeah, magic imbued object.

You learn its properties and how to use it, whether it requires attunement, how many charges it has, blah, blah, blah. It sounds more like it would only work on a magical item. I also have that as well. You learn whether any spells are affecting the item and what they are. Okay, maybe then. Yeah, sure, maybe. spells are affecting the item and what they are.

Okay, maybe then. Yeah, sure, maybe. I feel like you're much more magically attuned than I am. Plus, probably stealthier. Yes. Yeah. Okay, so Nova's going to sneak on.

Yeah, I guess I'll cast invisibility. So you cast invisibility. Okay, so that's one of your spell slots and then you you watch as nova just vanishes from sight her form just kind of blends with the light you maybe see like a pulse from tiangong this like dagger sized blade as it just kind of i'd like to think actually that tiangong is the kind of key to me going invisible so like i start mumbling and then i'm kind of like okay if i focus on this bit i think and if i say this and then suddenly yeah like starting from tiangong I just like a shield almost goes up.

You could almost like you use Tiangong to like cut the air and then as you step through it, you finish. Yes. And then you step through and you disappear. So you do that. I guess everyone else is like actively keeping watch as well. Yes. So what we'll have is we'll have everybody button over, make perception check including Santa who is advantage because she has keen sense of smell She has I should point out I didn't mention this she has a tiny bunny nose, okay flat bunny nose

So with my minus five I rolled a zero Plus my perception Great. Yeah, I rolled five. Okay with my plus five perception. So ten. That's all no You know you minus five you just have plus 5 perception so 10 that's awful no you don't get minus 5 you just have a disadvantage oh I thought it's passive perception

oh of course okay yeah so 10 so 10 19 19 17 17

20 for Santa as well so you guys are keeping a look out and so far nobody seems to be approaching the inn maybe Century and Santa Santa's like I can smell those girls somewhere out and so far nobody seems to be approaching the inn. Maybe Sentry and

Sana. Sana's like, I could smell those girls somewhere but they're not in the store. She's like sniffing. I mean you maybe hear like, almost what sounds like you kind of put your ear down. You can almost hear like singing or chanting. Okay. But you're not quite sure where from. So Nova, you make your way stealthily up to the door. You can see it's a wooden door. There is one window around the side and if you search around the back

there is another window near the back as well. There are two windows at the back. They all appear to be locked. Cool. Can I try and pop open one of the windows? I'm not sure how you're going to try and do it so they appear to be like um they're like pull down shutters and then they have like a latch on the inside they're not locked like with a key but the latch that keeps them held is on the inside can i cast mage hand on the inside of the window to pop the lock so you cast mage hand the mage

hand just flips the lip and then you pull the thing up. Give me a stealth check as you actually step into the actual place itself. In a universe where Mage Hand exists, they'd come up with different lock styles. Lowlands,

Mage Hand isn't common. Magic users in the lowlands aren't common. Up in the Sky Cities, 100% yes. They're like, lol. 18.

Not falling for that one. 18. There's another Mage Hand that slaps the mage hand. They have mage cats that hunt mage cats. Oh, shit. No, so you step in quietly, you shut the window again, and just creep around. You're now in the stock room, and you can see there are shelves covering things, and this is where Quill told you the magic circle was,

but obviously you can't see it without the tech magic, so... Okay. And this is where Quill told you the magic circle was, but obviously you can't see it without the tech magic. Okay. Well, I guess could I cast identify? There's nothing around you that you can see as magical. You can make an investigation to try and search the place. Investigation, okay. I didn't realize a circle would be invisible without the tech magic. Well, you didn't, yeah.

17. Yeah, so searching around, spending a bit of time with investigation um you first of all this is a stock room and it's full of generic general store stuff but in the floor you pull back um like a round rug and there is a trapdoor um underneath it and you can see that scratched into the kind of rim is faintly glowing runes around in a circle on the trapdoor itself okay uh can i cast identify so you cast identify on the thing and i think because it says an object imbued with magic and you learn if it's affected by any magic yeah i'm gonna say that this works uh you there is an alarm spell cast upon the trapdoor and you know that the alarm spell

that if this trapdoor is opened while the alarm spell is active it will silently tell whoever cast it and whoever they designated that the door has been opened it's like a they'll hear like a ring of bells in their head okay and as you get closer you can now begin to hear coming from below the floorboards yeah like a chanting like a ritual ritual chanting. Sounds like three voices, three feminine voices. I'm going to sneak back, and I think can I just open the window? Are you guys outside?

We're nearby. If you're keeping watch, like four of you are in four corners, and you're keeping an eye out kind of thing. If I could be like, hey! Whoever's closest then gets the others, and you all kind of converge on the back window. Pineapple!

Swordfish! I can hear pineapple and swordfish. Right, that's it. That's the code. That's the code. Let's get back. I found a trap door. You don't need to wait. Stage whisper. I found a trap door. Okay. We are whispering.

It's got an alarm spell on it, though. And there's people chanting underneath it. Underneath the trap door? Yeah. Really spooky. We need to dispel it, but I don't have that ability. Skip that class, damn it.

What? Spell class. The spell class, I see. I have no... I can't do it either. Does it make... Is it like a loud alarm? Like, would everybody in the town hear it?

No, it will just tell whoever cast the spell that it's been tripped. So I could trip it and then hide. Yeah. We'll see. You are still invisible. I've got an hour of invisibility. It's been like five minutes. She cast Identify. How does that affect invisibility?

Ooh. Are they concentration spells? Identify is a ritual. Does it say concentration on the spell Identify? The SM, instantaneous. If it doesn't say concentration, then nope.

And invisibility, there's nothing there. So invisibility is maintained. If it doesn't disrupt the concentration, then... Because invisibility is a concentration. It would be the diamond symbol next to it. Okay, so there's a diamond next to it. So there's R next to identify? That's ritual. Yeah, that's fine.

No C. So yeah, that's fine. So she's still invisible to identify? That's ritual. Yeah, that's fine. No C. So yeah, that's fine. So she's still invisible. Cool. I mean, I have this voice speaking to you from inside. If you want to open it and hide, then, I mean, all you have to do is open it and stand there, really. But should we be nearby just in case?

Is it just to see who's under there? To disrupt the ritual? Did you see anything in there? We need to get down there, right? I don't really know how we'll get down there without triggering an alarm. Once the alarm's triggered, whoever is meant to hear it

will come down. Usually it's the... When they come up. If we go down when they come up, then we are... Or if you wait for them to come up and pop them on the head. It's not much of a surprise, but what else can we do without

removing the spell entirely and sneaking in? Well, yeah, exactly. It's either we open it to find out who's under there, open it to jump in ourselves and probably get attacked by either the people that are under there

or more people that are meant to hear this alarm. Or we... There was a third plan. I can't remember it now. Set fire to the shop. No. No, God, no. Let's not do that. From a civilian standpoint, we've already trespassed, broken into.

Oh, no. Say, for example, right? I'm breaking the law. Say, for example, we've gone at a very weird tangent and these people are actually normal and nice and they just have an alarm for their trapdoor because that's where their storehouse is. True.

And we're just breaking and entering at this point. Well, why are they chanting spooky chanting? Why do they have symbols? Why do they have Starbane symbols? Yeah. That's not a thing. There could be a straight, I mean, that's not exactly illegal. It's not, but it's pretty suspicious.

Yeah. I'm just saying, you know, I'm being devil's advocate here. I get what she's saying. I get what she's saying. Demon's advocate? Starbane's advocate? I could make a noise in the shop and hope that they come up. That might be enough.

You don't know who else is in that alarm. Do you know if you trigger the alarm, is it triggered until it's recast again? Yes, you would know that. They would have to cast it again. What that mystical voice just said. Why don't, if you trigger it, hide, when they come up, you go down. See what's down there. What if I get stuck down there?

Get a message to us somehow. I'll send it I'll send a Nothing to you I Can send a message I can constantly have like a can't read you keep casting So I can do it as long as I know where they are within the, well, between one foot of stone, one inch of metal, blah, blah, blah. Okay.

So like, I guess I'll just keep doing that. It depends on how deep she goes. Oh, exactly. Like, I guess if you open the trap door and there's no one there, then I know

that you, that it's kind of safe for us to go there. Does that make sense? So if you find a way to load them up, trigger the trap, then the trap door is opened. We're able to then go down there. It sounds like you're doing a lot of thinking

about this, Quill. I mean, I am. I'm going to go and open the door. You keep in contact with me. We'll see what happens. I like this plan. Let's get into position in case we have to protect

Nova. That would be nice. Can we have some... If, for example, it doesn't resort to fighting, can we have some reasoning to get ourselves out of it diplomatically? We're investigating

missing children. That's what we're doing. And investigations led to here. This is where the trail ended. Usually we would ask permission. To illegally trespass? You usually have a warrant or something like that. You are not lawmen. We're vigilante-ists. Yeah, this is very vigilante-ism.

Okay, in that case, Sana, what's the normal protocol in this sort of situation? Don't get caught. Don't get caught. Oh, boy. We're bounty hunters now. Oh, boy. When it comes to it, we just have to do the dirty. I've never been arrested in my life.

Look, if we get caught, it will come down to the field warden. She's the law in the town. If she thinks that we've really screwed things up, she might arrest us, she might fine us. Oh, boy. Or we can just run. We can book it out of town. But we have cause to at least try and explain away.

I think the fact that we've centuries heard this chanting, they've clearly got magic protecting something, that's not normal in the lowlands, I should point out. Most people don't have the resources to use that sort of magic here. Okay. So. Plus, very common up in this.

Starbane sigil. I figured. Ship in the water. Good boy. End of the trail, children going missing. Yeah, it seems like it's, again, worst case scenario, maybe we have to book it out of town quickly. Cut our hair, give you a human costume.

Your human costume. Take all my feathers out. I think I took brown hair. Paint me pink. Oh, pink. Okay, Nova, at this point, you've maybe got 30 minutes left of... If I get arrested, my parents are going to be so mad. Okay, here goes.

So can I go back? Can I use Mage Hand again to open the trapdoor? Yeah, so where do you want to be? I want to hide. So I'm going to be invisible, but can I also hide behind maybe the barrels? So you're going to move over to like there's a bunch of barrels and stocks and things like that, and you're going to kind of press yourself up as best you can. Can I get in a barrel?

None of them are open. Oh, fine. But you could stand on them, or you can try and basically put yourself behind them. No, I want to hide behind one, or you can try and basically put yourself behind them. No, I want to hide behind one, like crouch behind one. Okay. And then can I use Mage Hand to open the trapdoor? Yes, you absolutely can.

So you summon the Mage Hand, and you hear the... It just opens up. The chanting stops. As soon as it opens, you hear the chanting come to an end, and you hear whispered voices. As soon as it opens, you hear the chanting come to an end and you hear whispered voices. And then you hear somebody coming up like a stepladder and you see the human girl. Trisha was her name. Trisha.

Kind of comes up and you can see that she looks very serious and she's kind of looking around. Is she wearing creepy robes? No, she's wearing the same outfit that she was earlier but now the necklace is out and you can see it's not being hidden by her clothing and you can see the same symbol necklace there is also a particularly nasty looking knife in her hand oh cool is it like one of those um and really wiggly advantage w. It's got that slight curve, yeah. Classic cultist stack. Sacrificial. Ooh. 11, 12, 13, 14.

Okay. So she begins looking around the room. She can't see anything. She's looking around in the darkness, and she probably has a... She wouldn't have climbed up the thing. She's just looking in the darkness at the point and she's kind of squinting, looking around. Could I use my mage hand to knock something over on the other side of the room?

Yeah, you can. As you go to do that, you kind of put your hand on the barrel and it squeaks a bit. But then you use your mage hand to make... What do you target, like a shelf? Just like a shelf to knock some of the potions. She knocks them, or glass or something. You knock something over.

You can see she looks over at where things are, but she's also glancing in your direction where she heard this squeak. No. No, Mark. Let me be. She kind of looks around. She moves over towards, I'll put her on the board as well. So she starts moving over towards like the shelf.

But she, yeah, you did close the window behind you. So she's like just looking around. Yeah, what do you want to do? In your head you can hear Nova. Still there? Do I have to speak to reply to you? No. It's a whisper. So you have to whisper, but I think it says in the spell

nobody else can hear it. No one else can hear it. Okay. One of the girls has come up. She's got a really sharp knife. Okay, I'm communicating that to everyone else then. Yep. Old radio quill. Over.

Twitter. One of three come up. So she sneaks in now. There's two down there. So, because it's quite dark, she's peering, and then she kind of thinks for a moment, and she, like, holds this necklace of Starbane. She speaks like she can hear kind of

almost like muttering some prayers and then her eyes glow with purple light and she starts looking around properly now um well i think she might be able to see me i might have to subdue her help she looks back over, she looks at the things knocked down, and then she looks over where she heard the squeaking barrel, and she starts making her way over to her, and you don't get the impression that she's seen you, but she's suspicious about that area.

What do you do? This is on you at the point, Nova. Nobody else is anybody else. If they want to jump in, you can, but it will be obvious. Like, you can try and sneak up to it, up to the window. The window is open, but unlocked. Simon, have you investigated this place already before? Just the main floor.

I didn't go in the back. What if you tried to knock on the door? Say you had further questions. I could try. Maybe that would distract them from sure but also the alarm she starts trying she stealths she's going to try and move quietly to the front so as santa starts moving she's got these big heavy armored boots like that kind of like kind of almost like riveted and things like that and she just steps on what would normally be a pretty sturdy looking branch but the weight of these boots she just crunch and she's just like

you see her head stop and her ear twitches like one little thing and the you see the the girl trisha just turns on the window and makes her way she steps over the kind of trap door um and is basically making her way towards it as as sara starts moving around to the front so she's going back down the trap door no she's moving up to the window now she looks at the window and sees the latch has been removed and she just gets the knife out and she you hear a call down like zanny then someone's here i can't see anybody, but something's going on. Quickly, and you can see her now start to go down the stepladder. Can we hear that from outside?

Yes. Okay. Does Nova know that... Well, does Kim know? Does Kim or Nova know? Do either of us know, because I haven't done invisibility for ages, that if I cast another spell, invisibility will go? Yes, go. If you attack, cast another spell, invisibility will go. Go, go.

If you attack, cast a spell, or interact with an object, like, in a meaningful way. In a meaningful way. Like opening a door, for example. No, identify is not a concentration spell, so I don't think it does. If you attack somebody, I should say, with a spell. But invisibility wasn't a concentration either. It is. It is.

Yeah, it's got a C beside it. I see, okay. I'm done, don't worry. That's all I'm going to roll it for now. I don't have my books. It is. It is. Yeah, it's got a C beside it. I see, okay. I'm done, don't worry. That's all I'm going to roll for now. I don't have my books. I left them at my desk. You can read my thing if you want. That's fine.

I trust you. Aw. Um. I don't. If you attack her, if you try and do anything meaningful to break the invisibility, you can pick up objects

and they'll become invisible. Yeah. I kind of want to use Mage Hand to try and take her necklace. You've done that already, haven't you? But if you try and grab something off of her I think that would probably break the invisibility. It would be similar to an attack.

Yeah, you can try. What are you doing, Kim? I'm going to give you a few seconds before she's literally started. Okay, sure. What do you suggest suggest so this voice out of nowhere says take off your necklace and give it to me okay and this is a wisdom saving throw yeah and your dc is 14 so she stops and turns to look at you and you can see with these blazing eyes

and suggestion the invisibility breaks by the way yep she just smiles I'm just stood there literally like this with my hands above my face

like she just smiles like when she sees you as your hope you're like is the suggestion going to take hold she's like

oh darn Zarkilla don't go for none of that and she is going to take hold. She's like, oh, darn. Zarkila, don't go for none of that. And she is going to cuss. Can you make a wisdom saving throw, please? No. Leave me alone. Wisdom.

Yep. Nine. Your body freezes. You're paralyzed. She starts going up and poking up rope off one of the shelves, moves over to you, make another wisdom saving throw. There is a knock at the door. 17. 17.

So she's just about to start tying you up. When the hold person, you manage to break free of it. At this point, let's roll initiative. Right. Cool. Here we go. A natural one. So we have... Right, cool. Here we go. A natural one.

So we have... Bang it. Oh, man, I'm lost. Do you want me to do initiative? No, I'm just doing it now. Just because I've got it here, I don't have my whiteboard and stuff. Hey, what'd you get? 15. All right.

Rock and roll! Hey, what'd you get? 15. All right. Rock and roll! Hey, what'd you get? 18. All right. Did everyone get higher than the natural one? How? Probability. So, Quill.

3. Sentry. 15. Nova. 21. Nice. Lucius. 18. So, T trisha i rolled a natural 20 she gets a 22 let's see how the other two do so she's going at sneaky son of a gun

it's okay son is gonna be like super quick. She's not. Aww. She's like, hello! So, she sees you kind of break out of this spell and there is, give me an insight check just as a free action. Insight. Yeah. Eleven.

Yeah, you just, she seems like focused on you. She will... Make another wisdom save as she kind of points and she says, I command you, grovel. Oh, mean. Seventeen. Seventeen.

You feel this compulsion to get on your knees and just start begging, basically. But you focus and Tiangong, you feel like a sense of strength come from your blade as you overcome it. I'll be honest, you didn't have to ask me to do that. Nova, your go. I'm pretty scared as it is already. Bye! You can see that she's got this knife in front of her and she's holding her hand up. She's in front of the window that I'm locked, right? So basically you've got like a barrel between you.

Question. Yes. Answer Chris Trott. Yes. If someone cast the command spell, do they know if it fails? Um, I think so. I think you would... Oh, can I fake like... You would have to have done it immediately.

You would have had to have said like, yeah, I'll just go down and kind of like... I don't want to influence her. I think it's... I think that they would know. I think that there is any spell you know if it's a success or not. You could try and bluff it, I think, but that would be like you'd have to make deception checks and stuff.

Yeah. I'll look into that. I'll have a think about that. For now, we're going to say that they know. Can I... Some way that Kim knew that her suggestion spell had failed. Can I disengage and run away to the door? Yeah, so you just... Bye!

So you actually don't need to disengage at the moment because there's a five-foot space between you. So you kind of hop over a barrel. So that's 5, 10, 15, 20... We get the map camera, TJ. 25, 30. Thank you 30 thank you yeah if we could teach you that'd be great so you start booking it out into the other room the front of the store um and she you hear her curse like don't like as you run off basically can i use mage hand like so is that movement do i have an action that would be your action if you're disengaging but you don't need to disengage So yeah You can just use your movement So you still have an action

Can I use my mage hand To push her? The mage hand doesn't have Any real Like it doesn't have Enough strength to push it Well can I use it To fumble with the lock then?

Like try and open On the door Which door? This door? Yeah the main door This one is a keyhole Okay Piss

Why am I running towards it? Is there another window? Yes, there is. There's another window just here. Can I get it to, like, unlock the window? Yeah, you can flip the latch off that. Yeah. So you use your mage hand and you flip the latch off that one.

Yep. Cool. And I'm also screaming, help, help, help, help, help, help, help, help, help, help, help, to Quill's. So, Lucius, so you guys are all currently on the outside. So we'll put you guys over here. Help me. I'm so squishy.

Yeah. You're all vaguely nearby. I'll probably have you guys watching the corners and then Quill sort of nearby for message. Cool. Yeah, so Lucius. What do I hear? Running?

You hear muffled speaking You hear footsteps As if somebody's running away You probably hear that I command you But muffled because you're hearing it through walls Senna I think Nova's been found, get in there Alright, and you can see her

Getting ready to kick the door down basically Because that's the only way that she's getting in I'll go up to her So I'll ready to kick the door down basically because that's the only way that she's getting in i'll go up to her uh-huh so i'll run to the front door okay and then i'll cast blade all on myself okay last one round classic a classic lucius uh sentry um force do i hear nova running towards that window so can i go around to that side yeah yeah so 5 10 15 20 25 30 and then you could spend your action to dash 5 10 15 20 25 30 so you start just running around the the length of the building okay perfect um so centuries go uh so uh another figure so uh nobody you'd see this uh the dwarf girl um that you've seen before basically pulls herself out onto the front

and sort of like looks at Trish. She's like, Trish, what? All right, she sees you. And you can see that this dwarf girl, she has a very nasty looking bat lax, like a kind of razored bat lax in her hands. And you see this very sadistic look on her face. She's just like, good.

I was hoping we'd only, we don't, I was afraid that we'd only have one to kill. I don't want to be sacrificed. Thank you. She climbs up and then she would have five, 10, 15 movements. So she starts like wading towards you basically. Triggered. Super triggered.

Okay. Santa will attempt to kick the door down. I think that's something she's very good at. Well, she would be. Oh, badly. So the first blow, she kind of kicks it and the door resists.

And then she kind of grunts and she's going to fucking do two big kicks into it. So those both hit. Let's do some damage rolls. Door. What health does a door have? That's what I'm trying to work out. Door's bleeding.

So she basically, the first kick kind of gets resisted. She boots it once. And then she looks at Lucius, goes, kind of rolls her eyes takes a step back jumps up in the air and then with two kind of like like straight kicks just snap snap the door flies off of its frame slams up against like it's like knocks over the table and then she kind of lands on her two feet and brings her arms up by her head um and then that's and then she'd probably have just enough movement to go I'm just in shock. I love her. And then she'll move up to Nova

basically and she puts her hand on your shoulder like she's here. Holy crap. Then another figure emerges from the bottom, which is a tiefling girl. She emerges, kind of looks up, sees you, she pulls out

another sort of bladed looking knife and she will she focuses for a moment and then her form begins to shimmer and become a blur and she will 10, 15, 20, 25. Oh, hi. She moves very quickly

and will step up next to you and will make two attacks against you. So that's a 16 and an 18. Both hit. Oh, hit? Oh, God. Oh, my God. Wait, what weapon has she got?

Just a knife. What? Just a knife. Just a big old... Six points of damage, three damage each. She just like cuts you twice. And just as she gets there, she's like, Van, quick, knock her out, let's get her.

Get her, get her, get her. Is it a butter knife? Quill. It's not a butter knife. It looks exactly the same as the other one. It'll go on this wicked, sacrificial-looking blade. So directly next to me, there's a window looking into this room. Okay, I have been basically peeking through, waiting for my turn. I'm going to cast on the middle one, on a 20-foot aura, Calm Emotions.

So this one? Okay, great! Give me a rundown. So Charisma save for 13. Everyone has to do it. What is an aura? A radius? 20-foot radius. And they are all do it. What is it in all? A radius? 20 foot radius. And they are all in it. Including Nova? I could do with Carmen. 5, 10, 15, yeah.

5, 10, 15, 20 yen. Santa and Nova. So each humanoid has to... Christmas saving thrift. Santa fails. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. Okay, so everybody but Nova 23. You pass, I mean. Okay, so everybody but Nova failed.

So what happened? Oh, holy crap. Everyone failed. Yep. The targets are indifferent about creatures of my choice. Okay. Which targets are your choice? Fucking all of us.

Any number of creatures? Yeah, you can make a target indifferent about creatures of your choice that it is hostile towards this indifference ends if they're attacked or harmed by a spell or if it witnesses any of its friends being harmed okay and what's the duration on the spell one minute one minute so for one minute you just watch as they're like they just come in like oh and they just like y'all shouldn't be here and they just like the the aggression just goes out of them completely. So we'll keep the same initiative rolls, but right now there is no threat.

So Senna, like, moves up. The only thing I'd probably say is, like, I guess would you call out, like, say, like, don't attack him or something like that? Yeah, I mean, I've got, that was just my action. So I'm going to, like, through the window, like, they're calmed, don't do anything stupid. Did you see Senna's, like, went, like, about to, I've got, that was just my action. Yeah, that was your action. So I'm going to, like, through the window, like, they're calmed, don't do anything stupid. You see Santa's, like, about to, like, roundhouse kick his teeth, blinging his face.

Santa! She's like, but then also Santa's affected, so Santa's just like, oh. Yeah, Santa, I guess, also. Her, like, ears, like, droop back. Aw. Just, like, smiles. So, yeah, everyone is calm.

So you're just like, yeah, this situation just suddenly diffuses and they're like, they, yeah, they look at you and I guess, I'm trying to think, they just say, y'all shouldn't be here. We've got something, we've got some business to take care of. Come on, girls. And then they start making their way back towards the trapdoor going down.

Oh, wait, can we come with you? Are they? No, no, we're doing, it's our private business. You can't come. Are we still in you? No, no, we're doing... It's our private business. Are we still in initiative? Vaguely, but I think at this point anybody can take actions until something happens and then we'll use the same initiatives. Hey, I really like your... I really like your necklace.

Can I see it? No. And then you can see that they hide. They're indifferent to you. They're not charming. So they hide it. They're like, no! Y'all need to get out of here right now. And they just start making their way down. I'm just going to shrug at everyone. Also, you're going to need to pay for that door.

And Santa's like, yeah, that sounds fine. I'll pay for it. He starts getting a gold out. We don't have long left. Once this spell ends, by the way. Should we get down there? I don't understand what's happening. They're not going to attack us for the time being,

but once it ends, they're hostile again. I feel like we need to go down there. Yeah, they go down. Let's go down with them. Let's go down again. Yeah. I guess they shut it, but it's not locked. They just pull the trap door shut.

So we just open it again. And then you just go up and open it again. Yeah. They're different to you, so they're just like, eh, whatever. They'll just leave you to it. They're not hostile. They can't be hostile to you. So they're just kind of calm.

They go downstairs. Let's just prepare for that moment. So what do you do? You just open it and start hitting down. You want to go first? Gladly. So Sentry gets in. So yeah.

So this is an amazing play. So Sentry, you start making your way down this rickety ladder. And you can hear this chanting. And you see that there is a cellar. So what would have once been, like, a store cellar, you can see racks of supplies and bags of flour and things like that. One end of this cellar has kind of been boarded off, and you can see that there is a chunk missing from the wall itself, and there is a cave.

There's some sort of tunnel or cave, and it's been boarded up. Right. In the middle of the cellar, in a ritual circle, is Bodwin, the owner, tied up, unconscious, and you can see that around they have got these kind of

symbols. The symbols on the ground are different to the ones on their necklaces. The symbols on the ground appear to be a snake coiled around the spear tip like a spear which is no fuck that looks way too similar to the stuff that thingy doesn't it shit something like that I remember this this is from something I'm sure I've seen it.

Sentry has definitely seen it. This is another one of the Court of Shadows symbols, but this represents his second-in-command, who is a woman called Tsar Killer, who was basically, she was like his second-in-command, like his main commander. And she was known as the, kind of to the Erois forces, she was like known as the snake of murder.

Like she is like a brutal totalitarian conquest woman. Right. And you can see that the girls have got these knives and they're chanting a ritual, and it looks like they're about to ritually sacrifice the dwarf, who isn't part of the creatures you designated so they're like yep gonna kill this guy but they're taunting

they're indifferent to you to them he's like yeah we're still gonna kill this guy so essentially you get down to the bottom and they kind of look over and they're like we told you you're not allowed to be here you should leave I just wanted to pick up some supplies.

I thought you might have some down here. Could you show me where there's... Give me a deception with advantage. Oh, yay. With advantage, you roll twice, take the highest. Oh, yeah, okay. Ten! I'll give them disadvantage.

Twelve. Twelve. We're not open. It's the middle of the night. Can't you see we're busy here? And they just, just down. Don't. Don't do that.

Why? This is none of your business. Y'all shouldn't be here. This is important business. You shouldn't kill a person. I mean, I'm kind of whispering to everyone to like start surrounding the room. You can do that. Yeah, you can do that. Yeah, you can absolutely do that.

What was your messages? Yeah, I guess I can message everyone. You just message individually. So you've got, like, a minute. We're going to start circling again. You literally got to the bottom and it's nearing the end of the minute. By the time they climb down and you guys got down there. So what would be a good gauge of how someone has good timekeeping in the game?

Would Quill have good timekeeping? I think anybody with high intelligence. Okay, fine. I am. Yeah. Nope. You're like, because it's almost taking a part of your brain to count whilst you think of other things. Okay, fair enough. So you're like, maybe Nova's been like, also thinking of other things. Okay. So you get down there,

maybe it's nearing the end, and yeah, they just look up and they're like, this is none of your business, strangers. Get out of here. Okay. We ain't got no quarrel with you. Not yet, anyway. Huh?

Yeah. Everyone ready? Yeah, do you guys want to attack first? You can just, you can take attack actions now. It'll break the spell, but you can all just go, let's all go now. Three, two, one. Everyone but Sana, right?

Yeah, can I say... Yes, Sana. Well, no, Sana, because Quill chooses who they're non-violent towards. And he chose you guys. So, Sana's not violent to you guys. Yeah. But she's not violent to them either.

I didn't choose them. He didn't choose them. Oh, okay. So, Sana just was like, you know, calmed down. But she's like, yeah, I can punch him in the face. I can kick him in the head. Okay. Is Santa just was like, you know, calmed down. But she's like, yeah, I can punch him in the face. I can kick him in the head. Okay. Is everyone ready then?

We suggest you stand down, otherwise you're going to regret it. I'm only trying to get one creature. No, I'm not going to suggest. I'm like literally just trying to appeal to them. They're just like, it's in your business, Ganassi. This is something we need to do. This is to appease our killer and the daughter of law. This isn't going to work.

It's three, two, one And everyone Everybody gets a surprise round So at this point you all get a surprise round This is going to be like the hero movement Of everyone just shooting the big star Or it's more like Inglourious Basterds where everyone just shoots each other under the table Yes

So yeah So yeah Hit me So yeah, each of you will just go around the table. Yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah. Hit me. So, yeah. Each of you will just go around the table, I guess. So, Sentry. Cool. So, there's three targets.

So, we'll kind of... This is... We won't use this, like, on camera or anything. Cool. You've kind of got you guys surrounding this sort of circle. Yeah. Yeah. Like, just there.

And in the middle of three... Three boys. Three... I say boys what I mean is three boys three boys um

banter boys so we've got just bantering and we're all attacking at exactly the same time ganking them so there's the three girls

and then there's Bodwin about to be murdered Bodwin so yeah you guys are just surrounding them so yeah, yeah, which one do you want to target? You've got the human, the tiefling,

or the dwarf? I'll target the dwarf. Okay, so you move up behind the dwarf. Big yore axe. Like, she's got this massive axe in her hands, and you've got yours, like, mole. I mean, should we all determine our targets now? Because if we're all attacking at the same time... And I'm figuring that, like, it's

you basically, you're all stood there looking non-hostile and Quill's like message draw saying right get ready and then Quill goes now and then you all spring into action otherwise this wouldn't be a surprise round because they still defend themselves. But no I mean is if century when century kills this dwarf in one hit yeah like potentially. I just rolled a nat 1. Oh We have advantage We have advantage Oh thanks So you roll twice to hit the highest Let's go 13

That's probably gonna hit 19 19 yeah 19 hits Nice So roll damage Do you want to do anything bonus with it? Nah just battle axe smash

Just battle axe? Yeah So it's only the 1d8 unless you're using smite Oh yes yeah that's right yes So do I roll again? Yeah just roll 1d8 and then add your normal bonus unless you're using smite. Oh, yes. Yeah, that's right. Yes. So roll again. Yeah, just roll 1d8 and then add your normal opponent. Four.

That's eight. Eight points of damage. So the axe cuts into her back, but she's still alive. She's like, ah! Eight plus four. And my hit is plus six. That's the attack roll, don't forget.

Oh, I see. The attack roll is to hit and then damage roll is 1d8 plus four. Oh, okay, yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, so it's eight. Yeah, you're right. So Sentry see. So the attack roll is to hit, and then damage roll is 1d8 plus 4. Oh, okay, yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, so it's 8. Yeah, you're right. So Sentry hits that one.

Who are you going for, Quill? I'm going to do a Guiding Bolt at level 2 on, I guess, just the one closest to me. I don't really... So the human girl? Yeah. Yep. Just a big old Guiding Bolt. Yep.

So Vantage, attack roll. Cool. 8, 10.antage, attack roll. Cool. Eight, ten. Wow, these are garbage rolls. Where's it gone? Guiding Bolt plus five, so 15? Hits. And that's a lot of damage, 5d6. Right, while you're rolling that, Nova, who are you attacking? I will attack the...

Human dwarf tiefling. Who's been attacked so far? The human and the dwarf? Yes I'll attack the tiefling Okay Because she got me first And I'm going to use green flame blade Roger, attack roll

What did you get on the damage coil? 23 Nice 23 on the You're attacking the human, right? Yeah Okay, so 23 This blast of white feathers and light hits the back of her.

24 to hit. 24 hits. Nailed it. Six points of damage to the tiefling, and then four to the dwarf. Four to the dwarf. Lucius? I'm going to cast lightning lure on the person that's

about to stab you. They're all about to do that. They literally are bringing down their weapons on the person that's about to stab you. They're all about to do that. Right. They literally are bringing down their weapons on the floor. In which case, the... Tiefling. Tiefling, yep. Okay.

I'm just going to try and... So is this a saving throw or is this an attack roll? It's an attack roll with advantage, right? Yep, with advantage. Nice. Yeah, I hit. Yep, hits. So that's 1d8 of lightning damage And I get pulled

You do a strength saving throw Like 18 Yeah So you don't get pulled But you take 4 Yes they still would Because as soon as it hits them They kind of

So 4 more 4 lightning Okay And then Santa will move up to Probably the dwarf Because she looks the toughest And give her a big old boot to the head Well She's dead Then Sana will move up to probably the dwarf, because she looks the toughest, and give her a big old boot to the head.

Woo! Well, she's dead. What else did she do to that door? So it hits. Yeah, but she's only attacking once this time. It's a surprise round. Actually, no, she can make all of her attacks. What am I talking about?

It's a surprise round. So we could all get bonus actions as well. Yes, in theory, if you have a bonus action you can use. So that was six. And then two more attacks from Santa. All with advantage. Which one of which is

a natural 20. Wow. Oh, seven for the damage on that one as well, so that becomes 14. Is she a monk? She's a martial artist. Okay. She's not monk class.

She doesn't have classes. I miss being a monk. Kicking people's heads across the room. I just remember just like, attack, another attack, another attack, another attack. I'm going to hellish rebuke. So all of these attacks take place. The girls are just surrounded.

Now, I think... Who would have done the thing? Yeah, Sana wouldn't actively try and kill them. She'd knock them out because she's not a murderer. So you see the dwarf gets hit in the back with this axe. She kind of lurches forward. And then just these three kind of like... Sana almost does like a Chun-Li where she spins in the air, like boom, boom, boom, with these three armored boots.

And the dwarf just is knocked unconscious. Just falls to the ground. The other two don't quite go down. But what about... The human girl is like blasting and you can see like her clothes kind of like smouldering from the impact of the magical energy. The tiefling seems to be faring the best out of everybody,

but they're kind of, they don't hit the dwarf, like their knives go wide and stuff like that. At which point, we jump back into the initiative, which I'll keep the same rolls from before just to speed things up. The human girl is like, and turns around, and she will cast You Hit Her. Can somebody who's got the player's handbook, do they? Can somebody look up Dissonant Whisper?

Dissonant Whisper. Yeah. And it's a second level version. I'm going to win. Dissonant Whisper? It's a bard spell. Sounds cool. I've got it for you. Thank you. Damn it, I just got it. So,

can you make a wisdom saving throw, please, Quill? Yeah. 6 more, so it's 2d6 12 4d6 actually it's 3d6 base damage 12 so you're going to take half damage

oh I passed okay yeah she's not super powerful and you don't get feared but you still take seven ten twelve six points of psychic damage

oh my bean as you kind of feel like these dark whispers she kind of turns on you these purple flamed eyes and you kind of feel this dark presence in your mind

but you manage to banish it away I hear a million whispers in my head I've got a headache now but she's kind of clutching herself like get away Feel this dark presence in your mind, but you manage to banish it away. I hear a million whispers in my head. I've got a headache now. But she's kind of clutching herself. Like, get away!

And you can see her panic. She's afraid and she's trying to move away. But she's kind of trapped amongst all of you. Nova? The tiefling girl is like, ah, and turning around on you. Uh... Can I... like ah like turning around on you uh can i i'm just checking how far a green flame laid still melee so you have to be within melee um but i want to i want to see how far the the second creature has to be within five 30 feet the second one within five feet oh within

five feet okay uh which which they would be they're next to each other. Yeah, okay. I guess I'll just... We're using a vague thing. I'll just do that again. Okay. I'm just going to hit. You don't have advances this time. Green flame blade. 17 to hit.

Hits. Yeah, these girls aren't wearing armor, so... Nine points of damage, plus four to the human girl. Yeah, you can see this green flame like licks her and she really winces and you can see like tears beginning to form in her eyes and she's just like panically looking around. The tiefling girl like,

like winces as the blade kind of cuts along her arm and she kind of clutches it to her. And she's also looking pretty frightened at this point. Can I just shout out? Just surrender, surrender. Yeah, okay. Shout that out. looking pretty frightened at this point and I can I just shout out just surrender surrender yeah okay shut that out

what is unconscious century can I try and get Baldwin out the situation so you just step in pick him up yeah and then just try and move out of the way yeah so they would get to attack you if they want to try and attack you they'll get tax opportunity so you kind of step in and they don't, it looks like they're so panicked by what's going on, you just scoop him up, put him on your shoulder and just stride on through

to the other side of the cavern. And they're too busy, afraid of being surrounded to really take any action against you. You just pick him up, barrel right through. Nice. Okay. So I think at this point, Sana looks round,

and she's going to try and knock them out. She doesn't want them to potentially fight back, so she's going to step in between them, and she's just going to split her attacks. She's going to hit the human girl once. Bounce off one head into another. Yep. That's another, which is enough. So she hit the human girl once. Bounce off one head into another. Yep. That's another, which is enough.

So she knocks the human girl unconscious. So she kind of like, wham, like does like a high kick into her head. The other girl kind of like faints from the blow. Then she turns on the tiefling. One blow is going to miss. The tiefling girl ducks under it with surprising agility. But then Santa just kicks her in the stomach with the second one. Four.

She's ten. Which knocks her unconscious as well. I feel bad that the NPC stole the thunder, but it's still a thunder. It's a bunny kicking girl. Yeah. So she just kind of wham, and then she kicks this other tiefling girl in the stomach who gets thrown against the wall and just

just... But they're unconscious. They're not dead. She's actively not trying to kill them. Cool. And yeah, you're left with this state of affairs. Wow. Okay. Was not expecting them to be killing this guy down here.

No. Let's subdue them. Tie them up. I think that's the best place to come around. I suggest we take their necklaces off. You hear my mind? You keep saying that and people do things. What?

Stop saying I suggest. Okay. I suggest you calm down. It didn't work. I'm a powerful sorcerer. So the plan is you're going to tie them up. Tie them up. Easily do because there's ropes upstairs and things like that

Whoever goes upstairs to get the ropes You can probably hear that some of the town are like What was that big noise? The crashing of the door Like when Santa kicked the door open Should we maybe put the door in? Anybody who remains downstairs There is something really unnatural in this room It's a cellar but you get the sense

that there is a presence here and you just hear this you hurt my girls and we're gonna take a break god yeah fair enough hey thank you again for listening to this episode and thanks again to our sponsors dnd beyond also head to store.yorkscars.com now to get yourself some high rollers branded mugs shirts tote bags and more including our brand new 2019 calendar featuring some new art from series old and new make sure you use the code high rollers on checkout to get 10 off that's high rollers all caps one word that code also supports us so don't forget to use that anyway we'll be back on Thursday for the next episode as we continue to explore this mysterious group.

See you then.