High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois | #29 - Marrows of Myrskyr (Part 1)

Episode Date: March 25, 2019

Fulfilling their end of the bargain, the team head out to solve an undead problem nearby! 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

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

opening moves, you simply choose a question to be automatically sent to your matches. Then sit back and let your matches start the chat. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. Shop Best Buy's ultimate smartphone sale today. Get a Best Buy gift card of up to $200 on select phone activations with major carriers. Visit your nearest Best Buy store today. Terms and conditions apply. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to High Rollers, a Dungeons & Dragons podcast in the world of Erois,

run by Dungeon Master Mark Sherlock-Humes, with me, Tom, playing Keelakad Kalar, the bard slash cleric. I am Chris Trott. I'm playing Lucius Viren, Elowin Elanastro. And I am a High Elf Sorcerer. Hi, I'm Rhiannon. I'm playing Kila Kadkala, the bard slash cleric. I am Chris Trott. I'm playing Lucius Viren, Elowin 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. We're sponsored by D&D Beyond, and this is your last chance to get 25% off the legendary bundle with the code WARMPLATES. So head to the link in the description and get over $100 worth of savings before you miss it. We're also sponsored by Displate. Use the code HIGHROLLERS15 to get 15% off your order.

We're revealing some of our favourite Displates every Sunday and at the end of the month we're giving them away to anyone watching us live on twitch.tv forward slash highrollersdnd. So tune in live live win yourself some fantastic art and check out both sponsors with the links in the episode description while i'm here be sure to check out yogscast.com slash yogcon for more information about the live show and the high rollers vip tickets that will get you access to a private game run by mark that is taking place at yogcon and if you're heading to twitchcon on the 13th or 14th of april come see our live show meet us say hello anyway on to the episode the team 13th or 14th of April, come see our live show. Meet us. Say hello.

Anyway, on to the episode. The team need to fulfill their end of the bargain and start to head off to solve an undead problem nearby. And we're back. Welcome to Eroist, friends. A little recap before we begin today's adventure. The players have journeyed, well, not journeyed, they were sent to the continent of Voxar in the region known as Mirskir, the land of the roving storms. After inter-character conversations on the beach, beginning to head inland to find civilization, the party met a half-orc ranger who was in distress.

Coming to her rescue, they befriended Oriah, who has led them to the village of Karkul, and then on to the town of sten hill to try and find more information about bringing back their friend's sentry but also where they are and what is available to them in this region during the night they were ambushed by several arm kegs borrowing insectoid like creatures which thanks to some clever illusory tactics from nova they managed to dispatch quite easily, and then they went on to Sten Hill itself. Sten Hill is a town raised up on stone plinths due to floodwaters. There they met with Skaldi Ravenscar, a dwarven priestess of Killara, the goddess of death, who agreed to help the party with Quill's injuries, as well as keeping

Century protected from the ravages of death in exchange for helping her with a small task. The party also met with a tiefling, a male tiefling called Veskin Dexit Galloway, the owner of the Traveler Inn, who provided some room and board in exchange for some coin and the promise of a story later, who seemed to be a very eccentric, well-travelled gentleman. They returned to the priestess with Quill having received a vision from Hesper detailing many larger things and factors at work in the world. But upon return, Scaldi, the priestess, cast Speak with Dead on Sentry, and the party were entitled to ask five questions. But before they could, a male, deep, resonating voice echoed from her body, instructing them to bring Sentry back to the Prime and to find the City of Glass.

The questions themselves gave the party some information on Sentry's wishes, as well as some additional information, courtesy of Lucius. And then they were faced with the decision of whether to head on to the city of Katuvag and ask the leader of the region, called the Shepherd, to use their magic to reincarnate Sentry, though that would mean she returns as another race, or to pursue other leads, such as the Midwife's Forge, the Tales of Witches who grant magical favours, or trying to find the City of Glass itself. But before they can do all of that,

they have their promise, their oath, to Skaldi to help investigate the ruins of a place called the Night Eye, and stories of spirits and spectres. Yeah, and a necromancer. Potentially. A neck-romancer. Potentially. Mmm. Beautiful neck you've got.

Yeah. I believe everybody except Nova is together, because Nova stepped outside before the ritual was cast on Sentry, and the last thing was Nova getting a familiar sensation from Tiangong, this

ancient star weapon that you've been carrying around with you that's granted you magical powers. And you've got this strange familiar sense drawing you towards the south southwest? It's just next door, right?

It's just like five minutes down the road turn left a bit so what are you all doing um ow my field so yeah we're all uh inside the temple of kalara yeah sentry's body has been placed on the main altar of the temple of kalara this kind of stone um sarcophagus placed in the middle with a circular building around its shelves, covered in all sorts of plants and wreaths and flowers, but also dozens of hung-up lanterns with candles lit inside. I was going outside to find Nova, I think. Well, at least planning to. Yeah.

I mean, it's not a huge town. It probably wouldn't take you. Unless Nova's making efforts to stay hidden, you probably would be able to find her quite quickly. Nova! Oh my god. I'm guessing by, I mean, yelling that and looking around, most of the people here, they all dress in a very similar manner, they have these kind of like, you know, very heavy,

waterproof looking tunics, but all of their like wrists and legs are bound quite tightly so that, you know, any water would uh not soak loose fabric um so nova stands out in her attire and her manner um well hello if if if you're not trying to keep yourself hidden of course i'm probably just not very far i'd like i probably just wandered off just you know don't probably don't even really know where i am i just wandered off yeah well the you know, probably don't even really know where I am. I just wandered off. Yeah. Well, the area around Sten Hill is kind of flooded at the moment. So there's this kind of like knee to thigh high water that doesn't quite reach the tops of these stilted platforms, which join all of the raised up buildings together. But it's almost created like a little river and pond around the whole place.

Are the pathways stable? Yeah. Or is it kind of bobbing? No, there's stone. There's like stone plinths and then... it's almost created like a little river and pond around the whole place. The pathway is stable. Yeah. Is it kind of bobbing on the- No, there's stone. There's like stone plinths and then, I was like, whoa. Okay, no. They're like wooden bridges, but on stone foundations.

Oh, there you are. Just a few steps actually. I don't know why I'm so out of breath. You go very far. You missed all the good stuff. We spoke to Century. Her favourite colour is...

Green? Green. Green, yeah. I can probably tell from her outfit and her... I thought it was purple. Okay. But it's green. Is that a legit question you asked her? Absolutely, yes. Yeah. Okay.

First one was how she was. Oh. She's fine. Well, at least the memory of Fragment of Her was. Okay. She's well. Dare I ask what other questions? You have five questions. Oh, a big, booming voice came out that sounded nothing like Century. It was a

deep, resonating, masculine voice that said, or something like that. I think Quill knows exactly what I can't believe a favorite color was green of all along yes okay Lucius I need you to focus right what else did she say? What did this voice say? Uh, find the prime, uh, mmm. I didn't write it down because I wasn't there. Kim wouldn't write that down. You know what? It's better if you talk to Quill. I don't want to misrepresent what masculine Sentry said. Okay. Okay, you're gonna come back?

Why did you leave by the way? You're not feeling very well. I don't wanna be there. You're looking a little... I don't wanna talk to Sentry. I don't wanna hear her. Why? It was so lovely to hear her voice again. I know.

It's too soon. It's too soon. I can't do that. No, I can't do it. It's too soon. Well, that's fine. I mean, it's okay. She's not speaking anymore. The spell's over. Let's just talk to Quill about information. Oh, we also have to have a mission. From Scaldi.

Tiangong spoke to me, kind of. In what way? Did she or...? I think there's another fragment in the south. Right. I don't know. South? Of here.

Right. So before when we were on the way to Goldthrone, I knew that there was another skiff somewhere north of Goldthrone, right? And I was hoping we could go there and I'd find another piece of Tiangong and maybe make their voice stronger and make the connection, you know. And Tiangong just spoke to me, and I can feel there's something in the south of here. How do you feel about it?

I'll clarify one thing. It's actually more west. I got my directions wrong. I'm looking at the map now, and I'm like, that's a lot more west than I thought it was. Sorry, we can dub it in the podcast, right? West. West.

To the west. No. Come on, be a team player. It is ever so slightly south, but it falls to the west. In the southwest. West. West. West.

Considering your recent, you know, emotions. Massive, incredible screw-up and causing of the deaths of one of our friends in your opinion yes however how are you taking that information from tiangong you felt like you couldn't do it anymore i i don't i don't i don't know i but tiangong thinks you can so there's nothing that's what's kind of really weirding me out, because if I was Tiangong, I'd find someone else. Yeah, well, maybe Tiangong can see what we all see. Yeah.

Real strength in there somewhere. Well, between Ayla shouting at me, and you pep-talking me, and Tiangong kind of giving me this feeling, maybe I need to try harder. I don't know. I'll see. Watch your mic, it's rubbing a bit. Sorry. Just be careful.

Sorry Tiangong. How about before you get too deep in your own thoughts, let's just focus on the objectives at hand. Yeah, yeah. And listen to what Quill has to say about Sentry's words. Okay, yeah, because we've got to do this thing as well. Yep. It's thanks for fixing Quill's ribs.

Exactly. Let's just do one thing at a time. Question. Hmm. Do you miss Night Frost? Mm-hmm. Let's go. You start heading back.

Yeah, I guess like in the brief moments, is there anything Quill or Oriah? Ayla's just kind of standing around. Passive. Very passive. Hmm. Well, I'm ready to whack stuff when I need to whack stuff. Tell me when I need to whack. Well, I feel like that's very soon. I guess at least when we get to this place, this night eye. Night eyes. Whack some ghosts. Whack some ghosts. If they're whackable, that is. I'm sure they're very whackable. I'm looking forward to it. I whack those old ghosts.

That's true. You did, actually. Hmm, maybe they are corporeal. Corporeal? Is that the word? Scaldi looks over and is like, yes, I suppose that is a way to describe them. Most spirits can be harmed by weapons, but they're less effective without the touch of magic. Oh, well, most of us have magical. Do you have any magical infusions?

One or two little things here and there. Nothing too crazy, though. I can make fog clouds. You can make? Fog clouds. That's make? Fog clouds. That's good. That's useful. Juridic magic.

The orcs teach that on the open waves, a lot of them. It could be useful. Hopefully ghosts and specters and the like can't see through fog. And hunt out their prey where we can't see them. Yep. Yeah. That's the conversation we have. Yeah, and then I think you guys literally arrive back in as that conversation ends up.

Hello? Come on over. Hi. No. Ayla just pulls you in, like grabs your arm and is like, get in. I'm fine. And then shuts the door and stands in front of it. Please don't shout at me again.

I wasn't shouting. that was motivational yelling and i very much appreciate it thank you um he lucius said something about green and um uh how century is and um find the prime we he wasn't so clear on the find the prime. We... He wasn't so clear on the find the prime bit. The green, he's very sure about. I can't believe it. It's her favorite color. Can you believe it? I feel that from the start. To be fair, we both thought it was purple. Yes.

Find the prime! Right, so before we did what we did, we spoke... There was a voice that came out of her that told us to find the prime much like i suppose lucius heard before and century hundreds of times or tens of times i don't know um it told us to take her to the city of glass and i have that's right yes an idea well at least i had a scroll case when i found century to begin with, I had a treasure scroll relating to the City of Glass,

but I still have no idea where that is. But if we can return her there, maybe that's where we need to go. Yeah, so that Sentry can be completely repaired, right? That's what the message said. Repaired. Can I see the scroll? Yes, I will read it to you.

It says, scroll uh yes i will read it to you it says and so the knight and his squire were laid to rest in a tomb a day's pilgrimage from the city of glass the lance they had used to defend our world stood between them a symbol passed down between heroes a statue of a great deed the death of the Hell Dragon. Lazengarath. Built in a great glade of flowers and stone shrines to our beloved Star Mother. I think there's a weapon there. I'm sure I've heard of the seiyuu glass. And out of like, I start kind of trying to pat

into my bags and then I'm like, oh. I had a book on it. Oh, right. What does it look like? It's on the beach now. Well, I've got this one. Huh? I get out one of the books, which I put in my thing.

And it's probably your spell book. It's probably the fanciest looking one there oh is it in here i've been flicking through there's no pictures this is my spell book there you go thanks lucius it's very heavy so i'm glad you can take it back just kind of hold it to me and just as a point of reference nova doesn't have a book on the City of Glass. You probably would have had a history book that you would look into. Just because there's going to be loads of people going like, What? You've got to go get the book!

I was more arcane as a subconsciously. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My immediate thing would be to go to books. But there are no books! So I'd say one book. Yeah. I just kind of hold it to me, maybe breathe it in a little. I wouldn't, no, no sand.

It's just like sand. I hate sand. Thank you, Lucius. It's okay. I mean, they look very important. You can't just leave books like that on the beach. Anyone could read them. Make good firewood, though. Not this one.

No, alright, that's fair. When we whack him. Hey, let's become really dumb. She's pretty... When we hit sub! Who would you work? It's just like, you're all talking about shit. We need to decide what we're doing with Sentry.

We also, we promised that we'd help Scaldi. Can I roll a history check? Would it be a history check on Scaldi can i roll yes would it be a history check you make a history check yeah you can make a history check i think you guys have made these checks before but you can make another one um i might 21 yeah you may as well i'm gonna do one i think you did one last time actually i think i think like 21 21 yeah there are there is 21. 21. Yeah. There are... There is definitely going to be records somewhere. Judging by what you gather, in fact, actually, this is kind of new information. Now that Quill has read out his little scroll to you,

the way it is written and the things it references must be from during the war against the Court of Shadows. The idea of, like, a squire falling, the Hell Dragon, those were creatures used by the Court of Shadows. The idea of like a squire falling, the Hell Dragon, those were creatures used by the Court of Shadows. Therefore, by using Nova's intellect, you would summarize that the City of Glass must have existed before the Sundering, which means that there should be records of it somewhere, most likely in a Sky City, where the records are better kept.

Where it is today would have likely changed. However, if you can track down what exalted domain it was part of, where it was before the Sundering, that would give you a better idea of where to begin looking for it. So we could try and find the Great Glade of flowers and stone shrines to our beloved star mother. Yeah. For example. And lands. In fact, I would say with a 21,

the idea of a glade of flowers with a shrine to Siaska would indicate that it might have been in Siaska's exalted domain, Starfall, which was the area around the main capital. Can we get like GPS coordinates? Nope. That's the thing. Nova doesn't like, I know where it is, but because you're a scholar, you're like, well,

okay, I don't know what it is, but I'm pretty sure I know where we can find out. Yeah. There must be records of it. And yeah, you're making some, you know, hypotheses, but... So I think Lucius giving me my spell book back and almost being grounded by holding a book back again, I just like suddenly take a deep breath and like beautiful mind it and just be like...

And then vomit out everything that Mark just said. Yeah. The other thing I will say is that, yes, you imagine that you will need to go to a sky city and find it certainly trying to find the city of glass will be the longest option and if you want to take century there that will require a significant amount of time of research finding it going there finding it whatever it happens to be so i'd probably finish with like, but the thing is, to find out all the exact details, this is probably going to take a lot

longer than 10 days or 20 days if we use Scaldi's Gentle Repose again, and I can't guarantee that we'll find it because I need to go into a temple and I need to research everything and I need to find it and I don't know if we can do it. Okay. Just a point. I'm not saying it can't be done. Just making that clear. It will be,

it will take longer is all I want to say. I can't give you good odds. We have many options when it comes to Sentry alone. We could take her to the Shepherds. About that. I've been thinking. I don't think it's the right thing to do. Taking her to the Shepherds?

Because the Shepherd sounds like a druid, right? So he's going to do a spell reincarnation, which means she comes back in one of many different forms, right? But if the prime wants Sentry as a guardian to fix, then he needs her as Sentry, as a guardian, and not as a tiefling or an elf or anything. But if we find someone who can do resurrection, that will bring her back as Sentry. That was a lot of information.

I've been thinking a lot. It's what I was thinking too, but we did ask Sentry herself how she felt if she were to suddenly become a different race. Did you ask her about the crime? Did you tell her about the Prime? Did you tell her about the Prime? Would it change her mind about her mission, which is to find the Prime? And she says no. But would it change the Prime's approach to her?

Well, that is something we don't know. You don't know? We don't even know if the Prime still exists. It could well be a fragment of the past. But you said it spoke through her! It did, but it could be an echo, much like the memory of Century was.

Sounds like you all have a lot to think about. Oh, um, hey, by the way, I got a promotion from Hesper. See, when I was under whatever it was that I was made to drink. It's just a minor sleeping potion.

Not very delicious, by the way. I had a vision with Hesper again. Turns out, by the way, I'm his chosen, so to speak. Congratulations. Thank you. Chosen by Hesper? Yes. Chosen for what?

Well... So, here's the thing. I asked him about the storms in this place, in Mirskir and various other things. For starters, not his fault. Well, sort of his fault, but uncontrollable. He can't stop it. He has asked me to go back to the Valley of Storms.

Oh, no. Oh, Birdie, you... You crazy birds always fly into that storm every time. Yeah, well, to be fair, the injury rate is very low. I just happen to be one of them. Why would you go back? It's so dangerous. Exactly. Why would I go back? Is what I asked Hesper. And he said, apparently, this will tie into something I'll mention a little bit later. There's something for me there. Something that only I can use, as Hesper's chosen, that will make me much more well useful powerful

against what he said is our second priority mission beyond Sentry he told us about Kallus about what we know about the gods he doesn't know what he meant but Kallus is gaining incredible power very quickly and he'll apparently have the ability to take over Savona very soon. Excuse me, Calus Starbane? I'm also quite curious about that. Um, excuse me? So... What? What?

How much will it cost for you to pretend I didn't say that? You might be able to buy the mercenary, but not me. I'm a servant of Killara. I may not be chosen. I may not get visions like you do, but I'm still caring deeply about... Yes, who is this callous person? I pray to Siaska.

I will not have any of this Starbane nonsense. I hope... are you joking? This is a terrible joke. Please stop joking. Okay, okay. Lucius. Hello. Why didn't you tell the story?

Okay, so, are we, okay. Cards on the table. I guess we have to really. What are we doing in there? We're helping each other, right? You land folk are so, so much. So the reason we doing in there? We're helping each other, right? You land folk are so So much So the reason we appeared In this land

Yeah, we didn't crash a ship We would We gathered that We were teleported here by Calistar Bane himself Unwillingly Unwillingly That doesn't make sense

You can't He can't return to where we're always The cradle keeps him away So we're in a place called... Flamebrite Abbey. Flamebrite Abbey in Callie's Rest. In Savona. There was a big gathering of cultist worshippers who were trying to...

Of Starbane, the Remnant. No, no. They were trying to build a portal to bring through what they considered their god to cleanse the land because they don't like foreigners. Which they believed was Pallador but it wasn't actually Pallador giving them the wishes. It was a demon doing a trick. So a portal. We wanted to rescue people in there. Stop. Stop. I... what you're saying is insane, but I can see that you believe it. And I mean, look, you've turned up

with your departed friend. I knew something was wrong. This is information you should give to the shepherd. I'm a local priestess of Kalara. I buried bodies in the swamp. I don't speak with her. I have a small amount of her power. This is something you need to take to the shepherd. If this is

true, if everything you're saying, I can tell that you're clearly not allies of the old enemy. Oh no, we're very much clearly chosen now to stop him. That is something you should speak with the shepherd. All of the council would wish to hear this. And if you truly have a way to stop the storms,

they'll wish to hear that too. Well, I would like to stop the storms, but it still involves going in there. I'm afraid that's something you'll have to deal with, Chosen One. Skaldi? Yes? I have a question. Well, I have many, but sure, let's ask me a question right now. Do you have the ability to detect any magic on an item? No, I don't.

I was wondering if Starbane can listen to everything we're saying because of this crystal we've got. I mean, you could have mentioned that to this guy. Can you do it? Yes. I have done. He's a chosen of the goddess of magic. Pretty sure he can tell if something's magical. Yeah.

I can start. Shall I now? I. I can, I mean, I can start, shall I now? I would. Oh, yes, I probably should have. What do you want to do? I suppose I'll start

ritual casting this detect magic. Detect magic? Yeah. Okay. And that'll be 10 minutes, so we may as well carry on. Yes,

but I'm just going to jump ahead and tell you a bunch of things. So, because detect magic just reveals sources of magic. Scaldi's lantern is magical. Okay. Oriah's rapier is magical.

Any of your own magical items? Did you guys pick up anything that you weren't sure if it was magical or not? I don't know if you've picked up any treasure that you weren't sure of. Is my bedroll magical? No, shut up. I control. So, yes. The canister itself

is not magical but there is not actually a huge amount of magic but you get the sense that the fragment, whatever it is inside the canister definitely has magical power yes. I should be able to detect what schools of magic

it would be technically necromancy, I think, because necromancy is also used for raised dead and stuff like that as well. It deals with life and death. Okay, so it's not just like a magic source. No, you're actually looking at the fragment closer, like looking in the canister itself,

like you're examining it with detect magic, right? You're actually like examining it. You get the sense that it's actually a very small piece of crystal, perhaps a diamond, but it is glowing, like it's been chipped off of something and it is still resonating with heat and power. And it has a faint trace of necromantic magic. Okay.

As far as I can tell, clear. Okay, Birdie. That's smart. Right. Well, or is he really, really smart and he's just hiding it from us? Well, he considers us... If you're dealing with the old enemy,

you shouldn't take anything at face value. If the only thing we've been taught is true, he's incredibly powerful but also very cunning. What master strategist? What magic did you use just then? If anything we've been taught is true, he's incredibly powerful but also very cunning. What? Master strategist. What magic did you use just then? To take magic. Ah.

I just... I can learn what is magical. I'll just do an intelligence check. Sure. To see if there's... If I knew about the alternative. Sure. Three.

No. Yeah, your magic comes from you internally you didn't really study magic so I think that unless Lucius can cast identify and stuff then I wouldn't imagine he knows. Wait. Nova used to. So. I totally forgot I also had a magic. Does Nova still have the 100 GP pearl for it though? No. Do you need a 100 GP pearl for identifying? I don't know who has that. I do. Is it consumable? No. You'd have the 100 GP pearl for it though. No. You need a 100 GP pearl for identifying. No. I don't know who has that. I do.

We... There you go. Is it consumable? No. You'd have to hold it. So, Scully looks around. Well, there's obviously something bigger here than I understand, but nothing changes. You still swore to me that you'd help deal with the night ice.

I hold you to that. We are absolutely doing that first. Thank you. I'm ready to go whenever, but it's up to that. We are absolutely doing that first. Thank you. I'm ready to go whenever, but it's up to you. It'll take us around a day or so to travel there. Traveling at any time is dangerous and mere scare, but I'll leave that to you. We need to get probably some rations.

Potions. You'll struggle to find those here in Stenhill. They're not exactly common. There's a general store where there may be a few, but I would not count on being able to buy many. Do you have any food that we can... Oh yes, food and rations, I'll provide those. Okay, great.

You need not worry. I'd suggest if you have things like tents, Nailo's like, I got them. How is the inn, by the way? Hmm? How is the inn? Oh, spectacular, as always. Yes. Oria's been there before. Many times.

It's very quirky. All the furniture's completely different. Hmm. Nice. Would suit you. Is it near the general store? Yes. The inn?

Yeah, around about that way. Stenhill's not a very big place. We can pop in. We'll have to find it. Sure. Just make sure, well, when you're ready to leave, come and find me and we'll make our way. We'll meet back here in one hour.

How about that? Very well. That sounds like planning. I believe that you guys got here in the morning, then you took a long rest. So it's about eight hours in. I think it was like 10. I believe that you guys got here in the morning, then you took a long rest. So it's about eight hours in. I think it was like 10.30 or something when we started the long rest.

Yeah, it was like 10.30. So it's about 6.30 p.m. So it is beginning to get dark now. Half an hour, 30 minutes. If you're lucky, Freyla might still not be open, but if you rush, you may just catch her before she closes. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

Okay. Yeah, it's easy enough to find. You find a small, round, wooden building, again, kind of raised off the ground, near the inn. Small thatched roof. There is no sign, but you get the sense that it is some sort of general store, because there are tables that are being taken inside that have various valuables on them. tables that are being taken inside that have various valuables on them. They appear to be mainly things like furs,

looks and carapace of some sort of giant crab, ropes, fishing equipment, like tools, that sort of thing. And it's being brought inside by a kind of sturdy, older-looking human woman, blonde hair, pale skin. And, yeah, she just looks over. She's like, oh, I'm sorry, everyone. I was just about to close up. Is there something I can help you with, travelers? Well, travelers, we're actually looking for,

well, travel equipment, possibly. I was just about to finish closing and go home. Oh, we have all this money. Well, if you have money, I can certainly wait. Is there anything in particular you're looking for? Potions, anything healy? money and we're just well if you have money I can certainly wait is it is there anything in particular you're looking for? Potions? Anything healy? Oh I mean I think I have maybe one or two at best they're kind of hard to come by

around here a lot of travelers end up taking them off my hands We're helping Scaldi on a very important mission Well if I have them I'll sell them to you. It's more just a case of if I have the stock more than anything. Okay, we can wait. She's like, well, step inside. Get out in case rain starts falling. You step inside, and you can see that it's all hooked up with all sorts of equipment.

A lot of it just appears to be general traveler's gear, like your kind of basic equipment out of the player's handbook. She steps behind the counter where there is a large locked kind of armoire. She takes a key out, unlocks it, opens it up, and you can see there's a few more precious things there. A couple of small gemstones like pearls. There's a few pieces of jewelry, maybe like a very fine-looking axe. And she's just like, well, I have two of the normal variety,

but I do have to charge a slight premium on them. They're 60 gold. Do I still have my detect magic on? 10 minutes. Yeah, sure. Anything? Nothing magical except the potions. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the axe looks incredibly well made. It might be, you think it has traces of Ethereum in it. It's an ethereum alloy axe. But it's just

like a hand axe though. It's like a woodcutter's axe kind of thing. I'll buy the potions. What were they?

Regular? Regular, yeah. They're just standard healing potions. 60 gold each. Okay, I will buy both.

Okay, yeah. She'll gladly take 120 gold off you like, wow, kind of takes it in. You can see she it isn't like a metal lock box And then that sits at the bottom of the armoire in a separate drawer Well, that's a nice little bit of change to make at the end of the day

You off I'm eyeing up the jewelry. Just like oh, yeah, it's like you can see like there's a kind of gold choker there's silver rings, and a pair of earrings made from what appears to be aquamarine. How much for the gold choker? The gold choker? It's kind of basic. It's just gold.

You probably imagine that it's gold plated on top of something, but it's real gold plated onto something. But it's not intricately carved. It's just like little slats of gold kind of strung together in like a necklace. I'd say like 75 gold. Oh, that's out of my place for you. Well, maybe if you get enough treasures from the night eye. Yes.

I have enough. But she's like, well, if there's anything else, do you need anything? Well, Felicia's... Parchments. Do you guys need any, like, armor or anything? I want armor.

I'm afraid the best place to go for that is to go speak with the gnomes. They're a little... Those little guys can be a bit funny about things. Funny how?

They're just... They keep themselves to themselves, even amongst us. Huh? Don't think I even know their real names just go by their job I suppose Smith

there's Smith Leaf Woody Tan Needle okay I mean all crafters

in the craft hall hmm armor's so unsightly though isn't it bulky get so sweaty under it. I mean...

Being stabbed and bleeding out is also pretty unsightly. You'd be bulkier dead. It's very uncomfortable. Do you even know how to wear armour? Sailor. Yeah, so I assume you just put it on like a shirt. Well, it would get in the way of my spell casting. I need free-flowing movements, like water. I mean, you can get armor like that, but it's just not so intrusive.

You can get level armors and lightweight. Look at Aria. Aria? Aria? Aria. Aria. I mean, to solve the mechanics of it, Lucius knows that your type of spellcasting, like, you would have learned to wear armor if you could.

But you'd put it on and it would be restrictive. It doesn't suit me. Lucius doesn't have proficiency in armor. He's not a cleric or a warlock. If you saw the kind of intricate armours we make on Gusthaven, you'll know that I'd much rather one of those. No offence, Oriah. It's very suitable for the environment you're in.

None taken. It's fine. Just be careful. Armours for wimps, anyway. Mrs. Aylor. That exactly. be careful I'm not going to say armour's for wimps anyway this is Aayla that goes and I've got my I've got my barrier ring a shield just remember to use it

I will it's on the front page of D&D Beyond now maybe write it on your wing I will how useful is armour against a spirit, anyway? That's actually smart. That's a good question.

It wasn't super useful last time we were against things like this. I'm just trying to get everyone good and healthy and protected. We very much appreciate that, Nova. Thank you. We're aiming not to die. Yeah. Yeah. Let's go.

The shopkeeper was like, sounds like you have quite an adventure ahead. Yeah. Good luck. Get out. Actually, do you get a lot of travelers through here? Not many, no. Have you ever heard...

The main trade road passes through here to the south, but into the next region. Okay. Have you heard much of the Night Eye? Night Eye? Oh yes, the Night Eye, of course. Everyone around Sten Hill's heard of it. Oh. I mean, it's been here since before the town was founded. The spirits have always been part of it, but I have been hearing they've been getting quite aggressive on the roads.

A few people have even gone missing. Oh. Supposed to have headed up from the south or left here to go there and never reach their destination. Well you're looking at four heroes who are about to quash. There's five of you. I don't count myself as a hero. They're truly the heroes. That actually makes sense. Yeah. Are you like their nobleman? I'm just lucky to be here honestly. Very good. These people will quash this problem for you. Oh, I certainly hope so. It'll make the trade road a lot safer.

Okay, well, if you never see us again, we're part of that story. I'll remember that. And those potions may save one of our lives. Great. I'm going to close my shop now. Okay, goodbye. Good night.

Yeah, and it's probably about like 7 p.m. The night is fully in effect. It's winter. Like you guys are at the end of like the first month in winter, so it's dark already. Now I've got my dancing lights. However, if you have struggled to see at nighttime, it might be worth getting a torch or something.

You just hear like a, I'm closed now from behind hear like a I'm closed now from behind the door. I'm closed now. I'm pretty sure I just heard her slide the deadbolts in place. No, I'm just saying if you want to find like some sticks and cloths on the way and douse them in oil and

set them alight. Yeah, you could do that. It's actually the way to make a torch, yes. I've got a lantern. I've got a lantern. I can see in low light, it's no problem. No lantern. I've got a lantern. I can see in low light. It's no problem. No, I don't have a lantern because I threw it in the... I can't remember now. Scaldi has a lantern.

Yeah. Sorry? Scaldi has a lantern, don't you? You're not with Scaldi. She does. She does have one. What's more, magical. There you go.

She's probably got a big beaming light coming from it. It'd be just like daytime. You land dwellers are so unusual, throwing lamps away. It was... You had to have been there. It was chaos. Oh, I wish I was there. You... Goodness me. Honestly, I wish Oriah was there as well. Actually, Oriah, um...

Listen. Don't we owe you some money, by the way? Eh, probably. Probably. You have so much going on, I can't keep track. That's what I wanted. I thought it would just be a simple, you know, guiding thing. But you're so complicated.

There's so much going on. That's what I wanted to say. We appreciate the help. We really do. We really needed everything, We appreciate the help. We really do. We could have, we really needed everything, especially. Oh yes. Now I understand what you guys are up against.

It's on. If everything that you're saying is the truth and you really are in, well, not a pickle anymore. It's like a marrow. You guys are in a marrow of a problem. A marrow? Not a marrow.

It's pickles are small things. Marrows are big things. Do you, have you seen a marrow before? No, you know, pickles are small things. Marrows are big things. Have you seen a marrow before? No, it's just a weird measurement device. I just wanted to say, if you are willing to help us still, we will happily accept. I am willing,

I'm very willing to help you. Very willing to help you. Because if you, if this is Starbane we are talking about, if all of this is true and we are really in the deep shit, then... We're in the deep shit.

We are in the deep shit. We're in the deep shit. Then I will help you get out. The deepest. I want to make sure you get some treasure. Get some gold. Honestly, it's... Helping you guys,

helping what could be all of Erois against Starbane is worth more than all the golden Eroas. Well, true, but we will say that any help you may need, we will happily repay the favour. Well, that's very much appreciated. I just want the ship. Beyond the cost. We could whack your brother. I'm good at whacking. That would be incredible. I would love to see that.

She just nods. I make her very happy. Are we going now, or what are we doing? That would be incredible. I would love to see that. She just nods. All right. Make her very happy. Are we going now, or are we... What are we doing? Let's meet up with Scaldi. Scaldi, and then just... Are we going?

I think we should make a move. It's getting very dark. Okay. I mean, we do have all the time in... Well, not all the time in the world, but much more time now. Thanks to Scaldi, we could go in the morning. You just said you had a dream

and you were told by Hesper that Calus is growing exponentially all the time. I mean... You did say that. You added a lot of pressure. But, no, I meant... In the marrow. Pressure marrow.

This marrow's full. This marrow's full. It's bread. Okay, I agree. You're right. I meant we have more time for Sentry. But, sure, let's leave now, in that case. Okay.

Right. Let's speed things up. You meet up with Scaldi. She's gathered her things. She basically has, like, a bedroll, a few trail rations, like trail rations for everybody, and her axes and her lantern, and not much else actually. She kind of travels light.

And you set off. She leads you out of Sten Hill, and you head upwards, uphill for a little while, until you reach a trade road, which is still quite damp. You can feel like the water here is like the water level rises because there's a river not too far and the trade road follows the river down and as the river overfills the land becomes somewhat flooded. So the travel is

unpleasant at best as you're kind of wading through these flooded trade roads. It's muddy it's wet, it's a bit sticky however there are no storms good for now for now uh and you travel through the night um it's about sort of like a day ish to the night eye so you begin heading west through various valleys and hills traveling uh across dales.

Eventually, sometimes you go uphill and the land becomes drier, and then you kind of head deeper into the valleys and the water level rises, and then you're constantly doing this sloping kind of path. Is Skaldi kind of good at navigating, and Oriya? Oriya is mainly leading the way through it, but Skaldi, you're mainly following a road,

so it's not like you're travelling through dense wilderness here. You don't see any other travelers and you hear the occasional cries of these great birds up above the clouds but you don't see them you just hear these kind of like these echoing calls you you're probably pretty sure they're thunder eagles which are these huge eagles that have kind of evolved with the Valley of Storms. Would I know those as well? Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, they den in the Stormwall. So Thunder Eagles and Storm Griffins in particular. Cousins. Sort of. Kissing cousins? As you... So you left about seven o'clock. Are we past?

Okay. You left about seven o'clock. Eight hours of travel would take you to ten. Oh no. I am. I mean while he's matting. What? You never heard that expression before? No.

Yeah. It's a legit expression. Huh. Okay. Yeah. Google it. I don't think I want to. Just don't image search it. Oh no.

My question to you is, how long do you press on for? Do you camp when it gets to late evening, like a few hours out of town, are you just going to camp out in the wild on the side of the road? I don't suppose we could reset our timer, because at the moment we're like long rest from 10 36 yeah you could basically go like well you've been awake pretty much like you can take two long rests in a day i'm gonna say because your first long rest wasn't sleeping it was just doing nothing so what i would say is you could get to like 11 o'clock and say right we're gonna stop for the night we're gonna rest and then

we're gonna carry on in the morning make good progress i think if we want to rest here yeah however we are vulnerable by stopping so yes that's the main difference so my question to you is uh when you stop how do you make camp uh do you make any preparations what are you guys doing um you find like a small secluded set of hills to kind of protect you from the wind if the storm picks up in the night um it's like maybe a couple of like little uh trees that you can nest under. But what do you do? Do you take any special precautions?

Do you do anything in particular to protect yourselves? Well, I suppose finding a canopy or something like that would be one of them. The best you can probably... Well, make a survival check, I guess. Or perception check. Survival or perception. Yeah, I'd say for you this would probably be more perception because you're looking around. Natural one?

Yeah, it's dark, you have one eye, you're tired. You're looking around. The best you can find is, yeah, like some hills, like to try and get on the leeway side of the winds. I think a rider would probably keep watch. So you're going to take the first watch? Okay. So you take the first watch.

You will need to stagger it, so one other person will need to do watch as well. In four hours I'll finish my trance And I'll be able to Yep Okay So Lucius will take

The second watch Any other precautions? Anything else you want to do? Cool In that case Araya and Lucius Make perception checks please Can someone help me

Set up my tent? I just don't know How this works Aayla's just someone help me set up my tent? I just don't know how this works. Aayla's just like, I will set up your tent. Thank you. Just because I do not want you whining. Hello. Ding dong.

Marily on high. Yeah, I got 17. Unnatural 20. Okay. What was that? 17. 17, so 17 and 20. Throughout the night, Oriah, you're on the first watch. It's relatively calm on this gear. You hear a

few cries of animals sniffling around, the wind picks up, but in what little shelter Quill managed to find, it just means that your night is unpleasant. Rude. You pay close attention to the weather. Well, you're the one that looked for cover. Yeah, it was terrible cover. What shit cover Quill found? A leaf. You do not think a storm will come in the next few hours, at least.

And you sense no sign of animals or prey, no monsters, no bandits. And it goes relatively smoothly. Lucius, you take over for the second watch. The night is very quiet and very still. And that leaves your thoughts to dwindle and meander and memories flick to things perhaps Lucius

doesn't want to think about. Night frost, sentry, back home, not hearing from your family, not knowing what's going on. Do they even know that you're missing? I shouldn't have taken a watch on my own. Are they looking for you? It doesn't seem like they are. Even if they do, you're now on a different continent. How are they going to find you? All of these thoughts begin playing on your mind.

But you don't sense any kind of monsters or attacks just an emotional assault from yourself you wake up in the morning um and whilst you are taking food rations for breakfast mainly kind of dried loop spread um a few little bits of berries and a few uh cold vegetables um is a, you hear a wagon, you hear this kind of the sound of almost like scraping in the mud and the turn of wagon wheels and a kind of like half sing-songy,

half mumbling voice. And as you kind of like peek out from where you've taken cover, you can see what appears to just be a merchant wagon, but it is being pulled by what I can best describe And as you kind of like peek out from where you've taken cover, you can see what appears to just be a merchant wagon. But it is being pulled by what I can best describe as lobster-esque, but oversized, like the size of a horse. Two big kind of front hooked claws digging into the mud and pulling forward on these kind of centipede like legs from underneath this big carapace. Two eye stalks with black beady eyes.

The man on the wagon kind of holds reins connected to the giant lobster and he just pats the carapace like Good clack! Keep going! Keep going! Good clack! I cannot believe what I'm seeing. You're seeing this too, right? I'm not... Do I know what a clack is?

Yeah, they're beasts of burden, so they're kind of like bison or, you know... Do you know we eat some of them in the stew? I don't imagine it was... But they're a huge crustacean. They're a huge crustacean.

Yeah, it's a beast of burden. They're used to pull wagons because they can, what they do is in a storm, they get inside their shells and then they grip into the ground so the wind doesn't knock them over. So practical. Yeah, it's an evolved creature. I don't know whether to throw up

or to praise the sight of a wagon. The man kind of goes past and he just looks over. He's like, good morning, Travers. Hello. Good morning. Oh, that's a big... You see like a young boy kind of poke his and he just looks over and he's like, Good morning, Travers! Hello! Good morning. Oh! That's a big- You see like a young boy kind of poke his head up from the back like, Ah, papa! Look! Strange men!

And- Birdmen! Birdmen! Hello! Um... This one is blue! He's like, yes, yes, they are blue, Josef. Where are you heading? Stan Hill.

Oh, you're going that you heading? Stan Hill. Oh, you're going that way. Mhm. And up to Godavag. Okay. Where were you coming from? From the down south. Travelling on the road from the next region over. Ah. How was the road? Safe? Be careful. He kind of looks at you when you say that, like,

I think me and my boy, we were lucky. Pulled off the road just before it got dark. Set up camp out in a cluster of trees nearby. Saw the strangest thing. What did you see? I remember it looked well. It looked like a woman, but all white, riding a horse. But the horse was just made from bones.

Traveled along the road searching for something. Spooky stuff. It's like a specter almost. It was near that old ruin, the watchtower. Interesting, okay, sounds like we're about to... Scaldi looks over and is like, that lines up with some of the things I've been hearing about the night eyes. You weren't, um, it didn't attack you or see you? I think it, well, I think if it had, it might have. Looked like it had a look of murder, carrying a big long spear with a curved blade at the end.

I've never seen anything like it. There's a big spear in our future. Look out for that one. But we were hidden. We kept the boy quiet, he was asleep. Kept myself hidden, didn't seem to spot us. Well, that's absolutely terrifying. Thank you for that information. Sorry I can't help. Do you have anything to trade?

I'm a traveller myself. We do have coin. We're on an adventure. So anything to help us? Oh, I've got oils, salts, spices. What's good against spookies? Salts. Yeah, salt is very good against ghosts, I hear. Oh, it is.

Can I roll an insight on him? We should buy all of his salt. 13. 13? We should buy all of his salt. Thirteen. Thirteen? I mean, you've heard that salt can be used to hedge out spirits. You've read it in a book once. Salt circles. Scalded, should we buy all

the salt? Scalded just shakes her head. We won't need that sort of thing, Baltham. No, sorry. But I'm also looking to buy if you have any strange trinkets or jewelry, clothes. I'm sure I probably can't afford anything you crazy adventurers carry, but I have a few little bits of gold here and there to buy something that I can sell in the city. I'm afraid I've got everything I need.

I can't really part with anything. How's the group fund looking by the way? 315 gold. Not bad. I've got a spell clash program. Sell that. That's going in my memory box. I'll keep the potion of fire resistance. I think that's the only thing. And buy your eye patch, bird man. Nope, need it. Thank you. Nothing under there. All right.

The hole. Where my eye was. Seems to be, he's about to go about his business. How much to hire your wagon? I need it.

I've got all my goods in the back. I'd have to drag them all the way to Sten Hill. And once you're at Sten Hill, then what? Oh, well, I mean, I guess I'll stay there for a couple

of days, see what trading I can do. After that, if you want to hire my wagon, maybe. Be a small, good price, though. Well, we may need your services. Well, I'll be in Stenhill for a few days, after you're done

with your adventures. Wait, where did you say you were going after Stenhill? Kattewag. Kattewag is the one, the ship, right? That's the big city, yeah. Okay, cool. Well, actually, we could use you from Stenhill to Kattewag. Extra space on the wagon.

It looks roomy enough. Sure, for the right price. For the right... Well, we can negotiate that. Sure. When we get back. If you. Sure. When we get back. If you get back. When we get back.

Sure. What if they die, Papa? Shh. Quiet, boy. Ah, what a little... Less people to put in your wagon.

Very true. Well, I'll be there. Well, we look forward to meeting you in Stan Hell. Onward, Scurp. Scurp the Clank. Scurp the Clank.

Goodbye, Scurp. Safe travels. Farewell, adventurers. Gotta get used to that accent. Imagine one of those with butter on a plate. Delicious. So delicious. I mean, it was alright actually

to be fair yeah so you carry on travelling for the rest of the day I suppose yeah okay great how about everybody give me a

perception check perception perception natural 20 which means it's 19 so minus one do I have disadvantage yeah Natural 20! Which means it's 19. So... Do I have a disadvantage?

Yeah. Okay, um... 15. 15? 10. I got a natural 22. Passive 22. How does that work if you roll a nat 20 but you got a minus 1?

There's no such thing as crits on skill checks and stuff. It's only on attack rolls. It's a nat 19. It's just the best roll you can get. And that's why it's so good. Travelling along the road, again, you get the sense that there are very... In fact, you see no other travellers throughout the day. But as you're travelling through the day and approaching the ruin,

you begin, I think, Novi, you're the one who sees it most clearly, is in the distance, still several hours away. You begin to see the tip of some sort of ruined tower just nestled behind several hills. But also, you almost, it's kind of confusing for a second. You think you see like the pommel of a huge sword kind of sticking up out of the keep, but it's so far away, you're not sure if that's what it was, and then it dips behind more tall valleys. That's the wrong dice.

Let's see what random encounter you get for the day. Oh, yay. A herd of clicks. So, as you're travelling, Araya and Nova, you hear the creatures first. It's basically an open section of road, curved, valleyed hills up on the side.

Water level is still quite deep, so it's kind of around your ankles. Not enough to slow your movement in any way. It's not that deep. But the valley drainage has kind of created like a very kind of like trudgy mud. And the clouds are very thick overhead. You can hear the faint, gentle whistling of the wind, smell the kind of fresh water and the stagnant mud around you, smell the kind of fresh water and the stagnant mud around you and you hear a cry

of some sort of flying creature up above. And then the rushing of wind and flapping of wings as it dive bombs down. You both snap your eyes up and you see, you get this because they're one of your favourite enemy. You got this

because of the role. Aayla also technically sees them coming. You see a pair of storm griffins. So heads of white eagles, lionine bodies with these big feathery wings, basically dive bombing down towards this group of fresh meat that they can see before them coming dive bombing down. So Aayla, Oriah, Nova, you got a 10, didn't you? You got 15, but you've got disadvantage.

Yeah. Does my passive not help with that? Not with this, no. Okay. Oh, actually for the hearing, yeah, because it doesn't affect your hearing, your eye. So yes, I would say for this as well. So at this point, it's just poor Lucius and Scaldi

who don't basically notice these things dive bombing down. So what do you guys want to do? You've got enough time to quickly do something. At this point, I am grossed out by one of these plants that's recoiling. I can't believe the plants. Every time you go to touch it, you're like, so gross. Yep. And you're like, ah!

And you're like, huh? And you're like, huh? Everybody look. Sorry, they're diving onto us. Onto you, yeah. It looks like they've literally pierced through the cloud level and they're now coming in to sweep down onto you guys. Being an Arakokra from the Stormwall, where they nest, would they actively attack Arakokra?

Yes, if they're hungry enough. As a result, would I know enough about them? I think Quill looking up, this is your whole turn of analysis, of thinking about it, because you're trying to think in this sudden moment of action. It looks to be a mated pair. One looks like a male, one looks like a female. And they're clearly hunting for food.

They must be hungry. That's why they're attacking a group of travelers on the road, which is very uncommon. They wouldn't normally do this. Right. So you get two impressions. Either they are starving hungry themselves or they've just had a bunch of eggs

and they've got young to feed. So they need extra meat. And that's why they're attacking. Right. What else is it? Ryan, anything you want to do? I would like to see... You've got like an action or so.

Cool. I'm just going to shout, Storm Gryffins! Everybody, move back! And just try and get people to move. Hmm. Right? I'm just looking up. Because that's what people...

Yep. Nova? This could be baiting. I'm just looking it up. Because that less work. Yep. Nova? These could be baiting. I think I would just panic, but also just be like, Lucius! Touch him and cast invisibility on us both. Oh. Both? Because you got the extra spell slot.

I can cast it at level three. Which is two targets. Which basically means I can turn both of us invisible. Nice. Oh. Okay. Great. So that's your action as you cast both invisibility on both of you.

If I go to bite. Aayla. Just a plant. Gets her fucking home barrel. Whacking. Okay. So with that, let's roll some initiatives, everybody. Rock and roll.

Awesome. Cool. Ding dong. I'll roll for scaldi as well yeah if you can control scaldi in battle please yeah goody it's okay i'll just dent the table can i ask by the way yes what did her lantern look like in the night um so generally when she travels she speaks like a little word she casts light on the cantrip and it just sends out like a dull light glow so nothing regular not huge

like you get the sense that it's almost like a minor magical focus like she can channel spells through it so it kind of looked like the guy

that we met in Savona yes so is it like it's like a holy symbol looks like Calara's lamp yes yeah

and then she uses she can channel her spells through it for extra power. Okay. I was just wondering. So, let me just roll up some stuff. So that was for Ava. Jesus Christ. Where did I get a red pen from?

Weird. Magical red pen. Ooh! Okay. Ariya. 12. Quill. 21. Nova. 10, twelve. Quill. Twenty-one. Nova. Ten.

Lucius. Thirteen. Scaldi. Two. Nice. NPC going well. So, yeah, you watch as these creatures are dive-bombing. They're probably about, I'd say, 80 feet up in the air from you now.

Like, they're swooping in to attack and the first person to go is Ayla who can't really do anything against something that high up so we'll ready an action she will knowing that you two have just vanished she will move next to Quill and ready an action that if anything comes near Quill

she will whack nice so that's Ayla Quill. I'm going to bonus action my barrier ring, so I've got plus two AC. And I will so do you say male

and female? Yeah. Do I know which of the two are most aggressive or most dangerous? Equally dangerous. It depends on the scenario. Males tend to be more territorial. The females tend to be hunters. I'll go for the hunter then.

I imagine if I can see which one's which. I think Quill and Oriah are the only ones that you'd be able to tell which one's a witch, the male and female. Okay, in that case, I will send out a guiding bolt onto the female of the two. And that is a... Ooh, 16 to hit. 16? Hits.

Ay! Yeah, you watch as they're kind of streaking down towards you. It's really easy. You throw the coils up. At this point, we're used for a rough guideline. You are traveling on a road you probably would have been traveling in at least a semi-clustered group rather than being too strung out um so at this point i'd say that like you've with a rise shout none of you have moved yet but

for the time being you're all clustered kind of together like within five feet of each other basically okay um so i did uh 13 demagos and everyone has advantage. That was to the female, wasn't it? Yes. Yep, 13 damage. So the shooting bolts of light just strike into the creature and you hear this and it begins streaking down. Okay. Anything else?

I'll stay behind Ayla. So you just don't move, you're just going to stay where you are. Yeah, with the barrier ring group up. Okay, the griffins come swooping in. One of them is going to charge towards the, the female is going to charge down towards you and Ayla, sensing that you're the threat now that you've hurt it. The other one, the female, kind of banks off and angles itself to catch i'd say probably uh let's say three of you because i'm going to use theater of the mind rules here um and i'll determine who and it opens its beak and a bolt of lightning just kind of like launches out of its mouth

just kind of screeches i don't know about that um i mean i'm not gonna tell you all of their abilities. So we've got one, two, three, and then Scaldi. So let's do... Oh, you're invisible. So yeah, it would basically catch... In that case, it would probably line up Oriah, Scaldi, and then Quill or Aayla. It will line up the three of you.

As it's kind of like you're all clustered together in this main grid. Yeah, me and Aay don't write next to each other well I'll roll between in fact a la's kind of positioned herself you've moved behind us or catch a la in it basically so ariah scaldi and a la are gonna make dexterity saving throws a la passes can you offer scaldi please what's the type? Dexterity. So just use her modifier. Seven. It's ten. Cool. What'd you get? 22.

22 for Oriah, 15 plus 4 for Ayla which is a pass. What did Skully get? Just a 10? Seven. Seven. So she's going to take full damage. One, two... How many dice was this? I heard him say one, two, three. So that's going to be 20 points of lightning damage. Oh, boy. Raya and Ayla, you take 10 each.

Oh, cool. Thanks. As this kind of lightning scorches along the ground, jolts through your body, sending this kind of burning scorches along the ground, jolts through your body, sending this kind of burning pain searing through. The other one lands next to Quill, but before he makes his attacks, Aayla is going to whack it twice.

Oh, twice. She gets the hold action, doesn't she? Yes, she does. But it's the male, not the female, so she's out of advantage. That is a 19 plus 7, so her first one hits. Boom. Her second one is a 4 plus 7, which doesn't hit.

But... That's the noise of a swinging hammer. Whoa. She's two-handing a hammer, so it's a d10. That's a whoop. I need to remind Katie that when she wields a hammer in two hands, it's actually a d10, not a d8. Wait, has she been doing the wrong damage this entire time I think so, 12

She's not raging yet Okay So she whacks it once, clubs it in the neck, kind of like snaps it to the side But not before its beak and claws come raining down on Quill Quillick Give it all you've got That's a natural 20 Cheese Louise Yeah, that's what it's got That hits Krillic. Give it all you got. That's a natural 20. Jeez louise.

Yeah, that's what it's got. That hits. 25. It's not too bad damage with its beak actually. It's broken my barrier ring. 5, 10, 13 points of piercing damage. This beak bites, tries to grab you and bite you. And then its front talons clawing down for 22. And these claws do rake you quite badly, although that's not too bad, five. That's another eight, so eight slashing damage.

Right, okay. So it's like bite and then slash, slash. Fuck. Okay. Off the griffins, Lucius. No, Nova! Where'd you go? Where did I go?

We're invisible! I'm gonna try and scurry up to get some higher ground. Yeah, there's a slope skillset. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, you can do that. And then turn around and I guess it's been- You can see one kind of flapping its wings, hovering over Quill and Aayla. Aayla whacks it, but then you can see it bite into quill and like tear through his clothing and you know catch his face you see

blood drawn the other one blasts lightning across everyone else christ i'm going to cast uh lucius's luscious light okay so this is our renamed Hunger of Hadar or whatever. Because Hunger of Hadar didn't really suit Lucius. Oh, we reworded it to be a spell of Lucius's own creation. So instead of a gateway of darkness, it's a big ball of beautiful light. Yeah, just all swirling colours of light. Yeah, it's a 20-foot radius sphere of beautifulness, but it's also bitter cold. So it sends us on a point, so I'm going to try and aim for the two in the air.

So you're going to catch it in the air, basically, like a sphere in the air, like in anime. It's a cacophony of noises. I think there's only one in the air. No, they're both kind of like hobbling. Oh, I see, I thought the other one landed. Like lanchies. With a 20-foot radius, you can catch both of these creatures. And everyone in the world.

Any creature that starts its turn is 2d6 cold damage. And any creature that ends its turn must succeed in a dex saving throw or take 2d6 acid damage as well. So it's like two of your colours basically swirling around. It's my two colours swirling together like a marble. And are they blinded in there? Because it counts as damage. They are also blinded. So yeah, you can hear this kind of screeching as these creatures are in there.

So remember that on your turn to do those damages. I almost did it over and over. That's insane. Uriah, so you watch as this sphere of blue and orange color like blending together like a big twig. It's like milky oil. Oh that's cool. Just... That's mine! But you can, you can, I would say that you can't, you can, You Because you also You can't see inside it Because it only conjures

Like a sphere of darkness But you know that the griffins Are in there somewhere Yeah But you can't see them Not even the one with the glow Crikey The guiding ball glow

So technically with that You can try and attack them But you normally have disadvantage Because you're blinded Looking into this thing And they're blinded They can't see out Awesome

But the one that Quill hit Has advantage against it So I neutralise it So it's kind of like you can see this faint outline so it just becomes a normal role like blood hunter from apex yeah kind of it's just you can see this like it's still hard to gauge exactly where it is but you could easily strike it um because i don't i don't want to because we i want us to get completely screwed over before we get to this cave thing. I want us to be there in good condition. Okay. So I would like to take opportunity of the situation

and create my fog cloud and then we can all skedaddle on out of this situation. Okay, so you want to try and escape. Yeah. Okay, yeah. So you're going to summon the fog cloud where? Are you going to put it where you currently are? Just put it where we all are.

Try and get a radius. Try and get it to cover us where we are. Is it a 20-foot radius? 20-foot radius. Yeah, it's going to put it where you currently are just put it where we all are try and get a radius okay get to cover us where we are 20 foot radius 20 foot radius yeah it's easily enough to cover where you are so you have this orb in the air and then from oraya like you begin muttering these ancient orc words like maybe an old sea shanty and just rolling in from the hills the moisture begins to coalesce into a thick fog that just rises up on the ground and fills the bottom of this little natural valley. And you- this thick, dense fog, and you can barely see through it, like maybe five feet ahead of you. Yeah.

Um, yeah, great. Do you call out or anything, or are you gonna try and move? Yeah, I'll, um, be like, um, okay, okay guys, try and- try and follow me, we'll try and carry on, uh, now the Dwarfians are distracted. Let's... Yeah. Let's go, let's carry on. Let's do that. Okay. Let's... Yeah. Let's carry on. Let's do that. Okay. Let's go. Okay. Wait, I'm visible! So you're gonna try and move out?

Yeah, I'm gonna try and move out. Okay. They will technically still get opportunity attacks. That's fine. But they're at disadvantage. And you also count as obscured, so you have cover. So you have plus 5 AC while you're in heavily obscured cover. Nice. And they have disadvantage to try and hit you. So does that stack onto my already plus 2?

Yeah. Jeez. So that would normally be, with disadvantage, that would normally be a 17 to hit, but increase your AC by 2. Yeah, that doesn't hit. Doesn't hit. I've got 20. You kind of roll to the side and make your way through the cloud,

and you can hear the screeching. So that was the male that took the opportunity attack as Orion moves away. Cool. Nova. So paint me a scene. We've got us on the ground. So you're in a short valley,

hills on either side, long muddy road. You are surrounded by a 20 foot cloud of fog. In the air, there is a 20 foot orb of blue and orange. Over the top of us. Over the top of you. And the griffins

are somewhere in there. You can't see them. You now can't see anybody else. Like, you can only see people that are next to you. So at the moment,

you can see Aayla, Quill, and Scaldi. You don't know where Araya is. You hear her voice calling from a distance. Bye!

Yeah. And what do you say, like, And you're invisible run away yeah like everybody just like try and follow my voice try and okay i would probably follow her lead okay and try and follow her voice and seeing as you're invisible and i only get one reaction i don't think this one would try and attack you because it doesn't it was like i don't know where you are yeah so you just make start making your way off as well. Okay, so 30 foot.

30 feet, do you want to do anything else? Because if I do anything else, it's going to break my invisibility. Okay. What does Scaldi do, Trot? She's going to follow Oriah's lead. Okay, well, I do know where Scaldi is. So the female will try and attack her. Disadvantage, but she has a plus five AC.

Disadvantage would make it 15. That will hit and she's on 6 HP. But with the plus 5 AC from being obscured. Oh no sorry. Yeah so it doesn't hit. She's got AC of 18 technically now then. Yeah so it misses. So she kind of like ducks down low like bleeding. No. And she begins like making her way out as well

towards it. Very badly hurt. I'll do the voice don't worry about that i am you just run it badly sort of mad that she doesn't get to whack but is like all right fine and we'll move with quill basically she'll she'll ready her actions so she moves with Quill rather than trying to just abandon you. I suppose I'll turn after that. After Quill, it is your go, yep. I will... Yeah, I'll follow.

And once I get to Scaldi, I'll give her a little heal as well. Okay. So that would just be a... Whatever the touch one is. I forgot to mention. Heal wounds. Heal wounds. Action. That's fine. So I heal her for...... Whatever the touch one is. I forgot to mention... Heal wounds. Heal wounds. Action.

That's fine. So I heal her for... Wowee, 12. 12. So Scarlet heals for 12. 18. Okay. So you've moved out as well.

Thank you, Birdie. It already used its reaction. Okay, the griffon's turn. Thank you, Birdie. At the start of the griffon's turn. Lucius. At the start of the griffon's turn. Thank you birdie! At the start of the Griffin's turn? Lucius. At the start of the Griffin's turn? Oh yes. Yourself. If he's still in there it's 2 to 6. They're both in there they start their turn in there so. 2 to 6 cold. Okay. So roll the 2 to 6 cold. Yeah. Yeah. Ha! 3, 4 please. 4 damage to both. Yeah and if

they end their turn there it it's two to six acid. So. Would you do it to both or would you do it individually? That's easy, I'm just gonna try and speed it up. Aw. So I think for the two Gryffins, they're suddenly being assailed by this cold. They know that some of you have moved away,

but they also don't know where all of you have gone. I'm gonna make an intelligence check for both of them this snack don't seem too tasty doesn't seem too tasty but it's they're trying to figure out like can they just like fly upwards because i think their natural instinct would be like ah ground bad fly up go in sky sky safe um and they they do that they basically like beat their wings and they fly up out of the orb um and they're now looking around but you're still like this sphere is kind of blocking their vision for the time being um moved out halo moved with you everybody else has moved out of that range they probably still think you're down in there.

So I think at this point, what we'll probably say is, are you guys just going to make a run for it? Are you going to try and hide? What do you guys want to do? We'll jump out of initiative and then use the skill checks now.

I think we're just following the mist, aren't we? Yeah. Can you move the mist with you or is it a fixed location? Because if it's a fixed location, once you get to the edges of it, you'll no longer protect it.

It's centered on a point within the range, yes. It'll be centered on a certain point. of it, you'll no longer protect it. It's centered on a point within the range, yes. It'll be centered on a certain point. So it was where you were standing. Yeah. It's centered there. So you have, like, this 20-foot radius, which is, like, 40 feet, like, you know, all around. Yeah.

Like, 20 feet on either side. Are there trees, like, on the top of the valley? No, there's hills. There's, like, valleys and hills, but there's no trees. It's just kind of like a long road. Like, maybe in the distance you can see a small clump of trees and things like that together it lasts like an hour until a unless a strong wind blows away okay like a storm yeah so what do you guys want to do at this point are you guys going to try and make a run for it are you just going to try and get to a better position

um coordinate an attack are you going to try and hide can i see them yeah i mean they're basically i think on their turn they fly up and then they kind of go around the orb and are like now on the ground, like in the mist. So they've got no idea where we are. It probably won't take them long to figure out that you're not in there, though. These are hunting animals. They'll probably make perception checks.

So I'm going to give you guys like a round to basically try and make a run for it to try and hide. I mean, while they're in the mist, it's a good time to leave. Yeah. So you're just going to book it? This should we go let's go okay okay you guys start running start making some perception checks so can we still i don't suppose invisible okay is nova still in there it doesn't take them long um okay you're no longer invisible because you cast

a spell but nova is invisible um it doesn't take them long to basically figure out that you're no longer invisible because you cast a spell but Nova is invisible It doesn't take them long to basically figure out that you're no longer in this mist. They fly up and they are now in the air. You guys with dashing, you're about 120 feet away. They see you and they're going to come after you but we're going to resolve that after the break Brilliant. We're going to take a break and see if these griffins can catch up

and we'll see you after the break. See you in a bit Hey everyone, thanks for listening to this episode Remember to check out both D&D Beyond and Displate with the links in the episode description and head to

yogscast.com slash yogcon to see us live in Bristol we'll see you on Thursday for part two of this episode where we continue

the fight with the Stormgriffins we'll see you then Thank you.