High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois | #35 - Riddle of the Forge (Part 2)

Episode Date: June 6, 2019

Very little in the way of the team and the Forge... except, well, everything. 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

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Visit BetterHelp.com to learn more. That's betterhelp.com. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to High Rollers, a Dungeons & Dragons podcast in the world of Erois, run by Dungeon Master Mark Scholloch-Humes, with me, Tom, playing Piri Adara, the Fire Ganassi monk. I am Chris Trott. I'm playing Lucius Viren, Elowen Elinastio. And I am a High Elf Sorcerer. I am Rhiannon. I am playing Oriah, the rogue ranger orc. 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. Thanks to our regular sponsor, D&D Beyond, the official Dungeons & Dragons toolset, and Displate.

Use the code HYROLLers15 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 HighrollersDND 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. Mid-combat with a terrifying Roper, the gang continue their journey to the Forge. Welcome back. I have a camera. Hopefully, I will continue to have a camera. Nice. You join us as we are mid-combat with the party against a roper as they are making their way towards the Midwife's Forge deep in the Stormwall Mountains

along in a deep valley pass. The party have encountered a wild roper as it attacks and I believe it is Lucius's turn. So stop drinking, take a turn. Stop thinking. How far away is it from me right now? So it was kicked. So you were 30 feet ahead of the wagon,

and then it was kicked about 100 feet in front of you. 70 feet. No, it was kicked 130. It's 130 from us, it's 100 from you. I launched it. I'm gonna move into a range of 90 feet, so 10 feet forward. And I'm gonna cast Melf's Acid Arrow on it. Yeah. I launched it. I'm gonna move into a range of 90 feet, so 10 feet forward. Yep. And I'm gonna cast Melf's Acid Arrow on it.

Okay. Second level. Great. Thank you. That's a five. So total. That's a 10. 12.

12, not enough unfortunately. The acid splashes across his stony exterior. Yep. I thought it did guaranteed damage, is it? On a hit. Oh, okay. I thought it was to stuff. That's an acid splash.

Oh, okay. Nope, that's what Trotz says the spell does, so. I'm pretty sure it does damage. On a hit, the target takes 44 and immediately 2d4 on the next turn. On a miss, it splashes the target for half as much initial damage See sometimes it's good to be that guy no Tom I'm I was I was just like nope That's what Chris trot says the spell does Tom Hazel. Let us carry on fine. I'll take my inspiration away

Still miss the tray. How do you- Wow! Six. A four, a four, a three, and a one. So is that half? So you did 12 already. So it takes six. Damn. So he watches the acid splashes over it,

pocking the stony exterior. Uh... Tch-tch-tch-tch-tch-tch. So that was Lucius's turn. So we go to... Does it bubble? Shkaldi. Who will simply move up and heal Lucius

for six points of HP. Thanks. Piri. So it's mega far away right now. Piri is 100 feet. So in the turn that's just gone round, it did like a... Why are you making that face?

Dicromancy. Dicromancy. Oh, you're going to do Dicromancy for me? It's 90 feet? 60 feet? Elf's Acid Arrow. Yep. What's the range on Dicromancy? I feel like I'm being schooled and punished. I mean, I'm not. That was a genuine question.

I said it in a really shitty way. That was unintentional. 60 feet. No, I can't. So you can't. I can't remember. So yeah. Oh, sorry. It's It was 60 feet. There you go. So you can't. I can't remember. Oh, sorry. It's go before

Piri. Oh, okay. After Lucius. It moves 10 feet away. Wow. It's as far as

you can go. And it's running away from you. Running back to his family. It's running away from us.

It's running away from you. Yeah, you've hurt it. We could just casually walk up and be like, hey hunt it again. Yeah but it moves at ten feet around so yeah it's like, so it's now 110 feet away from you. Great, I mean I'm not catching up to it but um yeah it did a little screech when it was hit last time I think by the lightning. When it screeched, did any of the other stalagmites, did they like, wriggle?

They're like, oh shit. 15 plus perception, 18. 18? No, in fact, you don't think that there are any more of these creatures. Are we catching it? Before it meets up with the others? I think it's too fast.

Can you go get my javelin back? Although it is running away with Ayla's javelin. Can you go get my javelin back? Fine. You're faster than me. I'll do an 80 foot with a dash. Booster's engaged, Piri just runs down this corridor. You're like 30 feet away from me.

It's not getting away from you, I tell you that much. Oriya. Oh god, now it's going to turn red. I mean, I could stop it moving entirely if you wanted to. I'm way too far away now. I could stop it from moving entirely! There's no point!

I'm going to do Slayer's Prey as a bonus action and then just try and shoot it with my longbow. Has it got a range on Slayer's Prey as a bonus action and then just try and shoot it with my longbow. Has it got a range on Slayer's Prey? Slayer's Prey, I'm thinking duh. Oh yeah, no. Did it do like a really slow turn and its eye was like... Oh yeah.

That's exactly what it did. 60 feet. Okay, so it's currently 110 feet, but you moved up last time. I moved up 10 feet, so it's 100 feet. You were 90 feet away from it, so it's currently 110 feet but you moved up last time I moved up 10 feet so it's 100 feet you were 90 feet away

so it's now 100 feet away from you yeah so I could no you were 120 for Connie Ball no

she moved up for 100 she moved up within 90 oh I could like can I walk up 30 feet

yeah and then you'd be 90 feet away no you'd be 70 feet away. Yes. Not quite enough. You could just shoot it.

I'm just going to pot shot it. Yep. Pot shot. Pull out the longbow. Yeah. Shurunk. So where am I? Last time.

Yeah. Destroyed a goblin's brain. She did have a slave's brain. I guess you missed that, actually. Where am I? Like a natural 20 from like 200 feet away. Just one shot the thing. 30, 40.

14 total. It's not enough. Nope. The arrow. B away. Just one shot the thing. 14 total. It's not enough. Nope, the arrow. Bink! Off its stony hide. That's it. Slowly begins creeping away. Ayla.

You can run after it as well. It's hilarious. You can dash. How bad do you want your javelin? I'll just dash, which is 90 feet from me. So you are now... How are you faster than me? But you were slightly further away.

You were 120, weren't you? So you're now next to Piri. Like, Ayla just comes running, on your left! On your left! I'm lefty! I can't believe you're faster than me. Nova. I'm very smug about that.

I guess she really wants that javelin. I think as soon as I... It's really cool! Yeah, as I see Aayla run off, I'll be like, how badly do you want the javelin? We're all real bad! Okay, sorry! 12 plus 7, 7, 8, 19.

19's not enough. Nope, and I miss both of them. They hit, but they're just not penetrating through this stony, boulder-like exterior as it blasts at Lucius. I will cast a second acid. And also use cantrips, just as a reminder. Cantrips are there to be used, and they do go up in damage. However, it's a guaranteed hit with Malf's Acidone. Yeah, it does guarantee damage, yeah. It's got a high AC, with Malfus Acidone. Yeah, it does

guarantee damage, yeah. It's got a high AC, so I'm gonna fire it. Okay. Yes, that's miss damage again. 15. You really slammed the side of that guy's tray. I'm sorry. That's just Wyrmwood tray. It's alright. He just steals your dice as well. It makes it go faster. It does, I appreciate it. Nine halved to four, I guess. But! But!

I forgot I'm an elemental adept, so my one's a two's, right? I mean, you're class, but don't look at me! Five damage. Five. Five damage. Five damage. Six damage. Six damage. Six.

It is six, it is six. Ugh. I hate him. Come on, I didn't see the head, it's right there. Lucius is go. It's go, sensing that it's not gonna get away from the two things chasing after it. Two tendrils will towards Ayla and Piri.

Damn. So Piri, that is a natural 20, so 27. Oh, God. He's vengeful now. Ayla, 22. Yeah. All right, so you're both hit. Their tendrils just wrap around you.

You're both restrained. You both have disadvantage on strength checks and saving throws. And then it reels you both. Oh, so it doesn't do damage. It does damage. It does do really well because you really stick to your range. The tendril doesn't do damage. However, it will then reels you both next to it and then it will bite

one of you. To determine which one of you it bites, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Sorry, Piri. The lower hit point. It has advantage against you for a 24 to hit. Yeah. You're going to take 22 piercing damage. Oh!

Chomp! It bites down desperately on you. 2, okay. Fight or flight. But I can only make one bite. So Aayla, you're just wrapped up next to it as it chomps on Piri. After there, go, it is Scaldi, Raymond, Scars.

Go, Scaldi. Who will just look at the snacks and be like, I've got nothing. I'll get back on Scorb. It's on the rack. Great. I'm on the back of the doll. Piri. So I'm restrained you are restrained restraints creature speed becomes zero rules against the creature of advantage and the creatures attack rolls have disadvantage you have disadvantage XR same throws if you would like to escape is your move action and you will need to make a strength check

yeah I guess I'll do that. So strength check. You have disadvantage because the numbing paralysis of the rope is touch. It was an unnatural 20 and then a 1. Oh, you are still restrained. Right. Is this your move? That's my move.

You're kind of wrapped up and feel weak. In that case, I'm going to use a ki point and just wail on this thing. Four unarmed strikes. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. But all of them are disadvantage. All of them are disadvantage. 12 and 10 unarmed strike plus six, so 18, no.

10 and one, so no. Seven and one, so no. One more. 13 and 18. No, sorry, 19. 19's not enough. You just... And you're punching a rock. You're just like...

I'm punching the tentacle. Does the tentacle not have a different AC? You just said you're attacking. I didn't realize you were attacking the tentacle. I'm literally just restrained, punching my stomach. It's wrapped around me. It's very distinct to attack the tentacle,

to attack the creature, because the tentacle has a different AC. Oh, right, sorry. Actually, the tentacle has the same AC, so you don't hit it. Actually, I just lied to you. I thought you did. Punching the thing that's wrapped around me,

and that's doing nothing. You don't have enough strength to break it, you're like punching it. Oh, okay, fine. Nope. Ayla. Well, okay. Nope. Ayla. Well, okay. So you can try and escape as you move.

Yeah, I'm going to rage. So that will negate the disadvantage. So you just have a straight up strength throw, basically. 26. 26. You rip the tentacles free as lightning courses down your veins, Piri, wrapped up and pathetic next to you. Yeah.

You bring the hammer up. You got your full action. I will attack it twice. Attack twice. Yep. Reckless? No, because I didn't say it. So 20.

Just hits. The other one doesn't. Okay, so's see. 20. Just hits. The other one doesn't. Okay, so one hit. Nine damage. Plus.

I failed the dex. Ah, it rolled to a one from a four. That's annoying. So, one. One good crack. Lightning crackles down. Still alive. Can I just take my javelin back? Technically, if it's an action to retrieve your javelin, so no.

But you do give it a good smacking. Nova. Just hit the javelin in further. I like how this one creature which is very much like an easy encounter is just taking ages because it's just again a comedy of errors

it was just too far away yeah because somebody booted it this is an easy encounter it's like grabbing everybody chomping down for a chunk of damage speak yourself

I'm just in the back most of the party is absolutely fine yeah I guess i'll just hop off the wagon and like move closer it's not moved on its turn it's given up it's now just trying to fight yeah but i should probably try and get closer to it we're going this way anyway so yeah yeah it's running in my theory is i'm going this way anyway and he's taking my javelin

so i'm running out yeah and also no i didn't okay taking my javelin, so I'm running after him. Yeah. And also... No, I didn't. Okay, fine. The javelin's more important. Nova? Is bonus action to dash? No, action to dash. It's action to dash.

Okay, in which case I'll just go 30 feet. And then... Use that good old warlock spell. I've got so many other things. It's not going to happen. No, 10 and a 2. No. First to hit.

Lucius. Fireball. 16 plus 7. 23. Lucius. Fireball. 16 plus 7. 23. Hits. D10. It's 2d10. It's 11-5. 2.

10. 12 points of damage. This scorching blast of fire raps against the creature's eye and it kind of As it turns to face away It made a squelch noise, that's good It's go It'll just try and rope Ayla again for 14

No This time it grabs onto the hammer and you yank it back and it doesn't get a good grip on you. Period. However. Uh-oh. Natural 20. Oh. You're so dead.

So dead. No. Goodbye, everybody. He's actually. You're going to get eaten. I've got to go. I'm quite ill-acquainted with you guys. Really? What is going on? You face the truth.

It's a lot of damage too by the way. That's gonna be 52 points of damage. Because it's a crit. It doubled it though. Take 15 away from that. 15 away from 52 would be 37, 37. My max is 37. Are you serious?

I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that.

I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna from that. 15 away from 52 would be 37, 37. My max is 37. Are you serious? I can't believe it. No. I can't believe it. I've literally... No.

Oh, my God. No. Are you for real? I'm serious. My maximum is 37. That's exactly lethal. Let me work out the exact damage. I mean, does it need to do more than my...

What was the damage? I'm just checking in my head. I've got a calculator up right now. I've got 15 HP, 37 max, so it needs to do 52. It was 21... No, sorry, it was 21 plus thingy, it was 20... Hang on, what was it? Where is its damage bonus? Oh my god! It was 21 plus thingy. It was 20... Hang on, what was it? Where is its damage bonus? Oh, my God.

Jesus Christ. It was 26, doubled. 52. 52. No, I did... Ah, okay. This is a correction. I doubled its plus four as well.

It was... So minus four. It would have been 40... Yeah, minus four. So it would have been 48. Oh, my God. I doubled its plus four. I just doubled the total damage been 48. Oh my god! Oh my god! I double this plus four. I just double the total damage.

48. Fuck. 48. Wow! Holy fuck! Oh my god. Monch, monch, monch. So if the rules were slightly different, that was exactly lethal.

Could you make an injury roll? Yeah, can you make a con saving throw? Oh no! Not cheery as well. So that's going to be DC 24. Injury roll? Yeah, can you make a con save in three? Oh, no. Not theory as well. So that's going to be DC 24. DC 24? Yep, because it's half the damage you take.

And it's a con save. Nine. Yep, roll a D20. Do I have inspiration for that? No, I'm going to stop doing that. I mean, that's the point. I did have inspiration. I got rid of it because I thatguided earlier.

What if you lose an arm? I am not sitting here with an arm behind my back. Again, 18. There, you're fine. Cuts and breezes. Cuts and breezes. Jesus Christ. Didn't even need to look it up.

Intense. You are, however, on zero HP. And it is Scaldi's go. Scaldi will move and dash. Well, she's actually just going to get Scorb to start moving up. I think it's my go before that. Scorb is at 30. No, Scaldi's at 12. Oh.

You are next now. Scaldi literally just gets Scorb and she moves 80 feet. As you're being chopped to death, how much do you like the jab? Period. Death saving throw. Let's say 17. 17. throw. Let's say... 17. 17, okay. That's one success.

Can't handle this man! Jesus Christ! I was like, I'm just gonna check the damage. I was like... 21... 22 plus the... I'm gonna use the ointment on him. Ah, Kegel on him. The Slav.

The Slav, healing Slav. The Slav. Get the Slav! So that's actually a 2d8 plus two hit points. 2d8 plus two? Yep. Might be loose Mick. 10 HP on Perry.

Okay. As you kind of, whilst fighting this creature, you see his lifeless body half sticking out of his mouth. You're just like, ugh. Apply. Rub it over his back. Apply the healing slav. The healing slav has been applied.

I believe it's an action to apply the slav. Yeah. Yeah, so no, you can't pull him free. You ruined my dream, Katie. I said earlier in the fight, if I want to die, it's eaten by a mountain. You jinxed it. I mean, you were pretty upset a second ago when you thought you were I want to die it's eaten by a mountain you jinxed it I mean you were pretty upset a second ago

when you thought you were actually going to die you could both actions still make a zappy oh yeah he's yeah seven three points of lightning damage

three points oh my he's so close oh god as it's blasted with lightning that was Ayla's go so we go back up to

sorry Uriah I missed U missed a rise go oh hello oh hello when did you last go and she should no i just missed uh i went from perry straight to ayla and it should go perry araya singing she shot it last time but missed i'm gonna shoot it again Yep. I'm spray still. 14 plus... That's 20? 20 hits. Yay!

The D8 plus. You line up the eye. D8 plus 3. You get sneak attack because there's allies within range. Okay, that's 8, so that's 9, 10, 11. You add the sneak attack. Plus a D6. Blah, blah, blah.

That's a 6! Oh, that's full damage. Oh, damn it. It's just a 17. Pull back on the boat, arms straining. Aayla, you feel like a rush of wind past your ear as the eye explodes in juices as the arrow just thuds.

And then the body's creature just flops and falls in. Yay! Take my javelin back. Oh, I hate this. I hate everything about this place. Are you down? No, I got healed. He got everything about this place. Are you down? No, I got healed. He got slav'd.

He did get slav'd. Are we okay with this? Crikey. We know it's salve. It's healing salve, yes. Mike called it... He called it slav. It's been going on for a while now.

It's an in-joke. Slav. And you see the body of this dead creature. I'll just, like... I've got the slav, and I'll just, like, I've got the slab, and I'll just, like, pat him on the face. Oh, thank you. You want to do another one? No, no, no.

More goo. Just rubbing it. It's gone now. Oh, okay. Does it only have one charge? I had two, and I've used both of them. Oh, you've used both, yeah. Okay, fair.

They gone. I'm out. Okie dokie. I just hear the clacks of scorb. I'm out. Okie dokie. I just hear the clacks of Scorb. Remember when you joined us and I said,

are you sure? Because you know we're carrying two bodies already. Proof. Just saying. I need to fix my watch. Okay. I need to fix my watch. I don't know what that does.

And then I'm getting out of here. I'm getting way out of here. Shall we continue? Let's continue please I didn't take a single point damage You don't want to take a moment to collect yourselves It seems like Lucius and Imperia are quite dangerous I'll give a healing potion to Lucius

I mean they can Short rest they can just spend it Don't waste those potions It's okay I'll just take 30 minutes Or an hour and I'll be okay You can sit for an hour and take go short rest it if you want. Yeah, don't waste those potions. Jeez! It's okay. I'll just take 30 minutes or an hour and I'll be okay. Yeah, if you guys just... You can sit for an hour and take a short rest. We have to wait till midday anyway.

Okay, let's go to the rest. I mean, I guess it is midday already because we travelled for like an hour and a half. Yeah, we did. It's not too far. This is... So you can take a short rest. You can spend hit dice.

Yeah. Don't forget you get to add your con bonus for every hit dice you spend. Thank you. I would definitely forget that. Can I just like spend the time like zapping other rocks just to check the character?

You just go up and you're like, are you one of those? Yeah, zap. Like blast. Yeah. Blast, blast. No, none of the rocks appear to be any more

of these creatures. Okay. I'm starting to think that we're genuinely just a group of bad luck charms for anybody who joins us ever. I mean, I did say a few days back that I get people killed, but of bad luck charms for anybody who joins us, ever? I mean, I did say a few days back that I get people killed, but you kept shushing me, and I was like, yeah, but really, I do.

Technically, I am still alive. I've been with you for a little bit of time. Please don't say that, Scaldi, please don't! Don't jinx it, Scaldi! It's technically true. Same here, I've been with you a while, I'm perfectly fine. I almost killed you, though. Locked you in that room with that thing. Oh, I've had worse, don't worry. That is true, you did almost, actually. been with you a while, I'm perfectly fine. I almost killed you though, locked you in that room with that thing. Oh, I've had worse, don't worry. That is true, you did almost actually, yes.

Saved you though. Yes, that's true. 50-50, you know what it's gonna be with Nova? Short rest people, you guys healed up? Yes, yes. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

Um, continuing your journey after your short rest, you soon come across, it's very obvious that one of these passes that leads off this valley that you've been following, the rocks change to a golden color. And you begin to see veins of crystal kind of writhing through it. And it catches the midday sun and glitters and sparkles. It seems to lead off into a more narrow, tightly packed pass that winds through the mountains. As you begin following that, you see that the pass leads into another large open area of the mountain. But this one is full of light, prisms of color, all different colors kind of being blended and melded together as you see tall pillars of translucent crystal rising up out of the

ground around the area you see various rocks encrusted with large quartz like crystals but you also see what appear to almost be like crystals carved in humanoid shapes creatures move like holding up weapons or some turning to flee vague humanoid shapes yeah you can see that each of the ten pillars is perfectly aligned with each other they form like a grid of these ten crystal columns. This is absolutely stunning. My breath is simply taken away. Beautiful.

But I am terrified of every single rock moving. You're telling me. So what do we need to find now? It just says, Search the crystal forest for the anvil and follow its route. Anvil. Raya and Lucius, looking into the

area, you see one of these kind of boulders with crystals. You see it shift, and you notice that it is a lizard-like creature that's holding perfectly still, and its back has actually kind of grown with crystals,

and it appears to have the same coloration as the rocks, kind of helping it blend in. And you can see it's kind of trying to stay still, but it's clearly waiting. It's got an itch, hasn't it? It wants to itch his... Do you see that? Do you see this? Everybody, stay calm.

Rye, you are monstrosities is your favourite enemy, right? Just have a look at me, so good. Wanna be sure monstrosities are yes. You know what this is. This is a... It's bad. It's going to kill us real bad. It's a secret. You're so dumb.

I'm mega. 12 heal, man. It loves fire ganassi. Nom, nom, nom, nom, nom. For podcast listeners, Mark just whispered into Rhiannon's ear, and all we got from that was, oh, shit.

Okay. It's going really well. I'll relay that. Yeah, I'll let you do it. Okay. Yeah, I'll let you do it. So, I don't want to, again, alarm you, but I will.

Well, I'm alarmed. I'm alarmed. Okay, be alarmed. Be alarmed. It's fine. Okay. So, there is a lizard. Like a reptile.

Where? Don't look at it. Don't look at it. I don't know where it is. Don't look at it. If I wanted to. I know where it is. I know where it is. Just point. Look in this direction. to. I know where it is, I know where it is.

Just point. Look in this direction, look in the opposite direction. Look now, look this way. Right, so is it that way, behind me? It's behind us, okay, so look this way. Okay. No, Tom. I'm looking, I'm looking forwards.

It's a basilisk. So if you look into its eyes, it'll turn you into crystal. Will it also attack us as well? They are predators, yes. Yes, they will attack. We need to go through this? I know where it is. I've seen it.

I'm aware of its presence. I can guide you away from it, but you just have to be extremely careful. There could be more than one. I don't know. You can guide us around it? I can try. Is it just territorial?

Is it just going to come at us? It's trying to blend in, so I think it's trying to make us think that we haven't seen it, even though we've already seen it. Right. How come you didn't get turned to stone when you looked at it just then? You have to look into its eyes.

Yeah, right. It has to be like a direct looking into its eyes. I almost looked at its eyes. So if you follow me, we can walk around it and averted gaze. Don't look at it. Okay. If you put your hands up against the side of your head like this.

Blinkers, yes. Like a horse. Like a horse. Can the wagon fit in here? Yes, it'll be tight, but it can fit through the pass. And then once it gets into the large open space with the crystals, the wagon's fine. Skaldy, did you hear that? I did, yes.

The difficulty will be, the clack, Scorb won't understand. He's a big target. If it sees a creature, it will ail. He'll become a crystal. Does it, it's still crab. Does it react to light, Scorb? Maybe you could get a dancing light

and just sort of hang it in front of it. He'd probably react to worms. Could try and blindfold him. Worms, worms. Bag of worms. Don't think he would like being blindfolded, but we could try. As long as I don't try and move him too much if he can't see. Can anyone speak with animals? Nope.

I'm afraid not. You seem like the kind who speaks with animals. I can't speak with animals, no. Well, if you can take us around this basilisk without it attacking us, then that's probably the best course of action. Well, the chrysophorus, you can see, again, many paths lead away from it. It's probably not the only one here, though, right? No, probably not.

And we need to find the anvil. I can cast fog cloud, maybe? I was thinking, yeah, could you blind the eyes somehow? I could try and cast fog cloud. Maybe then it will... Then it might move. It might move out of it towards us. Then we might see another one.

Do the crystals on that thing look different to the other ones? Just the natural ones? Yeah, they're slightly different, yeah. The crystal creatures have like a bluish hint. The tall columns are pure. What if it saw itself? How?

Make a nature check for me, all right? Because this is your speciality. Oh. Okay. Twelve. Twelve. You have heard that there are

that, yeah, things like basilisks and medusa, gorgons, if they do, if they see their own reflection, they're not immune to their own effects

they can turn each other, like other basilisks and things like that, they're very competitive creatures they don't like sharing their space they tend to be, they're about to go fight yep, can happen that's what they do to their rivals you know that they eat the crystal

that's what they sustain off, they turn people to crystal that they eat the crystal. That's what they sustain off. They turn people to crystal and they eat it. Okay. Does Sentry's shield have shiny... Is it shiny? It's wooden. No, it's metal, but it's very worn down. The bulwark, the light bulwark that you have is very shiny.

Oh, that's a good point. Yes, it is. You have the magic shield from the temple. Yeah. That's very shiny. It's very shiny. I mean, if they're competitive, I mean, it's going to sound crazy,

but would it be the worst if this thing followed us around for a little while? If we know where it is, we can keep a track on it, have it follow us around, and then the moment anything comes into range, it'll go crazy, right, against the other thing. Why don't we just turn them all to crystal with the shield they'll think it's another basilisk but then how are we sure there's another one around yeah we can spot them we spotted that one well i just don't want a basilisk

hanging around i'm just thinking if we can keep a track of it, make sure we're constantly looking away from it, it would serve as a decent alarm for if another one turns up. Always surrounding ourselves with basilisks. Basilisks that are just willing to look at the other one. Or us. And eat. And it could attract more, and then we might be- It doesn't necessarily want to attack the other basilisk more than us. We're big pieces of food.

Not yet, we're not. But we could be. We're pretty sure that we are if it's already... Look at all this. All these. What if I created the image of another creature or person or one of us over there? That'd be good. And that could draw more basilisks to it. You said it wants to eat crystals, right?

No, it wants to eat people. It turns people into crystals and then eats them. Yeah, that's what I mean. I mean, you guys are going to make a decision. Once again, a classic High Rollers. You've got to make a call. What are you doing? Make a big spinning eye that's just looking around all over the place and the moment something gets all up in it

like trying to look in its eye Perfect. Why don't you make another basilisk? That makes a lot of noise and attracts everything. I just think a human would be tastier than another basilisk. They're very territorial then. There are other humans as statues, if you look around.

Oh. Yes. Yeah. There are new. There's a whole bunch. I've given up. I've given you the information. There's human statues, there's goblin statues. So we need to find an anvil Within this area Where there is also a best

You can see most of the area They're like big tree trunks You don't see a physical anvil anywhere You see rocks You see this wide open space And then these crystal Pillars if anything They're more like big large pillars

And then loads of like Veins of ore Search the crystal forest for the anvil pillars, if anything. They're more like big, large pillars. It says, what was the wording? Loads of, like, veins of ore. Search the crystal forest for the anvil and follow its route, R-O-O-T. So we might be looking for a tree that looks like an anvil. Are there trees within the plant? Or is it just purely crystal?

It's just these crystal columns. But they are, I guess, perhaps, like tree trunks? Like, they're thick enough? Let's just use the shield. Is there anything that looks like an anvil? I just said, nope. But like shaped, as in shapes like one? Like any of the

crystal columns? Crystal column, just a straight, like a pure column of crystal. And then crystal statues. Alright, just... You guys are still quite far away at this point. You're at the entrance, you've seen the basilisk, and you're not moving in. So any details you haven't seen yet.

You're going to need to get closer to investigate if you want to search more thoroughly. The other option is I go invisible. Can they see invisible things? Yeah, I think so. They've got the same senses as any other creature. Yeah, try that. They might be able to sense maybe your heat or something.

They are reptiles, so they might be able to sense you another way if they can't necessarily see you. Also, is it when you see it or when it sees you that you turn to stone? It's eye contact, so you look at each other. Yeah, I will tell you now that you can just choose to avert your gaze gaze but if this thing were to attack you and you're not looking at it it has advantage to hit you you have disadvantage to hit it etc but you can just say like you know outside of initiative you can say like i am not looking at this thing um but then if we go into combat at the start of your turn you tell me whether you're looking at it or you're not. And if you're not, you have disadvantage.

It has advantage. Okay. That's how the mechanics of it work. And as far as you know, it has no ability to sense invisible creatures more than any other beast can. Well, we all need to go in anyway, and we may as well try the shield.

Let's try the shield. So I guess cone your vision, look to the ground. Yeah, we're not looking at it. But, not looking at a score what are we doing with that we might have to blindfold him blindfold score okay I won't be able to go very fast if you blindfold him I'll need to keep him calm if someone stays with him and just guides him through with you mm-hmm yes that should help might just need some physical contact just to make him feel calm. Mm-hmm. Who wants to do that? Not me. Not it.

I can give him physical contact. All right, Belusius stays with me. Most of your spells are ranged, right? Yes. Well, then that makes sense. We'll make our way slowly down. Who's a good little crabby? He watches. Scaldi basically, she kind of gets these pouches,

like these leather pouches, and puts them over his big ice stalks and then tightens them. And you can basically she kind of gets these pouches like these leather pouches and puts them over his big ice stalks and then tightens them and you can see he kind of oh it's okay can I try and help

yeah you can make an animal handling I think you and Lucius are both doing it so both of you make animal handling get the worms riot the worms

12 who wants to give him the worms 16 I think between the two of you certainly like you kind of calm him down and he kind of rests back in, like.

So Scarlet's like, all right, he should be good. As long as the fighting doesn't come too near him, we should be okay. All right. And then she begins leading Scorb down. So you all start making your way down. You can, yeah. scorb down so you will start making your way down um you can yeah um ariah you vaguely remember where the thing was but if you're reverting your gaze yeah you can't see it and you begin making your way down towards the crystal forest as you get closer to the columns you do notice that some

of them have engravings on each column um and they appear to be the symbols of the gods. Each one, a column for each god. Oh, cool. As you're making your way down, can you roll initiative, please? Whoa, okay. Whoa! I got the same! Yeah!

I've rolled a natural one for both of my initiatives. Wait, you rolled a one as well? Oh my god, I rolled a one! I rolled a one! That's so good job! I got an eight, so I... Oh, god, I rolled a 1! I rolled a 1! That's so good, Tom! I got an 8, so... Oh, you have all rolled a 1! 4, now for a 1!

What, Aayla? 5. Jesus! Piri? 4. Nova? 4. Lucius?

11. Oh, 11. Double digits. Araya? 4. Wow! That's not... Scarlet.

That's crazy! That was... Wow. It's all highs and lows this episode scaldi is just keeping her look like keeping her eyes down and she's just guiding scorbs there's not much she can do she's got to focus entirely on keeping him calm and maneuvering him and she's about 10 20 feet behind the rest of you guys uh you make your way down and you're currently in amongst these, these large columns and they're about 10 feet apart. It kind of spaced out amongst each other. And then there's a large ring of space around them that forms this natural kind of open area amongst this Valley. As you're making your round,

Lucius, what do you want to do? I'm going to hold my action until Oriah does something if it goes wrong I will cast a spell on the basilisk and it will be a

that's fine you can just say I'm going to cast a spell cool okay so you're readying an action Aldi's gone Ayla what would you like to do if something comes if something attacks anyone All these gone. Ayla, what would you like to do? If Something comes if something attacks anyone and I can reach it then I will hit it, but I don't want to look at it Okay, so ready in action. Okay, Piri. I mean, yeah same like I

Guess oh, yeah. Okay. I rolled a four with a minus one. So I have a three Amazing probably too late to cast major image isn't that like you can a four with a minus one. So I have a three. Wow! Amazing. Probably too late to cast major image, isn't it? You can, no. It's your turn. You can cast major image now. They've probably seen us all enter though, so what are they? What type have you begun the combo?

You're going in. None of you are, like, you're not looking where it was, so you don't know what it's doing. So I'm just tracking initiative because obviously it's doing something. Yeah. But you guys don't know what that is. So I want you to... This is in...

Yeah, okay. YOLO. I'll cast major image now. Okay. So 120 feet. How big is this forest area? Large. I mean, like, the columns are all about 10 feet apart, and they're

in a grid of 5 by 5. It's 10 columns in total, so it'd be, like, two rows of five. Can I cast major image in the vague direction that the basilisk was? I'm not looking at it, but I'll guess, like, Oriah gave a vague, like, it's over there. So if I cast it, like, just trying to make it, I don't know, like, seem I'll guess like a riot gave a vague like it's over there So if I cast it like just trying to make it

I don't know like seems that there's something tastier nearer to it. Sure and there is us I guess I'd create I guess like a just a standard adventurer. Okay, Tormund Probably weighing on my mind there. It's a tall, an image of Tormen appears and begins moving around. Making lots of noise. Yeah. Cool. Okay.

Bop. Bop, bop. Ba-dop, ba-dop. Okay. You hear in the direction, you see like a flurry of movement as a basilisk runs up to the illusion, starts biting it looking at it

goes through it and then and then shuffles and begins turning to face the rest of you and you all kind of like avert your gaze as it turns to face the rest of you but it was where the figure was. Oriah? Cool. I'm going to turn

towards where the Bastis is and just raise my shield over above my face. Okay. And just ready an action. If it comes within like five feet, I'll just smack it or something. Okay. Okay. Yeah, you can hear it thrashing around at the illusion. Doesn't seem to be facing, like, it kind of thrashes around, faces towards you guys,

but then you kind of hear it, again, thrashing around towards the illusion itself. Okay. Scully will just look after Scorb. Lucius. I will get up behind Oriah and cast a firebolt at it to encourage it to look towards... So you're not looking at it, so it's a disadvantage for the attack roll. Shit, that was a natural 20. 15.

15 to hit? Still hits, even with disadvantage. Bam. So in the vague direction, you kind of launch a firebolt its way. Three. Three points of damage. You hear this kind of You hear this shuffling and turning, quickly averting your eyes

as it's definitely caught its attention somewhere. Darken behind the shield. And a riot. Ayla. Again, it's not near us yet then. Nope, it was attacking the illusion which was about 60 feet away.

Yeah, so I'm going to continue with my same held action as before. If it gets within range of us to hit. Okay, but you're not looking at it, so you're just basically I'm not looking at it. Okay, you can't rage and hit. By the way, with a readied action, you just get the one action. Okay, well, I'll hit it then.

Okay. Piri? Knowing that it's where it is, can I sort of block that vision and look up to see if I can see the anvil? So you want to look for the columns? Yeah. Yeah, it's investigation check.

Natural one. You're like looking around, but the engraving's really hard to see. And yeah, just you don't immediately see it in the area. It's a quick look. Yeah, you're quickly looking. You don't spot it nearby. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. And I guess, yeah, same.

Well, that's your action is to do the investigate, so you don't get ready in action. Yeah, I'll stay there then. Okay, cool, cool. And I guess, yeah, same. Well, that's your action, is to do the investigate, so you don't get to ready an action. Yeah, I'll stay there then. Okay, Nova. How high up are the engravings? I mean, they're human level. They're human level. Okay, can I go and look for the...

Investigate. ...as well. Eight. You start looking around. You're probably going to have to check them. Looking around, you see a couple that you recognize. You see, like, Siaskas. You them looking around you see a couple that you recognize you see like see askers you look around you see color is but you haven't quite found an anvil yet but I mean yeah Elena yeah Elena's yeah so you know the lane is highly someone you can't seem to find it

anywhere a riot I should have been going first last time before the thing. Oh, it's cool. No worries. Let's see. What can I do? What can I do? So you hear it snarling and hissing in the vague direction that it was, having been struck by fire. Can I use the shield and cast Guiding Bolt at it?

Or is it still in front of my face? Yes, you've still got a use left on the shield, on the Guiding Bolt. One use. I think it's one use each per day. Per day. Have you had a day? Each spell. You didn't use it last time, did you? You used it on the rope. Did you use it? No, she did use it on the shield on the garden bowl one uses i think it's one use each per day per day each spell uh you can use it you use it on the road no she did use it on the road so you don't have it no okay i don't really have anything else that's rain i guess it also hasn't had a time to look yet has it no no no that's the annoying thing it's it was almost like it's one of those things where um

because nova distracted it the illusion it kind of led it away rather than coming straight to It's almost like it's one of those things where Because Nova distracted the illusion It kind of led it away rather than coming straight to you guys So now it's like There was a thing Oh I can't hit the thing Ah something just burned me Ah now I'm going to go after these ones

It worked, the illusion worked It was just like The timing of it was a bit too late There's a good Nova reaction of like I was like as kim the player i was worried there were other yeah i mean yeah you guys didn't know that as far as you know there still might be can i maybe cast light on my shield and try and get it get it to draw its eye line towards the shield yeah nice yeah sure i'll do that then. Yeah, okay. That's your wind.

You hear shuffling towards you, having not looking in the direction, actively kind of looking away. You hear like shuffling. And then, yeah, so I guess it would move, action, dash, and then its gaze would come into effect. And you hear this kind of like, shh.

Nothing seems to happen. Just stay quiet. Scaldi is like, I'm good. Looking around, she will attempt an investigation check. 13 plus 2, 15 uh scaldi's looking at the columns and she's like they're at this one and then she points to one about four down like that's the symbol of valena the anvil and uh you can see that from it or from each of the columns there is a root like a vein of crystal that spreads out like roots and each one has a

vein that leads to a different like little carved access like a little valley basically um and she points to the one with the anvil column and says like that one there that's one doesn't look around too much does she no no she's not looking at the thing she's actively not all you have to say is i'm not looking at the basilisk yeah that's all you have to say uh lucius i just got the impression this thing's just gonna like jump in your view yeah i'm gonna cast entangle on it with my crown okay nice saving three uh yeah strength strength's going through against a 15. that is a nine okay so it's just entangled So you hear these roots and vines burst from the ground and wrap over it. You can hear it like hissing and growling and snarling.

Okay, put the shield right up against it. Let's make our way up towards the anvil root. Ayla? So do I know roughly where Lucius did that? Can I sort of... I mean, you hear, yeah, you hear vaguely where it is, yeah. Could I... I don't really know what to do.

Could I just sort of angle Oriah's shield, like, angle her towards where that sound came from? Yeah. And point the shield sort of at him. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. I'll just...

Sure. Yeah. I don't know. Angle Oriah. Sounds good. Angle her in the right direction so that it might look at the shield. Sure. I mean, yeah. I mean, yeah.

I mean, yeah, period. I guess I want to make sure it's looking. I don't really know how I can do that. Then what'd you do? We had a great time with this when we fought the Medusa. I'll... That was easier. Mirror in a book.

Ah! Ah! I'll, uh... That was easier. Mirror in a book. Ah! Ah! I'll just do... That was where the saving throw didn't go against... did what you wanted it to. I'll just do a couple of... It also didn't work

a couple of sign bolts over the top. So you're going to try and attack it. Disadvantage. Disadvantage. So 9 plus 6, so 15.

15 hits. And the next one for the extra attack. 13 plus 6, so 19. Hits. And the next one for the extra attack. 13 plus six, so 19. Hits. 2d6 of the Magios. Four and a one, seven and a four. 11 damage.

11 damage. So again, you're kind of over the top, like not looking, but you kind of begin throwing these blasts of fire in its vague direction. You hear more hisses and snarls and grunts coming from its vague direction. This way!

Hi! Oriah? I'm just going to get down to its level like Lucia suggested and try and... I'm not looking at it. Behind the shield. Behind the shield. Yeah, I mean... Put it down to where I think it might be. Okay, sure. What doesn't help is this thing going at the very

end of the initiative. Yeah, we're kind of waiting for it just to look. On its turn, I mean, you i mean you hear like again more shuffling and snarling you hear the snap of vines as like the whatever spell was holding it in place is broken um and then a oh that is pretty bad actually what's that a four does it look you begin, you hear this That's all you hear And then Oh, so it is still making noise Scaldi starts leading Scorb Towards the path to take

Lucius You guys aren't looking at it, so you don't know what's happening Yeah, yeah If anybody wants to look at it they can then you don't know what's happening can I look up its body not it mm-hmm if you if you look at it it has the chance to look at you it's the way the panic works I'm going to if you look in its direction there is a chance that it's gonna catch your eye and get you. And that's what the saving throw is.

Get you. Get you. So at any point it's just going to nudge its head around. I'm going to cast Armour of Agathys on myself. Okay. And I'm going to cover... I'm going to look at the floor and just run near the entanglement. Okay. Yep. You get Dicromancy as well because you cast a spell of cold damage. Mm-hmm. So you can do Dicromancy. And, because you cast a spell of cold damage. Mm-hmm.

So you can do Dicromancy. And will that... Do I have to know where that's going? No. Oh, well, you know where the creature vaguely is. Okay. I mean, in theory, I guess you don't have Line of Sight to it, and maybe that's why Entangle shouldn't work. There's a 20-foot space.

Yeah, but I think you might need Line of Sight for things. I think I might... That's something for Dicromancy where I need to clarify. Oh, Dicromancy, right. I've not clarified that. It would make sense you need line of sight to the creature, so I don't think Diacomancy would work, because you're not looking at it. Okay.

Sure. And I think that should have been the same for Entangle, technically, but... It was a 20-foot area square. Oh, is it? Like, it just hits an area? Yeah, it's an area. Oh, then that's fine. Yeah, sorry. I thought it was a single target creature. Okay. Yep, so you cast Armour of Agathys and run towards Basilisk, looking at the ground.

Yeah, that armour's going to help. Aayla? He's made himself a walking bomb. Do you cast that at first level? Yes. Okay. A5 temp HP. Can I take a swing at it without looking? So you try and move in its direction and try and take a swing. Sure. I take a swing at it without looking. So you try and move in its direction and try and take a swing.

Sure. Disadvantage? One was a natural 20 and one was a natural one. Oh, wow. That's the first one? Rollercoaster. Natural one again. Don't get it. How many?

This could well be a record. Reckless. This has got to be a record. That's what an emotional episode. Oh my god, shit. Yeah. Piri? Both.

Um. That was trash. That initiative though was like nat one, nat one, nat one. Yeah. I rolled like six nat ones tonight. What you could do is look at it. No. No!

Stop saying that, Mark. We've lost two people. We've got two bodies. We don't need a statue to add to the pile. It's going to be really great, because after Piri got saved from the massive damage, instant death. Crystal. He gets it, and fucking gets crystallized.

I'd laugh. I'm going to do some more sun bolts. I don't want to even get close to the thing. Okay, disadvantage. Four plus, so that's a miss. Two plus, miss. 2+, miss. 7 plus 6, 13? No.

Natural 1. Key point. That's my entire turn. That's your entire turn? Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. You just hear launch flames just erupting of the air. Nova? Can I use my action to move my major image?

Because it's concentration spell at 10 minutes, so it's still, Tormund's still bopping around. Yep, you can move him. Can I move it so it's in front of Scaldi by about 30 feet? And I just want to see if, like, I want to be looking to see if anything reacts. Sure. And then can I start

going with Scaldi as well yep yep okay that's what you do or I uh I think I'm gonna do the same as Nova I think I'm just gonna keep the shield in front of me but start moving towards where Scaldi is okay yeah back it up back it up. Okay. Most important saving throw, I'm going to roll. You hear the snarling growling come to an end. That's one. Was it like a crystallized kind of...

You just hear a... Can I like kick out? Do I feel like a statue? So you kick out with your foot. Ting, ting, ting. You feel like you're kicking rock. Or scale. It worked! Yay!

I'm still not going to look at it, though. I'm going to walk towards Skaldi. Yeah, you move towards Skaldi. Well, it's Skaldi's turn. Skaldi carries on moving. Lucius, what would you like to do? You peek. It's crystallized.

You're out of initiative. Amazing. Yeah, I fucking rolled a four on its saving throw against itself and then it gets a second saving throw, rolled another four. I was like, yep, well, there's that.

That's easy, right? We just do that for every single basilisk we come across. Yeah, we don't know if there's more, so let's just get to the root, follow the root, look at the ground, don't do anything. Don't look at it. Let's make your way. We begin following the crystalline route

that leads you into another small, narrow valley, and you can see that perhaps the reason that the Midwife's Forge has been lost for so long is there are dozens of these little passes and valleys that just crisscross through the stormwall mountains without any real route of navigation you wouldn't have a clue where to go each one is shadow overshadowed by a large mountain or a huge plateau of rocks that masks it from sight and soon you quickly find yourself just in this long deep cut recessed valley with a huge plateau of stone above casting the whole thing into

shadow and shade and at the far end you see the vague outline of a statue. A dwarven woman with a hammer in one hand and a baby crested in the other. There was once a great stone door beneath it that has been completely collapsed and filled in. But you see, carved into the mountainside, a very shoddy looking mineshaft and in front of all of this dozens perhaps five or six little shanty tents or huts built from scavenged stone animal hides but ramshackle filthy there is a strong stench of feces and waste that just wafts through from the valley. And you can see kind of stood in front of the mineshaft, kind of squabbling with each other, slapping each other, wrestling four goblins.

Throwing each other around, barking at each other, talking in their own language incoherently. That's it. That's what you see. Well, we know where we need to go. It's just through those four. I wonder if there's a way we could negotiate. I mean, they didn't seem like the speaking type and we don't speak that language.

We could send Skord down there. Just let him plow through them. Scaldia's taken the little blindfolds off Scorb, by the way. I mean, Scorb got hurt pretty bad when we got attacked by how many last time? About 20 of them. Swarms. You were attacked by two huge swarms of a dozen each, and there's four of them currently down there but there may

be more there's a lot of tents down there yeah so it looked like there's like quite a you can't see inside the tents or the huts but there's like five or six tents or hot i'd say there's five tents and maybe like a little stone hut um and then there's this mine shaft that's being carved next to the large statue i just sort of doubt that four goblins could create that much fecal matter, because the stench is incredible. Could be basilisk. Who?

Surely that would be Kristin? No, that would be a parrot. What do we do? Kidney comes every time. How do we get what we want, but also prevent the goblins from interfering slash attacking us? Have we got a vantage point where we are? You're at the far end of this long cresting valley,

but there's this huge stone shelf that's jutting out, and it puts the whole thing into shadow. So it's like blocking the lights. It's like an almost like a dark corridor, like a dark stone, huge cavernous opening. Trade with them. I've got these weapons we picked up earlier when the horde attacked us.

Well, we should probably make sure we know how many we're actually up against. And one just slaps the other one. I could. No, no, no, no. Alternatively, we could just leave them for a bit and they'll deal with each other. Yeah, maybe they'll just ignore us

if they're too busy dealing with their own. One of them appears to be dancing, waving like a stick up in the air. It's like... I feel like they're unsuccessfully trying to invoke the power of the anvil. I mean, we could just hit him a lot. I mean, they seem really freaking dumb. They're praying to a dwarven woman.

Yeah, and? Scaldi. They're pretty dumb. You see what I'm getting at? They're probably not praying. They're probably here for treasure, not for... Yeah, I don't think that they really know what's going on here. Not for religion. Yeah, but someone could guide them the wrong way to the treasure.

This one is trying to... it looks like he's trying to do some sort of ritual. He's shaking a staff. Scaldi just looks at you. Is that the dumbest idea, really? It's not the dumbest idea I've ever heard. It's, but it's not the smartest either. I'm just thinking. We could just him. We could, yeah, but we don't know how many there are.

Like you said, there's tents all over the place. A whole lot of poop. Can we seal the mine shaft and just deal with these four? I mean, we need to go in them. Yeah, also we want to go in them. Yeah. Also, we want to get out afterwards. We know that this note, and I- Do it anyway.

I rival the treasure riddle note, is addressed to Glec. We took out Glec. Glec's gone. Glec's dead. Yeah, that was- Tend for Glec. Although I can't speak goblin. Nope.

Nope. Nope. Nope. Clek's dead. Clek's dead, baby. That's too much of it. It was a Pulp Fiction quote. I couldn't let that go. I could just warm the area with snow again. I could go invisible and scout out.

Can you have any way of, can we put them to sleep? Can we enchant them or charm them perhaps? Lucius, can you pretend to be a fairy princess god and... Or just kill them. ...scare them away with your weirdness. I don't like unnecessary death, but... Why pretend? All right, I mean, for at least me and Lucius, we shoot light bolts. Could you use your bow and arrow to make a ping?

Sure, we can just... Just way in the distance? ...take them out from a distance? No, no, no, make a noise way in the distance take him out from a distance. No no no make it noise Mean these creatures look very Intelligent I don't I don't Obviously, I can't step in your way and I understand you're looking for a way to return your friend I don't feel very comfortable just killing... It's like killing idiot children.

Well we don't have to kill them unless they try and kill us. Try and knock them unconscious perhaps or... Well that's just... They're just trying to survive I think. Just lure them away with noise in the distance. Sure, I'll give it a go. I can just like... ...under the hammer. If any come towards us, sure.

If that doesn't work, maybe do it last time and home run them. I'll just give it a go, just try and lure them away with a sound, try and scare them off. If we all charge them with score behind us, that'd be terrifying, right? Make us look big. Let's have Oriah do her thing first,

lure them away. Let's respect Scaldi's wishes. Okay. Okay, so I just fire my bow into the vicinity and try and... Oh, wait, this is like a corridor, isn't it? Yeah, okay. It is a corridor. They're going to go...

Oh, sorry. You have to go pretty much straight to get to the end of the statue. Oh, well. Well, my other suggestion is I go back to being invisible and scout out and just see if there's,'s like swarms of them again. If you want. Go on then. I mean, I still like Lucius's idea of just running at them.

Or we just run at them. Yelling. We'd be amplified by the noise, by the cavern as well. They could retreat to their other goblin army. They could collapse and pass out from the fear of all of us. Although they are crazed. Like, apparently crazed goblins in the mountains. collapse and pass out from the fear of all of us. Although they are crazed, like apparently crazed goblins in the mountains, remember? Yeah.

They're not going to care. Or just look crazier. They're pre-crazy. Got any paint? Nova has ink. I don't think I look that scared. No mud. It's all very dry stone rocks, sadly.

That's adorable. I don't think I look that scared. It's all very dry stone rocks, sadly. Arrr. Arrrrr. That's adorable. Invisibility will only get one of us ahead, and even then that's just to find out two of us ahead, and that's to find out if there's any more. Like, either way, we're going to find out if there's more. I can also go invisible. Three.

If two of us go invisible, three of us go invisible, we can take out three of them without them even noticing and just the fourth one needs to be hit unconscious i don't think i'm powerful enough to you could just just kind of donk them you watch as three of the goblins now appear to be sat down on the ground uh One is picking his nose, and the others are playing some sort of game with some bones where they throw bones on the ground, and then they stare at each other, and then they try and grab the bones,

but then they also try and slap the other goblins. Hey, they're playing Bonerino. The one who was with the stick, the one who was with the stick is now just looking up at the dwarven woman and scratching his bum. I think we should just scare them. Just run down, make a lot of noise.

They don't seem like they're smart. Let's just... Okay. Let's screech in. You ready? Get your wings out. Get your shield out. Get your hammer out.

I'm going to blast from a distance. Scorb. Slowly. It doesn't really go very fast. Scorb just like... That begins clawing his way down. Let Scorb slowly, doesn't really go very fast, Scorb just like, begins clawing his way down. Let Scorb go first, they'll look at that, be like, oh, what's going on here?

And then we all burst out of the wagon. Okay. Yeah, intimidation, let's be scary! The one who's scratching his bum doesn't look around, but the three playing the game are like, and they look up as they see this giant, like lobster thing crawling towards them, a dwarf on it on the front, The three playing the game are like, and they look up as they see this giant, like, lobster thing crawling towards them,

a dwarf on it on the front, kind of like with the reins, and then the rest of you coming up behind it. Are you screaming? Are you like... You're like... He's going... And he's on fire. I'm like firing bolts everywhere.

The flying fairy princess. I'm honestly just walking with the hammer over my shoulder Just like Now is the time to rage Nova I'm sorry thinking Would my major image still be working 10 minutes later No this would have taken longer

I'm not wasting a muscle on that then I guess yeah I'll be doing my best like mantis Like Waving your hands Can I roll for intimidation 10 minutes, yeah. I'm not wasting a slot on that then. I guess, yeah, I'll be doing my best like mantis, like, ah! Just waving your hands. Can I roll for intimidation? No, you don't need to. I'm going to roll

wisdom saving throws for these three goblins. Ah! Okay. The three who saw you just like look up, they look at each other, drop everything they're holding

and run into the wine shop. They're like, ah! They just go fleeing. The one scratching his bum just kind of turns around, and his eyes go wide, and he starts jumping up and down. And then he throws the stick on the ground, gets on his knees, and just waits like this.

He's like... Is that what he was praying for? And scaldi kind of like pulls scored to him as it gets and he's just looking up at them like and then you hear from the mineshaft you hear a dozen goblin voices all like yelling at each other yes and then you hear like a more sort of like very well fine toe idiots actual and kind of appearing from the mineshaft holding some sort of very very alien looking device like a long barreled, like, cannon attached to a piece of backpack with storm and fire

swirling in a big glass canister. It's a Ghostbuster! You get another goblin. This one, though, he's wearing Starbane armor. Oh, what the hell? But it's broken as hell. It's all broken up, it's been, like, bolted back together.

A pair of soot-filled goggles like, on the top of his head. His ears, one of them has been blown off. One of them has, like, got huge chunks out of it. He's got big piercings all down one chin, and he just looks up, looks at all

of you. Fucking shit! He's like, ah, come and kill them, Rick! Question. Yeah. Is this Boomer? Has Boomer just turned up? No, it's not Boomer.

There is a certain very similar kind of like... An archic. Yeah, like, well, he just, yeah, he looks like an old Starbane soldier, but his armors and his equipment's all busted and old, and he's been half blown up. And he is just like, and he starts cranking something on the thing.

He's raising it to point at you. Are you guys going to do anything? What do you want us to do? Never easy. I mean, I guess we're still like roaring and screaming as we're running towards him. What? Nova, the latter.

What? And you the latter. What? And you begin to see ten, eleven goblins crawling out of the mineshaft, wielding pickaxes. Goblin, goblin, Gleck! You see the other goblins like, Oh, did you kill Gleck?

He was one of the smart ones. Yes. Oh, why did you do that? He was attacking us? Well, of course. He probably thought you were fooled, you imbeciles. I'm surrounded by morons. Would you like to be surrounded by intelligent people?

Of course I would. Are you kidding? Let us live! We're really good at conversation! It's been a long time. Well, I've still got the charge. I can still incinerate you, I suppose. You're nice and gathered together.

So I guess we can speak for a brief moment. Don't try and move, Ganassi! I won't flay you alive! I won't. I'm intelligent. We'll see about that. What do you want? Why are you here?

I don't want to deal with you. Why, by the... By Calus himself. Why are you... You are not like any creature I've ever seen. No, I'm not at all. But it is wonderful to meet someone that has such a powerful- Oh, you're disgusting!

I shouldn't be, I'm- We're just here for- Honestly, I'm baffled. What, never seen a smart goblin before? No. Elf? Of course, you've probably only encountered these insane lunatics. Question. Yes?

Are you part of the Remnant, or did you just take their armor? He thinks for a second. I am not affiliated with the organization known as the Remnant. Insight? Sure. 14. I mean... organization known as the remnant Sure 14 I Mean is affiliated

Yeah, yeah, I guess he is he's he's definitely hiding something Yeah, you don't you can't tell if it's like that is 100% a lie, but he's obviously like hiding something Cuz we got my own business here! So if you're here to try and rob me, then let's just get this over with. We don't want to rob you! Then why are you here? Oh, you're probably after the forge, aren't you?

Yes. Yeah. Why? What do you want from the forge? I broke my watch. Alright. Oh. Interesting. Piece of gear. Yeah, I just want to fix it and then get back home. And these guys, they've got their own thing going on.

We have a fallen comrade that we want to bring back. To life. How insultingly humane of you. Well, I suppose that there might be... I mean, a companion. A forge cannot just bring... Cannot restore life. Would it help to know that it's a guardian? That would help, yes. That is very possible with the forge's power. You have a guardian? That would help, yes, that is very possible

with the Forge's power, you have a guardian? Yes, and she's very special. And she had vast knowledge. I'm sure she would love to meet you, too. She's dead, your friends have given that away. Yes, but she'll be fascinated. Perhaps. Shall we call a formal parlay?

Yes, please. I wish to put my cannon down. Sure. I'll put my hands away. Looks quite heavy. We have an agreement? We have an accord. Oh, hang on. What about all the goblins?

Well, if we have an accord, I'll tell them not to attack. Perfect. Perfect. All right. Slings it back onto a hook on his back. Das warack! Galak! Back to work, miserable crefins. slings it back onto like a hook on his back that's barak galak back to work miserable cretins see if we can't get past that barrier

barrier what are your names i'm nova hello i'm lucius perry this one what about you dwarf scaldly I'm Lucius, we're in Eluin. Done. Rhyla? Uh, Perry. This one? Ayla.

What about you, dwarf? Scaldly. My name is Vezic. I am a, well I was, I'm a descendant from the ancient armies, Calus himself. But, as you can see, my kind have been somewhat left to rot in these mountains. Most of the original goblinoid forces of Starbane fled after the Sundering.

They've let their minds become somewhat dim-witted and rather primitive. Now they're being plagued by the nightmares created by the valley. Rather primitive. Now they're being plagued by the nightmares created by the valley. Luckily, I've managed to keep my sanity, or most of it at least, as well as my intelligence. I intended to escape from this place. So you have fallen comrades, you say, and a guardian? Yes. Yes, well, the forge is certainly somewhere that could achieve that. Very powerful magics located here.

Ancient tech brought from worlds beyond your understanding. Well, perfect. Problem? There's a couple problems. Can't get to it. Okay. So, there's that. The barrier? Well,

it's not so much an actual barrier. Perhaps there are ways that we can work together. You see, I need to access the forge as well. Its incredible powers would be useful in creating devices, weapons, enough to help me build up a small

force of goblins and, you know, lead a small area to myself rather than these nitwits and the slim pickings what we can get from traders and passers-by. Yes, with a few devices and technologies I can repair, then I should be able to establish a little kingdom of my own. How would you get this kingdom?

By taking it, of course. Find some land, steal some supplies, perhaps try and train up some of these morons. Perhaps find a few slaves, that sort of thing. By force, standard. Standard, yes, quite. Okay. And then, obviously, if you assist me, I'd be more than willing to give you access to the forge for your needs.

It will require a power source first, but let's cross that barrier when we come to it. We'll need to bypass a couple of problems. I've had quite a lot of my goblins killed trying to reach it. There's a room. Perhaps it was an old part of the forge once, but it's what we've dug through to. It's taken me better part of a year to dig my way into the

temple. But now it's full of these, well, weapons, tools, become animated with magic. Seems that whatever the storms is corrupting the storms here has also corrupted the magic of the forge itself. And all of the sentries and defenders have become

aggressive. The forge itself is protected by a particularly powerful one, not one that my goblins have been able to deal with. Well, looks like we came at the right time. I've been trying to get into it for months. You could have come a few months earlier. That would have been the best time. Well, you were alive then.

Why were you digging into it? Is this not the actual entrance? It points to the statue with the huge doors that have been caved in. No, no, the temple was blocked off hundreds of years ago when the Sundering happened. You don't think that such a gravitational

and teutonic shift of the planet would have allowed the forge to remain completely intact, do you? Honestly, you're as bad as some of the goblins. Well, okay. How do you feel about Calistar, mate? I mean, a powerful and incredible

emperor. My descendant, my ancestors, would worship to the ground that he walked on as both a tyrant, near god-like being. But for me, I've not seen him. I've grown up in these mountains, surviving on what magical weapons

I can scrounge together, learning what I can. As far as I'm concerned, he's nothing more than an old myth, not part of this world any longer anyway. Well, obviously I was told stories, but none that I put any

faith into. Now it's just my might, my mind. That's all I can rely on. That's relieving to hear. Yes. It's the only thing you can really trust. Yes. Well, we want to get to the forge as much as you do, so...

Well then let's strike a deal, shall we? You help me reach the forge, take care of its guardians and defenders, and I'll tell you how you can reactivate it. I'm assuming that you don't know how to do that, judging by your, and he looks very arrogantly, appearances. You don't appear to have anybody who is knowledgeable of such means. Yeah, you got us there. I guess Piri's not... I don't know to have anybody who is knowledgeable of such means. Yeah, you got us there. I guess Piri's not... I don't know, he's Piri. I mean, reading ancient things is his thing. But how much was he actually just running in and grabbing stuff versus how much was he actually...

He was the grunt. Not really a no-no. Yeah, he's not exactly like a... Not Piri. Wrong Anasi. Your guy seems the type that would run in and punch everything and grab stuff whilst the others actually did all the thieving, controlling. Lead and be analytical, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, I guess not. One condition, though. Yes? We get to use the forge first. Hmm. Very well. Well, if it backfires, that's on us, right?

Then you can do it correctly. Oh no, I... There is a very set process to restarting the forge, but first we'll need to deal with the guardians, and we'll need to find a power source as well. Oh. We might have one? Show me.

Okay. Let's show him when we've defeated the Guardians. When we've defeated the Guardians. That will be somewhat tricky. The final Guardian cannot truly be defeated. We need to restart the forge whilst fending it off. But there are some that we need to deal with first. And you know how to restart the forge?

I'm familiar enough with similar magical technology. I, my ancestors kept many of their weapons and equipment from their days working for Starbane, and I've reverse-engineered much of it. I understand how it works, at least. The forge

is of similar construction. Whatever gods your planet has, well, they use a very similar technology to old Starbane. Oh. Huh. Incidentally, is this thing I point to the weapon on his back, is that your own creation? No, no. I salvaged it. I've made some adjustments and tweaks along the way, kept it in good repair.

No, we call this a blast cannon. Okay, is that from Calus Starbane? Yes, yes, it's from the old armories. Does it talk to you? No, you're referring to those things. The ones that powered the ships and the war machines. What were they called? Does it talk to you? No. You're referring to those things. The ones that powered the ships and the war machines. What were they called?

The Earthers? Earthers, Earthers, Elementals. No, no, no. Eterna! Eterna! Eterna. Alvin. Took a few knocks to the old head. I remember the speak.

The old goblin tribes were very fearful of them. Powerful beings. But no, no, the blast cannon is simply magical tech. I'm just going to whisper to it anyway. Just be like, hello. It can't speak. I was curious. Right. I'll show you the first chamber come

little fudders you're a little okay nothing I said nothing and he begins leading you into the dark chasm of the mineshafts just before we wrap up as you enter you see that there are perhaps

yeah 12 13 14 other goblins all armed with pickaxes working at widening a kind of tunnel that leads deeper into the forge itself you can feel the pulses of power um that would have once run through this place you can feel how ancient this place would have once been, but now it's pretty much dead. There is no lights. There's no sense of energy left in it. Just looming darkness. Damn.

Very cool. Dank. Well, next time we'll help out this creepy, creepy, creepy, not creepy. He's cool.

I like him. But I'm just ready for him to just blast me. Not creepy. He's cool! I like him. But I'm just ready for him to just blast me at another level. He's ready. He's ready to blast. I think, like, I genuinely have to get back into the swing of doing the stream again. Like, I feel like the start, the clusterfuck of an opening,

and then also I'm like, man, I actually feel really tired. It's like doing that session. Well, you know what? Next week is going to be professional, high energyenergy 10 out of 10 content the best home stream game of D&D you've ever seen maybe don't fucking

throw me off in the opening then Tom all I said was girthy I'm very sad that we didn't get to any of the cool Dawnforge maps I made that I

came in really early and spent ages making but hopefully we can use them next week next week that's D&D bro that's D&D bro that's D&D bro

see you next week see you later bro bye that one bye 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 next week when the party team up with a gun wielding goblin to

break into the forge we'll see you then.