High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois | #20 - Clash of Spells (Part 1)

Episode Date: January 21, 2019

Lucius, Quill and Nova are getting interested in the lowland sport: Spell Clash! 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

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Hello, everyone. Welcome back to High Rollers, a Dungeons and Dragons campaign in the world of Erois. Run by Dungeon Master Mark Scholleck-Humes, with me, Tom, playing Kila Kadkala, the 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 an air ganassi, and she is a hexblade warlock. For those of you that are unaware, High Rollers had a campaign prior to Erois called Lightfall, and you can check that out on our YouTube channel, High Rollers D&D. The reason I'm telling you this now is because that campaign started on January 17th, 2016, three years ago. So with that, today's episode is also a celebration of three years of High Rollers. We had party poppers, hats, colourful balloons, cakes, you name it.

That shouldn't interrupt the episode, but I thought you'd like to join the milestone. So thank you everyone that's followed us for three years, and if you're a new listener, hopefully we'll see you for three more. We're sponsored by D&D Beyond. Check the link in the description to start digitising your campaign. Trust me, you won't regret it.

Anyway, on to the episode. Lucius, Quill and Nova are starting to get interested in the lowland sport, Spellclash. Hello, old Tom Hazel. You do this, you get mad at me when I don't do the intro for the podcast properly. Yeah, okay, no, let's start again. Right, there we go. So, welcome back to Arois.

Let's do a quick recap on what happened last week. So, for a quick recap, our party of adventurers, having survived an airship crash in the dangerous lowlands, have made their way to a small city of Kael's rest on the continent of suvona each of the party have their own goals and tasks within the city lucius with the help of nova and quill um had uh confronted some difficult personal matters at the way spire a messenger post used for sending out letters and packages across eros century the guardian had met several other Guardians for the first time since her reactivation. These sent in constructs with limited lifespans, and they learn that one of them is nearing the end of their time. The others have suggested that they know someone who can claim to how to prolong Guardians' lifespan, but the details aren't clear, and that is a matter still to be resolved.

A storm had been brewing over the last few days and ayla the wild elf barbarian with strange storm-based powers met with kalo otoma an orc priest of the goddess zephia the orc challenged ada ayla to a no holds fight test uh to see basically had to test her willingness to put everything at risk to get the answers she's looking for after being struck by a mortal blow, Aayla had visions of the goddess herself, who told Aayla that some answers would be close at hand and that the Abbey held an elf similar to Aayla herself.

Nova, Quill, and Lucius had stopped off in Apocotheres to stock up on some supplies, where they met a centaur kind of herbalist called Rosemeadow before investigating a lowland sport called Spellclash. And they've made their way from the herbalists to find the Spellclash Arena. I can tell you it is the 25th of Pallas, which is the first cycle in the period known as the Long Night. The weather is still abysmal. There are dark

grey clouds overhead, the rain has been non-stop for the last two days, three days, and there is a heavy wind that blows through the streets. Unlike the other roads in Cayley's Rest, North Street has been laid out with stones, and the ongoing storm has not turned it into a slurry of mud as the rest of the city has become. The buildings on either side of the street are well kept and have ornate signs and coloured windows. Hidden behind these houses and merchant homes is a large domed building. Across the domed surface, glyphs and runes of various coloured magic shift and pulse, and from the inside we can hear an echoing cheer of hundreds. colored magic shift and pulse and from the inside we can hear an echoing cheer of hundreds outside the dome itself a small fenced off area contains a target range and a few several other

smaller buildings have been positioned and dozens of young citizens are clustered around them excitedly talking watched over by a squadron of six or so armed guards in a livery of purple and silver. Lucius, Nova, Quill and Vala all stand at the entrance to this large open plaza looking at the large dome with its glowing glyphs before you. You can see that there are yeah there's these small buildings you can see the large dome itself and there's entryways kind of like a classic arena, kind of carved into it. This is spectacular. There wasn't so much rain in my eyes causing so much stinging pain. I'd be crying right now.

No, I am crying. No, this is real tears. That is real tears. Because from the rain, it's hurting. I haven't had this much rain. Lucius, you don't have to look up. If you just look normally, then... So big. Your cowboy hat has a wide enough room that it won't go to look up. If you just look normally, then... It's so big. Your cowboy hat has a wide enough frame that it won't go in your eyes.

But I flicked it up so I could see the whole dome. Okay. Perhaps flick it down. Yeah. It is very official. It's very grandiose for such a, I mean, small town, isn't it? I mean, Cali's Rest isn't a small town. It's more like a small city

it has like big stone walls it's quite a few districts it's quite large well it's i mean this this probably houses like maybe 200 people it's not that big it's not like the o2 arena yeah you know it's not wembley stadium um it's you know kind of like a small theater almost it's just built under this huge stone dome okay it's like the hippodrome in bristol kind of yeah it's it's a local kind of theater arena kind of uh area um and then the smaller buildings look to be offices maybe or uh waiting rooms maybe for the actual wizards who are participating but the sounds of the cheering you can hear this kind of you know that deep vibrating cheer of the sounds of hundreds of people like clapping and shouting. It's kind of reverberating out from this stone dome.

There's obviously something is going on inside. Yeah. We should definitely watch. I'm not so sure about taking part, you know? Yeah, you'd be amazing at it. There's just too many people. Didn't expect it to be this big. Your spells are cool, though.

And I doubt there's another, what are you, Dicromancier? Yes, let's go with that. Yes, Dicromancy. What are you? Color Magic. Dicromancer. Dicromancer, cool. I mean, do they let people like me in there with light spells and things like that?

I don't really know what it is. I don't know what's happening. Let's go find out, buddy. We should definitely go watch. Let's go have a look-see. I mean, how much is it going to be to get a seat in there? Well, you're kind of stood at the entrance to this plaza. You can see that there are signs and posters and stuff like that.

Okay. Let's go ask! And I'm going to go up to the nearest person who looks like they're responsible. Okay, yeah. So probably the nearest person that looks responsible is there are guards in this kind of purple and silver livery. And they've got halberds. You can see them with these long sort of like tall axe bladed pole arms um and they're kind of scanning the crowd and the crowd is mainly like you can see kind of citizens aged between anywhere from like young adults to teenager kind of era and they're kind of all

hovering around one of these smaller buildings and they're kind of like trying to peer in through the windows and you can see that they've got like little books um and like little you know pencils and stuff like that um you approach one of the guards uh and he kind of looks down he's like hello there can i help you hello good sir we are new to this town and clearly this sport and we wish to know more well and he points towards the dome where you can see there are kind of several of these archways he says like well tickets and general inquiries are down there this is for the jewelers themselves and he kind of gestures to the there are kind of several of these archways. He says like, well, tickets and general inquiries are down there. This is for the duelists themselves. And he kind of gestures to the little kind of buildings.

How many people are in there? How many duelists? There's currently about three or four waiting for their matches. Can we have a look? In here? No. Why not? This is for duelists only. Oh, right. How do we sign up? If we were interested.

He points to the dome. He's like, well, there is the arcanist's assistant is around somewhere, she'll be near the ticket area. You can inquire with her if you're looking to become duelists yourselves, and he kind of smiles. Thank you so much! Bernie, we could take part! We could, can we? Is it dangerous? No, you could take part.

There is certainly, I'd buy, he kind of like coughs for a moment, you could change for us? There is certainly I'd buy he kind of like coughs for a moment. I am obliged to indicate that there is a risk of harm

but of course we take the utmost safety precautions and all of our mages are trained in first aid and we take the safety of our duelists and of the audience

to the highest standard. If someone passes out do you stop the match? He's like I think you should perhaps go and watch a match then you'll understand. Okay. Right. Do you sell popcorn? i don't know what that is okay oh no not the new noodles

gestures and you can see um as you kind of if you begin making your way over towards the dome uh you can see that inside there is like these short corridors which lead into like an inner arena and that there are these kind of holes kind of like cloakroom kind of like little kind of areas and there is a sign that indicates that a general admission ticket is one silver piece and that is for the matches for the day so you can go and come

back and watch any later matches and stuff that's cheap for a commoner it's probably quite expensive it's like you know but for you guys adventurers or anybody wealthy like merchants, it's kind of nothing. For just a general admission ticket. You can see there are like VIP tickets and stuff like that. How much is VIP?

VIP is about 10 gold, but it includes like an actual booth and food and drink. Popcorn? No popcorn. They are, it is thinly sliced fried potato. I'm down for that. Dauphinoise. What's that called? Don't think it would have a name.

Thinly sliced potato. Fried potatoes would probably just be whatever. They're crispy. Are they salty and vinegary? They are quite salted. You can get them sometimes with cheese as well. Cheese? Oh, we're talking crisps.

They're kind of like chips crisps. Cheesy cheese as well. Cheese. Oh, we're talking crisps. They're kind of like chips crisps kind of deal. Cheesy chips. Yeah. Mmm. Mmm, yeah. Stop making me laugh. That's the spell clash snack of choice. Snacks of choice.

The nachos of spell clash. Are they sponsored with spell clash? It has a specific company. Yeah. But yeah, so you go up and there is a uh human male i'd say like a young human man like maybe in his 20s you can see that he's he's kind of got like very ornate looking wizard robes but it's clearly uniform like they're quite cheaply made and he's like hello welcome welcome to spell clash how can i help you hi we'd like tickets to the show please of course there's a

match currently uh just about to start, actually. So just for the four of you, any gestures to you three and Valor. It's like, well, that's four silver for General, please. Okay, I'll count four. Is General more dangerous? For the audience? No, no, no, of course not, sir.

You're completely safe. Okay, good. The match takes place within the arena itself, which is magically warded. You're perfectly safe, I can assure you. Good, good. I don't want to be hit by a wayward missile, you know. Oh, no, no, no.

Of course not, sir. We have a barrier which protects the audience from any flung projectiles, fireballs, lightning bolts. None of that will actually harm the audience. Okay. What are the rules? Oh, well, he's like, would you like a program? They're one copper a piece. Yes.

Okay. I'd love a program. He'll slide over a program. Look at the quality. And it's a very, you can see it's being made on a printing press, like a proper printing press. And it's kind of got that old Westy kind of like the text is quite narrow and thin, but there's all these kind of very beautiful illustrations,

full color illustrations of Art Nouveau wizards kind of like shooting lightning bolt from their hands, like wielding wands. Look at that, Nouveau.ards shooting lightning bolt from their hands wielding wands. Very, very elegant aesthetic. In it, it does describe the rules of Spellclash. It kind of phrases it in very

flowery language, but generally... I've got to find out my notes. It distills down to a couple of points. The first thing is it makes a big deal out of reassuring you that it's completely safe. Spell Clash is a completely safe sport for both duelists and audience. Oh, good. The magical boards put in place protect everybody,

from duelists to audience, no matter where they are. Each duelist is enshrouded with the Spellclash Shield, a unique magical spell developed just for Spellclash arenas. Once the Spellclash Shield has been broken, that duelist loses and the other is declared the winner. Almost anything goes in Spellclash. Any spells of any color or style, magical creations, fireballs, explosions of light um enchantments

and more any mage who harms another uh spell clash duelist after their shield is broken is automatically disqualified um an enchantment and it says for enchantments see nearest referee indicating that there is some more rules that the audience would need to know. But generally you get the idea that basically two mages go in, they have these shields and it's the first person to break the other person's shield is the winner basically, is the general gist you get from it.

Just from the audience program, obviously there'd be more dedicated rules if you're a participant. I'd like to point at one of the illustrations. This one seems, is he playing today? Is he in the game? Those illustrations are non-specific we didn't want to give anybody

a certain ego boost by putting them on the programs. So who's playing today? So the match that's coming up now is Wraith vs. Enchantress Persephone. Those are good names. The other matches probably won't be taking place until much later and they're still sorting out.

It's all in the program now, isn't it? It has the match. It says for the later ones to be determined. You imagine that they sell more programs later on. I'll take ten programs. Ten programs? No, we don't want ten current programs.

No. But we give them to the rest of the group. Oh. That aren't here. Oh. Well, that would be ten copper pieces, sir. Yes. That's a silver piece, basically.

Yes. He pulls out a stack and he's like, Of course, sir. Happy to help. Layers them all out. This thing's going to be so exciting. We could all flick through it later. Okay.

Maybe we'll get some signatures. He's like, and he kind of like eyes you, and he takes the tickets back, and he gets you a new set of tickets. He's like, for buying extra programs, I've given you some good seats. Aw, thank you. Like, gives you a wink. He's like, enjoy the show! So wait, his name is Wraith? The one of the, yes,

the duelist, Wraith, yes. That's his actual name? It's his spellclash name. They do that? Of course, yes. Being larger than actual name? It's his spell clash name. They do that? Of course, yes. Being larger than life is a big part of spell clash. Wow. You'll love this. Never. Years.

What shape is this silver piece? I haven't seen one before. Well, show me what you got. Discreetly. It's not really a shape. It's just made of silver. So it's just a coin. It's a silver coin, but it's probably got like,

it would be a, I guess the money that you've mainly had so far would be golds and platinums. Yeah, and also but you've been getting changed from Savona, because your gold and platinum is marked with sky, with gustaven markings. It's still accepted, but it's kind of like

Scottish notes and English notes, right? Like they have the different colors. All your silver pieces are stamped with, on one side is a crown, and on the other side is three female figures kind of stood next to each other. And that appears on all the Sivonin coins. I've got six silver, or five now. Five of those? Yeah. That's all you've got? Oh, or five now. Five of those? Yeah.

That's all you've got? Oh, this is a silver piece, is it? Yeah. Is this all you have? Yes. Wait, total? What happened to all your gold and platinum? Well, we spent it all, didn't we? All? What did you spend the... You had a hundred gold back.

Did I? Yeah, after the Christmas... Oh, wait! It's a pouch back here With all the goldies Okay if you lose Any more money That's it I'm not Once it's gone

It's gone There it is Okay So these ones Yeah so the little You want one of these sir Little silvery No the little silvery one

Not the gold Yes it is Oh yes that was gold Never mind This one Takes it. It's like, okay. Lunatics.

He just, like, smiles and is like, yes, thank you, sir. 3, 3, 4, 2. Customer service. You would have taken the gold. Let's go to our seats. Let's go, let's go, let's go. So as you begin making your way down, you can see that the seats are all the kind of, like, stone seats

enshrouded in a semicircle around what you can see to be a large stone maybe like 60 feet by 60 feet cube um with a kind of shimmering wall of force all around the edges like a cube inside on the stone platform you can see large rocks there are kind of like fake trees kind of like natural terrain has been sculpted around to kind of create this uh visage of a battle so pokemon yeah so is it very pokemon stadium element to it semicircle thing with these tiered seats so it's a large arena then it's quite a large arena it's 60 feet for the main thing and then you've probably got about another 30 40 feet all around the edges of just seating um and you can see the overhead there are magical lights kind of like your dancing lights but they seem to be

permanent which are shining down and kind of creating spotlights and kind of you know magical effects you can see there's always like an aurora there's waving around lots of different colors it spins around yeah all of that stuff um and it's kind of it's very over the top um and inside like the same glowing runes will kind of run up the walls and kind of spin down onto the other side and all around you can see different citizens of khali's. You can see merchants, you can see artisans that have brought their families. And, you know, the seats as they go further back, you imagine are probably cheaper seats. But your seats are quite near the front.

They're not at the front. They're at a good position, kind of in that midway range, where you've got a good view of the whole arena. Is there any, like, tall Dragonborn or Goliath in front of us? Not in front of you, no. In fact, most of the people here are humans, dwarves, and then things like half-elves, a couple of halflings, that sort of thing. It's mainly Sivona racers you see around you.

And it's not long after taking your seats that there is this kind of deep, booming voice that seems to be magically projected and kind of coming down from the ceiling, seemingly from nothing, as if a rope just appears out of nothing and then sliding down it is a very very well-dressed halfling matter half elf with slicked black hair um and he is holding some sort of like jewel encrusted wand very much like a microphone um and he speaks into it and he just is ladies and gentlemen Kaylie's rest

welcome to spell clash and there's a big sort of like cheering roar and Valor you can see that Valor

is just amazed she's sat there like she doesn't know where to look like she's just overwhelmed

did you see the she's just amazing out of nowhere she's just like eyes are like wide I can't stop jittering She's just like Eyes are like wide I can't stop jittering

It's ridiculous Like the whole seat is vibrating It's just like You can hit fear And it's just like Are you ready To see a war Of arcane phenomena

I'm so ready Are you ready In particular For a spell surging Slaughterfest What's this Slaughterfest A war The crowd is just like Like going crazy They were like Stomping as well spell surging slaughter fest what's this slaughter a war

the crowd is just like like going crazy they were like stomping as well so the entire thing stomping clapping yep you can have that

going if you want and he turns and he's like our first competitor the necromancer the master of darkness this will be Persephone

no and this kind of swirling black mist kind of appears on the platform and very much like Reaper kind of teleporting in this kind of cloaked figure with his bing twin horns kind of appears it's low kind of like you know there's no music there's this low like hood and you can see this kind of like angled features hood and you can see this kind of, like, angled features

kind of poking in. And you smell. And this kind of figure with this curved scimitar kind of appears. And you just hear, like, the crowd roaring. People are booing, but people are also cheering. Like, a real kind of wrestling vibe. What an entrance. Going against him, the queen

of beauty, the lady of enchantment,chantress persephone and flying on a broom from the ceiling comes this woman with this long blonde hair this very skimpy pink outfit tall thigh high boots long slender staff in one hand comes zipping down onto the fan and the crowd are cheering there's loads of like men throwing flowers and things, trying to get them near the arena. And it's this big spectacle. It's a barrier. Yeah, it just takes the barrier and slides down. And you can see that there are attendants going around

scooping up stuff that's thrown down. Is there anyone that can identify that flying spell? Yeah, you can make an Arcana check. I want to see if it's fake. 13. You will need some dice, Chris Trott, yes. 13. You don't get the impression if it was fake. I think it does. 13. You will need some dice, Chris Trott, yes. 13. You don't get the impression that it's fake.

You think it is a magical effect. Oh, wow, okay. But you're not sure if it's coming from her or if it's like an enchanted item. It could be an enchanted star. I wonder if I could see some wires holding her up, gliding her in. There's definitely a lot of magic here.

When he made his appearance, it was some sort of teleportation. So if I use identify magic, I'm going to go blind. If you cast detect magic in here, there will be a lot of magic going on. The same way when he made his appearance it was some sort of teleportation. So if I use identify magic I'm going to go blind. If you cast detect magic in here there will be

a lot of magic. Everything is magic. The match itself it begins by having two robed attendants come out and you can see that they're older

than anybody else you've seen. They're probably in their 50s, 60s a man and a woman woman they come out silvery kind of beard silver like you know graying hair they come out and they're holding these ornate wands uh that have made from purple kind of like metal and silver trimmings and they go up to both of the two duelists as they're called and they begin weaving this ritual which takes about ten minutes. During this time, the two duelists are doing the classic thing of like, Wraith is just like, I'm going to destroy you.

He's like giving it all up. And Enchantress Persephone is like, I can't lose when my fans love me so much. And the crowd all cheers. And they're playing up to the crowd. It's actually kind of just to kill time whilst this ritual is being cast on them. As soon as it's finished, this barrier, which flickers for a moment and then turns invisible, of blue energy surrounds both of them, and then they're both led to opposite ends of the battle arena itself.

We could never be duelists. No. We don't have the pizzazz. We can, however. I mean, have you seen how you're dressed? Yeah. You look just as flashy and gaudy as these guys. I don't have an entrance, though.

You could think of one. I could get a broom. You all could. Lucius. One gold. I think Wraith's gonna win. I do. I did find my gold pocket. All right.

Three gold. Three on what? I'm just upping the bet. I'm jittering a lot. So you think Persephone's gonna win? The other one, yes. Okay, fine, three gold Three gold

Okay I bet Wraith Yes, I bet the Enchantress Nova Hmm? This is all the group fun It's great Is it?

I bet 300 No, I'm just looking around Looking for a person selling fried potatoes You can, yep It's about a copper Are they throwing them? For a small portion No, it's about a copper. Are they throwing them like American baseball? It's kind of like a bag, like a little kind of paper bag, and it comes with fried potatoes in there,

a little bit of sprinkling of salt, like rock salt on it. Oh. Copper piece, if you want one of those. The match itself begins very, very quickly. You're kind of waiting. You expect some pomp. You expect some sort of signal. But really, just the announcer kind of leaves the cube. And then there is just a,

Spell duelists, begin! And then it just goes. You watch as the Enchantress weaves some sort of spell over herself. And her form just speeds up. And rapidly she moves around the battlefield. Seeming sensing it, Wraith kind of waits for a moment, closes his eyes, and then teleports a short distance away just as an enormous lightning bolt scorches across the platform,

smashing into the barrier, and you can hear this crackle of energy erupt. The crowd just goes nuts as you see Wraith kind of appear just out of the way. He turns around, and a thin beam of greenish energy strikes the Enchantress despite despite her sped up form. Yay! You can see she's like, she stumbles for a moment as the barrier begins, kind of, you can see some cracks kind of appearing.

Wraith is just like, you're not so fast after all, Persephone. Yes, she is! Sorry. She just kind of like smirks. And you can see her form, you can definitely see that she's kind of poisoned or something, but then she smirks and she just looks back,

clicks her fingers as Wraith's form like, and she's just like, no, no, my dear Wraith. I was just waiting for you to get out of the way of that first spell so I could hold you in place. And then you can see he's like, and then she kind of brings her arms up and she's just, and this kind of four bolts of purple energy kind of slam into rate magic missile strikes into his shield sending a bunch of it kind of shattering um he manages to kind of shake himself free leap

to the side just in time before another lightning bolt across the map uh he then throws his hands up he's like you're making me use my special move earlyphone. That really pisses me off. Evades black tentacles arise. What? As these black inky tendrils erupt from the ground and begin smashing around Persephone. She's trying to move, but one of them grips her arm and holds her in place. What sort of a spell is that?

The barrier begins breaking chunks of it, and you can see the whole thing is now very shattered. It looks very, very weak. She kind of like grunts and manages to summon enough energy to kind of pull her arm free and then teleport about 60 feet to the other side of the arena uh wraith turns around and you can see he's kind of breathing hard a lot of his magical energy drained um and she raises her hand up and she uh raises it up let me introduce you to one of my own creation wraith Chain whip of adoration As this kind of golden lasso

Made almost of like individual small hearts Wraps around this kind of shadowy figure And then she pulls it tight He just clutches his mind As his shield Amazing And then he's yanked to the ground And he kind of is like

And then the crowd just begins cheering. Persephone, Persephone, Persephone, Persephone, Persephone. And the announcer comes down and this whole takes place is maybe like a couple of minutes at best. But the whole thing just flashes by in an instant. The winner is crowned and you can see that Persephone's hand is raised. A bag of gold is brought out and handed to her. Wraith kind of slinks brought out and handed to her. Wraith kind of slinks off towards the entrance to the actual arena itself

and is not heard from again. He's taken out back. Wow, not heard from ever again. Took out back in a shot. And then the announcer turns around. He's like, Ladies and gentlemen, we've got more exciting spell clash for you

coming this evening. And don't forget, the Gold Throne Suvonan Tournament is underway Anybody who's interested in signing up should go and speak With Daphne out of the front desk Any potential mages Potential spell clash winners out there Make sure you sign up

I'm just going to hold up You hold Lucius' hand up, but there's a bunch of others Kind of like, yeah, raising their hands And then he just kind of gestures Back towards you I'm not a hand up, but there's a bunch of others kind of like, yeah, raising their hands. And then he just kind of gestures back towards you. I'm not a mage, I'm a sorcerer. You're totally honest. You're going to smash everyone. Do it.

That level of, like, what we just watched, that level, is that anything, is that way beyond anything we've ever done? Make him an arcana check. The tentacle. Strangest roll I've ever done. Seven. Yeah, you're not really sure.

There's certainly some magic you recognize. The magical missile, you kind of picked up on that one. But there was definitely some powerful magic being thrown. How much more powerful, you don't know. Okay. I mean, it was very powerful. And Valor's just like, wow, that was crazy. You're going to sign up, right, Lucius?

No, I'm terrified. Well, you have to. Why? What about Nova Quill? You should sign up, too. Well, I mean, I... Will you cast spells? Am I a magical sword?

Nothing like that. Well, you cast spells, right? I've seen you cast spells. I'm not saying use my sword, though. Yeah, but that shoots magic, right? Yes. Well, then I don't see why you couldn't. I mean, it's a magical sword.

I'd have to double check. But I didn't see anyone using, it's a magical sword. I'd have to double check. But I didn't see anyone using swords down there. So I'd have to double check if weapons are around. Wraith had one, but he never used it. He had this, like, curved scimitar. Curved swords? I still stand. Yeah. By my thing that I didn't see a weapon being used.

Yeah, that's fine. But, yeah, if I'm a sorcerer. I suppose you can go speak to the Daphne person and find out more, at least.. Yeah, but yeah. I suppose you can go speak to the Daphne person and find out more at least. See what powers are required. Hmm, sure. I mean, if we ever go against Persephone, though, we're done. There's got to be top tier, right?

There's got to be some lower tiers that we can... There's this very kind of bearded fellow who's like, top tier? Not quite, friend. They're kind of average level spell duelists. They're average? People up in Goldthrone are much more powerful. Really? Yeah. We don't of average level spell duelists. They're average? The people up in Goldthrone are much more powerful. Really? Yeah.

We don't stand a chance, Quill. Or Nova. I guess you could make an entry level, I suppose. So many young hopefuls entering the sport. It's good to see. I appreciate you calling me young. Yes. You are young. This guy looks to be about 50.

It's like, thank you. Excellent. I'm glad that my beloved Persephone won. You were a fool to bet against her, Birdman. Oh, yeah, that's a good point. How much was it again? That's three gold. Put it in the fund.

Okay, fine. There you go. Three gold for the fund. Okay. Do I add three? I'll add three. So while you guys are doing that, Ayla and Sentry,

you guys had just left the Shrine of Zephyr. The rain is still beating down, and whilst there is no more thunder and lightning, the storm is still kind of in place. You're kind of getting the tail ends of it, the heavy winds, the dark storm clouds, and the rain. Ayla, I think you're still wounded, aren't you? You weren't fully healed up.

I'm at like half health. So you've got some bruises and you can feel your muscles sore and aching. Because you healed me quite a bit. But that vision of the lightning and the clouds taking that form still kind of fills your head. It's still very fresh in your memory, this feeling of immense power just gripping you,

like being almost helpless, like a child in the hands of a parent who could just crush and you wouldn't be anymore. You kind of have this very, very strong feeling that you touched with a being beyond your comprehension. Sentry, Kalo is kind of, Kalo Otama, this orc, covered in tattoos. He's still shirtless,

but he's kind of got his large pike over one shoulder. And he's kind of like leading you on down this very, very muddy track where the rain has just turned this road into thick slurry-like mud. And it's clinging to your boots and you're kind of having to like really like pull your boot, pull your boots as you make each step.

And he's leading you down East Street, which is the more worn street in Kelly's Rest, and it leads to the east of Sivona. And you can see that it's mainly lower-income artisans and houses and stuff like that. And he's just like, this way, it's not too far now. How are you feeling? Are you okay? like that and he's just like this way it's not too far now are you feeling you okay i mean i've been bearing but um that was uh i don't know i've very mixed feelings entry one hand badass other hand ow yeah very ow um that was terrifying i'm not gonna lie i didn't know what to do um but

i'm i'm glad you're okay and i'm glad everything turned out okay, I think. I kind of have a lot of things. I don't know. How long was I out for? I had some visions, and there's... You weren't out long. Okay. He kind of turns back.

He's just like, a few moments, perhaps. I was watching you, just in case. What did you see? Zephir. He just chuckles deep to himself and then turns back and carries on. So you saw the goddess? Yeah, I spoke to her. I don't really know, but apparently there's someone in the city

that kind of might have similar powers. But fire powers? Interesting. They said they would be at the Abbey. We should definitely go and investigate. I mean, do you feel any closer to knowing more about yourself? Well, I know for sure that it's definitely the Lairdalan. I've heard this twice now.

It's a group of clans. I just don't know which one is mine still. Kali talks as he's kind of still walking. It's like, Zephia is not one to just give you all the answers straight away. Zephia does not just give out easy answers. She will give you what you need to begin the journey. She'll give you

a hint in the right direction. But that's it. It's definitely more of a hint than I had before, so top notch so far. I suspect if she spoke to you, then there must be a deep connection there. She is not the type to speak to just anyone. There must be something about you or. She is not the type to speak to just anyone.

There must be something about you or this mission that you have that is important to this storm chaser. So, I suspect that if you continue down this path, you'll cross paths with her again. He kind of smiles and this big tusk kind of like sticks out of his half-cocked grin. Well, I hope it's less painful next time, though I kind of doubt that. Well, that depends. The storm chaser is fickle. I can't promise you that it will be safe for certain.

Nothing in life that is worth doing is ever safe. True. Anyway, we're here, and he gestures to this kind of run down bar um it's got like a little sign out of it which holds like a chalice like a little magical chalice uh with a wand and it's called in text it has the magician's cup um this place would not normally be where i go but it's got some interesting characters which i like to feel livens up the place. Do guardians drink any kind of turns to you? Well I can appear to drink if it makes you feel more comfortable. I don't need to. It's not for my comfort. This place does have a few surprises but I mean I'm a sailor

I like to drink but do not feel that you need to keep pace with me does it have a warm fire I suspect within stormy nights like this sounds perfect alright and then perhaps you and I should speak more Hela of the Lairdalan yeah I think we should and then he leads you inside

you're kind of met by this strong smell of sweat and kind of three-day-old beer that kind of just mingles in the air together. The floor is covered with a thick straw to kind of soak up, like, mud and rain, but there is hard flooring underneath it.

It looks like the straw has been recently kind of like spread out. There is a fire, not large, but warm, a stone fire, around which there is at least one very grubby looking artisan who's kind of like sat in front of it holding like a clay mug, just nursing a beer. There is a long bar of wood behind which a very kind of surly looking dwarf with very rough looking hair and a rough looking beard and a very loose tunic and vest is kind of polishing some ceramic cups and then you can see a vague human shape at the end of the bar that's just slumped over it passed out dead cold

and he's kind of you notice him because his hair is a very stark white, and it's just this long white hair, and you can just see this kind of like bundled out over this kind of like loose tunic and cloak, and he's just passed out on the bar itself. And Callow is like, oh, this place reminds me of many good memories. Yeah, it's cool, Steve. Yeah, we know.

Okay, should we try and take a break? Because I feel like it's going to be more irritating if we take a break now, or less irritating if we take a break now and get it fixed. Okay, so for those of you watching on Twitch, podcast listeners, this won't affect you. But for those of you watching on Twitch,

because of these issues, we're going to try and take a break and get it fixed now so we can continue playing properly. So sorry about this, guys. Technical problems, but we'll try and get it fixed and we'll see you in a few minutes. See you. Hey, guys. Technical problems, but we'll try and get them fixed, and we'll see you in a few minutes. See you.

Hey, thanks for listening to part one of this episode. Really sorry it's such a short one. We had some pretty bad technical difficulties on the stream, so had to take a break to fix them. Part two will be longer to make up for it. This episode featured a fan art video, so if you want to see what some of our incredible community has made for us, then check it out on our YouTube channel.

Just search High Rollers D&D. Also, make sure you check out D&D Beyond with the link in the description. And we'll see you for part two of this episode on Thursday. We'll see you then.