High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #66 | Rock and Gnoll (Part 1)

Episode Date: April 6, 2020

The team accept a bounty on some Gnolls attacking a vineyard! 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. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? It's hard to make time for the things that keep you healthy, but being consistent with self-care is like working a muscle. And when life gets crazy, that muscle keeps you strong.

Therapy is the ultimate self-care, and BetterHelp makes it easy to get started with affordable online sessions you can do from anywhere. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com to learn more. That's BetterHelp.com. Visit BetterHelp.com to learn more. That's BetterHelp.com. elf sorcerer hi i'm riannon i'm playing sentry i am a guardian paladin hi i'm katie i'm playing ayla a wild elf barbarian and i'm kim i'm playing nova who is an air ganassi and she is a hexblade warlock thanks to our regular sponsor dnd beyond the official dungeons and dragons tool set create your free account and speed up your campaigns today Hello, welcome back to Erois. Last time on our adventures, you all decided to explore the city of Porto Servano, acquiring

a few little trinkets and tasks you needed in the Hawksdawn Archipelago, whilst repairing and resupplying your airship before embarking on your next journey to help Nova locate the next shard of Tiangong, her weapon. Quilek began the task of contacting many of

your allies or potential allies with a secret code to help beginning gathering information about callus and his forces and working together that night you were joined by some of the storm chasers crew at the devil's dance inn where you Taker, a total mercenary turned tavern keeper, and joined in with a combat challenge beneath the inn itself. Aayla and Century both winning their respective matches and making a little coin on the side for the party. You also met Sister Meredith, a dwarven nun from the Ventare Solorense, who has sought your help in clearing out a few gnolls that have been harassing the vineyards that

she is from. And I believe that is pretty much where we left things off with Quilek sending his next salvo of sending spells to various people across the rest. It was absolutely a salvo.

everyone we've ever met ever it was absolutely a salvo um yeah and yeah uh they got a message yes they did uh you had had you had responses from pretty much everybody um of mixed results um some people not quite fully understanding what was going on. Some people very much aware of what's going on. And some people who you're still not sure. We're on the same side. Come on. Right? With that, is there anything in the evening

you want to go down? Because I know Kim had some plans, but then I dashed them with a fact. I misread something. We can just wait. We can wait for another day.

There's no rush. I'll just think about it. In that case, you all enjoy a peaceful long rest at the Silken Maiden, I believe you were staying at, to meet with Sister Meredith in the morning down at the docks to head to the Vintare Solorense, or the Sisterhood of the Vine, as they are called. Can I find the owner of this establishment, please, when I wake up in the morning?

Yes. find the owner of uh this establishment please when i wake up in the morning yes um when you wake up in the morning the most of the day-to-day care of the silken maiden is attended to by staff and servants so it's you have to request to speak to the owner um and after you probably have you're probably left waiting for about sort of 20 minutes. Um, and eventually this kind of very well, very well dressed dwarven woman. Um, she's wearing less extravagant clothing than when you first saw her on the first evening you were here, but she's none,

nonetheless like heavy makeup hair is very much styled and, and prepared. Um, but in kind of a much more looser, more comfortable clothing yeah comes down to meet you in the main sort of area of the inn or the hotel more

it is hello yes sir you requested my presence you must be very busy see you for 20 minutes well sir I do not often need to attend to the matters of the hotel. The staff are here to take care of these businesses.

I was engaging in my normal morning beauty regimen. Oh, my apologies. Sorry for interrupting. I know how important that is. Anyway, I noticed that when we first had a dialogue, and we suggested that we wanted the best rooms possible, I noticed just down the road, down the corridor, that there's slightly better suites available. And I'm wondering why we weren't offered those. And I'm wondering why we weren't offered those. Well, sir, there are several guests already renting those rooms. And, well, the amount of gold that you presented upon your person,

we gave you the best rooms that your money would afford at the time. Oh, you made an assumption. My apologies. We have vast amounts. The assumption was based on the gold that you provided. Fair enough. You're saying that they're already rented out right now. Some of them are.

If you require an improvement to your accommodations and are willing to pay the 50 gold for the room, then you can have that for the evening, sir, if you wish. It's too much trouble to request a spa in my room. I don't think you'd be able to facilitate

that. Certainly not, sir. I was just hoping to dip my toesies into a little hot tub or something. Well, there are the bathrooms above. We can have a bath prepared Certainly not, sir. I was just hoping to dip my toesies into a little hot tub or something, you know? Well, there are the bathrooms above. We can have a bath prepared for you, sir. Is it shared? Why, for the non-sweets, yes.

But that is most common, sir. Is it? Okay, well, never mind. I won't interrupt you any further. But if the vacancies come up, let me know. Certainly, sir, certainly. And she kind of is just like, In the future, you can speak to the staff about any of these matters. You don't need to come and speak to me.

Right. They'll be able to facilitate your accommodation. Right. Fair enough. And she kind of like fans herself, smiles kind of politely, and then, yeah, fucks off. Back to her room. I think that went well.

Yes. I'll just wait for everybody else then. Literally just complain to the manager. Oh, my God. Not even like the manager. It's like complaining to the owner who owns it and employs the man other managers to run it basically but just lives on site um yeah the others like yeah i leave this in your hands like as you guys what order you come down or what other shenanigans

you want to get up to um this is all handed over to you guys for this. I am a late riser, as always. Nova never does mornings, so I'll be last down. Okay. I'll be prying into my bed. I'll be eager to come down. Okay. Yeah, I think we're just ready to roll, aren't we?

Yeah. If there's nothing you guys want to do, if you guys just want to literally just skip straight ahead, we can do that. Just giving everyone an opportunity if there was anything you want to do. Don't think so. I think we're just going to go and meet at the boat.

Yeah, I think that was also letting like, Uriah and as much of the crew know where we're going. Were you still... That's easy enough to just you can either hide you can either like pay like a couple of silver someone to send a message or you could just walk to the airship docks and let people know um it's really not hard um you still currently have a day left um of the resupply and sort of like the basic kind of shore leave that you gave the crew.

After that, then obviously, yeah, you're gonna I think you did give her some money for her to pay for any extra days that need to be covered. But yeah, you'll just need to be back within 24 hours. Can we give Araya instructions that

if we're not back that she pays for another day? Like obviously deals with so we don't get the ship unpounded. Yeah, sure. And I think you gave her something like 50 gold or something like that to cover any extra stuff like that. And she has her own money. She'll just ask you to reimburse her, basically. Yeah, you go and find her in the ship.

The ship is mostly quiet, actually, because I think a lot of the resupply has been done and now you're just kind of letting the crew have some time off. Oriya, Grey Lano, probably Herald. No, Herald would actually be with the blacksmiths getting their repairs done. So yeah, it's mainly Oriya, Grey Lano,

and then a few of the Wolfpack who are basically on guard duty for the airship to make sure that nobody tries and sneaks aboard or steals supplies and things like that um and yeah they're just they're just waiting they're just biding their time basically um oraya is busying herself checking you know making sure that everything's good to go you you give the instructions and let her know what you're going to be doing, and that's pretty much it. You are, you know, good to go. Nice. Cool. Okay.

You make your way down into the port, and the Porto Sivano is where the upper sections of the city are busy for a trading perspective. They are bustling with merchants and trading stands and things like that, and it's all mainly artisan goods. You see a lot of, like, tailors. You see a lot of, like, silk and dye merchants, spices, all sorts of different trade goods being brought in from ships and airships

and then traded off elsewhere. But as you get closer to the docks and this strong smell of brine and creaking sodden wood kind of fills the air the call of gulls echoes overhead um you see that the port itself is much more of a laborer kind of industry here there's a lot of shipwrights that uh repair sailing ships um things like sail makers rigging makers net makers fishermen all sorts of fish are being brought in from the sea from the from the daily from the morning catches things like that um and it's you know there are people going to and fro with lumber and ropes and tools um and it's it's crowded it's busy despite the fact that this isn't necessarily trade but work going on and you

can see that there are dozens of ships all lined up along the docks quite large galleons quite large sailing ships um trading vessels merchant vessels that sort of thing um and you find uh standing sort of at the main entrance to the docks themselves kind of nervously looking around is a rather young looking dwarven woman uh in a black robe with kind of a white um uh what's it called uh like a stole around her neck um she has like a wimple hat on um and is clutching what looks to be like a holy symbol in her hand she has a very rough looking backpack on her back um and is looking around and hasn't spotted you seemingly unawares clueless of the larger crowd um but you recognize her as sister meredith the one that asked you to the one that is hiring you i guess is the the one that is directing you to the the vineyards oh look this is look hello sister uh as soon as she she hears she kind of like waves and she looks over like

oh and then she kind of like adjusts her straps and begins kind of making her way over she has to kind of like i politely say oh excuse me and kind of weaves her way through the crap crowd as she makes uh her way over to you like oh oh well uh good morning uh everyone um i hope you uh you slept well i trust yes yes yeah very well thank you very well excellent um my boat's just uh just down here if you're ready to go i i can begin the the journey it shouldn't take us more than a couple of hours to to reach uh the the vineyard very well yes lead the way all right and then she kind of turns around um and you follow her down she leads you to the far end of the docks and down a set of stone stairs where you can see a smaller jetty

where quite a few almost skiff almost like yacht uh not quite yachts but like um the catamaran style boats are stationed um and they all appear to be kind of like coastal sailors so meant for island hopping not meant for really going across deep water or large open oceans um there is a very gnarled looking old orc uh who is at the the um tiller and has like a bunch of ropes kind of tied off near him um and he kind of looks up you can see that most of his hair is gone he just has a few wispy strands of white hair in a very yoda-esque manner around his head and ears um he doesn't wear a shirt he basically just has a small, kind of almost like a loincloth, almost, of fabric. And then

he just has a pair of sandals on. And he looks up. He's like, kind of gestures towards the boat. This way, this fine man is going to take us to the island, to the vineyard. Okay.

Okay. It should be a nice easy ride. I'm told that the seas and the wind are quite fair this morning, so it should be quite a pleasant little sail, I think, actually. Does it rock a lot? Well, it was a little rocky when I was coming here a few

days ago. We don't have an air-based one, do we, that we could use? She kind of looks awkwardly at the rest of you like, is he serious? I've just never been on such a little boatie before, you know?

You can sit in the middle, Lucius. It'll be fine. Right. I'm always up for new adventures. I don't want to throw up when we're supposed to be fighting gnolls. He's not going to sit in the middle. He'll sit on the edge because if he throws up on me, then he'll get slapped. And throw me into the water. The wild elf is right.

I have the elven man sit on the side. I don't want him puking on my boat. Okay. Sure. Okay. Sure. Absolutely. He kind of, like, watches you all get in. Who has experience sailing, or who has anybody,

have any of you really been on boats before or anything like that? I've got proficiency in water vehicles, apparently. Does that make sense? There we go. Well, that's because you're a messenger, right? So you would have been trained in certain science. You can't fly across an ocean as an alcoa.

It'd be miles. So you are trained in how to use things like carriages and ships and the basics of how these things function so you can use them when you're traveling. So, Quill, you've got the most experience. And yeah, these kind of boats, it's going to be a little choppy. So there are actually kind of like rope straps that you tie around yourself that are basically there to stop you from getting thrown around too much.

Okay. You'd be the only one who knows that the mast for this type of boat is going to constantly swing, so everybody is expected to crouch and fall down. One of those, okay. Okay, Lucius, Sentry, and

Ayla, Nova, you won't need to worry about this. This mast, just make sure you duck, okay, Lucius, Sentry and Ayla Nova, you won't need to worry about this This mast, just make sure you duck Okay, Lucius Throwing up is one thing, getting knocked out by that as it swings around, that's another thing entirely We really don't want that If I fell in, I'd sink Confidence, Quill

It'd be worse if you get hit by it Okay Is it not designed to, you know, when we sit down to not hit us? okay true is it not designed to uh you know when we sit down to not hit us i mean no design for speed it's gonna get us there everything's fine keep head down okay head down okay i'll just keep my head down i mean it would probably break over Sentry's head. Yeah, that's true.

When you say that, the orc was literally about to say the same thing. You see him like, Birdman, beat me to it. Head down, all the way. Yeah, don't break the ship. All right. Little dwarf to the Vintare. She's just like, oh, yes, yes, please.

As we agreed, Nisa. Basically, he gets like a big stick and he pushes out away from the docks and then the sail kind of hitch some of the water uh the wind and you see if you begin to feel the boat rock up and down and it's it's pretty choppy in that sense of like it's such a little boat and you're so low you're constantly kind of like up down up down um okay but as the wind kind of catches and you begin sailing out away from the the port itself where a lot of the water is being churned up by these big ships and leaving and entering the water does seem to calm down as you stretch out onto what is very beautiful turquoise blue water around these islands the water is crystal clear and it has this

wonderful turquoise coloring that just seems to stretch out and it glistens beautifully um and across the next couple of hours there are no dangers really um with quill kind of like advising you to keep your heads down and the Orc kind of giving you grunted instructions. The journey goes fairly smoothly. You pass by the outskirts of an island seemingly between your two destinations. There is a large castle built into the cliff face of the southern part of the island.

And it's all these white stone cliffs and the fortress is carved out of the same foundations and the same structures. And you can see these large metal canisters seem to be pointing out in a semicircle out onto the open ocean. And there are several layers of these weapons all being pointed out into the sea.

And the orc kind of points at it as you're all looking, and he's like, the sea. And the orc kind of points at it as you're all looking and he's like, Castella Falcos protects the island chain from pirates. I was going to ask, this

Hawkstorm is known for piracy. I was going to ask what sort of defense you have for that in the middle of the Hawkstorm. I suppose that's it. Very much. The cannons, they'll decimate any sailing ships that come by. Okay.

Many of the pirates, they patrol the outsides of the other islands, but they know that if they cause too much trouble, then the Duke will send an orc fleet to deal with them. And he kind of grins at that. Like, we don't like pirates, especially our own kind. How do you know who is a pirate and who isn't a pirate? Is it some kind of safe word, some code, something like that? Costume.

Signals. Signals. Signals. They change, but genuine traders know them. Sometimes the pirates learn them, disguise themselves, but they pick up a bad reputation. Also, most pirates,

they like to know, they like people to know that they're pirates. Like causing fear, like being famous. Most pirates, they like to know, they like people to know that they're pirates. Like causing fear, like being famous. Right. Fascinating story! He kind of like spits over the side as he begins pulling in the ropes. And you can see, despite his age, this old sailor is still very, you able-bodied he's still got very tight muscles

even though they're covered in these like old thin gray hairs um and he pulls on the ropes and swings the mast and maneuvers the tiller quite expertly he doesn't seem to need any help from you guys you're just left to sit there and kind of enjoy the the the ride itself and i'm just being pointed at us yeah yeah and you are definitely centuries, like, Quill, with your eyesight, you can see that there are centuries all around this large castle, basically. It's like a fortress castle keep that looks out

onto the open ocean. But you sail past it, seemingly with no troubles, and you can see that the land here is... I would describe it best as Mediterranean, if you've ever seen Italian hills or Greek coastlines. it's kind of got those white stone uh cliffs and rocky outcroppings and shrublands and things like things like that um and then within the after about sort of four or five hours of travel uh you begin to see the coast of a third island um as you swiftly approach and that has very sheer

cliff faces and you are taken towards what would be the northwest corner of one um and you see at the very top you can just begin to make out lines of thick hedges and the shapes of buildings um up up on the the top of these top of these tall mountains and cliffs. It seems to form into a sloping valley that leads down. The boat, the little catamaran, pulls up alongside a small stone and wood jetty

where there is a narrow stone staircase that leads up to the top of these cliffs. The catamaran, the orc sailor brings it in, hefts on the tiller, throws out a rope towards the jetty and hooks like a little anchoring point and begins

manually sort of pulling the boat in. He kind of probably would turn to sentry on Aayla at this point and just kind of like toss the spare bit of the rope like and begins like pulling in so that the boat slowly drifts in. And yeah, it connects to the dock and

Meredith is like, alright, well, this is it. We just need to go up here and then walk through the gardens and then we'll be at the monastery and the abbotess should be there and then she can give you more information. Okay. How long have you been away from here, by the way?

About three days. Two, three days, really. I was sent here a couple of days ago. It's a good job that you stopped me giving money to those cretins, because I must admit I've had a few people promise to meet me at the docks, and then they never really showed. They just took an advance of payment and then never turned up. So I'm kind of glad that you actually followed through thank you

sayonara bless you sayonara bless you alright well probably best some of you go up ahead my little legs sometimes struggle with all the steps so you go on ahead should I carry your

backpack for you? No, no, no, I couldn't imagine imposing on you, sir. You're already doing so much, so thank you. What is your cat doing right now? I was gonna put it into roleplay. I was gonna ask if there were goats behind us with bells on them or something. There's probably some goats roaming around on the cliffs, yeah. Do you have the bells on them so you can keep track of where they are? Yes, of course.

Otherwise they'll roam all over. Your church sounds beautiful. They'll roam all around the valley. That's strange. We don't have a bell, so... It sounds like a lot of them. They keep going. It sounds like a lot of them and they keep going

It's a very fair day by the way, the sun is out it's blue skies overhead there's a very warm wind in this part of the region, of the world so it's very temperate it feels very, not tropical but heavily Mediterranean

that nice pleasant warmth kissing your skin. That gentle, soft, warm breeze blowing on the air. And the air smells, as you begin to ascend the stairs, this heavy scent of grapes and leaves and citrus all begins to waft down from the top of the cliffs and the the orchards and the vineyards that you can begin to see kind of scattered and dotted at the very tops as you make your way up uh these narrow carved stone stairs can you see like a lot of workers and things like that as well or you're so at the moment imagine that you have like a very like almost sheer cliff face and then a stone staircase is being carved into it so you can't see in the vineyards yet.

All you can see is just the edges of them along the tips of the mountains or the cliffs above you still. So you can't see anything at the moment. Who's in the lead, by the way? Not me. I guess I'll go first.

So Sentry's just like sliding up these stairs. Aayla followed behind you. This is by no means an easy climb, right? This is for anybody who's not particularly athletic, so probably Nova and Quill. I'm at the back complaining.

And it's a struggle, right? It's like there's a lot of stairs. They're all very narrow. They're very steep. And you can see that Sister Meredith is like, I know. They say that we should come up and down these once a day for exercise, but I must admit I never really manage it myself.

She's like wiping her head. I would order if they made me do that. If this was a requirement to walk up and down this every day, I'd be like, thanks for the faith. I'm going it's Tall that's what I'm told it's good for the soul Maybe if we go backwards and step that way they'll make it easier You want to try going backwards make an acrobatics sit down no I'm gonna sit down and I'm gonna butt scooch up like this one. Okay

What's the progress on the thing you know what thing really use it right now We're doing that, we're doing that. When we get back. Or we're gonna build these people a lift. Wait! So after a few... I can cast levitate! So can I!

No, I'm not gonna cast levitate. No? No. If you do, A-levels judge you hard. Really seriously. I'm not going to cancel out of it, too. No? No. If you do, Ayla will judge you hard. I'll think about it really seriously. After much complaining and cajoling, probably by Sentry and Ayla, you do eventually make your way to the top of the stone stairs. And you look onto a series of very cultivated gardens,

little olive trees, lemon trees, orange trees, amongst rows of flower bushes and planters and all of, you know, a very tranquil-looking, peaceful garden. There is a wooden fence that seems to edge around the cliff face itself to prevent any kind of unfortunate accidents, with a small swing gate that opens as you reach it. kind of unfortunate accidents um with a small swing gate that opens as you reach it and in the distance not too far away you can see a large stone monastery um built on the on the tops of these cliffs in amongst all the gardens and then it slopes down the land slopes down towards what

you can see are rows and rows of vineyards um and then at the very bottom of this kind of sloping hill is another large building with a thatched roof that you suspect to be the winery itself where they make the wine um and as you reach the top of the stairs um it's probably not late but you're kind of looking at like well you're looking at like mid-afternoon by the time you kind of got down to the docks woke up got down to the docks sailed over yeah you'd probably be looking at about sort of like midday one o'clock ish kind of time um and you have a short walk through the gardens and then you will arrive at the monastery um anything you guys want to say or do or chat or ask meredith about i can't believe I'm here, honestly. I've had so many of your bottles back at home.

My father used to collect them all. Oh! Yes. Yes. Well, we do ship a lot of our products to the Sky Cities. We know that many of the nobles enjoy our fine quality wine, and we are very blessed that we have such generous patrons,

and that our wine is so beloved. We're very blessed. We barely drink it. We keep it all in bottles. I think it's to sell them off for a profit or something. That is something that I know many people do. It's a business thing.

I don't understand. But I've had a few sippers. It is something that if people enjoy it in whatever way, whether that's making extra coin or enjoying it for how it was intended. As long as it brings people joy, then we are happy. I've had much joy every year when I sneak into the wine cellar and have a little little sipple of my own,

you know? Do you open? You open the bottle and then do you put it back? I've got my own little secret cubby hole that I put the bottle in, you see. So I can always sneak back and get to it. It's so delicious. If you go back, don't have any more if it's been open for a while.

What do you mean? If it's left open, I would, no. Oh, the bottle doesn't last a night. Oh, I see you took the whole bottle right. Now that is something I understand very well, Master Lelenastor, yes. Lucius, I don't believe that you

could drink an entire bottle of wine. You can't? I find that very hard to believe. With our constitution, of course we can. You know, they do say that wine is a very different one. Well, I'll get a bottle next time we're back in Gusthaven. Okay. Actually, we're in a vineyard.

We'll have wine here. If you'd like to buy some here, I'm sure the amethyst would be happy. If you help us clear out the gnolls, I'm sure we can throw in something for you as an the amethyst would be happy. If you help us clear out the gnolls, I'm sure we can throw in something for you as an extra reward. That would be wonderful. Of course, that's the least we can do. Ah, here we are, and she kind of points as you're making your way

through the gardens, like, I've led you in through the gardens, so the front entrance is just around the side. That leads down into the valley, and you guys arrive. Oh. And you can see, yeah, you can see that around the monastery itself, there is a little outhouse just to the side.

You can see various trees have been grown, and they're all apple and orange or lemon trees, or little olive trees with spindly branches and the stone walls of the monastery itself it doesn't look particularly big it's not a large impressive monastery it looks quite humble and small um it's only one floor tall but the ceiling must be quite high inside um and yeah you you can see that um as you all arrive Quill without a doubt and who else has a passive perception of 15 or more

14 or more sorry oh no I don't oh I do 15 oh wait no I thought you were 16 16 okay so everybody except Nova as you arrive and you kind of come up you turn a corner around several trees and things like that and you emerge at the side of the monastery, you can hear this heavy pounding sound,

like heavy wood or metal being struck against something wooden. And it sounds loud and large. You can hear like a... and large. You can hear like a... Oh, I wonder what that is. That's strange. Is that the distillery? No, certainly nothing like that. Perhaps maybe

some of the sisters are building something. I don't remember them doing anything like that. They would build something that sounds quite that intense? I must admit, that is kind of strange. I can't hear anything.

Okay. I mean, once it's pointed out to you, you can hear it. It's just that you don't notice it immediately. No, all I can hear is the blood rushing to my head as I'm still recovering from walking up all those goddamn stairs.

Do you want to make a constitution save for me? See if you're exhausted? Why don't you just make me an exhaustion check? Why don't we just go back to level one of exhaustion? Should we just do that? Let's do that. Okay, well, we'll check it out. That's what we were hired for, right?

Just to investigate. I can't imagine that the gnolls have just been attacking the vineyard. I can't imagine it's anything serious. The sound seems to be coming from the south, by the way. From the southern side of the monastery. Well, anything irregular is what we're here for, so

let's check it out. Okay. What do you guys want to do? I hand this over to you guys now. Let's go quill and have a little snoop, I assume. Yes, let's do that. Is everybody moving as a group, I assume. Yes, yes, let's do that. Okay.

Is everybody moving as a group or do you guys want to go off on your own? Head south. Probably. If we head south, can we ask Meredith where the entryway is into the building? Oh, yes. The main entrance is where the sound's coming from. They must be fixing the doors. That's probably what it is.

They must be. They're fixing something the doors. That's probably what it is. They must be. The main entrance is there, but there is a back door into the kitchen around the other side as well, and she points to the northern side of the building. Can I messenger ring to whoever's staying with her?

If there's something wrong in there, try and get her out of here. We don't want her to see what could be in there. Okay. Okay. So what's the plan? So Quill and Lucius are going to move. Sure.

I mean, do you want me or Santry to come with you guys? Yes. I assume you're all going. Oh, I thought people were staying behind with the nun. I thought we were going as a groupie. Okay. I think we should all going oh I thought people were staying behind with the nun I thought we were going as a groupie I think we should go as a group we'll just keep her towards yeah yeah yeah Nova you wanna just

keep her company and Sentry and I will take point Nova's still not with the situation. She's still recovering. Yeah. As we're going, I'd like to mega perception the entire thing as well. Yeah. I mean, that's always active.

So you can see, I mean, one thing that is the strike you as odd is the windows. I think that like Meredith hasn't noticed this yet, but you see that several of the windows have very hastily been barricaded. Things like chairs have been moved in the way or stacked or a table has been upended in front of it. Yes? What? Kim is going, ooh, ooh, ooh. This is Kim doing ooh.

I remembered I have a thing that I can do. That was the thing. I can look through solid objects for a range of 30 foot. That's the thing I can do. That's going to be so annoying to do on this, so I will just describe it to you.

Is this an Eldritch Invocation? Yes, so the last level I unlocked Ghostly Gaze, which once per short rest, as an action, you gain um is this an eldritch invocation yeah so uh the last level i unlocked a ghostly gaze which once per short rest as an action you gain the ability to see through solid objects with dark vision to a range of 30 foot for one minute so it's only 30 foot okay okay well if it's about 30 feet then um i mean if you looked into the room directly to your uh right at the moment um you can see yeah, you see through the kind of solid walls and objects,

and you can see that it seems to be some sort of common room. There is a large fireplace. There's a large fireplace, several chairs, but the chairs and the tables in there have been hastily pushed against the windows. And the windows are quite small. They are quite narrow, thin-slit windows, but they've been pushed up the windows. And the windows are quite small. They are quite narrow, thin slit windows, but they've been pushed up against it. The door is

closed. You can see probably further through the next wall into a corridor, but you don't see anything there. There's no people or anything? Not in the rooms themselves, no. Okay.

The only thing actually... Where are you based? Okay, where you are currently, that's all you can see. Well, I guess I would... Before I cast this, I would move up to the wall. Sure, you move me where you're going to go then. And I'm assuming that you tell everyone to stop at this point. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Continuing on.

Wait, probably there. Okay. So when you move there and you begin scanning through, you kind of look kind of sweeping left to right. And as you near, as you begin sort of gazing... I'm going to draw it.

Going to get an arrow to the face, lads! Yeah. That's it. Nova's dead, actually. Nova died immediately. Headshot. She's seen. She saw her die. Look like this.

Some of that's going to be covered up. But, in fact, yeah, it's all covered up. God, Kim, you have literally... I had this cool, like, dynamic lighting thing, and I was like, this is really cool. It's going to block their line of sight. They're going to have to move around stuff. And then you're just like, no, no yeah i can see through solid objects of

which i have no way to represent that hey i'm happy to be here you see on the southern side peering through what appears to be a window into the long corridor that's um um about sort of 30 foot in yeah 5 10 20 25 yeah about 30 foot in um at the southern end uh you see a creature looking in this window kind of cocking its head and kind of like looking in and you can see that the window is too small for the creature to fit through because it has this very large hyena-like head with this very tattered red and black striped fur. And this long snout. And its snout is just covered in stains. Like a dark red staining all around its face and mouth.

Oh no. And it's clutching what appears to be a bow. And it's kind of like... Like looking, trying to see whatever is inside this corridor. But the corridor is empty to your eyes. Can I immediately drop to the floor, as soon as I see it? And just drop down to the floor.

Yeah, you will see Nova drop to the ground as she's looking at a blank wall. She's just staring at a solid wall, and then just gets on the ground. I'll get down. Down! Down! Sister Meredith, downedith is like okay and then she gets on the ground is something wrong there's a thing in there the thing though blood on the face

uh yes yes one of those big monstrous thing teeth lots of teeth hair lots of fur into the i'm gonna i'm gonna um speak in the with the the telepathic uh messenger ring um can we maybe try not to scare meredith with talk of blood and teeth yes maybe yeah and as you say that like because nova's already said out loud like mer is like, what? Inside! They've gotten inside! We need to go help immediately! The Abates and the other nuns, they must be in there. She's panicking. She's freaking out.

Okay, we'll help. Look, they barricaded the windows. They barricaded everything. They're probably still safe in there. We just need to get in to save them. But this probably means that you're probably best... I'm going to give Kim some more information. So you can see through solid objects the gnoll is on the outside of the monastery you were seeing through

walls it's on the outside looking in yes it's looking in but because you can see through the walls you just see it kind of looking in your direction in front of me right yeah but then in the room was just like loads of barricaded furniture okay gotcha.

And then there's another wall. This is a room and then there's another wall and then there's a corridor. Okay. So it's like immediately behind the wall you're next to is a room and then that room's about 15 foot wide and then it goes into a short corridor. Corridor. So it's in the building in a corridor

but it's not in that room. No, it's outside the building looking through a window into the corridor. It's the other side of the building in a corridor, but it's not in that room. No, it's outside the building, looking through a window into the corridor. It's the other side of the building. It's the other side of the building. Well, you'll see. So it could... No, it could... It could...

No, it was... It was... Okay, I got it wrong. I just... The first time I used this ability... There's a room, and then it was outside. It was looking in the room, barricading out. Null.

Outside. Probably going to walk around the corner and attack us. Perfect. It was looking in the room, barricading out. Null, outside. Probably going to walk around the corner and attack us. Perfect. Okay, well, while we've got the time... Not if we get it first. Sister Meredith, it's probably best you find somewhere else to stay. We're going to go deal with this. Actually, we're safe.

I don't know where to go. Maybe just hide in this bush here. Just next to us. I can wait here. Yes, yes. Okay. And she kind of like tucks herself. It's actually a tree.

It's kind of like a small tree, like a little olive tree. Look, it's actually a tree. She kind of like hunkers down. Amazing. Climb up. It's a very short tree. Okay, look. Who wants to go first?

If it's going to come round... Which corner would we lower it? We outnumber it easily. Yes, it's down from where you are. I mean, it's hard because and I think that this kind of works, is only Nova can see this,

and because she literally sees through the walls, she doesn't really have a solid idea of where exactly it is. You can just see it like looking through, but it's kind of like hazy glass and stuff. Yeah. Can I move behind this bush here?

Okay. Are you moving quietly? Yes, please. Stealth check. So you're moving around the south side of the building. Sister, if anything comes Maybe look up there That little wooden hut Building

Maybe retreat to there If things get a little ropey over here Thirteen Yes, alright, yes I will Okay, so your total was thirteen Were you a bonus? Yeah Mine is definitely not going to be that okay

so ayla creeps away kind of like shuffling along the side of this monastery building and you there is a small kind of thorny bush um that is probably built up against the monastery itself and you press yourself up and peering through the bush you can see a bit more um you can actually see that there is a creature out in the open um i don't know if you can see a bit more. You can actually see that there is a creature out in the open. I don't know if you can see that on your Roll20, Katie, but you should see the very edge of the thing. Oh, wait. Maybe.

No, I can't. You might need to scroll down a little bit. You guys scroll down. I don't know if Trot is that cut. I have shown you. Yes, there is a little knoll down there no there's one there's one further in the rubble oh you can't wait okay yep yep sure you scroll down because like on the screen overlay oh there you go okay yeah yeah yeah yeah there's more so if you pop back so you can see that there is one

peering through a window you see one of these hyena creatures um kind of with a bow you can see that there is one peering through a window. You see one of these hyena creatures kind of with a bow. You can see it's got these very ragged looking blades at its side. And it's kind of peering through this window and it kind of shuffles. And it's like making these weird kind of like cackling noises. But the more alarming feature is that to the south, outside the main entrance to the monastery, you can see one of these hyena creatures in armor pointing at a very large

gluttonous like fat creature another large gnoll but this is hideously overweight and its arms are bulging with muscles it has this enormous flail that it's just pounding against the wooden monastery door which is buckling and breaking. Splinters are kind of like breaking off

of it. And then you can see a couple more kind of shapes in the distance just behind this larger creature as well. And the gnoll kind of like, come on! Break it! We need to get inside! But as once those...

Telepathic communicate that in monogam to the rest of the group. Mm-hmm. Yep. That they're aware of what's here. And right now they don't seem to be aware of you. They haven't noticed you. The loud banging from this creature, like, trying to break down the doors, they didn't hear you approaching.

Okay. Give it a name. Can we hear that? You can hear the banging. Yeah, we can hear that. Anyway, yeah, we heard that from the start. I know, him saying something. I thought he said like a name when he was talking. Yeah, he did, but like, nah, you guys wouldn't have heard that from where you are currently. Right, okay.

I think Quill probably heard something, but like, yeah. Again, the loud banging is kind of domineering it. Our messenger ring uh the group should we create some sort of distraction slash trap to lure them around this corner yes definitely okay how do you want me to come back a little bit yes definitely um you might be the person that's also causing a noise to bring them around the corner as you're already up there. You want me to just pop out and say,

Oi, dickheads, over here? Because I can do that. Once we have a super trap, yes. What are we going to do? Parts of the door begin breaking off. I can cast slow on them and slow them down. Once they're already coming around the corner, that'll be useful.

Okay. I can use my flame lance and attack them all if they come in a line. Good idea. Maybe go around the corner with Ayla then. Or be around the corner. Let me cast Slow first. I'll cast Slow first. Okay. And then... yeah. Okay. You see that the creature takes another big hefty swing and another part of the door breaks. And there's like a very crude barricade of pews behind it but it starts pulling it through. How far can we move at this point?

Door's going down, guys. Door's going down. You've got your normal speed. These are all five foot squares. Anybody who gets even remotely close to that corner, make a stealth check for me. This corner is... Oh no, sentry. Oh no.

You're okay. You don't need to make a check Disadvantage Disadvantage because you wear heavy armour Oh yeah What What What No

Yep That's how it goes sometimes.