High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois | #4 - 2.5 Days to Die (Part 1)

Episode Date: July 23, 2018

Things are looking dire for us as we continue the fight against the Wild Elves! Huge thanks to our sponsors D&D Beyond and Brilliant. D&D Beyond is the official digital toolset for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. Use the code HIGHROLLING on D&D Beyond (http://bit.ly/dndbeyondhighrollers) to get 25% off all digital items (excluding the Legendary Bundle)! Brilliant.org helps you master concepts through fun, guided problem solving. D&D has a rich history of puzzles and problems, so boost your brain power with Brilliant! The first 200 users to follow our link (http://bit.ly/highrollersarebrilliant) will get 20% off an annual subscription! Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. T.D. and your small business go together like... T.D.'s small business account managers have in-depth business banking expertise, so they can give you the advice and resources you need to make your day-to-day easier. So if you're ready to meet your small business match, we're ready for you. Visit td.com slash smallbusinessm match to book an appointment with one of our advisors. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to episode four of High Rollers, Dungeons and Dragons in the Land of Erois. Run by Dungeon Master Mark Shawick-Humes with me, Tom, playing Kilik Adkalar, the bard slash cleric. Hi, I'm Katie. I'm playing Ayla, a wild elf barbarian. I am Chris Trott. I'm playing Lucius Viren, Elowin Elinastro. And I am a high elf sorcerer.

And I'm Kim. I'm playing Nova, who is an air ganassi, and she is a hexblade warlock. Rhiannon is still on holiday, so that means that Sentry is being played by Mark for the duration of this session. Once again, a big thank you to our sponsors D&D Beyond and Brilliant.org. Stick around for the end of the podcast to hear more about those. So let's jump into the episode and see if we survive that deadly encounter with the wild elves. Welcome. You all had crashed on an airship called the Sparrowblade into a valley deep in the continent of Suvona, southern Suvona, in a place called the Bitterwood. You crash-landed, and after finding an NPC called Arvel who had drifted off from the party

and helping him escape the hands of some wild elves, some kind of savage-looking wild elves, you had started talking about where you were going to go, your plans, how you were going to survive, and you had made your way to the airship crash itself to look for supplies. There you had discovered a few different items, you discovered the fate of a few things, and the last, and then, that was last week's recap, you were discovered by another band of wild elves that had come to kind of pillage the site themselves.

You were spotted, so you ran off into the woods. pillage the site themselves um you were spotted so you ran off into the woods uh during the run during the escape nova and i believe quill no nova and lucius um you guys basically began began becoming exhausted and tired yeah i'm so down and rather than trying to push on and continue running you decided to make the choice to try and hide so trying to hide in the woods um you all scattered um and did your best to try and hide yourselves So trying to hide in the woods, you all scattered and did your best to try and hide yourselves and escape this band that were following you, that were chasing you behind. Unfortunately, Nova and Lucius were

discovered and they were being dragged away by this group of wild elves. Quill was then also subsequently discovered by their kind of pet hawk, like a snow hawk that had come with them. And you were basically facing the threat of being captured and taken back to their camp.

Lucius managed to persuade the group to just take some valuables from them and to let you go, basically. I tried to pay them off. Yes. Instead, they took us. Yes, you wanted to pay them off, but the shaman that you were speaking to

had no interest in in you know gold or anything like that and instead ended up taking your food rations um as well as lucius's arcane focus nova's sword that she carried with her that looks very unusual and two scrolls from quill um they left you uh to fend for yourselves and very dispirited, you made your way to where the others were located to take a long rest. During that long rest, you discussed what you wanted to do, and a plan was hatched to basically sneak into their camp at night and to try and steal your objects, steal your items back. You waited until it was midnight.

You snuck into the camp. You spotted that there were a few sentries around. Unfortunately, Aayla made the attempts to try and sneak up on the first sentry to take them out. Made some noise through some bad luck of a natural one. Look! Blame the dice, man!

And a lurk of the sentry. Aayla managed to injure the sentry quite badly, and then Quill, Aayla managed to injure the century quite badly, and then Quill, I believe, attempted to finish him off by firing the Thunderstone pistol, which makes a colossal noise. Why did you have the pistol, though? Oh, because... Quill convinced Aayla to let him use it

whilst Aayla was focusing on other things. You weren't going to use it. I'm sure you can have it back. You can have it back. Yeah, it's just why you were... It was alone You can have it back. Yeah. It's just why you were alone. It was alone. It was definitely alone. It was alone.

And thus a battle ensued with you facing off against multiple centuries, the other elves becoming awake. The shaman that you dealt with earlier was present. You managed to defeat him. But then as the battle began sort of turning and the numbers were kind of overwhelming you, a figure emerged from one of their habitats. They're kind of like these shelters that they've built.

A woman dressed in furs and leather and kind of bone kind of trinkets emerged and basically saw that you'd slaughtered a number of her people. Nova attempted to convince her to give your stuff back and then let you go. But she seemed very upset at the deaths of her people. Nova attempted to convince her to give your stuff back and then let you go, but she seemed very upset at the deaths of her friends. And transformed into a large bear using druidic magic, and that is where we begin. I have one thing

which I am going to, not retcon, but clarify. I forgot that Sentry has an item which allows her to reduce damage from attacks by one, and she took two attacks, so she reduced the damage that she took by an item which allows her to reduce damage from attacks by one, and she took two attacks, so she reduced the damage that she took by two, which leaves her on one hit point. So we jump back into the game as we see this bear kind of bite down and then swipe at Sentry, and you notice these claws rake across her armor into her wooden frame, tearing splinters,

and she buckles. She goes to one knee, and her lights kind of begin to dim with, uh, the energy behind them. But then there is a faint flicker of, she just has enough energy left to kind of keep standing. And you can see that she, she's barely a light raises her shield weekly holding onto a battle

axe. Um, but she is still alive. Uh, Ayla, it is your turn. However, you are currently under the effects of a hold

person spell. So at the end of your turn, I'd like you to make a wisdom saving throw, please. Do better than Mark did. I mean... No. Oh. That's going to not be a very high total, just in case. Eight. So you still feel yourself like you can, you're aware

you can hear things going on behind you but all you can see is one of these elves kind of sneaking around with a short bow kind of looking at the rest of the fight and doesn't seem to be paying much attention to you and you're just there like unable to move entirely uh lucius we jump straight back in with you at this point you can see centuries kind of collapsed down, but this large bear does seem to have probably turned its attention away from Sentry,

thinking that she's probably down. Buddy. You must save Sentry. I can't. I have no spells. You're useless. I'm not useless. I'm going to run this way.

Use your body. It's funny. Over? So you run over to Nova, basically. You must save Sentry! Okay, and I'm going to... Going to cast... Acid Splash!

Not on me. Can you do that without your... Okay. You're not going to do it on the bear? Yes, I believe... That's a cantrip. Yeah. What are you going to do on the bear?

You must save Sentry. You cast Acid Splash on one of these elves that's, like, right by this shelter. Yes. Looking around. You can see he's aiming a shortbow at you. It looks like the two elves were aiming towards yourself, Quill,

and Yusuf. Woo! Jeez. That's a three. Do better. Eight. Is it an attack roll with Acid Splash? So you hurl this glob of acid. Oh, Dex saving throw, sorry. Well, that's

convenient for you because I rolled a seven, so that's a total of 7 Yeah So I believe that is a d6 points of acid damage Correct That's a 1 1 point of acid damage So you throw the glob of acid

Surrounding, the map doesn't show this But there are trees kind of all over the place The glob of acid just basically hits one of these branches Melts through it And only really just kind of spatters him with a few little droplets. He kind of is like, ah, you can hear sizzling off of his fur armor,

but he doesn't seem to be too badly damaged. First level spells are higher. You will learn this one day. Cantrips it doesn't work for. Dang it! So after Lucius go, it is unfortunately the two elves. So, Tom, can you just move that one closer to his buddy?

So he's going to move kind of next to him. The other one is just going to shift off about a few feet this way. Yep. And then they both aim their short bows, and they're both going to aim at Lucius. Having seen you kind of conjure this ball of acid, they kind of turn their aim, and they fire these two shortbows in the direction. You're brutal.

So that's eight. We're not sponsored by them, dammit. But it is good. Ten AC. Twelve. Twelve. So both of these arrows, you can see that they're kind of aiming, but the trees and the cover, they're kind of keeping an eye on the bear

and what it's doing. Both arrows just into the trees around save me now like these uh pings going all around to you uh quill hmm i mean so i have to reload my gun don't i yes you do if you would like to fire the thunderstone pistol so i wouldn't be able to fire it in the same turn i guess reloading isn't a bonus action no reloading is a full action for these things it's like alock, right? Like you literally put the bullet out and you shove it down the thing and then... Also, I'm super far away from everybody. Yeah, you were trying to keep away from the fight if I remember correctly. Do you have anything left? Uh, I don't have any ranged things.

You've got cantrips. I could send a message to Sentry. Have you got like Sacred Flames and World of Radiance, dude? Um, they're five feet. I can't get in within range. Sacred Flames is five feet. I could send a message to Sentry Have you got like Sacred Flame and World of Radiance, dude? They're 5 feet, I can't get them within range Sacred Flame isn't 5 feet 15, 20, 25, 30 Sacred Flame is definitely...

No, no, I don't have Sacred Flame Oh, you don't have it No, I... 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 So even that is out of range I... I'm going to... So you run up, you use your move action

You could dash But then you use your move action, you could dash Yeah But then you wouldn't have action left But you could throw yourself in front of Sentry I'm gonna say to Sentry, I'm gonna yell from as far back as I am We fought bigger than this, you can definitely take this one down That's a bardic inspiration Okay, so you're gonna give Sentry a d6 for bardic inspiration? Yeah, sure, let's see So you move up, so you're not gonna do anything d6 for bardic inspiration. Yeah, okay. Okay. Let's see

So you share so you move up so you're not gonna do it. Do you wanna do anything with your action? I know I'm gonna give you a pro tip then this is DM pro tip. Oh, I'm a nice DM Okay, YouTube comments If you're not gonna do anything with your action, I highly recommend you take the dodge action So everybody take the dodge action is an action to do it means they have disadvantage on the attacks against you it's basically like you preparing yourself like attack me and like you know moving out of the way so obviously intelligent enemies will see you doing that and will probably try and target other people standing there like waving around like can't hit me like doing the old fantasy role you know doing the old boxing role okay okay so you can do that so at this point you guys are all motioning you see one doing the old boxing roll. Okay, so you're going to do that. So at this point, you guys are all motioning.

You see one of the elves kind of glance back towards the shelter behind them temporarily, like as if he's just heard something. And then you see the shelter kind of erupt as beams and purple light just kind of out of the rooftop bill, like between the timbers, between the logs. of out of the rooftop bill between the timbers, between the logs or out of it. Yeah, it's like something

inside has just exploded in purple magical light and just these beams kind of erupt out of it. Splinters go flying. The closest one, I'm going to give a deck saving throw. He just manages to hit the deck before this large chunk of timber is blown into the back of him.

What? You kind of hear this kind of, like, yelp, and then emerging from the side of it, yeah, you might as well, because, like, parts of it kind of blow apart, emerging from, like, the building, looking a little stunned, you see a young girl, 14, with black hair and purple eyes. She's holding Tiangong in one hand, and she has your arcane focus in the other one. She looks around, spots probably Lucius and Nova. She looks at you and then as the elf,

like this other elf starts turning around behind her, she kind of glances around, closes her eyes, mutters something under her breath, and then you watch as her form becomes incredibly quick and she dashes. She can make a dash. Who is she? She's standing frozen like

who is she? If I put her there, Tom, on that side like about there, she would run around this way and she can move twice because she can dash as a bonus action so she can go 60. Can she get to Lucius and Noble? Can she like one shot the bear? Not quite.

Okay, so she rushes over to there, and you can see her form is moving incredibly quickly. She rushes over and she calls out, she's like, I've got them, I've got them! And she's waving them at you, basically. Brilliant work, girl, beautiful. Did you grab my scrolls? There is no response to your scrolls.

Oh, my niggas. What was it, Pala? Yeah, so she used her move to move in there. She grabbed the thing and then, yeah, bonus action to dash. So that's her turn done. She's cool. Can we swap Quill? Come on!

Yeah, like Final Fantasy, just put Quill on there. I'll be playing the bench. Get Barret in there. I'm just checking the range of Sacred Flame. Is this burning? Is this burning an eternal flame? A Sacred Flame. Close your eyes.

Give me your hand, darling. Don was beautiful. Give me your hands. Don't stop. Talking to hands. What? Hmm? What? Sacred flame. Who's doing a sacred flame?

Has a range of 60 feet. Sister Yusuf, she's going to move up to here. She's easily within range of the bear and she kind of conjures this holy light. Nice. It's like, get away from the guardian. That's a sacred range of the bear and she kind of conjures this holy light. It's like, get away from the guardian! Ah, that's a saving throw.

Does Yusef notice Valor? At this point, she already knew what she was doing, but yes, you do see her catch her eye as she runs past as she launches out this sacred flame. Sadly, the bear kind of just like, tucks as the white light just kind of sails over

her. Nova. Okay. Can I please move up to kind of just like talks as the white light just kind of sails over her Nova okay can I please move up to Valor Valor as a battle V8 LLA Valor okay fella so you can get there you're not me to get my sword it's like just I would say is just out of reach You're like more than five feet away Can you stretch five feet with your arms? Probably not But you could dash and grab them off of her

But it would just cost you your action I can't do an action then In which case I would like to Can you not just call it into your hands? No, I'm not level three, Tom How does it do that, level three? I would like to... You can't just call it into your hands. Not yet. I'm not level 3, Tom. How does it do that? Level 3?

Warlocks can literally magically summon it. Legit a thing I could do. If I was level 3... Stop talking about what you could do! What are you doing? Stormlight Blades. Shard Blades. It's been a while.

They take like 10 seconds to summon. 10 heartbeats. Eldritch Blaster Bear. If you had a really fast heart. That's literally, they talk about it. You're a bird. Like a woodpecker. 23 Eldritch Blaster Bear. So you can feel like seeing Tiangong so close,

that sense of power kind of returns a little bit. You can feel your energy becoming stronger. The one thing you probably would notice is you don't get the same like there's a like almost like Tiangong's being drained slightly.

Like there's almost like you don't quite get the same sense that his energy levels is the same but you can still fire Eldritch Blast. So what'd you roll? I'm furious. This one's a D10, right? Yes. Four. Towards the bear, but you can still fire Eldritch Blast. So, what do you roll? I'm furious. This one's a D10, right? Yes.

Four. Towards the bear, yes? Yes. Okay. I will also make a concentration check. Passed. So you watch as the blast kind of... This bear kind of whips its head around towards you. Behind a tree. Yeah, you are behind a tree. This bear looks like

it could probably rip that tree down. They would take them in action to do so. It's also a fluid bear. It can climb. Yeah, true. He knows. It does know. It does know.

I wonder what made all that. So yeah, you find the Eldritch Blast, but yeah, you get this strange sense that the power from Tiangong is diminished slightly. Sentry's go. Sentry stands up. She places a hand on her chest. She's going to put all ten of her Leon hands into herself.

Because she needs to. Otherwise, she's going to go down. Good shout, Sentry. Could she add Bardic Inspiration onto that? No. Bardic Inspiration is only to attack rolls, saving throws, and... Oh, not damage. If you're a College of Battle or College of Valor,

you can add it to damage. Oh, really? However, can't do damage revealing. If you're a college of battle or college of valor, you can add it to damage. However, that costs her her action, so she literally just kind of gets into a readied stance, but all she can do is stand up and heal herself, really. She can't attack this turn. And then the bear will go. So, Callow would see that... You're about to get that. get there it's done that century's just gone up

it will probably attack century again try and knock her down seven on the bite so it goes to chomper but century slams the royal shield in like into her mouth nice and then the claw this time comes in at the side but her armor slams the royal shield into her mouth. Nice. And then the claw this time comes in at the side but her armour just absorbs the blow. Sentry turns her armoured side and the claws just rattle against it. The bear kind of cries out angrily. Aayla.

That's because of all the inspiration. Sorry. It took down the scariest threat. Ten. Lucius. Oh, cripes I'm going to ready an action Vala toss me my ball

Okay My hand thing And when you get it Once I receive it I'm going to cast Chromatic Orb On the closest elf On the elf Cool so that's what you're doing with that Ready to action chromatic orb on the closest elf. On the elf, okay.

Cool, so that's what you're doing with that readied action. I'm really frustrated. I know, I'm sorry, dude. So you're doing a readied action of putting on the thing and then casting with it. It's gonna slip on in one smooth motion and I'm gonna cast immediately. Yeah, that makes sense. Slow motion as well. Because Mark isn't fully listening.

So, you will see. So one of them drops its short bow and basically pulls out like a hatchet and goes for Valor because she's just seen this girl run past. The other one is going to keep its bow and it aims a bow at you again. 15 to hit you this time, Lucius. So that's going to be four points of damage as an arrow just narrowly scrapes past your hand. The other one comes up behind Valor and swings its hand axe, but she just kind of ducks underneath it

as it into a tree nearby and he yanks it free. Quill. Okay, can I I want to scoot up right behind Sentry and duck behind her, behind the shield as well and I'll put a hand on her

and that will be resistance. Just default to saving throws. Oh, it's saving throws. What am I looking for? Guidance. Guidance. Guidance is the one I'm going to do then. Yes. Skill checks. Yeah. Is that worse? I mean,

if you're thinking of attack rolls, none of them do that. That's Bless that does attack rolls. Ah, no, I was thinking something else. Oh, I know what I was thinking of. It's a spell that I can't cast because I have no spell slots. I'll just, yeah, I'll duck behind her and I'll use resistance on her. Okay.

Um, and that's my turn. Okay. That's all Quill wrote. Okay. So you can't use any of your cantrips? That was a cantrip. No, I mean like attacking cantrips. I could.

Oh, I see. Okay, I thought you didn't have any. Do you want to dodge? That was my action. That was your action? Yeah. So I've got no bonus action cantrips. I'll grab some next time.

Speedyus. After a long rest. Mental note. Next time I sleep, remember something else. Expeditious. That's checking out this spell. Expeditious retreat. Yes, that's what Valor's got on her. As a bonus action on each turn you can take the dash action so it still provokes things. So yeah yeah so she will disengage because she doesn't want to risk getting hit by this guy she palms off tiangong so she like throws

tiangong into you as she kind of runs past at this high speed the guy like goes to take a strike but she waits and then ducks under him throws you tiangong and then literally comes right next to you and then it's just like like slams the thing into your hand. Yeah, it's a Lucius Yeah, cuz she had to be on sorts of yeah, Nova. Yeah. Oh, sorry. Yes. Thank you So she gives the sword to Nova she runs past and she puts into Lucius hands your arcane focus Bless you child you put it on and then chromatic orb towards the one that shot the bow at you That is a saving throw or attack roll? It's a spell attack.

Okay. Whoop. 16. That's a hit. Yeah, boy. Yeah, it is. 3d8. Wow.

And this would trigger your dichromancy as well. Yeah, it would. One, two. Oh, wow. Whoa. Oh, wow. 16. What kind of damage is this?

Cold or acid? Acid? Acid So you pull the arcane focus on The tiny 4 inch ball Yeah the diamond in the palm of it begins to glow And you kind of You summon it and then This kind of like blast of orange light

That as soon as it hits this elf You just watch as like armour and flesh and bone Begins to melt away And then just leaves like a smouldering corpse Is this this guy? this elf, you just watch as like armor and flesh and bone begins to melt away. He's like, ah, ah, ah, and then just leaves like a smoldering corpse. Is this this guy? No, that was this guy. That guy's dead. He gone.

I'm going to pull wisps of orange that's emanating from this gem and then throw that to the other one. Okay, towards the other one? Yeah. Okay, and how much damage is that with the documentary? I think it's charisma mod plus level. So my level is two and charisma mod is three. So five.

So you watch as these kind of trails of orange acidic energy kind of splash into him. He's like, oh no! And he calls out as he sees his friend being melted by this orange light spell slot done. Yes. Good. So yeah, good turn. So you knew that.

Do you want to move or anywhere? I suppose you moved up to there anyway, didn't you? I haven't moved. Oh, you haven't moved, so you could still move. Thank you, Phil. I'm going to pat her on the head. Oh, actually, no, this was a readied action. You can't move. Sorry. Correcting myself. Just pat her on the head, then. Yeah, you just pat her on the head. Good job. Sister Yusuf will attempt the Sacred Flame again. Natural 20.

Yay! On the saving throw. I just realized it's not an attack roll. The bear has to make a dex saving throw. So we kind of like, as it turns into a small sentry, the Sacred Flame launches out on the bear. She almost seems to shift her form. The kind of almost reverts to a human form and then back into a bear as the energy sails past.

Doesn't do anything. Yusef is just, like, frustrated. He's just like, Valor, get behind me now! And, like, is throwing out this stuff as she sees Valor rushing past. Nova. Okay. So you've got this guy in front of you, but he seems injured. Yeah.

I'm going to ignore him. Mm-hmm. And can I... in front of you but he seems injured yeah i'm going to ignore him and can i do i want a hex or do i want a hexblade curse uh can i move forward uh 30 towards who uh towards the albert druid lady um can i please place a hexblade curse onse on her? Okay. Which means... What does that do? It adds my proficiency bonus to damage rolls. Attack rolls of 19 or 20 are crit hit, and when the curse target dies, I regain hit points.

Okay, great. And is that an action or a bonus action? That is a bonus action. Okay. With my action, I would like to Elch Blast. Okay. So you summon to your gong. Now that it's Elixir Blast. Okay. So you summon Tiangong. Now that it's in your hand.

25. Okay, so 25. This time you kind of feel the energy pulse. Diminished as it is, you still feel stronger with Tiangong in hand. You let out a blast of energy. It was a 19. Yes, that was a critical hit. Was it a 19 that you rolled?

Yeah, I rolled a 19. It's a critical hit. It's a critical hit. Is that a war thing? Double the dice. It's a Hexblade Curse. Yeah, it's a Hexblade Curse. And then so what did you get on the dice?

Six on the dice. So double that to twelve. Plus proficiency. Plus my proficiency which is two. You got it. So fourteen. Nat nineteen. Nat nineteen. Boom! And then she has to make a concentration saving throw. Fourteen. She's doing too well. I'm trying to break it.

I know, like you're doing really well. However, you can see that... Oh, in fact, actually, no, her bear form only has 34. So you watch as that blast hits her, the form shudders, and she reverts back to... Boom! I don't like fighting druids, Mark.

I like being a druid. I know you don't. Does that technically count as hit points back? No. No, she's not defeated. She's still alive. But you watch as her form kind of shudders and she, like, coalesces back into this form. And she kind of, like, looks around. She's like, ah. She, like, looks around.

She's just like, you will pay for my people's blood that you have spilled. After Nova, we go to Sentry. Wait, does she have to make a concentration check? No, not when she breaks out of it. She did for the damage. Is she the, who's holding person on me?

She is. She is. So she did do a check. For the damage. I made a concentration check for the damage but being knocked out of Druid form

doesn't require a concentration check for spells. She did, I rolled for the damage. I did, I promised you. He did.

I'm just confused. Sentry. I wasn you. He did. I'm just confused. Sentry. I wasn't here last week. I don't know what's happening. Sentry is going to stand up and sensing that this the woman is down she looks at her

and she's like I'm sorry but I can't let you hurt these others anymore. Gets the battle axe and tries to get an attack. Get it into her skull.

Only a 10 unfortunately. Oh! She has bardic inspiration though. Aha! Da da da da! With a 6 on the bardic inspiration. Oh, she has bardic inspiration, though. Aha! With a 6 on the bardic inspiration. Oh, nice. So you watch, and you cry out, like,

you can do this, or something like that. And she can see the druid going to duck, so she lets go of the axe and then just slams the shield into her face. It collides in, and I will make this a divine smite with her last boy. With her last

spell slot as well. So that's going to be seven, four, eleven, plus three, four, fourteen points of damage.

Oof, tasty. She still catches the axe obviously but yeah the shield kind of slams in and it sparks with this purple energy that Sentry has kind of powering through her core. That that's gonna be another concentration check which is a

failure because you feel yourself like this spell go is she's like stumbles back holding like a bloody nose um you can see this kind of like spear tip on a pendant that she has um kind of like she kind of grips it as she like stumbles back and it's like, and like tries to spit out some of the blood and things like that encrusting around her face. After Sentry's go,

it is her go. She will... Die. Bit of a rage at the moment. She will conjure, you've seen Lucius use a spell like this, like a shard of ice that she throws behind Sentry, basically into the supplies next to Quill and Sentry.

And she tries to explode it. Supplies. Actually, how does... I'm going to get this spell up. Actually, you've got it there. What's that? Ice knife. Yes, I do. Is it attack roll? I think it is for the first part, isn't it?

Bold knife. Yes. I do. Is it attack roll? I think it is for the first part, isn't it? Bold of knife. She's explaining the supplies. And so she targets a creature and then it all creatures within five feet. So she's going to target Quill so that she doesn't hit herself. Does a 14 hit Quill? Just. D10. I've got 14. So you take D10 piercing damage,

which is four. So you take four piercing damage and then you and Sentry both need to make dexterity saving throws Sentry fails 2d6 cold 22 so you pass is it half damage for me Chris drop on failure let me double check that

I believe it is oh it's it must succeed or take 2d6 yeah so oh it's not. Save for half. Okay, so you take nothing. So you leap out of the way. So you take this kind of, like, shard that embeds in you,

but you manage to quickly yank it three and throw it in front of you before it explodes into ice shards. Sentry does kind of get, like, pummeled in the back, but you manage to, like, bring up your wing and kind of, like, fend off these shards of ice. Nice. So that was six damage or four damage? It was four piercing damage you took.

Awesome. Cool. Awesome. Taking damage. Awesome. She kind of like stumbles back and she just like looks around and she's like, if I am going to die, I will take some of you as recompense. And seems to stagger back from her. That's a big word.

Aayla! Am I raging or am I not? Unfortunately, because you were paralyzed Big word. Ayla. Am I raging or am I not? You, unfortunately, because you were paralyzed, the rage ran out. So I did have you rage, but you've still got one left.

I wouldn't like to hit her. You could use your last rage if you like. I mean, breaking out of this. Can I? No, I'm not going to use a rage.

I would like to reckless attack. Okay. So with advantage. 18 plus 6 to hit. Yes. 24. She doesn't appear to have any armor.

She's just wearing, like, robes, basically. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 damage. Is that with strength and everything, yeah? Yeah. So that is 23. So you hit her in the back with the hammer and it kind of sends her reeling and again, like, it kind of rattles her

and you probably hear, like, something snap, like, maybe, like, an ankle or something like that, but she's still standing and she kind of, like, stumbles around, kind of disorientated, but still alive, barely, as she stands there. Barely. Barely.

Lucius. Wait. Wait she stands there. Barely. Barely. Lucius. Wait. Wait, we can keep her alive. Why? Use her as bargaining or something. I guess that's all I can say. Yeah. Is this the...

I will dash. She's the tribe leader that was mentioned. The one that was mentioned? Yeah. This is Kara? Yeah. Carla. Carla.

Stand down, or I'll kill your last clan friend. Is that what you're crawling out? Yes. Give me an intimidating check. Very intimidating, aren't you? He's not bad. He's got a good charisma, so... 14.

So you see her kind of, like, it looks like she's like, you can see her kind of like it looks like she's like you can see her eyes are like bloodshot she's snarling like blood is pouring down her mouth where the nose has probably been broken and she looks like she's about to conjure another one of these kind of like blasts of ice and then as you say that she looks and she sees the look of fear on like this last

remaining wild elf's face as he's like looking at you and seeing like the melted form of his friend that you and he's just kind of like holding his arms up and this kind of hatchet in a defensive position and she does hesitate she looks like she kind of like wavers for a second after Lucius

it is the elf the elf guy is going to try and run away so he literally just yeah I mean imagine that the forest goes on, so he'll just run off basically like this. So he just turns, tails, and he's like, and he just starts sprinting off into the woods. Quill.

I mean, does she look like she's dropping stance? It looked like she was, whatever Lucius's threat was, like definitely hit home. You don't know if that means that she's going to, you don't know what she's preparing to do. It looks like she's just kind of like hesitated for a second when she saw, when she realized that, you know, potentially one of her last remaining friends is alive.

Can I reload my thunderstone pistol that's an action yeah so you kind of have to like tuck it sort of yeah like into your belt and then like use your one hand to hang on like and then i will point it at her and say we mean it we don't need to kill you we don't need to stand like this. But I'm gonna point a gun at you. I'll point a gun at you anyway. I don't even know what a gun is. Um, and that's it, like I'm pointing it over, like, sentry. Okay, so are you trying more to intimidate her or persuade her? Because like if you're pointing a gun at somebody, that's kind of like I'm intimidating you,

but what you're saying is more like, you know, like listen to us us, like you know, we're, I mean, we don't have to fight. Could this just be as part of a help towards what Lucius was doing? Uh, no, this would be a separate check. Because, like, Lucius has already done it. Yeah, he's already happened. I mean, I'm going for persuasion. Okay. I'm not trying to be intimidating. Okay, that's fine. No, it's more that I wanted

to get your idea of the intent. So, you're kind of like pointing the gun in her direction, but you're not like listen, motherfucker. Like, do what we tell you. It's more like, we'll kill you if we have to. Like, you know. But cool. Yeah, give me a persuasion check.

14. 14, okay. Yeah, so again, you kind of see that flicker of like the kind of wariness and the fire going out of her eyes. And yeah, definitely seems to resonate in her, but you're not quite sure exactly what she's going to do next. Okay. Can I ready?

If I've used an action, I suppose I can't ready an action. No, you've already used your action. Okay. So you guys are doing all of this over there. What? So Lucius, you probably see Valor, like, behind you. You can see, like, her whole body is, like, really tensed up. She's kind of moving around, and she sees this woman, like,

holding, like, this, like, conjured ball of ice, and, like, she looks like she's about to throw it down still, but you've obviously seen this kind of moment of hesitation, so is Quill. But you get the sense that Vala hasn't noticed that conversation and she just kind of goes like get away from them! Like throws her hands out and these three bolts of purple energy come flying out.

Uh oh. Is that a magic missile? It is a magic missile. Guaranteed damage. Don't miss. Could I? You can't do shit. So you watch as like she's holding this spell I don't miss. Yeah. Eight. Could I? Eleven. You can't do shit. So you watch as, like, she's holding this spell,

and it looks like she's about to say something, and then just... And her body just flumps down to the ground. As you can see, these, like, scorching blast marks. Oh, no! And, like, you turn around, and she's, like, shaking. She's, like... And, like like breathing deep I'm gonna go up to her

And kind of And then she kind of like Backs off from you for a second We're still in initiative row right? At this point the other guy's running Like I mean About how far away is he? Yeah that's a good point

So it goes to Yusuf Who will literally just do this Just runs over It's like Valin Like what are you doing? Um, runs over to her, uh,

after her Nova. Okay, so I'm gonna, I'm, yeah, I'm gonna go here. Yeah, he's,

he's there. He's literally there. I'm gonna look around and I'm just gonna be like. He's probably about another 20 feet actually from there, so,

because he would've dashed. I'm just gonna go, well, I guess we don't leave any survivors? Wow. Fucking no for the scholar. Just like, get no loose ends.

I'm very angry. I've had a very bad couple of days. Sure. I agree. There's a lot of Algeciras. So I'd like to move 30 feet. 30. And then you're well within range to Eldritch Blast.

And I'm going to Eldritch. It's 120 feet for Eldritch Blast. Meh. I mean, add it up. 13 points. That still hits him. It hit. He's only wearing, like, loose leather,

like, really thin leather. Three, uh, plus... Two. Oh, wait, no, because the curse is only... Oh, no, yeah, so it's just three. Yeah, and I can't move it, so it's just three here. So you watch as, like,

he's, like, running through the woods. Huh, huh! Bzzz! Ugh! Like, he stumbles, like, he trips, he falls into the tree line. Yeah, you're the last one to go. Sentry is no way to stop him. So I'm going to say probably...

Who else has got a turn? No, Lucius could finish him off, actually. Okay, so Sentry, seeing this woman goes down, looking around, tries to see who's injured. She herself is quite injured but has no healing. So she'll probably just kind of like turn around. Are you all right, Quill? Like Sentry turns around to you like,

are you injured? And like, just make sure you are okay. Don't worry about me. Are you okay? I need rest, but I will be fine. I think we all do. She's dead. Are you okay? Ayla,, but I will be fine. I think we all do. She's dead. Are you okay? Ayla, it's your go next. Do you want to do

anything? I don't know if you can reach that. I'm going to try it. So you're just going to run after him. I'd have to dash. You can dash, but I mean, I guess you would, right? Like, this is you chasing after him into the woods. You keep eyes on him, like, you can see him running away

so imagine me really angry running towards him it's probably gonna shit him up lucius what would you like to do i can't watch i'm gonna go to valor okay so you're not gonna pursue him in that no okay so you go over to valor and you can see that yusuf has like literally like thrown her arms around her and you can hear her talking to her. You kind of catch the end of the conversation like, what are you doing? You're not supposed to use your mag. You're not trained enough. And she's just like, she was going to kill them. She was going to kill them. She's just kind of

freaking out a little bit. And Yusuf's like, it's fine. They're okay. They're okay. You can hear the kind of reassuring conversation. Quill. I mean, rather than pointing my pistol at him and then firing it into the air while screaming I'm gonna be super like panicked

I think Quill would be super panicked about Sentry right now just be like checking her over making sure she's okay there's definitely damage you can see parts of her wooden musculature have been ripped and torn it's almost like broken branches and there's no there's definitely damage there's definitely like you can see like parts of her wooden musculature have like been ripped and torn

it's almost like broken branches and like there's like purple energy that kind of like leaks out a little bit as well and she's like holding that injured sign

I imagine this is the most injured I've ever seen probably yeah I'm freaking out okay so that's Quill his go he just runs off into the woods

I am going to try and make a stealth check for him to see if he evades you. Okay. So, Ayla, give me a perception check, and Nova, give me a perception check. So you two are the only ones chasing

after him at this point. Thirteen. Eighteen. Eighteen. So to both of you, like, you're trying to track him through this thick copse of woods. You see him running. He ducks to the side side and almost kind of you like chase after him and like we'll jump out of initiative here because alo as you rush up to where he is you're like looking around you don't immediately see him nova you lose track of him as he runs off he's vanished for the time but he

couldn't have gone far so if you wanted to try and track him that would be probably some sort of survival check i imagine um i'd just like to point out as well i've healed five hit points because of my curse on the juror 19 so you look down and you can see um kind of droplets of blood and you begin kind of tracing those um and you kind of like end up stalking give me a quick stealth check just to see if you catch uh this guy unawares can i aid that yeah sure be making noise like you know you give me a stealth check as well um and then if you succeed at a dc i'll give ayla about 22 unnatural 20 unnatural 20 absolutely so you kind of like you you see where ayla's going and you run off in a similar direction but kind of almost to try and flank um but you make tons of noise like you're stomping through the ground snapping branches

ayla you slow down and you kind of take on that you know when you've hunted wild game out in the woods um with the with the air df you kind of like slow down and you bring the you bring the warhammer close down to the ground so you don't have any risk of it like hitting anything and you begin just crawling you're kind of slowly stalking your way through the woods you hear nova rush past and you hear like a sudden intake of breath as somebody kind of begins drifting the other way and he rounds the corner into you as you get ready and then you just bring the hat do you want to knock him out do you want to kill him um actually i want to knock him out okay so yeah so just give me an attack roll but you're just going to do non-lethal damage 20 yeah and he's got two hit points left which i know you can do minimum so you kind of wait as he kind of rounds in you just kind of like see him like

and then into the head with the half like the the kind of half of the hammer and then he just collapses unconscious to the ground alive but unconscious shoulder and carrying back okay you guys are out of initiative holy mama so ayla in nova return you see ayla has got this wild off on the back of his body you see the you see corpses all over the place i mean this is a site of a bloody massacre there are people that have been like ripped apart by magic there have been people that have been ripped apart by magic. There have been people that have been torn apart by weapons. Aayla's hammer. One guy has his entire head crushed into the ground.

Are we the bad guys? Yeah, you see this. You see Valor is just basically sat on the ground and Yusuf is just wrapped her arms around her and is just like, it's alright, it's all right, it's all right. And she's like kind of like stroking her hair

and patting her down. And the kid is just like, you can see that these purple eyes, that when you saw her cast these spells, like pulsed really violently purple, they've now like really dulled and she's just kind of like really quiet and just kind of holding her hands.

She's like, I didn't mean to kill her. I didn't mean to kill her. Like just kind of whispering to herself. I'd like to tie this guy up to a tree. Okay. Do you have any rope? I think I do. Check your equipment.

If you've got an explorer's pack, it's probably... I think I have an explorer's pack. Yeah, then you probably have 50 foot rope. In fact, you do because last, the session you missed, they all tried to sleep and I was like, who has bedrolls? Oh, nobody. Oh no, Ayla does.

And Lucius tried to get it off you and I was like, no way she would give that up. Not even for money. Well, it depends how much. It wasn't that much. I think it was like two gold or something. So yeah, I'm going to tie him up to the tree. Yeah, sure. Just give me a

strength check. Just roll a d20 plus your strength bar and see how tight you can make it. 16. Okay. Yeah, that's pretty fucking tight. So yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah, what do you guys want to do? I'm going to stand a reasonable distance

away from Yusef and Valor. Mm-hmm. But just when they stop talking so much, I'm, like, trying to give a thumbs up to Valor without Yusef noticing.

Okay. Yeah. It takes a while. Like, Yusef kind of, like, calms her down and is like, okay, and she doesn't really leave her alone, but she kind of just sits back and down and is like okay and she doesn't really leave her alone but she kind of

just sits back and sort of like doesn't like crowd her as much you try and kind of catch her eye but like Valor's just looking at the ground or like probably looking towards the dead body and is just like I'll try and break that line of sight by like getting on the floor and trying to do a thumbs up on the floor

her eyes kind of like flicker okay her eyes kind of like flicker Okay, her eyes kind of flicker and she looks at you and she just kind of like nods I do a wave And then yeah, she just doesn't say anything She just kind of like like gives you a little nod and a half smile But you kind of see it's a little bit forced and then you kind of hear like a from Yusuf who's like looking at you. Oh, I didn't notice you there. She's just like,

I think we just need a moment. How about once we've all had moments we gather as many supplies as we can and get away from this hellhole

because it's starting to smell. Supplies is good. Take anything they have. They also took my rations. So the rations that we took from the ship, they took that as well. Yeah, well, are you guys going to just scour this camp, basically?

You just want to raid it like the barbarians that you are? Sure. Cool. They took our stuff first. Okay. And we killed all of them. I would have done it anyway choose two of you

to make investigation checks like who is most likely to be I think me personally I think Nova sounds like she's probably going to do like a big search

of like thoroughly looking around who else you're checking over that guy Lucius sounds like you were as well like you were suggesting it so it probably would make sense

that you do it unless Quill's doing it I'm still freaking out a little bit okay so yeah Sentry is just run of like my my bodies and century you just knocked my dice you want to re-roll no um that's not how it works 14 15 14 and 15 is the two of you

no no no five 15 is me okay and you got five okay lucius more gets in the way than helps. Lucius is just kind of like, it's so dirty. I'm going to absolutely avoid all bodies. Yeah. And just be like, and really skirt. So you kind of go into their settlements. You're going to go into these like wooden shelters and inside, like they smell of like dead animals, sweat, like very strong scented jerky and like tan hides it's filthy like there's mud everywhere

um you kind of gingerly like lift up a few things and it's just like animal hide beds and straw and it's like i can imagine people can hear from the outside just muffle noises that i'm making like do none of these wild elves know about cologne i'm gonna be like please stop your whinging it's been a very long day like for the first time nova's a little bit kind of fractious and a bit like um so while you're kind of you kind of say this to to lucius and then you begin picking your way through nova you you you don't have any shame like not you don't have any shame you don't mind going through their things like you kind of see these guys as enemies and like you're like we need to survive like the. You kind of see these guys as enemies, and you're like, we need to survive.

The survival instincts kind of kick in. Yeah, you find probably enough for about 12 people, like rations for 12 people for about a week. So that's going to be 12 times 7, 70, 82, 84. 84 days, like individual's worth of rations. And it's things like pretty foul-smelling, like, dried meats, fruits, vegetables, a little bit of grain, but it's kind of like this is, like, really scavenged forage stuff.

It's food. And it's probably not in the best condition, but it is food. At the end of its shelf life. There's plenty... all sorts of like standard supplies right like you find like loads of different water skins you find like fur throws cloaks made from like you know hides and fur like wolf fur um all sorts of anything that would reasonably be needed to like survive out in this cold wilderness you find a few things like that do look a bit out of place, like oil lanterns and some flasks of oil. Inside the nearly destroyed one,

you find a quill scroll case with his two scrolls. I'll return to you. Thank you. And the only other thing, in terms of money, there's not really a lot of money. How much did you give them before? 50 gold? Yeah gold something like that do you find about 50 gold in a coin pouch that looks like lucius's um and the only other thing really of note that you can see is this spear tip that

the druid herself was was wearing um everything else kind of just is either regular supplies you find things like short bows arrows spears, that kind of stuff. But that's really all. I'll probably take this spear tip. And, yeah, she'd return Lucius's money. Okay. Oh, thank you. I found this.

Oh, wonderful. Do you want it? For the payment? Yes. Maybe I could divvy it out with the group. Yes. No. Yes. Honestly, it's such a burden, and it kind of weighs down one side. Just payment? Yes? Maybe I could divvy it out with the group. Yes. No?

Yes. Honestly, it's such a burden and it kind of weighs down one side. I'm really strong, I could carry it if you want. That's true. I like my card. There you go. 50 gold. What?

She'll give Nova 25. Thank you. That's for like, for stealth and the dudes, like, I feel like. We're doing teamwork. How are you all so calm? I like it. We just killed like... Oh, this is how I'm pro. I'm pro. I'm pro. I'm for stealth and the dudes. How are you all so calm?

I like it. We just killed like... Oh, this is how I'm processing. We just killed like seven people. Century is going to spend her hit dice, by the way. Oh, Birdie. Oh, yes? Could you do me a favour?

Maybe. So I'm going to burn the bodies because it's quite a mess, but I don't want to look at it. So could you put your wing in front of me and kind of guide me around so that I hit the right spots? So I watch you pick up the bodies? No, no touching the bodies. No. So what do you do?

I'm going to firebolt them, all of them. Individually? Yes. While not looking? Century kind of looks over. In a forest? I'm not sure we should... Is burning them what we should do?

Is that a custom for these people? I would know what the... I mean, it's different clans, right? What do you want your clan? What would the ADS ritual be? Could we not ask? Could we not ask? And I gesture towards...

He's still unconscious. I imagine that because Aayla's home was like on a cliff near the sea, they would send them out to sea. So we can't do that here. But the primes... Give me an intelligence check with Aayla. Just d20 plus intelligence. Eight.

You've got no idea. You don't even know this clan. Do any of them have any tartans on them at all? Or anything that identifies them as... So here's the thing. Now you're looking over the bodies clan like you just like you don't know any of them have any tartans on them at all or any anything that identifies them so here's the thing now you're looking over the bodies and you've got a bit of a closer view none of them have any clan tartan um most of them seem to have like their tattoos uh a lot of them have been scarred over like it looks like or they've been removed some of them have had tattoos removed and then they've done new tattoos over the top.

Kind of looking at these guys, you get the impression that these guys are probably like exiles or they've run away from their clan. And so they've kind of probably been forced to give up the taunt. They've probably been forced to give up the cloth of their home.

Cremation is the purest form of returning to the energy source of Siaska. If that is, then very well, which I can help carry them into one pile. We could also just wait till this guy wakes up and ask him, because I need to ask him a few things. But the smell! It's only going to get worse. Well, I also... I don't want to alarm everyone, but I did fire a gun in the middle of the forest. I'm not sure if anyone else heard that. I believe that the leader did say that there was more of them that were on a

scouting mission at the time can I like slap this guy awake yeah you kind of spend a bit of time and he kind of groans like and he can see like his nose is swollen up where you kind of hit him like a thick bruise is starting to appear and he seems really groggy and he kind of like and it's kind of spits and he's like looking around like where you morning hi why haven't you killed me just wanted to make something clear to you first don't worry i'll get there but if any of your clan any of your tribe bother us while we're walking through the woods, you know what we're capable of now.

Your leader's down. He, like, he, like, tries to look over her, like, I'm guessing you positioned him where he can probably see the dead body, right? Like, he looks over, he's like, Kara's dead. Huh. Yeah. You don't have to worry about the rest of us without her I don't

even know how we're gonna survive out here probably have to go find some humans farm raid it take what we need or something mm-hmm where's the nearest farm like gestures his head towards the north not many live this close to the woods anymore because of all the raids from us and the clan back home there's still still a few out there trying to make do, use the land. We'll probably find one of their barns or something, take some horses or whatever we can find. Your clan back home, who are they? We used to be part of the Calanru. That's far off to the east but we're not part of them anymore.

And why not? What do you think? He like looks at you, he's like, you must have had exiles from your place. People that did something that the elders didn't agree with or didn't like, got kicked out. I just want to know what it is that you did, really. Well, doesn't matter now, does it? No, it doesn't. But yeah, let's be clear. You've seen what we're capable of. If anyone else disturbs us, then the same will happen to them. I'll try and convince any of the others not to go after you. But I won't be coming after you, I'll put it that way. I saw what your friend did to Vore. He melted him.

Yeah. I don't want any part of that. Well, good. But I can't make promises that the others won't. They'll be mad. They've not seen. I'll do my best to tell them not to. More for their sake than yours. We happy? We good?

We should probably take some of these things. And I'm pointing to the wolf skins and the oil and lantern oil and stuff like that. Yeah, we should. He doesn't... When you say that in front of him, he doesn't react to that. He's accepted that that's what you're doing.

You're going to take what there's... And Aayla, you would know this. Wild elves very much often, especially more aggressive wild elves, have this kind of culture of we take what we can like if you're strong enough to take it from us then fair enough you've earned it um and this guy just doesn't bat an eyelid really like he's just like looks around like tests his he does kind of like flex but like you can see that he's like tightly tied he just kind of like slumps, puts his head up against the tree trunk and just kind of like lets out a breath.

We don't care to stay in your area. We're passing through on our way to more important things. Good. If you last pass through, then the rest of your clan will be safe. Like I said, I'll try my best to convince them not to come after you, but I mean, they'll be mad. They'll be furious that you've killed the others.

But I won't be coming after you, I'll put it that way. I'll leave them if I have to. Strike out on my own. I'm just gonna peer out from behind Ella and just be like, Out of interest, um, what burial rituals do your people follow? He looks at you, looks at Ayla. Just leave them where they are. I'll take care of them. You wouldn't understand our rituals, Ganassi. Okay, elf.

Move back. Just eyes you. Just eyes you like yeah, just kind of has this kind of narrowed vision. Looks back to Ayla, he's like... Don't... don't do anything with their bodies. I don't know what clan you're from, but we've got our own rituals out here. Understood. He just gives you a nod. Like a quite a respectful kind of like good...

I don't have any interest in killing other wild elves. That's not what I want to do, but if they get in my way, then I will. Fair enough. To be honest, I don't think that any of us would have, if we knew what you were capable of, I don't think Carla would have, she probably would have tried to get you to help her with something. And what was that?

Doesn't matter now. Bunch of goblins to the west. Occasionally we clash with them over supplies. She probably would have given you passage through the woods to take care of them, but you've got your passage now. I'm just going to hold a blanket out from the side of Aayla, just really saying, like, do you want this? He's, like, tied to a tree.

He's like, sure. Might take the others a few hours to get back to me. Just gently. Shouldn't get too cold. Put it on him. He's just tied to a tree. He's like, sure. Might take the others a few hours to get back to me. Shouldn't get too cold. He's just kind of gently, he like looks at you. Just gives you a nod. I'm really sorry, by the way. I just get really angry when people take my things. He just looks at you, bemused. Sorry for what?

Shooting you. He just makes a face. What, Quill and Lucius, what are you guys doing at this point? Lucius has actually gone quite quiet, and he's just kind of bumbling around inside the shelter. Just like, bumbling around. Yeah, like, again, you just kind of

see that this is, yeah, like, just, like, really harsh survival. Like, everything here is built for, like, weathering, like, a really fucking cold winter. It's definitely dawning on Lucius what's just happened. Yeah. And where he actually is, his daddy's not nearby.

He's having a little mini internal breakdown. A little mini internal thing. Okay. I think I'm actually wandering slightly further away from the camp with Sentry, in a way. Sentry's kind of, because I took a long, I took a short rest with her. She's basically like kind of sat down and is like, I must rest for a minute.

Okay. She's going to sit there. She was like on 8 HP. So like, yeah, she's like props herself up against a tree. It looks fairly safe, but she just takes like a bit of time. Yeah. I think I'm like, I'm like looking at the interrogation that's happening on the tree over there and like, I've got nothing to over there blanket i everyone's already ruined the supplies

there's bodies all over the place yeah that's and that's the thing is for those of you i'm pretty much everybody except ayla and sentry i mean this is a lot of bodies like there's you killed four six seven people here and they're all in pretty bad states of like wounds um there's blood all over the ground there's the smell of like burning flesh like melting flesh um this is pretty brutal and you can see yusuf is kind of looking at the scene in horror and she's kind of got like vala kind of facing away um i think i'm gonna see val is just kind of playing with her knife now like she's just kind of like, like, Valar kind of facing away. I think I'm going to see Valar's just kind of playing with her knife now. Like, she's just kind of, like, dragging it around in the dirt.

I think I'm going to sort of mindlessly, like, wander over to them and not even say anything to them or even look at them. I'm just going to sort of just slump down next to Valar and just, like, sort of look at the ground just in contemplation. Yeah. Mindless, like, there's nothing there at the moment. Yeah. So Valar kind of, like, she does, she kind of almost, like,

becomes a bit more awake when you kind of sit down. And she kind of looks over and she's just like, I didn't realize that you had a compass. And, like, she's, like, pointing at the things that you've got on you and stuff like that. Like, oh, do you know navigation? Do you have maps and things? Do I? Maps? Yeah. Well, you don't know navigation? Do you have maps and things? Do I?

Yeah, you've got well, you don't have probably maps on you, but you have like navigators tools and things. Oh I've been mapping this area as we've been exploring it. Where have you been? You can hear her just like she's making idle conversation because she's just kind of trying to deal with what is going on at the minute Well, I mean we were on the airship and... Where were you before here? Paul. I mean, the last place you were was Amixan, but before then it was probably the Valley of Storms.

Yeah. I've been in the lowlands for a little while before the airship, actually, with Sentry. And I kind of look back at Sentry, who is just powered down. She's just kind of sat there. And she's not powered down. She's awake. She's looking around. But she's just kind of sat down.

And you can see that the purple energy has stopped leaking out of her. And she's kind of just attending to the wood. And she's just kind of very quietly just complete placid metal face just like being aware of her condition yeah um we've never in the time that we were down here we never saw anything like this place uh what about what about you she looks over at sister yusuf and yusuf is like, no, no. I am from the lowlands. I was born on a different continent, El-Sarf. And I met Vala when I journeyed to Sky Cities, the Temple of Siaska.

In Horizon, where we met, I spent a lot of time there, a number of years. We were training priests and priestesses in Siaska's name, and Vala was a ward there. She has arcane powers, not controllable all the time. She struggles. A sorcerer, or sorceress, I believe they call her, she's learning to manage her powers, and I was put in charge of being her ward.

We used to go to bakeries and libraries and shops. It has been a long time. Even in my time at home, nothing like this. Nothing like this. And I kind of go quiet for a little bit. I don't think I've ever seen anyone so young with such powerful abilities. Valar kind of goes quiet and kind of like

looks at the ground and starts like poking at it with a knife. Yusuf kind of looks over to you and is like, it is rare, but not unheard of. There are a few individuals each year. The Temple of Siaska and of Hesper often take in such young students

because they can become dangerous. At young ages, it is difficult to control emotions, and that can lead to outbursts of power. We've managed to keep those from happening with Vala. She generally has quite good control over what she can use, but it is dangerous for her to use them. But I think that she kind of puts her arm around her and just

pulls her in close. It's like, she did what she had to. It's alright. She pats her head a little bit. Can I ask you a question, actually? Yes, I'm sorry. Yes, of course. Do you feel Siaska with you now? Me? Yes. It is difficult

with Siaska because of her death. But whenever I can see the stars and she looks up and just between the kind of canopy of the trees, because it's still quite late at night, it's like 2, 3 a.m., you can see this kind of like

just really star-filled sky and you can see the cradle, this kind of aurora borealis effect over the planet. She looks up and she's like, whenever I see the stars, I can feel her, yes. But sometimes I get vague feelings. Sounds strange but like a mother cradling, I don't know how Arakoka work, but when you are a child and your

mother bundles you up tightly in the cold, wraps a blanket around you. It can feel like that sometimes, but with a presence more than anything. Hmm. Okay. Why do you ask? And I apologise, we've been travelling and I do not know your name. Oh, I'm Kilagad Kalaa.

My friends call me Quill, so by all means. Oh, thank you. Just a wild elf that we met earlier said that Hesper wasn't in these lands, and, well, I'm starting to believe him. The low... And she kind of gives you a knowing look. She's like, I, Hesper... People in the lowlands are sometimes upset that Hesper did not save them after the Sundering,

that he favoured the elven sky cities, the elven capitals, that the humans and dwarves were left to suffer the consequences. And so some can be difficult when it comes to Hesper, but I do not believe she kind of gestures around it's like even the lowlands are full of magic master Kolar I do not believe that Hesper does not have a presence here hmm these people are upset does not have a presence yeah these people are upset they didn't get saved I'm more upset but I did well I'm afraid that that is one that you will have to figure out for yourself, but

I'm sure that there must be reasons. And she kind of gives you a kind of like nod and it's like, I'm happy to talk to you if you have anything on your mind, but perhaps we should not do it here. And she looks over at the piles of bodies. Cool. What about you guys? Anybody else want to do stuff? I think like Nova in all of this time, Nova's just constantly moving, just like not stopping.

Just constantly checking stuff. Yeah, that's her way of kind of dealing with it by just keeping moving like a shark. Like she's just, yeah, gathering all the supplies, making sure people have supplies. Yeah, kind of just like. Okay. So yeah, I mean, you can't possibly carry like all 74 days of supplies, but you can probably give everybody three or four days' worth. Why can't I hold all these rations?

Yeah, you've got pack packs and stuff like that. Or apple pie. Not quite. It's not Skyrim. You can't just have a pack pack of 200 pies. But yeah, you can make sure that everybody has water skins and things like that. But yeah, generally. Right, I've just got a message that it's break time, and that does seem like a pretty good point to take a break.

Thanks for listening to the podcast. Once again, a big thank you to our sponsors, D&D Beyond and Brilliant.org. D&D Beyond is what we're using in our game to track our stats and basically digitize all of our character sheets, and it's been super, super useful, for me in particular, to keep track of all my spells. If you go to D&D Beyond and use the code HIGHROLLING, that's all caps and one word, HIGHROLLING, you will get 25% off your first purchase, excluding the legendary bundle.

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will get 20% off their annual subscription. Thank you for listening to part one of episode four. We'll be back on Thursday with part two.