High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois | #25 - Into the Fire (Part 1)

Episode Date: February 25, 2019

The team gain an unexpected ally and begin their infiltration of the Abbey! Thanks to our sponsors D&D Beyond and Displate! Displate offer durable, steel, high quality canvases with a huge choice of artwork from a wide selection of artists! The High Rollers have a collection that you can view here: http://bit.ly/displatehighrollers D&D Beyond is the official digital toolset for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. Create your FREE account now and start digitising your campaigns here: https://www.dndbeyond.com/ Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. Hello everyone, welcome back to High Rollers, a Dungeons & Dragons podcast in the world of Orois. Run by Dungeon Master Mark Sherlock-Humes, with me, Tom, playing Keelakad Kalar, the bard slash cleric. I am Chris Trott, I am playing Lucius Viren, Elowin Elanastro, 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 barbarian and i'm kim i'm playing nova who is an air ganassi and she is a hexblade warlock we're sponsored by dnd beyond and display check them out with the links in the episode description and use the code high rollers 15 on display to get 15

off your order anyway on to the episode the party know what they have to do to get into the abbey and they'll get some help from an unexpected ally. Welcome back to Erois, here with the High Rollers D&D crew. A little recap on what happened last time, shall we? In the dark undercrypt of the Temple of Calara, the party dealt with the aftermath of their battle with a guardian called Breeze, who had attempted to sacrifice a member of the Ashbringer cult to extend the life of the party's friend Tracker.

Quill dreamt of meeting with his god Hesper, but during it was witness to a strange vision of the city burning around him with creatures of shadow and ash, and a great blazing doorway with a woman wrapped in chains at its centre. The party sought out the Field Warden of Caelus Rest, Malika Dawnblast, and explained the various events that had been taking place. The Fieldwarden then asked the party to investigate Bright Flame Abbey, which has closed its gates off from the city for a three-day period of religious mourning, which exempts them from Suvonan lore. During the night, Lucius sent his companion Nightfrost, a magical relic called

Niterna, to search the Abbey for signs of missing faith leaders that Malika has asked you to locate and recover. Night Frost found them imprisoned beneath the Abbey as well as sensing a powerful source of magic. Returning to Lucius, the party slept and awoke to strange dark clouds gathered overhead and mirrored by animals becoming agitated and frightened and that is where we begin today you have all had a long rest I have one small addendum to add to what night and frost would have told you in the night and is that when when the abbotess Aurelia went down beneath the altar into the tunnels it was locked by two keys that two other members of the church had,

a dwarf and a dragonborn, and they each took a key with them separately. Dragonborn? I haven't seen them yet. No, you haven't yet. And those keys were split into half, given to other dragonborns. No, they're hidden, like, a helmet, a shield,

and a sword, and a crest, and you have to solve a complex. Maybe next year we'll do something. So we've decided Mark is a party. We have decided that given all of this, we're going to leave town. And go to the spa that we saw

just outside. There's no spa outside. The Shrine of the Sun Pool would be the nearest spa and that is approximately three or four days travel from here. I mean, what would you like to do? Kim, if you think you can fluster me by saying we're going to leave town

you can't. I have my iPad here ready to go wherever the world. Mission nope. So we spent ages talking about how we're getting into the place, and now there's dark clouds. They don't look at all natural, like how quickly they get in.

Well, they don't because Ayla didn't get any sense. I mean, do you want to make a nature check? But I didn't get any sense that there was a storm brewing. Ayla doesn't get the sense that there is a storm brewing. I usually know when there's a storm brewing. I'm going to do a nature check. That is a conversation you can have in character if you want. I'm doing a nature check.

Storm's not brewing, Tom. Well, let me just do a nature check real quick. Except for the storm in my heart. 17. 17? You definitely get the sense, looking at it, there is no way these clouds would have gathered so quickly. And the coloration, you should be seeing signs of rain,

there should be signs of storms or thunder, none of which appears. Also, the animals being frightened in such mass numbers generally only happens with very extreme magic. Something has changed nearby magically. I wonder where from. Purge is coming! Purge is coming. Where are we at the moment?

You are currently in the Dream Lily Tavern. Was that what we're calling it now? No, that's what it was called. Mark couldn't remember the name of, but a comment let him know. Thank you. Thank you, comment. The Dream Lily Tavern, I believe it's called, which is a very upmarket tavern in North Street.

Please do mark off another 10 gold, because you only actually stayed one night. Would that be... Group fund? 50? No, 10 gold for all of you. Oh, okay. Two each. Because you had like three rooms, I think. I'll mark it off group fund. Mark it down to 10. Brilliant. And Nightfrost just came back for me.

Yeah, so you came back in the night and then you slept and then you've woken up. I guess. I just slept on that news. Well, I think you were long resting because you only woken up. I guess. So I just slept on that news. Well, I think like you were long resting because you only need four hours. So you were long resting overnight because that was when he was scouting out the Abbey. And then maybe like just before dawn, he came back and has,

because he was communicating the whole time, but he's come back now unharmed because you didn't push him on into the Abbey. I'd like to think in actuality, I sent him off and he came back and I was like, well, I'll just go sleep there for four hours. You made him wait. That's absolutely your choice.

I mean, four hours probably would have been about the amount of time he took him to scout it out. No, it'll be when everybody else wakes up. Okay. Otherwise I'll be pacing. Okay. Well, everybody up? Up. A week? Uptime. We're all here time is it early I don't know yeah

depends on you guys I leave this to you so Nova's there with the group but she's bad hair really tired she's gonna always bed not a morning person is more bad hair than a less bad hair is just normal hair. It never gets fixed. She's not with you. Does she not have dreadlocks? No. Or is it just braids? So at some point she does have to clean her hair. Imagine when she when she when she bathes she just washes out. Shuffs the braids back in it. Okay. Or if it's looking a bit scraggly she'll just braid it. So if those braids come out you're gonna have like the curliest like hair. Nice. So I could um give you good news or bad news in whatever order you'd like. There's two good news points and one bad, so that's pretty good.

Oh, in that case should we go good news, bad news, good news? Sandwich it. I like it. Good plan. Okay, first good point of news is I know of a secret place in the Abbey. Okay. With bad news kind of linked. Right. Really bad stuff is potentially happening down there. It's a really powerful force of magic and energy it's down underneath the Abbey. Something evil? Okay is that something they've activated because the clouds, the animals? No you didn't know you literally

Night Frost sensed it but you told him to come straight back. Night Frost sensed it and I told him to come back. Right, okay. And what's the final good news? In my trance, I managed to clear my sinuses and I had a really nice trance. That's pretty good. Thank you. Maybe you should have started on that good news. Yeah.

No, I felt like that was... No, the bad news is lingering in my mind because that was dumb. Yeah, that was bad news. More like irrelevant news. Well, if I told you that I found a secret place and then linked to the, that's where we found the thing, it would have been out of order. You know what I mean? That's true.

That's true. The secret place, was it underneath? It is good storytelling. Like we expected. It's got a narrative. I'll give them that. But. What Knife Frost saw exactly was an altar.

Right. There were two keys given to two separate strange reptilian folk. One was a dwarf. One was a dwarf, one was a reptilian folk, and they unlocked this secret passageway under the altar. What's everyone's knowledge of Dragonborn? So I think most of you would know the legends of Dragonborn, which is that they came down from space in golden ships, in gold crystalline ships,

that you would later learn are the same types of ships Kallus has, but these were coloured gold rather than black. Okay. The Dragonborn came down, and they were the ones who gave Siaska advanced warning of Starbane's coming and said, this guy is coming to you. We have escaped him they are their refugees they escaped from their home planet which was taken over by Cala Starbane and they came and swore to help defend a rowis

since the Sundering they have fallen into their military culture they have a very Admiralty so military rank is absolutely everything you are expected to provide service and they operate out of the remaining dragon ships that they arrived on. They're kind of like their hometowns. And they're scattered. And they seem to not have any power left anymore. Also, there's kind of legends and stories. I think Nova would probably be more interested in this.

Maybe Lucius, because it's kind of got like a cool narrative to it. The spaceships that they came down in, maybe Lucius because it's kind of got like a cool narrative to it. The spaceships that they came down in, the reason they are gold and that they work for the Dragonborn is their great ancestor worms, these great ancient dragons, sacrifice themselves and use their spirits to take over the ships. So now the ships are living dragon spirits but they have kind of faded in power and they're no longer able to fly and things like that. That's so badass.

Dragon ships! Are they like few and far between now or are they just... They generally keep to themselves, but they still have this we swore to protect Arois and so now they kind of often supplement town guard, they have patrolling armies that deal with the remnant. They're still very focused on the elimination of the Court of Shadows.

So their kind of whole goal, they still have strategy meetings, they meet with leadership, and they have their remaining ships. But it's not uncommon for one or two of them, especially those who fall out of the military hierarchy to become mercenaries, bandits... Fire-toting cultists. I mean that certainly yeah they are not as rare as guardians most of you would have at least seen one

even Lucius up in the Sky Cities they occasionally come up there either as guards or as things yeah it's not odd that there is one but I think Lucius probably wouldn't know what they are called you've just seen them they're not uncommon sight wise an enormous human sized gecko right what's a gecko it's a little petty that I had when I

was younger fair enough and what was the other one a dwarf a dwarf okay anyone else you saw down there the epithet did you see any big moving statues yeah Ugh. Nightfrost mentioned a statue. He passed the statue, yes. It wasn't moving. Good. Just the statue. Did he see the missing people that we're looking for?

No, he saw the big powerful energy. He did. He did. Yeah. Yes, he saw Star-Morner, he saw Star-Morner, Alanis and Rescuer Pajasta. They were being kept in the tunnels, like in cells in the tunnels beneath the Abbey.

Yes. Chris Trott doesn't remember, but Lucius has literally just been told this information. Yeah. I refuse to believe Lucius would forget that. Nightfrost told me again. Yeah, there you go. Okay, so- No, Master Lucius, that's wrong. I did see them.

Oh, yes, that's right. Yes. Yes, you saw them in the tunnels. And definitely kept against their will. Hm? Definitely kept against their will. Were they kept against their will. Hmm? Definitely kept against their will. Were they kept against their will, Nightfrost? And you all hear this now because he's with you. They appeared to be, they were locked behind, not quite bars, but in sealed chambers.

I did not get the impression they could leave freely. Okay. Right, well, in that case... Were they before or after the big door with the keys? They were after. The keys lead to a secret passage that leads beneath the abbey. But they were in the tunnels before the large source of magic that I sensed. So, what were the clergy of the abbey doing?

Were they just... The abbotess appeared to have just finished some sort of large discussion or speech. What were the clergy of the Abbey doing? Were they just... The abbottess appeared to have just finished some sort of large discussion or speech. Many of them seemed enraptured in her words. They appeared to go back about their business, preparing... I'm not quite sure, I did not see many of them. Some of them appeared to be patrolling, guarding. Yes, very militarized.

Was the word purge used at all? I did hear this word, yes. A cleansing flame that will purge away all sin. Any sort of time frame on that? Just that it was soon. Oh, okay. Okay. It's a vague end.

While you were down there, Nightfrost, did you see... If these words... Century's powered down. If these were passages underneath the city, we already know there's quite a few under the city as it is. It did not appear to be multiple passages, just one that led into the large chamber from where I sensed the magic. I did not see any offshoots.

I see. So there may be no other way to get under there. I could not sense one. Okay. Sorry? We could dig. Well, we don't know where to or from. Lucius, that means getting your hands dirty.

No, not me. You guys would do it. I mean... You are, man. No. Pep talk. At least we have information about where they are and they're being held against their will.

That's exactly what the Field Marshal, Field Warden... Yes, but they need solid evidence. Malika, that's what Malika wants. And she wants us to extract them if they're held against their will, which they are. I mean, solid evidence enough.

We've got Nightfrost to see it. I don't think she's going to trust what Nightfrost says. No, friends, Nightfrost, we trust you. None is taken. I believe the Field Warden already expressed some distrust of me earlier. Yes, I was going to say that. But I think she likes hard evidence. She trusts the weapon more than she trusts the abatess at this point, surely.

It's not going to be enough to take hire up, is it? I don't think it's going to hold up in court legally. No. I don't think we have time for an entire proceeding. Everyone would be so focused on Night Frost that they wouldn't even listen to what he's saying. I mean, you saw how much she shouted at us for presenting evidence yesterday.

I mean, we did do a dump, so... I think it was a justified outburst. I just don't think she's going to be that much more accepting of it. Oh, if she's not, absolutely not not so she wants us to extract them anyway Bottom line is we can go to her tell her what we've just heard and she's gonna go. Okay, go get them Yeah, we're gonna go anyway. Don't frost. Can you conjure imagery in my brain? Not quite master Lucius. No, I'm sorry Just wondering if we if we went into the place, you'd be able to direct us?

I would be able to guide you, yes. Brilliant. In that case... The abbey is not particularly large. There were several other small buildings around the main abbey itself, but the abbey... I searched a few of the rooms, but most of them appeared to be quarters for the monks and the friars. Some of the others were around, but the abbey itself is not particularly large. Okay.

So. I believe your greatest obstacle will be in getting past the secret passage, the locked one, as it required the two keys. Did we need to get the two keys to get to the two people? Yes. Yes. They lie beyond the altar in the tunnels beneath the two keys. Did we need to get the two keys to get to the two people? Yes. Yes. They lie beyond the altar in the tunnels beneath the abbey. Right. In dark, mystical, powerful force, gathering clouds.

Potentially a big... Plenty. Statue as well. Door. While you're having this conversation, there is a knock. I'm guessing you're sat down in the tavern's coven room or something like that? Yeah, most likely. The door opens and

you see Valor kind of just stood there awkwardly. And she looks at you. Hello, Valor! Give me insight checks. She's not going to be here. Give me insight checks. 16.

10. 16? Where is my insight? Oh, 18. 21, 18. How much do you get? 10. 10. 16. Where is my insight? Oh, 18. 21, 18. How much did you get? 10. 10.

11. 11. So Nova and Sentry don't really pick up on this, but the rest of you, you can tell that she's probably been crying and she looks upset, but she's kind of holding it back. And she's just like,

oh, I guess this is where you guys are. Yes. Mm. What's? You're not meant to be here. Why? And she kind of looks like, Didn't you get our note?

Like, skuffs the door. Didn't you get our note from Lice and Meadow? She's just like, yeah, I've got a note about you guys were like in some sort of trouble and stuff. We're being followed, Valor. Yeah, well, I was worried about you guys. I haven't seen you and I didn't know where you were. We're being followed Valar. Yeah well I was worried about you guys. I haven't seen you and I didn't know where you were. You guys left me with Arvel and he's really boring. I'll get up and walk over and kind of usher in gently. She kind of follows in like

she's kind of got like not her hands in her pockets but she's kind of got like her arms falling to her head low and she's kind of like following behind Lucius and like sits down Are you hungry Vala? No, I've left some crubbies. No, I will pay for breakfast. It's fine. I've eaten Well, can you just see if anyone follows her? Uh, yes, I'll go outside. Nah, you stay here, I'll go. I have bird perception. You go. I have one eye, but I'm still more perceptive than all of you.

I'll go to the door and have a little one-eyed peek out, little bird head two-eared listen out. Okay, you can make a perception check. Just use your normal bonus. Oh, use my normal bonus? Perception, 17. He's finding dice. He's finding minis. Interesting. You look around. Busy, busy market day.

Kind of people are coming and going. You don't see anybody in particularly suspicious. Okay. But we did know that people were following us consistently. People were following you, yes. People were following you. She's here now. She were following you, yes. People were following you. She's here now. She's part of the team.

But she just kind of looks around. She's just like, just you guys. Are you trying to, do you just want to leave me with Arvel? Are you guys going to go off? She's like scuffing the floor with her foot, with her boot. I'm just going to the door. Arvel said that you guys went and helped your guardian friends. They were cool.

She just looks like really disheartened and just a bit sort of... Zala, are you sad because you didn't get to stab anyone with your little daggers? Well just... Arvel's really nice and everything but he's just, you know, he just talks about business and merchants and stuff, and we've just been sat around in a bunch of shops, talking to people, and in the tavern, and not doing anything.

And I like you guys. I miss you. You guys have been off doing cool things. Ah, I don't think so. It's not cool so much. Painful, painful. Valor, we really messed up. We've pissed off some pretty powerful people here and we were trying to protect you and arvel i mean pissed off people like brookstone

like worse yeah it's actually become a verb i helped with that right you did but kind of and then when we were in Ironwick, me and Ayla fought those girls and stuff, the ghost people. The horrific ghosts. Yeah, but I helped. Yes. But? I don't like being left on my own.

Since Yusuf and Corrin left. Well, somebody has to take care of Arvel. That's a good line. You've got her there. She's like, yeah, I guess so. He keeps talking about me joining his family when we get to Goldthrone. And he said that it's, you know, I can choose what I want to do, but I don't know, it just seems I like doing stuff.

She kind of looks around at all of you, implying that she likes what you guys do. But you also like you being safe. But isn't the safest place with you guys? Really? Yeah, we almost all got set on fire and burnt to the ground the other day. We suck.

For example, Vala, did you happen to see anyone as you were coming down here? Anyone look at you in a... Oh yeah, but I just made sure they didn't see me. There's a couple of guys

in the priest robes, right? The palidor robes? Yeah. Right, and you got them. They started following me but I ditched them.

Oh, thank goodness. I mean, Valar's very powerful. I'm not convinced. There's probably someone sitting watching this tavern since we walked through the door. Yeah, they're the ones that I managed not convinced. There's probably someone sitting watching this tavern since we walked through the door. Yeah, they're the ones that I managed to

lose. I saw that they were watching the tavern. I used to sneak out from the church of Siasco all the time. People literally kept trying to stop me. We should have Val on the team. She's very sneaky. She's very sneaky.

Did they follow you specifically? See, what I did was there were two of them that were watching where you guys are staying. Right. So one of them, I snuck into an alley behind him, and then I threw a rock and then hid. And then when he went in to check who had thrown the rock, I went around the front, and then I got a baker to distract the other one and then I came in. That's very resourceful. She's more clever than us.

Yeah, way smarter. Valar, do you want to lead this team? Yeah. I'd like Valar to lead the team. Okay, Valar, here's the situation. The abbotess. She like sits up much proudly and is like, mm. The abbotess is holding two other religious leaders.

She's bad, right? Yeah, she's bad. Okay. We've been Brookstoned. Yeah, she's a Brookstoned. Okay. Figuratively, not actually. Okay.

She might be. She's imprisoned two other religious leaders below the abbey. She's declared the abbey off limits to the rest of the town. To the rest of the town. While they mourn the loss of their previous abbot. Okay. All of their priests and clergy want to kill us

and are following us around. Okay. And we have to go into the abbey to get these two people and safely return them to the field warden here. Meanwhile, the abbotess is getting ready for a city, a town-wide purge in which they want to purge anyone who isn't.

Her eyes, like, go wide. I mean, maybe a little bit more delicately, but that's the gist of it, yeah. Okay. They're going to burn everything up. Are you asking me what my opinion is? Yes, because we're clueless. Oh, this is the situation.

Do you want to help? You're coping with things a lot better than we are. Have you seen the Abbey Wolves? Yeah, from a distance. How would you get over them? Well, you'll need climbing equipment. I used to make ropes out of bed sheets and stuff. I used to steal some other bed sheets from the other girls in the Abbey,

and we'd tie them together, and then I'd use them to get out of the window, because my room was quite high. So you can make that, but you'll need something to secure it with. We used to get a bunch of clothes like things that you put clothes on and we bent them all together and it kind of used that to secure the rope like a hook I have a climbers kit and then yeah something like that would probably be a good time it's good to go into the air go when it happens dark like I always used to sneak out when it was dark so because obviously it's

harder to see you make sure you wear dark clothing well I actually used to get one of the nun's habits and I cut bits of it up and then I would cover my normal clothes. You're saying the white Stetson outfit won't do it. People will see that. Mile away. Shiny metal. Why do we have that this whole time?

The other way you could do it is if they've got doors, maybe they have guards and you can try and distract those. And then that way one of you can get in and then you can raise the doors so the others can come in i used to do that sometimes when the other girls wanted to get out i would sneak away and and sneak out and then let them in out from the outside and can we keep her no there's just so then when you get inside it everybody's there's are they trying to kill you? Oh, yeah, very much. Or be imprisoned, at least. With fire. I know that Yusef wouldn't agree with this, but

if they're trying to kill you, just maybe you have to, like, maybe not kill them, but knock them out first. Like, find them and, like, subdue them or something. Or find people, maybe they've got people trapped there that can help you and you can let them free and then they'll help you.

It's a really cool thing. To get into the tunnels where the good people are that are captured by bad people, there's two separate keys. Oh, okay. I've seen the main temple used to have something like that for the main church. It's really cool, isn't it? You probably have to steal them.

Try and get them when they're on maybe when they sleep you can sneak in and take their stuff. It would be sleepy time at night time as well. The thing is, given what it's looking like outside, time is not our friend. We should have done this all last night.

So you guys, I mean most of my experience is literally sneaking out of the Siaskan church where Yusuf and Corin were raising me. More than all of us. With this So you guys, I mean, most of my experience is literally sneaking out of the Siascan church where Yusuf and Corrin were raising me. More than all of us. With this impending dark brooding clouds... You guys know I'm like 14, right? You probably shouldn't be getting tactical advice from me.

I want to help, but... I feel like we've already kind of come up with those ideas but it's more the fact that we're inept and can't really honestly Vala you are more experienced at this than all of us if you're not particularly sneaky like me then you just gotta play

to your own strengths right okay same I need to read a book you could make them fall asleep by reading a book to them but when I read books I stay awake for hours

why don't you read books on how to be a stealthier person and infiltrate an abbey so we got the potions though so you can become quieter and tiny also tiny how old are you two or three I can't remember which one I said three three I'm three you're like you're older than Quill you're like two girls he's like it's not the same though is it I'm a very quick learner

very quick Hesper made them really smart and curious, is it? I'm a very quick learner. Very quick. Hesper made them really smart and curious. Who's to say that Valar isn't a quick learner? I'm pretty quick. You spent most of your life sneaking around by the sounds of it. Yeah, learning about Siaska priest stuff, and then in my spare time I'd learn to pick locks. I used to practice on my bedroom doors and stuff.

She can pick locks. We have two locks that need a picking. But if you want me to do that, I really need some proper lock picks, though. We can get those. But at the same time, Vala, we've seen, well, at least a glimpse of what sort of things they have in there.

Big statues with big weapons. Fire. Like, Dragonborn. People. She's kind of like sheepishly. statues with big weapons fire like dragonborn she's gonna look she actually has got two daggers and she can just create loads of big spells she's 14 so Quillux 3 she is way better at fighting than I am century you're how old are you again? She's only centuries. Nice. Same age. She's actually older than... She's older than me.

Two fifths of the team. Age means nothing. Age. Valar doesn't really say much. You can see that she's not saying anything. She's kind of looking to see what you guys decide. This is your decision. If you as a group collectively are like, no, you're going to stay here, she will listen to you. And then cry about it.

If the majority of you are like, no, come along, she will come along. But this is a group A or B. I felt like that was an attack on Lucius there. No, come along. He's the one who's like, she's amazing. She's got two daggers. Yeah, exactly. I feel like that was an attack on Lucius there. No, come along! He's the one who's like, she's amazing! She's got two daggers! Yeah, exactly. I agree.

Yeah, well, it's up to you guys. This is a group call. I mean, we have seen what she can do. And she managed to bypass the guards outside. It sounds like exactly what we need. If things go south, that's what the five of us are for, right? The thing is, she's been seen by these people anyway, regardless of whether she distracted them or not before she came in here.

She's been seen by them. So if they see her again, they're just going to follow her back to Arvel. But they haven't necessarily made a connection between her and us. Because she's been very clever. She has been. But we don't know how many people there are out there watching us. There might be more than that. Valor, how have you planned to leave this place again, not getting the guards on your scent? Kitchens.

See, she should totally come along. I was actually going to say, how are we going to get to the Abbey? Is there a hole in the kitchen? We need to distract them. There's a back door. They have to get orders and stuff in right they can't just all come through the main this is a nice tavern I figured that they don't want like deliveries of like meat and fish and things like that coming in through the front door so there must be a back entrance normally for the kitchen

staff and if they're outside watching this place now they know we're here so we could distract at least a few of them so we're having Valor in the team who's voting two hands ouch I didn't mean that! Guess I have one vote. I'm so sorry. You can hold up a foot, if you agree. I'll put a beak in the air. There's my two votes.

Nivuh very slowly puts her hand in the air. Sentry? Yes! Same. We should tell Arvel. No. No, don't tell Arvel. That's a really bad idea. Because then he'll want to come. You're right, Bella. I'm scared of Arvel being mad, let alone the other tests.

Also, we can't, again, link us to Arvel. Yeah. So. Whatever happens, though, we need to start moving now. Yeah. It's morning. Everybody seems to be focused on town and the market and stuff like that. And you said that there's some special morning or something

that means that people aren't allowed in and out? Yeah. Separated from the boner law entirely. The dusk morning. So I guess maybe if we try and go around to like... I mean, do you guys want to go over the walls or do you want to try and go through the main door? Well, we're certain about that.

I don't think we can go through that front door. It depends how... I think it's... If we can distract them away, we want to get in silently. What if we have... A team that goes over the wall and distracts them at the same time? So... People distract them from inside the walls?

Whilst the wall... Whilst the wall is being climbed over. Cover all our bases. So we got, we got invisibility. A climber kit. We got a tiny sentry. And I've got fire resistance. So don't forget this is what the outside looks like. So you've got the buildings and then the walls and then the... We also have Nightfrost to scout ahead. Provide intel ahead of us. Can he also distract? No, Frost, in your humanoid form, can you interact physically with things?

I can. I am not much of a fighter, if that means. I can move small objects. Throwing rocks. I'm not very strong, however, in such a form. I am made of shadow stuff. Just like knocking something over, causing a noise. If it is light enough, yes.

I can mage hand stuff. You can mage hand stuff. But it's a big mage hand, that's the problem. But if you do it secretly... It is a physical, like, ghostly hand, but... You'd have to do it around a corner or something. Yeah. That would work. You'd have to be an arch-hentrix for it to be invisible. I can thorma turge.

Is that the...? You can thorma what? I can... You can thorma...? Thorma turge. Thorma... I've got thorma turging. What's a turge. Is that the... You can form a what? You can form a... Form a turge. Form a... I've got form a turge. What's a turge? I don't know what the verb for form a turge is.

But I've got it. What does that mean you can make? That's the one I can make noises from far away. Okay. I can give you a boost up the wall. Such as the Rumble of Thunder. Clearly I'm a valuable part of this team. I can help.

Want a boost? Double boost. There you go. Yeah, see? Double boost. There you go. Yes, see, double boost. Do you have potions? No. Do you have armor? She gestures at her, like, leather armor that you got for her.

We did get her armor. Are those daggers sharp? You kept them in good condition? Yeah, they're good. She, like, stabs the table a bit. Okay, yep. I think we're good good She takes care of them She knows what she's doing

Yes We need to be In and out Tell me how to take care of them I'll do it It's fine It's fine Shh

Let's uh Let's get moving then Let's Okay so we're going out the back Yes And I guess we're going in and out Actually no you go out the back We'll go out the front

Because we've already been washed No but we don't want to be followed Yes that's right. Let's vote for team leader. Back door, not front. We're going to be followed the whole way through the market. Let's vote for team leader while we're here. Fala.

Fala. Fala. No. She shakes her head. Aayla or Sentry? Sentry. 10 out of 10, Sentry. Sentry, you're the protector.

Honestly, I've just got a big hammer and i'm kind of just gonna follow you and hit whatever you want me to hit as this previous unofficial team leader century isn't her team leader you should well should be team leader why me let's just try and you're smart as we get to that abby yeah we don't need to we can talk about this on the way yeah i think we should change you're going out the back yeah we should also change into something what are you going to change into? Where are you going to get the clothes from? What clothes do you have?

You've got anything that you can use? That's a lot of questions. Jeez, can I just get some mud and just rub it on my metal? Inside the tavern? No. No. But outside. What are you doing?

Where are you going? How are you doing? Get the outside. You will need to go and find... Or charcoal. You could ask if they would have coal. They would have charcoal from the fire. Yeah, you can get charcoal. Yeah. Cer if they would have coal. They would have charcoal from the fire, yeah.

You can get charcoal. Yeah. Ceramic century to charcoal century. Yeah, if you want to, like, the tavern keeper is like, of course, guardian, if you want, like, there's the remnants of the fire, and you can see that last night's logs have all been burnt into blackened charcoal logs. You can literally start rubbing those onto your metal and stuff. It will darken the color.

It might not last very long, but it will darken the colors, certainly. It's taking with you for the road. Top up. You do this, but it is the morning and during the day, the dark. I'm keen. I was going to say,

you start doing it and then you realize, oh wait, night time isn't here yet. You're blending well with the avenue. Time is a weird thing for a guardian. It's like, oh, it's the dark time. You're like, meh, whatever. Dark time. I don't know how effective this is going to be in the daytime.

Okay. Let's cause another distraction. How about we do something in the front door so that we can exit the back door. Do something in the front door? Yes. Just open the back door. Do something in the front door. Yes. Just open it? I don't know, Val's the leader. Val's not the leader.

Val's just good at distracting. I can open the door from here, from far away. How about, yes, you go out. No. If we just sneak out, then they might just think we're here all day. Yeah, let's just leave. Do you reckon we could all sneak out?

That looks a no-belo- That's exactly- yeah. Thank you. Let's just sneak out. Yeah. If they find us, then they'll follow us. So you're gonna head out the back and you're gonna try and be stealthy. Guess what that involves?

Uh... Self-checks! Self-checks for everyone! Sentry has disadvantage! Yay! Upon leaving, with my passive perception... Oh, that was trash. I'm going to peek the curtain back.

I almost want to see if I can spot where they are. I got seven on both. Was it? With disadvantage, I got seven on both. For you it's normal. There's a surprise, I rolled bad. Okay, so my perception is like, garbage. You don't age your stealth check.

You don't know where they are, so you don't know how best to avoid them. Right. Swap back to my original OG clothing. Okay. OG clothes. The non-white. So, stealth?

Nine. Nine. 21. 21. 18. 18. Two successes, one failure. 12.

Okay. Seven. Oh. Clang, clang, clang. Yes, Valor as well. Yes, I should roll Valor's action. I need to get her stats up again at some point then if you're gonna take her with you Violet didn't do particularly great. She's a little bit nervous with you guys now. Can I borrow a pen off someone, please? I might need to keep this though. Does anyone have a spare?

Thank you Prep Yeah, fair play. Thank you. Bam. So. Prepped. Okay. Okay. So you make your way out, the back door, which leads, the innkeeper is somewhat confused, but doesn't really question it as you are all armed and scary looking. And paying the bills. And paying the bills.

We're coming through. Out of the way. Absolutely. Front door sucks. the bills and paying the bills we're coming through universal language also I need this charcoal yeah so you you make your way out the back which leads into a narrow alleyway that connects to another part of North Street where they obviously take deliveries and things like that. Yeah, you guys just make your way unawares like you don't think you've been spotted, you don't think you've been followed, and you begin making your way towards the Abbey.

The Abbey rests on a very gentle hill surrounded by its walls, a little bit separated from the Queen's Plaza. So you kind of head towards South Street, divert off, and then the abbey has its own kind of open area where these interior walls with the abbey inside. It's like a sectioned mini walled section of the city. Right. Whereabouts? You can see that the main pathway leads up to the central doors. The walls themselves are about 15 foot high. The walls themselves are about 15 foot high, and you can see that the bell tower rises above that. You can see that there is a bell tower quill with your one good eye. You can see that there appears to be one, maybe two, you're not sure,

humanoid figures at the top of the bell tower who are, like, watching around. They're there, but, you know, it's not unavoidable. In fact, from the opposite side of the Abbeyway, anybody in the Bell Tower probably on the opposite side of the Abbeyway, the Bell Tower probably won't be able to see you. Right, okay. And is that the way we're coming in? Well, it's up to you. You can go to any section of the walls

around the Abbey that you wish. So the Bell Tower can see the main gate? It can see the main gate and then sort of to the sides as well. But it's mainly got a good visual and the main gate is the the abbey itself okay um so yeah the uh the walls are around 15 to 20 feet tall there is the one gate leading in and out of it which has thick iron wood reinforced wooden doors uh no sorry a reinforced wooden iron portcullis so it's like wood but with like iron bolts and rivets um that drops down from the main gate there are two uh a man and a woman human man and woman wearing palidor robes stood in front of it and

you can see that on either side of the gate there are these mini towers which have the winch and chains connected to the portcullis and that forms the main gate that leads into the the abbey itself and then the walls extend the whole way around and you can get around the whole thing as well because it it sits within the city of kaylee's rest so you can go to any point around the walls are there any other guards around the other areas of the wall not on the outside not on outside. You can't really see inside. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you don't know if there's people patrolling the grounds,

but on the outside of the wall, no, it doesn't appear to be. Is there quite a gap between the walls and other buildings? Yeah. Okay. Yes. Yeah, it almost has like this little secluded area where no buildings, no shops have been placed. It's been left alone.

I suppose there's only just ladders sitting around. Not around. You could definitely go and buy a ladder. You'd probably get about a 10-foot ladder at max. But you could go to a general store and buy one. I could stand on top of it and that's over. Yeah. Yes, let's just carry a ladder down the street.

Window cleaning? Window cleaning. Now that I say they're 15 to 20 feet tall, it's hard to tell just by looking directly at them. I've got one great eye. You do have one great eye. Damn it. Okay.

Okay, so two people in the bell tower are watching over, but they obviously can't see everything past the abbey and the other side of the walls. So I guess we go in the further side from the bell tower, but that does mean we can't see everything past the abbey and the other side of the walls. So I guess we go in the furthest side from the bell tower, but that does mean we can't go in through the front door. Plus there's two guards in front. I don't think we were ever going to go through the front door.

I mean, unless you had some sort of trick, like you could use magic to trick them or you could use a disguise or something like that. But I mean, obviously for Quill, it might be harder for him to disguise himself. Why don't we distract the two guards around the

corner, we bop them on the head, take their clothing. Take their clothes? Two of us are then disguised. When they come back around, they're gonna raise the alarm. Just to note, the guards are on the inside of the gate. They're not like stood in front of the gates where they could just be ambushed and dragged away. They're inside the like, stood in front of the gates where they could just be, you know, ambushed

and dragged away. They're inside the gate, like, looking at the main gate itself. Yes. They're there so that if somebody comes up to the gate, they would go and open it

for them to come in if they were going to let people in. Cool. Hmm. Just to clarify, they're not stood outside the gate like Buckingham Palace guards, like,

Hello, yes, you may kill us freely and there's nothing we can do. And the gates are locked, so. Oh dear. So when we get inside, yeah, sure, steal the wardrobe. That sounds like an idea, but I don't know if, yeah, I just thought maybe if you had some sort of magical trick, but if you don't, then. I got a hammer, Vala. I didn't know if, yeah, I just thought maybe if you had like some sort of magical trick, but if you don't then... I got a hammer of elo.

I didn't mean you. Anyone? Any tricks? Collectively? We could at least create a thing that happens at the front gate so that at least the bell tower is also watching that whilst we do hop it. What do you think we could do? Well the handles are metal, aren't they? When we saw them. Hm? The handles of the doors are metal, aren't they? When we saw them. The handles of the doors were metal, weren't they? What doors? The main front gate.

It's a portcullis. A big iron gate. It's not like a gate. It's like a portcullis. Like a spiked barred portcullis. I don't know how to describe it. They don't have to touch something to open it They don't have to They're not touching it

Touch something to open it No They winch It's chains It's chains connected to A winch That can heat metal The chains

Things up You could try and heat metal The chains yeah But But that wouldn't do any It would likely melt the chains And snap them Like the point that you heat

It would heat them To the point where It would lock the portcullis Yeah Because it would never open Ever the point where they... It would block the portcullis. It would block it, yeah, because it would never open. Ever. And that would be our escape, probably. But it's a good distraction.

Run around the inside forever, away from people. Help me! The gate won't open! How to break a D&D party 101. Provide them with an infiltration mission. What do we do? We are genuinely the worst. We are.

But then any time we make a plan it goes to shit. Yeah, exactly. We don't know why we're bothering. Let's just jump over it. Sure. So what's the plan? So I think the best idea is to go in basically next to the training hall because that's the opposite side from the bell tower. It is, yes.

They can't see us from there. Yes. But we don't know what's inside. Let's get Nightfrost over. Oh no, Nightfrost, we can use him. He can give us the okay that it's a clear section. And then we'll enter.

Can we have a look and see if anyone followed us this far? I mean my passive perception. I'd tell you if there was a passive perception, but you can make

an active one if you want. If you're worried that they are being very cautious at sneaking up on you. Sure. 20.

20? Like 15. No, you don't really feel that anybody's snuck up on you so far. If you've got like 100, so.

Okay. Unless they've got strength in themselves., so... Pfft. Okay. Um, unless they've got crazy good stealth. The sun is... it's around about 11am. Uh, the dark clouds overhead kind of prevent most of the sun, so it's dark. It's a very grey, miserable day. Almost... not quite night time, but there's very little light. And these dark clouds spread around for miles. There's a... mm, But the air is warm.

It's not cold. There's no breeze, which is why these clouds are so unusual. There's no, like, cold breeze. It's surprisingly warm for the long night, this period of winter. But it's dark. Every time you say breeze, I just think of evil. You've ruined that word forever. Evil breeze. It's also surprisingly warm. You've ruined that word forever. Evil breeze.

It's also surprisingly warm. So you go round to the other side and you're going to send Nightfrost over. Up you go. To see if that side of the wall is clear so he can get over. It's daytime, so... Because he is a shadow. He makes his way, and he kind of has to climb before he went under the portcullis because he can just become a shadow. He makes his way, and he kind of has to climb

before he went under the portcullis, because he can just become a shadow. So he has to try and climb up over the wall itself. He can't fly. Which he does manage to do, so he clings to it. Look at him go. Climbs up, hauls over like a little heartless, drops down, and then because he's staying,

he'll, yeah, he's within 100 feet of you. Lucius, you can hear in your head, and the others you can hear as well. Yes, I appear to be behind a building. I can hear the sounds of a blacksmith working upon an anvil from within, and also the sound of fighting, metal and steel clashing against each other.

Looking around, there is no one immediately here, but I can see that there are several groups which appear to be patrolling the grounds themselves. You will still need to be cautious and quiet when you enter. But there is no one immediately here. Are there any windows or open holes? They are very narrow, thin slits. So we could easily hide up against the wall at the back.

Yes. And where you are, we're going to have to come over one at a time. Is there anywhere we could duck into? There are a few barrels and crates behind the hall, but not much. It's better than nothing. Is there anything anywhere? Once you're getting to the main grounds, there are bushes, trees, vegetable plots that would perhaps be easier to hide amongst, but around this area specifically, it is mainly this building, this training hall.

Where are the bell tower guards looking right now? My sight is somewhat limited at long distances, Master Lucius. I'm unable to tell. They shouldn't be able to see us from... Well, I'm behind the wall, so I guess I can't even see the bell tower from here. If you're right pressed up against the wall, you just see this 20, 50-foot tall... Should we send Echo first? And then you can see where you want to go? Yeah.

Can you see the abbey, Nightfrost? Is there a door into the abbey around this side? Not on this side, no. That does not mean there is one. I cannot see an obvious entrance. Well, I think this has to be the place. This is out of the line of sight of the bell tower, and also the noise that they're making in their training hall. The climber's kit will make similar noises, surely.

If we're clanking a hook onto the top of a stone wall. I'll be clanking. She'll be clanking. She'll be clanking. Central will be clanking away. Okay. She's a clanker. Also, if they do spot us, they won't have far to go. True, but this is the place over anywhere.

You can become tiny. I might do that. So, can we hear them from here? Yeah, can we hear the training? Quill can with his passive perception, but the rest of you I don't think is high enough. I don't think the rest of you have a decent enough passive perception. You can just faintly hear this, like,

it's more the blacksmith hammer, this kind of rhythmic... Bing! I've had an idea. Uh-oh. Bing! Okay, good. Nightfrost, you can hear the training, right? I can, must be.

You can very easily... It appears to be in a room connected to the back end of the training hall where the forge sounds are coming from. And you can speak to us in our brainies. Yes. So, every time you hear the anvil strike, you say,

now. And every time that happens, you move on the... I can hear the... I can hear it. You can hear it? Yes. Oh. It's very it? Yes. Oh.

It's very rhythmic. Ding. Ding. We just follow that rhythm. Ding. Ding. So if I... I'll just stand here.

Ding. Ding. And Nova, you throw up the climbing hook. Ding. It's a climber's kit, so it's like pitons. Like she has to climb up and then... Oh, okay. Or somebody has to climb up and do it as they go.

So I guess climb to the beat of the anvil to the beat of the end i was going to learn who's going to do it that as well but you can put the pitons into the wall you should levitate century if anything i would yeah the last time we did this it went very badly and we all fell in a pit i fell into the island then yes i remember and i hit a I think I fell about 50 maybe 60 feet. Differences were going up not down. And also just 15 feet-ish. Give or take from sight. Now that you guys are up really close to the walls, they're probably like 17, 18 feet tall. They're closer to 20 feet. About three or four of me. Yeah. I'm just going to hand the climber's kit to Ayla. Ayla takes the kit.

After taking on board this very useful information, I'm just going to go straight to Ayla and give her the climber's kit. For your benefit, Sensory, when you drink the potion, this is the effect of it. The target size is halved in all dimensions and its weight is reduced by one-eighth of normal. It's a one-eighth of normal, to one-eighth of normal, so you become an eighth of your own weight.

You change to small, your size becomes small. Until the spell ends, you have disadvantage on strength checks and strength-saving throws, and your target's weapons also shrink, which reduces them to do 1d4 less damage. But it cannot reduce damage below 1. So it's good for stealth, but... It lasts an hour, doesn't it? Yes.

And I will give you advantage on stealth and dexterity checks to make up for being smaller. Okay. It's not in the spell, but I'm going to give that because it makes sense. I can carry her up on my back. And also you won't have disadvantage on stealth checks because your armour will barely weigh anything, so it won't make much noise when you move. Nice.

But it's not a spell that she can dispel at any time. It's just once the potion's drunk, it's an move. Nice. But, um, woods, it's not a spell that she can dispel at any time. It's just once the hour is up. Once the potion's drunk, it's an hour. Yeah. It's not a spell.

Now, if you had the dispel magic spell, you could cast that on sentry, but I don't think you have that. Nope. So once that's gone,

it's go time. Yeah. Or it's wait time. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. But then we have to survive patrols for an hour.

Yeah. Which is not very good. Maybe if I need it, if we know that if we think that I need it, I'll take it. But I mean, in an hour's time we could be in combat. That's true. Yeah. I think now might be the time. We'll have an hour of stealth.

Yeah. Once it's run out, we should be well into the hour of stealth. I don't want an hour of stealth. An hour of tiny sentry stealth time. Oh, okay. We just get into the hour of stealth an hour of tiny century stealth time oh okay we just get into the trace one you need it we get into the tunnels and then we wait i miss it the captors are for the spell to for the spell to end so that is the requirement that we get into but we still need to steal the keys there's a lot we need to do we've got an hour it's almost like it's a challenge it's almost like it's conflict and there's obstacles that you need to overcome automatic lock-in

alright this is a mystery game it's more physical this part yeah this part is the physical this is the bit where Richard O'Brien is like right into the crystal maze we've got to climb up over the gates! We've just got to get in! And that's about where you can tell how well this team is going to do. Why doesn't Nova levitate Sentry so she doesn't have to clang across the wall? If Sentry is small, Nova can do it because she'll weigh one-eighth.

At the moment, you have a strength of seven, I believe. She can't cast Levitate on Sentry. Yes, you could do that. Yes, you could do that. I thought you meant Nova Levitate and carry Sentry. No way!

Cast it on Sentry and then she carries Nova. And then you can dispel it once you're at the top. Okay, well, Sentry, as unofficial leader who made you the leader and then was immediately made leader again, Okay. You can drink the potion whenever you want. If you want to drink it now, I'd recommend it. That's not a very leader thing to say.

What do you mean? As leader, you choose. I offer it in time. It's a waste. Do you want me to climb the what? Let's focus on getting the climber's kit in first. Yeah, let's do Aayla. Nova, levitate, Aayla.

Aayla, piton to this beat. Ding. Ding. Why am I levitating? I can only levitate one person. Yeah, but she puts the climber's kit. Could I lift Sentry? Yes, but it will be a struggle.

I mean, all we need to do is challenge. It would be hard. Sentry be a struggle. Ha ha! I mean, all we need to do is challenge. It would be hard. Sentry weighs a lot. Yeah. I've got one eighth her weight. If she drinks the potion, yeah. If she drinks the potion, any of you can carry Sentry. Just drink the damn potion.

It'd be like having a child-sized Sentry. Just for the fan art, I think. She could find an entrance for us. If she's little, she can just... She'll go through like a rat hole. And we'll be way too big to go through it. No, but she can find one that we can obviously get. She's not a rat. She'll be small.

She'll be like four feet. Yeah. How tall since you know, six foot? About, yeah, about six, seven feet. Yeah, so she'd be like three, three and a half feet tall. She's not like a rat size. She's not like a... Let's just get the climbers kit and get into feet tall. She's not like a rat size. She's not like an action figure.

Let's just get the climbers kit and get into this damn place. Guys, this is so funny. Right. So I'm going to ask this question. I would... What are you doing? Because there's been a lot of... Bawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawaw Climbers kit to this beat. Ding. Make an athletics check please. Oh no.

And I'm standing there like a metronome. 22. Easy enough to climb. Just give me a quick strength check for the pitons because you're securing these for other people. But with that, with 20 plus athletics. 19. Perfect.

So you take your time and with Quill, I did something guys. You'll start climbing your own way up. And it's hard because it's a natural wall. It's not perfectly smooth stone. But this is a tough climb. You're having to grip onto these tiny little edges. And then you wait for Quill to go now. You put the pit on in and then that can hold your weight. But then you've got to get the next one, which is again, natural kind of hold. Get the pit on in. but then you've got to get the next one which is again natural kind of like hold get the piton in it takes you go on sorry don't interject can i do a perception check scouting anyone watching from

the outside yeah yeah round i would say don't even worry about the perception check round about where you are there's really only kaylee's rest city walls behind you and then a couple of like small you know pet like common as buildings like common as residential buildings around oh okay i mean are you looking for people actively searching for you or just like making sure that nobody's watching just making sure no one's watching at this point yeah you don't need to worry about that nobody's watching you okay um the only thing you'd have to be concerned about is people on the inside hearing yeah um but with quill's excellent idea you managed to make the pitons to the time of the

beat of the anvil. That was Lucius' idea. You spotted it and then Lucius had the idea. No Frost, how is it on the other side? Aayla's about to reach the crest. Very well, I recommend that Lady Aayla waits for a second, there is just a guard patrol that is in sight. Tell her. I will. This is all of it. This is everyone, okay. And then eventually he's like, all right, now you are clear. Where do I go when I get in?

Just find a place to hide. You literally, so you're at the top of the wall. You look over, you're kind of like, you pull yourself up onto the wall, secure the rope, tie it off, so it's secured for the rest of them. And then you look down and what you see before you is a large kind of grassy

area. You see this training hall building, which is a small squat, one story building. It's not a ground floor building with like a little tiled roof. Around it, there are some crates and barrels of supplies, but then it's pretty much just empty space. And then as it begins to stretch out into the actual Abbey's grounds, you can see vegetable patches you see gardens little clumps of trees and bushes um very homely it feels like a gardener's you know like people here look after the the land around it kind of thing but this immediate area you basically would have to just press yourself up against the training hall and just hope that nobody spots you okay couldn't hide in the barrels and you can yeah you can absolutely yeah you can try that nobody spots you. Okay. Couldn't hide in the barrels and... You can try, yeah. Absolutely, yeah.

You can try that. Okay. Do you want to try that? In we go! Okay. So you lower yourself down and give me a stealth check. Oh, no.

14. Okay. Yep. Who is next? Century, are you going to take that potion? I'll take the potion. In which case case I'm not going to levitate you. So Sentry, pop, bluglugluglug, mark it off. You should have it in your inventory.

You watch as Sentry's form... ... until she is about half the height that she was. Her dimensions are all shrunk by half. Sentry, you're adorable! Hello! Does Echo shrink as well? No. Can I ride Echo?

It's a separate. No. He is not strong enough. And you are still the size of a child. Quit. You're actually a little bit shorter than Vala because she's like a teenager. She's like a little bit of height on you.

She's taller than a half. I guess you're about a foot shorter than me and Nova now as well. Yeah. So it's not that much. Yeah. Because Vala's a little bit shorter than on you she's taller than about a foot shorter than me and over now as well like yeah so it's not that much yeah because val is a little bit shorter than nova but not much and then now you're you're the smallest yeah enjoy that and yeah uh should i go up just a little shorter i think you're shorter than no no just a little too therefore i am now i think the weakest should go first to not unhinge the pittance. Okay, well, Lucius. Vala looks at Nova.

Yeah, fair. At the same time, the heaviest would also go with the most loose pittance. We did this with one and then either way... I'm going to start climbing. Okay, athletics check, please. You have advantage because the rope's been placed there now. You've got this, Nerva. Oh yeah, the rope. Okay. I now. You've got the snether.

Okay. I believe... 18, 17. Yeah, just... Yeah, enough. It's actually only like DC 10 with the rope. You make your way up to the top. You get on the other side. Stealth check.

Hmm. 11. 11. Okay. All right, who's next? We should get a potion to enlarge echo Spell enlarge he's another creature Oh large echo. Oh shit Like a space hopper. It would be like maybe like child on a space

Yep, that'll go up. She's very stiff. I want wanna see how she does it too. She might be on fire. I really observe how she goes up. She does this thing where she gets the rope in her hands and then she uses her feet to also hold the rope and then she climbs up it. Incredible. I'm so proud. I'm so proud of you, valor.

She gets onto the other side, she will hide. That is a success. Lead by example. She hops down next to you. She kind of gets in amongst the barrels and the crates. I don't know. Nova and Ayla and Valo, now you guys on the other side, you can also now hear the sounds of sparring coming from

inside this hall. You hear shouts of like, not good enough! When the purge happens, we need to be at our very best! Kind of like shouts. I like that word. Can I hear that? Just.

I'm just going to write, we're doing something dumb in my notebook. Yeah, human. But Sivonan, like you kind of hear some of the accents. The drawl. I don't know if Dragonborn has a different voice. Not always drawl. Sometimes you get ones like the East Coast Sivonans. And sometimes you get ones which just have the...

What do East Coast Sivonians sound like? You've already met some of them. Yeah, like that guy. I just want to hear it again. Yeah. Any West Coast? They sound like that guy. Yeah, there's a couple which have got a more sort of diluted...

I think Merrick, the field warden in Rose Hall, had like a more generic Sivonian accent kind of thing. Any hey, man? No, no Californian hippies, no. Really West. Who's going over the wall? Century, do you want to go next? Yes, please.

Okay, well don't forget this is in athletics, which means you have disadvantage because of your small size. Yee-hee! Right, it's over the wall. You have advantage because of the rope. So it would just be a straight roll. So it would have been that first four.

Oh, that would have been eight. Eight? You're struggling because you're not used to your tiny little bunny. You're not quite making it out the road. Somebody can help you. I need an adult. I guess me and Lucy can probably help her out. Yeah.

It's like quaking on the right. So you both make athletics checks. How do you do that? Do you give her a boost? Yeah. Athletics 18? No that's a 13 sorry. 14. 14 and you got 18? Yeah the two of you with your help and the eight because you're pretty you're good at climbing you know how to climb ropes like you're trained in it it's just right now your form is a lot weaker than you expected it to be but we're there to help kind of like holding you

And letting you get a good grip I mean the eighth of what I currently it's actually not that bad. It's an eighth of a Guardian though Like yeah, but it's one eighth of that weight. That's what she now weighs. Sort of four tons. Yeah Mmm half a ton. So you hoist her up and you manage to climb up and get on the other side stealth check with advantage because you're a small size. Oh, my God. Three and a five. Five.

Seriously? So in your new form, you kind of stumble forward. You hit a barrel. Barrel like knocks over. Scrabbling under Ayla, next to Ayla. Like a baby! It's a toddler, not a tupo! It's a little bit like a toddler, yeah, it kind of is. She didn't do very well over there, we need to go quickly.

Lucius, do you mind if I go first? You can catch me if I, you know... From what I said earlier about the two vote thing, you should absolutely go first. Ouch, yeah, okay. I'm sorry, it's my apology. I'll go, do I have advantage with. Ouch. Yeah, okay. I'm sorry. It's my apology. I'll go. Do I have advantage with the rope? I have disadvantage. It's a straight roll. You have one arm. The rope helps.

Can I help him boost them up like I did with Century? Can I play a six? Disadvantage, Tom. No, it's a... 16. 16, you get another plus two. Disadvantage on advantage, so it's just a straight roll. Yeah, straight roll.

17. 17 with a plus two from Lucius, because he just needed you as well. 19. Yeah, with your clawed feet, you managed to kind of like grip into the wall and the rope and then using your one arm you pull yourself up. You're mainly doing it with your legs, you're kind of like pushing yourself up and then using your arm just to keep you on the rope.

It's the getting over the very lip of the wall that is the hard point. You have to hold yourself with your legs. Just a bird flapping about. Your wing over. I hook my beak up and then just look down. You probably do use your beak a little bit just to help give you a bird flapping about. Your wing over. I hook my beak up and then just look down. You probably do use your beak a little bit just to help give you a little bit of leverage. But you managed to hoist yourself over.

Now it's a stealth check. I can just imagine him hooking his beak in and then planking the rest of his body. Six. Oh my God, we are the least stealthy in the world. So Lucius and Nova, you are left on the other side. I'm already there. You levitate. No, I was already least stealthy in the world. So Lucius and Nova, you are left on the other side. I'm already there. You levitate.

No, I was already there. I'm already gone. I was the second, third one over. Yeah. She came over after me. Did you make a check? Yeah! It was eight! What, to climb? No. I made a good check to go over, and then I made a less than good check to stealth. She didn't levitate.

I didn't levitate! I have not levitated! No, I believe you. I was just scared of myself and not remembering. I mean, these guys keep thinking of you as levitate. I'm not I just mind. So it's just Lucius. Yeah, it's just Lucius left. Here we go.

Athletics check with advantage. I'm going to pretend that someone's boosting me. That's pretty good with advantage that's not so good 16 16 yeah he's got plus one you Lucius isn't like weak he's actually like you know he's doing push-ups yeah little ones not many but some you mentioned climb up yeah it's a hard work your head probably the worst thing for Lucius is all oh, the rope burns his hands, his poor little hands. Halfway through, I put my gloves on.

You like stop, you're like, mm. This is much better. And then you climb your way up. You get to the other side, stealth check on the other side. Okay. Let's just straight up normal. Yeah, and this, you know what?

This is the, this is the deciding. Oh, God. And. Yay! 10. 10? Yeah. Very middle of the road decider. I made it! Oh god! And... Yay! Ten. Ten? Yeah. Very middle-of-the-road decision.

I made it! Okay. When Lucius lands, it doesn't take you long to realize that a patrol is coming very, very soon. You now have to decide right now what you're doing and where you're going. Where is it coming from? Because they're coming round from the other... So anti-clockwise. Where's the garden that you were telling... Where's it coming from? Because they're coming round from the other, from the doors. So, anti-clockwise.

Where's the garden that you were telling? Where's the patrol? So, it's very loose. Any empty space you see that's not immediately behind the training hall or behind the dormitories in the bell tower, all of this open space, all of this open space,

there are vegetable patches, bushes. You know, it's not like a forest, it's not heavy cover, but it's enough that it will help you with stealth checks. Can I go to, I want to go to the bushes. So you're going to rush off. And try and judge with my sense of being in nature which one is going to give me the most power. You don't need to do checks. So the way I'm tracking this, by the way, is every time you guys do stealth,

you're doing it as a group check Which means that I total up how many successes versus how many failures and it will raise the alert level. Yes So you hear the patrolling guards like Did you hear something? I? Don't think so Just we should go check it out And then they begin making their way around, and then you immediately dash. And you can tell that they're searching.

Like, something's up. They're on yellow alert. They're on yellow alert. They're kind of searching around, so it's going to be harder for you guys to move around undetected. Fine. But right now you're not discovered. You can see before you that there is a door

leading into the training hall on the other side. It's the other side. Which side? Yes, on this side. So you've currently, you've all run around to a roundabout here. So we are currently south-east of the entire abbey walled area. Yes, to get round to the front of the abbey, the entrance to the abbey itself is here. On the west side. Yes. You will need to either go through the training hall, where it has doors on either end, or you will have to go past the bell tower. Can we not go in between the training hall and the abbey?

Yeah, you could do. That is currently where the patrol guard are coming from. I see. They're searching in that area. I've got an idea. We go bell tower direction. I send a four inch diameter chromatic orb to set one of the vegetable patches on fire, distracting the bell tower and then we sneak around the front in the

front door. No, no fire. Why? They love fire. They know how to deal with it. How about I go invisible and distract them in the other situation while you guys go and find entrance to the abbey? Is there any entrance that we can see from where we are around the back of the abbey?

There's not one you can see. If you would like to search for things like secret doors, this applies to anywhere, you have to physically search with an investigate check, which is like going up to it and checking and things like that, which means it takes time and it's very visible. What's this? They're just like crenellations. You can see that on the abbey there are other buildings attached to it.

You've seen churches, they have weird rooms and shapes. I'm guessing there's no windows. It's not all completely evil. There are windows, but they're thin, narrow arrow slits. And there's no windows higher up? The only big window you can see is at the very back of this building here. There is a large stained glass window raised up, but it's about 10 feet in the air.

Okay. I see we're getting that little crenellation. Big word. And avoid detection for a bit. Okay. I mean, yeah, your current stealth checks is you are currently unhidden. They're just aware.

The next time you try and move somewhere, unless you do something like a distraction wheel or invisibility or something like that, you're going to have to make stealth checks again. And that is going to be, it's now harder to move about unseen. Well, I can lure the guards around to the back of the abbey and then we'll go

west, up back into the crenellations of the abbey and then we can go further west to get to the front door. Does that make sense? No. Why are you determined? Well, I mean, we have to go that way anyway to get to the front door of the abbey. Can we really go by the...

You mean training hallway? Yeah. If we go right up against the bell tower, they can't look down. How many people are in the patrol? So, I will describe. You can see four of them in the patrols. One, I will give you a see four of them um in the patrols one i will give you a brief description of how they are armed and such two of them appear to be wearing armor with shields and swords one appears to be dressed in primarily robes um they look very similar to one that you

encountered in the temple of hesper that conjured a whip of fire and they dressed very similar the other one is wearing robes and armour, kind of like a very traditional looking cleric, kind of like the robes and armour mixture, and is carrying a mace okay could we back them into this crenellation and you know, take their clothes

there's a lot of them and it's going to be quite noisy have we crashed? I don't know if that's the screen or if we've crashed. I don't know. We'll just continue. So are we going by the bell tower way or are we going by the training hallway? I say bell tower way. In that case, I can use Thaumaturgy to make a noise and lure the guards further west.

The training hallway? Yes. Good idea. And then we'll go past the stained glass window. With Thaumaturgy, is it just a noise? It's basically anything we choose, really. With Thaumatogy, you can make whispers. Instantaneous sound from a point of my choice,

such as a rumble of thunder, the cry of a raven, or ominous whispers. And I used it before. In the park. So you can't use it to make, like, hey, over here, but you can have it like, you know, it's a, yeah, a core of a raven, a roll of thunder, the sound of, like, rustling pages in a book or something like that.

Like a scream. Ooh. Like someone got hurt in the training pool. It's too human, I would say. That would be minor illusion. I was more thinking, like, running footsteps or something like that, something to lure them away to. Oh, they're looking for someone.

I think I can do things like that. Yeah, I'll let you do that. Again, I'd say it's more of a minor illusion, but I'll let you do it with Thaumaturgy. Okay. So in that case, from where we are, west of us, I will make the running footsteps. Instantaneous sound, I guess.

What's your spell saving throw? Because this is technically an illusory effect and they have a saving throw this is a cleric one so 13 I roll for all four so that's a fail that's a fail that's a fail so all four of those are like

you hear that? yeah sound like footsteps let's check over here I think they may be headed for the dormitories and then you hear them making their to us to make no waste okay that gives you a clear path to make your way round towards the bell tower so now you're north we I say we press up against the bell tower so that they don't look down on us mm-hmm yeah you can do that yep I'm still checks still checks from everybody mm-hmm keep in mind your, you have advantage, Sentry. Seven.

Seventeen. Fourteen again. Seventeen. Okay, don't all call them out. So Aayla? Fourteen. Fourteen. Quill?

Seventeen. Nova? Seven. Lucius? Five! Sentry? Seventeen. Valar?

And then Valar has a... She got twelve. Vala has a... She got 12. So you make your way to the bell tower and pressing yourselves up close against it, you don't think you can hear any sounds of alarm. Nobody seems to call out. You think you're safe for now. From the bell tower, you can now see

more of these kind of very thin, narrow windows. On this side, from the windows that you can now see more of these kind of very thin narrow windows on this side from the windows that you can look in you can see vague shapes of pews looks like that around this area of the Abbey is a church yeah you can actually see through the these little thin slits and it appears to be some sort of church in this quadrant of the Abbey itself. Sorry. Looking past the bell tower into the grounds, you can see a long, thin building. You suspect some sort of

dormitory about the size of it. In front of the door are two guards who are staring out towards the entrance of the abbey. I see. They appear to be standing guard at the dormitory. What was the stained glass? That was here. Yeah, you ran past it. You can see from the reverse it appears to be a very resplendent

palidor, this beautiful human androgynous figure, not quite male, not quite female, but completely on fire, above the planet of Erowitz itself, reaching down with a hand, cascading light and warmth onto the planet. And you can see heavens

above it, you can see angelic creatures with wings, halos, burning bright swords on fire. You can see them kind of like coming down with Paladol towards Eros itself. Very heavily religious. Let's smash it. On the way out.

Huh. Okay. I wonder if we should take a break now so that we can fix it. Yeah, what's the time? Yep, half an hour. Yep, we're going to take it half an hour I don't know if it's actually the stream the stream has gone black it's gone black as well

we're going to take a break there then we'll take a break now guys we're going to try and fix the screen and then we'll be back ASAP we'll do some more stealthy sneaking in metal gear bye hey everyone thanks for listening to this episode very much we'll do some more stealthy sneaky stealth sneaking in metal gear bye bye for now

hey everyone thanks for listening to this episode remember to check out both dnd beyond and displate with the links in the episode description and we'll see you on thursday for part two of this episode where we continue our infiltration of the abbey we'll see you then Thank you.