High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois | #35 - Riddle of the Forge (Part 1)

Episode Date: June 3, 2019

Across the river the team continues the riddle of the Forge! 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. with uber reserve you can book your uber ride in advance 90 days in advance perfect for all you forward thinkers and planning gurus reserve your uber ride up to 90 days in advance uber reserve see uber app for details hello everyone welcome back to high rollers a dungeons and dragons podcast in the world of eroes run by dungeon master mark schollock humes with me tom playing periodara the fire ganassi monk i am chris trott i'm playing lucius view and Thanks to our regular sponsor, D&D Beyond, the official Dungeons & Dragons toolset and Displate. Use the code highrollers15 to get 15% off your order and check out both sponsors with the links in the episode description. Apologies for the lack of episode last week, we were super wiped out after our LA trip. If you want more regular updates for these sorts of things you can

follow us on Twitter at HighrollersDnD and you'll see everything. When episodes go live, when episodes are missed, new merch, new series, and much more. Again, that's at High Rollers D&D on Twitter. One last thing before we continue, we wanted to wish everybody in the LGBT community and beyond a very happy Pride Month. Anyway, on to the episode. Across the river, the party continue the riddle that will lead them to the forge. How many times do I have to say starting V soon? Starting V soon. And people still talk over the intro. But it's just the fact that just before we start,

Chris Trunk goes like, when did I get a stone of good luck? For fuck's sake. Chow remind me. Wait, Quill's dead? Hey, you're the one that's going to have to cut this. Carry on. Okay. Welcome back to cut this. Carry on. Okay.

Welcome back to Erois, everybody. A brief recap on what happened the last time that we played. I'm happy. Carry on. I'm glad I don't know. Don't. Just don't. The land of Mierskir.

Clean. Plagued by magma. Thick, dark clouds of ominous black and grey. I'm sorry, everybody. I'm sorry. I thought I worked with professionals. Why were you under that impression? Oh, wait. I can't do this. All right, go.

Welcome to Arros, everybody. The land of Mierskir is plagued by magical storms. Thick, dark clouds of ominous black and grey swirling with eldritch lightning and power. The party travel along the worn and beaten roads, rain and wind hammering them as they carry bodies of fallen friends in the back of an old merchant's wagon.

New companions have joined them, but their trust is yet to be proven. A fire ganassi from a strange portal with a suspicious background, as well as a sailor from the sea, and for a brief time, a human man with the power of the storms. They came across them alongside the roads near the shrine of Hesper and Zephyr. He tells them of strange dreams following a one-eyed, one-winged hawk into the mountains where he hopes to learn more of his mysterious powers.

They are ambushed by crazy goblins and learn clues of the location of the Midwife's Forge, an ancient temple to the goddess Valaena, where they hope to restore their friends to life. In crossing the Langstrom River, they nearly meet disaster and ruin, but eventually make it across, with only Piri and Johann still on one shore.

Children, are you done? No! That was Raskin, right? That was Raskin. Because I can see tears in Rhiannon's eyes, and I just lost it. I can look at Tom. When the glasses come off, you know Tom has lost it.

I could not stop. This is the side of the table that's like, keeping it. Yeah, I know. This is unprecedented. We're zen. I know how to bottle these emotions. Bury them, TV. I've had a whole life of burying emotions. I've been doing it since I was married. For Hypolis Stats, I'm six. emotions for Hyrule as stats purposes I awarded the party 116 1615 XP each

before the session started HR stats also asked me to make sure that whenever we roll dice make sure you whenever we roll dice, make sure you actually read out what you do. I'm not going to manage to do that. I'm not going to remember to do that. Sometimes we go like, yeah, that hits. You just look at the dice and say it hits. Oh, okay.

Just remember to try and say it. Sure, sure, sure, sure. Is there a little request from HR Stats who did great work? I'll do it. I'll do it. Anything for those sweet, sweet graphs. I make no promises, but I'll try. Don't, Rhiannon.

Please don't laugh. I make no promises, but I'll try. Don't, Rhiannon, please don't laugh. I can't. She's crying. Johan looks to Piri and seeing that the rest of the party have gotten across, kind of looks over towards Piri and is like, well, I think that perhaps my journey might take me a different way from now.

I believe that my journey doesn't take me to this forge but I should head towards the storms. But if you wish I'm happy to help you get across if you need it. Can you do that? Is it just using the gust thing again? Yes. I mean, sure if I guess this is good but okay bye! Woah! So you still have to swim across but... Oh, do I? How far does that throw me?

It doesn't throw you. Unless you... If you willingly fail your saving throw, then... It just helps to push you along. Yeah, so you're going to need to make an athletics check to try and cross this river. Six? You watch.

Here we go again! For Trot's benefit, this took like an hour last time. Yeah, good content. And we were arguing about the water of this river For Trott's benefit This took like an hour last time Yeah good content And we were arguing about the weight of wagons Yeah there was a lot of that So you watch all of you on the other side of the shore Aayla carrying a like drenched Quill's body that nearly got

Like thrown down river Aria gasping for breath Having been thunderstepped by Nova Nova who is clutching Sentry's body. Probably has collapsed at this point under the weight. You probably decided to come round from your hallucinogenic berries. I thought I had Quill's body. Maybe it was the other way round.

Oh, it's the other way round. I have Sentry. You have Sentry, you have Quill. You traded. Uh, you watch as Piri, this fine ganassi, leaps into the water and then is quickly... Like, pulled... His head dunking under the water, then he's quickly pulled his head dunking under the water, unable to control his swimming. Great.

So what is everyone going to do? Leave it. Where am I? What's happening? Can you fly? I don't know where I am. Where have you put me? What are we doing?

So you see Lucius with the fairy wings. So you're on the same side of the river as us? I feel really funny! So Lucius with his fairy wings. I can try, what's happening? Why is he in the water? Stop him from disappearing downstream. So you just chase after him? Your full speed is... Yeah. Okay, so with a dash,

you can probably reach him. Do a check. Yeah, you can try a check. Try and grab him. Athletics? Athletics. 20. That's an 18 plus two.

You pull him up, your fairy wings beating furiously, and you pull Piri out of the water. He goes for breath, and you carry him, well actually no, you're gonna have to, you've picked him up out of the water, but you're gonna need to make another athletic check to carry him across.

18 plus two, that's 20. Wow. You know, the surge of strength, you feel rejuvenated, you feel awake, adrenaline coursing through your body, you kind of carry Piri. His legs don't even touch the water as you sail him easily over to the other side of the river.

Why on earth are you swimming in the water? You're made of fire. Well, how else were we supposed to get across? Why are we here? I told you to remember a thing. Did I sleep through the whole thing? Yes, actually, you pretty much did. Yeah, you went and found a load of berries

and then you ate them, and it turns out those berries were hallucinogenic. Oh. Oh, the berries. Yes, I remember. Are you totally sane right now? Hmm? Are you totally sane right now?

Where are we? We're by a river. Mm-hmm. We're heading towards a place where we can save Quill and Sentry at the same time. Do you remember where we were heading towards? The Anvil of Dreams. The Forge.

The Forge. Very close. The Anvil of Dreams. Do you have any more of those berries? I think I've got a few in my pocket. Can I have them? Some are squashed. I'll just take all of them and just throw them into the river.

Understandable. A fish jumps out and gives a thumbs up. Fish with pupils. Fish has a thumb. You see from the other side of the river, you just see this man in kind of ragged clothing with the black and grey salt and pepper kind of hair and beard, just raises a hand. Who are you? Far call from the other side of the river like, you don't remember me, do you? Oh wait, no, it's come back to me now, bye!

Good luck! Thanks for your help! Bye! I will see you in the Valley of the Storms! Oh! I don't think I'm heading that way, to the Storms, actually. But that's where he's going, so I guess you'll meet up with him again. How does fire react with thunder? Good question. Thunder? Because you see mocha in water, which I thought was the total antithesis.

I'm very cold. Very very cold. But, how would thunder affect? I don't know, that's what I'm asking. It's just a noise, isn't it? Do you know? Thunder? I mean, I guess it might make your hair flicker a little bit.

I could check how lightening affects it. We could do that, or maybe we could just not, like... Shall we carry on? I'm cold, I'm wet. Everyone else is cold and wet? It is getting dark soon. We should probably make our way. These mountains will become more dangerous in the night,

and we are very close to the Valley of the Storms now. Any storms that we encounter are going to be exceptionally dangerous. Scaldi is on the front of the wagon with the reins. No reason to delay. Do we know where we're heading? I'm afraid that I don't know where the forge is. I believe we were following those clues. Yeah, we had... Kim, no, we just crossed the bridge of a thousand hammers, right? You didn't cross the bridge, you went under it.

But you need to work your way back up into the mountains towards the bridge, you went under it. So we need to go back up the other side. You need to work your way back up into the mountains towards the bridge, yes. So yeah, we need to work our way up that way as a start. I can start just going that way, yes. There's a few winding passages, but it shouldn't, it will add a few hours to our journey. We probably, it'll be nightfall by the time we reach the top on the other side of the river.

Well, let's keep going. Is it safer up there or down here? Well, the path that we need to take is up there. Right? I'm just thinking, we're going to have to stop at some point either here or there. So is here better than there? It's probably more sheltered up there. I don't, I would not recommend we camp beside the river.

If there is a storm that comes, it won't be very pleasant. Right. And any creatures up there, they'll likely come down here for food or water. Nova, do you remember where the next clue takes us? The midday shadow of the raised claw points the way. Go until the rock turns to gold and glitters. Search the crystal forest for the anvil and follow its route. And that's route with an R-O-O-T, not R-O-U-T-E. It's late.

Like, I think you guys were traveling for most of the day. So it will be coming. Yeah, by the time you reach the top of the trail that leads back up into the mountains where the big stone bridge would have led you to. It will be nighttime. So a claw. We need to look for a claw. And then you need to work out with your mathematical mind. Mathematical mind?

Just remember the crown. At what point the shadow... I like to think that his voice fluctuates as the magic is taking hold. The direction the shadow would be, considering the position of the sun at midday. If it's midday, wouldn't the sun just be above it? Uh, maybe. Depends where the sun's in the sky and where we are in relation to the east. I don't know.

We'll just keep walking and then tomorrow we can... We'll keep going and we'll see. All right. So you all, a couple of you ride the wagon, some of you walk beside it, and you begin making your way up. The Stormwall Mountains are dark gray in color, with blue tinges to the stones that you see around here.

It is humid and dry, and there's that smell in the air of that night before a storm hits, that fresh air mixed with the rising humidity and the pressure. You can't help but feel every step you take, a storm will come. Dark clouds gather overhead, and you begin hearing the reverberating thunder and flashes in the night sky. And there is a darkness to the lightning and to the storm here. The lightning, blue as you've normally always seen it, has a tinge of black around itself. The wind begins howling but nestled in the mountains as you are in amongst valleys in amongst pathways it's not as strong but the rain is heavy and soon the wagon and yourselves are mostly

drenched as you begin camping for the night. Is there anything anybody would like to do? Can I get Scorb some worms? Yeah, you can feed Scorb. I thought you were going to eat some worms. Scorb. I mean, yeah, you just plant them down and he happily feeds.

It seems that he eats a lot of insects and bugs but he'll also eat vegetables and things like that as well. You said the lightning was what? The lightning has like a black tinge to it. So it's a black tinge. We already know that the storms are magical. So it's like black light. Kind of, yeah.

It's pretty cool. It gives off a light still. It still gives off a light. It still goes off that blue flash of lightning. But when you see the forks in the distance, especially as you're so close to the mountains, and you can see the lightning and the storm is hitting beyond the mountains that are risen up in front of you. You can see sections of it.

And it's almost like there's a black, thin black line down each fork. Is there a way to pinpoint a source, maybe, of the storm? Yeah, it's coming from the valley behind these mountains. They just seem to almost... you can almost... you almost watch the clouds just form out of nothing. And fill the valley, and then they begin spreading out. And they seem to just go in random directions. Oh, so it's relatively clear? Like... Sometimes.

Okay. Ooh. Hmm. Has anybody else got squishy head sorry what squishy head what squishy head you're not heard of that i don't know what that is it feels like there's like a really tight helmet on your head which is awful oh it's probably because of the storm high pressure during a storm it's probably squishing all your sinuses and the juice inside your brain. Sinuses? Maybe the berries.

Could be the berries as well. Could be the storm and the berries. Oh, doubling up. Yeah. Awful. Never having berries again. So is there a place nearby where we could, I guess, spend the night? You can, I mean, with the wagon, you can pin the wagon down.

You can definitely pull into like a, you know, somewhere with like a little bit of a rock shelf above your head. But it's mainly keeping yourself sheltered from the wind is the hardest thing, is the easiest thing. And then the rain is, it's annoying, but it's not going to do you any harm, as opposed to the wind, which can blow about the camp and things like that. Make sure you're protected from any lightning as well Okay Yeah, great. Take a take a rest who's gonna take watch Take one take one again Probably to sleep off this barrier hangover. Okay, yes rounds a deep trial Scaldi will need to rest as well. So

Cool that's a long rest is it yeah taking a long rest Hangover. Okay. A trance, a deep trance. Scaldi will need to rest as well, so. Cool. That's a long rest, is it? Yeah, taking a long rest. Okay. So, Aria and Ayla, who's gonna take the first watch? I'll go first. If you want, yeah. Cool.

Okay, okay. So I need you both to make perception checks. Big old dice. Oh! Natural 20. Yeah. Big old dice. I got natural 20! Woo! We've both got natural 20. Yes! Pass watch! We can see into the future! Wait, every roll has been 20 plus.

Um, we'll find out. Because I also need Ayla to make a constitution saving throw. Oh yeah! You got the black long, Paul. You've got the black long. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. Okay. I'm going to roll a card.

Okay. I'm going to roll a card. Okay. I'm going to roll a card. Okay. I'm going to roll a card. Okay. I'm going to roll a card.

Okay. I'm going to roll a card. Okay. I'm going to make a constitution saving throw. Ah! Oh, yeah. You got the black lung, Paul. Oh. You got the black lung. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. Okay. This is what should have happened the first time, but you kind of, during your watch, well, we'll run through Ariah's watch first.

The rain just does not stop, and the lightning grows closer and closer, and the thunder begins shaking the very mountains and the earth itself as each blast hits somewhere nearby you just feel this dense rumbling coming from the mountains at your back and around you the rocks skitter across the ground when you see these flashes, one of them strikes perhaps 300 feet from where you're camping. It blasts the top of this kind of oblong-shaped part of rock that's just kind of jutting out.

As it hits, you see this kind of blast of black energy just kind of collapse around the rocks and it disintegrates part of the rocks themselves they just turn to like powder um it leaves this smell of it's hard to place but like rot or death oh wow um that lingers in your nostrils as it hits the ground. Whatever this storm is, it's certainly keeping any wilderness away. You don't hear any animals. You see no signs of creatures prowling in the night. You don't hear any cries of goblins.

The storm is keeping them at bay. But you don't see anything. And when it comes time for you to switch with Aela, you watch Aela as she's been sleeping for the first half of the watch, or trancing as an elf, and you can see that a couple of times she wakes up and coughs deeply, this kind of thick, heavy, mucusy cough. And as she kind of coughs onto the ground, you see splatters of a black ichor with these tiny mushrooms just growing out of it. And she was sweating previously,

but throughout the night she seems to recover and the coughing and the sweating stops. And by the time she awakes for her watch, she seems fine, completely normal. You are no longer diseased, so the thing we talked about is gone. So the staring off into the distance is no longer a problem. Yay! Nice.

Are you okay? Are you feeling okay? Yeah. What? You seem to have a nasty cough. That's probably just because of the weather. It's been really cold. Swim through a river.

I'm fine. Okay, no problem. Anything happen? Anything? Just the lightning's getting very dangerous. It's very close. It seems to destroy whatever it touches. It's very powerful. Interesting. It smells really bad.

Very bad. Is it sort of around that smell? I mean, it was strongest when the blast hit. There is still that lingering, very faint, very, very faint, but with a 20 perception, you still pick up on it. There's something wrong. This isn't just that these are storms of magical. You can summon lightning and thunder.

You know what magical lightning, but there is something corrupt about it. It's not right. I think we just keep moving as quickly as we can and get out of here. Yes, it sounds good. And then, Aray, take your rest. During the night with you, Ayla, as you sit there watching the storm,

and it moves quickly, faster than any storm should, and passes overhead, you watch the clouds rolling like a strong breeze, a strong wind is blowing them. And there's that sense of, not a voice, but that kind of presence you felt when you fought the cleric of Zephia back in Kaeli's Rest. You just kind of hear these very faint whispers, not my world, Not my world.

Not my creation. A feminine hawk voice just in your mind. Not my place. Not my creation. Interesting. But as with the Raya, whatever this storm is, it's keeping anything hostile at bay. Nothing wants to be around here when the storm is passing over. Interesting.

Other than that, everyone wakes up in the morning, having finished a long rest. Cool. Storm's still going? No, it passes by the time everyone wakes up. Okay. The storms here come very quickly. And then vanish. And then vanish. And then within a few more hours,

you see another one is already forming and is beginning to grow and fill the valley. So is that lightning bolt that hit the rock and basically destroyed it, is everywhere where we are just like craters? You see like, yeah, craters. At first you just thought perhaps they were just like natural formations but now with what orion and ayla have seen

you can see that where this lightning hits not only does it you know blast rocks apart but it also just dusts them jeez it's like charred trees and stuff like that as well i mean the trees where you see it like it clearly split, but half the tree will just be disintegrated. Like, it was never there. Man. Can I, like, is there a tree or a rock nearby that's been disintegrated? Sure. Like, can I see if there's any dust around and, like, just, I don't know,

I guess investigate and try and... You can pile up some dust. I don't know. Some dust? I mean, you can make an arcana check if you want to do like a magical analysis of it yeah but to do anything like this is at a glance like if maybe if you spend some time with it you would be able to but you need to kind of properly like maybe chemically analyze it and stuff like

that like using chemical tools because you have tinker's tools don't you and stuff I think. No I have writing tools. I rolled badly. 13. 13. I mean clearly the lightning is magical, not in the normal sense. You're not sure why it's, whatever this effect is, it's nothing you are familiar with. I can see why Quill didn't like this place now. And why he doesn't like lightning in general. I mean, it fits the fact that we've been told it's magical.

Like there's clearly something very powerful here. This isn't normal. He says it's not Hesper and it's not Sophia either. It's something different. What if it's got a mind of its own? And could target us? It might. It probably would have done that already then.

What if it hasn't seen us yet? Then we probably want to keep a low profile. Difficult. And I spread my fairy wings. Just a gust of wind in your hair. And some glitter. There's glittery skin. Yeah.

And just to make it clear, you guys are not in the Valley of the Storm. You are currently outside the valley. You're basically in the storm wall mountains that surround it. It's this huge chain of mountains that basically cuts Voxar into two halves. And then it spreads out and surrounds the valley, like almost like a wall. It kind of hedges this valley in. I think that we should just keep moving quickly. Well, the next thing we need to find is this raised claw.

Yeah. That sort of thing, I to find is this raised claw. Yeah. That sort of thing, I mean, I don't know the area. I'm not familiar with it very well. I'm afraid that this will be down to you to think of some way to find it. Well, Johan said it was by the storm wall, so that's a good start. Just keep looking, keep an eye out for it.

Is there a path that looks more worn than the others? You can make a survival check, for sure. Can I try that? Yeah. This is the, yeah, basically, if you guys have an idea of how you can find these locations. 23. Okay.

So Ayla's going to be looking for, you said, worn tracks? Yeah, like anywhere that looks like people have traveled around a bit more. Yeah, okay. So while you're doing that, any other ideas? I've got navigator's tools. So you could try and plot. What do you want to try and do? Or try and, like, I guess try and, like, use them to, like, survey the area.

Yeah, well, navigator's tools would be, like, a spyglass and, like, a sextant and things like that. So you could be basically like looking around with a spyglass trying to like find like maybe see if you can see the grasping claw or plot like where the highest peaks are and things like that. Okay. So for that I think you would make perception check I think for Araya. Yeah.

Twelve. Twelve. What did you get? Twenty-three. Twenty-three. Any other ideas? Um Are we surrounded by trees and stuff 12. 12. What did you get? 23. 23. Any other ideas? Are we surrounded by trees and stuff? Mountains. You're basically in rocky crags and valleys and passes. My thought process is levitating up to try and get a high view, but it says I can only levitate up to 20 foot,

so I'm just wondering if there's a way I could get higher and then climb something and then... You would need to be able to fly to get higher. I wonder if there's a way. Oh wait, yeah. I can't fly around here. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? I was wondering if I could levitate somehow, but I can only go so high, so... How about I

fly you to a certain point? Oh yeah! And then you levitate from that point. How high can you fly? How about you just fly? Yeah, you can just fly and look. I could just fly, couldn't I? It's new to me. Just keep going up.

Yeah. Okay. Can I borrow your spyglass once you're done with it? Have you spotted anything? I can't see anything. You can have a go. Maybe I could borrow a quill. No, that'd be...

Wait, has that spyglass got metal on it? I think so, yes. And you're going really high up in a place filled with storms? I'll just look really well with my evernice. Well, right now, at the moment, you're in a quiet moment where there isn't a storm active currently. Would be the best time to try. Okay. So you're going to fly up, so you can make perception with advantage.

Sick. Natural 20. What? Right. And my perception is plus five. This is what happens when you roll the tray. I know. I know.

So, Ayla, on the ground, you are in search around, and you do find tracks. Primarily goblins. Sure. Large Primarily goblins. Sure. Large numbers of goblins. All throughout these mountains. You find tracks, like, leading back and forward,

and some of them, you're an accomplished hunter. You clearly identify that some of them are hunting packs, going out probably scavenging for food, moving in certain pairs, dragging carcasses and things back with them, but you also find a much more militarized, like a patrol line with somebody leading them at the front, and that you can definitely follow that track for some ways, and that seems to lead deeper into the mountains and will lead you somewhere. Lucius, when you fly up into the air and you begin searching around, it doesn't take you very long to spot this particular kind of rocky outcropping. It's very tall.

It's surrounded by a kind of like mostly open area. So it's kind of just stood out on its own. And it's of like a grasping claw raising up and pointing into the air. Like based on what Nova's told you. How high am I right now? I mean, you can fly super high. You've got an hour, so you've got... But how high did I get before I noticed that? I'd say quite high

because although there are lots of, like, you're in the mountains, but you're not in, like, the biggest mountains. You're still at the early kind of, like, peaks where it's still relatively small. They're really very tall jagged hills, like stony hills at the moment. So I'd say you probably go, like, 100 it's still relatively small. They're really very tall, jagged hills, like stony hills at the moment. So I'd say you probably go like 100 feet, 200 feet up,

but you can identify a path and it looks like- Three minutes. If you're looking at where Aayla is, the path that Aayla is following is gonna lead you to that claw. Do I look for, I'm gonna look for other alternative routes there as well? Yeah, there's plenty of, like,

there's lots of different paths that lead all through the mountains. And yeah, there's a couple that will take you through there, yeah, for sure. I flutter back down gently and relay this information. There's goblin patrols around as well. Yes, that path you were looking at, that leads right to it, but there's some alternatives we could take. Are there any

at the claw thing? You didn't see any creatures. Didn't see any creatures. But we need to stay there until midday. Or using our brains figure out where the shadow will be before midday and save time.

That's true. How long, do we know how long, how far away is it from where we are currently? I'd say like at a decent pace,

like with the wagon, Scorb can only go so fast. It will take you like less than an hour, like 30, 40 minutes. What's the rough? Mid-morning? Early morning? You'd still be there in the morning, yeah.

You guys are, like, super early morning. You're, like, 8am right now, so you'll be there before 9am. I'd just like to think that Nova's just sort of still quite... She's not a morning person, so she's still, like... I could levitate. Lucius, what do you think? Wings behind him.

I'm just, like, sitting on the wagon, just like... Have you got squishy brain, Nova? Yes. Yes, you should really rest. Maybe have some hydration. I should rest, shouldn't I? Yes. I would like a drink. Just have a lion, honestly. Get in Scorb's wagon.

That is a really good idea, Lucius. Thanks for looking out for me. You're welcome. And I glitter you. So welcome! I probably just, like, sneeze, like, just endlessly, like I've got hay fever. OK. So you're going to follow... What do you want to do?

Follow the path that Aayla found or have Lucius lead you through one of these other mountain routes? I think with a height advantage, it might be helpful to find a safer route. I want to make sure we get there, you know, securely. That would be nice. We should give goblins a chance at just living their lives without us intruding on them, you know?

You mean without us killing them all? Yes, we don't need to, you know, do such barbaric things. Says the man who butchered all the pixies in this project. Different now. Dermal swan. But what if they attack us first? There's the man who butchered all the pixies in this project. Different! No! Double-spawn! But what if they attack us first? Maybe they're not warning people. Not everyone is.

If they attack my friends, I will end them. Oh wow. Oh. I like this. This is fun. That was a change of tone. Yeah. That's new. Nova.

It's amusing me. Yes? She kind of gestures like, can I speak to you? I'll just like slowly roll out of the wagon. Scaldi's on the front of the wagon. Okay, I'll slowly crawl through the wagon. She looks over like,

I'm a little worried about Lucius wearing that item. It's obviously affected him physically. And there are, not every item can be trusted. You know, magic comes in many different forms. I'll just be looking at Lucius wherever he is, laughing around. I mean, obviously I'm not, obviously it's giving him wonderful abilities,

and I'm not saying he's evil or anything like that, but magic that changes who you are is... I don't necessarily think that that's something you want to keep around for too long. Do you have any ideas how to remove it, then? Like, I don't think he's... He can't remove it? I don't know.

I wasn't there when he placed it on. I just would have assumed he could take it off. Uh, let me see. Um, we like... Hey, Lucius! Yes? You should be resting, Nova. Can I just, like, can I borrow your crown for a second?

Oh. I just want to have a quick look. Yes. Nope. No. You tried this before. It doesn't come off. It doesn't come off.

I tried. No? No, it looks so good on you, though. That's the problem. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to go back to Scaldi.

I think it's cursed. It's probably cursed. It's cursed, right? There are stories of cursed items, yes. But there are ways to have it removed. Unfortunately, they're not really my purview. But if you can find another powerful spellcaster, they might know. What kind of spellcaster?

I don't know. It might be more of something for a wizard or somebody who understands enchantments, like an artificer. Or perhaps another priest. A priest of Velaena might know. They often create many enchanted items. It doesn't seem too bad at the moment. No, it's just something to be aware of. Yeah, you're right. I just... I worry. I think I can only take so much seem too bad at the moment. No, it's just something to be aware of. Yeah, you're right. And I just, I worry. I think I can only take so much glitter to the face as well. Something to think of.

Thanks, Goldie. And then, yeah. Yeah. So you guys make a makeover? Hmm. Yeah. Period. Orion.

Yeah. All good. All good. Sounds good. Yeah. It doesn't take you long to reach this. You emerge from these kind of twisting narrow passes through these kind of young, gentle,

gentler mountains. And it arrives in a large open space with the air, this kind of shaped column of stone that kind of rises up into like a clawed hand reaching towards the sky. But you can see that because it's this large open space, leading from it are dozens more passes and valleys and, you know, paths deeper into the taller mountains. Oh, okay.

There it is. Can we leave the wagon a little bit behind and just maybe hang back? Skaldi's like, yeah, I can keep it here. It's not too hard. The clacks are pretty docile. As long as nothing attacks him, he shouldn't go anywhere. Can I keep an eye out just on the path in general for any goblins or any...

What's your passive perception? Not great. 14. Okay. But if you're keeping an active lookout, make a check for me, but I'll keep your passive as the lowest. 13.

Okay, so yeah, so we'll use your passive. So you're kind of keeping an eye out as you look around, like you're being cautious. You don't see any signs of creatures hiding or skittering around. Is it overcast? It's overcast. It's always kind of cloudy in this. There's not going to be a definitive shadow.

There's gaps in the clouds where you can see a shadow. But, yeah. English summer. Yeah. We're just staying here for a week like, there's going to be a shadow at some point. It's not completely overcast.

There's like chunks of thick clouds. But it's shadow at some point. It's not completely overcast. There's, like, chunks of thick clouds, but it's not a storm, so it's not completely overcast. We need the biggest smarty brains here to figure this one out. Nova. That's Nova. What? Why is everyone looking at me? Because you're smart.

Aw, thank you. I can help out a little bit, and I'll put a finger at the edge of the shadow where it is now. If we stay here for like 20 minutes, 30 minutes, we can see how much it's moved. Actually, that's a really good idea. Perry, you stand where the shadow is now, and don't move. Okay.

Don't move. All right. Don't move. Okay. Okay. Where are you going? I'm just gonna look at the claw. Okay.

Just stay there, don't move. All right, okay. Okay. I'm helping, right? Yes the claw. Okay. Just stay there, don't move. All right, okay. Okay. I'm helping, right? Yes. Yeah, cool. You are. For podcast listeners, Tom is frozen in place with his arms out.

And he's going to regret this position very soon. Nope. He's in. Depends how long this RP takes, doesn't it, Kim? Carry on. We're going to do this in real time. Excellent. One hour later.

Don't mean to be rude, but we could just find a rock or something. I know, but I kind of just... Okay, this is good. It's a little prank. I like it. I kind of want to see how long it takes him to figure that out. Right, no, he's doing... You're doing so great, Piri.

I approve of this. This is great. Next time the sun comes out, we'll see how far it's come. I just want to see if he paid attention in our physics class. I don't think he did. I think we established that he didn't. No. But I just want to see how much he skipped.

I wipe my nose. This is probably the longest you've ever stood still. I wipe my nose and it's almost obvious how much it's moved. You're doing so great, Piri. All right. Wonderful job. I wipe my nose and it's almost obvious how much it's moved. You're doing so great, Piri. All right. Wonderful job. So is your plan to just have Piri stand there until noon?

Do you know how... I don't really know how else to... Okay. Since you've been in this land, Nova, do you know where the sun is at midday? This is... For Raya, this is also... You're used to charting on the sea. I'm Newton-risker.

You can do a survival check at any time to try and figure out where the shadow will move to. I'm sure somebody can figure this out. You can make an intelligence check if you want, Nova. Which way is the claw facing? It's kind of like twisted, but it's got one clawed finger which is higher than the others.

And where the sun is definitely the shadow itself is definitely almost like a hand pointing so the way the shadow looks looks like there's a hand yeah it looks like it's almost like yeah it's like an arrow basically definitely as the Sun comes down you can tell that the shadow will move and it will point to the different passes. It will point to each individual. In like 10 minutes, is there a definite shift in where Perry is standing? I mean, vaguely.

Vaguely. Is there just a vague direction? Yeah, that's what I mean. You can see that there will definitely be a direction. So you just need to figure out, like, you would need to make an adjustment of where it will be. Yeah, so I guess that would be... Intelligence check, so just straight-up intelligence. Straight-up intelligence.

So you're using your intelligence to work it out, whereas Araya is using her skill as navigating and using your sextant and measures and things like that. I'll do a sliver, yeah. 11. Okay. I'll do a sliver. Yep.

Ooh, 25. Another. Okay. I'll do a slide, though. Yep. Ooh, 25. Another metric play. So Nova, you start pulling your books out and you start doing equations, like, right. I don't have any books, I killed them all. You've got paper, don't you? You picked, okay. So you have paper. So you get out some scrap paper

and you look at where Piri stood and you look at the thing and you're like, right. You start measuring it and you're like, right, that's what it's taken in this. So if I do turn and you look at where Piri stood and you look at the thing and you're like right you start measuring it and you're like right that's what it's taken in this so if I do turn and you start doing the equation of like by distance time measured whilst you've been scribbling down Araya kind of comes up and it's like that one and you're just like yeah it will roughly point in this direction like you know obviously the exact area will vary, but it will very clearly indicate a pass in a few hours this one.

And it's like the third from the angle. So you're just like, yep, that one. Meanwhile, I'm just beautiful minding it in the corner. And then like maybe like five minutes after Uriah, you're like, this one. And Uriah's already like thinking about it. Yeah're like, this one! And Mariah's already saying, yeah. I just haven't even listened to the last five minutes of conversation. She's like, okay, let's go!

I'm just standing next to Perry going, you moved. Yeah, I moved. You're shaking. It's unreliable! My arm hurts so much! But she got it, so... Bam. Ah, ruined. Guys, we need to go this way! I might not have heard so much, but she got it, so bam.

Ah, ruined. I mean. Guys, we need to go this way. You know what, you all worked so hard. Where I left my hand, there's like a tiny little scratch in the mud, I guess. Were you laying on the ground, dude? I was just. He was pretending he was like part of the clock.

Like an actual, like a nasty marker. So I guess where my hand was for that entire time, it was nudging a little bit. I guess it left a little groove. I could have just taken it off. You're all in cold and dust. Yeah. Well, she thinks it's that way.

You think it's that way. That way. So apparently we have to go until the rock turns to gold and glitters. Oh, lovely. So is there actual gold in there? It just says turns to gold and glitters. Oh lovely. So is there actual gold in there? It just says turns to gold. Or... Just seeing how intelligent I am. Or it suggests that that's when the Sun hits the rock and

kind of glistens on it. Wait so we have to wait until midday anyway? Not necessarily. Well, but I mean, if we leave here midday, when the thing is poignant, then by the time we get to the place... Oh, it's like an hourglass, yes. Yeah, so we walk until the time... But how does it know our average walk speed, this riddle? Yeah, I'm pretty quick.

Why do goblins know this? They might not. They might just be in this area. But this was written on... It was written in goblin. Oh yeah, it was, wasn't it? It was written in goblin. Very scratchy hand, but... To a chap called Gleck. Yes. Could literally

just be a rock that glistens and glitters. Yep. Your idea is, you idea is a good idea. It could be if there's light on it, that it starts glittering. We can create light. Yeah. You've got four lights. You can make glitter.

I do. There are four lights. Yes, I can. You can make a glittery rock. Four lights. I can put glittery rocks anywhere. Yeah, anywhere you want. I want the midwife's forge here.

You just put glitter on the floor? I'm going to put glitter on the floor. rocks anywhere yeah anywhere you want i want the midwife's forge here i'm going to put glitter on the claw yeah it works i guess it looks nice i'm not entirely sure that's how that maybe no the midwife's forge was inside of us all along it was the friends we made or maybe we'll keep walking until we see the gold glittery rocks. Let's do that instead. There is a song I used to listen to and one of the lyrics was all that glitters is gold. Oh, a shanty song? A shanty song. Sounds like a very piratey song.

It's a very piratey song. You can sing it along the way. Tom's gone. Has it? Did it. You making that cannon mark your eye on that I'm not saying anything you guys have spent like 20 minutes like talking about like yeah we did talk about hey if we spend 20 minutes doing something we can make anything cannon just waiting for you guys to tell me what you want to do.

I think if we keep going, if there's goblins trying to find this too, then we'll get maybe a few hours head start on them if we start walking now. Well, also, we have their math. That's true, but there's a lot of patrols by the looks of it. Yeah. What's the step after that one? Search the crystal forest for the anvil and follow its route. Crystal forest?

Well, let's just keep walking until we find a crystal forest instead then. Can I see if there's any, like, hint towards a forest around here? Yeah, you can make a perception check. Are you still flapping? Ten. No, no, I'm not flapping. He's only got an hour of it per day as well. Ten? Flappin'? Ten. No, no, not flying. He's only got an hour of it per day as well. Ten.

It's hard. At the moment, you're kind of in these deep passes, and looking around, unless you have the ability to fly, you can't really survey the landscape that well. Your best guess is that there wouldn't be a natural forest. It'd be very strange to find a natural forest this deep into a mountain range. Yeah. But you probably suspect that part of the clue is like, go until the rock turns to golden glitters,

probably indicates that one of these, like by following this path, you'll eventually reach a point where, you know, there's mineral deposits or perhaps the rock coloration will change. And then from there, it will lead you to something that these goblins would call a crystal forest.

That might just be like a bunch of crystals growing out of the, you know, a cavern or something like that. You don't know what it will be, but you doubt it will be an actual forest forest. Okay. Well, I think we'd better head out. The only thing is, Johan said that this is the claw he saw. He saw a one-eyed, one-winged hawk sat on this claw. And I just wonder why this.

Then he saw a dead hawk at the base of it. But someone picked him up and took him away, though. Where did they find him? I'm just wondering why it was specifically this claw he saw in his dream vision, vision dream. Well, maybe Quill used it as a direction into the storms. And it's a well-known thing in Arakokra culture. Yeah. I wish we could ask Quill.

Maybe the people at the forge would know something more about the claw. Yes. The staff there. Could I just have a look at the claw just see if there's any like yeah yeah you can make a make a nature check for me come on 18 19 20 21 22 23. you study it for a few moments You study it for a few moments.

The shape of it certainly has not been formed by natural erosion. This has been very roughly carved, but made to look natural. It's been purposely made this way to appear as if, to the common glance, it might just be a natural formation of the rock. But it's been shaped in that way. You can see that the erosion is done by some sort of very powerful, almost perfect blade. Yeah. But it's not inherently magical. There's no writing on it.

It is just almost, you get the idea that this is a marker. And it's made out of rock. It's just made from the natural rock. Okay. Cool. Anyway, there's probably not much more to it, but I just, something to think about, isn't it? Why here? Why this marker?

That's what it is, a marker. Who created it? Yeah, all very valid questions. Well, let's ponder it while we make our way forward with our best leaders forward, hey? Our greatest minds and strongest people up the front. That sounds like me and you at the back. Yes. So you're going to make your way down this pass

that has been indicated by the shadow and begin making your way. The pass that you start following itself, you already can tell that the reason that the riddle kind of indicates go until the rock turns to golden glitters is because there are many little smaller pathways building away from this pass. There's even a faint trickle of a stream that runs

down the very middle of this very narrow-looking valley. And you don't see anything gold or glittering as you begin making your way down it. I am going to want to know a marching order and passive perceptions. Okay.

So who's at the front? I can go to the front. So Oriah,ah leading the way Ayla probably be in the middle where's Scaldi in the wagon are you guys riding the wagon

I can just sit can I sit with Scaldi you can sit yeah two people can sit on the front put the wagon in the middle maybe so Oriah and Ayla

up front wagon with Scaldi Nova and Scorb and then Piri and Lucius at the back. Yeah. Okay. And then who's got the highest passive perception out of everybody? 15.

15? 13. 15. So, 15. So, it was front and back. Yeah. Okay. That's perfect.

Okay. If you're making your way through the passage and you travel for a couple of hours. It winds, you see many different paths leading off, but it is almost like one narrow, valley pass leading deeper and deeper into the mountains for this time. There's slight changes in elevation, but at no point do you see anything that glitters or gold. After about an hour and a half, U Oriah, at the front, you spot that up ahead there is

what appears to be, it's kind of the first sign of not life, but the first sign of activity of anything you've seen. And you can see a bunch of weapons and plate, like, discarded bits of armor. Like a little helmet. And they're just kind of

strewn about the land. And you can see it's a deep valley, and they're just kind of strewn about the land. And you can see it's a deep valley. You've got these kind of tall ridges, elevated paths up above, leading down into this narrow valley that the wagon's going along, the little thin stream going down the middle of it. Okay. I've played Lost Mines of Fandiver. I know how this goes. Can I see if there's any, like,

traps or anything? Or any, like, signs of, like, a lookout post or anything? I don't see anything. I don't see anything. I don't like it. You just see, it's almost like, yeah, just kind of scattered randomly,

like a little short sword, little axe, little helmet. They look goblin-sized. Oh, no. Little plates of goblin armor. Oh, no. Can I fly up to one of the ridges? You haven't seen this yet because you're at the back, so the wagon and everything is blocking your vision.

Can I? Or is the only one who's seen it so far? Can I just, can I tell the team? Just be like... Team! Team! Just let them know that there's... A symbol!

Yeah. It might look a bit sketchy. Tell the team. Tell the team what you want. Okay. Guys, I want you to stay calm, okay? There's... What?

There's activity. There's signs of, of like I don't know what there's there's armor and weapons strewn about like maybe I don't know there could be like

a goblin like a goblin fight or an ambush or I don't know but just keep your eyes peeled keep your wits about you cause

be it cause Scorp can Scorp turn around in this is it too narrow oh no you can turn around it's quite wide. You've got like 10, 15 feet base.

And the pathways aren't super high up. They're like 20 feet above you. Okay. So it's kind of like this kind of shallow valley with elevated paths, and then you're kind of making your way down the middle bit. Okay. Just keep your way up. You can see that there are strange like rock formations,

like little outcroppings of rocks here and there like up on the tour paths like you get like some boulders or like some natural kind of like grown rock formations down in the stream there's a couple of like bulbous looking rocks almost like rock traps stalag mites from the ground from the yes that mites but they're not underground. They're like kind of these pointy rock jagged things. Do you want me to fly over and see? Well, we could just leave the wagon behind for a bit and then just head forward, see if there's anything.

Better if there's an ambush that attacks us rather than a scorb in a wagon. Or they could wait until we're past and then steal the wagon from behind us that lies they could unless someone stays behind maybe see what you well i'll need to stay with the way we can decide i can happily fly and see if there's anyone hiding i could run ahead i think height very brave advantage i just mean i I just mean, I run in, run out. The moment I see anything.

It could run in, it could have a net, it could have thrown weapons at you. Is there any, so can I see the same thing that Raya's seen? Yeah, now that she's pointed it out, everybody sees it. Is there any sign of bodies or gore or anything? No. Nothing at all, just equipment? Just scattered equipment. Is there any dust?

Nope. So it's not like the lightning's hit them. Oh, they got snapped. Just, you know, from the dust. Any signs of eagles just taking them away? No. I don't know what that would look like. Feathers.

I've described what you see. Just armours on the ground. I have given you all the visual information that you are able to spot and process. So Lucius, you're just going to fly over? Like, you're just going to... Where are you flying? Just down the valley? I'm going to fly up.

And then towards the scattered stuff? And then over the scattered stuff, but with an elevation of about... Above the scattered stuff? Over the scattered stuff, but with an elevation of about above the side parts. About 20 feet above that. About 20 feet above the side parts. Okay. So, Lucius, as you fly over and you get close to the scattered equipment, lightning quick, you watch one of these rocky formations seems to split in half

and a big unblinking eye like kind of emerges from the rocks like what was perfect rock before it opens like an eyelid and this huge mouth opens and these tendrils come to try and grab you. Oh! The entire rock itself. No, no! Does a 15 hit you? Yeah. It does?

Yeah. One of them just hits you and wraps around you. As it wraps around... Tentacles! You feel... Oh, no. You feel your muscles Go weak

As this contact of this Sticky slimy tendril Wraps around you No saving throw you just feel weak You are currently 20 feet in the air As it restrains you it wraps your wings up And you land on the ground You take 5 points of bludgeoning damage

As you land on this elevated. You take five points of bludgeoning damage as you land on this elevated platform and then the tongue begins retracting into the mouth. You're pulled 20 feet towards it and then it bites you. So I'm weak so I can't do anything about this. You can on your turn.

You can escape it on your turn. You are currently restrained and you have disadvantage on strength checks and strength saving throws. That's a hell of a six seconds. Yeah, it's like, and then chomp. That is a, it has advantage technically to hit you. Let's just see if I get a 20, no it doesn't. So that would be a 24 to hit.

I'm not answering that much That's going to be 11, 13 20 points of piercing damage 20 as this thing just and it has you in its mouth

and it's and it's digestive spilling over to you spilling over you and I believe that's going to be initiative everybody To be fair eaten by a mountain that's how I want to go It's out, out, out, and it's digested. What the hell? Spilling over to you, spilling over you. And I believe that's going to be initiative, everybody. To be fair, eaten by a mountain, that's how I want to go. You ever looked at ropers, Chris? That's a fact.

No, I haven't. Oh, dear. No, I want it. Why? My streak is over. So, Ayla? Total? Five.

Five. Piri? Eight. Nova? 20. Lucius? 13. Oriah? Five. Five. Piri? Eight. Nova? Twenty. Lucius? Thirteen. Oriah? Seven. Oh, I have to go first. And then

Scaldi Ravenscar. Twelve. And then don't forget, Scorb basically goes on your initiative. So you can just make him do what he wants, or you can basically tell him that if Scaldi, if basically if Scaldi's driving him, then Scaldi can decide what he does. Okay, cool.

Because he'll just drive in, he's just got the stats. All right. Cool, so Nova, you see this happen. Lucius is flying over looking around, ew, and then you just watch this broad, split eye, tendril grab, fall, drag, bite. Like that, it's super quick. Oh, that was good. Like it was waiting for prey.

Okay. Nice. That's a friendly boy. So it looks like a stalactite, but with a big mouth and an eye and then tentacles. It's called a roper. Oh my God. How far away is he? So I'd say that he wasn't too far. Well, this thing would have waited while you guys were out of range.

He started flying forward. I'd say he's like 60 feet down the valley. Sugar. But he's 60 feet, and then there is like a small slope about 10, 15 feet up, and then he's up on this elevated area. He was here in a few minutes, Lucius.

Are there any other stalactite mites? There are. There's loads. Okay, cool. Whether or not they are these creatures, because you can see that it was just one rock amongst many and this is the only one that's like snapped to life. Yeah, but I don't trust. You don't know. I don't trust this. A rock just came to life, Mark. I don't trust any of them. Yep. Um, so it'll be about 60 and then 20 up. Okay. Poopsicles.

Jeez. How near is, like, the nearest rock formation? Like, if I start going towards Lucius? I'd say 30 feet, and it's the one on the same level as you are. It's down by the stream. Okay.

What are you doing, Nova? Is it... Nova. I'll Eldritch Blast the thing, the rock. Which one? The Lucius rock. Okay. Can I blast the tentacles, like trying to sever the tentacles? I believe you can try.

You can certainly try. It's the tongue that's holding it. Yeah, you can certainly try. 19 on one, natural 20 on the other! Yay! 19 is the total, or is that the dice? So 19 is the dice, plus 7 each. Okay, so yeah, both hit.

So 27 and 26. That's a hell of a roll. That's nuts. Need that. You got a natural 20 and one, so roll that and double it for the crit. Eight. 16. That one alone is enough to blast and just obliterate the tentacle wrapped around Lucius.

You're no longer restrained. And as it comes loose, as it's no longer touching your skin, you feel strength rushing back into your limbs. And then the second one is a ten! Nice! Yeah, you destroy another one of its tendrils. Tendrils.

You watch as you blast these two tendrils, just more seem to come out of its mouth But it's no longer restraining Lucius It's not got Lucius Okay, that's just your action Would you like to move? No

Okay, so you're going to stay where you are 63 away I don't trust these rocks Lucius You actually go because you've got the high dex I do Sick You've got the same initiative as it But but you have the high dexterity.

I'm going to cast Polymorph on it. Hmm. Oh. Okay. You have Polymorph. With my crown. Oh, that's true. Yes, with the crown you do.

So wisdom saving throw, you say? Yeah, 15. Ooh. 15. Seven plus three, 10. Fails. Just turn a mountain into a squirrel. Yeah.

Yeah. That works. I'm going to turn it into a squirrel. See why it can't work. It's a creature. It's a creature. Polymorph doesn't just have to work on humanoids, does it? It just says a creature.

Yeah. Yeah. Then it works. Right. So you watch as the crown flares. Glittery, sparkly magic just erupts from the crown, covers the creature, and you watch as it into a tiny, cute squirrel. It's huge eyes, big bushy tail, and it looks around confused.

I'm going to use my movement to go back in the same direction that I flew in. I mean, technically it will still get an attack opportunity. No, but it has the

stats of a squirrel, and it has the intelligence of a squirrel. Yeah, a squirrel still squirrel Yeah And it has the intelligence Of a squirrel Yeah a squirrel It still sees him as a It still would see him as a It's not an angry squirrel I want to eat it It's ferocious But it's gonna still

But even if you're grounded Haven't you still got fly like Activate I don't think Squirrel has a stat Let's use Let's use the stats of a cat I think cats are way more vicious

Actually no Squirrels are pretty vicious. Squirrels are fucking vicious. There's still a tiny beast. It will attempt an attack for opportunity. That's a 20, come on. Plus zero to hit a three, no, a six. Get away.

Can you fly away? Yeah, I'm going to fly back to where I came. 30 feet? Yes. And then land. So you fly 30 feet and then land. Injured as shit. Okay.

Yes. So action move. Any bonus actions? I'm going to just say, I think if you hurt it, it's going to turn back into that creature. It will move 40 feet towards you and try and bite you as a squirrel.

Oh God, it's coming! 17. Yeah. One piercing damage. This is going to be... It's going to get me eventually. He's on fire. It's like biting your legs like you're bleeding.

Don't hurt it. Like... It's just chomping away at you, but that's all it can do. It can literally just bite you for one point of damage. Cage the thing! Scaldi is like, we need to go, right?

Should I... She can't reach you with any of her spells. She will hop down off Scorb. She'll hand the reins to Oriah. She'll hop down, basically run forward 30 feet cuz you're 60 feet away oh no you move 30 feet back didn't you so she'll cost healing word for five hit points whoa that's nine turns it's Perry what do you want me to do with this thing?

You see this creature tennis with squirrel and then chase Lucius down and is now on him Turn back into the thing I'm going to run. Yeah, you run up. Easily enough, you've got, like, super speed. I'm going to boot it. So, make an unarmed strike for me. It's going to turn back into it.

Thomas said what he's doing. It's the kind of kick where you kind of, like, get some purchase under it and, like, launch it rather than impact it. You want a rugby kick. Unarmed strike. Yeah, make an unarmed strike. Basically, make an unarmed strike as if you're making an attack.

14 plus 6. I mean, it's a squirrel. Let me just check its AC. FaceTime, face ID. AC 12, you hit. Right. 1D6. Wait.

Yeah, 1D6 plus 3. 4 plus 3, I'll do a stunning strike on that too. Make a strength check for me. I want to see how far you can boot it. How far I yeet this squirrel. Yeet! Yeet! 15 plus 4.

Okay. Sorry, 15 plus 1. What about yeeting a squirrel as well? You deal damage and you want to make a stunning strike as well. Yeah, sure. Sure, what kind of sinker is that? deal damage and you want to make a stunning strike as well. Yeah, sure. Sure, what kind of sinker is that? That's a key point. Stunning strike.

Stun that twat. Con save. Con 18. Oh my god. Yeah, it passes. Actually, no, it's using the squirrel stats too rarely. I mean, that's still going to be a 15 plus something. Yeah, that still passes.

15, basically, still. Yeah, it passes. But you get up, you watch as Piri just boots this squirrel off of Lucius. It flies through the air. I will say, because you run up onto the thing, you've got enough movement where you can run up onto the platform, run the 30 feet, you boot it. Are you booting it towards the lower part?

40 feet. I get 40 feet of run up, which is an extra momentum. Well, no, it's because you've got to get up onto the side, the elevated side, and then run to Lucius, is what I'm saying. I came back. You flew back, but did you just fly straight back or did you go down to the lower part? He said he landed.

The route that I came back. Okay, so you're on the lower part of the stream. Okay, that's fine then, yeah. So you just run 30 feet up. Okay. And then boot. And then boot it. So you just boot it away.

I'd say you kick it about 10 feet, which is a pretty amazing kick. It's a squirrel. Yeah. How far do you think you could kick a squirrel? Lighter than a football. Don't make me Google stuff again. I've already been told I'm that guy. You'd kick it 15 feet.

15. Not a great football kick, but sure. Is it not? I don't watch football. I don't know how far a football kick is. You watch American football. Three kims. I'm five foot.

Okay. So what's like, what's like, I'm trying to think. What's like a football field? A rugby ball. You can't kick an entire football field, can you? I see American football, they do kick them quite far. What's, Google, what is a good football kick? The thing is, what you've got to consider is, as soon as it turns back into a rug, its weight kick them quite far. Google, what is a good football kick? The thing is, what you've got to consider is,

as soon as it turns back into a rug, its weight changes. Its weight changes, and it basically takes, it's got one hit point. So as soon as it gets booted, it's pretty much going to transform. But would it, it's got momentum though, so it's a mountain travelling as fast as a squirrel was through the sky. Let's just Google what a good football kick is. 80 miles per hour? Longest American

football field kick or something. I've got no idea. Length of a football pitch. I need it in feet though, Kim. I'm not going to look. It goes 90 meters. I don't know how far that is. In feet, Kim. Google that.

Well, hey Siri. Hey Siri. What's 90 metres in feet? It's not available. Siri! I'm going to say... What is... 60 feet.

30 feet. 360 feet. 90 metres is 360 feet. No, no, it says... 295 feet. Is what, the length of a football field? Oh, it's 90 meters. That's an American one.

295 feet. So half that, so let's say 150, which is a field goal. Okay. 150 feet. All right. Sure. Sure. That's baseball, I think.

However, Trump does have it right in that as soon as it takes the damage, Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun, That's pretty good. That's a pretty good squirrel kick. And then halfway through it transforms into this rocky creature. How much damage did you do in the end? Oh, uh... It was like 4 plus 3. Yeah, it was like 7 damage. 7 points of damage. And then it just BAM lands on the ground. I'll have it take... 30 feet of falling damage.

Because you kicked it far, but its arc probably would have been about that. Yeah. It takes another 11. What is the underside of it? You can see the underside of it is these tiny, thousands of these tiny little legs, like these little suction legs. All right, pretend I didn't ask. Suction legs.

Or like centipede legs. Oh, so messed up. And you hear this kind of like, and then it's like, writes itself with a tentacle. Skittering towards us. It's the picture again. Skittering towards us. It's the picture again. Skittering around.

After that incredibly long turn, anything else you'd like to do, Piri? Can you tell that none of us watch sports? I mean, I do watch American football, but I couldn't tell you how far in feet a field goal is. I don't know. When they kick it, it's good.

I went to the pub last night, football came on, and When they kick it, it's good. We all say it's good. It went to the top last night and the football came on and it got really loud so we left. Anything else on your turn, Tom? How much falling damage did it take? About 11.

Okay. No, I mean, I've done my move, I've done my everything else. Right. How far away is it now? Yeah. It's 130 feet away from you.

Is it on the top bit or the bottom bit? It's on the bottom, in the main kind of bottom of the mountain. Oh, so it's like right in our way? Yeah, it's like right in front of you basically now. But it was a great line kick. We could have just run away from it. Could have done.

Should have kicked it over the mountain. It's in the way that you need to go. 150 feet away. I should have kicked it backwards. We've got time. Smack someone in the face. Probably shouldn't have kicked the squirrel. You don't know, you haven't seen it move yet.

Okay. You haven't seen this thing actually move on its tiny legs. You're lucky it didn't like, latch onto your feet or something. Um... Ah, squirrels. It was a squirrel form at the time. Was only 50 feet away. The squirrels did a latch on.

It's much nicer. Uh... So that means it used its reaction to try and bite Lucius. 150 feet away. Roper's a great... It's about 130. 130. Don't look at its stats. I'm looking at pictures of it like this one.

Share with everybody. Share with the team. Describe it for the podcast. It's a very cute thing. Let's not describe it for the podcast. Rhi is taking her turn. Can I, as a bonus action, move 10 feet up and then cast

Guiding Bolt 120 feet. If that's the range, yeah. Yeah. Absolutely do that. Yeah. So you move and then you cast Guiding Bolt. Yeah. Boom.

So I gotta do my thing. It's attack roll, I believe. Yeah. Attack roll, yeah. With the shield. Yar. What level is Guiding Bolt on that shield? It's his base level.

Yeah, base level. It's the 3D6. Oh, no. Is that? I Uhh... Is this base level? Yeah, base level. It's the 3d6. Oh no, is that... I can't tell what that is, that's a 6. So that is... ehhh... can't do maths... 11. 11 is not enough. It does impact against its side, but it's... the creature is made from stone, and as the bolts hit its stony exterior, it just... doesn't beat its armor class, so... Ah... Sadly not. Anything else you'd like to do? its stony exterior it just doesn't beat its armor class so sadly not

anything else you'd like to do um we've got time Ayla you're next so I think score is good

I think we're good okay yeah cool Ayla so I would like 130 feet

yep so 10 feet forward. Javelin of Lightning. Okay. Oh, yeah. I got by that thing. It says,

forming a line five feet wide that extends out from you to a target within 120 feet. Okay. But it says, I don't know, it says range 30 feet slash 120 feet. Yeah, that's fine. I think you can make it with the maximum range of the spell. So yeah, the ability.

So yeah, but you make a ranged weapon attack, right? Yes. Cool. With the javelin. Lightning javelin too. 21. Just hits. Really?

It thugs into it. Basically, you see the javelin strikes in. It breaks the stony exterior, and it hits whatever creature is beneath the stony camouflage. It's made from stone, so it's just like, you hear it crack and split. So, you mean dexterity saving throw. That's only the creatures in a line before it, right? When the actual creature is, it deals javelin damage and then takes lightning damage.

Okay, so, yeah, it just takes it. It takes the damage from the javelin plus the lightning damage. There you go. So that is four. So that's eight plus. Eight plus two d6. Wait, what? 17 lightning damage.

17 lightning damage, and then you had the eight previous damage. Eight previous damage. So 17 lightning damage. Damn! It's 46 lightning damage. That's not crazy. Yeah, I know, but... It's good, but it's like once you've used the javelin, that's it. It's now stuck in it and it goes dull.

So the javelin is like stuck out of this thing and it goes a dull grey colour as it's expended its charge for the day. For the day. Still. Yeah, and you hear this kind of hideous like... And it turns abruptly. Nova, we'll try and finish this combat off,

and then we'll take a break. Yeah, I'm going to Blasteroo it again. Okay. Why not? Work once. Didn't work again. One is 18, one is four plus seven. Add it up.

I need the totals. So 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. That hits. One, and the other one probably doesn't. It'll be 11? No. Add it up. I need the turtles. So 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. That hits. One, and the other one probably doesn't. It'll be 11. No. 11, yeah. Yeah, anything above 20 will hit.

One point of damage. Whoa. Yes. You just graze it with this purple blast of eldritch power that scores past it, just clipping it to the side. Lucius. That's pretty bad. Yeah.

D10, one. Only one hit. I did all my good stuff in the previous round. How far is it right now? Oh, his camera's gone. Okay, cool. Well, should we take a break there then and finish this off? Yeah.

If the camera's done? Yeah. We'll be back. We're going to take a break now. So we'll take a break. We'll see you in five continue fighting this boy lol technical problems

hey everyone thanks for listening to this episode remember to check out both D&D Beyond and Displate with links in the episode description and we'll see you on Thursday for part two of this episode

where we finish off this combat against the terrifying Roper we'll see you then Thank you.