High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #62 | Trial of the Prime (Part 2)

Episode Date: March 5, 2020

The test has been set and the trial is underway! Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes (and more) on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Thanks to our sponsors D&D Beyond! D&D Beyond is the official digital toolset for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. Create your FREE account now and start digitising your campaigns here: www.dndbeyond.com/ Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. Rise from bill payer to reward slayer. Rise to it with the BMO Eclipse Rise Visa Card. And get rewarded for paying your credit card bill in full and on time each month. Terms and conditions apply. Click the banner or visit bmo.com slash rise to learn more. Summer's here, and you can now get almost anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? You can't get a well-groomed lawn delivered, but you can get chicken parmesan delivered. Sunshine? No. Some wine? Yes. Get get almost almost anything delivered with uber eats order now

alcohol in select markets see app for details Your bodies go limp as you are pulled through, not space or time, this feels different. Your mind stays sharp until something snaps in the air. You feel like a crack. Solid ground is beneath your feet. You open your eyes and look around and you see a space. You stand on nothing but its solid. nothing but it's solid.

You're surrounded by an iridescent ever so slightly purple and golden fog that just seems to fill the space around you. You can see each other but there are changes.

Sentry. When you would think of Lucius Would you See Lucius as when you first Met him with his long blonde hair Or the Lucius you know now With his short dark brown hair To you what is

Who is Lucius Lucius of the short brown hair I think Okay The fey Lucius That is how he appears That is how... The Felucious. That is how he appears. Okay. That is how everyone else perceives him. Okay.

When you think of Nova, do you imagine Nova with her gauntlet and the arm that she lost on Aegis V? Or do you imagine her as when you first met her? Probably as when I first met her. Hmm? Okay. So that is

almost a little taller well this is it this is also not just about their how you remember them also how you envision them as people okay so if there is anything here like if you if to you Lucius is the

epitome of royalty might be that he is dressed more extravagantly or there might be elements to him. This world is partially shaped by your perception of things. Oh, cool. I guess your feelings of them as well. Your feelings towards them as well. Just had an idea for Quill.

I am not sharing it. So is there anything about Lucius or Nova that you think? I think Lucius would look like very, his posture would be, he'd be standing really tall, like very sort of proud, I think. Okay. I think Nova would be, Let me try and think. It might just be as they were. Yeah, I think she would be as she was. I think because of everything on Aegis V and all of the stuff about the...

The ILS. The ILS and stuff. I think she'd... Essentially, she would feel kind of bad about it. And so she'd rather see Nova as she was rather than... Okay. So this is Nova looks more like she did when we first met. Like optimistic and yeah.

And this doesn't change your personalities for you guys. You're still you. You're still your character. But it's the presentation of it. Yeah. So Nova might be a little shorter, a bit more kind of like childlike. A little sister-y. Yeah.

A little bit more like that. Whereas Lucius has got this regality to him. You know, maybe his outfit is almost, it's like a Gustaven uniform and it's kind of got this properness to it. What about Quill? I think... You've only ever known Quill with the one arm. Yeah. But does your kind of mind perception of Quill change?

Like, how does Quill look is there any changes oh i think she's envisioned quill as being as looking stronger looking okay like yeah not so beat up yeah like maybe you have like two eyes. So I don't have the... So you don't have the storm eye. You just look, like, confident, strong, like... Yeah. Ready to rock and roll. No more scars. Yeah. Like, just ready to go. Both arms or just the one?

You both. Oh, I got both arms. Okay. So we see these, yes. You all see each other as Sentry perceives you. So, Quill, you have both arms. No! In this world. We see these. You all see each other as Sentry perceives you. So, Quill, you have both arms in this world, in this perception, which means your natural ability as an Arakoka to fly is it.

Do I still have that natural ability? I guess natural ability, right? You learn to do it as a child. It's like riding a bike. You know, you still remember how to fly. I've got to fly speed. What about ayla i think ayla looks like like strong like tall like taller than normal like just like broader broader like it's this imposing war yeah like warrior like maybe you've got like armor on like you've got like shoulder plate like plate armor on or mate like and like you've got like just lightning around you like you just

all the time just like yeah cool full on ready to go cool you see each other and you see sentry sentry looks as she did is when you first kind of encountered her so you have your normal armor so you can add i think it was chain mail you had yeah so you can add chain mail okay you are semi-repaired you have both eyes um in this place um you still have your weapons equipment everything is normal the fog begins to shift and move around you as you stand together I will call it a voice but it is hundreds, thousands hundreds of thousands of

voices speaking all at once in perfect unison so you get this modulation of ages and accents and everything kind of speaking together. Guardian Sentry, you have been chosen to bear the trial of the prime.

Each word the voice speaks, that fog around you begins to pulses with each word, almost like a living entity, it kind of beats with each word, almost like a living entity. It kind of beats with each note, each syllable of the word. This test will measure your worth, your skills as a protector and as a leader. And if you have the will to overcome those who seek our destruction,

to bear the prime matrix is to carry the fate of all guardians. And on that last word, the fog, everything goes black to the point where none of you can see. Dark vision doesn't matter. Everything is pitch black like a void. You have a sense of space. You can sense that there are people nearby, but you can't see, feel, touch anything. and then century's matrix begins to slowly change and glow into that golden silvery light that the prime matrix had and as it does it lights you all up and reveals that you are currently stood in a long corridor of worked stone you can see suits of armor display cabinets and

heraldry hung up on the walls this light shall guide you as it diminishes the darkness will return if you do not reach the final trial before it does, you will be lost forever in the pathways of the Matrix, and all hope for our people will be lost. Cool. No pressure. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. Almost on cue, the whole corridor shakes, and you begin to hear the sounds of battle erupting outside

explosions war cries screams you look around and i mean century you're the first to notice the heraldry on the walls is solvent two guards a man and a woman, a human and a half-elf, dressed in the livery of Solvin soldiers, come rushing in. They kind of see Sentry snap a salute, and then they just charge off, like, Sorry, sorry, Commander, we have to report. And they just rush off down the corridor. And you hear something explodes nearby, an eruption of stone and magic. something explodes nearby, an eruption of stone and magic. Okay, okay, this is just like it was.

This is just like it was. You've been here before. This is Solvin. This is like how it was when Starbane came and attacked Solvin. This is just like how it was. But what is the trial? We just follow your path. Well, like you did back then, I suppose.

That must be connected, right? It's linked to you. Century, follow your instincts and tell us what we need to do to help. Okay. Okay. Find the princess. Find the princess, find the princess. Yes, yes, okay, yes, yes, let's do that.

Where would the princess be? the princess, find the princess. Yes, yes, okay, yes, yes, let's do that. Where would the princess be? Let me just think. She would be probably in her room, maybe. I think so, yes, let's go to her room. Okay, let's go to the princess' room and go find her. We'll follow you. Lead the way, okay. Okay. You begin making your way.

You rush through the corridors, the familiar corridors. This is home. You know every part of this palace the gardens the villages the towns beyond it the farms this is everything you remember as you rush you get a few corridors down making your way towards one of the towers where the princess's room is where petal's room is and as you come out into a large uh almost like an armory a space where several more ceremonial pieces were being kept a piece of history you can see that there are dozens of soldiers um some of them are injured but many of them look fighting fit and as you erupt into the room an argument

is breaking out for god's sakes the commanders are dead we don't know what's going on we should just get out of here no these are our people our people. We've got to stay behind. There's an argument breaking out. Who do we report to? Captain Gillerhead's gone. I don't know whose unit I'm part of. There's just a bickering going on as you kind of emerge into it. But you can see that the doorway on the other side is free,

but the soldiers don't seem to almost notice you. They're so caught up in the chaos of this situation. There's maybe about 20 of them in this kind of room. What do you do? Do you just carry on? I suppose we interrupt them, right? And I find out what's going on, see if... You're their commander

now, right? Maybe. Okay. Hi, what's going on? How can I help? Century Guardian, and a couple of them salute, and then a couple of them just kind of look your way and kind of turn around. They're just like,

the Queen's no longer giving orders. The generals and the commanders, they're either dead or they're missing. We don't know what to do. They've broken through the outer defences. They've got transport ships overhead. And I think we've lost this fight we need to get out of here and then another kind of older soldier steps toward a woman and she's like we can't just

abandon there's citizens out there we need to go and protect them or something we need orders nobody's giving orders anymore it's just broken down into chaos commander okay i can help listen to me so you want so um can i stand beside sent and just nod at her and just fold my arms and kind of look like a bit imposing? Sure. To just help her sort of gain some authority, maybe? Sure, okay. You say the citizens are in trouble. You need to help them. Make that your priority. Go out there. Get them to safety. Bring them back in here.

The older woman kind of, like, snaps too, and she kind of like claps her hands, and she's like, you heard the commander. Come on, let's grab a few of you. But some of the younger soldiers are like, come on, you don't understand. They're destroying us out there. They've got weapons we don't even understand. They're just, we can't fight back.

There's no way we can win. Then protect. That's all you can do. Just do the best you can. Go out there, bring people in here just do your best make a persuasion check with advantage as Ayla is helping you

natural 20 natural 20 oh god damn it Ayla always does that and it's the best she didn't even look at it she wasn't even looking at it so you kind of would you like reach forward or like yeah I'd reach forward does that and it's the best. She didn't even look at it. She wasn't even looking at it.

So you kind of, would you like reach forward or like... Yeah, I'd reach forward and grab him by the shoulder and just have faith. Solvang will protect us. We'll be fine. Okay, okay commander and they kind of salute and some of the younger soldiers, he's like, protect okay. Maybe maybe we can pull them into the old barracks

and maybe we can find some way to block up the main gate. And they're like, yeah, let's do that. And they begin making their way off and the soldiers begin dispersing. What do you want to do now? Just carry on towards the tower? Yeah. Okay.

To get to the princess's tower, you'll need to head out of this section of the palace and head along the battlements to reach basically the other wing of the palace. Otherwise, you're going to have to work your way all the way to the Princess's Tower, you'll need to head out of this section of the palace and head along the battlements to reach basically the other wing of the palace. Otherwise, you're going to have to work your way all the way to the throne room and then come around the other side. The fastest way is just to go directly across the battlements, but that's going to expose you to the actual battle going on outside.

Do you want to take the longer route round and go via the throne room, which you assume is where the Queen might be, or do you just want to go straight for Pell's tower and go across the battlements? We can go to the throne room and maybe see if the queen is all right, see if we can help her in any way if she needs any help. You begin kind of diverting around, and this is going to take you slightly longer to reach around as you have to make your way through the castle.

As you do, you can glimpse through the protective windows that kind of look out onto the town and the city outside of the palace. Those of you who aren't from Solven, you get your first kind of sight of what the city is. You can only imagine that if this wasn't war, it would be beautiful. This beautiful white, almost Grecian in style city with a palace that sits at the top of a hill. And then the town is kind of built around it on the very edge of a coast basically you can see that it's kind of on the edge of one of eros's peninsulas farmlands seem to stretch out and then you can see smaller villages out there

and kind of scattered around are these enormous spires which look like they may have once been observatories but they've now been converted into cannons and they are you assume that at one point they would fire upon attacking forces none of them are working and you can see blanketing the sky transport ships of calistar black crystal ships black armored troopers basically abseiling down from ropes or magical magical sleds it almost looks like these kind of like little skiffs and patrol vehicles um make their way down and they begin just laying fire with force rifles and magic and swords and you can see terrible battles are taking place all amongst the town and the city century this isn't like before they have breached the defenses they're in the town they're in the

palace this is worse than you remember it it's an alternate version of what happened to you before okay but it is a losing battle you can see that these forces have been breached and Okay. it goes, but you notice that as you're travelling, that light in Sentry's chest is diminishing. You can see it's lost a small amount, but a significant amount. Is there any way of knowing how much time there is? Make an intelligence check for me, or an arcana check, whichever is higher.

Eleven. Nova can make one as well. The two of you have the best bit of knowing this. Arcana check. Yeah. 12. At very best... Hour? Not long. Not long at all.

But give or take. You don't know how much this is depleting. You don't know if sentry exerting yourself is making it run out quicker, know, you don't know how much this is depleting. You don't know if sentry exerting yourself is making it run out quicker or you just don't know. You make your way through to the throne room. You see injured guardsmen. There are civilians packed into the palace as well, frightened, terrified, kind of huddled together, not quite sure what's going on. Soldiers are desperately running around doing what they can but at best this they're keeping forces away from the palace they're not really gaining any ground um you make

your way into the throne room and you find queen astoria sat on her throne pale dark circles under her eyes and she's holding Petal, the princess. And you can see that there are no guards around her. In fact, to get entry, you had to storm past several guards who are keeping civilians out of the throne room. But you enter, and it's this large, open space. You could fit hundreds of people in here,

and it's very well defended. But she's just there kind of holding the princess. And when she sees you, she's like, praise the Star Mother, Sentry, you're here. Come, we need to take the secret exit and flee the palace. We need to take Petal and leave. Can we bring other civilians through? Can we get out as many people as we can?

Sentry, if we do that, that will lure Calus' forces to us. This is a chance for us to escape. You, me, and Petal can get out of here. And the soldiers can buy us time. They can give us time to escape. We'll find allies elsewhere on Erois. The gods. We'll go to them for help. We can bring more people.

We can help Solvin. Let's gather up all the soldiers, as many people as we can. Century, if we do that, we might as well just march out the front door. They'll see the forces leaving with us, and they'll target us. This is the best chance. You have to protect her. And she kind of, like, gestures, and you see Petal kind of look,

so I'm like, Century, please, I'm scared. She looks up to you with these big, wide eyes. It's like, you swore to protect her. This is our only chance, Century, please, I'm scared. She looks up to you with these big wide eyes. It's like, you swore to protect her. This is our only chance, Century. I understand what I'm doing, believe me, but we can't save them. This is, it's a lost fight. You have to do what you can.

Protect her. Well, how about you get ahead? You two go ahead, get a head start, and then we can bring the forces and citizens behind. Ensure your safety, and then we'll defend... You don't understand. You are her protector. You swore an oath to me and to the city to protect her.

Take her and take her to safety. That is an order. And you can see that, like, this calm demeanor is cracking. Like, she has lost it. This is madness has taken her. Um... And also, the rest of you, if any of you have anything, like, feel free to jump in and help Century.

Century, do what you believe to be right. This is testing you. Remember. Who are these people? These... You should all be out there fighting. You should be protecting this city. They are. They're my friends. They're protecting everybody. No, no, no.

Your job is to protect the royal family. We need to leave now. It's the royal family's job to protect its citizens. Let's all go together. We need to leave now. It's the royal family's job to protect its citizens. Let's all go together. We can do it. There isn't room, century. The passage will not fit more than a dozen. That will slow us down. We should just leave now.

And she goes to stand up and you can see kind of the princess is pulling her in. So it's like kind of right reaching out to you as well as Astoria is making her way to a secret entrance to the back of the throne room. Take her. Get a secret entrance at the back of the throne room. Well you take her get a head start we'll- No you are mine to command! I order you to take her and me to safety now! Sentry she's not sound of mind this battle battle has done something to her, and this trial is probably making it worse. Would the queen normally act like this? No, she's normally very preserved. Silence, all of you.

Now, Sentry. Are the orders having any impact on Sentry? Is it like Astoria giving an order? Is that affecting... No, Sentry, would it? It probably would. I'd probably be like... You're not a robot.

You're not magically commanded. You're not like a golem. But she means a lot to you. It's your oath. And this is a person that you do care for, even if she's not in her right mind. But you can hear outside the sounds of like the cries of civilians,

screams of soldiers dying. You can hear these blasts of warfare. This is the choice. Do you follow the personal oath that you've sworn? Or do you do what you can in what seems to be a hopeless situation? Another guard can take them, and we can help.

Okay. I'll send another guard with you. No. You traitor! You're going to betray me like all the others. You're turning against your Okay I'll send another guard with you No You traitor You're going to betray me like all the others You're turning against your oath Get out I exile you from Solvin

And she just like points in your direction And screams in your direction I'm not a traitor She's with you You have your daughter Take her and go Please She like is just pulling her along and she's just like,

Curse you, Sentry. I curse you forever. You are no longer a part of this family. As the door slams shut behind them. Sentry, your duty is to protect Solvin, not just those two. It might have been your order to protect them, but now it's your duty to save as many people as you can. That must be the trial. Okay.

Are there any other passages out of the, other than the one that they are in? Is there any other passages out of the castle? You could try and take people down to the docks and get them onto boats. They might be able to sail away faster than they can go by land. You don't know what state the docks of the city might be in. The palace looks like it's kind of the last holdout. You're going to either need to find a way to fight your way to the docks, or you don't know.

But basically that secret entrance, it could only really fit a small number of people at a time anyway, but now it's been sealed. You're not sure if that's necessarily going to open again. Especially since Astoria could probably magically lock it behind her. We can go to the docks. It's not necessarily safe. I can't guarantee we'll

get many people out, but we can try. We can try. Let's do that. Let's gather as many people as we can here. Get the guards to gather as many people as they can. Okay. And then we will fight our way through. That's what we're here for. Okay.

Okay? Okay. Lead the charge. You tell them what to do. Be their leader. Okay. So I'll walk out of the room and command the guards. I'll tell them, we need to leave.

We need to gather as many people as we can and make it to the docks. We need to get to the docks, get on the boats. It's an older kind of dwarf soldier. You can see kind of wearing a ramshackle armor, kind of is just like, Aye, Commander. It's going to be tough going. They've kind of captured most

of the city streets and most of the soldiers we've got here aren't really in a fighting condition. But we can try and make a push for the docks, but there's a couple of things that, if we could maybe get one of the arc spires back up, that could give us some covering fire from the transport ships.

Okay. But we haven't got any more artificers to send out them. There's no more engineers who understand it. Oh, me! Me! I can do this! I don't know how to do it, but I can do it! Are you sure? I'll go. I'll go. Where? Which one's the closest? Okay. He puts a hand on your shoulder and pulls you in.

Commander, as a suicide mission, sending everybody out there must be sending them to their death. You might, she might get there, but as soon as that arc tower comes back online, they're gonna hit it with everything they've got. We might need it to survive. Just keep that in mind.

Okay. Nova, I'm going to be perfectly clear with you about this. It's going to be dangerous. The minute that Ark Tower goes up, you're at risk. You might not make it. Cool. Bye. Make the most of it. Okay. Nova?

Might I suggest, Sentry, Quill, in your current form... Yes, yeah? You can fly. If you need to get there quicker, I might be able to carry, but... I can also Dimension Door. Let's go! That's faster still.

Can you Dimension Door two people? Two people! Who wants to come? Suicide mission! Arc Spires, that's all arcana. That's magical knowledge, right? So either me or Lucius. I'd happily go. Okay, Lucius. Are you sure?

Of course. You sure, Lucius? It's a trial. We might die. We might legit die. I haven't actually fully understood the parameters of if we die in here. Do we die out there? Who knows? Well, if we don't do understood the parameters of if we die in here, do we die out there? Who knows? Well, if we don't do anything, we're going to

die in here anyway, so why not? Let's try it. Go for it. You've got this. You've got some magic and some strength here. What do you want from us? Okay, so... Okay, so you've got...

I think you guys need to push towards the dock and get the people out. Yeah. Sentry, I just want you to know, don't worry about us. This is for the Guardians, okay? Okay. If we die, that's fine, because you have an entire race to save. I don't want to lose any of you. I don't want to run the risk of losing you.

I can't. Hey! We're always going to be with you, okay? Commander, there's not much time. If somebody's going to go, it needs to be now. Okay. I can help lead them there, but... Yeah?

And he gives you a nod of like, I know what's going to happen. Okay, if you're certain, then okay. Might buy enough people enough time to get somewhere. Thank you so much. All right, Ganassi, go with me. Which way? Point. He just is like,

well, the closest arc spy is that one, and he points towards... Is it within 500 feet? No, you're gonna have to, like, partially go there on foot as well. Okay. Anyone on the way, tell them to go to the docks. I'll spend the word that I can. Thank you.

You send Dwarf and Nova Whilst they are doing it, Nova this is You're now out of the scene Is Lucius coming? Lucius as well I think the plan was to mention Dwarf both those two Well then you can't mention it Then you can't take the Dwarf

Oh right I'd say keep Lucius with you I'm gonna go You guys have this right? Yes, Nova you've got it too Oh, right. Tiggs dwarf. I'd say keep Lucius with you. Yeah, I'm going to go. Oh, man. Okay. You guys have this, right? Yes. Nova, you've got it too.

Yeah. I totally do. Come back to us. Yes, please, Nova. Come back to us. Thank you. Okay. He leads you off into the streets,

and you can hear the fighting as they begin making their way out of the palace. You've gathered a small, a good battalion of soldiers, but a lot of them are injured. And as you kind of, as they're gathering, you can see the, one of the, a very senior-looking medic. You can see she's wearing priestly robes. She has a symbol of Siasca, and there's a few priests of Valena around her as well. They are stood in the middle, and they seem to have, like, several kind of, like, healing potions and bandages and things like that but in the courtyard there are two groups there are the civilians there's about 200 of them um lots of injuries several of them have got broken legs or like they're limping they have young children with them um and then there are a group of soldiers now the soldiers have got armor, they've got weapons,

have injuries as well, and there is a disagreement. You can hear that the medics are like, we don't have enough supplies for everyone. Commander, thank goodness you're here. We have some limited healing supplies, but if we split them apart, it's going to do nothing. We can either give some amount of healing to the soldiers or to the civilians.

And the soldiers are like, we're the ones who are going to be fighting, Commander. We need to be in top condition. I understand that it's painful and uncomfortable for the civilians, but if they get in a fight, there's nothing that we can do about it. If we're in our best condition, we can at least fight. Some of the civilians step forward like, yes, but isn't it the idea that we need to be protected? If we get to the boats and we die of infections or diseases or our children don't make it,

then all of this is for nothing. What do we do? Okay, I can heal a few people. I have spells. I have... I've got my Leon hands. I can help there. Amanda, with all due respect,

I don't think you're going to have enough to do it. Anything you can do will be helpful. Anything your companions can do will help, but... I mean, we're talking about 300 people here, Commander. That's not enough for everybody. Can we at least spare some... Can we share it equally? So...

I just worry that that's not going to... It's not going to be enough, Commander. Like, you're going to basically be throwing resources at nothing. We can either get one group to fight and fit, or we can make sure the civilians are going to be fine when we can get them where we need them to be. But that's kind of it. I know it's a tough decision,

but we need somebody to make this call, Commander. Okay. Unless you and your companions have got something that you can do. Does Beacon of Hope work in that if they take a small amount of healing potion or something like a small amount of supplies they would restore a max amount like okay we still have to the whole thing has to be drunk to get the effect of the regardless of so you can't beacon of hope and be like have a sip yeah oh 2d 4 plus 4 i'll sit around everybody um i'm just

wondering if beacon of hope is the thing. I mean, you could certainly help. You can see that they have some clerics there, and if you spend some spell slots, 100% you can help. Those are your resources, right? If you're going to spend Lay on Hands and you're going to spend spell slots, you could definitely help. Maybe between the two of you, you could heal more than, you know, you could start helping both groups.

That's going to depend on how much of your resources you want to spend. So Beacon of Hope works on anyone within range. Within 30 feet all around me. So how many people could that be if everyone's just really holding? 30 feet around you? You could get most, a large quantity of them. You'd probably get like 20. 20 to 30 per time.

In 30 feet? Around right radius it's a 30 foot radius is it a 30 foot radius around you yeah or is it 60 feet wide circle 60 foot wide circle so imagine one person per five feet so 60 people squared squared yeah squared so 60 so 120 360 360 people yeah so you get yeah all of them is it is it a 30 foot radius or is it a 30 foot um the range slash area it says it's the 30 feet range but i always imagine range is 30 foot range is 30 foot out from you so radius yeah so it's 60 feet wide circle and it's every creature within 30 foot range any number of creatures within range and they can then recover max hit points from any healing okay

as long as they're standing in that when he does that spell then and then they heal and then it lasts no matter how they heal they'll get full so 360 people is basically one group so you can catch everyone in one group and the priests aren't high level priests like you so they're going to be

using like level 1 kill wounds and stuff like that yeah but it's better than them rolling a 2 yeah yeah absolutely but that's the thing is beacon of hope

is just going to maximise hit points you then have to heal 360 people so that's what the priests are mainly going to be doing. It helps at least. A group is

only as effective as its weakest member. Yeah. If we are up against a fight on the way, then the soldiers are the best option, because the soldiers are needed to fight. If we merely need to escape to the boats, we need everyone to be able to run. Yeah.

We don't know what's up ahead. No. Whether we're going to have forces attacking us or if we're just going to be hit from distance. I don't know. No. I agree. Okay. So what can we do?

It's dependent on who you want to... Well, who wants to be the best. Is it the soldiers or the people? The people are the ones we're trying to save. But the soldiers need to be saved. The soldiers are doing the saving for us as well. Yeah. How about get them to focus on the civilians,

get the civilians out of here. Quill and Sentry, you help the soldiers. Okay. Okay. We'll do that. That sounds good. Get the civilians moving towards that dock as soon as possible. Yeah. Okay.

Yep. You do what you can. How much healing do you want to spend? I'm going to spend as much as I can. So you spend all of your Lay on Hands. Do you want to spend spell slots or are you going to save those? Let's see. I can do...

Let's see. I've got level three cure wounds. That's... How many people is that? That's just one. Just one person. Cure wounds is one person's target. Yeah, I need mass healing for that.

I have got a mass healing word, but that's six people. I could do that a few times with a beacon of hope if I did that like three times and I'm burning four spell slots for beacon of hope and three mass healing words so 12 18 people from their healing words 18 out of 360

but they would have maximum healing from whatever they want to do as well, I suppose. And you've got other priests who are going to be going around and healing. And it's not just magical healing. Like, they have bandages. They have, like, you know, unguents. There's splints. There are also, you can see that people have, like, broken legs and things like that.

Heal the medics. Prioritize them. Okay. And they can help the civilians. Okay. Okay. Andize them. Okay. Then they can help the civilians. Okay. Okay. And other soldiers. Okay.

Both of you, so Sentry and Quill, make medicine checks for me. Medicine check? And Lucius, who do you want to help, Sentry or Quill? Because you were kind of like trying to identify people and stuff. I'm going to follow Sentry. Okay. So you have advantage, Sentry. Okay.

On your medicine check. 18. 18? 17. 18. 18? 17. 17. Both of you are skilled enough that, and with Lucius helping you as well, you can identify people that need it the most. And that's kind of the key thing here is you're finding the civilians

who have got things like they can't walk because their leg's broken, and so you prioritize healing them. People that have got, like, deliberate't walk because their leg's broken and so you prioritize healing them people that have got like deliberate like are literally bleeding you know there are a lot of people who are sick there are a lot of people who are scared in shock but they don't need healing they just think that they they're injured or they've got like cuts or like some people have got like a lot of superficial injuries that want healing, but they don't need it. And so with those checks and with Lucius helping, you manage to weed out, like, who actually needs the help and who doesn't.

With what resources you do have, and with the spells that you've spent and the Lay on Hands that you've spent, you can easily get the civilians to the point where they can run, they can move, they don't need any assistance. Okay. The soldiers look a little demoralized but

that's you know you they're ready to do what they need to do but they are injured they're hungry they look like they're in a in a bad shape century might i suggest those that are not psychologically ready for this they might might need a boost from someone that can lead them where the queen has failed them. You can see Sentry's... By the time you've done all this healing as well and stuff like that, you can see that Sentry's matrix is maybe about half

empty. And the darkness, you can see it's now kind of shrouding the outer parts of the town. You can see this just like oppressive darkness is closing in like a sphere as it circles in around you. So is it like the world is sort of fading away as it closes?

Okay. Okay. I'll... Century, you've got this. Okay. Strength. You're a leader. Okay.

A bit of guidance or something? Oh. Blessing? Like your job? I'll again stand beside Sentry and make sure that I'm holding the hammer and the lightning's around me and everything just in that I'm ready to go.

Okay, so you're not trying to scare them. No, I'm trying to hype them up and be on your side like I've got your backs. Okay. Menele, make a persuasion check for me. Oh, I'm not very persuasive. This isn't to succeed or fail. I just want to know how good a job you're doing.

17. That's fine. You can help Century with what she's trying to do. Go ahead. All right, so you have an extra d4, and you have advantage. Thank you. And then after you roll, tell me what you say. Okay, so I roll now.

So persuasion check with an extra d4 and advantage. Uh-huh. Well. Good job you had that advantage. That one was a one, yeah. So 16, 17, 18, 19, 23. Very effective. So what do you say?

Okay, I'm going to summon Find Steed and get Elko into the fray. You watch as this echo kind of emerges from your chest and this giant metallic celestial-looking elf kind of appears. He looms around, this single kind of amethyst eye looking around. And I'm going to get on his back.

King Theoden style. Yeah. Love it. You look like Legolas' dad. What's his face? Thranduil. You look like Thranduil. Yeah.

Cool. Elegant. Okay. This is our chance to make a difference. If we get these people out of here now, they'll be telling legends about what you've done today. Fighting Starbane. Starbane himself came to Solven, but we survived.

And we made it out. Our own queen has abandoned us. The queen's abandoned us. But we're stronger than her. We've faced Starbane head on. We're not going to let him defeat us today. We're going to escape. We're going to see a new tomorrow and we will be safe.

To a new tomorrow! Yeah, and a cheer goes around and you can sense that there is... There's that... Not a flame of hope. You can still see fear in everybody's eyes as they look up to you. But you've given them at least a chance, a spark of something to believe in. With that, the gates open and you see the soldiers rush out. The rest of you rush out as soldiers in black armor and creatures, demons clad in this armored kind of like frame. You can see these kind of giant golems kind of smashing their way through, begin pouring up to the palace, sensing an opportunity to attack giant barrages of magical fire come down from

one of the ships smashing into the palace around you as you all charge forward the fighting is brutal and the soldiers as injured as they are on their own they're not going to be able to buy you enough time without taking civilian casualties as you're trying to fight through the city streets, trying to make it down into a path, somebody's going to need to hold the line. What do you do? Okay. Ayla? Let me help.

You sure? Yeah. I'm real angry right now. Let me help. Okay. Go for it. You've got this. I'm going to rage.

And I am going to spot the biggest thing in my way and launch the howling tempest at it okay and just start off you hear the explosions of thunder and lightning crackling as you begin leading the civilians down and away the fighting erupting behind you you hear the lightning blasts you, the fighting erupting behind you. You hear the lightning blasts. You hear the impact. You hear the screams of soldiers behind you. As the men you left begin being torn apart by these forces. And as you glance back, you can see Aayla just being surrounded by these creatures.

Demons. Humanoids that you don't recognize, monsters, golems, just surrounding her, and you just see the last flash of her face as something deep grabs her head, and you just see blood spray as the bodies just collapse all in on Ayla. I just scream, like, Ayla! Like, just screaming as I'm like... It's like riding down towards the docks. As you begin making your way down,

you can see you come across a large open section of the city, maybe once was a market square, and you see dozens, hundreds of guardians dead. All of their matrixes ripped out. And you can see Starbane forces basically dragging some still living guardians away. Dragging them towards ships, transports. They begin calling out, calling for reinforcements as they see the civilians. And the guardians are like reaching out towards you as they see you on this giant elk this majestic leader kind of leading all of the the people of solving some of whom are guardians as

well you have some guardians amongst the civilians but you see a lot of these guardian soldiers being dragged away and one giant kind of gnoll like creature this giant like third hyena has got some sort of device and is scooping the matrixes out and as it does you just see the guardians kind of spasm and crack um as it kind of throws the the matrixes into some sort of like container like a bag of holding um and it begins being pulled away. And you can hear the guardians like, please, help! Because they're being dragged away. At this point, you also look up and you see the arc spire that you sent Nova to. And you see, for a brief moment,

you see this kind of power, this energy, kind of funneling up into the tower as it turns and rotates. And an arc, a brilliant white-blue beam, penetrates up and carves one of Starbane's ships in half, just as it begins firing down towards the docks. The ship collapses, and then you begin to see the power slowly creeping up as the arc spy begins recharging,

but not before another huge blast of energy just smashes into the top of it. An explosion just erupts into the sky as you see the tower crumbling and smashing to the ground. Falling apart. What would you like to do? Oh my god. I'm just like, what am I doing? What am I doing? Sentry, you're getting everyone to safety. This is what we need to do

if we can help in any way don't think of the few think of the many one of the few remaining kind of i guess like soldier guards that you have not really a soldier but more like a scout um comes rushing up like commander there's quite a few streets have been blocked on the way to the docks we don't know which way to go. We don't know what paths are safe. We need to figure out a way to get down there. We can't really get good visuals on it. There's some sort of miasma that's blocking our sight.

I don't know if it's any sort of magic that's blocking our way. Okay. Well, this sounds like a me thing. Okay. I can cast, I can detect magic. I can use the eye if you need the detect magic. I can use the eye. If you need the eye. You can't use the eye.

You can sense that that magic is not here. Okay. Whatever connection to Hespert doesn't exist here. I can fly up, but that makes me a target. I can try and guide you from above. Let me see. What can I do? What can I do?

What can I do? Quill and Lucius, you can see that Sentry's matrix light is... probably about a quarter left. The darkness has now completely enshrouded the rest of the city. I can cast Bless on you, so you get... you get some help if you... Whatever gets you where you need to be. We don't have time.

I will cast Arcane Eye and send that out. I will guide you from above. Just listen to the messages. And using the eye, I'll fly that one way, and I'll fly up to try and get an aerial view. And then you're going to telepathy ring safe paths and stuff like that. sort of fly that one way and I'll fly up to try and get an aerial view.

And then you're going to what? Telepathy ring like safe paths and stuff like that? Yeah, if that still works then yeah I'll sort of guide Sentry from above but that means flying up over the door. So Quill flies up. I'll cast Bless before he does it on him. Make a perception check for me Quill. What does Bless do? It gives you a d4.

It lasts longer in its attack rolls and stuff. Plus 8. 15. a d4 it's like guidance yeah but it lasts longer and it's attack rolls and stuff plus eight um 15 15 with quill guiding you from above it's actually he makes finding your way he helps you avoid several patrols of starbane forces um you can hear that there is a force pursuing you but with quill's guidance he manages to lead you. And just as you are making the final turns on the outskirts of the city, Quill, you kind of send down a series of messages, and then you just hear one loud... And the messages go silent.

Oh. Oh. Okay. But you can see just... You can smell the ocean. You can smell the water. The docks can't be too far, it's not too much further now. You push forward, encouraging everybody forward, even in these adversities.

And the darkness is now kind of shrouding all around you. Lucius, are any companions still by your side? Lucius, it's here for you. Your friends made that choice, okay? Okay. You are to become the prime. This is a test, a trial. To see that you can do

anything in the worst of scenarios. Don't forget that. Don't forget what your friends have done. I wouldn't have got this far without them. And we wouldn't have got this far without you. As Lucius' words hit, you crest and you look down into the docks. You can see that there are a few civilians boarding into a couple remaining transport ships, a few soldiers on the outskirts, like, come on, come on, begin rushing down.

Civilians, you and Lucius, all begin making your way. But as you are making your way down to the docks, all begin making their way. But as you are making your way down to the docks, a huge explosion eradicates the three remaining ships on the docks. This giant red flame, like meteors, just smash into the docks just as you begin arriving. Splintered wood just scattered everywhere. You can hear the cries and groans from a few remaining civilians

that were on the edges of these meteor impacts. And as you look up, you can see this force of Starbane's forces. And you see Calus at the head of it, looking down. A gauntlet raised, still kind of glowing red with the magic. His voice amplified. There is no more escape, Guardian. Your people have failed. Give them to me, and I will make them part of my empire. I will not give them to you.

Then they will die, Guardian. I am offering you a chance to save their life. You and the other Guardians, you will be used. Your Matrixes contain much power. Yours especially so. But I will ensure that the humanoids live. They will carry on. Don't listen to him, Sentry. Why is he killing innocents?

He doesn't need to. I am killing only those that have resist. Surrender now. These people weren't resisting. They're just trying to survive. This planet has been resisting, elf. Who are you? He's Lucius. How dare

you? He is no one. I am offering you one chance. Surrender. You and the Guardian come with me. The people I will protect. I will put them into my empire. Send them to a new world to begin a new life. You filthy murderer.

You disgust me. I'm going to cast my flame lance. Okay, so you kind of point the flame up at the lance and you kind of watch. It doesn't even hit him. Some sort of barrier around him just... A fatal error. Raises a finger at Lucius.

A green beam hits him and you watch Lucius just disintegrate in front of you. As this force just begins crawling down. As that last piece of light in your chest. The darkness begins closing as Lucius begins making his way towards you. You avail, guardian, as the darkness completely engulfs you. as the darkness completely engulfs you. You stand in the dark void of nothing for what seems hours, forever, years, you don't know.

Until one last voice in your head. The voice of Root Prime. The duty of a leader, of a protector, never ends. It is an eternal vigil that we and we alone

can stand against. To become the Prime means to become a light even in the darkest hour. The light erupts from your chest and fills a space. Your companions stand at your side. Oh my god!

You are stood on this broken ground the floor seems to be made of um the broken parts of uh solvent city streets you can still see uh dead starbane soldiers dead solvent soldiers on the ground. But the buildings and the sides seem to have just vanished into this luminescent fog. It's like standing on a floating piece of city street. Discarded weapons, things like that kind of scattered around. As you stand with your companions in this space. Where are we?

I mean, this is Solvin, but there's no battle. Oh, I feel tingly. Did we hear anything or did we cease to exist for a minute? You remember your deaths. But then there was nothing. It was darkness. And suddenly in in light you were fine sentry's light restored you you know you don't know how you don't know what this place means or what it does you don't know if it has any long-lasting effects certainly spell slots are still gone century i don't think this is, do you mark off one spell slot for dimension door?

Because I'm imagining you would have cast that at some point So what's left? Solvin is empty, it's ruined Where do we go now? I don't know Are there any doors? Is there an exit? You are stood on a broken piece of city street, floating in luminous fog. What does the light on Century's chest look like?

Full. It's glowing. It looks like the Matrix, the Prime Matrix. As you are waiting, many voices, that same voice, the hundreds of thousands of voices joined as one speaks again. The final trial. Prove that you can protect that with which you have been charged. That you have the strength and power to defeat those who would destroy it. And power to defeat those who would destroy it. And then the fog turns to black and crimson.

And you begin to feel this kind of rhythmic, pulsating beat. As you gather your allies around you. From the sky, descending downwards, a figure made of dark crimson light in the shape of callus, but warped, twisted. A single eye stands 17, 20 feet tall. A blade in its hand as it floats down, looms over this floating platform. Guardian, long has your pathetic kind dogged at my heels, like ants crawling upon a great beast.

My avatar, my old enemy made part of me, will wipe you from the universe and resign you to annihilation. That's where we're going to roll initiative. Yeah, I think so. I did not think we would get this far, so I didn't have my map

prepped, but I do have monster stats. The map is Circle, R Ruins Streets, right? Could we quickly make it? I think I could. Theory of the mind. Map break. We can theory of the mind. We can theory of the mind.

All right. So I wanted to make a cool map and get a cool miniature. I was going to do it this week because I didn't think we'd get this far, but it's fine. It's cool. You described it well enough. this floating stone platform is about no more than 60 feet by 60 feet it's like a stone circular platform with little bits of debris um a few bodies you can see star bane tech weaponry you can see a few like swords and shields and that sort of thing kind of scattered all over the place um but this figure this 17 foot tall kind of has

the silhouette of callus but it's all made from dark crimson red light and it carries this like elongated sword and it's just looking around as it as it freely. It can fly and move around in 3D space as it looks down on you. Bloody Hadarabeen. Hadarabeen, right. Don't like it. No. I don't like this one bit.

What was your initiative, Century? I just want to know. 12. Bad. Running counter. Here we go. Right. Initiatives for Luci know. 12. Bad. Running counter. Here we go. Right. Initiatives for Lucius.

7. Mine is not good either. Quill. 19. Aayla. 10. 10. That's all right.

Sentry. 12. 12. Nova. 16. 16. Auto roll initiative. Ooh. 16.. Sixteen. Auto-roll initiative.

Extend beyond. Extend beyond. Quillek and Kalar. Right. I don't have much by way of spell slots. It looms ahead of you. It's probably... Yeah. In fact, actually,

as you start your turn there, you take some necrotic damage. This thing is kind of looming at the edge of the platform. Actually, no, it would have loomed pretty much in the middle of the platform, basically. So at the start of your turn, you take eight points of necrotic damage. Okay.

Where are we in relation? So you are basically in a group together. I imagine you're all kind of stood together right in the middle of this 60 foot circular platform and it is right in front of you. It just lands in front of you. We're in the mental as well. Can I create

a spiritual weapon with a bonus action and then with my action I want to Sacred Flame it. Okay. Hit me up. You tell me what I'm doing. So you need to make a dex save for Sacred Flame. Fail.

Perfect. Actually, no. Minus 15. 15? 15, Sacred Flame, 16. Perfect, it fails. Yep, hits. 2d8, 5 Flame. 16, perfect, it fails. Yep, hits. 2d8, 5 damage.

Okay. You see as the light kind of streaks up towards it. It's radiant damage, if that helps. It does. It seems that as the kind of Sacred Flame hits this thing, it's like... It doesn't burn it, but you can see parts of its red light turn...

Almost seem to disintegrate and flicker away. It's like, ah! A cursed light of your pathetic titans. Ooh, doesn't like that. You think that is enough to stop me? You worship a false idol. A child pretending to be it is more than what it is. I am a true divine.

Spiritual weapon whacking. 20 hits 1d 8 plus 4 9 radiant damage okay I keep my spiritual weapon as well it's um your hammer again I'm just gonna come up it's easier yeah so again the weapon strikes at the thing as it kind I keep my spiritual weapon as well. It's your hammer again. I'm just going to count up. It's easier. Yeah, so again, the weapon strikes at the thing as it kind of tries to parry it, but you can see this thing is incredibly slow despite its size. It seems almost awkward in the way that it moves around and it tries to bring it down to parry,

but it kind of gets struck and reels backwards. While I'm at that, I want to fly up about 30 feet in the air. Yeah, sure. Oh, cool. What? Yeah. Cool, that's my turn. Cool. After Quill, we go to Nova. So, I'm just kind of trying to figure out

the wording of this. I want to create a wall of light. Okay. 60 feet long, 10 feet high, five feet thick where having a map would have been useful yeah i can use all these cool new things i have yeah but like if there's any creature in this area but i don't know what the area would be like obviously i don't want to count it says it says there yeah it says like how what the wall you create so 60 feet long 10 feet high uh 10 feet high five feet right thick. Could you? Thick, even.

Well, and that's the thing, is I can place the wall kind of, I can do it... It has to be continuous. Horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. So you could do 10 foot wide and 60 feet high. Yeah. But you've just flown up in the air, thanks, Bill. Yeah, but I didn't fly above him.

Yeah. So I just want to create it in a way that he would have to go through it and he's in the area. Well, I mean, he's pretty much next to you guys, so you can either create it on him, you to go through it and he's in the area well i mean he's pretty much next to you guys so you can either create on him you can literally create in his space okay and then it would stretch and then across the platform so you can basically split the circular platform into two halves or you can do one in the middle which is a vertical column yeah i think split

the platform in half okay Okay. Like, what? He has to come through it, though. Well, he can fly. Yeah, he can fly. So you can hit him with this initial blast. What if I do it so that it creates almost a barrier above us, so he has to come through a barrier? Right, but it's not like an infinite 60-foot high thing. No, no, no, but it's 60-foot high,

60-foot long, 10 feet high, 5 feet thick, but I can put it in every orientation. So it's only going to be 10 feet high. So you could create a box around you guys. I can put it in any orientation horizontally. You could make like a cube around you. Yeah. Yeah? More like a ribbon strip around us

basically. Yeah. At any point. But like just so it starts on him. You can make it start on him, yeah. Owie. Yeah. Yeah. I'm having problems visualising this, so you guys are going to have to help me.

You're making a wall of light, it's hurting him. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much that. So, like, yeah, he has to come through it. I mean, basically, rather than using the map cam, we can still use what I would have used for the wall of light. Yep.

Gathering pieces. So this is more for Kim's benefit than yours. So you literally have this. I'm a visual learner. Right? Because this is basically 60 foot long, 10 feet high. You can arrange that in a form that you want. Imagine you have like a 60 foot wide thing.

So can you make a circle out of it? Yeah, you can make a circle out of it, but he's still going to be able to get from above. He's like here. Yeah. Perfect. He can just go. Yeah, so can I, yeah. Just make a wall, circle around all the boys. This is the thing, making a wall like this is great if something can't fly.

Yeah. But the thing is, I can end the spell. I can reduce it. I can like, I can actually use it to like shoot radiance at him you can do you can make a box around you yeah yeah like that on him yeah can i because you can't box i want to box i want to box him it's not enough i mean he's 20 foot tall but yeah you can basically create a box in his square body. Yeah. Okay.

Can you make a constitution saving throw 17, please? 17, 22. That's, okay. So half damage. That's what's happening. There you go. Oh, Jesus. Oh, then switch to the top down.

That was the worst. Five, six, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. So eleven half is five. Takes a little bit more than that. That's the radiant damage. You can see it kind of, you try and contain it, like it kind of like scrunches him down as he's pressed down and then just kind of erupts. Not breaking the wall, but kind of like breaks free of it.

Okay. If he ends his turn there, he takes more and then I can also shoot him with stuff as well. Okay, cool. That's your whole turn? Yeah, can I move away so I'm not in this scrunchiness? You can move 30 feet away from the rest of the group. I don't want to be scrunched up.

Sure, yeah. Sentry? I'm going to cast Moonbeam on him. Okay. Level 3. Let's see if I can make a con save of 14, please. 30. Oh, okey-dokey. Half. Level 3. Let's see if I can make a con save of 14, please. 30. Oh, okie-dokie. Half damage he owes.

He's got a lot of 5, 8, 9. He got health. 16. 16 damage. 16. But half because he passed the saving through. That is half. No, yes, no, it's 8. Yeah, sorry. So 8, and then it's actually doesn't matter because it's doubled again. So he basically takes the full 16. Radiant. So eight, and then it actually doesn't matter because it's doubled again. So he basically takes the full 16.

Radiant. So radiant damage is doubled against him. It certainly seems to be that the divine power of the Matrix and of the gods does indeed seem to be anti-Angong, seems to be harmful to it. I'll take extra from mine because mine's radiant. I did.

I appreciate the lore way of explaining divine hurt more. Yeah. The light, you can see it hates it. It's less that it's hurting it more, but it just sees every time this

radiant light, it's like, I will consume this light and turn it into darkness. I will destroy everything. I will consume you all. Did Nova and Century take necrotic damage? Nope, they should have done, which I will roll now. Thank you,

Tom. It's alright. Good boy. I took it. Nova, what do you do? That's 13 necrotic damage. Cool. Ooh, Nova. What do you do? That's 13 necrotic damage. Cool. Sentry, you take...

Does my hand absorb it? 12. Nope. Necrotic damage. And then do you want to move towards him or do you want to move away from the group? Because you currently have Sentry, Lucius and Aayla still kind of in a group.

Quill is 30 feet up. Nova is 30 foot to the side. And he's right in front of the group of you. Yeah, so I'll move closer to the box and I'll be somewhere. Well, yeah, you can stay where you are if you just want to stay in front of him. Yeah, I'll stay in front of him. If you lock him in place there, that's perfect. Ayla.

Oh, hello. So you weren't that bad. Yeah. Oh, I'm an idiot. What? At the end of Sentry's turn I'm going to use a legendary action right

okay uh and he will make a blade attack against Sentry okay okay

I'm an idiot I got so thrown off by this being an encounter that I was just like uh uh that is a 17 to hit

does not hit clashes against her majesty's rose as you bring it up to parry as this kind of blade of energy strikes down at you Ayla hi so have I thrown the hammer because we did the simulation thing

but I didn't actually but we didn't actually. You threw a hammer. But we didn't actually do it. Yes, you did. You did do it. And you died being torn apart by a horde of Starbane forces. That's pretty bad. And then you were reborn. These guys spent their spell slots. Okay, so I can't really do much because of the

wall around him. You can. You can move through the wall. Yes. So I'm not going to do that. Well, don't do that then. Because it's going to hurt me to move and hit him. So I will step round to... That doesn't mean I want to actively go through other people's spells. It hurts to keep Andrew Turner. So could I...

Or the first time you move into the wall, I believe, as well. Yeah. Just whack. No. When the wall appears. When the wall appears. Okay. A creature that ends its turn in the

wall's area takes 4d8. Objects and people can pass through it, you just don't have line of sight. So it's like you can move through it, but it blocks line of sight as well. It's interesting. So you can't see to attack. It says the wall blocks line of

sight, but creatures and objects can pass through it. It emits bright light. Which means that you can't see through the box. But he's bigger than the box. But he's talking through it. Yep. But I'm going to say if you try and attack him you're still at disadvantage because it's only his top half that you can see out of it. You don't know where his body actually is.

Well, but if you go through it though. Yeah. As long as you don't end your turn. Just whack him! I'm going to... Yeah I'm going with creature. A creature that ends its turn in the walls area takes 4d8. So should he have taken damage? It says when it first appears, yeah. When he first appears, he takes damage.

And then when you end your turn. And then when he ends his turn there, and then I can also use my action to shoot him with the wall. Right. I'm going to... You've got a bow. I can't see him, though. You can see his top half.

But I'm at disadvantage. For ranged attacks, I'd say you'd be fine. If you're shooting his top half, I can't see him though. You can see his top half. But I'm at disadvantage. For ranged attacks, I'd say you'd be fine. If you're shooting his top half, I'd say you're okay. You'd get a bit of cover. I'd give him some cover. It's going to be hard to hit. He's a big boy. He's a big boy. A stained glass

window is hard to hit. I'm going to rage move to... I don't know if I get rage damage on this though. Because we didn't... I don't know if I get rage damage on this, though. Because we didn't... You don't get rage damage on bows. That's fine, but I can still rage and attack, and because I'm attacking, it doesn't cancel my rage. So I will rage, and then I will move to the other way around that Nova went,

so that I'm separating from the pack. And I will shoot twice at him with the bow so one's a natural 20 jeez so and the other one is 20 to hit

so is 20 to hit. Hits. Damn. So, d8 plus 4, so... 12 minimum. 12 for the damage on the crit, and then another d8,

which is a 7. So 19. On that one. One more, because you have Brutal Critical. One more for Brutal Critical, which is also a 7. You got that yeah

26 yeah and then the second shot is four plus four which is eight

32 32 total damage yeah okay I'm gonna half all of that oh

15 16 cool cool still 32 damage cool cool as the arrows kind of dig into its flesh it kind of like wait no no Oh. 15, 16. Cool, cool, cool. Still 32 damage. Cool, cool, cool. As the arrows kind of dig into its flesh, it kind of like... Wait, no, no, no. Plus more, because they're magic arrows. So each of those had plus two, so...

It's just an extra four damage, which is halved again to two. Yeah. And another two for the crit. No. No, that wouldn't have been... Doesn't get that. No. Never mind.

The arrows kind of strike in as you can see its form kind of recoil from these arrows and just kind of like... Like insects. You think you're so strong, elf of Alfheim. But are you really? At the end of your turn, it's going to use its second legendary action to reach a hand out and you watch as Aayla is washed in black light that just extends out. When the light which completely covers Aayla finishes,

you see Aayla, you can barely stand. Your strength and constitution are now 8 you can see that Ayla has been reduced in size like her form looks seems smaller like her clothes are barely like clinging to her she seems younger almost like weak she looks like a young girl

like a kind of teenage girl like younger and weaker and your strength and con are 8 you lose 9 hit points is this permanent? you don't know. Y'all got due to. What do I do? Oh my God, you've reduced her strength and combo by 10 each.

Yes, and as you look down. What do I do? You, like your hammer, you can't lift it. You can't lift the Howling Tempest. Your gear is nearly weighing you down. You can barely move. And you see these shadowy figures appearing around Aayla, these kind of elven-looking figures,

wearing this black and red tartan around Aayla. Weak. Can never be one of us. Pathetic. Oh, I know what he's doing. I know what he's doing. Do I have to adjust this on DDB on, because I don't know

how to... No, just... Just leave it for now? I mean, basically, you can't even lift your hammer at this point, even though your strength's doing. Do I have to adjust this on D&D Beyond because I don't know how to just leave it for now? I mean, basically you can't even lift your hammer at this point. Even though your strength's 8. So I can't do anything. You can't. Well, not with your strength. You can't. You have no strength. I would make it lower. In fact, yeah, let's make it lower. It's now 6 strength. You can barely move.

You can tap on your ability and do an override score. Should I do that? Sure, do that. Everyone got that text from Mark, right? Yeah, everyone got that text. On its go... Yeah, here we go.

My fear is being level 20. Yeah, that's what I said. On its go, it will point... It will move out of the box, basically. It flies up into the air, looks down, looks around at the targets. The bomb. Make a constitute, no, a, nope, I make an attack roll. How many hit points did you say that was, David?

Lose nine. You still have bless. As in lose nine total? 27 to hit. Yeah. Yeah, have bless. As in lose nine total? 27 to hit. Yeah. Yeah, 27 hits. 27 hits. Double check.

No, yeah, yeah, it does, yeah. Scene. 23 cold damage as you are struck by a ray. Ice cold, like the... It brings back fears and memories of Aegis V and that ever-expanding astral sea

and the cold that emanated from it as this strikes your body and it kind of like slowly begins turning its body towards the rest of you. You will all die here for your pathetic attempts to help the Guardian. It will just simply move out the box,

do its cold, and then it's Lucius' go. I'm going to say to Sentry, don't forget this is a trial. Okay. Is it anymore? No. How do you know that I have not infected your precious prime?

Perhaps this was all a trap all along. cast... How do you know that I have not infected your precious prime? Perhaps this was all a trap all along. I'm going to cast Cone of Cold and use my reaction to augment it to Radiant. Oh! Oh!

Can you do that? I think it says in the thing you can only turn it to one of your Dicromancy options. I think you can turn... You can turn Radiant in the thing you can only turn it to one of your dichromancy options. I think you can turn radiant into cold. You can't turn cold into radiant. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, because that would make sense. Because those are the two elements you can master. You can turn other energy into those two forms.

In which case, I will do a chromatic orb at level 5, which is radiant. But you don't get that chromatic scene. Okay, go for it. 16 plus fucking lots. Big hit. Lots.com.

Fifth level. 78. Oh my god. Nice. This is a big hit, by the way. How many D8s? 78 of raid damage. Do you need any more? No, I've got more. So you've got an 8.

I've got it. Oh. It's all right, Sid. I think we've got five minutes. 38 damage. 38. Yeah. 60.

76. Oh damage. 38. Yeah. 60. 76. Oh, my God. Don't listen to it, Sentry. Just the lightning. It's burning patches of it away. Real life must fight it. Okay, let's take it down. Yeah.

Anything else on your turn, Lucius? I think that's good. Okay, Quillek. down Yeah, anything else on your turn, Lucius? I think that's good Okay, Quillek I will Let my spiritual weapon attack Because that just does that Freely now, does it? As a bonus action

I'll do a bonus action to the spiritual weapon Sure 16 plus 8 So yeah, that hits Look at you racking up all your little damage aren't you sweet 8 plus 4 so 12 so 24 damage to him

24 radiant that was radiant yeah great job and then I'm beginning to sense it doesn't matter guys we do our best he just wants to steer us all. I'm going to level five Guiding Bolton.

Okay. Plus eight. I'm going to use Portent, which is a 12. That turns it into 20. So that's a guaranteed hit. Yeah. 8d6. Nice.

Nice, nice, nice, nice, nice. You got enough there? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Your next attack, it will. Five, six, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 8 Nice Oh boy, oh my god We're all mostly 5s

6, 11 16 21 27 32, 33 38 times 2 is 76

Jesus We've got the same We've got the same Oh my god And also advantage on the next hit Nice Next advantage on the next hit At the end of your turn, Quill

I'm going to use a legendary resistance Not a legendary resistance A legendary action Do I take necrotic? You would, actually, yes In fact, Lucius would have done this as well Do Lucius's first Six, you would have taken eight necrotic

Lucius, and then Quill Ten necrotic Oh, now both of you have hurt it really badly. Who thinks it can deal with you? Oh, could I fly away at the end of my turn as well? Sure. You fly 30 feet away. Let's call it 60. Sure, 60. Sure.

It recoils from Quill's energy. Pitiful little creatures. Do you think anything you do matters? You're all failures. Pathetic little failures. He grips one hand, and Lucius, you feel your eyes beginning to sear with pain as you watch Lucius's eyes become full of black.

Your vision turns black and white. You can no longer see your allies. You can no longer hear them. The only thing you can see, you can see the world begins to shimmer. And you see, in place of them, four undead figures. Your father, your mother, Edea, and Norfyr. These kind of wretched zombies. He's like, Lucius, join us. You let us die.

Your fault. At the air. Aw, that was a legendary action, so we go to Nova. Blue. So I'd like to cast Hexblade Curse, yada yada, and then I guess I get advantage. I'm going to use the Wall of Light to shoot a beam at him, which, yeah, within 60 feet.

Mm-hmm. Okay. So plus nine. 19 on one. So do I get crit rolls? Because that's a crit now for me. Perhaps, yeah. So 48 damage.

Maximized is 16, 32. Then roll 40, what is it, 48? 48. Oh, my God. Wait, what did you just do? I got a crit. She got a crit on her beam of light. Oh, because of a 19.

So that's 32, and then I need four extra for my hex curse as well. Is that 32, sorry? That doesn't get doubled. No, no, it doesn't get doubled, but I'm just adding it now. So 32, 33, 34, 35, 36. And then this. Oh my god. Well, the hex blade damage is different though, isn't it?

It's not radiant. No, it's not radiant. So 32. 58 total. Is that with the four from before? It's with everything totaled. Okay. So take four off.

So what was that? 52 you just said. And then the 32 plus this. That, which is 58. 58. Yep. Okay, that's 58, is it? Yeah.

Okay. And then plus four if you want. Yep. Cool. The four doesn't do anything without that four. Oh, so 54 doubled is then... The four doesn't do anything without that. Oh, so 54 doubled is then... You get struck by another beam of light

as it just kind of is just like, pathetic, useless gnats, worthless. Seems very mad. I don't like that you didn't even count. I did. No, I did. 108. Yep.

Chipping away. He doesn't even have a health bar. I mean, century. He had a con save of 30 earlier. He's got health. How high up is he? He's like, he would have flown his full movement, so 50 feet up in the air.

You can see, like, Lucius. Like, how are Lucius and Aayla reacting at this point? I'm kind of paralyzed. I don't really want to approach my party members. You can't see them. You can't see anything except the four undead. I don't want to approach them. I'm kind of paralysed by them. Yeah. So you can see like Lucius

darting around. His eyes are just like smoking black. Like he's just it doesn't look like he can see any of you. Aayla, what's Aayla doing? She's probably trying deliberately to not look at any of the figures around her and just trying to push herself up off the ground you can just barely get up but you can see

her arms are shaking and like her clothes are all loose on her body is like she's desperately trying to get up and she's probably looking at Sentry and saying I'm sorry I'm so sorry Sentry okay can I move Okay, can I

move Lucius, can I like push Lucius towards Aayla and then can I just stand just in front of them? Grab Lucius towards Aayla and just stand in front of them. Which one is Sentry? Oh, that's true, yeah.

So it'd probably be... Which undead family member is trying to grapple me right now It would probably be your mother actually Mum no please Just leave me I'll be like it's okay it's okay I'm sorry I let you down I'll just move from next to Aayla

And I'll just stand over them And just hold my shield up in front of them Okay yeah That's what you want to do Yep I'm going to try my best To get the bow And that's... Yeah, okay. That's what you want to do? Yeah. Aima? I'm going to try my best to get the bow and just from, like, probably push myself up to my knees and just shoot it.

Sure, make it with disadvantage. By the way, the wall has lost ten feet. Just... Okay. Twelve plus... Twelve plus... 12 plus 12 plus 3 4, 5 12 plus 5

17 Do the damage but don't add any modifiers so just roll the weapon damage The modifier is minus one. No, it's... This is dex, because it's a ranged weapon. Oh, right.

So just roll the... My dex has been reduced. Yeah. No, it hasn't. It's just... It has. You reduced my dex, didn't you? No, it's my strength.

Oh, you reduced my card. Okay. Whatever reason, just roll the weapon die. Three. Three points. Okay. So you watch as Aayla desperately kind of tries to lift this bow, but she can only

just barely pull it to half strength and this arrow does kind of fly out and her aim is true, but the arrow just kind of like almost just nicks the creature, like just pings it basically. Anything else? At the end of your turn, you can make a wisdom saving throw.

You get a plus two from me. You do. Oh, charisma, sorry. Charisma saving throw. Even worse. I'm good at this. Oh, don't worry, it changes. Fourteen?

Nope. These voices are getting in your head. Just weak, useless, abandoned child. You have no place anywhere. These people are no family. These whispers just leaking into your ears. Essentially, you can hear these spirits. They're speaking to Aayla and you can almost see, like, shackles

to each of these spirits bind to Aayla, like to her arms and legs, and she's just kind of like holding her hands up to her ears as they speak. Okay. Right. I'm just going to do one, two more things and then we're going to have to finish up today on its turn. and legs and she's just kind of like holding her hands up to her ears as they speak um right I'm just going to do one two more things and then we're going to have to finish up today on its turn uh oh at the end of Ayla's turn

it will make one blade attack against Sentry as well it will uh actually no it can't because it's flying up yeah it's 60 feet away it's flying up so on its turn it will uh look at Quill uh and consume make a con save for me Quill and consume. Make a con save for me, Quill.

Con save? That's the worst save. 11. Ooh, you take. God, that was rubbish. 12 points of necrotic damage. And you can see as it drains the life out of Quill, some of those bits of it that have been disintegrated

kind of slowly reform. That's my blood. It's my blood. Lucius. I need that. On your turn, you can see this horrifying undead figure. One is on the ground next to you. It's Edea.

Her form's all broken, and she's reaching out to you. It to your replaces Ayla and then your mother is kind of just looming over you I'll probably try and slip from my undead mother's grass you can do that no I let you all down I'm sorry you scrabble away cuz the ground yeah that's not gonna do anything else no cool perfect at the end of your turn you can make a, you get to make a wisdom saving throw. It's not necessarily worse.

No. It's still mental. It's not going to make you do a strength save. Seven. Seven, yeah. The effect still remains. And with that, we're going to have to end today's session.

Oh my god. God. Damn it. Yes. I did send a little message to everyone this week. Yeah, I think we all got the same, what is your character's biggest fear? I said Mark Hulmes.

I said, wow, no. A big giant Mark Hulmes appears! Consequences! And with that, we're going to have to shoot. Have fun, bye! Bye! Bye! Bye bye!

Bye! Bye bye! Bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye