High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #78 | A Game of Chance (Part 1)

Episode Date: July 6, 2020

Just one card left to turn... will this seal Quill, Lucius and Captain Thalia's fate?! 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. You never know. Ambition is on the inside. So that goal to be the ultimate soccer parent? Keep chasing it. Drive your ambition. Mitsubishi Motors. 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.

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run by Dungeon Master Mark Sherlock-Humes, with me, Tom, playing Kelek Adkalad, Cleric Wizard. I am Chris Trott, I am playing Lucius Viren, Elowin Elanastio, and I am a High Elf Sorcerer. Hi, I'm Rhiannon, 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, D&D Beyond, the official Dungeons & Dragons toolset. Create your free account and speed up your campaigns today. welcome back to eros last time the party have arrived on the plane of Azaghrat, a demonic world dedicated to indulgence and pleasure. Here in the

mirror-like streets, the plain-ass citizens of the multiverse come in droves to experience whatever they desire. A planet of decadence and corruption, ruled over by the demon-princed Gratz. The party hope to engage in a game with Gratz himself,

a challenge called the Dance of the Sixth Finger, where the winner leaves with a magic ring capable of granting wishes. Of course, nobody has ever won before. En route to the Argent Palace, the party investigate the Theatre of Steel and seek a blacksmith who can enchant Aayla's hammer, the Howling Tempest. of steel and seek a blacksmith who can enchant Aayla's hammer, the Howling Tempest. Here in the forges beneath the gladiatorial arena, they also meet another elf with powers and tartan

similar to Aayla's. Sadly, Rethra the elf seems to have suffered a great mental trauma. Unable to communicate properly, the party decide to try and return for him so Quill can use greater restoration to help him recover. At the palace itself, Graz eagerly accepts the challenge and is delighted to reveal it,

a card game using Taroka cards. Graz explains the rules. Each player chooses three cards, one at a time. Each card is worth different amounts of points, and the card scores positive or negative points depending on the card's orientation. Three cards, three wishes, and Graz

offers two more players to join Thalia Whisperwind, to which Quill and Lucius agree, staking 200 years of servitude each. There is one twist to the game, however. If the zero-point card, the broken one, is chosen and it is upright, the challengers will automatically win.

However, if it is reversed, they will automatically lose. After two cards each, the challengers have minus 10 points and Graz has minus 9. Quill uses the Eye of the Storm and asks, What card should I choose to win? But his answer is uncertain. Showing Quill the best card for the moment, it reveals the upright Dark Lord, scoring them plus 13 points, giving them a total of 3.

Graz has one final card to choose. And that is where we begin today's episode. You are currently to refresh your memories about where you are. You are within the heart of the Argent Palace,

a giant golden citadel of indulgence and pleasure. Aayla, Century, Nova are all on the outer ring of a grand arena, a domed arena in tiered seating, looking down onto a platform below them. Within a glass dome, Lucius, Quill, and Captain Thalia, the Medusa,

captain of the starship that has brought you here, stand beside a giant velvet-covered table on which there are two rows of cards. On the other side of the table stands a nine-foot-tall humanoid with cloven feet, black obsidian skin, and unearthly beautiful body perfectly sculpted in every way with just a small wrong thing about

the hands, an extra finger on each. Covered in gold jewelry they are swathed in decadence and luxury and they are reaching with one hand uh hovering it over an array of cards that have been laid onto the table black cards with gruesome depictions on the ones that have been flipped over i will give you all an opportunity if any of you have anything you would like to do or say, now

is the time. We'll start with the outer ring. Three. Yeah, go with the outer ring. Just because I know Tom has something. Century, A, Nova. Just throw your hammer. Anything you would like to do.

I'm just imagining us being like football hooligans just throwing our drinks at rats. There is a giant glass dome. Yeah, there's a dome. I would just be... So there's an angel up above us, right? So there is... On the tiered seating, it is packed.

There must be about 100 beings, all different types. Humanoids, demons, celestials, fiends, fey, giants, all crammed into this space, peering down. Amongst them, the notable characters that you've noticed before, there is a Marilith, who is guarding the main door in and out of this upper ring. A six-armed woman with a serpentine body there is also some sort of uh deva or angel uh who appears to be watching the game intently with a very stern looking expression uh they are watching what's happening down below and then the rest of the crowd seem to just be excited chattering to themselves

that those of you above are hearing whispers of like do you actually think they could win no there is no way that lord grats will lose you know these kind of conversations uh going on around you as you participate you got six seconds do you do anything anybody century sentry i can't you can just say no no no yeah i can't do anything no no i mean is there like even if it's a role play thing even if it's like literally a prayer or just uh you know anything yeah if you just be watching you just be like this it's's like spell clashing over him. Just covering her face. Can't handle it. Okay. Ayla is just watching intently, I assume, as well.

Yeah, she probably is, but she's probably got her hand around the handle for her hammer, and you can probably see that there's a little bit of lightning crackling around it just because she's so tense about it and she might, even though she doesn't think anything of it, just

quietly sort of say Zephir but she doesn't Ayla doesn't know anything else to say just the word she just remembers

in the past speak my name in battle and so that's all she does okay nice, Nova if anybody was to have a plan or a thing to do in this moment I imagine it would be Nova Vija no fresh mate, fresh um well she's probably furiously beautiful minding it trying to work

out all the probabilities and all the scenarios um in terms of kim i'm wondering about casting to spell magic on the angel because i i just i'm so I feel like the angel is up to something but I don't know and I have so precious little spell slots I like so I'm going to ask you once because it's a six seconds do you cast it or not can I whisper to Tiangong

well actually no because the boy who's psychic do they have a chance of winning i think i'm just yeah just over and over my head just like yeah so i think that tiangong with its great intellect kind of like powered through you and your senses from what it can see from what they can see you hear a very soft, in your head Nova, in your head alone, you hear a very soft no. Quill and Lucius.

From what Tiangong can see. From what Tiangong can see. It's rigged. The whole thing is rigged. Quill and Lucius. Quickly, can I just whisper to the girls, like, get ready. Sure.

Yes. You guys can use your telepathy rings. You just can't communicate with Lucius and Quill. Yeah. Yeah. But between Sentry, Aayla, and Nova, you guys can all speak normally to each other. All right. Quill and Lucius, anything you want to do?

Thalia just absently puts a hand on one of her holsters, on one of her pistols, and is just looking at the deck, looking at these cards as you see Grutz's hands just almost like in slow-mo beginning to reach towards the rose.

What do you do? Lucius, do you want to do anything? Lucius is spell-based. He's going to solemnly look as if the decision's already been made and he's now accepting his fate. Okay. He's hanging his head a little.

Quill. Gratzt, wait, wait, Gratzt. Before you draw the card... His hand stops. We both know what this card is. If I'm going to seal my fate and Lucius is in Captain Thalia's with you, you at least let me draw

the card. It kind of... My... My dear boy... There is no way that any of us can know what is on the card I intend to pick. Have you truly

lost such favor in yourself? Do you think that your luck is so terrible that you have lost already? You are ahead in points. There are so many options. If we're sealing our fate, I at least want to be the one to draw the card.

He kind of looks at you curiously a strange request I can't cast any spells in this dome, Gratz all I ask I hope that you don't think that you can reverse the card it is you flip it sideways

we do not spin it to a certain direction I hope that you don't think that you can reverse the card. It is you flip it sideways. We do not spin it to a certain direction. The cards are laid out so that you can't, like, spin the card round, then flip it over. I wrote down... You could, but it would be obvious what you're going it would be very obvious what you were doing he was just like I wish it to be if I'm to draw it then I wish it to be drawn the way it is

what's your plan what incentive do I have for I thought there was something else he messaged me something else this was not what Tom messaged me about. I think his connection's broken as well. I think we lost him, though. Oh, yeah.

I think he just pulled his modem out. He's tried to turn his Xbox off. This is the meta play he's doing. Well, it's not really because Gratz will just pull the card if we don't get Tommy boy back in time no please no I bet he is

absolutely freaking out he probably is I bet he is just like I bet the cats pulled the modem out or something like that and he's just like ahhh it could well be oh my god should i text him come back what were you going to do

oh my god yeah it's such a fucking smug disconnect face of like oh we're doomed we're doomed yeah just as a point that was not the plan that tom tom asked me a question there we go tom was asking me about something if he could do something i was like yeah maybe and then that wasn't what i was expecting him to do. Hello, welcome back. Hello, hello. Are you back with us now? I'm back with you. So yeah, Ruck basically says if it is my card to pick I wish it to be drawn the way I wish. Unless there is something else.

There is. I mean, he's not going to fucking... are you so certain that this card is will spell your doom I've not even chosen my card yet I thought you had no no no

I might have retconned that a little bit where it's just like I'm saying his hand is reaching towards the board but he hasn't picked a card yet oh man I mean there's no way he's gonna say yes what about we spin the table there's no way he's gonna say yes to that

if that's the way you're putting it across he's just like why on earth would I do such a thing well he's just like why on earth would i do such a thing well damn it i was so sure he just let me flip the card and i've written this down so that when you reveal it i'd be like flip the card vertically and then that would have been like it's backwards now i think uh flipping the table is an admirable way of showing that there are no methods of

cheating, no deceit. That our 200 years of servitude do not go you know, unquestioned. My dear good companion, has there been anything to show that there has been any foul play so far?

You are ahead in points. He looks to the kind of crowd like, this appears to be a fair game to you all, yes? And the crowd is like, yeah. They're all kind of cheering in Gratz's favor. There's three people saying no, but they are drowned out. Seven others. Then if it is

truly fair, you would allow Quill to pick for you. He kind of like raises an eyebrow, picking a card for me. No, it is my choice. You had your cards to pick. I have my three. And like I said, I have no problem with him turning the card over, but his desire seems to very clearly be to perhaps turn it in a way

that changes the outcome of the card. If you truly wish to flip the, to, let's say, rearrange the orientation of the cards, a 50-50 gamble, it may be turning it against your favor have you considered that? you may be granting me additional a victory if you wish

so what incentive do I have? so be it then and then he will begin to reach down mom you said that you had another thing. What did you mess up? I literally messaged... I've genuinely had a nightmare about this moment.

I am more terrified doing this than I have two years of High Rollers, of Aroas. And I thought, flip the card vertically, I thought that was going to win us the day, but no. Grat, he knew. Smart. And I also didn't tell Mark about that either.

Slight-handed. What's cool is slight-handed. What's my slight of hand? Yeah, plus two. Then again. I think he's probably powerful enough not to fall for that. Magic trick. Well, also, it's very clearly there are three of you in a table.

There's no way that you can change the cards without Grot seeing it. Like, no sleight of hand in the world is enough that your hand moves so quickly it becomes invisible i wasn't even intending to like sleight of hand it i was literally just gonna he said just flip the card and i was just gonna flip it vertically and just be like that's the wording dude like yeah just flip the card that's all i was gonna say yeah he has no reason you gave him no reason to let you do that it's just like oh you were like please please mr grats please let me pick it 200 years another 200 yeah i'm gonna give you six seconds anything anybody else anything from anyone i had if you have some pull it out your bum hole.

This is probably the time. Come on, Kim. Pull over. This idea has to be an idea that you have to communicate to the characters. Yeah, no. My idea was either major image on the card, but it won't work.

Or going invisible and dropping in the dome somehow and lifting in six seconds, going invisible, going into the dome and lifting up the cards. Going through an anti-magic thing.

Seeing a very invisible Dover. You just see me on the dome, just like... Carry on. In that case, Gratz touches the card in this corner. He means to zoom out a little bit, Chris drop. This card right here. He reaches down, places it,

and you can see Quill, again, with your perception, like, there is a hint of uncertainty. There is a hint of... There's almost a pause, like a moment of... Hmm. This is annoying. There is a hint of annoyance in Grotz's face as he grabs the card and turns it over.

As it reveals the reversed broken one. Ah, how unfortunate. Ahead till the very last card. But I'm afraid the reversed broken one means the challengers lose automatically. Such a cheat.

Ah. What a terrible shame. I flip over the rest of the cards. Do you just start, like, flipping them over? Yeah. Yeah, you start just flipping them over. And Grunt doesn't stop you.

He just lets you do it. There's almost a kind of a wry smile as he lets you do it. I was so ready for all of them to be broken ones, like he'd done it in the last moment or something. Nope. It seems

thoroughly legit, or as legit as it can to you, as Quill just rapidly turns them over. The crowd around Aayla's sentry and Nova is just like, well done my lord well done lord gruts yes and three more for the pleasure palace uh as all these cheers and then celebrations are going on around you uh and gruts just looks down on the three of you with a smile

thalia just lets her head droop. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I thought that... I thought we had a chance. And she kind of looks at Quill side-eyed. I don't understand. I don't understand I don't know what I could have done

there's nothing you could have done Cleo well you need not fear my new little servants I will make sure that you are put to a great use here on Azagirath. He claps his enormous obsidian hands,

and from a door behind the glass dome, the one that he entered in from, two twelve-foot-tall demons with four arms, two of which end in huge pincers, enter. Well, take my three new prizes away. Lead them to have the gayest placed upon them. I hope that you have all any turns to the crowd. I hope you

have all enjoyed the show. Another dance of the sixth finger in my favor. Truly I am blessed with good luck. Oh, enjoy yourselves. Please go ahead. Enjoy the wonders of the Argent Palace.

I have some business to attend to now. He turns and just waits. He just watches as these two huge demons come up behind Quill and Lucius and Th waits. He just watches as these two huge demons come up behind Quill and Lucius and Thalia. And will begin ushering you away unless there is anything you guys want to try and resist.

Can I use the Eye of the Storm? Yes. I need to know, I'm asking how did he know which card to pick? Okay. You see a flash of grey

clouds rush before your eyes, Quilek, and your vision recoils. It returns a few hours. In fact, you know, this would be several days ahead in the past.

You see Graz speaking with what appears to be some sort of mage dressed in thick robes with a kind of masked covering. He lays the deck out and you hear Graz I've come up with a wonderful new game to ensure my victories.

I want you to place an identifier, a mark upon each one so I know which card is which. Yes, of course, Lord Graz. I can make it so that only your demonic vision would be able to see it. Only those with true sight will be able to see the mark I place upon it. Yes, yes. Excellent work. This will be very beneficial to me.

Graz then leaves, and you see the mage placing, tracing this invisible illusory mark on each card. And then the time speeds up to when you were playing against Graz immediately, and suddenly that note of frustration becomes clear. Graz had never indicated he needed to know whether the card was upright or reversed, so he didn't know whether it was going to be positive or negative at the time. The rest of it, the eye reveals,

was pure chance. The way that the cards were placed out. He wasn't lying about that, but he definitely knew which ones were which, just not what position they were in. The symbol was symmetrical, so he couldn't tell

whichever way it was round. What do I know about Truesight? Truesight? It can be a spell for you. You can learn it as a spell. Other spellcasters can learn it as a spell. Creatures such as dragons, demons, devils, a lot of them have natural Truesight that allows them.

It generally allows you to see through illusions, see through shape changes. You see creatures in their true form. It's as it sounds. It allows you to see things as they truly are, allows you to detect illusions. And obviously this mage made some sort of custom illusion that could only be seen in Truesight

that allowed Grunts to know what cards were which. And if you're viewing something in true sight, do you know that you're viewing it outside of that regular vision? If you're looking at something that is, for example, invisible, do you know

that they're invisible, or do you just see them as they are? No, you would know that they are invisible. Fuck, okay. There's my second plan gone. Okay. So, do you guys resist as these two four-armed demons start leading you away? And as the three

sentry Aayla and Nova, you are watching as Thalia, Lucius, and Quilek are being ushered away. One of the demons... Okay. I'm not watching. I'm gonna move up to them. So you start making your way. So there's no way down to the lower, like, gaming arena

from the stairs. There is a door that leads out to the waiting room you were in before, but you could jump down, but there's no, like, discreet way down. You would have to basically jump down into this arena with the two demons, Grats, and your companions, basically.

And then there are two doors leading out of that room. Is the dome still up? The anti-magic dome, or is it gone now? There is a dome. It's not a magical effect. It's a glass dome. It's made from glass, and you guys don't know that it basically

cancels the spell once you're in there. You know it blocks telepathic communication, that's about it. And for Lucius and Quill, it was when they walked underneath it that any active spells on them were dispelled. It doesn't appear to be anti-magic. Like, you know, Quill,

your magic items still work and things like that. Like, there's no... You know, spells still function under the dome i just stripped you of any and then then you would have had to have yeah exactly you can't yeah currently you can't telepathically speak to him so it's about like a like 15 foot drop to the arena floor um from the tiered seating where the three of you currently are. Fuck it, I'll jump. Okay.

So, all right. Century and Ayla rush down to the tiered seating and throw themselves over. Are you guys drawing weapons or are you just running to your friends at this point? No, I'm just menacingly marching in their general direction

looking real, real pissed off. Sure. Nova, anything? Are you going to follow, or are you just sort of staring? We'll help! Yeah, I think so. Ayla, technically, yeah. You guys make athletics or acrobatics checks for me.

So Ayla, Sentry, and Nova nova um cool i get a plus three on that one i think uh it's not a saving throw this is just an ability check oh yeah loss so no plus three just dc we'll say dc 10 just to avoid taking any like major damage it's not a big drop 16 16 i think you will guys pass. Either through superhero landings or... Yeah, easily you guys drop to the floor without taking any damage. You see quite a few of the audience are like, oh my goodness, they're kind of in that shocked way. There's a beautiful fey woman who's just like gasping.

A couple of the demons kind of cackle and grin to each other as they see you do that. And as all three of you drop and start making your way over to them, in a flash, you don't even see him move, Gratz appears in front of the three of you. And where do you think you

are going, my dear audience members? To see our friends that you've just imprisoned regardless of the fact that you've cheated clearly ah well I'm afraid that they are now my servants and I

can't have you bothering my staff I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave you can't take them don't take them. Don't take them! I see my friends. They lost the game. They knew the conditions.

The price must be paid. You will be able to see them again after 200 years. Well, providing some of them live that long, of course. Who lost this game? Isn't there a... Is it a planetar? There was an angel up in the audience

who... They are watching this and they look very unhappy, but they are not doing anything. Oh, he wasn't like an overseer, like a referee. I don't think I have seen the angel as much as Nova would have.

I probably wouldn't have noticed it. No. So, Quill and Lucius, at this point you can see your three friends coming, but these two demons are trying to strong-arm you. They are moving to basically grapple you. So, if you want to resist,

that's a resistant, like, you're going to have to basically either make a check or do something. I'll messenger in Quill and say, surely it's not that's a resistant like you're gonna have to basically either make a check or do something oh messenger ring quill and say surely it's not that was too too lucky was it not to pull

the exact card he's got true sight he marked the card some demon vision of his um so wait hang on sorry the oh my god my brain um some demon vision of his. Wait, hang on. How do we out them? Oh my god, my brain. So the planetar guy, or whoever it was,

he was just in the audience. I remember him from last episode. Okay, so Grunt said that he shuffled and dealt the cards. That was his job, he said. I'm sure that he hadn't purposely stacked them or anything like that. He said the angel shuffled and put them on the on the table okay it's so frustrating because half of us don't know the information

do we yes or no we don't know it's almost like it was designed for this. Yeah. Now that we're down here, though, can we hear them speaking with the messenger rings? They are still in the dome, and you guys are outside it in the arena itself. Whilst they are in the dome, you can't hear them, basically. It stops any telepathic communication between in and out of the dome.

There is an entryway into the dome. You can literally run under the dome, but Gratz is currently in front of the three of you. So you kind into the dome. You can literally run under the dome, but Graz is currently in front of the three of you. If we were to imagine it, because I don't have a map prepared for this, you've got a large circular dome. A large circular arena, sorry. In the center of that

is a circular dome, which is about maybe 20 feet across. You guys are on the outer edge of the arena. The three, Century, Century Nova Aayla, Grats between you and the dome, Lucius, Quill, Thalia, and two demons inside the glass dome.

I can try and really quickly draw you something. Circle, there's a circle outside. Is it kind of like just that? Yeah, kind of, yeah, basically, yeah. yeah yeah circle circle outside that's pretty much it um the thing is if this dude is just a random dude in the audience there's not really much he's going to be able to do anyway um if somebody with true sight can see stuff we can't well if it is a planetar, then they can tell truths from lies, can't they? There's a lot of things in the audience, though. Or they have true sight.

There's a lot of demons and stuff around. Maybe. What are you guys doing? At this point, I need Quill and Lucius. You guys are about to be dragged away unless you are resisting in some way. All I've said to Quill is like, is there a way we can out them? That's the last thing I said to him.

All I said was that, yeah, he had true sight, some kind of demon vision of his. He marked the card. So you guys, you're not resisting the demons grappling you? I'm just saying. Let's get the crowd angry then he has true sight

he has true sight he saw the card he marked it days ago the crowd sort of like are murmuring and they kind of stop you see the everyone turn and Gratz just smiles.

Yes. I never said I didn't. I never said I couldn't use my born gifts of true sight. I said that the angel had appropriately shuffled and placed the cards fairly, which is true.

But I never said that I couldn't see which cards were what. And this doesn't make it a game does it the whole purpose of what you've done was it does cause wrong it was still and you the game of chance no it was cheating wasn't a game of chance it was it was never a chance if you knew that you would win and therefore you have no right to take them as your prisoners. I didn't know I would win. I simply knew what cards were what. Chance still played a huge element into it.

Chance, I didn't know what cards were. Yes, of course I did. This is a gambling house, my dear. The house always has the odds. That's the point of these games the house always cheats cheating cheating cheating very strong term

but nonetheless the terms were made the terms were agreed to and is the audience happy with these terms yes is the autograph happy with these terms? Yes. How much money have you all lost? Is the audience happy with these terms?

And he looks up and you see the crowd. Every non-demon in the crowd looks incredibly uncomfortable and at the floor. All of the demons and the staff kind of just grin. I have no problem with it, Lord Gratz. You have outwitted these foolish creatures, as is befitting. Any other creature, Fae, the angels, just don't seem to say anything. They just look painfully uncomfortable.

Quill, you would definitely pick up that many of them are afraid. They're afraid to say anything. And Grutz just opens his palms. Thalia just... I will turn around to the crowd. How many times have you watched him cheat and said

nothing? How many people have gone down in slavery because he cheated? If you're neglecting to look at what's happening here you are part of it if you don't stop this then it's gonna keep happening and i won't stand for it so the demons in the audience the mariliths the the glu, the Vrox, they all just cackle and laugh. But there are other creatures there. Aayla,

give me a... This is a persuasion check, man. There's nothing else that this is. This is outright trying to convince the crowd that they are... that they should help you guys out. I was wondering how the hell do I portent this?

Oh, you already rolled? Well, you didn't say portent until... I was trying to figure out a way. I didn't see the roll, but I was trying to figure out how the hell do I portent someone convincing other people. Everyone shut up! We'll figure that out, but the game mechanics

is you can absolutely do it, because you can do it before an ability check, I so yeah i just replace a role i'll replace it with an 18 oh so it's an 18 it's an 18 plus nothing plus nothing i that i i hate to do this guys because that's a great role but this is literally a demon prince that these guys are terrified of. There are definitely people who shuffle and you hear some murmurs. And the angel in particular, this angelic being,

just grits his teeth and looks in Ayla's direction. And telepathically, Ayla, you hear a you need you need to stop there are ways we can help your friends but not now

not with him here you need to back off or he's gonna kill you can I say back telepathically can I speak back telepathically what can I do to get my friends and those wishes? You just hear a...

Those wishes were never on the line. I would worry more about getting your friends out of here alive. They have to be taken to the Arcanist. If you can rescue them before that, do that. But not here. Not in can rescue them before that, do that. But not here. Not in front of him. He is too strong.

He is too powerful. Stand up with us, then. I am no match. I am no match for him. None of you are. All of us. None of us are. All of us. Get everyone else. If you stand up, other people will stand up. I'm sorry, my dear. That's not

how this place works. Anybody else, while this is going on? Help us get rid of him so we can save our friends and get out of here. I will try and help you save your friends, but we cannot. You don't understand.

We can't beat him. I will try and help you rescue your friends, but not now. While that conversation is happening, anything else? Gratz just turns and says, I made my terms clear. I have won the game. Whether or not you feel cheated

is beyond the point at this point. I have not gone back on any agreement we made. And if you are trying to escape your fate now well that would be quite displeasurable to me you see his face kind of contort

in the first sign of anger that you've kind of seen him display I will say congratulations then and I won't resist a very smart young man the glabrazu grabs

you in its huge pincers pin your arms together they will with their other pair of hands, they basically start pulling any sort of magic items, wands, any weapons that you have on you, Lucius. They begin putting them into a small silken bag as they try and take whatever they can away from you and then they lock your arms in place

and begin marching you, frog marching you towards the other corridor. Thalia looks around and whispers to Quill, We'll get out of here. But not with him. She just kind of whispers, like, we can't, not with Gratz.

And she'll follow after Lucia, having had her equipment taken away as well i mean where lucius is kind of like angrily congratulating him i'm still just kind of like trying to figure out a way out and then i just sort of look to the guys the demons approaching me and i'm just like i mean nothing i can do now so yeah i'll also let them uh i'm not resisting either okay so yeah same thing your arms pinned uh any kind of holy symbols or weapons or anything that you have is taken and then you are marched in the same direction a corridor uh from the the bottom arena a long corridor leading away uh nova century and ala yeah you see them being marched away uh the angel looks down at you ala and then just begins making his way to the exit from the upper tiers and the last message you get is just a follow me. You must follow me.

Grotz kind of stretches his neck and looks down at you. I try to be an honourable host. If you are done, I suggest you return to my palace. You are welcome to make use of its

pleasures and facilities. But I must ask you to to my palace. You are welcome to make use of its pleasures and facilities, but I must ask you to leave. Now. How dare you speak honor when you have none? No, no, that's fine. We'll leave. But what you've done here today proves that you just don't have any honor, and I

will just start walking away towards the exit. that you just don't have any honor and i will just start walking away towards the exit you just hear him laugh to himself cackling uh not insanely but somebody who is just so overjoyed with how things have turned out somebody who is just full of satisfaction as a deep laugh as Ayla stalks away. Sentry or Nova? Sentry. I think Sentry's just inconsolable. He's just so angry

and upset. What's he do? and upset what do you do I'll messenger ring while I walk away saying follow me now I think with that Nova who's been so like ready to start

like if you were watching her she was starting she was starting to cast something but she's just gonna be like with that from Ayla she's just gonna be like your palace sucks anyway and then just grab Sentry's hand and pull her out as much as I can well I think

it depends on if Sentry wants to leave. I don't think Nova has the ability to pull Sentry away. I start. You're like... And I'm at that length! Am I going to make an embarrassment of myself, Sentry? Yeah. I'll just take a look

at the dome and where they were and then follow the guys follow Nova and Aayla so at this point we have the split party Nova, Sentry and Aayla you guys head back out kind of following the crowd

you are led into basically like the large foyer of the Argent Palace like there are numerous demons uh positioned as guards who are watching you um and if you kind of stall or if you stop you're nudged along but you can see the kind of feathery wings of the angel their blue skin um just ahead constantly moving until they arrive in the main foyer uh when you arrive there you hear telepathically uh the three of you now um we do not have much time i can show you where they are but i will need to distract some of his staff away

from that i will not be able to help you too much once you get inside you must reach your friends before they arrive at the Arcanist. Before the Arcanist can place his Gaius upon them. Otherwise, your friends will end up like them. And he points at the staff with their unnaturally big smiles, who are just like

laughing, like, ah-ha! You see one of them being literally, like, punched and thrown around by a demon, and the whole time the staff member is just laughing just like yes thank you thank you very much oh i hope you enjoy your stay at the argent palace uh and they're just being thrown around one of them's being like literally their fingers are being eaten off of their own hand as another demon is just biting them and they're just smiling um oh my god it's horrible it's a horrible this is a

horrible place if you hadn't guessed um the angel uh sorry uh hello new voice in my head um that was unexpected how long do we have minutes you have minutes they are being taken there now. I can show you the passageway that arrives them, but if you encounter any guards, you will have to deal with them as fast as you can. Right. Invisibility. Okay.

Right? Okay. So, the three of you, this angelic being, who you can see just looks miserable. The whole time they the whole time you, they are moving with you. They don't give you their name. They're blue skinned,

bald of head, very not quite sure if they're fully masculine or feminine. Um, they have these angelic wings, but their clothes, all this drab gray, you can see that there are heavy chains, um,

like a pair of broken manacles around their wrist, but the chains have been broken and they are just doing... they're just moving with a purpose. You can see that their arms are covered in thick scars, where clearly they've been cut or beaten or whipped

in the past, and they kind of shuffle moving forward. They seem to have a very in-depth knowledge of the palace. You move up to a checkpoint, and the angel kind of holds out an arm and stops you in the corridor as a large, one of these huge, ape-like,

you know, 20-foot-tall demons looks around, carries on. And then the angel gestures, follow me again and lead you down into a side entrance. Seems to be that this is an area where the various well-dressed demons, the succubi, the incubi, the mariliths all enter and come from. A gilded golden door studded with emeralds and sapphires um and as he arrives to it you can see that it's barred by several heavy locks the angel kneels down looks at it this will be a problem for the first time speaking out loud to

the three of you i have no way of opening this door. It has not previously been locked. Do either of the three of you have a way through, like a way to open this door? Is it magic, physical? I don't know. It may just be a lock that needs picked, or maybe if you have a magical way to unseal it, perhaps?

I have a magical hammer that I can hit it really hard with but other than that... We need stealth. Ayla, we need stealth right now. We need to get as far in as possible without causing alarm and then we can get them out. I can cast detect magic without taking ten minutes and I don't think we have ten minutes. I can cast dispel magic on it and see if that works. If not, you can just go hit it.

Do it. Dispel. Okay, can I cast Dispel Magic on it at level... What level do you cast it at? It's set for you. Five, I think, is the maximum.

Fifth, sorry. Fifth level. Okay, so Nova, you channel the power of Tiangong and you feel in your head you hear Tiangong, yes, and, you channel the power of Tiangong, and you feel in your head, you hear Tiangong, yes, and then you hear some sort of, like the breaking of glass, like a... The angel kind of looks a moment,

tests the door, and it opens. Just like, excellent. You should be careful. He points down into this long dark corridor this is a this is a servant's entrance it will take you into the heart of the argent palace follow this to the very end take a right when you come across the golden arches you will know that you are nearing the arcanist's chamber. There may be traps, there may be guards. From this point, I'm afraid

my knowledge is limited. I have not served in this palace for many centuries. Things have changed, but this should lead to where the arcanist is stationed. I will need to keep the gristro from finding you. He patrols

this area. I will try and buy you Gristro from finding you. He patrols this area. I will try and buy you as much time as I can. Your words, Prime Elf. Your words. They were impassioned. I'm afraid that there are the people of this place are too far gone to listen to such claims. Nobody here cares for what is right or what is good or what is honourable anymore. They care only for themselves.

I thought I just wanted to survive. But I cannot. You are right. I cannot bear witness to this anymore. Go. find your friends Rescue them, get away from this place As fast as you can Never come back

Thank you for doing the right thing I fear that it may be the last one I do But at least It will be an honour to the people To the creatures that I am born from Go What is your name? Go

I gave up my name a long time ago It does not matter the creatures that I am born from. Go. What is your name? I gave up my name a long time ago. It does not matter. Leave. Find your friends. And with that, they kind of unfurl their wings and fly back down the corridor towards this huge shadow

of this ape-like being as they fly towards it. And you are left with a very long, dark corridor. Before I switch to the other two, how do you want to proceed? Are you just going to run after them? Are you going to try and be stealthy? What's the plan here? Ayla, Sentry, there are two things I can do, okay, very quickly.

I can either make all three of us invisible, and we can do this invisibly, but if we fall into traps, can't help with that or i can disguise myself as like grats and you can be my uh my my slaves but why would we be in the slope i don't know uh so you know they have true sight let's just run at it do all of you have true i think well, I think we'll... Well, there are bound to be some. Okay, the other thing, once we find the boys and Thalia, important, I can create a portal that all of us can go through.

The furthest I can do is 500 feet, but that's... I can see. So if we can find a window or smash a hole in the wall and I can see a distant point, the further we can get away, the better.

Cool. Think about that. Let's go. Sounds good. Okay. Okay. So, just one question before you guys carry on. Are you being stealthy or are you going for speed? If you go stealthy, it takes longer because you move slower if you're trying to be quiet

and stealthy. If you are just barreling forward, you might be uncovered, you might have disadvantage if there's a check to notice traps or anything like that. What's the plan here? Should we try stealth? Stealth. Yeah.

Stealth? Okay. Okay. In that case, yeah, all three of you make stealth checks for me. Century, don't think you are unfortunately a disadvantage. Oh my god. I rolled a nat 1. Fuck my life.

You did roll a nat 1. Oh no. I hate this game. Century does not much. No, come on. 13. So the three of you make your way into this corridor, shutting this gilded door behind you,

and you begin making your way down into the depths, into the interior of the Argent Palace, and we will see how you guys get on. Meanwhile, being kind of pushed through down another corridor, this one shining, its surface of the corridor is mirrored like the rest of the building, creating these kind of like infinite reflections of yourselves as you are made pushed down by these two demonic creatures. Quill, Lucius, and Captain Thalia are making your way down.

Do you guys want to do anything or are you just kind of allowing yourselves to be dragged away I wonder what awaits us in our servitude for 200 years I wonder if these demons know are you asking out loud or is this messenger ring I'm speaking out loud in our servitude for 200 years. I wonder if these demons know.

Do you know? Are you asking out loud, or is this messenger ring? No, I'm speaking out loud. One of them kind of chuckles to itself, like, It depends on what the master thinks you'll be good for. Some are good for nothing more than pleasing

guests. Others have their uses. I couldn't possibly speak for Master Graz's tastes. I'd eat you. Right. Thalia has an astonishing look that she can... So, yeah, as you say that, Thalia kind of looks at you like, yeah as you say that Thalia kind of like looks at you like why have you said that

out loud as she waits for a beat as these two kind of like demons like look at Lucius confused and then Thalia who isn't she's being held by one of their pincers literally

throws herself into eyeline with one of them, looks them dead in the eyes, and basically you just hear her, I hate doing this. And it is going to make a saving throw. Yeah, bish. Holy crap. She's a Medusa, don't forget.

Yeah, they took away her gun. Please work, please work please work please work come on talia well i mean they've got a very high con save and this is a magical effect so they get advantage um but it's uh an attempt uh how's this work with medusa so she she does call out quill lucius close your eyes now uh as she does this as she kind of activates the curse, basically. I can't really see much through here anyway. Yes. Okay, perfect.

Can I cry out of my eye of the storm? You can, yeah. Yeah. Oh, cool. I'm doing it. The tears would be like rainwater. They wouldn't be salty. They would be like fresh rainwater. Cry of the storm.

Lucius. Nice. Did you have a thing you wanted to do? No, no. It's someone else. Cry of the storm. Cry of the storm. That's it.

I'm going to, if this fails, I was going to ask a question about one of my spells. I assume my gauntlet's been stripped right what has been well they i don't think they would know what the the prismatic alternator gauntlet is they just think you have a metal arm i don't think that they would know how to deactivate it so no you still have that um it's any weapons or anything else like that that they've taken. Anything obvious. If there is a failure

of any kind, I'm going to try and cast Hypnotic Pattern on them. Which is basically an incapacitating effect if they fail. Wisdom save again. Is that an area, Hypnotic Pattern? It's a 30 foot cube. So you would catch yourself, Quill

and Thalia in it at the same time. Because they grabbed you. One of us will save. Sure. Right. So the first Glabzeru

saves against Thalia's petrifying gaze with advantage. So the first one succeeds against her gaze. Quite a way. I already won that. Yes! So 3-1.

So not only do they fail with a Medusa's petrifying gaze, if you fail by 5 or more they are petrified instantly. So you watch as Thalia, like, shoulder barges one of them, opens her eyes. The last thing Lucius and Quill see,

her eyes turn this sickly green glowing color. And one of them, the glamorist, is like, fuck, I'm gonna do that! And they kind of go to shield their eyes. The other one is like, what's a madu- And then you just hear- And it's just locked in place

I'm gonna roll a d4 to see which one of you it was holding when it turned to stone right yeah oh one to two one had our stuff right Lucius well they were in a silk bag so you better hope that their possessions

don't get turned to stone that's what I mean okay Quill you feel you are now held by a statue of this Glabzeru cool I mean

I didn't even look up when she did that I was still so dejected at that point let's roll some initiative, those of you who were there. Oh my god. Not bad, though. That's so cool.

Not bad at all. That is very fucking lucky, guys. That's hilarious. I mean, she hates using it, but it's just the luck of that roll is funny as hell. How much did he fail by? I rolled... So technically he rolled a three.

He failed by exactly five. Oh, damn. Nice. Tasty. Thalia's DC. Anybody, if you're looking at Twitch chat and people are like, the DC's blah blah blah. Thalia's DC is higher because she's Thalia.

Yeah. The best ghoul. So it's happening. Yeah. I was going to ask, do they recognize the Hesper symbol as a holy symbol? Yes. Anything that they think would be some sort of like holy symbol or wand or staff, they basically have taken.

So any potions, any magic weapons, like your ring I want the magic missiles, no! Yeah, all in the bag. How am I going to pull all this stuff? Right, Quillek Adkalar you are a 12 initiative. Lucius, you are a 5 initiative.

So I get to pass it off? You will, yes! So we'll have that go off first and foremost. I'm just going to do damage to that guy. I might just incapacitate all of us. Maybe. I mean, that'd be funny. Or maybe just us.

I'd like to, not for us, but I guess that's impossible. Walk us through the spell, Chris Trott. Read out the spell for us. Will do. I've had to reload my thingy. So, hypnotic pattern. You create a twisting pattern of colors that weaves through the air inside a 30-foot cube within range.

The pattern appears for a moment and vanishes. Each creature in the air who sees the pattern must make a wisdom saving throw. So, could I do it while Quill's eyes are closed and my eyes are closed? That's what I was going to say. Quill and Lucius don't see the pattern because you closed your eyes. So, yes,

this goes off. So, Thalia and the Clabzeru have to make a save. What's the DC? 16. Hold on, let me bring up the thing in the middle. Vabzeru does still get advantage because it's a magical effect or spell, so they get their magic resistance.

What kind of saving throw? Wisdom. Wisdom. Oh yeah, that's a pass, I'm afraid. That is a big old 24 on their wisdom saving throw. So you just kind of hear it like, as it kind of grunts at this thing. And then Thalia will make her saving throw. That is only an 11.

So Thalia... Would I have passed if I was with you? Yes. Oh yeah, you would have passed. I was with Nella? Yes Oh yeah, you would have passed What's the effect? So it's just they're basically stunned? They're incapacitated to speed of zero and you can shake them out of it with an action

or attack them and it's concentration Oh, it's just it's just their movement They're incapacitated oh right so she can still yeah okay cool uh no

incapacitated means you can't take action for the duration yeah yeah damn it got me again the demon closes its eyes immediately sensing what Thalia is doing. It just closes its eyes,

and then it is going to try and swipe at her because it sees Thalia as the biggest threat right now. Oh, it might knock her out a bit then. It might do. It's advantage to hit her, but disadvantage because it's closed its own eyes. So it's a straight roll. Does it have... Oh, it does have true sight no it needs to be seated true sight uh okay so just a straight roll yeah with its multi-attack go on if it's

concentration can't lucius just be like oh sorry uh i think it's once it's had the effect imagine maybe if it's concentration maybe but you might just be able to drop it. I'll drop it on my turn, yeah. Yeah, that's it. He has to wait until his turn. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, straight up roll. The first attack against Thalia is a miss, actually.

So, one giant pincer goes wide as Thalia just kind of stands there swaying to this bright, kind of swirling colorful pattern the Glabzeru will then make it technically makes four attacks a turn so it will make another attack this one will hit however 2d10 plus 5

for a total of 20 points of damage to Thalia oh that's a lot uh however that knocks her out of the stunt so she basically is like shit uh and basically go on you're looking at twitch chat and they're probably yelling like no i'm not i'm looking at i'm looking at dnd beyond um for concentration and it says, if a spell must be maintained with concentration, you can end concentration at any time, brackets, no action required. This is my choice, I want to do it on my turn.

But just for future. No action required. So, first one knocks her out. The first one misses. Second pincer hits Thalia. Lucius, you are no longer being grappled by this thing as it grapples Thalia instead and lifts her up. And then it will basically try and rake her with, punch her with its two claws.

These ones are just straight rolls again because of the effect. So that is a hit. And then another hit. And this is 2d4 plus 2. So 5, and then another 8 points of damage. Thalia can take a bit of a beating,

like she takes these two punches to the face and just kind of grits her teeth, and sees that Quillek and that are yet to go. Quillek Adkalar, it is your turn. How do I get out of a grapple of a statue? Well, you're not really grappled anymore.

You are just basically restrained because your one arm is being held by stone. You're like... Oh, man. Which one has the silk thing? Because i guess i can't cast like any spell uh if it needs a material component you need your holy symbol you can cast spells if it doesn't have a material component okay the the ones that were carrying each of you so the one that's got you has got your equipment the one that was was carrying lucius had lucius's equipment yeah

okay okay if it's yeah if it's not material components and i can still do quite a bit am the one that was carrying Lucius had Lucius's equipment. Hmm. Okay. If it's not material components then I can still do quite a bit. Am I within range of this dude next to me? Oh, they're like five feet. They're like five feet next to you. Okay. I'll do a shocking grasp on him then.

You are at disadvantage. You can still do it, but you're at disadvantage. You can technically do it with your feet. You're like clawing with your little talon. Just kicking in the air. Okay, so is he wearing any armor?

Nope. No advantage then. That's fine. Fuck for us. Plus six. With disadvantage, because you are at disadvantage's fine. Fuck your ass. Plus six. With disadvantage, because you are disadvantaged for the attack roll, please. Seven. Natural one to hit. You kind of like

stretch out your little bird feets. You're like, eh, eh. But you just can't quite reach as lightning cradles. Goddamn. In that case, I will bonus action shield of material components. I am so lost without my thing. I delay

my turn. I don't delay it. I just don't take a turn. You just don't take a turn. Thalia will stop her petrifying... She will stop her petrifying Zingaze so she doesn't affect Lucius and Quill and will dive into the bag that had one of her pistols,

pull it out, and she aims at the stone statue holding Quill. And she just yells out, Quillik, I'm terribly sorry, and then you just watch as this thunderous magical eruption... Oh, not the other way! My dearsies! thunderous magical eruption. Oh, not the other eye! My ears!

So it fails its saving throw automatically. Quill, can you make a deck saving throw with disadvantage, please? Uh-oh. Yeah, sure, why not? Seven. Okay, you take 16 thunder damage

but the statue is thrown against a wall and breaks apart and you are now free but you are like thrown against the wall and then it's like he took my arm with him oh now i'm armless um

and then Thalia will just take a regular arcane shot at the remaining Glabzeri for a hit, which deals 1d10 plus 4 for 8 points of damage, which it takes the full amount of. This thing seems very tough. As the blast of arcane energy slams into its shoulder

um you see it really doesn't seem to be that fussed uh father is just like we should probably run uh lucius am i grappled right now uh no he had to let go of you to grapple thalia who i actually forgot was grappled i will just make a quick check for her to see if she can break free. She did not. In which case, I follow that advice, disengage, and run.

So you just get like 30 feet down the corridor, basically, away from this thing. Cool. Okay. And I'll turn around, preparing for the other two to get past me, and yes, my next will be a defensive spell if needed. But that's my next turn. Yeah, well,

you've used your action to disengage, so you're out. Uh, man, the Glabzera is really annoyed that you've escaped. Um, he's not really happy about it. Do we hear any of this? Or are we, like, so too split? I think I'm gonna have to jump between you guys,

because you're all quite split up at the moment. So I'll probably do, like, two rounds of this combat, then jump to you guys. Then we'll run through what's happening with you guys, and then I'll jump back to this combat, and we'll do that sort of split action, basically. Uh, Lucius, this thing, as it, uh... it uh it tries to like crush thalia in its pincers but as it does it speaks this deep horrible infernal word um and you have less

than 150 hit points correct yeah you are stunned as a power word stun comes out of its mouth and you are just like it's so foul and the power of this word just stuns your mind it sends you reeling the power of this power word

it kind of is yeah you just feel it overwhelm your senses you can make a saving throw at the end of your turn against that yes it's pretty bad these things are

pretty tough demons like you know fighting them big old demons yeah and then he crushes Thalia twice with his big pincers. No! Maledic! The first one, she manages to wiggle her way

that he can't quite get a good crush. But the second one is a pretty nasty hit. 2d10 plus 5. That is 12 points of damage to Thalia. You just hear her kind of like, yes, this is quite uncomfortable now actually.

She is being crushed. Quillek, add Kalah. I'm gonna find the bag. Find the bag with my stuff in it because we can't run without those. What do I need to do? Bonus action. You grab the bag anything you need you can pull out of the bag as you need it just like it was on your person so that was a bonus action okay uh in that case i'll grab that and then can i cast thunder wave in such a way that

it only thunder wave that's loud oh it's done so is the thunderous gunshot that just went yeah freed you from the same in the corridor in the car can i thunder wave in such a way that it doesn't hit salia and then yeah you've got you can move so that like you're just catching the creature on the edge and not failure herself yeah sure yeah and try and push everyone away so it makes a constitution saving throw yep does so with advantage that is that is a 18

okay no no unsuccessful creature takes half as much and isn't pushed so still 2d8 yeah oh double 8s though. No, it's not. I don't know what that is. That's an 8 and a 5. 13. 6 points.

Is it half? So yeah, you feel this ripple of thunder erupt from your hand, but it manages to hold its ground, its huge claws scraping into the mirror-like stone of the floor as it just grips on tighter. You do not think you will get away.

I will make sure you suffer for this, slaves. I'll let him have a swipe at me as I run down towards Lucius as well without disengaging. Yes, he would. He will try and grab you with one of his big pincers. Would he manage that, or was his stun word that he said his reaction

when Lucius ran? It wasn't his reaction, it was part of his action. He can make two attacks. I tried. You did try. That is a whopping 21 points of damage, Quill, as this huge pincer grabs,

tries to snip you as you run past. Good lord. Crabs you. But you do get next to a stunned Lucius. Thalia will again attempt to escape. Escape DC 15 which is a success this time as she wriggles her way free and then she will do the same. She will disengage

and run to catch up with the rest of you. Doesn't even need to disengage. She used his reaction on me. Yeah, so she instead will run up, kind of wave her fingers in front of Lucius's face. Shit. She's not particularly strong, so she will pull out one of her ice bullets,

take aim, and try and freeze this thing in place. It makes a dex saving throw. Ugh, man. It doesn't have very good dex saves, though, and that is a failure for 3d10 cold damage, and it is restrained. Nice. Damn. That's a lot of damage.

Yeah, Thalia's pretty good. I saw this boat in half. You see that the cold damage seems to be absorbed by its demonic physiology, but the ice roots it in place as its huge legs are now sort of like stuck to the floor through ice.

And Thalia just turns to you Quill, it's just like, yes, if you can do something about Lucius, we should run now. I'll try. At the end of your turn, make a saving throw. Where's here? It is, maybe not actually,

it is a constitution saving throw in fact. Yes. It is, maybe not actually, it is a constitution saving throw in fact. Eight. That's a plus six, I rolled a two. Plus six on constitution. I didn't realise his constitution was that high, I would have used it, but he's already rolled. I mean, I've said that you're allowed

to like, for player rolls, like I'm okay with you you know. I mean, sure I could replace it're allowed to, like, for player roles, like, I'm okay with you, you know. I mean, sure, I could replace it with a 10. That would make it a 16, but... Do you want to? I've seen the role. I've seen the role. I won't. Okay, all right. So in that case, no, you stay stunned, I'm afraid, Lucius.

And with that, we will jump over to the other three, as the three of you are now free of the Glabzeru, but, uh, with a stunned Lucius, and not much time before it breaks free, uh, we leave the three of you in your escape. Nova, Aayla, and Sentry, you try to stalk your way down these darkened corridors, making your way through these shadowed,

unlike the rest of the Argent Palace, this corridor does not seem to be polished to a mirror-like sheen. Its surfaces are a dull bronze. Your reflections are blurred. It's not as shiny or reflective as the rest of the palace has been. There is no lighting, so you really only have the dull light from Sentry's Matrix casting just enough light to see where

you are going as you make your way through. Who has the highest passive perception? What's your passive perception amongst the three of you? I know it's very low for Nova. Mine's a 12. 12? 15. 15? Okay. the three of you. I know it's very low for Nova. Twelve. Fifteen. Fifteen, okay.

So, as you are making your way, you hear the sounds of there is people running around in this complex. The nature of the corridors, you're not quite sure where the sound is coming from. You can

hear kind of like muffled demonic voices speaking, but you're not sure where from. But Ayla, as you are running, you kind of see up ahead that there are statues of gruts placed in these alcoves that extend. These perfect kind of shaped bronze statues of gruts. But you notice that several of them are pointing towards each other, and their fingers, the bronze statue, they're ever so slightly blackened on the fingertips. What do you do? I will, first of all, warn the other ladies.

Trap. Fire trap. Does it look like... Are they pointing down to the floor? Like, how could... Is there any way that I think that we could... There are six. ...get low enough to avoid them? So there are three on each side,

and they are each pointing towards each other, but at different angles. So like some of them are like diagonally, some of them are horizontally. You could certainly try, like if you use the angle of the fingers, but they're kind of pointing in crisscross ways. So there's two pair,

there's three pairs of statues, each of them pointing at each other at different sort of like angles and dimensions. You can definitely try and like if you can go around the back of them or anything or is there no space they are set right into the walls there's not enough how much of the corridor do they take up so there's about 10 it's about 30 feet, this particular region. They're about 10 foot wide each statue. Okay. I don't think I really have anything for traps

that is going to particularly help us here. I can do protection from energy, but that's for one person. I can protect one of you from fire damage. I can dimension door and take one of you with me, but only one.

Could I maybe... How high up is the arm of the statue? it's like seven feet off the ground could i try and smack the finger so that the arm bends upwards absolutely you can try that make a this would be strength so just give give me a raw D20 plus strength mod. 20. With your muscles kind of screaming at you as you swing the hammer in this big bell-like arc,

you hear this metallic clang echo through the corridor as the massive hammer just bends and you hear the screech of metal as the arm bends upwards and this huge lance of fire erupts out of it and scorches up

towards the ceiling. Just give me a deck save for some of the backdraft as you hit this thing. Oh, do I get advantage? You will get danger sensed. Danger sensed! Oh yeah. What was this? It was deck save. Yeah, you're easily

going to pass this. It was like DC 15. So you leap back just as the backdraft of the fire kind of like runs up to where you were, but you managed to avoid any of the heat or flames themselves. But now the finger is just constantly erupting fire that's coating the top of the corridor, kind of in this thick, almost napalm-like fire. The other statues haven't moved, and the first one is now out of position.

You could just duck under it. I can Misty Step, so I can teleport across the corridor so if Nova took Ayla through the dimension door I could Misty Step through oh that works that works really well why don't we do that it's a very

creative cool solution to knock the arm off I was just going to break them all yeah you want to save this one I love this visual knocked the arm off. That was really cool. I was just going to break them all. Yeah. Sentry's like, oh, Ayla, wait. You want to save this one spot? I love this visual that Sentry's about to

and then Ayla just smashes and then Sentry just misty steps and I'm just there with Ayla like I'm just going to... Nobody said anything. I found a solution. Love it. Sentry, you nobody said anything i found a solution so love it uh hello so yeah what do we want to do century you misty step and then nova you grab ayla and dimension door with tian gong right yeah um so i guess as far down the corridor as uh we can go yeah i mean 500 feet you can get to the

end of the corridor but the century will be quite far behind you. I can be 30 feet. Yeah, do we want to... Yeah. If the sentry goes 30 feet, Nova and Ayla could go 500 feet forwards if they want to. How long is the corridor? It's not that long. It's probably about another...

It's probably about 120, 160 feet long. Okay. I kind of want to get ahead, but... Yeah, you could get ahead and then wait for the sentry to catch up. It wouldn't take long. I can cast get ahead, but... So you could get to the end and then wait? Yeah, you could get ahead and then wait for Sentry to catch up. It wouldn't take long. I can cast Protection from Energy on myself, and then just... sprint down the corridor. Yeah.

Like, tank down the corridor. Yeah. No fire can touch me! Terminator style. What do you wanna do? What's the plan? Uh... I will go wherever What do you want to do? What's the plan? I will go wherever Nova takes me. I don't have much of a choice here.

I'm just going to be like, take me places. Can we go, so if Sentry can go 30 feet, let's go 80 feet. A happy medium where we can just be nearby. So, Sentry, you Misty Step,

you summon the power of the Matrix, you cast Misty Step and you BAM forward. Nova, to use this spell through Tiangong, the way it works with Tiangong, is you hold Tiangong and you physically carve like a hole in space with the blade and then you step through it like a portal. It's like you carve

almost like a tear through space-time and then you step through it like a portal it's like you carve like almost like a tear through space time um and then you pull that back and then jump forward with ayla and the two of you uh and are accelerated through um temp like space basically uh you know 80 feet ahead when you arrive you see that just a little bit ahead of you, the corridor splits, and you can hear the rapid sounds of many booted feet rushing in your direction as the loud sound has obviously triggered or at least let people know that there is someone coming. Someone here.

Yeah, so you guys begin rushing, and that is the perfect place to take a break. Oh, man. Oh. I mean, it's half six, my dudes. It's half six. I know. Oh, man, it felt so winnable. And I know it was. I know it was winnable.

I was so convinced. It was never going to win a luck thing. It was never going to happen. I mean, I know that I have there are things that I know that i'm i know things that you guys could have done to win that but i could have cast a spell magic on the table but i was so mesmerized by the angel like you could have done that but you know if grats had already seen where they were maybe um that's it i'm not gonna say i'm not gonna say but it was definitely winnable

it was definitely winnable it was definitely winnable it was just the odds were against you the odds were against you but it was winnable