High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #164 | Tornado (Part 2)

Episode Date: November 10, 2022

The team, with the assistance of the Seekers, start working on their plans to discover all that Vortinssar is hiding! Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes on our Patreon:��www.patreon.com/HighRollers Grab some High Rollers merch: https://freshmerch.fm/collections/high-rollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound & TCT Adventures (Solasta: Crown of the Magisters) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. away and staying out till two that's stop loss orders on kraken an easy way to plan ahead go to kraken.com and see what crypto can be not investment advice crypto trading involves risk of loss see kraken.com legal ca-pru disclaimer for info on kraken's undertaking to register in canada td and your small business go together like td small business account managers have in-depth business banking expertise, so they can give you the advice and resources you need to make your day-to-day easier. So if you're ready to meet your small business match, we're ready for you. Visit td.com slash smallbusinessmatch to book an appointment with one of our advisors. Hello, welcome back to part two of High Rollers.

Last time, our party have finally met with their ally, Norfear and Nova's brother, Tornado. Moron! Safehouse in Vortensar, where they are planning, and they've had the sort of actualities of the situation placed upon them as well as some objectives and how they can go about

helping this city in the six days they have remaining. As a little recap for you at home, whether you're listening on podcast or watching, the way that we're doing this, because I love rules and I love mechanics yeah is we've split the days rather than tracking hour by hour because that can get a bit tedious in dnd we're splitting the days into four segments uh each player has four segments time units in the day to spend on doing stuff

um one of those segments will probably be have to use for long resting but the rest of it they can use to decide what they want to do. They have missions that they need to prepare for. They can earn flashback tokens by spending time and flashback tokens can

be cashed in to sort of introduce other elements to give themselves bonuses and do a bunch of things that it's amazing. Check out our discord if you want to get all the in-jokes and why we giggle and don't talk about it

because we can't really explain this one. I took a dumb picture of myself. You told us it was a different face. Kate has now drawn it. It's a different face. That's what it is. But yeah, flashback tokens can be used to kind of help them when they're in a jam or to introduce something to the scene

or give them an aid when they need it. And yeah, there's a lot of other mechanics in place, but you'll figure out those as we go along. And we start, my dear friends, on the start of day six. Yeah, we start on day six. Before we get into it, because it's going to distract everyone,

Sam, if you can PTZ and show Tom's phone, I don't even know if it's in shot. That's what we're using this camera for. We've got to use it for something. All 700 pounds of this camera. There it is. Zoom in. There it is. This is what everyone was laughing at.

This is professional D&D stream. Real professional D&D stream we've got here. Look at that. What happened? I think I could do it better. That's an unedited picture. Somehow this happened. How did you do it?

I don't know. It kind of looks like a guy from Ghost Files. Shane, when he puts the camera on. Shane does look a little bit like Shane, actually. Devil bobing. So I spent hours writing these D&D adventures Devil Baby right

anyway anyway moving on let's forget about Demon Tom alright Devil Baby from my mind

you wanna fucking play? before we start making plans I am just gonna open my water skin nice and no what?

perfectly normal noise ow why is it fizzy it's very carbonated my water skin that's very good i'll see for you don't carbonate anything exploding i have one question do you guys go back to your respective inns to sleep? We should, otherwise we're going to get covers. We should as a check-in. We need to go through the group. But, I mean, we'll stay where we are for now to arrange plans and things. Well, I'm going to, like, yeah, I mean, like, I mean, yeah, you can do a little bit of planning,

but we can't take any actions until New Day starts, and I don't want to just be stuck here planning and RPing. No, no, I think it's just figuring out what everyone intends to do. There was a lot of steps to do. So we need to work out what order we want to do things in. Yes. The other thing I would say is

I would say that for you guys, for now, we'll say that going back to these inns that you've kind of been set up with won't take you any time units. Moving to other districts and things might cost you additional time. Okay.

But for now, we'll say that you can go back to those inns as part of your time segment that you're spending. So, all right. So I guess to get the ball rolling, Nova would probably suggest that she deals with the students locked up in Atlas Academy because being a student of Atlas Academy, she knows the layout.

So I'm going to clarify something here. So when we talk about, like, spending these time units, what you're going to be doing is you're going to be doing, like, the, like, finding out where they are, finding out where they're locked in, what time's, like, planning an opportunity when you can go and get them, right? When it comes to actually going and rescuing them, you can choose, like, to all go together. You can send, like, okay, Nova, Lucius, and Sentry are going to go, and then the other three are going to go and do something else, or the other lot are going to go and stay. together you can send like okay Nova, Lucius and Sentry are going to go

and then the other three are going to go and do something else or the other lot are going to go to the same so you can choose so you could do it solo but the build up to it

anybody can contribute yeah yeah yeah you can do it all like that I just want to make it clear that like you know it's not like a you have to do one thing split this way

no it's just a I'm just proposing a starting point sure because Nova knows Atlas Academy and how it works and probably doesn't know the lower regions or wherever,

but knows enough to get around. So that would be her suggestion, is that she... Starts investing time into unlocking that opportunity. Yeah, and then brings in whoever else is needed. And they said the students uh was it the students that had um information they found information they have like information about the planar uh transport magic yes okay so that's it might not be the location of the devices but it would be something of use to the seekers yeah um you don't know exactly what you're going to

get from doing these other side objectives. You have a vague idea. There'll be some useful information, but you don't know what it will be. It's a good starting point, yeah. And if those students are then in the city, they could also help influence. Because if they know... Potentially. Maybe.

It's a double-pronged assault. Maybe. Influencing and also finding the teleporters. A meat fork. Yeah. Ham. I've been watching a lot of brooklyn 99 recently right right and like i said you can divide like you know you can say like well nova's gonna spend

you know for the next day nova's gonna spend one time unit looking into that right to unlock that opportunity and then quill might be like well actually i'm also going to do that because i want to try and get that as soon as we can but then lucius might be like well i think i should be unlocking this other like working towards this other thing right so you can split your times up and don't forget you have fuego and goliath who basically count as another piece they each count as another character for time could bolt help bolt will not be helping he has other duties what's his other duties being a fucking nerd yeah like doing all the other seeker shit oh whatever

yeah like doing they're helping with all of this but just not directly with he's got real big for his boots

since I left yeah that's fine he's like the main advisor on Planar Magic I'd give him a data pad full of everything I learned

by the way just you know cool good to know good to know oh he's a double agent isn't he maybe

he already said that he did already help them once yeah anyway Tron. I've done it again, guys. If you're planning the first quadrant to do that, I think Lucius would like to start laying the groundwork

to fabricating alternative identity outfits for us. So I think Lucius would go to more upper class districts, start schmoozing with his noble knowledge and how to fit in with those kind of people and see if he can get an inn to someone's

place. Because he knows that there's like balls and parties and things like that all the time. What I would do that as mechanically is absolutely, that would be, what i would do that as mechanically is absolutely that would be what that would earn you is a flashback token and then you could use that flashback to say we've got other disguises i've got a whole range of other outfits ready to go like that's the way i would run that right you basically get like a specific flashback thing of like lucius has got the flashback and then you can decide what those disguises are like i don't need

to make it up on the spot like oh you've got like three nobleman outfits or then you can decide what those disguises are. Like, I don't need to make it up on the spot. Like, you've got like three nobleman outfits or whatever. You can just be like, hey, oh, there's a party or a concert. We need outfits for rich people.

Go into a concert, done. Or like, hey, we need waiting staff for a restaurant. Like, you can just cash that token and be like, I already got it.

Back up disguises. That's useful. Where do we stand on the Isle of Storm? What do you mean? Is it still entirely usable in this? You have all of your abilities. You have all of your items.

Anything you have, you can use whatever you want to use. You tell me what you want to do with it. It just depends if it sets off that little magic item. No, the little ID badge won't flare when you use magic and stuff like that. Nope, you guys can cast spells as normal. can use all your abilities you can use everything like that it's just more like if you're getting like your magic items out on the street and things like that there's a risk that anybody who can detect magic might see them and stuff like that um eye of the storm i mean it has limited uses you only get charges per like day and like you only get a

set number back that's every seven days every seven days so you anything you use now you're not gonna get back until after this arc is done well i think and you've used one already have i yeah you used well actually no because then you traveled in on the airship so i say okay you've got like whatever many charges you've got now so three yeah three for this entire arc okay yeah cool um yeah okay and also like well other than the magic items that are hidden in the haversack, but then I guess we could also just find a place to... I mean, your safe house, like, yeah, you can get your items out of your safe house.

Yeah. And, like, if you know that you're going into, like, you know, when you go to take these planar devices, for example, I'll tell you now, that's going to be a fight. Like, there's no... Like, that will be a combat encounter. Like, so you're... So you can be like, right, let's get Starbreaker out,

let's get the... Let's get geared up and go in, and you might even want to be like, let, let's get Starbreaker out, let's get geared up and go in. You might even want to be like, let's just ditch Outer Skies and just go and lose ourselves.

Up to you. I don't know if that's something you'd want to do. Maybe towards the end. Yeah. But yeah, you can do that stuff in your safe houses.

You can get magic items out and stuff like that. Yeah. Whatever you want to do. You tell me. I'm up for helping to find the students as well. Yeah. At least that's my initial

first move what about Sentry Ayla I was thinking of Sentry maybe studying the Valkyrian guards trying to find a way

to infiltrate them and disrupt the warehouse supplies getting some progress on that secondary objective nice probably looking to how to break some shit.

Like in terms of influencing the city? Yeah. Okay. Alrighty. In that case, in fact, I'm going to put that down.

So, if we basically assume that we start on sick day, I know you said this was like a discussion you had before you went and rested, but really the resting, you go back,

you rest, it's not a big deal. There's no like problems or anything you need to worry about. Your incognito score is, you know, you don't have any issues is what I'm going to say um the next day you begin working on these projects so if i can check in we have quill and nova you're going to start making

progress towards uh the students of the atlas academy rescuing escorting the students away from atlas academy yeah lucius you're going to spend a time segment getting a flashback token for costume changes and things like that. Century, you want to work towards the Valkyrian stuff. And then Aayla is going to start working on the influence as well. Okay. You guys all do those things. You're building away the time.

None of these will... It takes a certain amount of time to unlock these opportunities you you are working on those ayla you go around you like maybe break a couple of screens you like tear down some posters maybe work a little bit with um uh goliath and fuego who again you guys can tell me what you want them to do um you you know make progress towards influence that see but this is gonna this is a long-term thing this This is going to take you a fair bit of time. Sentry, how is it that you're going about this? It's like you're following them and checking them out,

going and scoping out the warehouses, posing as a worker and stuff like that. Yeah, just seeing what the patrols are like, where they're coming. And there's a lot in the city, right? So it's like, okay, well, I'll check out this district maybe this morning, and then maybe the next day you're going to go somewhere else and check out there and that kind of stuff, right you're doing that and then with nova and quill it's that kind of like well you roughly know where they are you know they're at the atlas academy the atlas academy as nova knows is massive there's multiple dorms there's multiple buildings

are they in the dorms are they in like being kept somewhere else so you begin asking questions looking around investigating taking that time with With the time segments you sent, you don't unlock any opportunities with that first time segment that you spend on the sixth day. So one segment goes down, but you do gain flashback to it. All of us? It is a pool. I'd say Lucius has it, but it is a kind of pool of the group.

Just super quick, is there a lot of magic on the messenger rings? Because I'm just wondering if, like... it's not a huge enchantment yeah but it would probably it probably wouldn't raise an eyebrow like a passing like if somebody was like oh they've got some magic on them but it's not that big but if it was a more close-up inspection like if you had somebody who was like actively like who are you what are you was, like, actively, like, who are you? What are you doing? Like, scanning you and stuff like that.

That might... They might be like, what's that ring you're wearing? It's magic. Like, what does it do? And then they might be like, oh, that's expensive. How did you...

Like, you know, it might just lead to questions. Yeah. Right? I would... It could be okay. What would the group think? Because a lot of us

have taken magic items off, so we could possibly wear messenger rings. You are still attuned to the items. Even if you take them off and hide them, you are still attuned to the items even if you take them off and hide them you are still attuned to them oh okay yeah um it just means that you'd have to spend an hour reattuning to the item as part of a short rest so yeah do we want to put messenger rings on or um leave it it's quite risky otherwise yeah you are sort of separating out into the city it's not as much like when you're doing this initial kind of

like um laying the groundwork yeah it's when you're doing this initial kind of like laying the groundwork part. It's when you start doing the missions. If you start splitting up, then, yeah, that will become a problem. What do you guys think? Maybe do it on a per-mission basis. Yeah. Like we need to have instant communication. Instant comms.

Yeah. Or like coordinating things like coordinating the attacks on the teleporters. We need to attune every time you put it back on, right? Every time you basically, when you put it back on, you have to unattune from one item, attune to the messenger ring, and then you have to do the same process when you do it. Unattuning is just an action. You just choose to unattune to it.

But reattuning is an hour. It's a short rest. The other thing, and I'm going to say this only once, and I'm going to remind you again, I will not take actions for Goliath and Fuego unless you tell me what you want them to do. Oh, yeah.

So, for this first segment, I imagine that they were helping Ayla. Yeah, they were. You want them both to help Ayla on the sort of like influence stuff? Maybe one to help you

and one to help Century. One to help Century on the guards, I think. All right. So, Goliath, you and Fuego with Century. Okay. All righty.

So. I think I've also... Like, since we're doing this day by day, we'll also have tons of spell slots. I'm doing it, like, segment by segment. Well, I just mean, like, we're doing it quite fast. We've got, like, day by day spell slots that are going to be recovered

relatively quickly in all of these things. Yeah, and I will say that things like when you do these skill challenges or you go on these, like... day spell slots that are going to be recovered relatively quickly in all of these things so yeah i will say that things like when you do these skill challenges or you go on these like obviously like the more actual dnd your spells will just work as normal things like the skill challenges spells if they're a high enough level might just be an automatic success because you're spending a resource right you're getting rid of something you're not going to have if you need it um things like the eye of the storm or class abilities that have limited uses and don't come back very easily may also be able to give you bonuses or benefits.

Or in terms of the Eye of the Storm, it might just be like, I will add a point of progress or give you a point of score or something like that. If it's a particularly cool or creative thing that you've done with a cool thing you have. So if I outlined my intentions on how to discover where the students are, would that help? If you wanted to spend a charge of the Eye of the Storm to be like... Not the Eye of the Storm. My intention was to, A, locate a relatively accurate map of the Atlas Academy, and then just send an arcane eye through the entire place, basically,

marking on the map as i go like the route i'm taking whatever else and trying to spot them even if it takes like six hours to do or whatever no but i mean the way that i would do that is you're basically speeding up your progress right so i would basically mean that you gain double sort of progress for the one time slot you're spending it's you effectively have two people doing the work because you're using your eye to search around while you're also doing other things okay so i would basically count that as like double progress towards that thing on that note as well we are now into like afternoon of day six and i'm going to count down so it's a bit easier i also still have that ability one

with the shadows which means i can become invisible when i move forward uh until i move oh wait no until i move i'd say that that one would be more useful in like the active like which means I can become invisible when I move forward. Until I move... Oh, wait, no. Until I move... I'd say that that one would be more useful in the active actual encounters, whereas, yeah. It's less of a utility thing for this kind of thing. Yeah.

Well, I mean, so is that what you want to do for afternoon segment? That's how I want to negotiate that situation, yeah. So I'm happy to burn as many spells. Like, if we're doing this for three hours, and Arcane Eye lasts an hour, do I burn all three spell slots? No, I would say if you...

Just spend the one spell slot, because it's helping you. It's not necessarily doing it for you. Sure. In that case, if I just check one thing here... Mechanics, mechanics, mechanics. Yeah, okay. So before the rest of you, I will say now that thanks to Quill's arcane eye, you have discovered the opportunity with the students at the Atlas Academy.

The next step is having sort of figured out where they might be, having a map of the atlas academy having spoken to the students and the professors as you're making it round now what you would need to do is do a skill challenge as a whole party which would cost one time segment for everybody to basically be like right let's get ready to go and rescue them and then it would become a mission right and that would be like a creative like okay well how are you going to help prepare for this thing that's coming up and then it'll be ability checks. But that's now an option.

So before anybody else spends their time segments, but it will be a time segment from everybody who wants to, like all of you have to contribute to it. So is there also differences in the time that we decide when to go into these operations? Wouldn't it be interesting if like doing it at night makes a big difference to doing it in the day? Mm-hmm. Oh!

So we could do this in the same night. Potentially. Yeah. Yeah, we could. Well, we are currently in second segment. Quill's currently investigating. So that was me investigating, yeah. And so you can't do that until the next one.

You can't, you know, do the skill challenge for the next one. So the rest of you have a time segment to, like, spend on other stuff if you'd like. In the afternoon, yeah. Yeah. So what is anyone else doing? Have we discovered anything with Sentry doing Valkyrie? Not yet.

It's still being progressed. I might assist her in the second quadrant. Okay, that's what you'd like to do in your second. If you want to carry on doing that. Yeah. Okay. Because I've done my costume flashback. Yeah, you've got a flashback point, yeah.

So, Lucius, you're going to spend your afternoon time on helping Sentry plot out the Valkyrian patrols and maybe trying to look at traders and be like, hey, where's most of the Valkyrians getting their supplies or sending their supplies? Kind of go around asking some questions and stuff like that. All right, wicked. And then Sentry, do you want to keep on top of that one as well?

Yeah, I was thinking of doing a community of nature. Ooh, okay. What level spell is that? Fifth level. Okay. And how would you use it, do you think? So I was thinking of maybe using it to get information about, it says I can ask it about people,

so ask if there's a set path that patrols go on, see if there's a pattern to their movements. What's the rate? Is this like miles that it covers? Three miles. Okay, miles okay yes it's a pretty significant part of the city um yeah i mean you could be like yeah like you know even more speed you could be like if it's people you could be like are there any really powerful people from not from a rowist that like goes somewhere in the city and they might be able to be like oh yeah they felt like you know the rocks and the earth and the very elements because this is what i'm sorry it's a city of elements, right?

The wind itself seems to whisper and speak to you as you're talking to it with this communion. Yeah. This whole time. And with that one, I do the same thing as I did with Tom's Arcane Eye. It will give you additional progress. Like, it will give you additional progress towards this thing. Okay.

Is that all right? So that's what you want to do as well? Yeah. All righty. So with that, so that's the other thing. I forgot to mention this thing. Okay. Is that all right? So that's what you want to do as well? Yeah. All righty. So with that, so that's the other thing I forgot to mention to Tom's. Whilst Tom has unlocked that student's one,

if you spend more time, you'll make it easier because you're gaining more information. You're lowering the DC of the skill challenge. Thanks to Sentry's efforts, you can now also do the same thing for the Valkyrian forces. You can begin to set up ready for a mission,

and that one actually has more time than you needed. So that's already got some extra time devoted towards it. A new mission has appeared on the map. It's like you've got to now unlock it. It's like now we've got to send the guys in and they're going to unlock it over 24 hours or whatever. Nice. Yes, Kim?

So I was wondering, to help with our student situation if this was a way to help so not just the um arcane eye but if i could use tiangong as manifest tiangong and then use i'm trying to find it but that ability where basically they go out and seek while i'm kind of blinded um we did it when we were with Starbane and Zarkira. So what I would say with that is you're not really saving yourself time. Because the arcane eyes, Quill can use it whilst he's doing things at the same time. Because you would be blinded. It wouldn't be any different to you going out and doing the searching.

Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Well, I just wonder if... And the other thing I was going to say as well is don't feel like you have to come up with like create like use all your spells and craft stuff just to get to this point you're still going to have to make skill checks you're still going to be going in to do stuff i was so this is just if you want to get extra progress towards i was thinking the progress

i would want to make oh not shadow but my idea was that to get Tiangong into the cells to communicate with the students that are locked up to try and be like, get ready. Like, you know. Can Tiangong like move through walls and stuff? Because I think that they just count as like a... Desperately trying to find somewhere. I don't think he does. I don't think they do, no.

No. It wouldn't really be... You could do it. It just won't give you any sort of benefit. I think it's that thing of like, so this is down, if I can get to within 30 feet, then I can manifest them. So this is going to be something more when you're actually doing it. This isn't going to help you in the sort of like preparing stage.

In which case then, if Quill is doing... You don't have to think too hard about this unlocking phase as well. It doesn't have to be like a big thing. It's more I don't want you guys to be like, oh, I've got to like... There's going to be a lot more stuff going on. big thing. It's more I don't want you guys to be like, oh, I've got to... There's going to be a lot more stuff going on. Can I help by,

I don't know, knocking out any cameras in the area so that when we try and do a mission... For this bit, you don't even need to tell me what you're doing.

You can just be like, I want to help Quill and advance that. I'm going to help Quill and advance that shit. Yeah. The next bit, you'll need to be like,

okay, this is how I'm going to interact it. This one can just be like, I advance this objective and I'm like, cool, note that down and we figure that shit. The next bit, you'll need to be like, okay, this is how I'm going to interact it. This one can just be like, I advance this objective and I'm like, cool. Note that down and we figure that out. Unless we're using

an item or a spell. Yes, unless you want to do that and gain extra or do something cool or something like that, then absolutely you can do that. You can do it,

it's just more I don't want you to feel you have to do that. Do you know what I mean? I just want to make it as easy as possible. So we've got Lucius helping Valkyrian

with Sentry. Nova and Quill are still working like the flavor. I just want to make it as easy as possible. So we've got Lucius helping Valkyrian with Sentry. Nova and Quill are still working on the students. Ayla? I think I want to try and... Pull the band? Yeah. Yeah. No.

I want to try and, with either Fuego, or probably with Fuego, is try and figure out if anyone's heard anything about the council members that are missing. Okay. So like kind of...

Start working on that one. Start working on that and if Fuego can have... Take Fuego with you? Yeah, if he could have like the conversations, what I'm thinking is Ayla can maybe like...

I don't know if using survival but kind of track in a way that's like okay if their movements were like this then I that'll be the next stage for this one it's right it's just advancing the progress do you want so with this Frego would probably turn around and be like well yeah I mean you can come with me like you and if you and Goliath if you and Goliath are both with me like that's a you're both very good enforcers like you guys can basically be the muscle and he's like the talker, right? Yeah, right. And you're like, and he ends up taking you

to some shady parts of the fire district, and he's like, yeah, you gonna tell me about this? He's like, you hear anything about this? And then you kind of, you find, like, some weaselly dude. He's like, I don't know anything. He's like, well, my friends think you do. And then, like, Goliath's just like, and then he, like, looks over,

and you're at the other end of the alleyway, like, blocking this guy from escaping. He's like, you know, you do that kind of thing. Do you want to take both? If you take both of them with Ayla to help with the council. Sure, make some progress on council. Make some progress. Intimidate.

That is going to fill up your afternoon time segment of this day. So now you have a choice because you have a couple of these that you could now actually unlock by doing skill challenges. You have the Valkyrian supplies or the students, rescue the students. So the... But this would require

a time slot from all of you. Yeah. Yeah. And that would then allow us to then do the mission, right? Yes, yes, yes, yes. So we're now until the evening and then there's the night phase.

Yes. Night is generally where you sleep but you can be like, nope, we're going to do something today and then we're now until the evening and then there's the night phase. Yes. Night is generally where you sleep, but you can be like, nope, we're going to do something today and then we're going to rest tomorrow morning instead. You can delay it. We can really ruin our body clock. If you go through like eight segments without sleeping, I'm going to be like, constant leaves exhaustion, that kind of stuff.

Like your hit dice expenditure will get higher and stuff. Yeah, the Valkyrian presence and their supply lines and stuff, they mentioned that would make things easier. Yes, it will make things, like, if you have combat encounters easier and stuff like that. Right. And it might help in other ways as well, but, like, yeah, you're basically, like,

stopping them from being able to send as much military power. Would we know things like, you know, the students, are they locked behind Valkyrian guards? Yeah, well, in fact, actually, because you've got to this stage now, I can tell, I think I can actually give you more information on this because I wrote this one down. So, I'll do the students one, I'll do

the Valkyrian one first because it's the first on my list. So, having spent time researching this, thanks to Sentry and Lucius kind of putting in the effort to go and investigate this and the nature spirits that you communed with Sentry, you've learned a couple of things about this opportunity. The Valkyrian forces have a number of barracks and storehouses in the city, mainly converted warehouses or buildings given to them by citizens. A large barracks and storehouse is on the upper section of the city near the Air District Sky Yard, where one of the planetary transports docks. The area is

fenced off and patrolled by exclusively Valkyrian forces working for Shansara. The storehouses contain Magitek equipment, weapons, food supplies and other essentials. The planetary transport, one of their two airships, is also docked nearby and is one of the major military assets of the forces in the city. Finally, a number of senior Valkyrian commanders and officers are stationed in the barracks here. If they are killed, captured, or otherwise incapacitated, it would be a pretty significant blow to their chain of command. Completing these objectives, this objective sorry, will reduce the amount of Valkyrian forces present in major battles, as well as reduce their presence in the city,

which will earn you progress towards city influence. And then, for the isolated students, you've learned the following. A group of talented students at Atlas Academy have been isolated and locked in their dorms because of their recent discoveries involving planar magic in the transport system. The Atlas Academy is guarded and patrolled by both Ganassi and Valkyrian troops, but it is technically still open for public services. The students are being held

in one of the dorms, A building, attached to the main academy itself. Their doors, windows, and other exits have been magically sealed and are watched by guards at all times. Food, water and supplies are brought to them daily and they are not being harmed or mistreated. The students would need to be released from their dorms and then brought to a safe house in a nearby district about one hour away from the academy. The students have absolutely no skills in stealth or combat and are extremely vulnerable. Completing this objective will provide useful information and resources for disabling the Pioneer transport devices and will earn you four score for that objective.

I am just imagining Norfear. Like, we're all stood around a war table, and she's just like, Sentry, thanks to your efforts in the Air District, we've discovered this, this, and this. Yeah, that is effectively what is happening. Like, Norfear probably would come and visit you. would like you would gather your resources and this is your own research like this is like century providing that information but norfair probably sums it up based

on the reports that you've given her over the last couple of hours right um she sums it up um the other thing and you don't know this yet uh you won't know what these are each of these events when you actually do the mission there's a chance that you'll have combat encounters there's a chance you can avoid them there are also maybe complications if you roll a one during that mission i will roll on a little table and i will wait during the mission if you're a complications like a one on what like any role even if it's a combat yeah

I mean I probably wouldn't do it for like attack rolls but a bit of two checks and stuff like that if you roll like if you're like we're stealthing

oops one I'll be like complication time and a complication could be good for you guys it might be like suddenly there's a storm and now it's easier

to sneak around but you also can't you know it's harder to see what's going on you're also wet and you get a cold yeah

I love mechanics. I love it. I know you do. I know you do, my boy. But that's it. So those are those two missions. So could things overlap where, like, say, if we did the Valkyrian thing first

and got some, like, Valkyrian outfits or passes, that would help us? That would be a different thing. So when we're doing this mission, you are specifically destroying the supplies or whatever else it is. You won't have time to go in and get the outfits and things like that. That would be you spending time to get, say, a flashback token or spending time elsewhere.

These missions are like, no, we've got to go and do this. And that's not to railroad you guys. It's just to make it so that it's a bit simpler rather than we trying to do a million things at once. And it's meant to be that guys, it's just to make it so that it's a bit simpler, rather than we trying to do like a million things at once. And it's meant to be that like you've got to pick and choose because like the time is limited, right? You only have windows of opportunity to do this. Part of this is represented by like, Sentry and Lucius have probably said, we know when

this warehouse, this airship dock is going to be the least guarded. This is the only time we can do it. That time is abstract, like that can be whenever, but it means that you won't is going to be the least guarded. This is the only time we can do it. That time is abstract, like that can be whenever, but it means that you won't have time to be like, well, let's just go in here and do this. Like when you're there, you're going to have to do your mission and go. Like that's the idea of it, right? Cool.

Yeah. Well, I think that one first makes sense to take out some of the forces. Yeah, but my thinking is if we only currently have one backup outfit, like the Valkyrian one, is going to put our current disguises massively at risk. But we have them. We do have a backup, yeah, but... So how about we use our current disguises to rescue the students, and then, because

that's quite high profile, and we're entering an Atlas Academy I assume it's got scrying or technological advances in it the Atlas is would you say it leans closer? it's in Earth because it's named after Atlas ah there you go so we'll put it like

right by the statue then the Atlas statue yeah so the statue for those at home the statue I have to put it there for myself the statue in the Earth quarter is called Atlas and that's

why it's called the Atlas Academy because it was an earth ganassi that founded it yes we have to go to AA so and then sorry the sky dock is going to be sort of on the upper part over here

in the air district. But it's in the upper city. Okay. So yes, if we use our current disguises to claim the students back.

And then we swap to different disguises. Okay. After that. Because I believe our... You also have K. Then we swapped different disguises. Okay. For the soldiers. Because I believe... You also have Kay. Lucius has got specifically Ganassi noble disguises, right? You still have Kay.

Kay is around. Kay is a resource that you can go to and be like, hey, we need new outfits. It'll just take them time to build them for you. Okay. But they won't be able to do things like Valkyrian soldiers or Ganassi-specific stuff. They've got generic outfits that they can provide

for you, like what you're wearing now. I think the backup outfit is a good thing to use after the Valkyrian attack because that'll put us on the radar. But will I need to scan to get into Atlas? Especially because you're a professor, your current disguise works. Especially because you're a professor,

your current disguise works really well because you're a professor and... Oh, no. I think these current disguises work best for Atlas. They're elemental mountain players. I think that our current disguises work best for the Academy. However, I do think that it would have been beneficial to take out the Sky Dock before we went to the Academy

because it takes out more weapons. There's also, I'll point out, like, something that I mentioned. At the Air Dock, it's exclusively Valkyrian forces. At the Atlas Academy, it's Ganassi and Valkyrian. Taking out the Sky Dock

will only limit Valkyrian forces. The Ganassi forces will always be present in the city. Okay. So that's something to keep in mind, because certain missions and things might be more focused on the Valkyrian stuff, and you know that that's going to reduce

their military power, right? I apologize if I'm... You'll still definitely get a benefit, it's just... I apologize if I'm gaming this, but the influence bar... Sure. Is that constantly... Like, the efforts that we make to increase our influence...

This is the city influence. Yeah, the counter... Yeah, the objective. What are your main objectives? Is that constantly being rebuffed by the Valkyrian presence consistently? Because if it is... No. I will be honest and say it is not.

It is like a passive score you're increasing, and when you reach certain thresholds, it has an effect. So they're not removing our previous efforts, okay? I will be honest and say it is not. It is like a passive score you're increasing. Right. And when you reach certain thresholds, it has an effect. So they're not removing our previous efforts, okay? No, but you could do things that could, can do. But they are dampening it. They are. It's like that's already set.

Like they've set their influence. Yeah. And you're, by doing other things like taking out this thing, you're increasing it and you need to get your influence above theirs. Sure. But if you do things like, we blew up the Atlas Academy, your influence will go...

Same as your incognito score as well. There's no chance of us winning a culture victory. No. That is the way to think about it. If you blew up the Atlas Academy... But that's also the thing. You can, in theory, save the city without the city's also the thing. It's like, you can in theory save the city without the city being on your side.

It will just be harder. You might be able to save the city without ever having a single fight if you can get the entire city on your side. I'd like that one. I think just let it go. I think we should... Go on.

No. Okay. Yeah, I'm torn. I can't decide between... The other thing I'll say as well, like unlocking these missions, once you've unlocked them, you don't have to do them straight away.

Yeah, but then we're in a night segment. That's exactly that. Then you can use the night and be like, sneaky time. For sneakies. Did you expect us to do a mission first day? No. Yeah, you did.

Who just thinks it's in the daytime? I specifically designed it that you could have been like, well, let's all sit, five of us do this mission. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, no, I'm torn either way. So my Stormchaser vote, I vote two hands on both missions. Wow.

So useful. I vote students because I think our current disguises fit the student mission really well. I'll track it for you on your vote. Well, there's three votes for students. No. It's my two hands. No. You have one vote for each and then one vote for Thingy.

Okay. So currently, two votes for student, one vote for Valkyrie. I'll go for students. All right. Three for students. I think both are going to raise our profile and alertness for trying to find Seeker Rebellion. But I agree, our current...

Only if you fail. Only if you fail. We could... Just don't fail, Forehead. I feel like destruction of an entire sky dock and warehouse is going to be very visible and audible. Maybe something further down, closer to. Rescuing incognito, silent stealthy.

We could do that tonight. But also, I don't think the general populace know about the students. They just think the students are isolating because they're ill. Yeah. So they don't know that they're... We need to give them a chance to speak their voice. Yeah. Speak their... Let a little trickle of truth come out.

...mouth words. Yeah, use a... Talmudic sailor as you have to vote. No, it doesn't matter. It doesn't, but I want you to vote. I would have blown up the weapons first. Two to vote. No, it doesn't matter. It doesn't, but I want you to vote. I would have blown up the weapons first. Two to four. Students win.

If this is a vote, if this is a democracy, that's what it is. Everyone gets a say. It's a democracy manifesto. Fuego's like, do I get a say? Yeah. Do I? Yeah, you do. I want to blow stuff up.

Okay, that's right. Yeah! Goliath? Goliath, what do you think? 2.1. Yeah, if you actually ask Goliath, he kind of has a really long thing, like he thinks. I thought he was like, come on, man, I want to blow stuff up.

He's like, it's dangerous. Ganassi have fought a bunch of the guards. They're not that much. They've got some special ops. They're dangerous. Oh. But those planar bastards, they can do stuff I've got some special ops. They're dangerous. Oh. But those planar bastards, they can do stuff I've never even thought of.

I'm worried. Don't know. Can't call it. Okay. That was helpful. Yeah. Well, no, to be fair, I was the same. I'm a thug, not a thinker.

So am I. That's why I was going to blow stuff up. I'm a careful thug. A cug. So, yeah, he's unable to vote, which makes it three to four. It wouldn't have swayed the vote anyway. Unless Norfair gets a vote. Are you seriously trying to...

And Tornado and Bolt. And Tornado and Bolt, yeah. Tornado and Bolt aren't here. Norfea will come by to help coordinate, but yeah. Let's go outside and ask the guards what they think. Let's ask the whole of Wharton, sorry. Yeah, sure. All right, get one of those screens.

You tell me what you want to do. Team, tell me what you want to do. Students. Students. All right, well, before we get to go on the mission, y'all have got to unlock it. So, the way it's going to work... So, let me set...

This is where we fuck off! No! Set this up. There's five of us. Yeah, that doesn't usually do anything. This would be the sort of, not night time, but evening. So we're kind of looking at six six to like you know 10 p.m 11 p.m kind of thing uh you will need to basically prepare like make the plan and like do the

preparations to get these students out this is where like you guys basically can tell me and i can give you some suggestions like if you're really struggling i feel like i really don't know what i could do here ask me and i'll give you some ideas but it's like you tell me what you think you would be doing to help get this mission ready and this isn't necessarily going to be things that you can then use when you're on the mission this is more like a way to like you use your ability score use your abilities and spells to set this whole thing up to give you that opportunity to go in and rescue them right so it's it's what in other editions of dnd we call a skill challenge it's basically i don't want of D&D, we call a skill challenge.

It's basically, I'm not going to tell you the details more than that, but it's using abilities, using your spells, using just creative ideas. It could just be like, I want to try something that isn't on my character sheet. I want to try this wacky idea and I'll figure something out.

But it's, think about like, this is a mission you're about to go on. So for some examples, it could be like, Ayla, for example, might be like, well, I'm going to scout out the area around the Atlas Academy and I want to figure out the best alleyways that we can use to get out, plan our exit strategy. I want to like map the area.

And I'd be like, okay, cool. That sounds like I would call that a survival check, right? Literally exactly what I was going to say to you. It's because I know. It's because I know. One brain cell. So that's gonna say that's it's because it's because it's because i know it's because i know um so that's like that's a perfect example right of like some the kind of thing so let's just do that one let's use that one as an example right if that was what you were going to do anyway katie yeah i was going to try and find out because if we have to take vulnerable people for like an hour to yeah like planning the route out and this is this fits ayla's backstory

is like a wilderness wanderer and like a tracker and things like that. So this is going to be a survival check. And you did spend a bit more time on this, so the DC is slightly lower. I'm not going to tell you what the DCs and stuff are. Please roll well. Please roll well.

Okay, that is 21. 21, okay. I'm not going to say anything just yet. Ayla, you spend the time... Oh, dear. You spend the time, yeah, and you think you get a pretty good lay of the land, right? You spend the time,

you walk around the sort of area around the Earth District, and you're pretty sure you've got a pretty good lay of the land. It is tiring, even for yourself, so that's going to be one hit dice i'd like you to mark off um if you go to short rest but just click don't automatically heal it should just spend let you spend the hit dice yeah um i think um so just mark off one hit dice but that's that's all it's going to cost you um do we know how many students there are and where they are roughly in the building you definitely know roughly where they are i'm not going to tell you because it doesn't really matter.

In terms of how many students, there is a team of five. Oh, five. Okay. But you don't know any... I would say that could be a thing you do now, right? You know that there are students... Yeah, he lowered his chair. You know that there are students, you know there's five of them, but you don't know the condition of them,

you don't know what kind of, like... You don't know who they are, if they have any difficulties or like... Someone broke their B-camps? Yeah, it could be. So that could be something that Nova could do. Like, you could use your time to try and figure that out and get better information about who the students are so that you can plan better. Yeah.

Well, another idea I had was like, I have gloves of thievery and I was wondering like if I could practice picking locks They said it was magically sealed But they could that might still very well be physically locked doors But would that help? Yeah, I'd say that would be a sleight of hand check you would be making a sleight of hand check as your skill Can I use my gloves of thievery? Because gloves of thievery... Yes. Invisible when worn.

While wearing them, you gain a plus five bonus to sleight of hand checks made to pick locks. Yep. Are you proficient in thieves' tools? No. All right. So this would just be your dex plus the plus five from the gloves. Not my sleight of hand, though,

because my sleight of hand is plus eight as well. That's probably already factoring in your gloves then if you've got them equipped. D&D Beyond does it all automatically because I don't know how you would get plus five

if you're not proficient in sleight of hand. That is. Yeah. So it would be a plus eight to the roll total. But you're not proficient in Thieves' Tool

so yeah, you're like you're not really sure what you're doing but the gloves are kind of helping you. They're kind of guiding you. But total. But you're not proficient in Thieves' Tool, so yeah, you're not really sure what you're doing, but the gloves are kind of helping you, they're kind of guiding you. But I'd say you could definitely, yeah, practice lockpicking, and that would be your kind of prep for this mission.

It would be a sleight of hand check. I'm nervous. Well, no need to be nervous, remember, failure is just a cool story. 13 plus eight. So 21, all right. I had a plus seven for mine as well. So, similar thing, spend one hit dice for me, but you spend some time, you get some

good practice in, and you're feeling pretty confident about if you need to tackle some locked doors. Mathematics. You don't know what kind of locks they use. They might be using tougher locks, but yeah, you feel fairly confident. If only that it could handle corridors. All right. Anyone got an idea of what they'd like to corridors. All right. Anyone got an idea of what they'd like to do?

All right, take it away, Trot. I think Lucius, a.k.a. Azuray, would work with Stream to prepare some packages of calming or things that will help. Like medical supplies, basically. Medical supplies and also just some remedies and things to keep them calm whilst we escort them out. Yeah.

Okay, yeah. I mean, for me, I would make that a medicine check because it would be teaching you how to apply them and how to use them. That would be, yeah, but I think that's a great idea. Okay. It's a great way of preparing for the mission. Plus one.

Eleven. okay it's a great way of preparing for the mission plus one eleven so twelve total or eleven total eleven eleven total you spend some time you are not you are not trained and it takes a lot of time

like you know stream prepares these little packets and gives you these things but it's exhausting and mentally draining to like prepare all of this stuff.

You have to mess up some of the things. Yeah. You have to redo them. You have to redo them, and it's just quite mentally tiring. I think that is going to cost you, Lucius... Boing, boing, boing, boing. Boing, boing, boing, boing. God, where's my little thing? Yeah, I would say that's going to cost you three hit dice uh as you are is very mentally

trained like training you are up late like spending hours practicing this you don't really get a chance to rest or you know alleviate it um you're not particularly skilled at it um your confidence is just a bit knocked as well uh but you do prepare Like, you still aid towards the unlocking. At least you think so. All right. So we have Sentry and Quill to go. And then if you'd like, I can also have Fuego and Goliath try and help you. But it's your choice if you want them to because they could add more failures.

So it's you choose if you want them to. You guys all have to contribute. But you can choose to have those guys. And if you're struggling for an idea, again, like, it doesn't have to be a skill check. You could be like, I want to use this spell. And that's what I was trying to say to Kim earlier, right? Like, this is the point where, like,

if you use the right spell, I might just be like, yeah, that's an automatic success. Or, like, it might give you a bonus, or it might help you, right? Fireball. Teleport. As opposed to, like, the planning stuff. Yeah. I mean, like, using a teleport spell, like, might be a super useful thing.

That might be more useful in the mission, but, like, yeah. Could be, like, or using, like, scrying or pass wall to, like, you know, prepare things. I know you do. Took it away. Took away dimension door as well. Do you have anything?

I've got a couple of things. Yeah, I've got one. Go on. I was thinking of having century go gather like bits of wood and scrap and just make rudimentary shields and swords to give to the students just to defend themselves just in case yeah i mean would you want to make them or would you want to like buy them because you've got money you could go and buy a bunch of like swords from like a weaponsmith or something like that um or or you could try and craft them like you absolutely

could try and do that i might try and craft them. You absolutely could try and do that. I might try and craft them, just because I don't want to ask, why are you buying five swords? Yeah, okay, you don't want to trace. You want to be like, no, I'm making these untraceable. Sure, I think what that would be, are you proficient in any sort of crafting tools, like blacksmith tools or anything like that?

Let's have a look. Damn it, Miss Max! Tools, crafting tools, use it, Miss Max! Tools. Crafting tools. Use, with a use! True. Proficiency. Nobody ever looks at their tool proficiencies. I have none, that's why.

Yeah. It's normally at the bottom where languages and stuff are, on D&D Beyond. On the main front page. Yeah, I have none though. I, like, yeah. All the languages, no tools. Every language, haven't you

I know more I know them all I think if you're in the features and traits if you go into your main page pan flute but no

like tool proficiencies or anything martial weapons no yeah it would say if it had you any so what that's going to be then is just

intelligence check. Oh. Because this is crafting knowledge of how to do stuff. That's the worst one for Sentry. Sentry is a protector, not a maker. Applied Piper stuff. This is a decision that's been made. 13.

13, so is that total or is that with the money? Yeah, 13 total. So 13 total. Very similar to Lucius. You scrape your hands, even though you're a guardian. It doesn't matter. You still feel pain and it still damages things. It takes you time.

The results aren't the best. It kind of knocks your confidence a bit. That's going to be three hit dice to mark off, please. And yeah, I will let you know if this is... I won't say anymore until you guys are all done. So what is Quill doing? So I think I would communicate my plan on the actual mission itself and my intentions there is to etherealness myself and all of the students, at 9th level.

But that would be when you're actually there? When I'm there. Yeah. So that's my intention, and basically asking, is that something I should do? Because then I and all of the students are safely escorting out of the place because we're in the ethereal plane. However, if there is a fight going on, I won't be there.

So what do you think about that? I guess the main concern is they're really locking down magic, right? Yeah. I mean, they had magical seals on the windows and doors, but there was nothing... I mean, as a Vortensar as a whole. No, there's magic all over the place. It's more that if you guys were pretending to be common citizens,

walking around with, like, an artifact book of the god of knowledge and somebody was like, detect magic. Whoa, what the fuck? Like, you know, that's the kind of shit, right? Like, magic is people are casting spells in the city. It's not like Valkyrian lockdown.

No, no. And even Valkyrians, they use magitek all the time. Like, magic's still abundant here. It'd be weird if you guys were pretending to be commoners and were using powerful magic. Okay. But if you're, like, in a mission and you're like,

you know, Quill's hidden, he can totally cast that spell and be fine. Yeah, I mean, it lasts for eight hours. In theory, I'm just going to put this out there, Quill could solo that mission. If he could get into the students in Ethereal of the Mist out... I could also, theoretically, etherealness myself in at level seven,

etherealness them, everyone out at level nine. Sure could. Obviously, if there was anything to go wrong, he'd be on his own. But if that went without a hitch, you guys would all be free to go and do other things. You'd be on the old messenger ring in case anything does. Does messenger ring work if I uh, the old messenger ring in case anything does.

Does messenger ring work if I'm in the ethereal plane? It would not. I guess sending would work. It would, but there's a 5% chance it doesn't.

Ah, 5%. That's 5%. Can you imagine if you could give arcane eye to someone else? They could be, like, your eye in the sky person in the safe house

and telling you, like, round the corner to the left. Well, there's, like, suppose you can get, like, telepathic bond, where you all have telepathy. I mean, you would have Quill using the arcane eye and then relaying that to you. That would be great.

I've been using that spell a ton in Knights of Evening Star, telepathic bond, and it's super good. I mean, I don't know what class restrictions arcane eye has, but theoretically, I suppose we could buy a spell scroll. Yeah, we could try and craft one. If someone did want to do that. I think if the spell's not on the spell list, then they have to make a check to use it.

It'd be a DC 14 check to use it. At the same time, I could cast a theory on us at 8th level. No, I can't. This won't work. Because then we'll be leaving two people behind in the Atlas Academy. Who are the two best students? But what you're saying is you could take some of us in. If I take some of us in,

at ninth level... You then have to leave them there. Yeah, at ninth level, Aetherionus works on me and five people. So he can get him and the students out. So you'd be basically swapping the students for you guys. See ya! Which, I mean, is an effective way of doing it, but you then have to get your own way out. So you'd basically be swapping the students for you guys. See ya! Which is an effective way of doing it, but you then have to get your own way out.

I think it does. The wording's a little weird. So when you cast a spell using a spell slot of 8th level or higher, you can target up to three willing creatures, including me, for each slot above 7th. So does... So 7th level... So at 7th level it's just you. It's just me. 8th level it's just you. It's just me.

8th level it's you and two more, because it's three including you, right? But then is it 9th level an additional three, or an additional one? Sounds like it's an additional three. So for a total of, at 9th level, me and two, five people. I will check it.

Five extra. You have a thing, because I also still need you to tell me what you're doing. Sorry, in terms of... But that's fine, because that's a good plan. It's a very smart plan. In terms of if we don't Quill Solo, I suppose,

I was thinking either, just before the operation begins, I could again do that Arcane Eye scouting thing to locate guards, currently populated areas, things like that, places for us to avoid when we do go in there. So I suppose that might give us some help on stealth or whatever.

Alternatively, another way of drawing people out is insight greed. What? That's a fun spell. What's that one do just to clarify as well on the aetheroness it would be you

and five others at ninth level so it does increase by three yep the wording is you can target up to three willing creatures

including you for each slot above seventh so the way to do that is three at eight six at nine because it's three six at nine yeah

it includes you so blaze it that's fucking rad right before we get into the plans of actually doing it

what are you doing for this pre-fade before we unlock the mission because you might not even be able to do the mission tonight because

depending on roles you might fail at this plan might fail yeah I made all the students little hats.

Little silky hats. Make them calm. And Century's like, I've made them swords and shields. And it's like a tiny shield like this and like a rusty piece of wood with a nail in it. Explosives. And then like her hands are like covered in like marks. Bit like...

It's like Homer building the... Why does it look like that? What's the illness you can get if you get cut by, like, rust and tetanus? Don't distract Tom. Sorry, yeah, I think I'm not going to do

the incite greed thing. What does that do? So I hold a 50 GP emerald and whoever I'm holding this to, they have wisdom save every turn and if they fail it, they're like, this is the greatest thing I've ever fucking seen in my life. And they just follow me.

Again, useful for when you're doing the mission. But my plan was I could literally just walk into the place like, hey guys, fucking look at this. And then just put it in a room somewhere. Yeah, and they'll play the plan, and you'll lead them. He dances through the Atlas Academy. Wait, the point.

The Atlas Academy is massive. It's like a UK university. Putting a thing in one room is not going to clear the entire thing. It's not like a pipe bomb in Left 4 Dead. Like, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You know, it's not that. No, he doesn't let it.

It's a very useful spell for the right situation. He does a nice little jig through the whole of the academy and picks them all up. A lot of the students would be pretty smart, you know, because this is the Atlas Academy. This is the creme de la creme. My wisdom save is fucking nuts. What are you doing for the planning?

Planning. Lots of cool ideas for the thing. I just want to personally just commend you on the amazing comparison. Don't commend me. Tell me the plan. The pipe bomb in Hell for Dead was inspired. Anyway, I intend to, just before the mission begins. No.

No, no, no, no, no. I intend to do this before the mission begins. This is the hours before. They're all doing preparation. What are you preparing? No, no, no, no, no. Your intention was before this begins. This is the hours before. This is what I'm doing. They're all doing preparation. What are you preparing? This is like the last thing when everyone is done with their shit. I've got a fucking hour-long trip here, my dude.

I'm arcane-eyeing around the place to find pockets of guards and populated areas within the Atlas Academy. What level is arcane-eye? Fourth? It is fourth. Right. Can you make a perception check for me,

which I know you'll be... Please roll a one, please roll a one. Just because you're a smug little boy. Oh! Yes! Yes! Yes! The prophecy!

Oh, get wrecked! Get wrecked! So painfully delicious. The perfect dice roll. Do we want a PBZ on that? That's a 19. It is a 19, but it is a natural one. I know.

And although there are no automatic fails on that bit. You've got the consequences chart. I love to do a no but and a yes and. So you get a 19. That definitely works. Okay. Oh my God. Wrecked you smug little kid.

19. You are very smug about perception. I would say if you could mark off two hit dice for me please. Yeah. Okay. I can't believe that. And because of that natural one, there will be a complication

that you won't know until the mission is in progress. Hell yes. Thank you. I love consequences. It makes it more interesting. I love that the dice gods heard. Literally, they heard me. I was like, I love it.

You're a little smug for an inent. I watched it. I was like, I couldn it. You're a little smug for... And then I watched it. I was like, I couldn't believe it. I looked at that. I was like... I think we all were like, what? I knew it. For some reason, as soon as you said it,

I was like, it's going to be a blast. Did you? You don't know if you passed. I succeeded my... Did you? Did I not? I haven't said. I've not said.

I've not said if anybody succeeded or failed. No. I said that you have done. But that doesn't mean that you've succeeded on the overall task. You do what you wanted to do. You send the arcane eye around. You find some guard positions and things like that. But using the arcane eye for so long,

but also you begin to realize that the Atlas Academy is very heavily guarded and not just by normal soldiers. You notice that there are Valkyrian, very magical-looking Valkyrian soldiers there. And that adds an element of stress. You actually have to at one point end the arcane eye early because you see one of them almost like it can sense something around and you are like, shut it down.

So, okay. So, before I reveal, because I'm not going to tell you if you succeeded or failed, you have made five checks. I'll tell you that you need four successes, but you still have Goliath and Fuego who can act if you want them to These hands are useless for you. Go. Can you make better heads?

He can certainly try if you'd like him to I am obviously I am being an asshole and making it in a funny voice This is a genuinely like I'm not I'm not gonna reveal whether you are close to it I'm wondering if we could have like like, Goliath and Fuego cause a distraction on or near the campus grounds. Like, for the planning part, or this is during the event itself. I'm saying that for this planning section, you could have them attempt to assist you

if you want to try and, like, bump up your chances to succeed. But there is a chance they might fail and make things worse. Could Fuego perhaps help Sentry with the weaponry? Absolutely, he can. If you'd like him to try and craft something, he can absolutely try and do that. I mean, he'd probably make the thing of like, I could just go buy some.

But then you know that there's a chance that you might get discovered. Yeah, you could get bought some. I already said that, but the idea is that Sentry's right. If yeah, you can get caught. No, but I already said that, but the idea is that, yeah, Sentry's right. If you buy them, there's a... It's like walking into a gun shop and being like, can I have all these guns and all this ammo? It's like, why? They rub off the serial numbers on the source.

Oh, that works every time. Be like Terminator and kill the gun guy, no problem. Oh, okay, yeah, yeah. Right. Would you like Goliath or Fuego to do anything? I think Fuego, help, and Sentry. Alrighty. So crafting weapons for these students

so they can try and defend themselves if necessary. Do you want him to focus on weapons or focus on shields and armour? Shields and armour. Okay, so little pieces of homemade armour and stuff like that. Yeah, like wooden panels you can rope onto arms and stuff. Okey-dokey, let me just bring up his stat block. A little tinfoil head. Ready to go.

I want Goliath to assault the Valkyrian ship on his own. Like tracks, just like runs through the air like two knives. Yes, finally! I'm free! He is not proficient in tools, but he has a decent intelligence. When we were talking about sending in the ethereal plane,

I laughed and said, what's 5%? That's 5%. Rolling a 1 on a d20. I knew that was going to be a 1. As soon as Mark said, please let it be a 1, I was like, it's going to be a 5. I felt a little shiver that the dice cards were watching. Honestly, just so delicious.

Like a tasty focaccia. Oh, so good. So it is in the process of Fuego going to find supplies, because Century had to go and find wood and scrap metal and things like that. Fuego, being Fuego, the punk, aggressive, brash one that he is, ends up getting into a fight. Oh, of course he does. With a bunch of scrappers and gangsters. That brings in some guards.

He gets pulled away for a few hours. He gets beaten up. He gets roughed up. And he doesn't really make any progress on making any armor and things like that. There you go. And it costs him a number of hit dice because he comes back pretty beaten up.

He's got a black eye. He's got a bloody nose. Oh, such a good head dream. Yeah, I mean, this is just his hit dice, right? He's not like actual hit points. But you like probably like help him and stuff like that. Can stream help him out? Yeah, yeah, exactly.

That's what she's there for. But he's lost some hit dice. And, you know, he can choose to get that back if he wants to. Unfortunately, at this stage, you have not succeeded. What about Goliath? You could, if you would like, well, I've already said it now, but I will allow you. I did say, like, I will think of something for Goliath

while you were dealing with Fuego. All right, I missed that. Could he do something to do with the safe house that's closer to the Atlas Academy in preparation for students getting there? Absolutely he could. Bingo, bango, bosh. What would you like him to do?

Make contact with them and get them to put up. so like a persuasion check from goliath or like make contact with them and like be like there's students coming we need to yeah so like you know speak to them and work with them and persuade them to get their help oh i see okay on this on fellow seekers no that's fine i'll do whatever you want me to do. Do you have any ideas? I just feel like it would be a contact. It would have been a good Fuego one. Hey, heads up.

Like, we got... You want him to use Intimidate? No. Like, I just want him to talk to them. Yeah, there has to be a check. There has to be a check involved, so it would be Persuasion. Yeah, there has to be a check.

It's a skill challenge. Do my Portemps work for these? Yeah. Absolutely. Why wouldn't they? I said you could use their abilities. You're a persuasion. Yeah, it has to be a check. It's a skill challenge. Do my portents work for these? Yeah. Absolutely. Why wouldn't they? I said you could use your abilities. You're a twat. Yeah.

I did say to you when you rolled it, I said portent. Well, my perception check. Am I rolling a persuasion check for Goliath? I didn't think I was going to roll a one. Yeah, but I said to you portent. I said you would. I know.

You should have gone. I should have known. Portent. Next time. Next time you will do, I know. You should have gone, I should have known. Port. Next time. Next time you will. I will. Could it be survival? Because he's trying to like,

you know, make sure the roots are clear and like. Aayla's already done that. Oh. I'd say that you can't do the same thing again. Like,

if it was a different way of using survival, maybe, but Aayla's already done like a check in the roots and stuff like that. Can Goliath use his strength Yes.

to fluff the pillows of the safety of the internet? I really thought you were going to have a good idea because I was like, I think Trot's got a good idea. He's got a look of a man who's like, I've got something, but I don't want to ruin the moment. And then you were like, fluff the pillows. I was like, okay. How do we use Goliath? Would you like me to give you a hint? Would you like a hint? Goliath's main strengths are fighting, he's good at athletics, he's not bad at perception and

survival, and he also is pretty good at intimidating. He is a former thug. He's like a thug enforcer. There are guards around the streets and patrols. If it was me, I would send him to base. If you ask him, he's like, if it was up to me, I'd just basically go in

and make sure that there's nobody who's going to give us trouble on the way. Like, take care of the, take care of any beggars, take care of any guards. Oh,

I was thinking like, go up to all the Atlas Academy nerds and just be like, don't fucking go to the Academy. I mean, there'd probably be an element of that. He probably would go and find some people

and be like, why are you fucking loitering around here? Go away. Like, he'd probably basically clear the way. Clear the route. Yeah. But he'd be doing that in a thuggish be like, why are you fucking loitering around here? Go away. He'd probably basically clear the way. Clear the route. Yeah. But he'd be doing that in a thuggish, violent way,

using either athletics or intimidation, which is the same role for him. Intimidation. Intimidation? All right. That's the last time I'm going to help. All right. With that, one.

23. He comes back, and before he goes like, how'd you get on? He's just like, yeah, it's fine. Cleared the way. Shouldn't have any problem with any local ruffians.

Got rid of a couple of the Ganassi guards, just the weaker ones. Told them that they'd be in trouble if they were sticking around tonight. So it should be clear. Which means you pull it into just barely a success. Which means that that mission should be clear. Which means you pull it into just barely a success.

Which means that that mission is now unlocked. Which means you can do it whenever you want to do it. Did I succeed? Huh? Did I succeed? I'm not telling you. No. Because then that would tell you what the DC was.

I don't want to tell you that. I think I succeeded. We had to get four successes, and I'm pretty sure they probably came from me, Kim. Wait, what was everyone's roles? I can't remember. Move on, Tom. Move on.

I need to know. Let's go. Well, this is up to you now, right? So that was your third time slot for this day. Failure, failure. So it is now night time. It is midnight. The moon.

There is no moon. The stars are obscured. The cradle is obscured by clouds. Nice catch. I forget my own world sometimes. The cradle is obscured by clouds. It is a dark evening. It is late, you could sleep. You could go on a mission.

You could work on other things. It is your call. Mission time. Mission time. Mission, I want to do this to you. All right. We're sleeping, we're dead. Permission to. Mission time. I want to do this to you. We're sleeping, we're dead. Permission to do the mission.

Permission to do the mission. So this is, so now it's just a case of like, who's going? Like, you don't all have to go. You can choose. You want to solo it, bud? You could, in theory,

be like, Tom, Quill, take it away. How would that work in regards to like, these guys during this operation, though? They would have a time segment to do what they want.

They could sleep, they could do more work on other things. We're just going to go have a nap. Because it turned my mission operation less into an encounter and more into just a couple of skill checks. Maybe. We'll find out. Because I don't want to have a three-hour session of just me. It won't be three hours. No, I know.

But we could also be like, yeah, everyone go grab a drink and me and Tom will do something. Or it might just be a couple of skill checks. No, I know. But, I mean, we could also be like, yeah, everyone go grab a drink and me and Tom will do something. Or it might just be a couple of skill checks. We don't know. But it's also like Nova might be like, no, I want to go. I want to help. I've also got stuff like being invisible and stuff like that

and teleport, so. Oh, but there was a guy that identified the arcane eye, which is invisible. Yeah, but I can... Ethereal is a different plane. Yeah, I don't think True Sight works in Ethereal plane. Ah, yes, it does. True Sight can see in Ethereal creatures, yes.

Because we had that with the headless huntsman. Yes, we did. Yep. Which you totally remember. I remember that. That was in Horizon Well that is a plan At the very least I think If we stealth in all of us

Etherealing them out of the place Is Just a good way of getting them out. You just said the words, us stealth in. Well. Which I think is just asking for a repeat of the entire last arc. Not an hour ago, there was something I couldn't see. And I'm shaken to my core.

Yeah, wow. Something evaded my vision. Yeah, wow. Something evaded my vision. I just need you to be aware of that. I'm going in. I'm a broken man. I believe in you, Quill, but I'll be there in case you need backup.

Sure. What is everyone else? I've got all these swords and shields for the kiddos in case they need help. I'm Australian. for the kiddos in case they need help. Or Australian. For the kiddos. The guardians. And when Century points over,

I mean, it's just a pile of garbage. I love Century to pieces, but it is a pile. And then you also look at, like, Lucius's, like, medic bag, and it's like the bandages have all spilled out and he's not noticed. I think Lucius is dead. I mean, no. I think I fucked up. is like medic bag and it's like the bandages have all spilled out he's not It's pretty bad. Why are we doing espionage? He's just got like a bottle of lemonade in there. He's got like a glass bottle of lemonade. They might be thirsty.

How is... I put them a drinky. Yeah, I'm totally fucked up. Why is there a magazine in here? It's fine. But yeah, what you did in the plan stage doesn't have to reflect what you do in the mission. Like, it's just going to be like... I will, Lucius will however say,

I feel like I won't benefit that much going in. I think the more of us there are on the ground trying to get those people out, the more likely we are to be detected. And I am not the most subtle of people. I look at Sentry. The swords and shields. They all fall over.

One of them unties, breaks. There's like woodworm in them and it's just a sense of grace before you. Some sawdust on the floor. You don't actually think Sentry has ever made anything. No. You tried your best, didn't you? I did. I really tried.

You did. But it was shit. Yikes. True, I wouldn't give them to my own gods. I mean, well, no, it was like a 12. They weren't, like, the worst thing. No, they were great. I was being mean.

10 out of 10 is going to get people splintered. It definitely wouldn't be very useful, I don't think. No, I like Bryce. I was being mean. 10 out of 10 is going to get people splintered. Yeah, it definitely wouldn't be very useful, I don't think. No. Unfortunately. Nice gesture. Here you go.

So, we have Quill. We have Nova. No Lucius. Aayla Sentry. Yes, no? I'll just do a test roll myself. I was wasted an at 20.

I'm not going. That's the only way you would have succeeded that. Yep. I'm tempted to, but I'm also tempted to be on the verge of the academy where the exit route is so that I can... You would still be in the encounter, but yeah, you can choose

if you're going to go... But I would, you're going to juggernaut it. I would quite like, because I've scouted that route, so I'm the one who knows that and I want to be there to make sure that they take the right route. When I say that, like,

if Lucius and Century don't want to go, the idea is that they stay in the South House and they do other things. I think it would be useful. You can go, but not go into the academy. You can be like, I'm going to wait by the exit and then if anybody's chasing you, I'll whack them. Because you can do invis be useful. You can go but not go into the academy. You can be like, I'm going to wait by the exit and then if anybody's chasing you,

I'll whack them. Because you can do invisibility stealth. You can go ethereal. You can stealth sort of. I'm not bad at stealth, but I'm also a risk and I'm better suited out here. Yeah.

Back you guys up. Yeah. Back up. All right. Would you like either Fuego or Goliath to go with you? I think Goliath maybe to help with Ayla, like assist Ayla. Especially because he knows the way to the safe house. You all know the way to the safe house.

You don't need to worry about that. I've scouted the route. Yeah, you can take him with you. If you want another bruiser. Or we could send him to do one of the other things. We could send him to find out more about the council members. Yeah, I think that's the best way. That was a better use of his time, probably.

If I'm ethereal-ing all the students, I'm basically bamfing them out of the Atlas Academy and straight into the safe house. With nothing in between for us except ethereal. And the consequence. And consequences and my own dark thoughts. I don't want these two to...

I don't want these two to... It's probably a good thing you don't know. Carry on before you get distracted. Yeah, so... I'm off course. No, it's fine. Yeah, you could keep Goliath here. Just because, again, if you check out the skill blocks, if you want...

Fuego is specifically an expert, so he has proficiency in thieves' tools, he's got good sleight of hand, so if you want a more rogue-y kind of character to go with you... I just want to beat up. Yeah, but he's patched up, he's fine. Reed, what are you laughing at? Jeez, God.

It's not worth it. It's not worth it. It happened when I said a theory thing. It wasn't. Was it that? No, you did something. Yeah.

But yeah, it's more that I just want you guys to be aware. I don't want you to be like, oh, I didn't realise that he was like, you know, a thief-y kind of character.

Maybe we should take Fuego. You don't have to. You don't want to make, I don't want to impose it like, you know, a thiefy kind of character. Maybe we should take Fuego. You don't have to. Do what? I don't want to impose it on you. But I train in pick locks. Be aware that he's... He's also got an ability called Helpful,

which is he can give you... He can use the help action at range, and it gives you like a better boost. So he's like a good support guy. He's not super good in a fight, but he's pretty good at like helping other people. He's going from 30 feet away. You can do it.

You got it you just turn it to the left decision time yeah I think take him or

yes I no I what do you want to do I think are you asking Fuego I think yeah I want to go

I think we should take Ayla, Quill, Nova, Fuego, Goliath, Century, and Lucius do something else, like look for the council members. Stay away. Sure, yeah. Fuego's like, yeah, I want to go.

Hell yeah. Rescue those... Who are we rescuing? Students. Sure. In the Alice Academy. Do we get to fight people? Do we get to pray stuff? Hopefully not? Students. Sure. In the Atlas Academy. Do we get to fight people? Do we get to break stuff?

Hopefully not. Nice. Okay. But I will be quiet. I'm not, yeah. It's just, you know. First part's stealthy. Yeah, sure.

I'm good at being quiet. Hopefully the entire part's stealth. Sure. All right. Let's do it. All right, nice. Okay, then before we wrap up, because I think we're nearly out of time.

Pretty much there, yeah. Pretty much there. So, what's going to happen next time? Century, Lucius, and Goliath. Before we wrap up, because I think we're nearly out of time. Pretty much there. So. What's going to happen next time? Century, Lucius, and Goliath. You guys wanted to work on the council stuff. Is that the plan? Because they made that decision for you.

I don't know if you agreed with that, but I know that Goliath's going on to do that. Yes, kids are too busy giggling. We can work on whatever seems best to you guys. Yeah. Yeah, I think start making headway. Into the council, like looking for you guys. Yeah, I think start making headway. Into the council, looking for those guys. Again, I could potentially utilize these noble

outfits to get in with some people that have contacts and networks. If you want to spend your flashback token, it will give you a benefit to doing this. If you want to spend it now... I won't spend it now. Would that be influencing the city if you're going out to start talking to people

maybe? Like nobles. Yeah, I guess it could be twofold, but I don't want to do two things in one quarter. No, you can't do two, you've got to choose one. So Goliath's going to go investigate the council a bit further. What's Sentry going to do? I'll come and go live. All right, so two on that.

And then Lucius, are you going to go with them or do you want to do city influence get schmoozing I might start losing schmooze okie-dokie which forks don't want marking that down for what we're gonna session I know that that has already been done mark off this nighttime set by knife and then when this admission is completed that will be the next day done. That will be five days. Feels like a productive day so far. Yeah.

With that is going to be the end of today's episode. We've set the mechanics. You guys have got a feel for it now. You kind of know how it works. Nervous. Hopefully the next one we'll get through, make it a bit speedier, get through a couple more of these smash them out

basically playing like a brand new game system I've made things very complicated for us no it's not complicated

it's just us trying to decide things testing the and as always you know it's okay don't worry about making the right

decisions just make the decisions your characters I don't want my city to blow up make the decisions your character's I don't want my city to blow up make the decisions your character would make

and because the dice will fuck you over anyway just remember that sorry what was the complication again you don't know yet I still don't know

what the complication is in fact roll a d3 for me and I'll figure it out I won't tell you but I'll know 3 yeah d6 sorry

so it's the same same dice 4 I rolled a 4 on a d6 so that's what 2 on a d3, sorry. So it's the same dice. I rolled a 4 on a d6, so that's, what, 2 on a d3? Okay. Mike, can you give me a bro before you sign us out? Bro!

Thank you. It's the end of today's High Rollers, bros. Thanks for joining us, bro. Love you, bro. We'll see you next time. Bro. Bro! Bro!

Bye! See ya! Pro, pro, pro. Bye. See you.